Hopefully we’ll stay a while and will have new neighbors in the empty place a few doors over. He saw my photos today and confirmed that I got a rare blurry photo (because I was taking it inside through a dirty window and looking for the bill for identification). Sometimes shopkeepers look at identification for the bill but I was looking at the bill of a bird at the time.
So now they won’t let me see the photos before I preview or post this, like it’s wasting paper. OK, I’ll have to say that there’s a woodcock, which is not rare but rarely photographable as you can see from this shot. Also two glossy ibis, which a birder emailed me to say never come to Utah. They do. The photos I saw were from Utah and these were taken outside our home. The Bird Man confirmed it. Otherwise we have the Greater Sandhill Cranes, two were here for a couple of days but I didn’t see or hear them today so they may have headed north.
What photos I take of area wildlife don’t compare in any way to looking at them in person, and for the birds in the preserve, using binoculars. What a beautiful country we live in. I see the land here, look at my new guitar, and right now it’s telling me “This Land Is Your Land…” and if we protect it by saving our environment, it will be in the future. Hey, I’ve yet to cook from my organic surprise package. Too busy with emails etc. Keep on cooking. Dee
PS The middle photo is a fully-grown marmot (prairie dog) next door.
Overnight we received our first home food delivery, including eggs, cheese, applewood smoked bacon, a couple of steaks and other items. Unfortunately they were left in grocery cooler bags and not in the 70 qt. rolling cooler we purchased and are supposed to set out every week to keep things fresh. Nothing seemed spoiled this morning but it was disappointing.
I told you about the milkman. First time I’ve had a milkman in 40 years! We got one gallon of organic milk, in a GLASS bottle. All I need to do is rinse out the bottle and leave it out next week and they’ll hold the $1.50 deposit for my weekly standing order. Cool!
Now to the surprise. I wanted to challenge myself with fresh produce to get me out of a cooking rut. Cooking only meat is getting boring but Jim can’t eat fish and isn’t much interested in veggies (unless it’s an iceberg wedge with Thousand Island or a loaded baked potato) so… ta dah!
In this week’s first shipment, for $19.95, the coolest thing is gorgeous bunch of carrots with fluffy green tops attached, dirt and roots. Lets me know it’s local and fresh. Two lemons, one hard avocado that I’m ripening on the counter, two cucumbers, 1# of cherries, one head of iceberg lettuce and 3# of organic red onions.
I love a cold cuke soup with yogurt and lemon but Jim doesn’t, so here’s what I’m thinking. I’ve tons of eggs, what with 18 in the frig and 24 just delivered. Cold supper with ham and cheese and artisan bread, maybe homemade. Hard-cooked eggs. Fresh tomatoes. Cucumber salad (my grandmother’s recipe is on this site).
Perhaps tomorrow I’ll try a cherry clafoutis (pancake of sorts) that I haven’t made since cooking school. Right now I must get ready for my guitar lesson as I’ve been somewhat lax in practicing.
I did download some iTunes this past week to help with my lessons. More on that later. Viva local Utah milk, eggs, and organic produce! Dee
