Thoughts on Blue Jays, Mushrooms, and Gardening

This is a Blue Jay. Yesterday, he came and sat on our deck railing. We've gotten a lot of random wildlife that roams through our neighborhood and yard. Obviously, birds are the easiest to come across. But it's not too often they'll chill on our deck for such a long amount of time that I can take several pictures.

It's a pretty grainy photo since I was taking it through the screen of our sliding glass door. After watching him sit in this position for several minutes, I figured out what he was doing - attracting a mate.

He had his chest puffed out like those Foster Farms chicken commercials and would sit in various weird positions. Then he'd fidget for a moment, scratch his head and make his feathers more fanned out, especially the plume on his head, and then pose again. The mating rituals of the feathered kind have always been fascinating. If you've ever watched Planet Earth on Discovery Channel, particularly when they talk about the jungle, you see all these crazy antics that birds would put themselves through just to attract the females. And if the ladies were unimpressed, the guys would deflate and be sad that they were overlooked.

I'm happy to say though, that I saw a Blue Jay today, and he had a mate. They landed on our deck railing and sat for a few moments before taking off.

Congrats little dude.

----------------------

Thoughts on Farmer's Markets, Playing Fetch, and Super Dinosaur

Every day of the week, there's a farmer's market going on somewhere. Since most of them are closed by the time I get out of work, I'm limited to the weekend. And thankfully, my hometown has it's own every Saturday. There's a lot of great finds wandering the stalls. Besides local fruits and veggies, there's various cheeses, pickled garlic and olives; fish, flowers, herb plants, fire-baked pizza, and other fantastic edibles. It's quite the collection. Practically a department store of items - minus electronics of course - since there's also some clothing, and artwork.

Locals wander the stalls; regulars to the vendors and get their weekly fix of whatever they've run out of. Tourists staying in the nearby hotel venture down to see what all the activity is about, including the live music and terrific smells.

On occasion, I get the urge to go and find out what's new and delicious. I'm hoping someone will be carrying peaches - far too early in the year - so that I can cease eating from cans and jars, and enjoy the taste of a freshly picked peach until my own tree bears fruit. Or perhaps I'll pick up kettle corn for my mom, her popcorn weakness; or snag some fantastic veggies for a cheap price. I try to stick local with what I buy, but it's never easy when money is tight, so I try to do what I can. Although I have to say, if I'm going to indulge locally and at least once or twice a week, I'd have to buy the chocolate milk made not too far from here. It's the best I've ever had, and can't be topped by any national brand.

Hopefully I'll be able to support more locals as the years go on.

Thoughts on Store Bought Frosting, Smoothies, Semi Trucks

Through high school, and a few years after, I worked in a bakery. I've had plenty of experience with frosting and what goes best with various cakes and fillings, and what doesn't. Plus, I can make the delicious frostings from my old work, at home if I ever really needed. But I now wonder about store-bought frosting.

While skimming the back, I noticed in the section of "directions" they provide on how to best spread the frosting, the very last step was to store in the fridge for up to two weeks. And when I think about it, I don't know many people that have actually stored their leftover frosting in the refrigerator. Does anybody know of that step? I mean, frosting is pretty self-explanatory - unless you're making it from scratch. So what's the point of refrigeration? We've kept ours in the pantry for several months - handy for spreading on graham crackers for a quick snack.

Has anyone actually stored their store-bought frosting in a fridge?