Monthly Chat Thread - April

[jolovespiggies]

Wouldn't it be lovely to go and shoot them Cookie love? Dear little ducks.

Hugs
Jo xx

[3piggles]

I have the same problem, Cookie72. I just sign the petitions and don't read the details. I can't, or they haunt me.

I have a convection oven, two actually, as my toaster over can be convection, and so can my main gas oven. I have yet to figure out how convection alters the cooking time, and the instructions that come with the stoves are for start-from-scratch recipes, not making a cake or brownie mix, roasting a pork loin or chicken, etc. It's supposed to be great, but I don't know.

I don't think many things create a fried effect, which is one of the reasons why deep frying never stops. Anything else cooks one side more than the other, cooks unevenly or doesn't allow using a batter coating. I like to have the options. Considering the prices and the space needed to store them, I don't think I'll get an air fryer any time soon.

[jolovespiggies]

I am the same 3Piggles love, I cannot read what they are about either but I do sign lots of petitions.

Hugs
Jo xx

[3piggles]

Jo, I forgot to respond to your comment about making lasagna with ricotta cheese. My mother-in-law used to mix some sauce with the ricotta, she would make mini meatballs in advance, and mix those in, and she layered that mix between the pasta sheets. She did all the seasoning and everything right in the mix, and when it was ready, she made the lasagna. I never remembered to ask her why, but I suspect, since lasagna is a very time consuming dish to make, that anything that could be made in advance was made in advance, so on the day of making the lasagna, it was just assembly and cooking. The times I made it with her from scratch, all at one time, my back was killing me by the time I finally got it in the oven, and got to sit down. She also drained the ricotta, first thing in the morning, so by the time we needed to use it, most of the excess liquid was gone. That makes for a much firmer lasagna.

[jolovespiggies]

Thanks for your reply love. Oh wow, I bet her lasagna would be the best ever tasted, it sounds divine. My Italian grandmother had a cook who used to make all her own pasta, I have seen it on television and it is fascinating. I will remember what you have said about the meatballs love with the ricotta and I will give it a try some day. It sounds heavenly.

Hugs
JO xx

[3piggles]

Temps close to 70F/21-22C today, and hotter tomorrow. Should get up to the mid 80s/30C on Monday, with rain and high humidity, so we're getting the plants out onto the balcony, and getting the a/c set up in the bedroom. We have to get the heat blocking film back on the sliders, put it on my bedroom windows and the window over the kitchen sink, and try to cut back on the a/c bill for the summer. We may still have a cold snap that would hurt the indoor plants, but probably not. As long as temps stay in the 40sF/5C, the plants will be okay. The gnats are out, too. When we went to walk today, they were flying up hubbys nose, and getting in our eyes. Spring is definitely here.

I looked at possible bee waterers, at the garden centers, and can do as well with a good pie plate. I'll get that set up on a stand, so the bees get some water. Time to consider getting the hummingbird feeders out, too, though I seem to get more butterflies than hummingbirds at those feeders.

Hubby rebuilt out little grilling patio area, so it's really stable for me to walk on, and the grill is really stable. We had to move the gas grills off our balconies, and put them outside our basement doors. Technically, we're supposed to keep them in our little garden areas, and pull them out onto the lawn when we need to use them. I can't do that, and some other people also built paver patios, so we just upgraded ours so it's solid and stable. We will leave it when we sell the house, to whomever buys the house has it all ready for them.

[cookie72]

Yea some nice weather finally! We had close to 80 today and tomorrow's supposed to be the same. I got outside for a few hours to try and do some much neglected yard work. Just cleaning a bunch of leaves out of my flowerbed and other dead annuals from last year. I saw a few bumblebees, and you all have me thinking more about them now. There's some dandelions starting here now, so I bet that's what's attracting the bees. Makes me rethink my distaste for dandelions...I get so many of them in my yard and I usually don't spray because I hate using those chemicals. I'll set up something for them, never occurred to me before that they can benefit from people putting out waterers. On my to-do list.
I have 2 rainbarrels I purchased, used, a couple years ago, and finally set up this spring. To my disappointment, they both leak at the part where the spigot goes into the barrel. One leaks very minimally, but the other one which was full to the top after the last rain, is almost empty now. I just tried to put some epoxy glue on so hopefully that fixes it. It was pretty frustrating but I'm glad I didn't pay that much for them, and I guess to be expected sometimes when you buy something used on craigslist.

Glad your hubby got your grilling area all set up for the season! So if you had to put the grill outside the basement door, does that mean now you have to go up and down a flight of stairs to get from the kitchen to where the grill is?

[jolovespiggies]

I was very poorly yesterday ladies and the cause does not make sense. I slept on my back and woke up with the worse case of indigestion I have ever had. It was in my spine my arms and stomach and I couldn't even lie down. After suffering for hours, it eventually went at around six o'clock. Lesson of the day, never sleep on my back, but I should be able to, it doesn't make sense. Has anyone else ever experienced anything like this?

Hugs
Jo xx

[3piggles]

I've gotten gas in every body part, and it is painful!!! It was during the day, so not from sleeping on my back. I've found I have to really regulate when I eat certain foods. It sounds as if you ate whatever didn't agree with you, late enough for it to effect you while you slept. That sounds awful I'm glad you are better, now!

[Bean]

That sounds awful Jo. Did you take anything to help it go or did it just pass on its own? I'm wondering if the antibiotics you've been on have made your stomach sensitive as they can often upset your digestive tract in many ways. Might be worth mentioning it to your doctor, especially if it happens again.

Bank holiday Monday here and I'm planning to do sod all! (Apart from change all the animals out anyway, but the kids will help me with that right?!).

