My birding weekend

This is where I live.....

The wild, wild west.  NO kidding.  Remember the TV show Bonanza?  Filmed just a couple of hours from here.  And the Ponderosa was open for tourists up until a few years ago.  (sigh.....)
But, back to me.... Nevada is a puzzle.  Because I was standing in the same exact place in the road when I took this picture above...then turned around  180 degrees and took this:

It was a grove of trees!!
see the baby owlet?  It's a Great Horned Owl, owlet.

I don't exactly live here,  right in this exact spot where the picture was taken, but this is  still in Northern Nevada, just a mere two hours from my house.    Who knew that  the dry  'high desert'  is a stopping point for so many species of migratory birds?  Not me!  Not until I discovered bird watching a few years ago and started attending the Spring  Wings Festival with my friends.

The Spring Wings Birding and Outdoor Festival celebrates International Migratory Bird Day, as well as the return of thousands of migrating songbirds, shorebirds, raptors and waterfowl to the Lahontan Valley.

THOUSANDS!  That's a  lot of birds!!  Altho, this year  was a lot dryer than it was last year, so while we saw over  45 different species of birds, we didn't see the concentration of them like we did last year.  We had a great time, we laughed a lot and ate too much and  spent time in the hot Nevada Sun,  I got pulled over by a policeman (no comment.  But I didn't get a ticket),  ate more, shopped a little, and as always, found a bird or two we hadn't seen before.

I'm going to share a few of my pictures tonight, and then write up another 'birding' post to share in a couple of days.

These are some old  (and maybe young) coots taking off from the water.  I know a coot, isn't technically a duck, but to me it is.  They look exactly like Daffy Duck! 

They work really hard to take off  from the water.  I love watching them.  It's almost like they can't make it, they flap and run and flap and run and then.....FLIGHT!

A bird...NOT, a duck or a water fowl.  A Yellow-Headed blackbird.

This workshop was a class on how to photograph wildlife.....

and the cows were as wild as anything I came upon.
(I kinda like cows for some reason)

In other news....I just thought this shot was funny....the first thing we all did when we got out of the van, was set up our cameras on our tripods.

This guy flew overhead during our photography workshop.  They really are a pretty bird.
The Pelican

and I just liked the reflection of the russion olive trees/bushes in the water

and finally, before I hit the sack.... a picture of

my friends!

Bird Nerds.

Smokey Jalapeno Burgers

Last week was very busy,  which in turn, meant a slow reading week for me, so instead of a  "It's Monday, What are you Reading?" ( same thing as last week) post,  I thought I'd share with you what we ate last week instead.

And that would be---hamburgers.  Not just any hamburger, but a Smokey Jalapeno Burger.  I do not know exactly where I got the recipe, but I know it is off the Internet, so if you feel you made it first, please send me a note and I will be happy to THANK YOU (and give you credit), because this is such a great hamburger....a keeper.  One I will make again.  In fact, I already have ... I made it twice in last week.
It's a good, juicy, smoky and spicy burger. With bacon!  I don't know what else to say about it.
The chipotle sauce gives it a good smokey flavor and the jalapenos on top gave the perfect amount of spice.  The pepper-jack cheese was good too, altho next time I just might use a good cheddar.  I like cheddar.  And I might shred it instead of using the slices.  I like the texture of melty shredded cheese.

Anyway enough of that...here is the burger recipe.

Smoky Bacon Jalapeno Burgers
1 pound ground beef
1/4 cup chipolte sauce (I could not find chipolte sauce, so I used chipolte bbq sauce.  who knows....maybe that's what it meant in the first place.  It was good)
1/2 red onion, diced
Montreal Steak Seasoning

4 oz pepper-jack cheese slices
1 slice bacon per burger (I used two)
pickled jalapeno slices, to taste
mayo
buns or Texas toast

1.  Mix ground beef, chipolte sauce and diced red onion by hand  until thoroughly combined.
2.  pat into  3 or 4 burgers.  Sprinkle the tops with the Montreal Steak Seasoning
3.  Grill the burgers,  top with the cheese
4.  spread the bun with mayo and top the burger with the jalapenos and bacon.

Enjoy!

I just got back from my birding weekend!  It was so much fun... will be posting about that soon. Very soon.

