Texas Summer Visit

June 28 - July 6
Yes of course we went birding. See the July posts on BlueRaven https://blueravenbirders.com/2021/07/. But we also hung out with family.

Nan's cat lurking up high

We finally did it. Went to a Buccees. Shanna's online friends insisted that since they couldn't go she had to. We did look for them on the way to and from Corpus Christie. In the end we had to make a targeted trip to the one near Italy TX. Super entertaining. It's a chain of oversized stop and go's selling everything from food and souvenirs to gas and clothing.

Shanna trying on hat at Buccees

And we got to spend the 4th of July with the family. Mike hosts a barbque picnic and pool party then he and his kids set off super high quality fireworks.

I loved the safety measures and watching teenagers run back and forth to set off the rockets safely was super entertaining. I don't have any pictures of that since it was complete dark. Here are a few images of the sparklers that started the party.

Lumos

Sparkler interpretive dance

Drive to Texas

June 25-27, 2012 

 I plotted out several routes to get to Texas. The plan was to take our time and take lots of breaks to stretch our legs. I was also hoping to avoid any of the seriously bad weather that had been plaguing Texas. Every evening I would work with my weather apps to determine where we'd go next.

On Friday we left work early and headed for Wyoming. We were only going to drive for 3 hours to get to Kemmerer. I've never stopped there before and it was a great little town. We stopped at a rock shop cause I'm always interested in new rocks

This shop was all kinds of amazing: https://wyomingfossils.com/ 

The next day we headed for the outskirts of Denver. And there we found out that locating a Red Lobster was going to be harder than we though. This was during the lull in Covid so we thought it would be okay (and time proved it was) to eat in the restaurant. We circled one location a number of times before realizing that it had not only closed but had already been taken over by another restaurant. Eventually we found one further away and YUM fish.

That evening while looking at the weather I could see a line of severe storms lining up to get us if we took 2 more days to get there. Our only hope was a brief break in storms the next evening. We got up early and skedaddled. We got into Texas on 287 and drove right between large storm clouds with lightning and rain in the near distance on both the left and right sides of the car. Phew, made it. 

 Shanna's travel companion

 

The funniest thing about this trip is that Idaho was about to get slammed with a monster 102 degree heatwave. Texas rarely got above 80 something. In July. Crazy.

Recipe: Kielbasa Breakfast Skillet

Chopping

Shanna and I like big breakfasts or rather brunches on the weekend. One of our favorites is this breakfast skillet. She peels potatoes for me as I start sautéing onions. I cook the potatoes in the microwave. Alternately I use leftover potatoes from other meals.

I can't give you real measurements because it depends on how much you want to make. Here are my approximations:

Sautéing 

Ingredients:

• 1/4 - 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 Polska Kielbasa or other sausage
• 1/2 - 1 cup chopped bell pepper
• 2-4 chopped cooked potatoes (cause we LOVE potatoes)
• 5 eggs (mixed with a tablespoon or two of milk like you would for scrambled eggs)
• Some salt (don't ask me I sometimes forget to even do this)

Directions:

• Sauté onions in butter in large skillet
• Add chopped kielbasa and bell peppers and continue to sauté (usually till the potatoes are done)
• Add chopped cooked potatoes

Be sure to turn over/mix the food in the skillet so browning can occur on the kielbasa and potatoes. The more butter you use the less browning will occur. Once it all of this is heated through and browned appropriately make a space and pour in the eggs.

Stirring in the eggs

Once the eggs are cooked it is ready to serve. Shanna always adds garlic salt and cheese. I like to add fresh diced tomatoes.

This is a super easy dish to cook. -- Jenny

Review: Paul Hollywood’s Big Continental Road Trip

 I needed a new television series to needlepoint to so I searched Netflix and it found me Paul Hollywood’s Big Continental Road Trip.  I watched the preview and was hooked.  So much entertainment. A roadtrip with a great host and interesting cars.  I love cars and driving and the Great British Baking show aka Bake Off.  

Italy

This is a three part series with an episode devoted to a single country: Italy, Germany, France. Sometimes the cars were sporty or expensive and sometimes the cars were cheap or ubiquitous. 

Germany

Italy is my favorite episode partly because I also watch Dancing with the Stars and the judge Bruno Tonioli shows Paul around and partly because I like the zest and joie de vie of the Italians. 

