"Vacation" Snippet 2
Jun. 19th, 2021 07:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
taz_39On Saturday I woke up "late", 8:30am. This is way earlier than I used to wake up before I started working at CapTel.
But since I'm going to bed before midnight every night it's damn luxurious.
I have REM sleep, and dreams I can remember. Forgot what that was like!
I can focus on tasks and think more than a few hours into the future. Wowzers!
Wish I could keep this level of sleep. But I can't. What a shame.
After a light breakfast of nonfat, high-protein Greek yogurt and an apple (trying to counteract the China Buffet madness) my parents went out to run errands and I got to work on the second missed steno class. It took longer than I wanted because I also kept getting distracted with responding to emails and social media, but at some point I buckled down and finished the class. I'm doing a terrible job and it's embarrassing, but I'm trying real hard not to get defensive here about it. I don't need to explain myself.
After steno I cleaned up and drove over to Kate's house to visit with my sisters and brother, and new baby nephew.
When I arrived everyone was awake and just hanging out. Kate and her husband had been able to get some sleep because the baby "only" got up every three hours. But it was obvious that they're both still exhausted (and will be, forever) so we didn't do anything but chill and get caught up on each others' lives.
Jonah (my brother) has been working in some kind of grocery/analytics marketing for a while now. He likes it well enough. HIs girlfriend is doing well.
Raven (my sister) is looking pretty good, although like I said before she's been stressed lately. She and I both have a lot of work to do that this visit is kind of interfering with. But it is worth it. It's just work. I know it's worth it, and I hope she realizes that too.
Kate (the one who had the baby) is good but tired and learning all kinds of stuff I'm sure. Mostly I just tried to be supportive and be there, and not make her feel like she had to entertain or host us.
Deklan (the baby) seems just fine. Hungry, sleepy, cranky, poopy. Baby stuff.
We ate Beyond burgers together outside, and being a big fan of The Natures I poked around and admired all the plants, even the weeds.
Driving into my hometown, I noticed something that I've never noticed before.
Milkweed.
LOADS OF IT.
Perhaps there has always been a ton of milkweed in my hometown, and I just never knew.
Because monarchs are not common here, and milkweed was not a part of my education, and...I never knew.
But now that I've lived in Florida, and raised monarchs myself...they were like becons along the road, jumping out at me. I felt my eyes widening as I saw huge milkweed plants lining the highways and side streets, popping up at the base of every telephone pole, even growing up from a crack in the sidewalk at a gas station as I approached home. I couldn't believe it.
The most common milkweeds in Florida are swamp milkweed and tropical milkweed, both are small and have small narrow leaves, and are difficult to find growing wild because caterpillars eat them before they can spread.
What I am seeing in my hometown is common milkweed, which can grow as tall as me and has huge abundant leaves and big bunches of flowers.
After joining a Raising Monarchs group on facebook, I discovered that milkweed has been difficult to propegate in Florida because the caterpillars frequently eat the plants even before they can be brought to market. There's even a facebook group called Milkweed Express where people from northeastern and western states ship common milkweed and/or leaves to people raising monarchs in the southeast and in California.
Why is it that the MOST milkweed grows where the monarchs DON'T live??
I was going somewhere with this:
I WANT TO STEAL THE MILKWEED.
At first I was planning to pull over on the highway shoulder and dig up a few plants. This is of course illegal or at least ill-advised.
But then when I was driving to Kate's house in the middle of nowhere, I continued to see milkweed growing along the road and in the fields.
Sure enough, when I poked around in Kate's expansive yard, I found lots of big patches of milkweed. I asked Kate if I could have some. She looked at me like I was nuts. Of course I could have some! It's everywhere and it's a nuisance. Please take it.
Here is some of the milkweed in Kate's yard. Some of these plants are taller than me.
I will revisit Kate again and bring a pot and a spade, and pick out two milkweed plants to steal!
