Second attempt, and improving the workspace

Now I'm making smaller loaves I need smaller quantities of flour, so we thought we'd put the flour in nice tubs so it looks nice and professional:
I tried the following quantities:
Still a bit misshapen:
I think I'll try non-quick-yeast and cook it slower. If it's good, you'll be the first to know.

Frederick in space

Finding things to do that kill the days is becoming increasingly difficult. Since the blackout of mid-December, our days are filled with a lot of sitting around, peevishly staring at each other while being stuck in the house, with not a whole lot that we can do. Even once we got electricity back, we didn't have phone or internet and then, even with the start of school, more days have been cancelled than have taken place. One of my courses, offered on MW, should have met eight times by now, but we have only met three. We are supposed to be starting chapter 5 of our text and have not even gotten to chapter 2! And, with 5-10 more inches of snow (followed by icy rain) forecast for the next few days I will be amazed if we meet on Monday. This is true for Thomas and Frederick as well. At first cancelling school days seemed like a good idea, but the thrill is gone. (And for Frederick, who gets in about a day and a half per week of school, "tedious" is an understatement.) So, yesterday, while Frederick was out of school but Thomas was in (and therefore needed to be picked up) I took Frederick to the Sloane Museum while Simon made the nearly 90 mile round trip journey to get Thomas. Frederick was very excited about going until we got to the room that housed the dinosaur display until last week and saw nothing but an empty space. "The dinosaurs are GONE!" he exclaimed. But around the corner there was a poxy space exhibit set up. Not as good, but ok. Here kids could stand behind space suit cut outs for a photo op. So we did that. Most of the exhibits amounted to nothing more than tvs with a stand in front with buttons on them. Push a button and a 2 minute "educational" film is shown. None of the films were about planets or suns, but were all about major NASA accomplishments. (Did NASA finance this whole thing in hopes of getting more federal financial support by lobbying directly to kids? They did that when I was in school, sending astronauts around to middle schools across the country to give talks about being in space, space suits and the nearly completed space shuttle program. They needed funding to complete the space shuttle program and someone came up with the idea that, if you make kids love it, their parents will vote for it. A girl in my class (I can't remember her name but I did go to her birthday party) got to try on a real space suit. She said later that it was excruciatingly uncomfortable and heavy.) The screen Frederick was most interested in was about sattelites--man made, not natural ones. I was bored to tears but he really, really loved hearing an animatronic voice describe the hoped-for accomplishments of Voyager, Stardust, Magellon, Gallileo I and II....The sad part was that each one spoke of all that will be accomplished once they set finally get to that magical year 2005! I guess this exhibit is at the tail end of a really, REALLY long museum exhibit tour which Flint couldn't afford ten years ago but, now that it is hopelessly out of date, can finally pay for. Since we are well in the Endless Winter (I think I really understand the Nordic notion of the end of the world: this is it, just more and more snow and ice and we will never have a Spring again) I am sure we will be back to learn more about the history of GM and of the amazing SPACE program (of 10 years ago).

Our bread machine had a baby

We're currently a half-and-half household, gluten-wise. Thomas and I partake, while Jami and Frederick abstain. Since Granny pointed out that we were mixing the two rather cavalierly, we made the decision to establish a clear separation. Also, whenever I make a gluten-free loaf, half of it seems to vanish 2 seconds after it emerges from the bread machine, but then the remaining half tends to sit there getting stale (which it does rather quickly). With that in mind, Jami found a smaller bread machine (still made by the trusted Zojirushi) which arrived on our doorstep yesterday. Isn't it adorable?
Here is our gluten-free workspace now, complete with brand new, never glutenized toaster and separate butter dish:
Here's where we toast the regular bread:
I decided to baptize the baby with a loaf about a third of the proportions of our usual loaf, as follows:
Turns out that was a bit TOO tiny. This loaf disappeared entirely the second Frederick saw it: I'm trying again with about 2/3 proportions. I'll keep you posted, if you can stand the suspense.

When will it end?

