what did you do today? (2008-2015) (closed)

[FinallyRetired]

Played 18 holes at a gorgeous course overlooking the ocean.

 

[Martha]

Walked the beach on Mustang Island (off of Corpus Christie) this morning. Watched the high tide upchuck our plastics and its dead fish. Kept my shoes on.

 

[Dawg52]

Walked the beach on Mustang Island (off of Corpus Christie) this morning. Watched the high tide upchuck our plastics and its dead fish. Kept my shoes on.

Easy there. That's not the retirement picture the chamber of commerce is trying to project.

Official web site for City of Corpus Christi, Texas

 

[RonBoyd]

Walked the beach on Mustang Island (off of Corpus Christie) this morning. Watched the high tide upchuck our plastics and its dead fish. Kept my shoes on.

Two (three?) weeks ago we stayed, one night, at the Watersedge RV Park in Rockport. They don't have a beach but the walk along their Pier was fantastic. In the morning, the fog was extremely thick creating one of the most visually attractive scenes on our travels. I could fall in love with the Gulf of Mexico very easily.

(I did mention to the "Full-timers" parked next to us that I suspected March is not August there. They, by the way, retired from Katy, Texas -- a nice place on its own -- to live at this park)

 

[Moemg]

Spent the morning with my grandson who is visiting . Lots of fun but now I need a nap .

 

[CuppaJoe]

T...They don't have a beach but the walk along their Pier was fantastic. In the morning, the fog was extremely thick creating one of the most visually attractive scenes on our travels. I could fall in love with the Gulf of Mexico very easily.
...

Photos, please.

 

[Martha]

Two (three?) weeks ago we stayed, one night, at the Watersedge RV Park in Rockport. They don't have a beach but the walk along their Pier was fantastic. In the morning, the fog was extremely thick creating one of the most visually attractive scenes on our travels. I could fall in love with the Gulf of Mexico very easily.

(I did mention to the "Full-timers" parked next to us that I suspected March is not August there. They, by the way, retired from Katy, Texas -- a nice place on its own -- to live at this park)

Hey, I have stayed at that park. Nice warm pool. Nice restaurant down the street. The pier is lovely.

Ordinarily the beach here on Mustang is quite nice. The previous evening I walked for several miles barefoot, watching the birds and warming my toes. But for some reason this morning it was quite gross. I wonder if cleanup crews come in the morning and scoop up the detritus before company comes.

 

[freebird5825]

Slept in until 8 AM. Woke up to coffee made, dishwasher emptied, and all the ingredients for a huge bowl of fresh strawberry shortcake for breakfast at the ready.
Trimmed dead canes from blackberry bushes, saw a lot of mole tunnel damage in the strawberry bed. Have more than enough runners next to the bed to replenish the lost ones. Need warmer weather to do the transplanting. Assessed the garden for the best placement of the mini-vineyard. The grapevines should be shipping any time now.
Watched dh2b w*rk on the 92 Honda belts. Did some vacuuming up of oak leaves with the powervac.
Tired and goofing off online x 2.

 

[Khan]

Hey, I have stayed at that park. Nice warm pool. Nice restaurant down the street. The pier is lovely.

Ordinarily the beach here on Mustang is quite nice. The previous evening I walked for several miles barefoot, watching the birds and warming my toes. But for some reason this morning it was quite gross. I wonder if cleanup crews come in the morning and scoop up the detritus before company comes.

They do so in Gulf Shores AL.

 

[RonBoyd]

They do so in Gulf Shores AL.

And the Bahamas... and Hawaii... and, I always thought, everywhere there are tourist dollars to be got at.

And, now that I think on it, Vancouver, British Columbia, the cleanest city I have ever been in, must have elves that come in the dark of night and scrub the whole city down.

 

[Rambler]

Making sourdough whole-wheat bread, completely from scratch (including grinding the wheat into flour). Been waiting a week for the starter to develop, its in the oven now. Will let you know how it turns out.

R

A couple of folks have PM'd me asking me to post a recipe/process. I didn't use a recipe, just conjured together ideas from other recipes here and there. Here is what I used and did:

Sunday Afternoon:

Add 2 cups of whole wheat flour to a large, non-metallic container that with a loose-fitting lid (I used a 5qt crock). Slightly warm some filtered water (I don't like chlorine taste in my water, or bread). It should be about 100F, no more. I added about a teaspoon of honey to the water and dissolved it well. Then added 1TBSP of yeast to the water/honey and mix to dissolve. Mix this well with the wheat flour, place the loose lid on it and let it ferment. DO NOT PLACE A TIGHT LID on it...the fermentation process puts off a lot of CO2, and your tightly lidded container is very likely to explode.

Mon-Wed nights: stir mixture well. It will start getting a pretty nice sourdough aroma by about tuesday or wednesday evening.

Thursday night: I added another half cup of whole wheat flour and a half cup of water, stir well.

Friday night: I added another half cup of whole wheat flour and half cup of water, mix well. These two additions feed your starter and enhance the fermentation process.

Saturday morning:

Remove 2.5 cups of the above starter mix and place into a plastic or ceramic bowl. Dissolve another TBSP of yeast in 1/4 cup water and add to the mix. Add 1/4 cup wheat gluten (helps to make a nice chewy texture), 2-3 more cups of flour and 1Tsp- 1/2 TBSP salt depending on your taste, mixing between second and third cups so you don't add too much.

