We’ve been planting a lot of plants in our yard, trying to get the area around our house looking better while still keeping it somewhat natural. One of the plants that volunteered was this broom snakeweed, which is pretty while it’s flowering. And it seems to hold some of the more noxious things that grow around here at bay.
The only problem with it is that like so many of the other things growing around here, its flowers are yellow. Glad we’ve got a bunch of tahoka daisies with some purple at the moment.
Another one for the “it’s pretty, don’t kill it” file.
Mix ingredients thoroughly and knead until the dough is glossy. Let proof until it has doubled in size.
Knock the dough down, shape the loaf, flouring the outside if it’s too sticky, set on a greased pan and let rise until doubled in size. Bake for 23 minutes in a 425F oven. Interior temp of the loaf should be 190F when it’s done.
They’re cute little #birbs, and it was fun watching them, mostly because they’re just heavy enough that when they land on the plant next to a flower, the stem bends down, and they end up hanging upside down trying to get their lunch.
A strong cold front came through last night. Around 40F for my walk to the mailbox, with a 20mph wind. Pretty chilly. But the wind is from the northeast and brought clean air. I can actually see the mountains around us, and can see details on the hills to our south instead of just a hazy blur.
One of my ongoing projects is building bookcases to hold all my books. I’ve now built 3 XL cases, 12 large cases, and 5 medium cases. I’ve got another dozen medium and a “whole bunch” of small cases to build yet, but it’s nice getting books unpacked and organized.
I expect I’ve got another month or two of building cases remaining, plus at least one more trip to town for lumber, but over half of the boxes are unpacked, and it feels good to know that the end is in sight.
Once the bookcases are done, I’ve got more shop furniture to build. I have a brace till (for holding bit braces) which needs seven drawers built to hold the various drill bits I have. I want to make a 50-drawer hardware cabinet, and have some wormy chestnut arriving this week for the drawer fronts for that. Plus I need another bench to hold the forge and associated equipment.
We’ve got a new food truck in the neighborhood. Mami and Papi’s is here seven days a week from 8-2. They don’t seem to have a website yet, but they’ve got a reasonable selection of breakfast choices. We got here at 11:30 today and they weren’t quite ready for lunch yet, but it sounds like they have sandwiches and burgers for lunch.
In the past couple days, we’ve had some purple flowers appearing. They’re known as a Tahoka Daisy, or the tansyleaf tansyaster. They’re kind of pretty and hardy here. Guess we’ve got another plant that I need to recognize and not kill as a weed.
I wonder if we were out of town when they bloomed last year, or if I just didn’t notice them. Hard to say for sure. Last year, I thought chamisa in bloom was kinda pretty. This year, it’s just a source of allergens.
After having much of the summer with no birds using the birdhouse (which was built for house finches), a few pairs of western bluebirds have been checking it out. At one point this morning, there were five birds either on or in the birdhouse. I didn’t think any birds would be nesting this time of year, but I don’t know much about the native birds yet.
In any case, I enjoy watching them in the morning, so I’m glad to see them poking around the birdhouse. I’ll probably make two or three more to put up next spring.
