Winter Adaptations

Getting-up before sunrise, flipping-on the coffeemaker and taking note of the single digit temperatures is a huge change to rising to double-digit negative temps of only a couple of weeks ago.  Change like this makes me ponder whether springtime is lurking just around the corner?  Nah.  I digress.    How do the resident critters that make their home around here adapt and adjust to harsh winter weather conditions anyway?

The short answer is that wildlife does have adaptations to the seasons and this time of year they manifest as both physical change, behavior or a combination of the two. 

Thinking of the critters that show-up most frequently on the trail cameras; the resident white tails, raccoons, coyotes, fox and other mammalian species all grow a thicker coat of hair and fur that absorbs sunlight, and provides camouflage properties to avoid detection by predators.  Additionally, this fur coat generally consists of several layers; the softer, thicker layer adjacent to the skin traps air and retains body heat.  Next to this undercoat is an outer layer of guard hairs that repels rain, snow and wind.  

So efficient is this winter-wear that the snow accumulating on a whitetail doesn't even get close to melting....

 

 

Friday Music

Co-written by country music artist Marty Stewart and Paul Kennerly this tune was released in 1991 as the third single and title track from the album Tempted. 

It reached number five on the Billboard Hot Country Single chart.

I happen to think Stuart is channeling Buddy Holly with this song.

Tempted... 

Drip Dry

Pro Tip - 

If you ever construct a new house or garage be sure to have the concrete contractors install floor drains in your garage - preferably one for each stall - so that the winter weather crap that collects on your vehicle will not pool  underneath and around your vehicles.

Sure, after the water drains away and the floor dries the mud, road grunge and other dirt won't look very appetizing but you you won't be tracking it into the house if it spreads all over the garage floor.

With the arrival of spring you can sweep-up most of that debris followed by flushing the rest down the drains and out the underground pipe to a discharge in the backyard.

One more thing.  Every garage should have a slop sink.  A floor mount sink with hot and cold running water just like you find in a janitor closet.  A great supplement for flushing the fore-mentioned floor, rinsing-off a vehicle, scrubbing your wood-fired oven implements, cleaning deer hunting knives, dirty boots and (drum roll please) shampooing your dog!

Peaaanuts! Get Your Peanuts!

At the ball park a treasured memory is the guy hiking up and down the steps of the grandstand pitching salted-in-the shell ballpark peanuts.  In my view the perfect game day snack.  Just thirst-provoking enough to justify a frosty beer and easy enough to eat because you can leave the shells on the concrete beneath your seat  for someone else to clean-up.  

In any event, after consulting with my pal and mutual bird aficionado, Braumeister, I invested in this contraption.

It's spring-loaded device for holding unsalted peanuts in the shell for song birds.  Namely blue jays and other peanut-centric birds.  I picked it up at the local bird food supply outlet in Sturgeon Bay, primed it with a generous dose of peanuts and hung it from a maple tree in the yard by means of a raccoon-proof length of army surplus braided metal parachute rigging.  (At least I think it will be raccoon proof.)

Days passed and aside from an occasional curious chickadee nobody was acknowledging the presence of my bird-world ballpark peanuts.  Days turned into a week without a single customer. At that point I reached-out to my buddy to inquire as to what might be the problem.  He cautioned patience.

The next day, sure as shooting, there was a blue jay on the feeder pecking-away at my peanuts to break the shell and extract a nut.  At which point the bird would fly-off, disappear to likely stash the prize in a food cache.  Jays do that.  In reasonably short order the word went forth and every day there have been jays hammering-away at the peanuts.  Once and a while a chickadee or nuthatch might give it a passing sniff - but only jays have been actively feeding.

Braumeister says to be patient as other species will naturally become attracted and join-in the ever-growing bird buffet in our yard.

Peaaanuts!  Get Your Peanuts!

  

February Skies

Members of the Cherokee nation refer to this month’s full moon as the Bone Moon.  This was a consequence of depleted food stores and the necessity of cracking-open bones to access the marrow for survival food.

My own people – the ancient Celts – remember this as the Moon of Ice as it is associated with the coldest month of the year.   

Colloquially, the February full moon is the Snow Moon.

Simultaneous moonset and sunrise this morning.  A doubler.

View east...

