Tag Archives: crumpets

A Squirrel and a Sail Tail

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I frequently forget about notable parts of the day and write a post which is accurate, in that all the events described did occur on that day. However, it isn’t accurate as a reflection of the total day. I did that in my last post. I did do all the cookery described, but I did other things and other things happened.

One of the most notable events was the one referred to in the title.

One of the squirrels was, as usual, hanging upside down struggling to get at the sunflower hearts. It slipped a couple of times and dropped to the feeding pans lower down. As I watched, it positioned itself again and at that moment, the blustery weather took a hand with a strong, sustained gust of wind that caught the squirrels tail and almost pulled it from its perch. For a moment it hung on by the tips of its claws, them managed to get a secure grip and reposition itself. For a moment I thought I was going to see a squirrel snatched away by the wind and blown over the garden wall. I didn’t, but it was funny while it lasted. It was probably less funny for the squirrel, but it has several choices available apart from taking seed from the feeder so I have no sympathy.

 

Today, having discovered a couple of mouldy crumpets in a packet (they were a couple of days past their “best by” date), Julia decided to cut them up to feed the birds. Some of you will, I know be in shock at this idea. You are probably right, once the packet has a little mould in it, the sensible thing to do is to throw them away. I’m sure the RSPB would agree. On the other hand, some of you, like me, will be aghast at the idea of feeding perfectly good crumpets to the birds. I would have trimmed the mouldy bits off and eaten them. I know people bang on about mould being bad for you, but we eat Stilton and Quorn. Stilton is mouldy cheese, and Quorn, as far as I can tell, is 100% mould. Anyway, health and wellbeing concerns set aside, we are all, I believe, going to eat a pound of dirt before we die.

I will never feed crumpets to the birds again. The pigeons, who usually go for the bread, had a go but were generally not enthusiastic. The magpie, in contrast filled its beak and headed off somewhere. The robin pounced on the smaller crumbs. But basically, we were left with quite a lot fo crumpet scattered round the garden by birds that were lukewarm about them. Even medium-sized bits weren’t taken with gusto. I think it’s the texture – they just don’t break up like bread. At least it wasn’t as bad as the time we tried pasta.

An Unimpressive Monday

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Well, I can’t say I’ve covered myself in glory from a work point of view. It’s past 3pm and I’ve only just remembered to draw the living room curtains (it was still dark when Julia left this morning). I have tinkered with a  few poems, completed two (I think) and checked up the recipe for tonight’s meal. Not that it’s much of  recipe, I was just checking I had all the bits.

I’m now going to do the washing up to make it look like I’ve done something useful. When I finish I  . . .

Oh dear, Julia just came back and I haven’t even washed up. I’d better go and be attentive.

Fortunately she’s in a forgiving mood, so I will make tea and toast some crumpets and be an all round good husband.

Later . . .

The tea and crumpets worked. I then made the baked salmon with rice and vegetables which turned out to be quite pleasant (even though I’m not keen on salmon) and the evening went well.

Overall, the day was not a great success as I didn’t really get enough done. I will do the washing up sooner next week and make a more impressive evening meal – perhaps something with Hasselback potatoes, though they aren’t so impressive now that they are advertising frozen ones on TV.

The trick, if you feel like making them, is to lay the potato between the handles of two wooden spoons so that when you cut down the knife cannot go all the way through.

Not sure what we are having tomorrow, though Julia did suggest that standard vegetable stew would be fine. That’s good, because it’s very simple. I am, in case you are wondering, doing most of the cooking at the moment as Julia had three weeks of it over Christmas because of my incapacity. It’s payback time.

Vegetables – Carsington Water