Well, not really. I've just been putting things into the freezer. The weather is bright and almost all the snow is gone but it is very windy here today. The two big girls are outside now, and Pippa was in and out all day (she's asleep right now). The bulbs are popping up all over, and I expect crocus in about a week.
I put up low-fat oatmeal cookies today - very good, they use applesauce instead of butter - baked a dozen and froze about three dozen. They are handy to have around like this - not so easy to eat out of the cookie jar, and yummy to have fresh baked out of the toaster oven. Yesterday I made pork potstickers - Phil’s favorite - and we had those, chicken and mango soup, and rice for dinner. And then I froze about two dozen of them.
The idea is to have lots stowed in the freezer against days I don’t feel like cooking so we don’t waste money on convenience food. Tonight, for instance, I plan on making one batch of enchiladas to eat and one to freeze. Some things don’t freeze well - I’ve had no luck putting potato soup in the freezer, for instance - but since I have both the small freezer on the frig and a big upright in the kitchen I may as well use them!
It looks like we may be getting Guinea Hens this year. Initially Agway said they had to have an order of at least 30 to send off, and I don’t want that many! We only want about 10-15. Well, someone else came in and said they wanted a few, and a former client of ours (who is giving us a couple of bunnies) said she wanted another 10-15, so I think the order is going to happen. Time to build a coop. Phil suggested we get peacocks, but I think he was kidding... Anyway, we want the birds to keep the tick population down. Pippa came in one day last summer with twelve ticks on her. Not biting, but still on her. Yech!
In other farm news, the first lettuce is appearing in the cold frame out front. Dad has covered the little lean-to greenhouse, and has plans to raise catfish in there. Pippa planted her “Baby Strawberries” the other day, and I suppose I ought to put some seeds in my flats, too. I still can’t quite believe spring is on the way, I guess.
The girls are doing well with school, Glady's my big reader, working her way through the Chronicles of Narnia right now. Juliet is reading small chapter books on her own now, she has definitely gotten more comfortable with reading since the beginning of the school year. And Pippa is learning how to read now! She can read little words like cat, but today I noticed that she was identifying words in a picture book by looking at the letters in the word instead of just guessing from the picture. Their Aunt Lee sent them a picture book - a read-aloud that is tons of fun, Skippyjon Jones. About a siamese kitten who decides he must be a chihuahua, and the adventures of El Skippito Friskito begin. I love the way Phil sings the songs in perfect mariachi imitation, and then Juliet goes around for days after singing them, too. He was telling the girls about his childhood in San Diego when they used to go to a Mexican restaurant, complete with a mariachi band.
I need to go start those enchiladas now, I think.