France

I recognize that sometimes the show is using stereotypes to typify the cultures but they are also showing us the country and discussing all kinds of historical and cultural bits. Definitely a fun romp.

For a summary and more information about each episode follow the links. 

• Episode 1: Italy - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08svmdc
• Episode 2: Germany - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08tlc9q
• Episode 3: France - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08vdqhp

Memories & Books: Our Hearts Were Young and Gay

• Title: Our Hearts Were Young and Gay: A Comic Chronicle of Innocents Abroad in the 1920s
• Authors: Cornelia Otis Skinner and Emily Kimbrough
• Publication: Dodd, Mead & Company, New York 1942

Set in the 1920s the story is about two young women who are out to tour Europe.  It begins in America, crosses the Atlantic on steamship and ends in Europe.  

I don't have the eloquence of Mr. Joe on Amazon so I'm going to quote from his review though beware there be spoilers in the full review. 

"OUR HEARTS WERE YOUNG AND GAY is a travel essay that appeared in 1942. Within, co-authors and best pals Cornelia Otis Skinner from Bryn Mawr, PA and Emily Kimbrough from Indiana share the experiences of an independent trip to Europe made in 1920 when young, footloose and relatively free of parental oversight. Skinner's parents were traveling on a parallel but more or less separate itinerary.   

...

The charm of this delightful narrative lies in the fact that it's a recollection of girlish innocence, naivete, and silliness told from the perspective of a more mature adulthood that achieves an engaging, self-deprecating wit."

So yeah, it's a great book.  I did not know this when I was handed it to read on a road trip in 1982.  I wish I remembered who gave me the book, I think it may have been Aunt Linda Rae (my mom's cousin on her father's side, but we always called her Aunt).  I believe this may have been the first time I was

the reader while someone else was driving.  The unfortunate victim, I mean driver was my father. 

I began the book, and we chortled and laughed and drove.  I think we were going to or coming from the Monolithic Dome job site near Athens Alabama. For more on domes see: https://www.monolithic.org/ I drove a  30 ton crane on that job site that built this huge dome.  The grain storage dome has a diameter of 150’, a height of 75’ and an excavated portion of 20’ under the dome.

Well, back to the storyline.  I remember this day clearly because the story of the pink ribbon on the sandwiches caused my father to laugh so hard he had to pull the car to the side of the road. As this was my first time reading the book I had a hard time reading it out loud in a coherent manner. 

Later I found this book on Audible (~7 hours) and immediately purchased it for future road trips. The unbridled innocence, earnestness, and verve for life that these two young women demonstrated was inspiring, but their lack of common sense led to all kinds of hysterical misadventures.  

In 2016 Melinda and I took another road trip from Idaho to Texas. This time we took our time birding our way through Wyoming, Nebraska, and Kansas.  There were many awesome birds and I blogged about that part of our trip in on BlueRavenBirders.com.

• Day 1 Birding the Bear River Refuge 
• Day 2 Birding Wyoming
• Day 3 Birding Nebraska 
• Day 4 Birding Kansas

I think this was my third time reading/listening to the book and once again it was HILARIOUS.  Melinda assures me that yes I did indeed have to pull over at the sandwich scene again.  I wonder how many more times this will happen.  I also smile at the memory of the scene of shuffleboard on board the ship and the hostel in France.

I never have to worry about storyline or audience with this book.  It's permanently on my road trip read list. I can't wait to trap a new victim in my car.  

- Jenny

Italian Pasta Salad

 Italian Pasta Salad

Shanna and I have a favorite pasta salad.  It is based on the flavors of pizza. You'll have to figure out your own proportions.  

• Cooked radiatore pasta (this ruffled pasta holds the sauce and flavors really well but other pastas would work)
• Pepperoni
• Cheddar cheese cubed
• Bell pepper chopped
• Chopped/sliced olives
• Onion chopped or minced
• Garlic minced
• Italian dressing (we usually go with Lighthouse Italian because it has such a lovely garlic bite)

Mix together and serve

This salad travels well. It has become a staple for our adventures in Yellowstone. We either pre-portion it out into washed takeout containers or dole it out in red solo cups.  In the picture above I added orange bell pepper instead of green because we prefer the flavor.  But the green pepper adds a lovely color. I've also swapped out red onion for yellow on occasion.  You can add another crunch texture by adding celery or water chestnuts.  - Jenny 

Review: Escape to the Chateau

 A few years ago John and Bill told me about this amazing television series on PBS, but produced by the BBC.  "Escape to the Chateau" had just started showing season 2 and I fell in love.  Dick Strawbridge (engineer) and his wife Angel Adoree (artist) move from England to France and buy the  Château de la Motte-Husson.  The series follows the couple along with their two children and her parents as they renovate the chateau and make it a functioning special events business.  

