Saturday, April 11, 2020

Keep On, Y'all. Keep On With It


This is what Liberace's feathers look like when he does a head-shake. Isn't that amazing?

It has been a very good day for me. I felt like I got a lot of things done that needed doing. Just little things but important things in my tiny universe.
First of all, the baby chicks went out into the baby coop.




This little one, one of the banties, is just the cutest thing ever. Look at her tiny feathery boots. Can you imagine what it must be like to go from a lifetime of living in a red Rubbermaid bin to finding oneself in a wire coop that lets in daylight and fresh air and sounds and smells? And yes, chickens can smell. Here's an article. 
It is probably pretty scary in the new world for them but they adapt. One end of the little coop is enclosed and I put hay in there so they can feel like they have a place to hide but I put the food and water where they have to go to the other end to eat and drink. They do almost everything as a group- a flock, if you will- and that helps with courage, I'm sure. 

So I cleaned out their bin for the last time and it's such a nice thing to walk through the laundry room and not be assaulted with the odor of preteen chicks although their chirping has been so very friendly. 

Inspired by Lon I made up some hummingbird nectar and put the feeder up. He says he's getting SO many this year. 


Now all we have to do is wait. 

I kicked bamboo. Good Lord, but it never ends! Well, it will for this season but in the cosmic sense it will continue forever. Or at least until our environment here no longer supports its growth. Since it's only going to get warmer, this might take awhile. Here's one that got away from me. 


The sneaky damn thing grew up right by the fence, hidden by the confederate jasmine for awhile. Once it hit the sunlight it leapt upwards at an alarming rate. 
As it does. 

Here's Jack, watching me in the yard doing what he obviously thinks is completely ridiculous. 


That boy is getting thik, as the kids say these days. Or is it thic? Whatever, my man Jack is fat. Dense. Sturdy. A comfort to sleep with. 

While I was kicking bamboo I solved the puzzle of the glass cloche when I found the wire hanging thing it obviously goes in. And you know what? I have a vague memory of this from years ago. I picked a few spider plant babies and stuck them in the glass part with water in it. Looks like this now.


Fancy, huh? 

And while I was on the front porch collecting the baby spider plants (one thing does lead to another, doesn't it?) I discovered where some of the hens have been laying since the snake spooked them in the hen house. 


I knew they couldn't be over a week old because I watered the porch plants last Saturday so I brought them in and cleaned off the ones that needed cleaning and I feel as if the Easter bunny has paid me a visit. I boiled a few of my older eggs to make deviled eggs tomorrow for Happy Zombie Jesus Day and Mr. Moon, who went to town, stopped at Costco and bought me this.


Oh, y'all. I love ham so much. I am not proud of my love of ham but it's a fact of my life. I plan on eating some tomorrow and then packaging up and freezing meal-sized portions which will provide ham for a year. 
You know what I'm looking forward to most? 
Pinto beans with ham. My favorite meal by far. 

I did not wait until three to start sewing today. Nope, I didn't. 
It was 2:47 I think. 
First I made some ties to replace the elastic on one of the masks I made yesterday which worked well and then I tried out a new pattern that a reader sent me. I had been looking at this pattern for a few days and first off, it's got an actual pattern to it that you are supposed to print and I don't have a printer and besides that, the video on how to sew it was over twenty minutes long and the instructions were quite lengthy as well. But I really liked the way it seemed to fit and so I finally just said, "fuck it" and free-handed a pattern to scale from the one online just by looking at it and I read through the instructions and looked at the many, many pictures and decided that I could just do this. 
And I did. 
It worked great. 


Do I wear the same thing every day? No. No I do not. I have two pairs of those overalls, thank you very much. 


I even put a nose wire in it made from a piece of one of those little bendy things that come on bags of coffee which May discovered works perfectly. Which is freaking genius. I have a few refinements I want to make in the next ones but I think this is the pattern for me. Thanks, Allison! 
So now I don't feel quite as lame. 
I am SO grateful that I grew up in a time when there was a Home Ec class. I wish everybody, men AND women could take one of those. I mean- who knew that sewing was going to be such a practical skill in 2020? And cooking. Of course. 

I've barely looked at the news all day long. 
Okay. I just did a cursory glance at Huffpost if you can call that the news. 
Yeah. Things don't look so good. 

Deep breath. 
Keep breathing. Keep going. Keep remembering that all things must pass. 
And although I make fun of Easter there isn't a damn thing wrong with celebrating new life, birth, sex, love, and even the idea that death is just a passing through a curtain into infinity. 
Or something like that. 
Whatever. 
You know. 

Love...Ms. Moon

P.S. How do YOU make potato salad? I'd really like to know. 










