Spring officially started here this week, marked by the Vernal Equinox. But we are not totally convinced. The medium range forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday in the coming week has been steadily deteriorating, and is now talking about a hard frost on Monday and Tuesday nights. Temperatures as low as -8C may occur, though it should be dry enough to prevent any snow (apart from the top of mountain ridges). I hope that the vines can take it in the local vineyards – fortunately they have not yet reached bud break when a frost could be catastrophic for the year’s harvest.
One result of the warmer weather is that creatures are starting to emerge from winter hibernation. And we had a real surprise on Tuesday afternoon. Lisa was on the phone when she nearly dropped it in surprise – an unexpected visitor on the back deck. This deck is not easily accessible. Due to the vertiginous nature of the land around the rental house, the back deck is supported by wooden posts about 25 feet high. A black bear had clambered up the posts to get at the sunflower seeds in the bird feeder we had hung up to encourage local avian life. At a guess, he weighed 75 pounds and was a male year-old cub. At this time of the year, mother bears kick their young male cubs out of the den to find their own territory and mates. So, BooBoo (named as such by Lisa after a TV character in her childhood) was out trying to fend for himself for the first time by climbing up the supporting posts. He obviously liked the sunflower seed in the feeder, even if he is not a bird! At a guess, he was a 75 pounds of year-old black bear. The worry was that he might introduce his mother to the feast, so we chased him off by making lots of noise. But he then climbed up a tree only 50 feet away so that he had a birds eye view of the bird feeders, obviously biding his time for a second foray. The bird feeders have now been taken down until autumn, and we don’t seem to have had any new visits.
On the build site
The house build is coming on nicely, with most of the action moving inside. The plumber, Greg Brock, has nearly finished his first fit and Bob Cavaretto, the heating and AC guy, has shifted a lot of kit onto site for installation. The two fireplaces (well, the interior workings and firebox, and a cap on the chimney top prevent further rain entry there) have been installed. John Browning, the cabinet maker, has been around doing a second round of measuring up and marking for the kitchen, bathroom and other fittings with us. Monday should be a busy day – we have a series of site meetings with Jonathan White, the electrician, (to plan all the lighting and power points) and with TJ, the foundations guy, (no, no underpinning needed – he now has to plan outside paving, stone wall installation and some other support issues). The siding installer (putting up the exterior shell over the structural timber walls) should start on Monday too.
We await (with some trepidation) the quotation for the 27 interior doors. But we seem to have pulled into the lead in a race with the other house Bill, our master builder, is constructing – that one started four weeks before us, but the clients have been dithering over many decisions, with predictable results! They will have to wait for all our cabinetry to be made before work can start on their needs.
As we move into detailed interior work, there won’t be so much to show in pictures over the next few weeks (unless you have a real interest in septic tanks and air conditioning ducts – in which case contact me directly).
Robin’s Opinions of America
No Fat, Low Fat, Too Fat? I was reading an online newspaper article about diet recently. Interesting stuff, based on a premise that many of the dire warning issued over the years have turned out to be totally misleading. For example, there is no evidence that cholesterol in eggs is bad for you – now it is thought the bacon you eat with your eggs is the culprit. The article led me to thinking that there are many foodstuffs that humans have been eating for centuries without all keeling over with coronaries and diabetes – why is that only now that we have to be so careful about our diet?
One food phobia which is very widespread in USA is the great fat fear. There is a subtle migration of fear from any fats to unsaturated fats to the new bogeyman trans fats. In a way it makes sense to think that fats lead to higher cholesterol in your system, but in reality that is not so simple. Interaction between components is probably more significant than a single component. Concentrating on any one nutrient, be it fat, sugar, salt or anything else, can be misleading.
But don’t let facts and rational thinking get in the way of a good marketing ploy. As I have said before, much food in the supermarket here is full of unknowable additives. And for me, one bad thing is the hiding behind a “low fat” or event “zero fat” label. What doesn’t get emphasis is the additives used to replicate the mouth feel, consistency and flavour that naturally occurring fats give. A particular gripe at present is yoghurt. In our local hanger-sized supermarket, there is no plain yoghurt available – only low and zero fat versions. Once the container and it becomes evident that there is a strange substance lurking within. A texture which may be grainy or stretches in a peculiar manner. A taste which is subtly slightly off the mark. No wonder most of the yoghurt is only available in bright cheerful colours with fruit-like additives and a surprising amount of the food processor’s favourite, fructose. And the impact on one’s digestion is pretty suspect, too.
So, we spend quite a lot of time hunting out “proper” food here. You may wonder, as I do, why it is that a country where there is demonization of fat in foods has a population which are anything but lean. That’s more obvious in my mind. A combination of additive-laden food and monumental portions can only lead to one result. In my non-expert opinion, a balanced diet and sensible portion control could do far, far more to combat all the diseases of affluence than simply blacklisting specific components of the diet.
A list of an outsider’s observations on USA
1st September Thoughts on Grey Squirrels
6th October Subdivisions
13th October Flags in America
27th October The Confederate flag
10th November Groundhogs and A relentless hunt for bargains
17th November The American Mailbox and American meat
24th November Georgia Public Television and TV scheduling
1st December Serviceable roads and Awesome
8th December Wines from Georgia and Blue laws
22nd December Licence plates and Polystyrene plates
4th January Pressure balanced valves and Knocking Copy