Since I knew we’d be spending the week at the WV place, I decided to fill the hummingbird feeder. You know, it only took those little buggers about two hours to find the thing! But that’s another story. This post isn’t about birds. It’s about flies. Some very BIG flies.
The weather was actually rather cool for a change (that was LAST week), so I spent the better part of each day working in my outdoor office. It just so happened that I hung the hummingbird feeder about 10 feet (3.33 meters) from my chair, which meant I got to watch them frolic while I worked.
As I observed the hummingbirds, I also noticed that there seemed to be quite a few butterflies around, too. So on Monday or Tuesday, I placed some watermelon rinds on the back patio thinking the butterflies would enjoy a refreshing snack.
Well, it wasn’t until Saturday that I finally noticed a butterfly on the watermelon. By then, of course, the watermelon was half-rotted and nasty. And there was also a fly hanging around.
Not just any fly, either. A very big fly.
Superfly
For serious, this was a BIG fly. The biggest fly I am sure I’ve ever seen.
Yes, I zoomed in. But this is no photographic trick. Honest. It is simply a REALLY big fly.
Superfly II
A little while later, I noticed another one. Shortly after that, there were like eight of those big-ass flies chowing down on the putrid, slimy watermelon.
An entire flock of giant flies.
Weird, eh?
Superfly III
So just how big were these freakazoid flies? I’d say their bodies and wings combined were an inch and a half long. Those small black blobs in the background are regular flies. If I’m being generous, I’d guess one of the regular flies at about 3/8 of an inch long.
Wanna know how Superfly and Regular Fly would look standing side-by-side? I did. So I put this lovely little image together…
Superfly vs. Regular Fly
I told you it was a big fly.
The tip of my pointer finger, not including my knuckle, is an inch and a half long, too.
Just imagine a fly that size buzzing around and/or landing on you.
One of my favorite bloggers — HouseholdDiva6 — has thissoft pretzel recipe on her blog that looks really yummy. I’ve always wanted to try it, but even more so since our trip to Europe. That’s where we discovered that, just like Ann Marie said, most little German bakeries sell them. At least that was the case in Austria and Italy. We found some pretzels at a bakery in Luxembourg City, too. The Swiss love their soft pretzels so much, that we saw quite a few Brezelkönig (Pretzel King) stands in the train stations. They sell them in grocery stores, too.
So, I’ve been wanting to try this recipe, but I’m not a baker. I mean, I could make the darn things if I wanted, but I just hadn’t been sufficiently motivated. But then the Kitchen Aide arrived.
AND, while at the grocery store on Sunday, I noticed they had blue crab meat on sale. (The meat is not blue, that’s what the crabs are called. CLICK HERE for a picture of some live blue crabs.) My first thought was to make crab cakes, and then I remembered Ann Marie’s pretzels . I knew that would be the perfect thing to use the Kitchen Aide for.
My Kitchen Aide pretzel maker.
Shannon loves cooking AND baking. Heck, the girl has made her own bagels before. Can you imagine doing that? (She takes after her Dad who also likes to bake.) She also likes crab pretzels. So I knew she’d probably be thrilled to make soft pretzels for me. Of course I had to photograph the process.
“Rawhide” has nothing to do with these pretzels by the way, except for the “rolling” thing. That tune just popped into my head.
Her pretzels even look like pretzels. Sprinkling on some salt.The finished product. Don't they look delicious? They smelled divine.
I didn’t photograph the entire process, just the highlights. I was working after all. The pretzels REALLY smelled yummy as they were baking.
Fresh from the oven.One of the crab pretzels.
Since it is summer and Papa John’s corn-on-the-cob — the best in the WORLD — is in season, it was only fitting that we serve that with our crab pretzel dinner, too.
Our crab pretzel and corn-on-the-cob dinner.
Now, doesn’t THAT look delicious? It was. Shannon’s homemade pretzels absolutely made the crab pretzel. The crab mixture on top was good, but the homemade pretzels are what really added the special touch.
I’m glad it all turned out in the end. I was a bit worried. Why? Because as I started to pick through the “fresh” crab meat to remove the shells, I realized it wasn’t so fresh after all. It smelled a bit off. Not horrible, but not great either. So I had to stop what I was doing and take it back to the store where I bought it then go to Costco for some of that pasteurized crab meat. Blue crab meat would’ve been better, but that’s not easy to find at reasonable ($12.99/pound) prices. It’s usually closer to $20 or even $25/pound.
It was still good though. I didn’t follow a recipe. I just mixed the crab with about 4 ounces of softened cream cheese, a few tablespoons of mayonnaise, a splash or two of Worcestershire sauce and a teaspoon or so of Old Bay seasoning. It could’ve used a teeny bit more of that, but I didn’t want the crab to be overly salty (like the shrimp salad I’d made a couple days prior). We cut little troughs in the tops of the pretzels, filled them with the crab mixture, sprinkled on a little four-cheese mixture plus an extra dusting of Old Bay and baked them at 400 degrees for about 5 minutes. Then I switched the oven to broil for a minute or two so the tops would get that nice, brown color.
I read an interesting blog post today that was actually written by a blogger I discovered by accident and so far have enjoyed immensely.
