January 28 Valley Life column

January 28 Valley Life column in AG Weekly

Groundhogs make spring predictions soon

"When my shadow I see, Six more weeks of winter there will be."
Punxsutawney Phil

For several weeks, local DJs have been talking about Punxsutawney Phil and whether or not he will see his shadow Feb. 2. The way the DJs have been carrying on, you’d think Punxsutawney Phil was the only groundhog worthy of forecasting spring.

But Punxsutawney Phil isn't the only groundhog making predictions. In Georgia, General Beauregard Lee ambles from his Weathering Heights Plantation to share with the South his annual prediction. Albino groundhog, The Great Willie of Wiarton, prognosticates from his home near Lake Huron each year. In Wisconsin, Jimmy the Groundhog not only predicts spring but also hosts his own cookbook, featuring things he likes to eat like popcorn, carrots, peanut butter, apples, chocolate covered raisins, sunflower seeds, lettuce and celery.

Once a year, New York’s meteorologist, Staten Island Chuck, makes his prediction from the Staten Island Zoo. Other groundhogs making annual predictions include Buckeye Chuck in Ohio, Birmingham Bill in Alabama, Peewee the woodchuck in Vermont, Dixie Dan in Tupelo, Miss., and Unadilla Bill in Nebraska, not to mention Lander Lil in Wyoming, and Petaluma Pete in California.

Makes you wonder what happened to Idaho. Groundhogs have been predicting spring long before 1887 when Punxsutawney Phil made his first official trip to Gobbler's Knob. Idaho became a state in 1890. By now, Idaho should have its own predicting-spring groundhog, something like Pocatello Pete, Orofino Joe, Appaloosa Al or Taterpig Sam.

Maybe Idaho doesn't have a prognosticating groundhog because Idaho's state animal is a horse. Or maybe it's because so much of Idaho is snow covered until late April or May. The poor groundhog wouldn’t have a chance. He couldn't burrow his way to the surface to see his shadow, even if he had a shovel.

Maybe Idaho doesn’t need its own special groundhog. Especially since many parts of the state are still frozen on Feb. 2 and spring doesn't arrive on time, even when Punxsutawney Phil does see his shadow.

©Bonnie Dodge

January 21 Valley Life column

January 21 Valley Life column in AG Weekly

Weekend project takes longer than expected

Now is the time for indoor projects, that’s what I thought as I glanced outside at the frozen ground. My bedroom needed painting. A big fan of Trading Spaces, I figured if I was organized and stuck to a plan, I could have the bedroom done in a weekend, easy.

Who was I kidding? I wasn’t a team switching rooms with my neighbor. I was one person who didn’t have a designer telling me what to do. But I thought I could pull it off. I would paint one day and hang paper the next. By Monday, the room would be ready to put back together.

Telling my husband he was in charge of meals, I began. First, let me say I hate painting. I hate it with a passion. No matter how careful I am, I get paint in my hair, in my eyes, on my elbows. If that isn’t bad enough, I usually find a way to spill the paint, or step in it. But someone had to paint, and since I had no neighbors to swap with, that someone was me.

The ceiling was white. I was going to repaint it white and hoped I could get by with one coat. No such luck, it took two coats, as did all the moldings. Two coats of paint meant I didn’t finish painting the first day.

By 8 p.m. I was so tired I couldn’t move. My arms hurt, my legs hurt, my equilibrium was shot. If I stepped back up on that ladder, I was sure to topple to the floor. If I had been a true Trading Spaces team player, my homework would have been to finish painting, even it if meant staying up until 3 or 4 a.m. But I was so tired, I went to bed.

The next morning, I had to do my “homework” before I could start hanging paper. I finished painting by noon, which made me happy. I still had all afternoon to hang paper. If I could con my husband into cutting the strips of wallpaper for me, maybe I could finish the room on time.

Wrong. Even with hubby cutting paper, I still had to cut around outlets and light switches. Each strip of paper took a good 45 minutes to hang, as I matched seams and pattern repeats. By bedtime, I had only papered one and a half walls.

Needless to say, I’ve revised my plan. I figure at the rate I’m going I should finish sometime in February, maybe March. In the meantime, the rest of the house is a mess and we’re sleeping on the mattress in the middle of the living room floor.

“No more Trading Spaces,” my husband has threatened. If he catches me watching it again, he’s getting rid of the TV, or me.

©Bonnie Dodge

January 14 Valley Life column

January 14 Valley Life column in AG Weekly

Keeping my New Year resolutions

Ah, January, the month for making resolutions. If you’re like me, you’ve already broken your New Year resolutions.

In his article, “Keeping your New Years Health & Fitness Resolutions in 2006,” Daniel Remon claims only 20 percent of us actually stick to our resolutions. By February, we’re back to our old habits, abandoning our resolutions until a new year rolls around. That’s why I’m so proud of my friend, Jenna, who resolved to lose weight last year and actually did it.

After delivering her first child and weighing more than she cared to admit, Jenna resolved to lose weight. Knowing she wouldn’t have time to attend meetings or go to the gym, she decided to approach her weight loss with patience and faith. Little by little, she adapted better habits, which she refers to as Stupid Diet Tricks. In less than 10 months, she lost 55 pounds. She even lost 5 pounds over the holidays and is still losing.

