Where have I been?
Recent happenings in the Witt world:
1. We are attempting to convert an aging garden shed into a predator-proof chicken coop. This is more complicated than we first supposed. Jonathan is talking in his sleep about weasels and hawks. No, we have no chickens. That may come later.
2. My lit class is studying Macbeth. Last week I divided them into two groups and had them act out the scene where Macbeth and Banquo first meet the weird sisters. They had costumes and props, including a carrot for the "pilot's thumb" and a horse made out of a rolling AV table, a blanket, and a long gray wig. My twelve-year-old is sitting in on the class, and he somehow got nominated to be the Macbeth of his group. He memorized his lines and was altogether brilliant, except for one thing: He inadvertently acted the entire scene while holding a clothes hanger.
3. It snowed this weekend, but the spring peepers are still croaking merrily away. The rhubard is sprouting, as are the peonies and tulips.
4. Two weeks ago I planted lettuce seeds, figuring lettuce is a cool-weather crop, but nothing has happened. When I tell people this, they laugh and say I should know by now to never plant anything in Michigan until after Memorial Day. I am not amused.
5. Our daughter's bedroom in our 80-year-old farmhouse has myriad cracks in the walls and ceiling. I am patching the cracks, mudding the room, priming it, and painting it. This is not a problem. The problem is that my children, when left to their own devices, will play "Heart and Soul" duets on the piano, out of sync, world without end, until I scream for mercy.
6. The cats would like to get rid of the mice in our bedroom wall, but that unfortunately is up to us. We squeezed out the bedroom window, climbed out on the roof, and stuffed poison pellets in through a tiny hole, which seems way too small even for a mouse, but is the only hole we can find.
7. Two ducks--male and female--have set up housekeeping on our tiny pond. The kids have named them Paddlefoot and Jane. After two or three tastes of bread crumbs, Paddlefoot and Jane decided to be tame ducks. If we don't come to the pond often enough, they come toward the house looking for us. Our guard dog is not happy about this. She senses some profound danger that eludes the rest of us.
8. As part of our daughter's high school biology class, we have dissected a worm, a crawfish, a perch, and a frog. We also learned that moss has virtually no nutritional value, but reindeer eat it anyway because it keeps their blood from freezing. I do not know if moss is toxic for humans.
9. Our ten-year-old has discovered the video camera. Posterity can now watch me singing "Oh my darling Clementine" while simultaneously putting away dishes, tripping over the dog, cooking supper, breaking up a stand-off between the dog and a cat, and answering various questions about missing dog leashes and painful orthodontia. "Mommies can do lots of things at once," the budding filmmaker intones at the end of the clip.
10. And, finally, here's a great breakfast recipe we discovered in the latest Penzey's catalog:
Apple Pancake
1/4 cup butter (half a stick), cut in two
4 eggs
1/4 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt
2 medium apples, peeled, cored, and sliced thin
3 T sugar mixed with 1 tsp cinnamon
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Divide butter evenly between two 9-inch pie plates and put them in the oven to melt the butter. Rotate the pie plates to coat bottom and sides.
Beat eggs, vanilla, flour, milk, and salt on medium speed for 1 minute.
Toss sliced apples with cinnamon sugar. Arrange half the apples in each pan so they cover the bottom in pretty much a single layer. (Feed leftover cinnamon apple slices to hovering children.) Pour half the egg mixture over apples in each pan. Sprinkle remaining cinnamon sugar over top. Bake until puffed and golden, 20-25 minutes. Serve right away, while still puffy, with warm syrup.
1. We are attempting to convert an aging garden shed into a predator-proof chicken coop. This is more complicated than we first supposed. Jonathan is talking in his sleep about weasels and hawks. No, we have no chickens. That may come later.
2. My lit class is studying Macbeth. Last week I divided them into two groups and had them act out the scene where Macbeth and Banquo first meet the weird sisters. They had costumes and props, including a carrot for the "pilot's thumb" and a horse made out of a rolling AV table, a blanket, and a long gray wig. My twelve-year-old is sitting in on the class, and he somehow got nominated to be the Macbeth of his group. He memorized his lines and was altogether brilliant, except for one thing: He inadvertently acted the entire scene while holding a clothes hanger.
3. It snowed this weekend, but the spring peepers are still croaking merrily away. The rhubard is sprouting, as are the peonies and tulips.
4. Two weeks ago I planted lettuce seeds, figuring lettuce is a cool-weather crop, but nothing has happened. When I tell people this, they laugh and say I should know by now to never plant anything in Michigan until after Memorial Day. I am not amused.
5. Our daughter's bedroom in our 80-year-old farmhouse has myriad cracks in the walls and ceiling. I am patching the cracks, mudding the room, priming it, and painting it. This is not a problem. The problem is that my children, when left to their own devices, will play "Heart and Soul" duets on the piano, out of sync, world without end, until I scream for mercy.
6. The cats would like to get rid of the mice in our bedroom wall, but that unfortunately is up to us. We squeezed out the bedroom window, climbed out on the roof, and stuffed poison pellets in through a tiny hole, which seems way too small even for a mouse, but is the only hole we can find.
7. Two ducks--male and female--have set up housekeeping on our tiny pond. The kids have named them Paddlefoot and Jane. After two or three tastes of bread crumbs, Paddlefoot and Jane decided to be tame ducks. If we don't come to the pond often enough, they come toward the house looking for us. Our guard dog is not happy about this. She senses some profound danger that eludes the rest of us.
8. As part of our daughter's high school biology class, we have dissected a worm, a crawfish, a perch, and a frog. We also learned that moss has virtually no nutritional value, but reindeer eat it anyway because it keeps their blood from freezing. I do not know if moss is toxic for humans.
9. Our ten-year-old has discovered the video camera. Posterity can now watch me singing "Oh my darling Clementine" while simultaneously putting away dishes, tripping over the dog, cooking supper, breaking up a stand-off between the dog and a cat, and answering various questions about missing dog leashes and painful orthodontia. "Mommies can do lots of things at once," the budding filmmaker intones at the end of the clip.
10. And, finally, here's a great breakfast recipe we discovered in the latest Penzey's catalog:
Apple Pancake
1/4 cup butter (half a stick), cut in two
4 eggs
1/4 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt
2 medium apples, peeled, cored, and sliced thin
3 T sugar mixed with 1 tsp cinnamon
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Divide butter evenly between two 9-inch pie plates and put them in the oven to melt the butter. Rotate the pie plates to coat bottom and sides.
Beat eggs, vanilla, flour, milk, and salt on medium speed for 1 minute.
Toss sliced apples with cinnamon sugar. Arrange half the apples in each pan so they cover the bottom in pretty much a single layer. (Feed leftover cinnamon apple slices to hovering children.) Pour half the egg mixture over apples in each pan. Sprinkle remaining cinnamon sugar over top. Bake until puffed and golden, 20-25 minutes. Serve right away, while still puffy, with warm syrup.
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