My Brother asked me for this Recipe

I start by sauteing a couple of cloves of garlic,
some celery and a couple of carrots. I add carrots to any tomato dishes like this because it takes the sharpness of the tomatoes down a notch or two. Then I add herbs from the garden,
in season, and spices to those ingredients.

Except that it is not a recipe. It is sort of a framework for soups, stews, and other sauce or liquid based foods.

Today I chopped sweet basil, orange mint, top onions and
oregano into the mix. In summer more herbs are available;
in winter jarred ones, such as below, are the best I can do. At this time in the process
you can change direction from the tomato based soup or sauce, and head toward a traditional meat and vegetable stew, by adding other vegetables
and directing your efforts toward gravy rather than tomato sauce.

I chopped some of these into the sauce, 
just because I have them. 
They add a little bit of fresh, summery flavor
but you can get along without them

I put grated parmesan both in the sauce itself and into the meatballs
Don't be afraid of it; it adds a lot of flavor. The jars contain sauce I make in summer, from roasted tomatoes, herbs and seasonings. I freeze it for use in winter.
The first year I tried it I used the glass pints, but now we have freezer safe plastic quart sized deli containers

Some of both of these go into the meatballs
Along with a little milk, an egg, or even a bit of mayo to moisten

My favorite meats for meatballs
I have also used straight venison, beef, or added lamb
or bulk sausage to them. Depends on
what is in the freezer

Fennel seed goes in anything with Italian sausage 
but not in the meatballs.

We took his family some Italian Sausage soup I made from it last week. This time I am making meatballs in sauce. The boss can't eat much in the way of carbs, so we will not be having them with spaghetti.  

Simmering now.
I like to simmer it for a good while but you can serve it as soon
as the meatballs temp
165 or so

Cheat code
I usually add a jar of this, along with whatever water
it takes to rinse it out good.
It extends the homemade stuff and smooths out the edges.
You don't really need it though.

Is this some kind of Joke?

My sentiments exactly.....

Got Snow?

Why, yes, yes we do......

Not the Iditarod

But we have plenty of winter. Some folks and their dogs make the best of it.

This Song

Because Yankee Hill Lock isn't supposed to look like this

Because it fits perfectly.

Especially the lyrics....."Canadian cold front movin' in....."

And staying, and staying, and staying and staying.....

The Cradle

Lesser Scaup in front of McDonald's last winter

This is never the best time of year for me. The short days and gloom and all..... it has been somewhat better than usual this fall, what with chasing birds every day, but it is still a season I endure rather than enjoy.

And don't get me started on Christmas.

There is however, one phenomenon that only happens in the winter that I have been anticipating daily.

The powers that be empty our river about this time of year, turning it from a massive anaconda that eats at its banks as if they were a herd of feral pigs, to a thin ribbon of silver, slipping between gravel bars and shallow mud pools. (Wish it was like that year round.)

This brings the most amazing birds you could imagine to our tiny inland town. It concentrates them wherever that is a little open water. The area downtown by McDonald's, where Becky is a manager, Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site, where we go most every day, and Yankee Hill Lock, where we go except in summer, turn into legit hot spots. Loaded with birds....sometimes quite rare ones. Some days we count geese in the thousands, hundreds and hundreds of ducks, and more gulls than you would conceive.

Winter water levels transform the barren banks and pools in front of our farm into a nighttime safe space for Canada Geese and Mallards. I listen for their thin voices through the clamor of the Thruway and the rumble of the trains, both morning and night when I go out with doggies or just go out in the dark. It is usually dark, after all.....

This morning they were there...rocking in the river cradle and chattering quietly in the late of the night and the early of the morning. I was glad.

Common Merganser at Schoharie Crossing SHS

January Thaw

The kitchen reeks of wet dog. 

Not that I mind. At least they are contented, napping, dogs, full of kibble and canz. 

It is raining over ice, melting all the sand that has been scattered on drives and walkways over the past couple of weeks. Not gonna complain though. Warm is good.

The sunlight is thin soup indeed most days..this was a couple days ago

A thing that I like about this time of year is going out before dawn and hearing the Mallards and Canada Geese nattering and complaining as they rock in the gentle curves of the river where the current is quiet. 

With the low cloud ceiling the sound rises clearly to us up here on the hill and it is nice to listen to the muted chatter of hundreds or even thousands of birds.

Yesterday, in bright sunshine and steadily warming temperatures I counted 354 geese taking flight and heading off to cornfields somewhere to the south of us. 

Around dusk they return, crying like a pack of hounds for their beds at the river's edge.

Mallards and Black Ducks, down on the river yesterday

Winter Equations

Everything has to have a good side, right?

Every cloud a silver lining?

Even winter?

But is that possible?

Well, for one thing, in winter there are more pockets available for birding gear and other sundries....little notebook, good pen, thin, yet warm gloves so one can write and adjust the binoculars without baring their freezing fingies. 

And those are just in the down vest. In other garments there is room for the midnight flashlight, a box of matches in case I get stranded in the backyard, and anything else I might want to carry...phones...books....all the wool socks so I can carry towels downstairs too without making an extra trip.......yeah, lots and lots of nice pocketses are a real plus in winter. 

