JUST in case anyone attempted to make the mayonnaise biscuits, sorry for the incomplete and, as I later learned, wrong information. I wasn't trying to trick you or anything to make your biscuits come out crummy. I was just going by memory which we all know is pretty much a joke these days. Hey, I tried. So the real deal is this... it is 1 cup of flour (I used self-rising) and the milk amount should be just a 1/2 cup. I think I said it was 2/3 or something like that...anyway, go with the 1/2 cup of milk. Then you add your 2 heaping tablespoons of mayonnaise and mix it all up. The batter goes into a greased muffin tin (for 6 muffins) and they cook in a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes. As my mother was quick to inform me I left that part out when I typed the instructions....for shame, for shame :)
So now you can go cook up your biscuits and they will be just as yummy as mine, maybe even more so :)
We had another batch this weekend and for whatever reason, they were a little different than the first batch. They tasted the same but the batter was much thicker, more sticky...more like a biscuit batter should be. They were still good especially when I split them open, still piping hot, and put that little pat of butter in the middle and closed them up again... I can't resist hot food. It doesn't burn my mouth at all and I'm so very happy about that :) I dunked my already buttered biscuit into some honey that had somehow made it onto my plate and bite for bite it was bliss. Do you have your muffin tin out yet? lol
The weekend weather was wonderful. I filled up my car on the way home Friday night so I wouldn't have to go back out if I didn't want to. When I got there Wally had been working on his Camaro all day and it was ready to take for a test drive.We went down to the barn to get it cleaned up and road worthy but things didn't go quite the way we had planned. The headlights gave us some trouble and it was having some trouble getting the fuel it needed to stay running. Don't quote me here because, as you know, mechanical lingo is not my strong suit but I think it was something to do with the carburetor...? When it came down to it, we worked (ha ha me mostly watching Wally work...) on it until we could do no more that evening. We were bummed out because we were really looking forward to taking it for a spin.
In the car's defense, it has been in the garage for a couple years as Wally has been working on other projects...including getting me up here, getting the outdoor kitchen completed, cleaning up after the flood, etc. It's not unusual for it to need some good attention time. Well, since we were now resigned to staying home, dinner was the question. I didn't take anything out because I thought we would be driving around in the Camaro and that we could stop for something while we were out.
I had to do some pondering to figure out what we would have. The best place to do that is in front of the pantry...As it turned out, I had some canned salmon in the pantry (yes, I keep it on hand the same as artichoke hearts...what?) and enough peas for pea salad. The pea salad went together pretty quick and while it chilled in the refrigerator, I got to work on the salmon patties. Of course we don't have saltine crackers in the house but I did have some whole wheat Ritz crackers so they made for a darn good stand in. I mixed in some very finely chopped onion and some dried dill weed and that was it.
While they pan fried I took inventory of the pantry. I've been going through one of those phases where I want to cook and eat what we have before going to the store for more. It's pretty challenging but I'm having fun with it. I've been going through those old cookbooks of mine for ideas and new recipes and it's working out pretty well. That's how I ended up with the mayo biscuit recipe. The pea salad recipe is from Sheila Crites at the Oriole's. She and Gary would always bring it for our functions and I just had to have the recipe. Now we have it a couple times a month if I can help it...you know I love peas!
We ended up chilling out Friday night. Sure we could have taken the truck or my car but it just wasn't the same when you have your heart set on a cruise in 69 Camaro....it wasn't so bad being home though. I rather like it there. I did go through the pantry and make my list and I then got some of my weekend chores done with the hope that we would be off and running come Saturday morning!
We got up with the thought that we would go finish up the car, go to the Diner for breakfast and then cruise around in the sunshine, enjoying the 50 degree temperatures. Nice thought huh? lol Well, it didn't go quite like that but it worked out just the same. Wally worked on the car and got everything running and we made a list for the parts store for the little things that wouldn't stop us from leaving but that would be needed to make the ride more enjoyable...like headlights, wipers, those kinds of things.
