First skijor, aborted

This year, the snow came so quickly after the cold that I thought we might skip trail walking and go straight to skiing! Well, I tried a skijor today, and maybe I could've skied, but there was not enough snow for control for skijoring. But the girls were game. Sweet Thistle and even Cricket were very patient with me while I flailed about.

See look how narrow our connector trail is. (By this point, I have removed my skis and am walking).

Sometimes taking off your skis and walking home is the better part of valor.

And BAM now it's winter!

Last night, about 4 inches of snow came down! This is definitely enough to ski in!

Our morning run was exhausting! For me, not for them! Quadrupeds have an advantage in fresh snow! I think tomorrow I'll explore the trails for the first time this year--on skis!

Cricket snuggle!

Do you think Miss Thistle is comfy? I sure hope she is comfy.

Early Winter Report

Back when we were still going to campus, I was chatting with a colleague in petroleum engineering. He said that, contrary to stereotype about the lazy "kids these days", he was worried about why his students stressed out so much. Why freak out if they lose a single point on a homework problem? It won't even impact their grades! I agreed. They are young and should start learning about work-life balance. Putting in more and more time and sweat starts to have diminishing returns after a certain point. I was thinking about this while I was grading my students' midterms. It's very obvious where some of them belabored and sweated tiny details. They will be GREAT engineers, but I want them to be healthy people, too. You know that thing about putting on your own oxygen masks before helping others?

Well anyway... Here is an attempted selfie with Cricket. She promptly flipped over for a bellyrub. Oops.

The trails have frozen up enough so that we can walk them now! But there is not yet enough snow to ski.

I ordered studded running shoes from Icebug. They are a Swedish company, and I figured they'd know ice. Well, they are very nice! My first run in them, we had a fox dart across the road in front of us, and the dogs wanted to chase it. I was able to hold them back without being dragged mercilessly across the snowy road. :D

Cricket likes to snuggle with DL while he reads.

The other day was sort of warm, so I had to split some logs to have a smaller fire. I was wearing my favorite red flannel shirt. As I split wood in my flannel shirt outside my log cabin, I felt like such a poser! Like one of the LL Bean models with the manicured hands! But then I realized that this *is* my actual life! So!

Look at these faces! I have not eaten an entire apple all by myself since I started working from home!

First Snow!

This delphinium lingered to greet the first snow!

So pretty!

YAY! SNOW! Autumn, Linden, and Roo would've run up and down the driveway, and round and round the cabin.

But Thistle is much more quietly contemplative.

And Cricket follows her lead.

Yay! When should I wax my skis?

Good Fall Eats

Now that cooler weather is here again, I actually enjoy turning on my oven. I can also get yeast again, so I use it freely instead of hoarding precious little packets and doing strange things like buying "instant" pizza crust in a pilsbury can and then massaging it from a rectangle into a circle.

So here is the order in which our supplies recovered:

Toilet paper
Bleach in bottles
Hand Sanitizer
Bleach wipes
Yeast

I never would have guessed that toilet paper and yeast would be hoarded items in a global crisis, but I would have been wrong.

Anyway, here is my long-awaited focaccia:

I greated asiago on top. When it was done, I thought, Huh, I could make this like a cheese bagel. And a few days later, I did that, using a coarse grater and mixing asiago inside the dough along with sprinkling more on top.

It was very nice.

Another thing that only appears in our rotation in colder months: mac n cheese! (with meatloaf and roasted brussels sprouts)

My last two cartons of eggs both came from different sources (one local here in Fairbanks, the other in Washington), and both contained double-yolked eggs!

A few days later, I made several loaves of pumpkin bread, and found that every single egg in both cartons was a double-yolker! What are the odds of that??

Here is my long-awaited pizza. (And potato leek soup)

Mmm

Here is a quiche

And roasted turnips from one of our last CSA shares.

Potatoes roast nicely too!

I roasted those alongside this spatchcocked chicken:

These, my friends, are Laura Bush's Texas Cowboy Cookies. I'm no fan of that Potential-First-Lady cookie contest. I think it's a relic from a bygone era. But I lovelovelove Laura Bush's cookies. Anyway, since Family Circle Magazine, which was the keeper of this silly tradition, has gone under, I guess we'll never know what cookies Jill Biden would have put forth. Anyway, I think these are a real deal family recipe! (I have my doubts about the Clintons', since Bill struggles with his health and is now a vegan, as well as Melania Trump's, since she is a model whose marriage and career both depend on her physical appearance.) I found it on the George W. Bush Presidential Center website.

Texas, which if Alaska were divided in half, would be the third largest state in the Nation, is very proud of Doing Things Big, so there are a whoppin' ten cups of add-ins (oats, chocolate chips, pecans, shredded coconut).

And Mrs. Bush directs you to scoop them out in quarter cups, so they are big!

I would like to wish all 14 of my loyal readers a lovely, safe, and peaceful Fall. May we all return to Boring Times soon. :)

Happy St. Francis Day!

Happy St. Francis Day! Patron saint of my hometown and lover of animals. Hug your pets, and know that thanks to them, you will always be loved. ❤