And then you have mornings like Sunday, when the world was coated with frost and fine snow and the sun came up pink and blue and all was sparkly in those colors and every steam and smoke glowed as if backlit and you could see a sparrow a mile away against all the pastels....

Yeah, that was spectacular indeed and I hope you were up in time to savor it before it all melted and turned the world stark grey-and-white again. If I said it once I said it ten times....what a day it would have been for the Christmas Bird Count! You couldn't have missed a single bird, so brightly did they all stand out against the snowy, frosty, steamy background. 

It was like driving through a thousand Christmas cards, complete with evergreens and cardinals and chickadees. Of course we weren't actually birding, but rather shopping and visiting, but if we had been we coulda knocked one out of the park.

Today....too darned much snow and too darned cold, and too darned grey and gloomy, but on the plus side of the equation....a heated Milwaukee hooded sweatshirt with the battery charged and the switch turned on.......

Priceless!

Got Ice?

Never seen anything like it. We have had ice like this since November and it gets worse all the time. Actually almost all melted last week, but the new storm brought back plenty. It eats up sand and salt like quicksand.....It is slowly devouring the horse trailer....

There's a Storm A'comin'

My late father-in-law used to call this solid comfort

Or so they say. Midweek, I guess. But for now we will enjoy having our boy back in the 518, working just across the river and up the road. I'm telling you, it's really sweet.

On the backyard menu

And then yesterday we had all the kids around at one time or another, also sweet. I am getting so nervous about our daughter having a daughter, and the date keeps getting moved up.....

We are expecting a couple of calves any minute now....probably Wednesday, storm day, knowing the way cattle behave.

 A little taste of springlike weather has visited too though,with the chickens loose to run around the yard (scarfing up all the wild bird food, alas) and the cats sunning, and the robins stopping by every morning for some applesauce.

I guess we had better enjoy it while it lasts as well as getting ready for the upcoming weather event. In case you too are affected by this predicted storm, I suggest you hie yourself to the store for essentials, such as TP, bread, and most importantly, lots and lots of milk......

The Frozen South

It's been an ugly week in the southern half of our great land, with snow and ice migrating south on the tail feathers of the fleeing song birds, but not receiving quite as warm a welcome.

As always, in times of adversity though, Americans have stepped up in dozens of ways, to either help one another through the difficulties or turn them into a great adventure.

Makes me proud to be an American, even if up here we are pretty much used to such weather and prepared for it. We wouldn't fare quite as well in hurricane season I suspect.

Tail Stand

Ursa Major to the north, standing right up on his long, bear tail. He's been there all week, frozen in the sky, as we are all frozen beneath it. When will he move, I wonder.

Is he hibernating up there in the sky? If so he looks pretty uncomfortable. 

And he had better watch out for Orion, who has been stomping around up there all winter, sword on high and temper roaring. Unless the hunter steps on a scorpion, that old bear may be in trouble.

Stars these nights are unrelenting, hard and sharp, like glowing stones in frozen water.I stop  every night on the way in from work, just the same.How can you not stop to look at the sky? There should never be that much hurry.

These cold, harsh nights, the horizon is ringed, except to the west, by twisted false sunrises, the light from the surrounding towns and villages, reflecting up at yellow clouds. 

It is as if the air is ill, sick with a head cold, and miserable enough for all of us. Brr, shiver, guess I'd better hurry inside, walk, and feed the little hound dog, and snuggle down for the night.

Morning will bring a crescent moon, with its little star in tow, innocent as a sweet new lamb, but colder....ever so much colder.....

The Ice Man Commeth

The ice man
He ran his head off, or so it looks

See, I got a picture of him, running his little head off to stay ahead of spring (I'm pretty sure he can safely slow down if he wants to). Actually this odd little formation, about the size of your hand, was just there in the ice one morning when it was a little warmer than today. I had the camera so....

The ice woman commeth too. I borrowed Alan's huntin' hat last night for the trek to the barn. For the first time that I can remember my really, really warm work hat was just not up to the weather. 

Some fractured ice from a warmer day. None of this going on now

Our luge run

We have seen many seasons that were much colder than this one. Back when I worked on a big dairy farm up in Johnstown, we saw minus 40-degree spells several winters in a row. At one time I was driving a little VW with no heater during one of those periods. Had a catalytic space heater that we set on the seat and pointed at the windshield so I could drive. Never missed a milking no matter what the weather, even if I had to drive to work with two tires on the snowbank and two in the road because of the ice. I am not sure if I was dedicated or just dumb.....

Anyhow, as icy as the walk to the barn is these days...it gets just warm enough at midday to melt a slick onto the existing ice....it beats the heck out of those days. And a conventional tie stall barn is one heck of a lot warmer than that big old free stall was too.

Did I ever tell you about the time I went to work there all alone at about 4:30 in the morning and found a guy out in the free stalls in the dark, leaning over a sleepy cow talking to her? An escapee from a local youth jail, who came from the big city and had never seen a cow before.......my life has never been dull.