It's Monday, What are you Reading

It's Monday...what are you reading? is weekly meme hosted by Sheila from Book Journey.  I love to see what everyone is reading and how they like it.

This is what I have read in the past week....

(I did do a short post on them, if you want to read what I thought)

The Big Year by Mark Obmascik

Calico Joe by John  Grisham

This is what I started to read this morning....

In One Person by John Irving.

Goodreads says this:

A compelling novel of desire, secrecy, and sexual identity, In One Person is a story of unfulfilled love—tormented, funny, and affecting—and an impassioned embrace of our sexual differences. Billy, the bisexual narrator and main character of In One Person, tells the tragicomic story (lasting more than half a century) of his life as a “sexual suspect,” a phrase first used by John Irving in 1978 in his landmark novel of “terminal cases,” The World According to Garp. His most political novel since The Cider House Rules and A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving’s In One Person is a poignant tribute to Billy’s friends and lovers—a theatrical cast of characters who defy category and convention. Not least, In One Person is an intimate and unforgettable portrait of the solitariness of a bisexual man who is dedicated to making himself “worthwhile.”

I'm very excited.  A Prayer for Owen Meany was one of my favorite books of all time.

and this is what I am listening to on audio:

The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides

Goodreads says this:

It's the early 1980s the country is in a deep recession, and life after college is harder than ever. In the cafes on College Hill, the wised-up kids are inhaling Derrida and listening to Talking Heads. But Madeleine Hanna, dutiful English major, is writing her senior thesis on Jane Austen and George Eliot, purveyors of the marriage plot that lies at the heart of the greatest English novels.

As Madeleine tries to understand why it became laughable to read writers like Cheever and Updike, who wrote about the suburbia Madeleine and most of her friends had grown up in, in favor of reading the Marquis de Sade, who wrote about deflowering virgins in eighteenth-century France, real life, in the form of two very different guys, intervenes. Leonard Bankhead, charismatic loner, college Darwinist, and lost Portland boy suddenly turns up in a semiotics seminar, and soon Madeleine finds herself in a highly charged erotic and intellectual relationship with him. At the same time, her old friend Mitchell Grammaticus who"s been reading Christian mysticism and generally acting strange resurfaces, obsessed with the idea that Madeleine is destined to be his mate.

Over the next year, as the members of the triangle in this amazing, spellbinding novel graduate from college and enter the real world, events force them to reevaluate everything they learned in school. Leonard and Madeleine move to a biology Laboratory on Cape Cod, but can't escape the secret responsible for Leonard's seemingly inexhaustible energy and plunging moods. And Mitchell, traveling around the world to get Madeleine out of his mind, finds himself face-to-face with ultimate questions about the meaning of life, the existence of God, and the true nature of love.

Are the great love stories of the nineteenth century dead? Or can there be a new story, written for today and alive to the realities of feminism, sexual freedom, prenups, and divorce? With devastating wit and an abiding understanding of and affection for his characters, Jeffrey Eugenides revives the motivating energies of the Novel, while creating a story so contemporary and fresh that it reads like the intimate journal of our own lives

What I bought yesterday at Barnes and Noble:

( we made a quick trip to Reno to pick up a car for my son.  Had a nice lunch with friends, went to a wine store and then to Barnes and Noble.  It was nice Mother's day---since I had to spend it without my children)

It's been a good week!

Calico Joe

I love a good baseball book.  I love a good baseball movie.  I love the sound of a baseball game on TV in the background  (as I'm usually reading a book). I love seeing a great Little League game.  But.... I have never been to a professional baseball game.   It's on my bucket list.

When I was in Jr. High,  and my brother was playing Little League,  my friend Kathy and I got to keep the stats in the announcer box.
So, I can understand, for the most part, all of the baseball lingo in most baseball books.  Which I think is a very good thing, because the only downside I can see to book about baseball are all the stats.  For some people, that is a killer.   If that  is the case with you, I don't think you should avoid this book for that reason alone, because in   Calico Joe, John Grisham writes as much  about nostalgia, relationships and forgiveness as he does dry statistics. 
I say 'dry' for the non-baseball people.  To baseball people, statistics are like manna from heaven.