I think I mentioned we have blue tits nesting in our garden again this year. The other day I saw them and another couple of pairs of blue tits all frolicking in the garden together which was very cute. A few of them went through the gaps in the mesh into the rabbit run collecting their fur too - very sweet! The rabbits were inside at the time - I wonder if they'd go in with the rabbits out? Possibly not!

[bootygurl]

We just got our first cardinal in my yard this yr. My mom gets them every year but I have never seen one in my neighborhood. So I ran and got the bird food out for him. Its been so rainy I hadn't gotten to putting it out but I don't want him leaving. He was having a nice bath in the tree as it dripped warm rain. So was a nice chubby robin and some other small brown speckled birds. I have to brush up on my bird Identification.

[bootygurl]

Jo I saw a GIANT bumbler today!
He was stuck in my kitchen window. I caught him in a jar and put him back outside. He was the size of my thumb to the first knuckle!
Made me think of you! He was so happy to be outside. He seemed to turn around and do a fly by like he was thankful

[jolovespiggies]

It may well be something I ate love, I am not sure, but I was as sick as a pig as well. I am better now Piggles love thank you. Yes Bean love, I wondered if it was anything to do with the new drugs I am taking so hope it doesn't flare up again. I will mention it hun next time I speak to my doctor. How gorgeous, I love watching birdies make a nest. They are so happy and enthusiastc aren't they? Cardinals are beautiful, how lovely to have one visit you. Oh Bootygurl, thank you so much for sharing that info with me, he does sound a big fat bumbly (to much choccy LOL). I have never seen one that big and all the bees I have seen this year have been little bumblers, I will have to keep my eyes peeled. Poor thing thank you for catching him and putting him outside, was he panicng? Yes, I agree, I think he was saying thank you too love him.

Hugs
Jo xx

[3piggles]

I'm seeing lots of bumblers, and as you said, Bootygurl, some really big ones. I have to buy some marbles to make my water dish, and get that outside for them. I need to get my plant stands out of storage, and get the rest of the house plants outside. I can put a water dish on one of the stands.

I opened the kitchen window this morning, startled a cardinal, and got told off for it I think they are so beautiful!

My mint is coming back in the garden, and it is on a mission. Mint is a plant that takes over any place it is planted. I pulled out the old, dead stalks, and my hands smelled fabulously of mint. I see the original plant has sent out a lot of runners, so it's well on it's way. A neighbor is starting an herb garden in planters she can take inside in the winter. I gave her the Rosemary she requested, and she took my offer of some mint, when it's a bit bigger.

A/c is installed temporarily. We bought new screen to fix the screen hubby destroyed trying to put the water exhaust hose out through it. I think we have a much better way, but it will take some time. We bought pet screen, which is much heavier and durable than regular screen, and hopefully it won't totally pull apart the way the old screen did. A friend put pet screen in her screened porch, for her cats, and she said it was well worth the extra money. It costs twice what regular screen costs, but we don't need very much. We took today off to play with our granddaughter, so we'll get the sun blocking film on the windows, etc., tomorrow. It's 87F/31C, and humid, so I'm really glad the a/c is running in the bedroom. Cooling a bit for the next week or so, but temps will still be in the high 70s/low 80s.

We moved the rolling rack of house plants out onto the balcony, so I have to remember to water them every morning. Time of day isn't as important when they're in the house. It's really important when it's keeping their feet cool in the heat

[jolovespiggies]

Oh bless Piggles love. I hope their little tootsies stay cool too LOL!! I miss houseplants but have absolutely no where to put them. I keep looking for big bumblies but so far I have only see the small bumble bee but they are really cute too.

Hugs
JO xx

[3piggles]

I got water on my mini bird bath. It's very gently sloped, so I'm hoping the the bumblers can land on the edge and drink, until I can find some marbles.

[bootygurl]

We have a wonderful naturally occurring gravel bed that holds water well in our side yard. I think thats how we keep the bumblebees around. This one was so big. Usually they are a fair size but this guy was huge. He was a lottle perturbed that he was in the jar but was super happy to get back outside.
Sadly I have not seen mt cardinal friend since the other day but its been cooler and rainy so maybe he'll come out when its warmer again.

[3piggles]

The gravel water spot sounds perfect for the bumblers I installed a very small, dish bird bath, and I'm hoping the bumblers can land on the sloped edge and drink, without drowning. I have a quarter of a mosquito donut in the water, so they can land on that, too. It looks like a flower, so I hope they don't try to land on the flower, and drown. I'm still looking for some marbles, but we haven't gotten to the type of store that sells them.

Your cardinal will return. Mine come and go, but we have two families that are always around, even if we don't see them. Once the find a good home, they keep it.

[cookie72]

Haven't had time to catch up on the May thread yet, but remembered there was alot of bumblebee talk on this one. So every day for at least the past week, I've been finding bumblebees in my garage (one each day). This garage is attached to my house, and there's a second larger garage detached that I park my car in. So in the attached garage, I never have any doors opened except when I walk in or out. It's basically just used for storage and not my car. Every time I see a bumble, I scoop it up into a container and set it free outside, but I'm wondering how and why they keep getting in there?! Sometimes I see one buzzing around up by the rafters, and I open the door and wait for it to fly out, then close the door right away. Other times I find one on the ground. I just googled to find out what type of nests they live in, and it doesn't sound like they tend to make nests inside buildings so I'm stumped!

[3piggles]

We've been getting wasps and bees inside the house, too, and since we had the whole house sealed, we're stumped as to where they're getting in. Hubby is fixing all the screens, which should help. You must have an opening someplace, just big enough for them to bumble in.