View west...

And when you live halfway between the equator and the North Pole it’s still dang cold….

 

How To Make Sourdough Rye

In my continued hiatus from the chaos that passes as news nowadays, on Sunday I performed an experimental bake.  Before bedtime on Saturday I mixed my flours, salt and a slurry of starter/water into a sticky dough. Stretched (not kneaded) and formed a ball. 

By sunrise I had a nicely-proofed dough.  Turned it out stretched it 8X and formed a ball to raise 4-5 hours while doggo and I did chores. 

 

Baked it an hour.

My first sourdough rye. 

If you like sourdough bread in a rye variation this turned-out amazing - and scary to get it right on the first try.  Needs Nueske's liver pate or Usinger's braunschweiger.  Naturally, raw beef and onions or pastrami works too.  

Sourdough Bread 

 

Starting the bread:

Start to finish about 12-16 hours - mostly overnight. Hands-on time is less than 1 hour.

385g water

90g starter

520g flour  (100g whole wheat or rye flour and 420g high protein bread flour = 520g total) 

                    I prefer King Arthur flours

12g table salt

For rye loaf - caraway seed to taste (optional) 

 

Mix water with starter to make a slurry. Whisk the two flours together with the salt and add the slurry. Mix everything by hand or a plastic dough spatula. Cover and allow to rest for 15 minutes.

 

Stretching the bread:

Stretch and fold eight times. Rest 15 minute intervals. Perform this three times over 45 minutes. Form a ball with your dough, place in a bowl, cover and let it rest overnight (8-10 hours) at room temperature until doubled in size. If it is warmer this may take only 6-8 hours. Wet hands are non-stick. Resist any impulse to fold and knead on the countertop. I like to finish this step before bedtime.

 

Forming the loaf:

I like to start this step after rising first thing in the morning. Dump the dough out onto a floured counter. Cover with a bowl and let it rest ½ hour. With wet hands stretch and fold the dough forming a round loaf. Place on a floured towel in a bowl seam side up. Cover and allow to rest for 1-4 hours.

 

Baking the loaf:

30 minutes before baking allow a cast iron pot and lid to preheat in a 450F oven. Tip the towel-lined loaf from the bowl into parchment paper-lined cast iron. Slash and bake covered for 40 minutes at a reduced 425F. At the 40 minute interval remove the lid and bake for an additional 20 minutes at 375F (uncovered). 

 

at 40 minute mark remove the cast iron pot

 

Total bake time is 60 minutes. Remove loaf to a wire rack and allow to rest at room temperature.

 

DO NOT give in to any urge to cut the loaf before it has cooled.

 

After it has cooled you can place the loaf cut side down on a cutting board for up to a day before bagging in plastic. Sourdough bread is naturally resistant to turning stale; if it lasts that long anyway.

 

Pro Tips: This sourdough bread is a very forgiving bake; don’t feel like you’re a slave to pinpoint timing. Nevertheless, weights and measures must be precise. Pull and fold your dough like taffy. Do not knead it on a countertop.

 

More photos and instructions here. Or type: sourdough in the search tool in the upper left corner of the home page.

The Red Rocket

Sunny with the temperature reaching a scorching high of 28F yesterday. 

Positively tropical!

 

Doggo and I ran the trail camera trap line; consequently she got a minimum 1 mile round-trip run under her collar.    Poor Pupper has had a bad case of cabin fever during the recent polar vortex with brief outside time to perform her business and occasionally get a quick dose of the zoomies.  

In case you’re wondering about all of the tracks in the snow; none of those belong to anyone in the household. We’ve been home bound for about a week on account of the extreme cold. Some of those trails look like woodland superhighways.  And they’re all critter tracks.  Mostly whitetail but also raccoon, possum, turkey, fox, weasel and coyote. Maybe a ditch tiger too. 

You’ll note Ruby taking a deliberate slide at the 28 second mark in the video. Not much escapes her nose and that’s to check some fresh coyote spoor. 

The video ends with big, fresh canine turd.  Didn’t look wild. Maybe from a local trailing hound?

Anyway, I’ve had an unusual spate of technical fails on the cameras lately. Will be interesting to see if they’ve been debugged and what, if anything, we got pics of. 

Stay-tuned….