John Grisham writes a good story.

Saturday Snapshot

I don't mean to get all   "Lion King" on you  by talking about 

"The Circle of Life" 

but....

Well, first I'll post my Saturday Snapshot(s).

This is my cute little  niece Devin and her grandpa, my father-in-law, Dick. 

I love these two pictures.  I love the  connection between the generations.

And I wanted to share them.

(they were taken at my mother in law's funeral last month)

But I think they are GREAT PHOTOS!!

and...

(here is the circle of life thing)

I'M GOING TO BE A GRANDMA AGAIN!!

My oldest son and his wife are expecting again.

I'm very excited,  we'll probably have a holiday baby, between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Woo Hoo!

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce from At Home With Books.It's fun to share photos.  I love looking at them all.

The Big Year

Ahhhhh.....birding.   Whenever I use that term in a sentence, people always do a double take and say, "what?"
"I've just finished reading The Big Year, by  Mark Obmascik,  a book about competitive birding," I answer.
"oooohhhhh." they say. "They made  movie out of it?"  I'll continue,  trying to spark their memory somehow,  "staring Steve Martin?"
"oooohhhh."  they say again.

Okay, so the movie didn't do that well at the box office, but the book is delightful--IF you are interested in birds or birding at all.   I guess if you had no interest then why bother?
I found it to be a really fast and fun read.  I don't begin to comprehend the reasons people do a "big year" but I admire them.

Oh..what is a big year?  It's a race to see how many birds you can see in one year, in your own continent, state, or county.  (One man who was bedridden,  did his own big year, counting as many different birds as he could on TV that he watched)  Birding is an obsession.  And a big year can be extremely pricey.

The book  is about  3 men who did a big year in 1998.  (not together,  a Big Year is a solitary quest)  This particular year tho, is the only time in history, that three people  saw at least 700 species in one year.  It's really unheard of.
The book is a fun account of that year, as the three men struggle to win the challenge.

I loved it.  If you have any interest in birds,  even just a little back yard birding, you will probably love this book too.   Obmascik makes birding funny and adventurous.    You can not help but admire these guys.

This is what Goodreads says:
Every January 1, a quirky crowd storms out across North America for a spectacularly competitive event called a Big Year - a grand, expensive, and occasionally vicious 365-day marathon of birdwatching. For three men in particular, 1998 would become a grueling battle for a new North American birding record. Bouncing from coast to coast on frenetic pilgrimages for once-in-a-lifetime rarities, they brave boiling deserts, bug-infested swamps, and some of the lumpiest motel mattresses known to man. This unprecedented year of beat-the-clock adventures ultimately leads one man to a record so gigantic that it is unlikely ever to be bested. Here, prize-winning journalist Mark Obmascik creates a dazzling, fun narrative of the 275,000 mile odyssey of these three obsessives as they fight to win the greatest - or maybe worst - birding contest of all time

Next weekend my friends and I are off to the  Spring Wings Festival in Fallon, NV.

This is us from last year:

Yes, birders sometimes get sore necks and shoulders from carrying around things with straps:  binoculars, cameras, backpacks, etc.

We are, yes, NERDS FOR BIRDS.   Mitzi, most of all. She's in the coral colored shirt above.  (and yes, all the pictures I have of them are with binoculars up)
Mitzi can identify birds by their song and their flight patterns!  The rest of us just go and hope we can identify one by it's feathers!

and now, for adults only.... I have to tell you about the Handyman.

I really did love this book....and I really do love birds.....and I love nature and I love a good writer and I love the wonder of world,   so I was reading this passage to him, about a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, who had fattened herself up to weigh as much as 2 pennies. She was getting ready to leave the Yucatan` jungle.

from the book.....
Tonight she would try to fly five hundred miles over the Gulf of Mexico. If she stopped just once to rest, she would die.  If she made it, she would earn the chance for two or three seconds of copulation on the ground with a promiscuous male with a brilliant red-throat.
To navigate her non-stop nighttime ocean crossing, the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, would rely on a brain smaller than a pea.  Humans, with a noggin ten thousand times larger, were still trying to comprehend this incredible journey---the marvel of migration.

