Captain's Log for the Past Week.

 Here's my Captain's Log for this week:

• My hermit thrush and my white-throated sparrows are still here.  (My captain's log for overwintering birds).
• I continue to work on the 49 LeMoyne Stars needed for the quilt that I'm working on. I'm down to the last 5.  I continue to enjoy making these, but it has been time consuming.
• I began a sour dough starter.  I had one some years ago, and it when bye-the-bye due to time/interest constraints.  It's not dead yet.
  
• Allergies are killing my son and me.  We both suffer though we take appropriates meds. I went to BJ's for foraging (food costs are up, up, up).  Met several allergy sufferers there too)
  
• Pour over coffee.  I pulled my French Press out last week. I have had this for years.    It only makes about 10oz...and it takes more time.  But it does taste better.  I regrouped from french press to pour over using gold mesh (fine) filter basket from long dead coffee makers.  It makes great pour over coffee with less muss/fuss.  Yes, I have a regular coffee pot--a very nice one--but I have grown to prefer this coffee (and I can modify ratios), so the menfolk can enjoy the pot.
• I scored some Starbuck Holiday blend and the local salvage store.  Very good and very cheap at 5.99 for a lb, which is about $8 cheaper per bag than anywhere else.  Yes, it goes out of date this month, but coffee to my palate has a long shelf life.
• Ran out of dishasher tabs. Used baking soda + few drops of Dawn...it worked in a pinch though silverware not as cleans as I liked. But it beat handwashing everything else.  My last load I was too generous with the Dawn and ended up with suds the size of Montana.  I'm now fully stocked on dishwasher tabs...and know that I have a way to work in a pinch, so long as the liquid is only a pinch in the future.
  

By the end of the week, I'll have a chance to make some sourdough break.