"Just North of Wiarton & South of the Checkerboard": Indoor & Outdoor "Spring" Cleaning....Almost "Ground" My Nose Right Off !

Twelve degrees Celsius with a steady light rain and the start of a heavy fog setting in....my first experience of the morning on my outing with Bandit and Lexus (since I am counting, it is Day 8 for taking them out first thing, and I will be giving great thought to how I am going to be turning this "reverse" chore around to my advantage, so stay tuned....LOL).

The May 24th "holiday" weekend is fast approaching, with some people taking tomorrow off to extend their weekend into four days (good planning). "Victoria" Day is a statutory Canadian holiday, celebrated in honour of England's late Queen Victoria, usually celebrated on the last Monday on or before the 24th of May. It is almost "tradition" for it to "rain" most of the weekend as well, only for the sun to appear on the holiday Monday, when all the "die hard" campers are on their journey back home. Ha,ha, ha....since I have made my "return" to reside back in cottage country, I will be dry and snug as a bug inside our home.....LOL.

Let's see what the Wiarton Airport has to say about the rest of my day ahead:

Today:

A few showers ending this morning then cloudy. 30 percent chance of showers this afternoon. Risk of a thunderstorm this afternoon. Fog patches dissipating this morning. High 17. UV index 4 or moderate.

Tonight:

Cloudy. 30 percent chance of showers early this evening with risk of a thunderstorm. Low 10.

There appears there is going to be a break in the rain at some point throughout the day. Yippee!!!

I can certainly not complain, as the weather turned out more then acceptable yesterday, with me being able to accomplish some more outdoor "Spring" cleaning, after completing some indoor "stuff' first:

First you remove "all" from the cupboard, wiping cupboard clean with hot soapy water and drying with a dry clean cloth:

Then return all "items" back to the cupboard in a "more" organized manner then which you found them:

Go across kitchen to another undesirable "area", removing "all" from this area, and also wiping down with hot soapy water and drying with clean dry cloth:

Replace "most" items in a more attractive way then they were previously, with the discarding of a "few" select items that should have not been place in this "space" ever !

Since my own Rhubarb has not "matured" enough (although the dandelions have)....I needed to use the Rhubarb from the freezer that my Auntie had so graciously shared with me.....

.....in order to make these:

Recipe compliments of my "new" Muffin Mania recipe book, "Winnie's Rhubarb Muffins". Nineteen muffins were the yield after I had doubled the recipe. I do realize everyone can count, Reenie, and I did sample two muffins, and caught Rob making off with one......LOL. Reenie is also a group member of "Cindy's Recipe Exchange" on Facebook, so she had already commented on this picture after I had posted it yesterday.....smarty pants!

Winnie's Rhubarb Muffins (Muffin Mania)
1 1/4 c. all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 c. white sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. canola oil
1 tsp. almond flavouring
1 1/2 c. diced rhubarb
Mix dry ingredients.
Beat egg, add milk, oil and almond flavouring.
Pour egg mixture over dry ingredients and stir to moisten.
Fold in rhubarb. Sprinkle tops with sugar before baking.
Bake at 375 F for 20 minutes.
*Yields - 8 large muffins
Variation:
Instead of sprinkling sugar on muffins before baking, dip tops of warm muffins in sugar after baking.

We found this muffin to be very good. I really liked the taste, as the Almond flavoring adds a nice "twist" to the rhubarb.

After my morning of indoor "Spring" cleaning and baking, I was feeling kind of lazy like these "gals", Jazz, Lacey and Windy lee:

However, I did put my "nose to the grind" again, getting one-third of the raspberry bushes pruned back, as well as a few weeds pulled in the flower bed surrounding the pond. By then it was time to come in to the daily "task" of supper preparation.

Supper was pretty easy, once again, as I sliced the leftover roast beef thin, re-heated the gravy, boiled up some potatoes, and steamed asparagus......"viola" supper was "served".

After supper, Rob did a bit more trimming out back with the Weed Eater, and I had the "two" puppies out.

Let me tell you, I am happy there are only two left as I certainly have a time rounding up just two of them, never mind seven of them at "eight" weeks old !!! I would be going in circles not knowing which way was up !!! Not that I don't have days like that anyway......LOL

Ohhhhh, I was "thrilled" with the video my best friend, Bob, emailed me yesterday. I absolutely love movies like "Footloose" and "Dirty Dancing", so this was right up my alley:

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=ZYL3j27sSH8&vq=medium

Thanks Bob, as I certainly enjoyed watching this video, a lot went into it.......

I really appreciate those people who have added themselves as "followers" of my blog, as it is nice to know the efforts I put out and share in my everyday life would or could be, or not, beneficial to others, even if it is only for their "reading" enjoyment. I enjoy reading their "comments" and the personal interaction through the emails I receive at justnorthofwiarton. I even enjoy my "biggest" fan overlooking my shoulder most mornings:

Thanks, Aunt Lizzie, for your "vote" of confidence....What is that a "look" of distaste? Not liking your picture taken this morning???? LOL

Now the "question at hand", "what to do with myself today?" I am sure I will eventually "think" of something, "Just North of Wiarton & South of the Checkerboard".