Pipsissewa

 
I got a really nice surprise today while I was out doing cases.

I've only seen this plant a few other times, and I thought it didn't grow this far south. But it does. According to Michigan Flora, it grows throughout Michigan but is rather localized the farther south you go. This is Pipsissewa, Chimaphila umbellata. That means umbrella-like winter lover. The leaves are evergreen, and the flower is like a little umbrella. I've never seen the flower. But I sure know the plant. Here's what I saw.



I said to myself, "That looks like pipsissewa, but here?" See how the leaves grow in stacked whorls around the stem, and how dark and waxy they are, with little teeth?



Then I saw the seed pods, and I knew that's what it had to be. The pods look very much like those of Spotted Wintergreen, another species in the same genus.



If you follow the link below you can see when I saw it in bud. But now. NOW! I can maybe track it down when it's blooming. This is only about 30 minutes from my house. Made my day!

	See The Road Beckons
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Primary Colors

 

I still have a lot of cleaning up and putting away to do, but the splashboard is done!

I'm liking it.



Of course, now you can tell how faded the curtains are. Sigh. I love that fabric. I was hoping I wouldn't have to ever change them, but they really are dingy looking.

And at some point in time, the dead dishwasher needs to leave. And, the drawer that isn't quite closed? Well, the real fix is $15 and a four week wait for a stupid little piece of plastic. Meanwhile, I taped the old bracket, but it keeps the drawer from closing. I'm contemplating how I can make my own.

	See Project Progress
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Did You Ever See?

 
...a lassie go this way and that way? Oh wait, that's not where I was going with this post.

Today was a project day. Lots of little repairs that have to be done around here. Mostly I forgot to take pictures, but that's OK, they are pretty boring. I'm sure you have similar stupid needs at your house.

First, I tacked up a piece of fascia cover that blew down in the windstorm last weekend. That involved getting a friend from church to help put up the ladder because, sigh... I can't handle the extension ladder alone any more. Done.

Then, I cosmetically covered a water stain in the kitchen ceiling (not related to the roof project). The cause of the stain has been long fixed, but the ceiling damage was small, but ugly and annoying. Done

Last on the list was to figure out why the light over the kitchen table was falling out of the ceiling. It was something of a mystery. Until I got the box out.



Did you ever see one of these boxes disintegrate like this? All those broken places were like that when I took the box out. It just came apart in my hand. The reason it was falling was that the screw holes had broken out larger than the screw heads. The helper people at Lowe's said they had never seen anything like it. I hope we don't have a house full of them. I know there is one more to do. So far it's not as critical as this one.

This light is heavy. And I had to have a way to take the weight off the chain to get the light detached. Voila!



Then there is the little matter of getting the new box back in the ceiling. Well, getting it in is easy. Fastening it to the bracket is impossible to do after the ceiling drywall is in place. Hmmm. Had to cut a space for my hand beside the hole. Even then it was really difficult, but I did finally get it fastened.

But by then it was getting dark. And, um... I had to turn off the electricity to play with the wiring, right? (Let's hope I'm bright enough to do that.) So... end of story for today. I'll have to do the plaster repair and hang the light tomorrow.

I really HATE little jobs like this. So pat me on the back folks, and keep me motivated to finish this dumb light tomorrow.

(And all the mess from the colored "tiles" is still out because that isn't done either.)

	See Project Progress
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Spirit of the Woods Hike- November

 
All the people who might have come but thought the weather was going to be too wet missed a really great hike!

It did not rain on us at all. This stretch of trail through scrubby jackpine that seems rather dull and uninteresting in summer really looks appealing in the fall. We did part of the North Country Trail, south of 56th St.



There were four of us humans, and one very well-behaved Golden named Sugar (not the one that blogs).



After two solid days of rain and predictions for more, this is what we had instead. It was a perfectly lovely day for a hike, and we walked out and back for a total of about eight miles. We hiked to a bridge the club built across a little seasonal wetland. I'd never been there when the pond was dry before. That was interesting. An area where you expect a little water feature looks very different when it's just another green place in the forest that's a little lower than the surrounding space.



I took a picture of the "pond" when dry. But without a picture with the water to compare it doesn't say much. Maybe I can find a picture with the water to show the two. I know I have one somewhere. The "somewhere" is always the problem, right?

Finally, I just liked how rich this leaf looked.



That is all! I came home and slept for a while, and I think I'll soon be off to dreamland again.

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Maybe I Finally Have the Hang of It?

 



I haven't bought any bread since August when I came home with Sylvia's recipe. I've made hers twice, a recipe called Colonial Bread twice (that I'm slowly altering to add more grains), and today I made this one- Pumpkin Bread.

Here's the thing. My success with yeast bread over the years has been spotty, to say the least. More than half the time the loaves rise nicely but then fall while baking. But the internet is a wonderful thing. I found suggested answers! It seems that in my concern about adding too much flour and making them heavy, I haven't been using enough. And I've gone to longer kneading too.

I made this pumpkin yeast bread a couple of times last year, and it came out pretty good, but this is definitely the best yet.

Oh, ok... the pumpkin is squash today. Shhhh, don't tell Loretta. With the spices, you can't tell any difference in taste, anyway.



Gosh, no, all this squash didn't go in the bread. I also made soup, and put some in the freezer.

I also tried adding some crunchies to the bread. I had a few pepitas (the green pumpkin seeds), so I chopped them up and threw them in. I think I'd like even more, but this was all I had on hand.



Here's how the bread looked in progress, and you can see that I'm using my Hoosier Cabinet. (Just loving it as much as ever!)



"Why are you making so much bread?" you ask The yummy breads that have some body and texture to them are really expensive. Also, the slices are thick. This way I can cut thin slices, and although I haven't figured it out for sure, my guess is that I'm getting 4 or 5 loaves of bread for $2.50- $3.00, instead of one. Works for me!

	See Hoosier Cabinet- Day 3
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