Red Mills and Black Outs

Ugh. I can't wait until spring comes. Thursday, January 23, we had our power shut off at about 5:00 AM. All the ambient nighttime sounds in our household halted like the old home had sucked in its breath and held it. Because of the silence, I awoke, feeling something was wrong. I looked around the dark room and saw nor heard a thing above the chatter coming from my phone. I listen to Catfish, the TV show as I fall asleep and it was still airing the catfish who had been making some others lives miserable by their lies and harmful games. 

Typically the motor of the sump pump in the basement is whirring and pouring water out of the downstairs space. Tonight, there was nothing. No heater shooting heat through the system and out through the registers. Silence. At night I sleep with a machine to help me breathe. Born with a small covering over my esophagus, I sometimes need oxygen pumped in to help me balance the issue. Tonight the machine died and in an instant adhered to the face, making it impossible to breathe. At least I know it's working. I could feel the rubbery nose piece sucking up my skin, shutting out any air I might receive without it. I yanked it off in a panic. 

We have had our electricity go out for a few moments here and there, but nothing like this day. Terry got up and called into work to ensure there was electricity on at work. There seemed to be so he began to prepare himself for the day. I was looking through my phone for a while and then it dawned on me that I was using all of my power. If I needed the phone, it wouldn't be there. I knew I was going to be delivering today and have a charger for the car, so that seemed to calm me a bit. 

Before I was ready to head out the door, I checked with everyone on the family chat. Chatter from all family members filled the screen. Mallory reported she was also experiencing no electricity in her home, although everyone in Eugene and Springfield seemed to be okay. That made me feel a bit better. Marina lives in Lowell, but they do have a generator that kicks in within a second should power go out. 

It was about noon before lights came on and time began to flash on the stove. We were back and ready to roll. I could feel the heat rising from the registers and heard the system kick in once again. Everything seemed to be going back to normal and all was right once more. 

I did some research on why it went out in the first place. Seems there was a storm in the area that hit lines and poles all over. A wind was blowing at an unusually high speed and took some of the equipment down. Once again, bless our linemen. My grandson Keenan is one and he's at the ready all the time for emergency situations. Right now there is a crazy snowfall in Houston, Texas and off he went. He lives in Texas anyway and got the call. 

***

The weekend has been slow. Nothing happening really. Terry went to see A Complete Unknown at the local theater. The movie describes the story of a 19-year-old who comes from Minnesota, traveling to New York to change American music. If this tale sounds familiar, it's because it is the narrative of Bob Dylan's musical career. The movie is set in the '60s which is always a great easel to begin with. Political and societal unrest, plenty of folksy type music coming from artists, and the pressure of war versus brotherly love. He came home with a nice review of the film, reporting Timothee Chalamet did a fantastic job in his role of Dylan. 

If you are looking for a new film to watch, this might be the one. In Terry's opinion, this movie was very good and one worth watching. 

I was working on Saturday and had no time to join Terry, but trust that this will be a flick I want to watch when it streams through a service somewhere. 

***

I have nothing else to report, really. The weekend was a relaxing, slow one to say the least. I was working, Terry was doing his stuff around the house and made an attempt to complete his chores and errands. Woo-hoo! We lead such an exciting life!

***

As I said in the previous post, I started a new sourdough base and am waiting for it to blossom into a good little starter to bake with. It's slowly getting there. 

I created a different type this time, although I guess it doesn't matter really. This round I used Bob's Red Mill whole wheat variety of flour and distilled water. The last time I developed a starter it was tap water and bread flour. My original starter did okay, but just okay. This one I haven't used yet, but it's fermenting nicely, with a better bubble and texture. The smell is there, for sure! I should be able to begin baking with the starter some time next week. I'm giving it ample time to complete blossom and become the perfect sourdough base. 