What's completely entertaining is that on my visit to Texas the following Christmas I was talking about how much fun the show is and Sydney pipes up about how she saw it while visiting in England but couldn't find anything about it here in the U.S. She seemed relieved to know that someone else could verify the series existence.

The can-do spirit, the unbridled and not-HGTV approved decorating and the artistic verve are all attractive to me.  I absolutely love this series you should definitely go find it.

- Jenny

Book Review: Girl Genius

 The first webcomic strip I followed was Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet.  I found it in late 1997 and quickly caught up with her past posts. Helen is a literal genius with all things tech.  She is clearly attractive but isn't focused on that aspect of life.  This strip ran from 1996 - 2005.  I can't find an archive of this strip which makes me terribly sad.  However, without Helen I would never have found Girl Genius.

Girl Genius is an ongoing webcomic collaboration between Phil Foglio and Kaja Foglio. I consider it steampunk but they believe it should have the genre heading gaslamp fantasy.  I actually don't care what we call it, it's amazing.  A heroine who is a compassionate, funny, genius in a mad science world populated with interesting characters some of which are monsters and/or evil geniuses.  The Foglios have been putting out three strips a week (M,W,F) since 2005.  

Wikipedia simplifies the overall plot to:

"Girl Genius tells the story of Agatha Clay, a student and apprentice at Transylvania Polygnostic University whose experiments never work, until she encounters an electromagnetic pulse and is robbed of her locket.  This leads her to break free of an attempt to suppress her powers as a Spark, and to hide that she is the long-lost daughter of famous hero Bill Heterodyne and villainess-turned-good Lucrezia Mongfish. Agatha Heterodyne (whose surname is based on a real scientific concept) learns to mix scientific genius, a streak of true heroism and an obsessive possessiveness for what she considers her own in order to claim her monstrous heritage and birthright, even as the eyes of all Europa watch her carefully in case she turns out to be one of the monsters herself"

Eventually they started pulling the strips together and publishing graphic novels.  Yes I have all of them.  Now they're turning the plots into actual novels enhancing the world and the material in the strips with more detailed information without removing or twisting any of the comic strip plot points.  Gifted, they are super gifted to achieve this kind of coherence across multiple media venues.  

I highly recommend this series to anyone and everyone.  Start reading here: https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/

- Jenny

New Refrigerator

The new one

 I'd like to know why I have to keep replacing refrigerators.  Right after the divorce in 2012 the white refrigerator/freezer started dying. We could tell by the new noises it was making.   We were lucky in that we found a countertop depth scratch and dent modern model with a water dispenser in the door and a freezer drawer on the bottom.  It was so exciting to have such a great appliance.  That was until we started having difficulties.  It took a number of years, okay almost 9 and after paying for several repairs starting 4 years ago it finally just quit.   Well it quit in a weird way, first the freezer stopped functioning but the fridge was still moderately cold. I don't trust appliances. So, we packed the freezer drawer with ice and moved stuff out of the fridge part and moved the frozen stuff to the chest freezer in the garage.  

Then we went shopping.  We first looked for something new at Home Depot where the sales person tried to convince us that we knew someone with a truck who could deliver it for us.  This young person was clearly out of touch with reality. Not everyone has friends with trucks and even if I did know someone why not just have it delivered by the store?  Well, the reason not to was that it would take up to 10 days for it to be delivered.  That wasn't going to work.  We went to Lowe's

The new one

Lowe's was great and we found a refrigerator.  Unfortunately the size of refrigerators has continued to grow so they came to deliver it and couldn't get it through our front or back doors.  We have 29" wide doors.  Ummm this was not something we knew would be a problem.  We knew that we had to get countertop depth and we knew it couldn't be super tall.  But now we had a new measurement.  We sent it back and went back to the store.

