Heat returns...

[altivo]

Soooo... Suddenly the lovely clear, cool fall weather is gone and we're back in the heat and humidity of July. It hit 90°F with 90% humidity or so this afternoon. We closed up windows and restarted the air conditioning, which has been off for a couple of weeks. Mosquitos are back in force after being stunned but not killed by cold nights and dry breezy days. Two confirmed human cases of West Nile virus in the county in the last month, as well as a horse and a dead blue jay.

Gary skipped T'ai Chi tonight and we peeled and sliced pie apples for the freezer. Empire, one of the better pie varieties, and Gary got a full peck on Friday. Eight quarts went in the freezer, leaving nearly a half peck for eating and fresh pies right now. We made applesauce out of the scraps. The Honeycrisps are about done, but I plan to go back for Melrose this weekend. Apple season is my favorite time, I think. Too bad it's so short.

Colors are blooming on the trees overnight too. The cool weather over the weekend started to bring them out more, and in any wide vista now (and we have lots of them, living as we do on the side of a fairly high ridge) you see color on about 10% of the foliage. If it continues at this rate, we could have some stunning colors in a week or two. Assuming of course that we don't get a lot of rain and wind to knock the leaves off the trees prematurely. There was a 70% chance of thunderstorms tonight last I checked, though no sign of them coming yet.

This will be the first post I try to double between LiveJournal and GreatestJournal. Let's see...

Comments

[quickcasey.livejournal.com]

Did it work? How would you go about making a double post?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

It worked. I'm using a client program to make it easier. You can download them from either LJ or GJ. I use Logjam, which is a Linux program, but I'd suggest Semagic for Windoze. I dunno about Macs.

You edit your message in a separate window, then tell the client to upload it to the target journal. You can log into more than one journal with the same client. I have used a similar trick in the past to cross post to multiple communities on LJ.

Depending on the client, you may have to select and copy your text, then paste it back in after switching to the other journal account.

[felder.livejournal.com]

Only a Peck? not a bushell? ;)

So, any apple crumble and custard going at your place hon? *mmmmms.. apple crumble..*

[altivo.livejournal.com]

With just two of us we'd have a hard time using a bushel before they went bad. Also, I like having several varieties available at once, so rest assured we have no shortage of apples at the moment.

We had apple pudding last night. I'm very partial to pies, and to what my grandmother called "grunt". That's a sort of deep dish pie with a cake-like batter poured over it and baked. We're always on the outlook for good apple recipes.

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

Apple pudding? "Grunt"? Clearly, I'm not a country boy :P (Thanks for everything though)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

You'd like apple grunt if you like apples (and what horsey doesn't?)

Sliced up apples are mixed with cinnamon and some brown sugar. Then a sort of sweet biscuit dough is rolled out and laid over the top. You bake it until the apples soften a bit and the dough puffs up. Then you serve hunks of the whole mess with cream or ice cream over the top. ;p

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

*smirks* You got me, I do like apples :P I've been baking brownies, BTW :P

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Brownies? Well, that's popular. I'm not big on chocolate, actually. But if you do German chocolate cake with that caramel and coconut icing, I'll make an exception. (Or trade my cake part for your icing. I <3 caramel.)

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

Heh... well, there is caramel ;P

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

That better not mean what I think it means XD

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

*cocks head, acting coy* What do you think it means?

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

*sits in a tree outside waiting for the storm* I love a good storm :)
West Nile virus? We get "Ross River Fever"

[altivo.livejournal.com]

And Asian bird flu? West Nile seems to be moving westward rather than east, so it may take a while to get to Australia if it ever does. It travels largely on bird migrations.

The thunderstorm never came that night, but we got a little one the next night.