Friday eve...

Yesterday I got to work a little bit earlier than usual so I left earlier than usual. Well, I ended up in the middle of three school zones. They aren't really long as far as distance goes but the speed is only 15 mph. It's not easy to do 15 mph when you're going downhill!! That takes some getting used to or I'll be needing breaks before too long. LOL  The rest of the ride was as pretty as always including the fact that I've noticed there are blue and purple irises blooming now instead of the daffodils. I don't know if they are planted in bunches or if they just become bunches over the years but there are anywhere from 10-20 flowers in almost every bunch I see. Very, very pretty on the eyes!

I know irises are bulbs so I'll be on the lookout for them on our next trip to Lowe's. Better yet, maybe one of the women at Pee Wee's will have some to share :)  that would work for me! We didn't make it to Pee Wee's last night. Wally had worked on the outdoor kitchen for the better part of the day and was pretty tired.

While cleaning out some old logs he found one that had termites in it. He rolled it over into a burn pile and the fire was still going when I got home. We couldn't hardly leave a fire in the yard and go out drinking when we live in a log cabin and are surrounded by woods. Not a smart idea...

Staying home was better anyway. I got out the cast iron skillet and cooked hamburgers with pepper jack cheese melted on top and we had the ranch potato salad to go with them. Now that we have learned about "resistant starch," I can make potato salad for Wally even though he is diabetic. The weather was nice (although a little cool for the likes of me but I have my trusty gray jacket) so we took the 4 wheeler up to the mailbox after dinner. We hung around the fire for about an hour and then he watered it down to put it out until next time.

We watched "All in the Family" and "Everybody Loves Raymond" and then I actually unpacked some boxes!! FINALLY. It's pretty funny opening these boxes because most of them were packed by someone else so I never know what's going to be in them. They aren't labeled except for the boxes I got from Tammy Jo and those are labeled according to what she had in them. It might say kitchen on it but that doesn't mean there will be kitchen stuff in it... LOL

So one of last night's boxes consisted of two sleeping bags and camp pillows, and a canvas suitcase type bag with clothes of unknown origin. The clothes looked like they might be too small for Gerry so I know they didn't belong to ANY of us (ha ha!) and I have no idea who they did belong to. They went in the Goodwill bag and I used the canvas bag to pack the sleeping bags in - we'll use them down at Hidden Valley this summer. Y'all are invited to join us.

The other two boxes were actually packed and labeled by me. One was all my old tax paperwork and my pictures that aren't in albums (they are in packages and in order by the date in which they were taken, of course). The other box was one (of many) with my candle holders. This was pretty exciting to find as I've been planning in my head where my candle holders would go but I couldn't get my hands on any of them. Wally put the bookshelf in the dinning room for me so I'll get the cookbooks done tonight and join them with some of the candle holders. All will be as it should for that part of the room, in my mind anyway, and goodness knows no one wants to go there...

Wally said it rained last night but I didn't hear it. I guess I was sleeping soundly for a change. I saw this morning that my windshield wasn't quite as green as it has been for a week or so now... and there were some raindrops still coming down but very few. The elusive owl was hooting away and I thought I'd see the rabbits but they must have been avoiding me because they were nowhere to be seen either. I think they're on to me now.

I can't tell you how hard it is for me to leave the cabin when it's sprinkling rain and all I hear is the owl, the crickets, frogs and birds and all I see is the warm glow of the light in the kitchen while I'm backing out to a view of the mountains across the front yard. The only way to do it is to keep telling myself that in a few short hours I'll be back. Those of you who have been here, just close your eyes and picture it again. Those of you who haven't, you'll have to see it to believe it - seriously, it's beautiful (have I said that before?).

And now, as Mom used to say "hey grandpa, what's for supper?" Sure she took it from Hee Haw but hey, it works!

I took out chicken for dinner tonight. I'm not sure how I'm going to cook it but my favorite is usually grilled with lemon pepper. If it rains, I'll just get out the old Wolfgang Puck pan again and cook inside. It's good either way. I believe it was Ernie who turned me on to lemon pepper; over at her house they even put it on their tomatoes! Don't knock it until you try it, I tried it and it's pretty darn good.

I'm making whole wheat pasta salad and some sweet corn to go with the chicken. We tried the cilantro butter last time and it was very yummy on the corn so maybe we'll go with that again this time. Gosh, it's not even lunch time and I'm ready for dinner.  Are you?  LOL

I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of anyone who likes chicken and dumplings. Wally can't eat them and I don't know how to make a small batch but I'd really like to have some. If there are any takers out there, let me know when you think you'll be here so I'll know how long I'm going to have to wait.  :)

"But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads?" Lord Byron

I'll just leave you with that for today - enjoy your Friday Eve!