In the meantime our existing refrigerator decided that the freezer should work and the refrigerator went warm which meant that all the stuff we had moved to our freezer to keep cold was now frozen.  WEIRDO refrigerator.  Well, we finally found something in-stock with the configuration we liked. It still has a water dispenser, but this time it's hidden inside the fridge.  Also it really is metal not brushed aluminum so magnets work on the front.  We're quite happy with this new fridge.  I guess we'll see if it'll last more than 9 years.

John & Bill Graduate

Shanna and I got to attend a graduation ceremony during this time of coronavirus. They had social distancing in place, zoom/pre recorded speakers/performances, and mandatory masking. It was very strange. The were able to do social distancing by limiting the number of people allowed to attend. Each student was given two tickets for audience members. It was still fantastic to watch these two guys graduate. They are amazing people and I am very lucky to have them as friends.

Socially distanced graduating students

Bill getting his MA in Art

John getting his BA in Art

Amy's Ice Skating Show

4/23/21
Amy's Skating Show
Logan UT

I've never tried to photograph ice skating before so this was super fun. I got to see my niece ice skate and try out more limits on non-flash, superfast photography.

I have a lot of great photos of young skaters, but since I don't have permission to use them in any way I didn't even load them onto Flickr. In the end I had something like 6000 photos and it's take a lot of time to find good ones.

Amy

I don't know who this is but the leap is awesome

I don't know who this is but I like the shapes

And I liked the shadow on this one

Amy - teamwork

Too much fun and I'm super happy that so many photos were in focus and in frame. Sadly it is very tricksy to get good ice skating is photos. There were all kinds of issues such as odd backgrounds, funny faces, and costumes that look great when moving but not so great as stills. Maybe if I had filmed it and then extracted stills...

Amy did a fabulous job. It was lovely to watch her. - Jenny

Review: Blown Away

 

Blown Away - Reality Television Show

In mid 2020 Melinda and I started watching tv together in different states. She lives in Texas and I'm in Idaho. We call each other and watch the same show as a social outlet. She came up with the great idea of including Shanna in an additional phone/tv session. We began this social experiment with the show Blown Away on NetFlix. Blown Away is a glass blowing competition reality show.  The experiment was and is a success.  We loved this show and have since added other series to our watched list.

Blown Away is produced in Canada and follows the standard format of challenge, judging, and one winner per episode and one competitor sent home. There are two seasons with 10 contestants competing in each. This competition has an international flavor with competitors coming from around the world.

If you like artistic pursuits and competition reality shows this is absolutely worth watching. Interestingly PBS ran two documentaries on glass blowing around the same time we were watching Blown Away. 

1. Pilchuck: A Dance with Fire about the creation and growth of the Pilchuck glass art school in Washington

2. Chihuly: River of Glass about the glass artist Dale Chihuly one of the founding members of the Pilchuck school and famed artist

In 2017 Shanna and I attended an Alton Brown concert in Salt Lake City. There was a Chihuly sculpture in the entrance hall.

Salt Lake City

In 2014 I was in Las Vegas for a conference and was able to visit a Chihuly installation and exhibition in the Bellagio Hotel.

Las Vegas

We now know so much more about glass art.  I am in awe of the artists who work in such a wondrous and scary medium.  - Jenny

My New Friend

I love my family. My siblings are all so supportive of each other it's really quite remarkable. If we ever need help or encouragement all we need to do is reach out to each other. I didn't realize how depressed I was but Nan figured it out.

I was still sequestered at home in order to avoid contact with people. The new vaccine was not available for me yet so it I was still unable to freely go and do like I want. I know I'm an introvert and staying home is always awesome, but at the one year mark I was tired and depressed. It's one thing to choose to stay home and it's another thing to be stuck at home because it's the only safe choice.

I got a mystery box from Amazon and upon opening found my new blue friend. He's so cute and soft and I love him. Nan clearly knows about my love of stuffed animals. He definitely lifted my spirits and he sat in my living room near my sofa spot until I was able to go back to work. Now he lives in my home office.

Thanks Nan. - Jenny

Review: Dinosaur Planet & Planet Pirates series

 

Aliens and dinosaurs, what's not to love?  

I found the first two books in this series shortly after the second one was published in 1984. Anne McCaffrey the legendary creator of the world of Pern is one of my favorite authors, and these books are awesome.  Her specialty is creating unique worlds populated with relatable characters.  The books are very character driven leavened with wonder at the world and humor.  

