By the way, the velcro on the girls' reflective vests stopped working, so I replaced it with reflective belts and epoxied their blinky lights to the new collars of the vests (their blinky lights had a tendency to fall off them). Check it out. Pretty spiffy, eh?
Last year I put off wearing my warmest clothes. It was a psychological trick for me. I'd say, "Well, it's not that cold yet. I'm still not wearing my blahblah." Well, Winter got colder, then warmer, and then it was gone, and I never made it to my nicest, warmest, fuzziest things. Well screw that! This year, I know what's coming, so I know what I need. I also know that I have lots of nice fuzzy things that I can wear right now! Besides, sometimes it is nice to be warmer than merely comfortable, in a nice fuzzy sweater with a nice fuzzy dog or two. :) Rabbits are even fuzzier, but I am afraid of them. :)
By the way, I've learned a few things about whey since most Alaskan pigs are now in freezers and unable to enjoy mine...
1) Getting rid of whey is apparently a nuisance on an industrial scale. Cheese manufacturers pay people to take it away! (awhey! Hahahahahaha!! a-hem. Sorry. Where was I?). Yeah, I read that sure enough, pig farmers are more than happy to feed it to their pigs, but that the cheese makers have to pay to have it hauled there. Weird. I guess when you have that much of it, you can't just pour it in the ground.
2) Whey is a great base for soup! It's mo' nutrisher that way, as my father would put it. Thanks, Dingo Dave, for the idea!
3) Whey makes bread feather-light! Yum! I made olive bread over the weekend with whey, and it was whey-delicious! Whey-cool! Whey-awesome!
My last batch of mozzarella was made partly with goat milk from Autumn and Linden's former family, who are getting goat milk now that these guys are eating more and more solid food. Fresh goat milk doesn't taste gamey the way goat products tend to. I made the cheese soft, and put it into several salads now. Delicious!
8 comments:
Your welcome, no worries mate. I just had a bunch leftover one time from making curds, I tasted it, and thought it'd make a great soup base.
Hmmmmm, frozen water bottles... One thing you can do is fill it with very hot water before you head out, and have some insulation around it. What I used to do biking in FAI in the winter is have the camelback under the outer two layers and filled with hot hot water. It's very easy to get dehyrated in the cold cus you never "feel" thirsty.
Do you use a camelbak ski-joring? I never ski-jored but I imagine it would work well.
I carry a full day bag when out skiing or joring--with spare socks, a first aid kit, clif bars, a swiss army knife, etc because you never know. But this bag is awesome--it's insulated, and it even has an insulated channel for the tube of the camelback.
Hot... water... Geeze, I'm such an idiot! Why don't I ever think of these obvious things?
And don't go out without your GPS, does it actually work or not?? Does it have Fairbanks map?
Yes, and cell phone, waterproof matches, extra windbreaker, extra silk liner, old running shoes (in case there is trouble and I need to walk out; I won't have to walk in ski boots), booties for the dogs (in case they cut a paw), water purification tablets... have you read enough? :D I keep a full stock of emergency preparedness items because I am too lazy to unpack and repack only the items I might actually need each time. So I just keep my default list, all the time.
Thank you for being careful. It is always better to go with at least one more person unless you are within a few blocks in your own neighborhood.
Check to make sure the camelbak can take hot water. The plastic might leach chemicals, as everyone is finding out with plastic water bottles these days. Maybe use your stainless steel water bottle.
I've never had trouble with the camelbak freezing because my whole bag is insulated. My water bottle freezing in mornings is not actually a huge problem either, because it only freezes at the edges, and I'm only out for an hour. Sometimes the lid gets frozen shut, though, so I keep it upside-down! I'm just astonished that it had never crossed my mind to use warmer water. I guess I'm just dense like that. :)
Need... pictures... of doggies in safety vests. :)
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