Signing Off for a Few

It's been a busy couple of mornings, and this morning will be busy too. I've been preparing food for our family weekend. If you're new to this blog, then I'll share with you that our family plans a weekend get-away in lieu of exchanging Christmas gifts each year. This will be our fifth year doing it (I think), and it has turned out to be a wonderful way to spend time together and catch up. Matthew made a move to Las Vegas last month, and so I'm not sure what the future holds for these get-togethers. For this year, at least, he's here for the entire weekend. Lucky us!

Yesterday morning I started out baking this Muesli Toasting Bread. We'll have it for breakfast tomorrow. I'm also making a Chili Egg Puff. Someone gave me the recipe for the Chili Egg Puff a long time ago, and so I was kind of surprised to find it online. It's easy to mix up, and it doesn't take a lot of ingredients. I usually make just half. We'll toast the bread and have it on the side.

Also, I made up a Mexican Corn Salad. I'll be adding some stuff to the salad. I'm not linking to the recipe since it's a new one to me. There are lots of recipes online for different versions of Mexican Corn Salad. The one I'm making is from Cook's Illustrated, and so we'll see how it goes. This morning I'm making Enchiladas Suizas. I'll make up the sauce and the enchiladas and keep them separate until I'm ready to bake it this evening. We'll pair that with the corn salad and this Tequila Slaw with Lime and Cilantro. That's also on this morning's agenda. So dinner tonight is taken care of along with breakfast for tomorrow. We'll be smoking some salmon on Saturday, and I don't know what else Erik and Mae have planned. From there, we'll be winging it.

When I had my kitchen stuff done yesterday, I needed to fill the bird feeders and check the greenhouse. I noticed that the lavender is very close to blooming.

Also, the first tomatoes are showing themselves. I plant all sauce tomatoes. Romas are my favorites, but I couldn't find any starts this year, and so these are San Marzanos.

Also, the roses are blooming. This little bush is a floribunda, and it's covered in buds right now. I'm hoping they'll still be here when we get back in a few days.

While I was out, I encountered this little critter happily eating the strawberries.

He wasn't sure he could trust me, and so he hopped on the sidewalk to make a quick getaway, if necessary. This is a little red tree squirrel. They are about half the size of the more problematic grey diggers.

Apparently deciding I posed no threat with my camera, he hopped back over to the strawberries.

"Thank you for planting these. They are sublime."

The poppies are fading, but more are coming. I'm especially interested in the seed pods now. They are almost as pretty as the poppies themselves.

Despite all the kitchen work, there was some time for sewing in the afternoon. Sadie had already claimed the quilts-to-be-quilted pile before I even entered the room.

She really hopes I'll just keep quiet because there is serious napping afoot.

The next row of blocks is finished now, and two of the three blocks for row three are also sewn together.

I had a little scare with this Chicken Chow Mein block. The machine embroidery was only about 1/2-inch from the edge of the block...plenty for a seam allowance, but I'd forgotten there was a flange here too. It meant fudging about an eighth-inch with the placement of the flange, but it worked out.

With that little scare behind me, it seemed like a good place to stop for the day.

It was a pretty sunrise this morning. We're expecting rain later in the day, but the weekend is looking good.

Knowing I would have very little time this morning, I've already done my slow stitching for the day. The July heart was started yesterday, and I've stitched it this far now.

As I'm sitting here, Smitty is sitting in the window beside me, glaring, and hoping he isn't headed for another day cooped up inside.

I'm afraid he is, but help is on the way. We've hired a Wildlife Control Operator to come in next week and set some traps. Mike and I were discussing this coyote issue yesterday evening, and pieces are starting to fall into place. If you've been reading long enough, you might recall that we lost our kitty Maggie to coyotes (presumably) almost exactly two years ago. Back then, we started seeing a coyote pair running across the road and in other places. We started keeping Smitty in back then while we built the catio for him and Sadie (who hadn't yet joined us). It occurs to us that this breeding pair has probably been raising pups successfully in our woods each year for a couple of years, and so it makes sense they would keep coming back annually.

Last night we watched as they crossed the field near the fence, pausing to hunt some gophers...or moles...or squirrels...I don't know what they're hunting, but I'm certain cats are on the menu as well. Whatever. We're hopeful they can be rounded up and "removed" soon enough. Smitty and Sadie are probably resigned to at least a couple of more weeks of confinement until we get the all clear sign from our guy. It can't happen soon enough. We've tried to live cooperatively with all of our wildlife in our 17 years here, but enough is enough.

Okay, so much to do, and those enchiladas aren't going to make themselves. I'll be back here by Tuesday to tell you about our weekend. Until then, sew on.