Knowing from experience that diets don’t work for her, Jenna adapted small habits she could live with. She stopped drinking sugar-loaded drinks and started drinking diet sodas. Then she started sleeping more, which enabled her to cut back on foods she ate because she was tired. She stopped eating on the run. Now she only eats when she can sit down and enjoy her food, which can sometimes be tough for a new mother. She doesn’t graze; she quits eating when she’s full.

When Jenna hit a plateau, she started drinking more water and walking on the treadmill while her baby napped. Now, weighing less than she did when she got pregnant, Jenna plans to reach her goal weight.

“Maybe I’ll do stretches for five minutes, or stop eating after 8 p.m., or switch to nonfat salad dressing, or all three,” she says, already prepared for when the next plateau hits. She doesn’t deprive herself. If she wants chocolate and cookies, she eats them. She doesn’t’ punish herself anymore by setting unrealistic goals she can’t attain because of her lifestyle.

One of my resolutions for 2006 is to be more like Jenna. If I brush my teeth after every meal so I don’t crave something sweet, I can eliminate a lot of ice cream from my diet. If I chew sugar-free gun when I’d rather munch on French fries and stop snacking after dinner, maybe I can lose the weight. If I follow Jenna’s Stupid Diet Tricks, maybe this year I can keep my resolutions.
©Bonnie Dodge

January 7 Valley Life Column

January 7 Valley Life Column

Christmas plants pose dilemma

Now that it’s January, I’m trying to figure out what to do with the Christmas plants I have sitting all over the house.

Somehow, red poinsettias just don’t conjure up the same magic in January that they do before Christmas. Yes, they are still full of beautiful red bracts, but now that the holidays are over, they look out of place, like the Christmas decorations I bring home from the after-Christmas sales.

I could save the poinsettias for Valentine’s Day -- there’s a good chance they’ll still be red until then, but there’s an even better chance they’ll be tall, spindly, and full of white fly. The miser in me has a hard time throwing away perfectly good plants. So I save them, knowing from experience they will never be as pretty as they were the day I brought them home from the store.

I’ve had better luck with my Christmas cactuses. Every year they bloom -- sometime between Halloween and Christmas -- but they’re never as pretty as the one Mary Schwarz has over in Eden. Her Christmas cactus is so big it completely covers her sewing machine.

“It’s a nuisance,” Mary claims, explaining she has to move it every time she wants to sew. She would willingly give the plant to anyone who promises to give it a good home. In the meantime, it blooms and blooms, truly beautiful to see.

My amaryllises are more temperamental. Every year I carry the bulbs over, determined to make them bloom again each Christmas. I follow the manufacture’s recommendations and plant them outside after all danger of frost. I fertilize and water with care. They bloom again, in July, and then, when it’s time to bring them indoors and force them to bloom for Christmas, they are tired and want to take a nap.

I’m still waiting for the amaryllis I bought in October to bloom. Before long, it will be time to take it outside where it will finally bloom, but not in time for Christmas.

I guess I shouldn’t complain. The amaryllises perform better than the paperwhite narcissus I plant every year. In bloom, paperwhites smell so sweet and look striking next to the red amaryllis. But once their leaves start to fade, the best place for them is the garbage. I’ve never had them rebloom, not even in the garden.

Every year I read the articles about carrying over Christmas plants and ponder. With tender loving care, all of the above-mentioned plants should bloom again. But speaking from experience, I’m starting to agree with something plant guru Allen Wilson said: The Christmas plants we find in stores have been forced to bloom for a specific season. They will never be as pretty as the day we bought them. The best thing to do, even if you are a miser or plant enthusiast like me, is simply to throw them away.

And maybe I will, tomorrow.

©Bonnie Dodge

December 31 Valley Life Column

December 31 Valley Life Column

Cook up some spuds and win a prize

Kelly Bryant has a great recipe for scalloped potatoes. Using potatoes, onion, sour cream, cheddar cheese, sausage and a few other secret ingredients, she can whip up a batch of potatoes that will have you begging for more.

I know this because it’s all my husband could talk about following a company luncheon held one day at work. He came home expounding, “I had the best lunch today, ever. All I ate was potatoes.”

It’s been a while since I’ve made scalloped potatoes. Now that I’m only cooking for two, my menus are simpler. If we have potatoes, they’re baked in the oven. Occasionally, I’ll whip up a batch of mashed potatoes, but since we are watching our weight, for the most part, my days of fixing fancy potato dishes are over.

But I think that’s about to change. I read in the paper not too long ago that the Idaho Potato Commission is sponsoring its annual Grown in Idaho Holiday Recipe Contest. The rules are pretty simple and the prize money, pretty big. The grand prize winner will receive $7,500; first and second prize winners receive $1,500 and $500, respectively. So, I’m thinking, what do I have to lose? I know how to cook; I like potatoes.

If I were a nice person, I would tell Kelly about the contest. Instead, I’m working on a plan. That $7,500 would come in pretty handy right now since my laptop computer takes longer to warm up than an old tractor. So, tonight, when my husband gets home from work, I’m going to tell him I’ll whip him up a batch of Kelly’s great scalloped potatoes. All he has to do is bring me the recipe.

Enter to win
What: The Idaho Potato Commission’s Grown in Idaho Holiday Recipe Contest
Deadline: Jan. 15
For more information log onto www.idahopotato.com

Bonnie Dodge retired early from a career in banking to pursue the gentler things in life. Now you can find her pulling weeds in her garden, relaxing at her cabin in Featherville, or with her nose buried in a book, not necessarily in that order. She has lived in the Magic Valley for more than forty years.