Posted on 03/01/2026 5:58:25 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
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FWIW, a graph of discharge characteristics for battery types commonly found in inexpensive flashlights:
Lithium not shown, unfortunately.
Got out of bed and within 1 minute the power went out. Ran coffee maker from inverter on RV/marine battery. Need to plug in cordless phone and report outage. Fiber optic modem router has battery backup.
T’storms are rolling through our region - mostly a little north of us, with some tornado warnings too. I saw that there were some in Arkansas B4 I woke up. A heavy t-shower just scooted by us.
I’m still getting used to it being dark around 6 am again - about the time I do, it’ll be getting light around 6 a.m.!
Our rain (t-storm) probabilities chart is very spikey today. It’s wildly “up and down”. I don’t think NWS really knows when the various clusters of t-storms will come through any one spot: IMO - they are just hazarding a guess! All the TV forecasters models vary on this too (but they do agree the waves of storms will come through!)
The village near Kankakee, IL, that got hit by the tornado yesterday early evening, has the slightly bizarre name of “Aroma Park”, but apparently this has nothing to do with odors - it’s a play on words from the name of a friend of the founders.
Still, I can imagine the jokes...
The bad news is that the twister went on into Indiana, so I expect we’ll see more damage vids this morning. :-(
2 fatalities from the tornado(s?) in NW Indiana. :-(
You are so sweet. I was just sharing from the past. Not making anything like that anymore but you could for your natural gift treats, Maybe a lavender sprig instead of cedar. Birch bark is so pretty. Recommend a glue stick, no pucker.
The “French dressing” part of the recipe is so good, I could eat the potatoes dressed with that alone! Most of the potato salad recipes I have looked at have a small amount of vinegar sprinkled on the potatoes immediately after cooking & while still warm - adds a ‘tang’. I like it that the ‘dressing’ in the recipe I’m using has more than just vinegar & adds layers of flavor.
Our church is a small country church. Right now, for Lent, we have a potluck every Wednesday evening & a video from the Pastor. The rest of the year, there are several potluck events, the biggest in September for “Homecoming” when relatives & friends who have moved away make an effort to attend - it’s a wonderful day. My very favorite thing is a gathering of family, friends & good food!
Potential severe weather this afternoon/evening - hope the day stays cloudy so the atmosphere doesn’t heat up & make things worse.
It’s really strange that as hot as it was last summer, I never heard the chicken house fans! They only ran this past weekend that I heard - yesterday was 81° & I didn’t hear them.
Our house has really good windows - you do not hear outside noise unless it’s police/fire/EMS going by right in front of the house. In my bedroom, I have a French door that is old, so single pane glass & I could hear the fans if I was near that door. I sleep with a fan anyway, so that drowned out any outside noise.
I will check this out - thanks!
“I’ll never see the benefit, but, maybe my daughter will?”
If you inter-plant them with White Pine, the Black Walnut trees will grow straight and tall.
My FIL did that on an extra patch of land he owned - probably 5 acres. 20+ years later, the Black Walnuts were all harvested and the pines left standing so it still looked ‘nice’ as he wanted to sell that property as soon as zoning laws changed and someone could build a house there.
I’ll bet he made a HUGE profit on those trees. I never asked. He was a retired Engineer with IBM - farming all the while - and anything he touched turned to gold. I miss Big John so much! We used to sell Raspberries at a Farmer’s Market together, and tomatoes to local restaurants. A lot of work, but a lot of fun. :)
Beau has 5 of the 20+ trees felled so far. He’s dragging them to the edge of our property so it’ll be easier for the buyer to pick them up. That’s gonna get the Side by Side paid off quick! One ‘hard asset’ (literally, LOL!) paying for another, Baby! ;)
Their coop, inside the barn, is two different colors of steel siding Beau drug home from various job sites. They seem pretty happy with their white (barn wall) blue and red walls and ceiling, LOL!
Patriotic chickens! ;)
The potato salad is made & in the fridge! It’s very tasty. Attendance has been about 30 & serving size is 6-8 so I made a double batch.
I think I am going to take a 2nd dish: Spicy Jiffy Corn Pudding.
https://www.bbonline.com/recipes/pondercove-1875.html
I love Jiffy corn pudding & the hot Rotel adds a different dimension. The recipe author makes this comment:
” ... but let me tell you this is a humdinger of a side dish to Holiday meals and I take it to every pot luck.”
And, guess what, at my Mom’s old place, dozens of white pine seedlings are coming up. If the overall shading is not too great - there are still big oaks and hickory around the open area, one problem could enhance something else.
Now if only I have the time...
So, what you made was essentially the Nagi’s potato salad recipe? I have potatoes to use up...
Thanks!
Oh, gee, one of my much used head flashlights developed strange housing breakage issues and it may be...
Well, who are we to argue with a Humdinger of a dish? LOL!
Snow today, but it’s not sticking. Colder temps through this weekend, so I have to remember to add another ‘layer’ to the greens out in the greenhouse.
With this cool-down again, I’m making that Coffee Beef Roast for supper. It’s THAT kind of day.
Pepper seedlings are UP - and just in time! They can be moved to another part of the grow rack. I’m sorting tomato packets today because tomato seedlings get started this coming Sunday. :) Who will make the cut?
Robins are around and I saw the first Red Winged Blackbird yesterday, in the tippy-top of a tree in the vast Walmart parking lot. I guess everybody’s got to be somewhere, Right? ;)
Lots of our daffodils are flowering, our 2 young plum trees too, and many other bulb-type plants are coming up. Even the Cannas I failed to get in late last fall have several inches of growth showing — I thought that cold blast last month would do them in for sure. I hope the cold early next week doesn’t ding all these plants too badly.
There are many orchards in the nearby Southern Illinois hills - I can imagine the owners are quite worried. :-(
Beau has NO sap for making Maple Syrup this season. Well, I take that back; he has about 8 gallons, frozen.
It takes 44 gallons of sap to make ONE gallon of syrup. He took his taps down - our Maple trees are budded out.
Yes - this one:
https://www.recipetineats.com/potato-salad/
The only thing I changed was leaving out the cucumbers. I made this recipe once before & used the cucumbers (scoop out watery seeds with a spoon & tiny dice) & I loved them - a little burst of ‘fresh’ amidst all the ‘creamy’. This batch of potato salad is for meat & potatoes type country/farm folks & I’m not sure they would like cukes in their ‘tater salad! I’ll run the cucumber idea past some of the ‘kitchen angels’ group & get their reaction - if it’s neutral/positive, I might include them the next time.
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