At this point I got teary eyed  (It doesn't take much to make me cry), seriously weepy at the wonder of it all.
My husband, the Handyman, looked at me and said,  " Wow...500 miles a night.   Huh.  And we can't even make it up  the stairs most nights for  a few seconds of copulation!"

SERIOUSLY???!!!  That's what you got out of this Handyman?  Not, the wonder of nature, the glory of God's world,  the fighting spirit of a little bird?

He makes me laugh.   So I keep him around.

No-Bake Peanut Butter Cookies

I have this cookbook called  Extraordinary Meals from ordinary ingredients.  It is published by Reader's
Digest.  I have made one other thing from this cookbook:  root beer glazed ribs.  They were really good, but when I look back at the post, MAN I meander.  (sigh) Anyway if you want to check that out you can right here.   
It just dawned on me that every recipe  in this cookbook (I've been bookmarking some to make soon) has a secret ingredient.    For the ribs, it was root beer, for these little cookies, it's cornflakes.

We loved these little cookies, but the trouble is, now I have a box of cornflakes in my pantry, and they are not my (nor the Handyman's ) favorite cereal.
I guess I'll have to make lots of  old fashioned, church potluck, picnic type of casseroles that use crushed cornflakes on top.  You remember those, don't you? 

You might even remember these little goodies.  They might not look like much--the Handyman was not impressed by their looks, but once he tasted them he loved them.
His endorsement?  "These taste a lot better than they look!"    His 'sweet talk' is astounding. 

No-Bake Peanut Butter Cookies
an amazing simple four-ingredient recipe that is both gooey and crunchy!

1 cup sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
2 cups peanut butter
4 cups cornflakes

Place the sugar and corn syrup in a deep saucepan.  Bring to a boil, then continue boiling for 1  minute, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.
Add the peanut butter and stir until melted. Stir in the cereal.
Drop by spoonful onto waxed paper.  Let set.

Mexican Scrambled Eggs (for the day after)

If you partied a little too hardy yesterday   If your Cinco de Mayo party lasted long into the night, and you woke with a little headache?   If you are feeling just a tad bit 'off',  then you should really try these  Mexican Scrambled Eggs.

You might be asking yourself right now, Hmmmm, Debbie, why do you say that?
Well, it isn't just because I'm participating  In  I Heart Cooking Clubs, featuring  Rick Bayless, who does  Mexican excelente.  No, it is because I know first hand.  Or second hand....they're just good for what ails you.  After you finish reading this to the very end, go check out   I Heart Cooking Clubs to see everyone's  Cinco de Mayo, feasts.  But you have to read all the way to the end first.   Go check them out....just don't go now.  Have a bit of patience, will ya.
Read mine first.

I first had these eggs at my son's house on the morning after my granddaughter's 2nd birthday  (just last fall).  My daughter-in-law woke up and said she didn't feel so hot (nothing serious, just  a headache ), so she was going to make some eggs. She asked if we wanted any.  At first I said no, but when she began chopping and dicing and heating tortillas...then they pulled out the Tapito, I KNEW I had to have some.
They tasted so good.  SO GOOD.  And they're nothing fancy.  Just a little bit of an ethnic twist on home cooking.

WHICH brings me back to Rick Bayless and the cookbook I own  (the only one),  Mexican Everyday.      I guess this cookbook  must really be what he touts it to be....every day kind of cooking!    In it, I found the recipe for the eggs.  He says  that his book is " a book of simple foundation recipes from the Mexican kitchen."  He goes on to say that "no doubt all of you, at one time or another, have enjoyed a big forkful of scrambled eggs shot through with Mexican Spirit!"
He's got that right!
So in the Mexican Spirit,  I present Mexican Scrambled eggs.  

Oh..but.....
Eggs. Scrambled.  They don't lend themselves to great photographs.   They're all..... scrambly.

Oh well, they taste good!

