Bread and Stupid

Greetings Earthlings.  How are things with you?  We're good, so far cabin fever has not set in.   It hasn't been too cold, although there has been frequent snow.  Next week, we'll probably get hit with really cold temperatures.  One model says Seattle will get the sub-zero temps, the other says we'll get them.  It will be the first time since March 2019 for below zero temperatures in Spokane.  That tells us that March can still be really cold, despite what the seasonal weather averages suggest.  It looks like the Farmer's Almanac was right, it's going to be a long, really cold winter.  Yay!!!!

So, yes, it's been snowing.  Jim has been shoveling the drive way because we STILL do not have the replacement snow blower.  As you no doubt recall, it left Tacoma, went to Seattle, then on to Reno.  It has arrived in the Spokane facility, but it's undeliverable.  When Jim called about returning the bent blower, he gave the guy at Snow Joe our address.  The Snow Joe employee proceeded to tell Jim that he'd given an incorrect address, and that it was Avenue, not Lane.  No, it's Lane.  The employee proceeded to tell Jim that "they have to use Google maps."  No, what they should be using is the USPS database, which most e-retailers use.  Anyway, the replacement went out without a valid shipping label.  Jim has been trying for 10 days to get this fixed.  Snow Joe says they'll take care of, and they don't.  OnTrac has the address in their system, but can't apply the label to the box without authorization from Snow Joe.  At present Jim is sitting on hold while OnTrac talks to Snow Joe about putting a label with the correct address on the box.  It's out at the airport facility, but they won't let people drive out and pick up their undeliverable packages because they're too busy.  This is just stupidly ridiculous.  Success!  Snow Joe has finally retrieved Jim's account, authorized changing the address, and OnTrac has created a label for the package.

Jim has made bread again, this time it was a success.  We changed recipes, and this one is better.  You can find it at this website if you're interested.  In the recipe they indicate that one will produce a "dry shaggy dough."  They're right, it is dry and shaggy.  There is the added benefit of they don't want you to put an empty pot in a hot oven for 30 minutes. 

Then it went into the small part of the basement that has a heat duct.  The entire basement has heat, the small enclosed area is good for yeast. It's very warm in there.  After two hours it looked like this.  It spent the night in the basement.

We found a really good website that explained how one converts that wet, gooey shaggy dough into a ball, and how does one know when one is done.  Remember, no one here bakes, this is a foreign country for us.  At about three minutes into the video he talks about slapping the dough around until it will let go of the work surface.  Then you start tucking until it forms a skin.  That knowledge helped immensely with getting it into a ball.

Here it is out of the oven, it sort of looks like a turkey.

Here is the inside.

So, we've done that and realized that we don't eat that much bread.  I think dinner rolls and pizza dough may be next.  I found an article on NYT about how no-knead bread entered the lexicon, apparently the method has been around for a long time.

Today was not cold, it was 40F (4.4C).  We decided to go snow shoeing.  It's still fun.  We're still working out the details of the bindings and exactly how do the gaiters go on.  It's a process.  After I took this photo, the sun came out and things looked better for awhile. 

I got this tray to deal with snow covered boots.  We haven't needed it for that, plus leaving boots out in the garage means they're going to be really cold the next time they're worn.  However, it's a great place for the snow shoes to de-ice.

I follow a lot of nurses on Twitter.  Things are not good.  Morgue trucks are arriving daily to store the dead.  All of the health care workers are stressed to the gills, many are leaving and not enough are in the pipeline to replace them.  In addition to having to deal with enormous levels of death, they're being abused for not getting things done fast enough to suit the families.  People are actually keying their cars and slashing tires.  It's difficult to comprehend the level of stupid out there.  Someone posted this adaptation of Hopper's painting, The Nighthawks.  It speaks a lot.