I was on the exercise bike late yesterday, and when I looked up from my book [I always read while I’m on the bike – I can forget entirely that I am even exercising at all, which is good since I loathe exercise like poison] I noticed something out in the snow bank that given the right conditions [for example the first condition is that is should be July] is my shade garden. A spot of some kind
I reluctantly [not] got off the bike and went to get my camera, because I had a feeling I knew what the spot was. 
The spot resolved itself into this little guy – a chipmunk! I had a hint because the spot was located right next to where [in July] a huge Regal Splendor Hosta will be and next to that hosta is a hole where the little buggers get to their subterranean domicile. Fortunately for them they do it without an evident damage to the hosta. Nobody messes with mama’s hostas – just ask the slugs. 
So there he is – looking, as are we all, for spring. Too bad he is seeing a foot of snow there still. Even better that he can’t see the Weather Channel Desktop Max which says we are getting more snow for the next 5 or 6 or 17 days. He might think spring is never coming at all.
But I am not discouraged, because I know this little guy has a sort of internal clock operating, and he wouldn’t come out from hibernating at all unless it was getting close to spring. I just hope he doesn’t spend his time between now and then eating up all of my “Evergold” Sedges under the snow like he or his relatives did last year. But, even if he does – I was still mighty happy to see him yesterday.
Larger sizes are 
and 
I don’t know what to expect, but people who use them seem completely sold. If they last as well as advertised, they are quite economical too. I found the whole idea pretty interesting and I thought you might feel the same way. If you have used them or know someone who does, please leave a comment, sharing your experience. I will let you know how they worked for me sometime next week. Have a good day, my friends!
And the back yard
Looks a lot like January doesn’t it? And December. It’s pretty though and we have to expect to see a bit of snow in Upstate NY in February.
And, here is the infamous squirrel-proof bird feeder. It took me awhile to track down the manufacturer and a good place to get one. I bought mine at the local hardware store and we have had it at least 10 years, so even with the steep price tag, it is worth every penny. 
. As I mentioned – they aren’t cheap, but I am sure it paid for itself in the first year in the seed it saved from the marauding squirrels. Those little devils will fling it out by the handful, while searching through for what they want. Larry has replaced the perch on ours a few times [looks like it could use a new one again – darned red squirrels anyway!], but other than that, you can see from the picture that it is in really good shape. I can tell you that there are similar ones that don’t work as well, simply because they aren’t as tall, and a resourceful squirrel can manage to hang from the roof and eat the seed without touching the perch, which is what makes it swing closed. They are cheaper, but they don’t work very well, so you won’t save anything in the long run. And, as always, I appreciate it when people shop through my Amazon links – I make a little do-re-mi when you do. 
I like to use a non-stick skillet for this because it does tend to stick and I am lazy and don’t want to scrub a pan. Brown a pound or so of ground beef in a tablespoon of hot olive oil. This is ground round, but ground chuck will work too. When the beef is still about half pink, add the onion, pepper and garlic. Continue cooking until the beef is completely browned. The veggies can still be pretty crunchy at this point.
You can skip this step if you like a chunkier texture or if you don’t have an immersion blender, but I like to run my blender through everything a bit to even it all out. You don’t want to pulverize things to a paste, so go easy and just kind of pulse it around in there.
Until it looks about like this.
Add the can of refried beans, along with a half a can of water and mix until it’s all blended together.
Now we bring the good stuff. Recipes like this have to be adjusted for your own taste and according to the ingredients you have, so these are not hard and fast amounts. We like things pretty spicy, but prefer to be able to taste our next meal, so I don’t add a murderously huge amount of chili powder. Below is an approximation of how much I used:
In the meantime, prepare the toppings of your choice. On this night, I used chopped romaine, onion, avocado, black olives, chopped tomato and shredded cheddar cheese. Plus some additional hot sauce, salsa and sour cream.
Heat large flour tortillas according to the package directions. Lay down a nice strip of the beef filling, top however you prefer and enjoy.
