Windows open, pie in the oven

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The heat broke sometime last night after a couple of hot and humid days.  I opened my windows this morning and turned off the a/c.  Decided to make a pie because 1) I had all the fixings and 2) I couldn’t bake anything over the weekend, the a/c and washing machine were pulling too much juice; I started getting a lot of power fluctuations.

Looked good anyway (Photo credit: Tracy Rowan)

So today’s pie is a plum-strawberry-blackberry affair with cinnamon and cardamom.  It’s got cornstarch in the filling so I’m hoping it won’t be quite as soupy as the strawberry-rhubarb I made a week or so ago.  Last night I made leek-potato-garlic scape soup in the slow cooker because it runs on very little electricity and puts almost no heat out into the room.  I’m already planning Friday’s supper, a roasted pork belly, new potatoes with dill and zucchini salad extravaganza.  Cooler weather brings out the cook in me.  I’m going to be using herbs from the garden since they’re starting to look pickable.

Alas, we continue to have a rat problem.  Little ratty guys zoom across the patio when we’re out there, and linger there when we’re not.  I’m feeling kind of sorry for them because they’re fleeing all the work that’s being done on nearby streets, work that’s destroying their burrows.  Glinda’s not too sympathetic, but it makes me sad.  Not sad enough that I want them in the house or anything, but enough to make me philosophical. And then I worry about the bunnies.

We tried putting out coir soaked in peppermint oil which is said to be a potent repellent to them, but no joy.  Our next move will be ammonia or bleach.  We’ll also be caulking up the little open space where the concrete patio was taken out and the new pavers were laid.  Nobody ever plugged the gap, which is not big enough for rats, but it might be for mice. Might be.  We’ve got steel wool to use as filler and then a good exterior caulk.  Anything wants in, they’re going to have to get past both.

You have to admit it's a nice place for rats, too.

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A PSA for pets, children and anything else you don’t want damaged

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I sincerely hope no one I know is stupid and irresponsible enough ever to leave his or her pet in a car.  The chart below shows quite clearly how fast a car can heat up even on an average day when you’re sure everything will be just hunky dory if you leave Fido in the car for fifteen minutes while you pick up your coffee at Starbucks or something.

The fact is that depending on where you are, where the sun is, what the humidity is like, and a dozen other factors, the temperatures shown can go much, much higher in a very short space of time.  Even with the window open to let air in.

I once nearly got in a fight with a woman who left her dog in the car in a shopping mall lot on a hot day.  She actually screamed at me that it was crueler to leave the dog at home.  Crueler than leaving the poor thing in an oven to bake?  I wish her ill every time I remember that incident.  So it should come as no surprise to you that if I ever discover that a friend of mine thinks this is okay, they will stop being a friend.  Period.  Just so you know.

Please feel free to share this around so that the terminally clueless might actually learn that their behavior has consequences.

 

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