32 comments:

  1. Potato salad is made with bacon, apple cider vinegar, grainy mustard, red onions, salt and pepper. Served warm. All other foods at the table are merely garnish. Mary Moon, I love your blog and look forward to it every day. Keep on keeping on. xo

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  2. I just made a potato salad just the way my Aunt Beulah made hers except I put in curry. Potatoes eggs onion pickles. I mash the egg yolks toss the whites and add dill pickle juice mayo gray poupon and curry powder. Basic. Except for the curry powder. And so delicious. And thou?

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  3. The coffee bendy thing for the nose is genius! The pipe cleaners have been sliding out of their sleeve, and have to be restrained which involves sewing by hand which I really hate because my thumbs are cracked from all of this damned hand washing. I may shift to the bendy thing.

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    1. It is really worth your while to buy a good moisturising hand cream. I have been treating myself. If nothing else, the cracks increase your chance of infection as it gets in...but it's also nice to do something nice for yourself a few times a day!

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    2. I am using aquafor and nivea at night, and vaseline intensive care plus aquafor during the day. We're in Arizona, where the humidity is very low, which is not helping!

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  4. My potato salad is my mom's recipe. Potatoes, lots of chopped celery and onion, sliced hard boiled eggs. Mix up mayo and a little milk plus just a little bit of yellow mustard and add salt, pepper, and paprika. Pour it over the other stuff and mix it all in.

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    1. Sweet onions. I never use any other kind but it occurs to me others maybe do :)

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  5. My sister and my daughters make potato salad, but since it's been years since I've had theirs, I don't know.

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  6. Peel and cut the potatoes into even, small cubes, and boil, and also boil one egg per large potato. Fry up plenty of bacon, chop lots of dill and sweet pickles, and when you put in the mayo make sure you put in one teaspoon of mustard to balance it and two big tablespoons of the bacon grease for good measure. White pepper only, and top with chopped green onions, with more of them on the side to add for those who really want plenty.

    Yes, it takes all day (or feels like it does).

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  7. It has been hard to get food here in NY,somethings are quite scarce.My daughter got scallions and we celebrated by making potato salad.I marinate boiled potatoes in a mustard/olive oil/red wine vinegar concoction overnight with the scallions and chopped celery.The next day Hellman's is added. It was fabulous!

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  8. So masks. Lots of frontline staff getting really sore ears due to elastic on mask behind ears great crochet or knit pattern on FB to hold mask in place which naturally now cant find So you just crochet or knit thin strip looks like a hair clip but no clip. Then sew buttons on outside each end so elastic from mask goes on to buttons,Sits behind ears at back of head. No ear irritation and very easy to make. UK l cant even face to report govt cock up but at least religious buildings closed. Love to you and yours Maggi x

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  9. Ham! Yippee! I looked for one at market on Friday (first trip *out* in 9 days* and it would have broke the bank, so to speak.....so ended up with a small Tri-Tip roast. That'll do, although I love my once a year easter ham. Potato salad.....taters, celery, red onion, boiled eggs, sliced black olives....and dressing of mayo, vinegar, mustard, a tad of horseradish, and a good health dose of marjoram.....ground up finely between my fingers.
    glad your chicks are well.....and you and family too!
    Susan M

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    1. PS first comment I've been able to post here in almost a month, something is going right today! Well, many things went OK, but this was a special one! LOL
      S

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  10. the little chickie looks eager, like there might be a future...I like seeing that as well as her boots, my oh my. You did a tremendous amount of stuff this day! I am still caught up in WHA? blblblbblbblb...doing fuck all. No potato salad in this house, as long as there is a diabetic living here , food variety is very limited. Have a lovely Zombie Jesus day.

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  11. Your chicks and chickens are always fun to read about. I have never made potato salad. Your mask looks great.

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  12. Cut up the potatoes in squares, boil them, drain them and mix with 1 teaspoon of mustard and 2 large spoons of full cream. The potatoes are just covered, the salad is not sloppy.
    Janey

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  13. I love seeing your hummingbird feeder up. I've been wanting to hang ours but we are still having some nights below freezing so I'd better wait. I love watching those little guys.

    I make a real basic potatoe salad just like my Mother did years ago. Chopped potatoes, boiled eggs, onion, pickle relish, Miracle Whip, a touch of mustard and then salt, pepper and paprika. Sometimes I cook my potatoes in the crock pot overnight and then refrigerate them before I chop them up.

    I'm happy to hear you had a good day today. I'm glad you got those chicks. I think they are brightening up your days a bit and giving you something to care for.