Mexican Scrambled Egg Tacos

or

Tacos de Huevos Revueltos a la Mexican

adapted from Rick Bayless, Mexican Everyday

3 garlic cloves

Fresh hot green chilies to taste  (Rick uses 2 serranos or 1 jalapeno.  I used the jalapeno),  stemmed and seeded, if you wish (I did wish) and cut into 3 or 4 pieces.  (I diced them)  (I also added some chopped red bell pepper)

1 medium white onion  (I used half a purple onion)

2 T vegetable or olive oil, fresh pork lard or bacon or chorizo drippings (I used oil and butter)

1 pound (2 med tomatoes), cored and cut into cubes

8 eggs

salt

cilantro

avocado

corn tortillas

hot sauce for serving

 Chop veggies chilies and onion and garlic, saute in oil for a few minutes, add tomatoes and cook until liquid is absorbed--about  4 minutes.  Add eggs and scramble slowly, until they are as done as you'd like.

Scoop into a serving bowl and sprinkle with the cilantro and avocado.

Serve with warm tortillas and hot sauce.

*******************************************

Thank to my beautiful daughter-in-law, Mara!

They're great eggs!!  I am totally in love with them.

And one of the cutest mouses ever!!  My granddaughter, Cassie.

Saturday Snapshot

Saturday Snapshot hosted by Alyce from At Home With Books, is going on today, so I thought I'd pop on in with these photos of a Turkey Buzzard.

It you recall, the Handyman and I are taking a photography class.   It's going okay.  I really am enjoying it  (and the eating out with friends before we go to class).  I am learning lots of great 'book stuff', but I still mostly just  point and shoot, which is what I did when we came upon this old buzzard.

I was even sitting in the car, taking them from the window (which I did remember to roll down, thank goodness)

He decided he didn't like me taking pictures of him and took off!!

I figure this is just a prelude to  the SPRING WINGS FESTIVAL, which I'm headed to in a couple of weeks.

I went last year and you can see that in this post and in this post.

and this year we have T-shirts:

Yep.

I know how to have a good time!



Chocolate Chip Cookie pizza

I  understand that this one might be a stretch when it comes to my chocolate chip cookie quest, but it was kind of fun to make and a dessert that everyone loved.  How could they not?  Peanut butter, chocolate chip cookie crust, hot fudge.  Oh yeah, and cream cheese!

It really hit the spot--the sweet spot.  (groan.... hey, don't judge.  It's hard to be witty all the time). 

We enjoyed some  pizza of the regular kind tonight and then finished it up by having this dessert pizza and watching the Giants play ball.  On TV.  As we sat in our recliners.
The Handyman and I are just crazy like that on Friday nights.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pizza
from Pillsbury

1 roll of Pillsbury refrigerated chocolate chip cookies.  (16.5 oz)
1 8oz pkg of cream cheese--softened
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 cup frozen whipped topping, thawed
3/4 cup hot fudge topping
1/4 cup chopped peanuts

Heat oven to 350 F.  In an ungreased 12-inch pizza pan, break up cookie dough. With floured fingers, press dough evenly in the bottom of the pan to form crust.
Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool completely, about 30 minutes.  
Meanwhile, in medium bowl, beat cream cheese, peanut butter, powdered sugar and milk until smooth. Fold in whipped topping.
Spread 1/2 cup of the fudge topping over the cooled crust.  Spread peanut butter mixture over that.  Drizzle with the  remaining  1/ cup fudge topping. Sprinkle with peanuts.
Refrigerate at least 30 minutes or until serving time.
Cut into wedges to serve.

IT by Stephen King for the Stephen King Project

I am in love Stephen King!  (no worries, the Handyman knows this and he is okay with it---he might  even have a little crush himself)

Long  before I fell in love with him,  he and I were just friends.  I liked him fine, enjoyed a couple of his books, never thought of him much.   I saw him and his wife, Tabitha on a BookTV special once  (roll your eyes if you've heard this before---my kids do, and I'm certain I've mentioned it on my blog before), where I heard him use the word 'lover' while talking about his wife.
It creeped me out.   

It creepd me out, not that he and his wife were.... (sigh) lovers (they should be), but that he used the word: lover.
It's not one of my favorite.  
Boyfriend, girlfriend, partner, spouse, in a relationship with...Those are words I get.  I just don't use the word  lover...comfortably.    (Apparently I have no trouble writing it tho.)