Apparently the Polar Vortex never really went away: it just hung out in Canada for a while and now it's back.  The University was closed today, not for snow or anything, but just for EXTREME COLD.  We finally took pity on the ducks and after our wood man told us about a nifty self-warming water dish, Jami went to Tractor Supply and splashed out on that and some bales.  This is their new daytime hangout:

According to the radio, Flint has set a record for snow in January with 31 inches. Also, the wind chill across the "listening area" tonight is supposed to range from 20 below (Fahrenheit, remember) to 30 below (which I think is the same in degrees C and F).

Thomas bassoonin' (along with some other kids)

Forgot to post this from last week:

(You can see him to the right of the conductor.  The bassoon is hard to miss.  As is Thomas's hair.)

Brisk!

Snorkel Parka

Against the advice of all weather prognosticators, Frederick and I set out for another trek into my office (all schools having been canceled, and us being stir crazy).  At one point, the wind was so bad his legs blew clean off:

 Snow was piled high everywhere:

 But as long as he could eat as much of it as he liked, Frederick was happy:

 I was just glad I had my parka.  When I were a lad, these things were called "snorkel parkas" (I believe Matthew was at one time associated with a group, possibly the "Psychotic Suck Maidens", who had a song of that name) for obvious reasons:

Ducks in the snow

It snowed all night, as predicted (in fact, it was supposedly the third largest snowfall ever recorded in the Flint area at 17 inches):

and I'm a little worried about the ducks, what with the "arctic vortex" on the way.  Of course, we could just keep them in their little house with their heat rock, but they do so love their walkies...  So:

Snow (and more snow)

So, right on cue, just as we're about to offload the kids on school, the blizzard comes.  Today was pretty balmy (about 30 Fahrenheit) so I thought we should try sledding before the roads became impassable.  Frederick was game:

It was suboptimal because the snow was very light and powdery so you just sank down in it.  Worse, it was on top of sheet ice, so walking back up was pretty much impossible.  But we made a go of it.

Well, it was still not too cold, so I suggested we take a stroll into the office.  Once again, Frederick humored me.

Once there, we divested ourselves of all but the innermost layer.  As you can see, we came prepared:

 These babies are my new pride and joy.  After suffering cold tootsies in my previous wellies, despite wearing ski socks inside thick woolly socks, I made a trip to Tractor Supply yesterday to buy INSULATED wellies.  And boy were they worth it.  Yes, I am aware they're hideous, but I DON'T CARE.  They even have little handles to make it easy to pull them on.  Now that's thoughtful design.

 The ducks want to know where their insulated wellies are.  They're sad now, but wait till tomorrow when it's supposed to be wind chills of minus 30 or more...

Goodbye Granny (twice)

Here is a picture of Granny passing through the barriers to the passenger-only part of Flint Airport:

After pausing for Frederick to complete his massage...

...we left to a sadly more-empty house.  But then, a couple of hours later, we got a call.  It was from a strange number (and on my cellphone because our house telephone is still out - don't get me started) so I almost didn't answer it.  Good thing I did, because it was Granny calling from the airport to say that her flight had been canceled because (essentially) it was too damn cold.  So, back we went, and Granny got to stay one more night (and cook us one last pot of soup and  maybe a couple of loaves while she was about it...)  This time she had to get to the airport at 5 AM, so it was a blearier parting, and I was too sleepy to document it, but I hope she made it home all right, especially as a REAL cold spell was chasing in to blanket the country in arctic conditions...

UPDATE: just checked email (also out since Monday - I'm in the office right now, along with both internet-starved kids) and I'll let Granny speak for herself:
"Just to let you know that I got home OK, though the first flight was an hour delayed and the second 2 1/2 hours. As it didn't stop snowing all day in Chicago, the TV news screens were filled with pictures of reporters in snowy scenes and warnings that 100 million people (can that be true?) were in the path of the snow storm heading north east, and the flight departure screens with yellow 'cancelled' notices, I spent a rather anxious day until the snow stopped and the sun came out and the Manchester flight was finally posted as On Time (a lie, but there)."

Like the hat says