Begin And End

The day ended as it had begun - cold.  In between, it was cold.  A light dusting of snow had fallen in the early morning dark, which turned into a benefit because when the sun did come out the snow melted fast, taking a lot of the hail away with it.  Regardless, as the photo shows, the sun didn't stay out long and we never got above the 30s all day.  The birdbath in the herb garden remains a frozen skating rink.

A solution to the acorn problem may be ahead.  The ground squirrels must be tucked into their burrows, but I noticed a large number of grey tree squirrels out and about the shed yesterday.  If those acorns aren't petrified, the grey squirrels have hit the mother lode.  Perhaps all I need do, when I dredge up enough ambition, is barrow them to the drop off in the yard and let the critters take them away.  But then, where will they store them?  This could be an unending acorn round-robin situation.

Is there a better kitchen aroma than bacon and onions frying?  Well, yes, but bacon and onions are right up there at the top of my list.  Hungry, but not wanting to do a lot of cooking and needing to do something with a tub of leftover mashed potatoes, I thought, "Potato Soup!"  The weather certainly cried out for some comfort food and what better than a bowl of hot soup?  When the diced bacon was crisp and the onions softened, I dumped in the mashed potatoes, added some herbs and spices, poured in quite a lot of milk and heated to a low boil.  Ladled into a dish, the addition of grated sharp cheddar cheese was the perfect finishing touch for a winter meal.  Portioned into bags when cool, the rest of the soup went into the freezer.  Win now-win later!

 My phone tells me optimistically that we may heat up to 43 today.  Yeah, well, it said that yesterday, too.