One big one, and one seedling. We'll see if they survive the trip, and then we'll see if they survive a Florida summer. I'll keep them in the pot and in partial shade, and care for them as best I can, and when the weather cools I'll try to plant them in the yard. If they die before I get to all that, hopefully one of them will make a seed pod so I can try to propegate them myself.
All of this may come to nothing. But it's fun to try!
After we ate people started falling asleep, which is a good thing, so I quietly snuck out and drove home with a promise to visit again soon.
Back home my parents were doing yardwork, but a big thunderstorm forced them to take a break. We chatted a bit, then I ate dinner and did more steno, then we settled down for the night.
Continuing my train of crazy-person thought (do I actually get MORE crazy when I've had a decent sleep?)
In a few weeks I'll be making a sourdough starter so that I can learn to make sourdough bread.
Traditionally, sourdough starters are named. I've looked up lots of cool and cornball names online.
Dr. Dough-Little!
Herculyeast!
Reading Raindough!
Bread Pitt!
Lots of funny ideas. But Jameson insists that I call mine "Dough-Malley"! (because my last name is O'Malley for those who don't know).
It makes me roll my eyes, but I haven't been able to come up with anything better/more unique.
So then I was thinking, what can I do with this starter to make it special? To make it unique among starters?
Today it hit me.
A starter is a living thing. You've got to feed it.
Starters eat any kind of grain flour.
I thought, why not feed "Dough-Malley" with grain from my own hometown?
I found a mill nearby that grows and mills wheat and rye grown right here in Central PA.
Even better, it's an easy short detour on my way back down to Florida!
In addition, I'll be stopping at my Aunt's house in North Carolina. While NC isn't "home", it's the home of my heart. I went to school there and lived there for about two years, and that time is a big part of who I am as a person. It's the only other place in the world that I truly think of as "home".
Right down the street from my Aunt's house is a local bakery that grows and mills its own heirloom rye and sells the flour. If possible, I'll also pick up a bag of that and use both flours to feed my starter.
And that's how "Dough-Malley" will be born! A starter made with combined flours from my two very special home states.
What do you think? Stupid, or cool?
But since I'm going to bed before midnight every night it's damn luxurious.
I have REM sleep, and dreams I can remember. Forgot what that was like!
I can focus on tasks and think more than a few hours into the future. Wowzers!
Wish I could keep this level of sleep. But I can't. What a shame.
After a light breakfast of nonfat, high-protein Greek yogurt and an apple (trying to counteract the China Buffet madness) my parents went out to run errands and I got to work on the second missed steno class. It took longer than I wanted because I also kept getting distracted with responding to emails and social media, but at some point I buckled down and finished the class. I'm doing a terrible job and it's embarrassing, but I'm trying real hard not to get defensive here about it. I don't need to explain myself.
After steno I cleaned up and drove over to Kate's house to visit with my sisters and brother, and new baby nephew.
When I arrived everyone was awake and just hanging out. Kate and her husband had been able to get some sleep because the baby "only" got up every three hours. But it was obvious that they're both still exhausted (and will be, forever) so we didn't do anything but chill and get caught up on each others' lives.
Jonah (my brother) has been working in some kind of grocery/analytics marketing for a while now. He likes it well enough. HIs girlfriend is doing well.
Raven (my sister) is looking pretty good, although like I said before she's been stressed lately. She and I both have a lot of work to do that this visit is kind of interfering with. But it is worth it. It's just work. I know it's worth it, and I hope she realizes that too.
Kate (the one who had the baby) is good but tired and learning all kinds of stuff I'm sure. Mostly I just tried to be supportive and be there, and not make her feel like she had to entertain or host us.
Deklan (the baby) seems just fine. Hungry, sleepy, cranky, poopy. Baby stuff.
We ate Beyond burgers together outside, and being a big fan of The Natures I poked around and admired all the plants, even the weeds.
Driving into my hometown, I noticed something that I've never noticed before.
Milkweed.
LOADS OF IT.
