Eggs of the devil

Windy windy day.  Red Flag warning, which means DON'T burn your brush piles or have a cookout, lest it turn into a wildfire.  Good thing we weren't planning to set off any fireworks this evening.

I started lettuce and pepper seeds today, a little later than I probably should have.  Next week I'll start basil and tomato.  My onions are doing ok, not great, but not horrible.

We're still getting plenty of eggs from the hens.  I deviled 16 of them (eggs, not hens) for dinner last night.  That may seem excessive, but we all love deviled eggs.  Not one of them went to waste.  When my boys were younger they called them 'debbled eggs.'

I use the basic deviled egg recipe from my old Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook.  We don't add any of the extras, because the eggs taste great just the way they are.  Besides, the cookbook photo next to the recipe doesn't exactly make me want to try the other variations.  Quite the opposite, in fact.  It's bizarre to me how cookbook editors thought some of those old photos looked at all appetizing. 

Pickled eggs served in a drinking glass?  Hglugh.

Trust me guys, putting an olive on top of stuff does NOT make it look better.  And I'm saying this as someone who is generally fond of olives.

What kind of monster fills their deviled eggs from the top?

In other news, spring has officially arrived.  How do I know this?  Because the flies are back in the house.  After six months of seeing nary a fly, in the last hour I have seen and swatted three.  How is it that they all arrive at the same time?  At EXACTLY the same time?

It's a few days past the 24th, but I did remember to wish my old horse Shady a happy birthday on the day.  I'm not sure why I've always remembered her birthday, but I have.  We were born in the same year, so if she were alive she'd be 50 now.  Which would be very very old, but not record-breaking.  Guinness says the longest-lived horse died at the age of 51.  Shady died when she (and I) was 24.  A long time ago.

Shady on the left, my old cat Aphrodite on the right.

G takes his ACT test tomorrow.  He's gone to bed early in order to get a long night's rest.  I'm sure he'll do very well - he's a bright kid.  And he's been getting straight As for the last couple of years, so he's also determined.  B's bright too, but we have to shackle him to the chair to get him to pay attention to his online classes.  

O and E are coming over for the Easter weekend.  I've got the 1st through the 5th off, and the boys have a few days off as well, so we'll have a lot of time for games and chatting.  And it looks like O and E will be living with us again this summer - they've both got a good-paying job lined up at Firmenich in town.  Hooray!

Thoughts of spring

I received my second COVID-19 shot on Monday.  Other than a few aches and a fuzzy brain (totally vaccine-related and not just because I'm normally that way), no big reactions.  I hope my immune system learned a few things.

I received my seed packets from the UMN Master Gardener seed trials this week.  I'm growing storage onions, marigolds and kale for them this year.  Last year I trialed basil and leaf lettuce.  The basil was a complete failure - my first ever experience with damping-off killed all the seedlings before they could get into the ground.  But the leaf lettuce, which I had never grown before, was a success.  Successful enough that I will be growing some on my own this year.

I've just finished planting the trial onion seeds, each carefully labeled in their own individual trays.  My other onions are doing well, already 2" tall.

Hubby wasn't feeling well Sunday night, so on Monday he went in for a COVID test.  The doctor told him to isolate until he got the results, 2-5 days.  So he took a 'basement vacation' until Wednesday morning.  He brought our dorm frig and extra microwave down to the basement, and slept in Owen's old bedroom.  We left suppers and other supplies for him at the top of the stairs.  He spent a lot of time streaming Netflix, going through several seasons of Agents of Shield.  Fortunately the tests came back negative, which we were expecting.  Other than the Sunday night issues, he's felt fine all week.

Highs around 50 today, and 70 by Tuesday.  Needless to say all of our remaining snow should be gone by then.  The sun is shining and everyone is thinking about spring.  But as it's still early March, we'll get a few more shots of snow before we can relax our guard and put away the snow shovels.  Spring is a fickle mistress in Minnesota, coming and going with seasonal whim.  Best not to tempt fate by getting your hopes up too early.