First, the blogger I discovered by accident is Jenners, a Jersey girl (as in from the state of New Jersey) who describes herself as “mom extraordinaire and negligent housekeeper.”
Hey, wait a minute. I heard that “oh not ANOTHER mommy blogger” groan. Don’t be groanin’ just yet. From what I’ve seen so far, Jenners’ personal blog is more than just a mommy blog (look how cute my kids are and what a wonderful mother I am). It’s really quite funny. And she’s even got a husband who does entire, lengthy posts at times, too.
So, if you enjoy reading entertaining blogs, you should check out Life With a Little One and More when you’ve got a few minutes.
And if you enjoy reading books, you should definitely look into Jenners’ other blog, Find Your Next Book Here. Today’s post is awesome. It explains what it means to be a book whore. I know a few of them. In fact, I may be one myself. I’m not a hardcore book whore like she is, though. Although the few reviews I have read of hers just might push me over the edge.
How does one discover a blogger by accident? Easy. I visited Monstergirlee’s blog (she’s one of my followers who said she missed me AND is glad I am back) and while I was reading comments on her You Capture – Summer (the Long Load shot is my favorite) post, I noticed Jenners’ comment. Her little photo intrigued me more than her actual comment, so I decided to be nosy and see who she was.
And voila, I discovered another blogger to follow.
I can hear Hubby groaning now… ANOTHER way for her (meaning me) to waste time…
Living in the Blogosphere does tend to require some time commitment, but that’s okay. I think it’s totally worth it.
So, I didn’t realize until this afternoon, while reading someone else’s blog, that today is 8 – 9 – 10. That’s August 9, 2010 for those of you who are a bit slower on the uptake.
Anyway… just so you know, when I started yesterday’s post, my intention was to tell you about something that made me quite happy. That’s why I started off with a big ole smiley face. And then Hubby told me about this mean trick he was going to play on his Mom. Which, by the way, is related to the thing that made me happy.
Shannon with fireman statue in San Francisco.
Shannon, who has been traveling the world since October 2009 and wasn’t supposed to come back to the United States until October 2010 took this picture especially for me. If you follow THIS LINK you’ll see the whole picture and will understand why she is laughing. (In addition to the fact that she’s standing beside a weird statue, which she knows is just the sort of thing I enjoy being photographed with.)
It was taken in San Francisco about a week ago. As in California. You know, IN the United States.
Turns out, she decided to come home early and surprise us. Which is good and bad. Good because it was the best surprise we’d had in a long time. Bad because we made a last-minute decision to spend last week at the WV place. She got home on Tuesday. We didn’t get home until Saturday night.
So, although we were supposed to be the first people to be surprised at her early return, we ended up being the last. She got to spend a few days with Amy and the kids. And she got to surprise my mother-in-law, too.
Hubby thought it would be funny to make his Mom believe we didn’t know Shannon was home. So when she called our house on Sunday and asked him, “How’s your heart?” He acted all dumb and said, “What?” Then she said something like, “Didn’t you get a bit of a start yesterday?” He still acted like he didn’t know what she was talking about. And he made it worse later when he went to her house to get some peaches she’d picked for him and told her he wasn’t going back home, he was going back to the WV place where I had supper waiting. (I was in Maryland, NOT West Virginia.)
I told him he was being mean. It was sort of funny, but it’s never nice to play practical jokes on your Mom for gosh sakes. Especially when your Mom is as sweet as his mother.
That’s why I couldn’t tell you that my “Oh, happy day” referred to Shannon’s return, NOT the end of my brief hiatus.
Speaking of that little break… it was nice getting so many comments and e-mails telling me I’d be missed. I didn’t know I had so many regular readers that actually look forward to my posts.
I may not post as frequently, or with such detail, but I’ll try to be somewhat regular.
Sort of. I mean, really, I didn’t go anywhere. I just took a break.
I didn’t get a whole lot done either.
Work has been crazy busy. Plus, we decided to hang out at the WV place all last week. So, no progress on projects at the MD house.
It was a great week in WV, though. We didn’t really want to come back. But now that we’re here, it’s good to be home.
I don’t have a whole lot to say, really.
But I took quite a few pictures last week.And if I don’t share them here, they’ll just be stuck in my computer, unseen, forever.
So here goes…
If you’re not really interested in looking at pics, you might want to stop reading now. Because there’s lots of ’em.
Now, to really appreciate these pics, you should click on each for a larger view so you can see the detail. They’re cool, if I do say so myself.
Critters
Snake! Not a great picture, but one I had to share. It was about 6 feet / 2 meters long.Ladybug (in bright morning sun).Another ladybug. (Diffuse, soft morning light.)Small butterfly on thistle.Butterfly or moth? You tell me. I have no clue.Slightly larger butterfly.
Spider.
On a Dewy Mountain Morning
Drippy leaf. Another drippy leaf.Wet grass.Wet pine.Big drip.
These berries are some of the few bits of color currently in the forest other than green.Drippy berries.Not sure if this is a diseased version of the same tree that has the red berries, but I love the color of these particular berries.
The plants weren’t the only things covered by dew…
