A Warm, Rainy, Windy, Stormy January Day

These two pictures were taken a little after two pm...the top one I took first from our guest room window...note that the street light was on.  The second one I took just a few minutes later from our bedroom window and the street light was starting to go off...so it doesn't show...it still was on but just really low.  I guess this was when the brunt of "the storm" went through.  We did get lightning and thunder for a while and a LOT of rain as you can se from the big puddles in the yards and some large ones on the street in the top picture.  I think that it was good that Nathan and Kathy's tree fell a while back as I am sure that it would have gone down today if it hadn't already fallen!

I decided that it was a good day to bake bread and Woody agreed. This was the first time that I used my KitchenAid mixer to knead the dough.  It worked great and worked fast.  I found a recipe for French bread that was almost the same as one in my bread cookbook.  This recipe was adapted with
instructions for using a stand mixer with a dough hook.   Our new oven has a "proof" setting and I used that while the dough was rising...both when it was in a bowl and then after I shaped it into loaves.  I didn't knead the dough by hand at all and both loaves came out great.  You can see the results in the picture below.

We both pretty much stayed in today due to the stormy weather.  I have continued to undecorate.  It is getting to the point of "why do I decorate!"  Things are a mess, but boxes continue to be filled and carried upstairs.  Still lots to go, but lots done too.  I will be very glad to have things back to "normal!"