Perhaps there has always been a ton of milkweed in my hometown, and I just never knew.
Because monarchs are not common here, and milkweed was not a part of my education, and...I never knew.
But now that I've lived in Florida, and raised monarchs myself...they were like becons along the road, jumping out at me. I felt my eyes widening as I saw huge milkweed plants lining the highways and side streets, popping up at the base of every telephone pole, even growing up from a crack in the sidewalk at a gas station as I approached home. I couldn't believe it.
The most common milkweeds in Florida are swamp milkweed and tropical milkweed, both are small and have small narrow leaves, and are difficult to find growing wild because caterpillars eat them before they can spread.
What I am seeing in my hometown is common milkweed, which can grow as tall as me and has huge abundant leaves and big bunches of flowers.
After joining a Raising Monarchs group on facebook, I discovered that milkweed has been difficult to propegate in Florida because the caterpillars frequently eat the plants even before they can be brought to market. There's even a facebook group called Milkweed Express where people from northeastern and western states ship common milkweed and/or leaves to people raising monarchs in the southeast and in California.
Why is it that the MOST milkweed grows where the monarchs DON'T live??
I was going somewhere with this:
I WANT TO STEAL THE MILKWEED.
At first I was planning to pull over on the highway shoulder and dig up a few plants. This is of course illegal or at least ill-advised.
But then when I was driving to Kate's house in the middle of nowhere, I continued to see milkweed growing along the road and in the fields.
Sure enough, when I poked around in Kate's expansive yard, I found lots of big patches of milkweed. I asked Kate if I could have some. She looked at me like I was nuts. Of course I could have some! It's everywhere and it's a nuisance. Please take it.
Here is some of the milkweed in Kate's yard. Some of these plants are taller than me.
I will revisit Kate again and bring a pot and a spade, and pick out two milkweed plants to steal!
One big one, and one seedling. We'll see if they survive the trip, and then we'll see if they survive a Florida summer. I'll keep them in the pot and in partial shade, and care for them as best I can, and when the weather cools I'll try to plant them in the yard. If they die before I get to all that, hopefully one of them will make a seed pod so I can try to propegate them myself.
All of this may come to nothing. But it's fun to try!
After we ate people started falling asleep, which is a good thing, so I quietly snuck out and drove home with a promise to visit again soon.
Back home my parents were doing yardwork, but a big thunderstorm forced them to take a break. We chatted a bit, then I ate dinner and did more steno, then we settled down for the night.
Continuing my train of crazy-person thought (do I actually get MORE crazy when I've had a decent sleep?)
In a few weeks I'll be making a sourdough starter so that I can learn to make sourdough bread.
Traditionally, sourdough starters are named. I've looked up lots of cool and cornball names online.
Dr. Dough-Little!
Herculyeast!
Reading Raindough!
Bread Pitt!
Lots of funny ideas. But Jameson insists that I call mine "Dough-Malley"! (because my last name is O'Malley for those who don't know).
It makes me roll my eyes, but I haven't been able to come up with anything better/more unique.
So then I was thinking, what can I do with this starter to make it special? To make it unique among starters?
Today it hit me.
A starter is a living thing. You've got to feed it.
Starters eat any kind of grain flour.
I thought, why not feed "Dough-Malley" with grain from my own hometown?
I found a mill nearby that grows and mills wheat and rye grown right here in Central PA.
Even better, it's an easy short detour on my way back down to Florida!
In addition, I'll be stopping at my Aunt's house in North Carolina. While NC isn't "home", it's the home of my heart. I went to school there and lived there for about two years, and that time is a big part of who I am as a person. It's the only other place in the world that I truly think of as "home".
Right down the street from my Aunt's house is a local bakery that grows and mills its own heirloom rye and sells the flour. If possible, I'll also pick up a bag of that and use both flours to feed my starter.
And that's how "Dough-Malley" will be born! A starter made with combined flours from my two very special home states.
What do you think? Stupid, or cool?