I highly recommend using the Bob's Red Mill flours to create a sourdough starter if you want it to have a sturdy blossoming foundation. I have used these products before in my baking and thoroughly recommend them. Last time I baked, it was typical bread flour. My daughter Marina gifted me the starter last time and I think I killed it off by not feeding it with the proper nutritional flour it needed to survive. The chlorine and other elements in tap water can also be a culprit in failure. 

This is my starter now. It is beginning to bubble again about 30 minutes after a feeding. This is a great sign it's going to do well. 

Fresh after the starter was fed. 

To begin a starter, use 1/3 cup of flour and 1/3 cup of distilled water. These are my measurements of course, and can be changed to 1/4 cup of each or whatever you choose. Equal amounts of each, mix, and put into a clean jar with a lid or cover the lid with a cheesecloth or paper towel set with a rubber band. 

The following day simply check on the starter. Nothing will have changed for the most part except maybe a few bubbles beginning to form. On the third day on out, pour 1/3 cup of starter into a measuring cup and add it to a bowl. Dump the rest of the starter out into the garbage. I say garbage because starters can become as thick as glue. You don't want the majority of it going into your drain. 

Keep feeding your starter once in the morning and once at night to get a good base for baking. You will notice the smell of fermentation. This is a great sign. If any black spots show up in the starter, dump it and begin again. It could be mold. 

Keep feeding your starter until the smell is there and it doubles in size after a few hours of being fed. It will drop again, so do not be shocked if you walk in and find it drooping. Now that the foundation of good bread and baked goods is there, have fun baking! There are so many recipes for pretzels, breads, rolls, doughnuts, and on and on that can be found on the Internet. Simply search for "sourdough recipes" and you will find thousands. Yes, it's a thing. 

***

I'm keeping things light and fun since we seem to be going into a horrible time once again. For those of you who voted for the regime that is in office now, good for you. I hope you don't have your bubble burst later. For those of us who did not vote for the racist, raping, felon of a leader, then we will wait it out. Those four years will come and go and once again we will have to pick up the broken pieces of this beautiful country. 

I am also trying not to get political in this blog. We simply don't need to go there. Our lives are busy enough with work that we do not have time to troll comments or to argue to try to change someone's mind about things. You believe what you want and so will we. 

***

Like I said, our weekend was calm and relaxing, as usual. But, we do tend to have some sort of adventure on most days off. This time? Not really. Our time is spent this weekend watching shows together, chatting with our family, and each other. Terry and I always love to spend time alone as well. We get each other, love one another, and enjoy the same things for the most part. So now, keeping this one short, off we go back to our program. We are now watching Las Vegas, a show that aired in 2003 on NBC. 

Dealing with life as a casino manager and his crew, Ed Deline (James Caan) has his hands full of scams, thieves, and obnoxious owners. His crew consists of Josh Duhamel, Nikki Cox, James Lesure, Vanessa Marcil, and his TV wife, Cheryl Ladd. There are others, but too many good actors to name!

As a crew of one of Las Vegas' largest casinos, the Montecito, there is never a dull moment. It's fun, intense, and just an all-around good show. If you're interested in watching Las Vegas, it is being shown on Peacock, The Roku Channel, and Amazon Prime with a subscription. 

As it usually goes, Ed Deline (Caan) moves out and other owners move in. Enter Tom Selleck. Other crew members come and go eventually and all is good. The show bowed out a few episodes too early, ending in 2008 after five seasons. An abrupt ending came after the writer's strike of 2008 was being avoided, leaving a couple of episodes never aired. Sad, because the show is definitely worth every episode, every moment. 

***

As we are running out of things to say here, I'm going to cut this post off. Next week might include more adventure, but let's be honest here, we are old people and don't go parasailing or skydiving. We live our lives the best we can, with each other, deep in love, and happiness, but do include an adventure here or there. Maybe a nice trip to Wildlife Safari or to a river around town. We try to find something to do every weekend. When we don't have anything planned, we make the most of our precious time together, with each other and our fur babies. That's what life is. 

Until our next post, take care of yourselves! Peace, happiness, and hugs to you all. 

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