Pea soup and ham sounds good, but I've been eating a lot of soup lately, as I have been under the weather since Wednesday of last week, which is why I did not post under TGIF last week. I'm much better now, probably at 95%, but I will still take it easy this week-end. It's gotten cool here (mid 60s) and I think we may have had rain last night, which might happen again this week-end, which would be wonderful. If I'm up to it, I will make tamales. I found corn husks at Sprout's, but they cost $5, which I found to be expensive. Last Saturday (when I should have stayed home), we went to what I thought was a Von's close to our house, but it is now a dollar (or 99 cent) store, and I guess corn husks are too expensive for them to carry! Before that we went to a grocery/liquor store that is even closer to our house, and its doors had been chained, as it is going through a change of ownership. The large recycling center in its parking lot was still open, however, but that was all that was going on. Kevin said that he had seen people who collect bottles and cans get vouchers for what they had collected and then used those vouchers to buy lottery tickets! I think they should have given them food stamps instead. There are too many dollar stores now, I think. The fruit and vegetable market that we used to go to is also now a dollar store. I will say that the dollar store that used to be a Von's is much cleaner than the Von's was, and I did not shop at the Von's because it was not very nice. It would be nice if a dollar store would reopen as a vegetable market. Maybe I'll make pizzas this week-end and put some of my Roma tomatoes on them. I've been mostly avoiding cheese while I was sick, as I think it makes congestion worse. I think I'll be fully recovered by tomorrow. I want to make something besides soup. I did make some very good cabbage soup while I was sick, and it was quick and easy and much better than I expected, although it did not have much of a cabbage flavor. I had Kimchee flavored soup yesterday. I turn the TV off whenever anything Superbowl comes on - it's just a lot of annoying noise as far as I'm concerned. Stay well, everyone and have a great week-end! Lars

Diane, we are NOT getting older. Nope, we're not. 2013 sure flew, though. Lars, I'm sorry December was so difficult for you, I hope January is much better, and all of 2014. I'm sending you hugs, and some to Kevin too. Grainlady, here I have the world's best neighbor. He has a snowblower on his lawn tractor and always clears the driveway. In return I bake him bread. It's a great deal for me! Katie, beans and cornbrad sound really good, I need to get some more of those mayacoba beans, I like them a lot. Rob, you are definitely way late on the gloves. My problem is that I can't seem to do anything with gloves on, so whether it's pumping gas or shoveling hay, I end up pulling the gloves off anyway. Ellen, enjoy those grandkids. I have the Princess and Bud here for the night, so they baked cookies with Elery and we'll have Nutella Crepes for breakfast. Here I finally got garlic into the dehydrator, it was starting to sprout in the cellar. I had planned to keep some for seed garlic but since I put the house up for sale in October and my nephew was still living at the farm, I didn't know where the heck to plant it. So, all that heirloom garlic that Katie sent me is now dried garlic. (sigh) Maybe next year. Tomorrow we'll take the kids home and feed the stock and fill tanks. It was a high of 10F here today and about -3 when I went to the farm. It'll be in the single digits to below zero until the middle of next week and then warm up, but we have "dangerous wind chill" alerts going from Sunday until Tuesday. I hope the tank heater holds out... Angelaid, sometimes it's just like that. Take a deep breath, it'll be better. Stay warm, everyone. Annie

Getting to a chore that I have put off too many years. Hope to finish it this next month. Finishing a tablecloth for a classmate of my son's. He found it partially done in his mother's house when he cleaned up after he death. It has proven to be a far more daunting task than I thought it would be, and my trepidation has led me to put it away too many times.

Still clear skies, mostly, but getting colder. The leaves are mostly down. I'm getting out the winter clothes and wrapping the backyard up for another Oregon rainy season. We are hoping for snow this year, after four years with hardly a trace. My son wants to build a microscope this weekend, so we'll do that. My daughter may want to go to the darkroom. I want to take one early morning and go for a bike ride. I might go explore some of the steep windy roads in the West Hill that lead to the zoo. Or just do laps up my local hill, less scenic but a more efficient workout. Sometimes I wear a heart rate monitor on these rides. Afterwards I can look at the data and see how my heart rate spiked when the road turned upwards or when the speed rose. The rule of thumb is that your maximum heart rate is 220 minus your age. I think that is bunkum, or at least that it varies so much between individuals that it is no rule at all. I have gotten my heart rate up to 200 beats/ minute, only for a few seconds, but those were exhilarating seconds. On a pretty routine basis, I ride at 170 bpm which is 85% of my max heart rate, or a. "submaximal" heart rate. There is a whole science of training by heart rate - you are supposed to spend X time at 80%+ of max, Y time at 60%, and so on. I don't pay attention to that. I just like to get up to 170 bpm frequently and see if anything untoward happens. It is kind of my personal security blanket. There is another test you can do, which is a little more useful. You get your heart rate up to 150 bpm or so, which might mean a few minutes of jumping jacks or chopping wood or running fast. Then stop, sit down, and see how long it takes for your heart rate to settle down to 100 bpm. It should only take one or two minutes. If your heart continues to beat at a high rate for much longer, that is a worrisome sign. This is called "recovery heart rate". Finally, there is "resting pulse". The true resting pulse is taken when you are laying down and completely relaxed. In the morning, right after waking up, is a good time. Some people have a high resting pulse, some a lower one. The interesting thing is how it changes. If you get serious about exercise, you can lower your resting pulse quite dramatically. That is a sign that your heart has become more efficient, which is a good thing. I've been thinking a lot about getting older. My kids are only teenagers, and I'm fifty. I don't know when they will have kids. When I have grandchildren, I want to take them riding and skiing and fishing. That means I will have to be strong and athletic into my seventies. Gulp. My dad had a heart attack in his mid seventies. My neighbor is seventy-five and has CHF and PAH. I've got a lot of work to do, anyway that is how it feels, so I get on the bike every day and push until it hurts. It actually is kind of pleasant to hurt. I think I've learned a little about masochism. But I digress. What were we talking about? Cooking. I'm going to go through my Momofuku cookbook and make some Asian comfort food. Daughter is getting interested in sushi so we'll make some basic rolls. Son is a big ramen fan, we'll roast some pork and leeks and make a big hot bowlful. I'll make some meals for my neighbor with the health problems. And I think I will try baking bread again. I was on a low-carb kick this summer, but it turns out I need some carbs. Carbs = glycogen. Glycogen = muscle energy for efforts longer than a few minutes. No carbs = weak muscles. Doesn't work for me.