A tale of cattails and things

More often than we're comfortable with, the Better Half [BH] surprises us. Even when it's a pleasant surprise, one or more of our deficiencies is liable to be exposed in the process. The autumnal decoration that she recently foraged and brought home is a case in point.

For some brief period of time, we've been muttering about wanting a cattail bouquet, but.... There's almost always a but..., we didn't have any fixative to help keep the seed head fluff from filtering throughout the house, joining dust from the gravel road and dog hairs from our perpetually shedding dogs, in requiring vacuuming more frequently than seems reasonable. When we mentioned to BH our concern, as she was trimming leaves and cattail stems, she looked at us, smiled, and said "hair spray." As far as we knew, neither the stage nor the movie version was scheduled to be in town in the near future. While we were pondering this, the BH added two more words, "extra hold," then a whole phrase, "as a fixative." Our very dim bulb suddenly lit up, just like in the old cartoons.

a cattail bouquet

Photo by J. Harrington

It's been many, many, many, ..., many years since we've used any form of "greasy kid stuff," and we have no recollection whatsoever of ever using hair spray on our now thinning but once young and curly locks. We had worked in a graphics department long, long ago. That's where we learned about fixative. We don't remember any mention of hair spray, but then, in those days, we never worked with cattails either.

happy sourdough starter discards

Photo by J. Harrington

So far today we've seen no sign of hummingbirds at or around the feeders, but the sourdough starter has developed bubbles so we're declaring victory on that front. The "discards" continue to look more interesting than the "good" starter so we may toss a coin before this is settled, or we may pour the bowl of good starter into a different glass jar and see if it acts as happy as the discards. There's something to be said for empiricism and using the old "make do" philosophy, right?

Sourdough Bread 

by Jack H Lee

The next time you make yeast dough bread, just cut you out a hunk.
'Tis good for making sourdough cakes, a good sized little chunk.
'Tis also good for biscuits, place it in a bowl or pot,
And cover it with water, keep it cool and not too hot.
It will keep fermenting if you let it stand all night
Behind the stove; and in the morning it will be just right.

If you keep it warm at night, the morn will find it sour;
Add some salt and water, then a pound or two of flour.
Mix it good and knead it down, for biscuits, cakes, or dough;
And let it work until it bubbles for a day or so.
Now it’s ready once again for adding in some flour;
Work and knead it till it’s smooth, for maybe half an hour.

Thin it out for flapjacks, or flour, to make it thick;
For better bread, the more you knead will kind of turn the trick.
Place it where the sun will strike it, say an hour or two,
And when it rises once again, your trouble will be through.

Don’t forget the soda now, a half spoon or so
To counteract the acid, now you're ready for the dough.
Get your oven good and hot, and bake it in a pan.
But, 'fore you do so, save a piece to start your dough again.

Watch your fire and oven, for they mustn’t be too hot.
If it cooks too fast you’re almost bound to spoil the lot.
Let it bake till turning brown, and then a trifle more;
But watch it close, if baking fast, and open up the door.
The time you take is not so bad, when all is done and said;
For there is nothing tastes as good as home made sourdough bread.

From The Stampede and Tales of the Far West: Told in Narrative Verse
(Standardized Press, 1938) This poem is in the public domain.

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