What Stephen King said in that interview, when asked how he and his wife make their relationship work, (Having two authors with egos in the same house) was  that "we are lovers first, then parents, then authors."
It makes sense, but I felt like he should have lit up a cigarette and pulled up a sheet, cuz that image goes with that word for me.  (I have issues with words.  I probably need professional help)

I guess that interview intrigued me tho, because I began to read more of SK and the more I read the deeper I fell. 
I was head over heels with his work, so when I came upon   The Stephen King Project at  Coffee and a Book Chick     earlier this year,
I thought what fun this would be.  And I could realistically shoot for "A Lil Bit of King".

What Are the Commitment Levels?

• A King Novice: 1 book
• A Lil Bit of King: 3 books
• A King to Balance It All: 6 books
• A King Legend: 9 books
• A King for All Seasons: 12+ books

I am currently one book down and in the middle of my second.

This post is about the book "IT". 
I read  IT because I wanted to read  "11/22/63", but my daughter-in-law said that it references the book IT, a lot.  So, of course I had to read IT first.  
I'm SO GLAD I did.  It was a great book! 

from Goodreads:
 A promise made twenty-eight years ago calls seven adults to reunite in Derry, Maine, where as teenagers they battled an evil creature that preyed on the city's children. Unsure that their Losers Club had vanquished the creature all those years ago, the seven had vowed to return to Derry if IT should ever reappear. Now, children are being murdered again and their repressed memories of that summer return as they prepare to do battle with the monster lurking in Derry's sewers once more.

I am always fascinated by the way King can describe scenes, situations, feelings, to make you seem as if you are right there, or as if you know exactly how the character is feeling.  So much more than any author can--at least for me.

from IT, page 200:
at first, the school had been full of sounds: slamming locker doors, the clackety clack of Mrs. Thomas's typewriter in the office, the slightly off-key choral renditions of the glee club upstairs, the nervous thud, thud,thud of basketballs from the gym and the scrooch and thud of sneakers as the players drove toward the baskets or cut turns on the polished wood floor.

NO KIDDING!!  I can remember this in Jr. High.  Just reading those words, I can even smell the old musty Jr High smells.  And that is why I love him so... I love how he takes me there. Inside his books.

Something else that also intrigues me is how he uses kids in this book--the loser group of kids, if you will--to tell such a great story.   He can recollect what it felt like to be a kid.  How many of us can do that now?  As adults we grow and leave childish ways behind, right?  We forget what it feels like, but not Stephen King.  He knows how to put words on  a page that can make us summon up  feelings of our own childhood and we  sympathize with the characters.  He uses loser groups of kids in this book  (as well as The Body/Stand By Me), but I think at some point in our childhoods, we can all identify with that group. Or have empathy for them at least.

He might start out to tell a scary story, but he is also a master at relationship and detail.  Yes, IT is about a scary clown terrorizing and murdering children, but yet...it is so much more than that.   (roll your eyes again, if you will, all ye non SK lovers!)   (Oh my gawd....I used the word lover.  Different context tho, so its okay ~smiles~)

IT is about relationships, fears,  not being understood, small towns, and oh yeah, a very scary monster in a clown suit committing murder.

Try IT, you'll like IT.

and it's not too late to sign up for the SK Project.  It runs thru the end of the  year.

Can I ask you a question?

Today I was looking thru  the "Book Movement" website and came across this  TOP CLUB PICKS and thought it would be a great resource for my book clubs.

http://www.bookmovement.com/app/readingguide/bcbestsellers.php 

Here is the trouble  (or the wonderful news, depending on how you look at it):   Out of 10 books listed,  I've read 6,  2 of them are upcoming reads for book clubs and 2 I own  but haven't read yet.

One of them, which I haven't read  yet is  "50 Shades of Gray".  This book seems to be  a 'buzz' on book club sites, and/or book club lists.   I saw it at my local market the other day so I picked it up, not knowing at all what it is about.   After closer examination at home, I think it is 'erotica'.    (if LOL was appropriate on blogs, but I know it's not as NO ONE EVER uses it,  I would write it here, because I truly am  Laughing out Loud at myself.  Why the heck I didn't read more about it before I bought it, I have no idea )

Back to the matter at hand,  Book Movement says that a lot of book clubs are reading it and it would make for good discussion, but its describes it as:Graphic,
Poorly Written,
Romantic

UGH.  Has anyone read it?   And is it worth my time?