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  14. My potato salad is probably Standard 60s American, given that it came from my mother. Irish potato salad is bleh, it's basically cubed potatoes and mayo.

    I boil new potatoes, preferably skin intact. While they're still warm, I put them in a mix of:
    orange or lemon juice, mayonaise, mustard, dried oregano and basil, chopped parsley, CELERY SEEDS, salt, pepper and paprika. Into this dressing go finely chopped pickles, and, if you like, some black olives too.

    I could it this salad out of the bowl with a spoon til it's gone, the way you eat ham. I love it beyond reason.

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  15. https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/classic-potato-salad

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  16. We, that is the Franconian housewives, are very finicky here about the type of potatoes to start with. Must be of the non floury kind and we boil them whole and unpeeled and let them cool enough to pull off the skin which is really easy. Then slice of cube them and dip them still warm into a big bowl where a sharp oil/vinegar dressing is waiting. Toss and cover. Chop tiny gherkins (mildly pickled, we call them cornichons) into slices, chop fresh chives and some parsley, fresh radish if available also sliced, salt and pepper and mix it all. My grandmother would add cubed Fleischwurst which is a but like bland boiled ham.

    Your chickens make my day!

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  17. My mom used to put chopped apples and boiled eggs in her potato salad. I loved it.

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  18. Hi Mary,

    Yes, this was the time of year that the chicks migrated from the basement of the School House mom and dad had converted into our home. Dad had built a “brooder” chicken house with huge sliding doors in the front, (3'X3'), out by the barn. One heat lamp at one end. A door out the back to the, “chicken yard.” The only difference in what we did and what you do was we moved about a hundred at a time. Very exciting I recall.

    Potato Salad: Potatoes and eggs, lots or little, depending on how much you want to make, the more eggs the richer the salad becomes. I like red potatoes, scrubbed, with skins on. I boil potatoes and eggs in the same water. Then pickles, celery and some pickle juice. I like to add olives, my choice is black ones because of the flavor it's almost like a spice. Mom used to always use mustard and mayonnaise for a dressing. But I always felt it was too intense. I discovered that if I used sour cream into which I whipped a package of the original powdered Ranch Dressing, https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Valley-Original-Dressing-Seasoning/dp/B000R96EOU
    and then mixed that together with SOME mayonnaise and a LITTLE mustard, the mix is just right. Don't follow the hidden valley recipe that calls for adding butter milk, etc, just use the powder together with the sour cream. I've always felt that the Mustard can be overwhelming to the other flavors, too much mayonnaise can make it taste greasy.
    I don't know anything about my potato salad as far as tradition goes, but I've discovered there is seldom any left when I bring it to a gathering.

    Happy Easter.

    Tom and Dimi

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  19. I have not made a single mask but maybe this week I will.

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  20. Happy Easter and enjoy your ham. I love ham too but the big guy doesn't so, no ham. I have a turkey breast that I found in freezer so we'll have that.

    The mask looks great.

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  21. Well done on your mask - it's so much more sophisticated than the ones I'm making - and so varied too. And you're right, it is such a shame that all the traditional home economics classes got binned. While I still had them at school I feel that the kids that came afterwards lost out on so much!

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  22. I could not even guess at how to make potato salad, except that you boil up some potatoes and chop 'em up and put mayo and relish in with them. That's how I'd do it, anyway. And onion. And paprika.

    That's right off the top of my head.

    So the cloche was actually something that you had on your porch years ago? Am I getting that right?

    Love the new mask!

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  23. This entire thread about potato salad has filled me with joy. Thank you Mary ❤️🥔

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  24. Love when you said "I'm not proud of my love of ham..." LOL! M used to make this potato salad that had a little of everything in the fridge in there, black or green olives, little pickles diced up, random vegetables cut up small, grated cheese, ... probably Duke's mayo. And we'd eat off it all week. I liked it, even though it was weird! --Georgie

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  26. I am wondering whether to make masks. I'm hopeless at this kind of stuff. There's conflicting views on whether they do any good for the person wearing them, although they do protect those you come in contact with. But I'm not supposed to be coming in contact with anyone. I think on balance, probably MAKE...

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  27. 1. Potato salad. Our local grocery has delicious potato salad. Therefore, I buy it. All these recipes makes me think I ought to try making it myself.. hmm
    2. I made three masks with using the guess-how method. They’re ok. Then I watch a YouTube video. AhHa! Made some adjustments to my pattern and finished six more, with four more just waiting to be sewed. But not today.
    It’s cold and raining here, so I did some church work, and I’m working on a list of errands for tomorrow. I feel a nap coming on.. 💤 💤 💤
    Thanks for your blog Mary Moon! Sending peace, love and hugs to you!

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.