January 2nd

Well, I lasted one whole day after completing a year's worth of daily photos on another blog (http://gulfshoredailypix.blogspot.com) and here I am starting up an new one!!

I must be a little addicted to blogging, I guess. Unlike the aforementioned blog, this one isn't likely to be an every day posting, taking the stress out what should be something fun. I'm staying with blogger.com because I'm used to it and because it has a pretty good spell checker, although I wish I could get it to learn "Pugwash"!

This will be a record of funny, silly or outrageous things that have happened that day (or at least recently) or events/people/things I have been reminded of from days of yore.

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I was compelled to stay home yesterday because our annual January 1st blizzard was coming in straight from the north with -12C + whatever wind chills.

I had parked the car across the road in anticipation of being snowed in after New Years Eve festivities at Jubilee Cottage in Wallace .

(Thanks summer residents Bob and Marina!) I don't know why, but their driveway hardly ever fills with snow, whereas mine plugs right up -



particularly in front of the barn. However, in my juggling of gloves, wine bag, purse and flashlight in a howling gale at 12:30am, my camera got left behind and I couldn't get to it until today. After a year of daily photos, I suffered serious photography withdrawal symptoms all yesterday.

Believe me, there were many photo ops yesterday during one doozy of a storm - real or imagined.

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Moving on from the missed photos (I must be addicted!!) .......... today the big job on hand was to fix the storm door handle I broke yesterday. Easier said than done! However, it had to be done - all I had to keep it from flying off it's hinges in the wind was a piece of string tried to the chain and the door jamb.

Cindy at HomeHardware wanted me to take the whole handle assembly, but all that was broken was the inside handle. The best decision I made to today was to listen to Cindy enough by getting both.

It was -11C and breezy and the storm door is aluminum and therefore very cold. No, I didn't try to lick it ... its a door, not a flagpole! (only northern North Americans will get that joke).

First I tried the inside handle only package. That would have worked out fine if the little metal post thingy from the outside part were a teeny bit longer. I have no idea how the assembly ever worked before. After several tries, it refused to grow any longer, so I had to abandon that idea.

So, still balking from using the whole new assembly (I'm so cheap!) off to the barn I go to reclaim one from a old door I had replaced one time and had kept, just in case. This time the little metal post thingy was too long (the recycled door was thicker). I could have cut it, but I would actually like to use that door sometime and a new handle for a thick door could be hard to find, or at least expensive (see what I mean about being cheap?).

So, I had to open the new package after all. Everything was going fairly well (between sessions back into the house to thaw out) but the cheap screws in the package took an eternity to get lined up with the outer part.

Meanwhile, I was being constantly bombarded by chickadees demanding sunflower seeds from my pocket.

A further interruption was stopping to satisfy my curiosity to discover the origin of an awful noise coming nearby from the east. What sounded like the cries of a lost seal being taunted by a herd of cattle turned out to be my neighbour calling a coyote he could see in the back fields. He's a hunter, so I didn't like to ask him what he would do if the coyote responded, I just went back to wrestling with the door.

At one point the whole shooting match sprung away from the house and into the snow. It took quite some time and a couple of bad words to find the metal post thing and spring.

After having replaced the entire assembly, catch and all, I am back in business - as far as storm doors go.

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Found out today that my little cat is absolutely in love with Eva Cassidy's singing. She had the speakers head butted right off the desk a couple of times today.

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The excesses of the season caught up with me this evening and (very unusually for me) had no appetite. I had bought some sole and tinned clams on sale (still with the cheapness) today, so I made a chowder this evening, just to get the fish cooked. I am also lazy, so I made it just using one saucepan, making this up as I went along. It turned out OK.

Fish and clam chowder

1oz butter
2 rasher bacon, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 peeled carrot, diced
2 (peeled optional) potato, diced
water to cover
White fish (eg sole)
Fresh ground pepper
1 small can (142g) clams (and broth)
1 cup milk
2 tsp cornstarch

• In a medium sized saucepan and medium heat, fry up the bacon in the butter.
• Add the onions and when they are nearly opaque, add the garlic, closely followed by the remaining vegetables.
• Add enough water to cover and simmer, covered, until the veggies are very nearly cooked.
• Add the fish, already cut up in bite size pieces.
• After a few minutes the fish should be cooked. Add the clams (and broth) and pepper.
  
• Add the cornstarch to a little of the milk, blend until there are no lumps. Add the rest of the milk and then that milk mixture to the chowder.
• Bring back to a simmer and keep stirring.
• When the chowder has thickened, it is ready to serve.