We were on the road in a couple of hours and by then a cheese burger was calling my name. We stopped at the parts store first and while Wally picked up the things we needed, I sat in the car day-dreaming and watching the people come and go. You could make a lot of money running a parts store around here. That place was non-stop busy the entire time we were there. I even saw two people who I knew and I haven't really been here that long... lol Absolutely everyone loves the car and they don't hesitate to say so.
The problem is, when they ask me what's in it, I just kind of shrug my shoulders and say something like, "um, I don't really know. It's my boyfriend's car and he'll be right out." They have a look on their face that says something like...."uh huh, just a girl..." lol No matter where we go, people wave. Men pull up next to us and rev their motors to get Wally to take off fast or go faster down the road. They even make a spinning motion with their hands to get him to spin the tires. I may not be saying that right but you know what I mean.
We had our breakfast around 11am and it turned into lunch instead - of course. We drove around town and over to Centerville and all the while, Wally was working out the bugs. He's such a good mechanic. He knows what every little sound or vibration means and whether or not it's okay. Me? I just sit there looking out the window at how pretty everything is. Sometimes he gives me a list of things to write down as he's driving. That's about my only job. I'm okay with it too :) lol
We stopped at Pee Wee's and Wally put the headlights on the car. We had a couple beers and cruised on back towards home. We had made a few other stops and had plenty to unload from the car so while he did that, I got started on dinner. By then it was probably about 4:30-5:00. We fed the chickens and cleaned the water bucket and called it a day.
For dinner, I fried some tilapia and attempted to make hush puppies but they were a big flop if you ask me. Wally like them but I wasn't impressed. They didn't have much flavor and they fried up so quickly that the middle wasn't any different than the outside. After 4 or 5 of them came out like that, I decided to turn the heat down and drop in a bigger spoonful. This was slightly more successful in that the centers puffed up like they're supposed to but they still fell short on flavor. I talked to Mom about them and she said she had never had a batch come out good either...guess this will take more trial and error on my part. The fish was good though :) "Louisiana Fish Fry mix with Lemon" and a bag of tilapia and you can't go wrong. It is altogether crunchy, a little bit spicy and very mildly fishy. Tilapia is so mild that you really should use catfish if you want a more fishy flavor. But it was light and it broke apart perfectly when we bit into the strips. The first time Jarrett tried it he claimed it tasted just like chicken strips! lol He's been eating it ever since.
That was our Saturday. I think it got up to 55 or something like that. It was so nice and warm that I kept pointing my face towards the sun so I could soak up some much needed vitamin D! The puppies, dogs and horses were all basking in the sunshine same as I was. The old dogs were napping on the front porch when we got home and the puppies were romping around in the front yard. The roosters had dug out little spots by the hitching post where they lay all cuddled up together. Minus the one of course...:(
Roo now roosts in the tree directly outside the back door. Who knows why... we could hear him crowing but we didn't see him anywhere. I walked over to look under the porch and when he crowed that time - I heard him sure enough right over my head!
Sunday morning dawned with the sun shining once again. We watched the news and the weather girl said it would be another nice day with temperatures in the 50s...well, that settled it for us. We fed the horses, started some laundry, had mayonnaise biscuits, sausage and gravy all washed down with some freshly brewed iced tea and we were off!! We hit the back roads in that car and we were not disappointed. It ran like a charm. We rolled down the windows and just cruised along, sometimes with the radio on, sometimes not. It was nice to be outside and it was nice to be back in the Camaro again. It was really cool to me that Wally fixes things so easily. It never ceases to amaze me.
We rode around like that for a few hours, stopped at a couple places and then stopped by Pee Wee's Place but they weren't open. Darryl was there so we could go inside but no beer is sold until after 1:00 on Sunday so that would have to wait. It was five minutes until noon. We had some in the cooler...lol I went through the sale papers and checked out the grocery ads and it wasn't long before we were headed back home.
Sunday we planned to get my winter ride into the barn so Wally could make a few repairs to it so I can drive it to work on snowy or otherwise poor weather days. It's such a cool truck to me. It's a full size Bronco and it's red. Hello? It's a 4 wheel drive (which I know nothing about but people around here always ask that first...) It's a 1986 model and when it was first purchased, whoever bought it must have ordered it special. It has all the upgrades for that year including a towing package, a removable top and a bunch of mechanical things that mean nothing to me but when Wally talks about it, the men seem to be impressed.