These are two related series. The first series frequently called Dinosaur Planet is a pair: Dinosaur Planet (1978), and Dinosaur Planet Survivors (1984).   This series begins on a spaceship then quickly moves planet side after an away party of people are assigned to investigate a planet.  

Turns out that aliens moved dinosaurs from earth to this planet.  Discord in the party having little to do with the dinosaurs brings real tension to the books.  This showcases Anne's magnificent talent at writing character centric books.  The action and tension are confined to a small group of people in the first book and a slightly larger group in the second.  

The second series frequently called Planet Pirates focuses on two of the minor characters from the first series. It consists of three books: The Death of Sleep (1990) with Jody Lynn Nye, Sassinak (1990) with Elizabeth Moon, and Generation Warriors (1991) with Elizabeth Moon.  

The first book Death of Sleep follows the life of Dr. Lunzie Mespil a minor character in the away party of the Dinosaur Planet books.  It is biography, adventure story, and travelogue all in one. The focus of this book is clearly centered on her and how she deals with many surprises/obstacles in her life. The timeline in this book ends at the same place as the first book Dinosaur Planet

The second book Sassinak follows the life and times of Sassinak the commander of a ship.  Her life is also full of difficulties.  She shows up only at the end of the Dinosaur Planet Survivors book.  This book picks up her story when she's a young teen and brings her forward in the timeline to the end of Dinosaur Planet Survivors.   

Because these two books (Death of Sleep & Sassinak) were written after the first two I recommend reading them in the order of publication.  These two characters are slightly different in the Dinosaur Planet books.

The final book in the series sets both Lunzie and Sassinak with the task of finding evidence to convict planet pirates.  Now the storyline breaks into pieces telling separate stories of our two heroines and a couple of subplots for other characters to try to find the evidence.  They intertwine and come back together for the conclusion. 

McCaffrey's cowriting books with talented authors starts at this point in time.  I find that the addition of these co-authors is a positive thing. It constrains her tendency to go off on new storyline tangents as new and interesting characters show up. The last few of her Pern books are full of this problem.  Instead of a consistent story from a few points of view we get yanked around to every interesting character that crosses paths with any other interesting character.    

In the Dinosaur & Planet Pirates series she sticks to the main stories, side stories contribute and are interwoven in interesting ways. Side stories show up frequently in the last book Generation Warriors.  However these are necessary diversions in order to create the climax/end of the book.

Unfortunately most of this set of books is unavailable on Audible.  

Happy reading - Jenny

Chicken Ravioli/Tortellini Soup

 

I have always made a lot of soup.  I grew up believing that you needed to use/eat and extend the foods that you have.  I would roast a chicken then if I wasn't going to make soup the next day I would stash the leftover carcass in the freezer.  Either way I could simmer it for several hours to create chicken stock.  Eventually I started freezing the chicken stock into ice cubes to use in my cooking.   I cook more chicken breasts than whole chickens now which means that I rarely have enough leftovers to make stock.  This change in my cooking has forced me to use boxed chicken broth and/or bouillon.  I always look for cartons that are low in sodium with no sugar added. If I have to choose I'd rather have no sugar.  

The problem I have with store bought stock is that it frequently lacks the true depth of flavor of my homemade stock.  To overcome this I add granulated onion and other herbs (or sauté ingredients in onion & herbs) depending on what flavor profile I'm aiming for.

You will need to determine your own proportions.  This is what I do:

• 2 boxes of chicken broth 
• 4 cups water and 4 tablespoons bouillon
• 1/2 cup granulated onion
• 2-3 tsp poultry seasoning
• 1 refrigerated container of ravioli or tortellini (usually cheese filled)
• 1 small head of cabbage chopped
• Additional canned or frozen veggies such as peas & carrots
• Leftover chicken roughly chopped

Bring broth, water, bouillon and seasoning to a boil.  Add pasta and chopped cabbage.  Bring back to a boil and then simmer for the amount of time suggested on the package of pasta.  Two minutes before it is done add any other canned veggies (or microwaved frozen) along with the chopped chicken.   This makes a LOT of soup.  You could cut it in half if you can find a smaller container of pasta.  I have made a smaller batch using 2 cups of the dried ravioli (1 cup dried to 1 box broth).   From start to finish this usually takes about 20 minutes.