February Lately

Aye aye aye, it's February already in the winter hideaway. Two cases of bronchitis again this year coupled with some cold and yes rainy weather has made it a tad unpleasant all too often so far this winter but we're hanging in there and truth be told all the sleeping and lollygagging around has felt pretty good. We have become much better at our production of mozzarella cheese and I dare say that it is fairly tasty now. And this morning our very first Farmhouse Cheddar Wheel came out of the cheese press I purchased through Amazon.com a while back and that looks almost respectable- although now the drying and turning and aging and waxing processes will require another two months before the taste trials begin. I am delighted that we selected this as our "activity lessons for the winter" as it has been the perfect weather for staying inside and working on this kind of skill set. A little Romanza music in the background and a little stirring of the curds and whey and life is good.

The salad patch has been excellent this year- no pests of any kind to report and the first harvesting of radishes has been completed and the replantings are up a growing strong.

We had intended to go to Bouse to see the muzzle loading festival that a couple of our friends are active in, but we were under the weather and didn't make it, so it was nice that they rode by the coach on a float one day advertising the activity. Not much else happening- rain again today , so another sleepy time day in the old wild or not-so-wild- west.

 
Below, this is just a snapshot off the weather channel website showing the "blue hole" or "rain shadow" of the Olympic mountains around the area of Port Townsend to Sequim to Port Angeles, Washington. What you are seeing is the relatively dry and clear skies over an area that is otherwise extremely wet to the point that the Hoh rainforest borders the shadow. We have been researching properties in Washington and carefully considering options. Nothing urgent or pressing (other than cheese) to report at this time! But this is an amazingly fascinating phenomenon and I pull this map up every day to see how often the "rule" actually works. I like the irony of naming an area a "shadow" when in fact it is the only place sometimes where the sun IS shining....