baby birds

Birds had built a nest right over the porch light by my front door. It was arguably a very bad decision on their part, seeing as my 2 dogs hang out on the porch a lot, and that is where I feed them and keep their water. The dogs already killed at least 2 fledgling birds this year. Nevertheless, the nest had 3 baby birds in it, and on Thursday I saw them perching on the edge of the nest as if they were ready to jump out.

Since then, I've been keeping the dogs tethered on the other side of the house, and in the garage at night. Last night I still saw the little birds in the nest. Today when I looked, the nest was empty. So they must have finally started learning to fly, which is a relief. But I don't know whether the fledglings have left the yard or if they're still perching in the bushes somewhere in the danger zone where the dogs could find them. So I guess I need to keep the dogs from running loose for a few days more.

stainless steel pan

After the unfortunate incident in which my nonstick pan got burnt, leaving it discolored and smoky-smelling, I decided to replace it with a stainless steel saute pan. Not having used a stainless steel frying pan before, I was worried about food sticking to it. I found some online advice which recommended heating the pan to a hot temperature* and then letting it cool down somewhat before putting the oil and food in. This is supposed to reduce sticking.

My problem is that I don't know when the pan has cooled down enough. So far, every time I put the oil and food in, the pan still seems to be too hot, and the food starts making loud scary popping noises... at which point I put the lid on the pan, remove it from the burner, and wait for it to stop popping while hoping that the food isn't burning in the meantime.

The new pan browns things better than the nonstick did, though. And even when food starts to stick, usually I can just stir in a bit of water, and the stuck on parts dissolve away.

(*) - supposedly it is hot enough when water drops dance across the surface. And it is *so* cool watching little spheres of water sizzling and floating around in the pan!