Turn out onto a floured board and knead about 5-7 minutes. I used bread flour for kneading instead of wheat flour. Knead until it has a nice plastic consistency. Form into a loaf and place into a loaf pan that has been sprayed with PAM (or it won't dislodge from the pan), or onto a french loaf baking tray. Allow to rise for about an hour in a wam place. You can slit the top with a VERY sharp knife and this will allow for a little more rise when you bake it.

Place a broiling pan on the bottom shelf of the oven, and preheat to 350F. Add one cup of hot water to the broiling pan as you place the loaf in the oven. Bake at 350F for about 45 - 55 minutes or until it is a nice deep golden brown. Cool on a rake for 15 min or so, and you will be able to take a slice for a nice taste test.

The flavor is a relatively deep/rich sourdough flavor from the fermentation, and nutty from the whole wheat. The one teaspoon of honey is used up in the fermentation, so you don't taste it. Purists prefer not to use commercial yeast. I do because it allows a good sourdough flavor to develop in a shorter period. If you want to try without any storebought yeast, just plan for 10 days or so before your first batch, and leave the crock uncovered for the first few days to allow the natural yeast spores in the air come in contact with your starter. Then just don't add any yeast to the dough. The bread will be a bit heavier, but still delicious and a fun experiment.

You can easily use white flour for this instead of wheat, making sure to use bread flour or a tad extra gluten and probably 2 cups of starter instead of 2 1/2...this is also really good.

Finally, if you like sourdough and want to bake once or twice a week, then after you have taken your two and a half cups of starter (above), just add two more cups of flour and two more cups of filtered water. Mix well, and let it rest until the night before you want to bake, and then refresh it again as above.

Hope this helps, for any who are interested.

R

 

[RonBoyd]

A couple of folks have PM'd me asking me to post a recipe/process. I didn't use a recipe, just conjured together ideas from other recipes here and there. Here is what I used and did:

....

Hope this helps, for any who are interested.

Bravo! Well done.

For those not quite as adventurous (Bread Baking uses a Formula not a Recipe) here is a good place to start:

Extra-Tangy Sourdough Bread: King Arthur Flour

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Woke up to a beautiful snow in the Grand Canyon. Drove about 500 miles. Will see the Gila Caves tomorrow. Phew Im beat.

 

[Amethyst]

saw a lot of mole tunnel damage in the strawberry bed.

The best remedy for moles is a young, aggressive cat. Growing up, we had a Siamese who cleaned the moles out of our lawn, then went and cleaned up the neighbors' lawns as well. She converted my dad to being a cat-lover!

Sadly, it's too dangerous these days, to let the catters hunt outdoors, as they did in my youth.

 

[unclemick]

Brisket on the smoker yesterday - screw well balanced - we ate Bush's baked beans, brisket, and slices of French bread. Nice weather.

Yucky, cool and cloudy today - got to leave in a bit to show the flag at a combo Easter egg hunt/dinner/birthday party of some long time friends.

heh heh heh - hope it doesn't rain.

 

[ziggy29]

Cooked a lot of bacon this morning for our church's annual Easter breakfast fundraiser. Had to get up at 5:30 to start it. Only got "bitten" by splattering grease once...

 

[NW-Bound]

I have done some cooking but never bake, leave alone making bread like Rambler has done. How would one do one better? Grow your own wheat?

 

[Zoocat]

It's overcast in the Denver area. Two days without sun is two days too many for me! Went to the Easter service at my church then to the movies to see "Sunshine Cleaning." It's an indie film about two young women who start a cleaning service, specializing in crime scenes. It was good!

 

[freebird5825]

Did our own "out-in-the-boonies" version of Easter egg hunting today...
Team Freebird and Dh2b picked up 5 grocery store bags of well dried dog manure. There were 5 well used hot zones, TG.
The good news is there has been very little rain lately.
I use a long handled Doggie Dooley scooper contraption so as to avoid any unwelcome tactile sensations.
dh2b, being a man's man and all... he uses plastic gloves and goes for the glory.

 

[Moemg]

I played Easter Bunny for my grandson and then hosted ( cooked till I dropped ) Easter Dinner for eight . We had shrimp ,seafood spread, ham,deviled eggs ,scalloped potatoes , asparagus ,salad ,rolls , Key Lime Pie & Coconut Cake . The weather was gorgeous so we ate on the deck.

 

[TromboneAl]

Put some more band-aids on the garden/firewood cart so that it will last until I can find a new one at a garage sale.

​

 

[REWahoo]

The floors.

 

[bbbamI]

Well, I'm kind of reeling in my chair today with a terrible cold and down spirit. This past week, I've learned of four deaths. A close friend of my parents, my favorite aunt, one of my cop buddy's wife and found out today, my DH's favorite ex-employee and good friend.

 

[calmloki]

Looked at over 250 12" diameter LED lights, new. Thought about buying them - problem was, the 15W ones were red and the 19W ones were blue-green. Such a deal! Couldn't come up with a good use for them... Awful bright and large for night use at sea or in an airplane... Outfit some of the houses of ill repute in Nevada? Sell the blue/green ones to dope growers?

 

[W2R]

Well, I'm kind of reeling in my chair today with a terrible cold and down spirit. This past week, I've learned of four deaths. A close friend of my parents, my favorite aunt, one of my cop buddy's wife and found out today, my DH's favorite ex-employee and good friend.

What a difficult week!! I am sorry that you are going through this.