Well now that Bronco has been sitting longer than the Camaro so you can imagine what we were up against there. First we pulled it as far as we could up toward the barn then we pushed it as far as we could with the white farm truck. When we could go no further yet still had about 25 yards to get there, we went and got the four wheeler. We hooked the strap from the 4 wheeler to the Bronco and then put a tire in between the Bronco and the farm truck. Wally pulled with the 4 wheeler while I pushed in the white truck and together we were able to get it up there into the barn.
We got it on the lift - well, okay, Wally got it on the lift and then he started figuring out what he would need to get it running properly. It'll start and all that but there's something to do with the oil pan (I'm guessing maybe a hole in it?) that keeps me from driving it. Anyway, he's working on it now and it won't be long before I'm hitting the highway in my (new to me) 1986 Ford Bronco. I'm so excited!! Oh, by the way, he showed me how to lock in the hubs...how's that for mechanical lingo? lol!
As I remarked earlier, it was a fairly warm day so we decided to cook the ribeyes out on the grill. I'm pretty sure this was the first time grilling out since the puppies came to live with us. Those little guys weren't about to leave that grill. They were so cute with their little noses up in the air, sniffing away like there was no tomorrow. Even the big dogs came out of their house and joined us at the grill. I fed the roosters over by Dizzy's Apartment so they'll start digging over there. I want to plant some bulbs but it's not quite time yet...however, it won't hurt to let them do the digging! Go Roosters Go!!
With our steaks we had the honey-buttered carrots and some green beans that I had canned back in 2005. They were sealed so well that they made a loud popping sound when Wally took the lids off. Every time that happens I become a bigger fan of the canning process. Those beans were almost 6 years old and still as fresh tasting as the day I canned them. There's something to be said for those old preserving methods...I'll be a canning fool once again this growing season!
There's just nothing like a big, fat, juicy steak on the grill.... right? I mean, don't get me wrong, I cook a mean steak in a cast iron skillet - just ask the kids and Neccy, but the grill gives it that extra umph somehow. Wally is much better at the grill than I am. I don't have a good sense of timing so I can't tell when anything is done. I'm going to have to get me a timer or something for when we're out there just in case I get put in charge of anything on the grill... lol! Oh hey, that doesn't count for shrimp - those I know how to do very well on the grill! So does Ernie :)
We ate our dinner sitting at the table looking out at the last red rays of sunlight... When I had the kitchen all cleaned up, I went and sat in my rocking chair next to Wally. "Married With Children" was on so we watched that and then I asked what was the time. Oh boy... I was so tired I thought maybe it would be around 7ish...but nooooooo it was only 5:30. I'm telling you I was ready for bed. There's no way I could let myself go that early though - I'd be up and ready for work around midnight for Pete's sake...lol!!
ugh! So we watched a couple episodes of AFV and some of the Pro Bowl game. I folded some clothes and then we finally decided to go upstairs around 7:00. We started watching "Hogs Gone Wild" and I think I might have made it to the first commercial before I drifted off into a deep, nourishing sleep... zzzzzzzzz
Have you seen that show yet? Hogs Gone Wild? It's pretty crazy. These wild hogs are gaining in some serious numbers across America - you can google it and see what I mean. According to the show last night, the highest numbers are in CA, TX and FL. They grow to be 300-400 lbs (and higher) and are incredibly ugly! There is no ban on killing them because they are difficult, if not impossible, to control. The statistics show that these wild hogs triple their population in just 4 month's time. Each sow will produce upwards of 10-13 piglets and it just never ends. They are tearing up people's yards in Tampa, they are eating crops of macadamia nuts in CA and they are devouring the bovine food supply on the cattle ranches in Texas.
No one has a solution for stopping the take-over. One guy said when they kill them, they should donate the meat to homeless shelters...? Free fresh pork - what the heck?
So our weekend weather was warm and we spent many hours outside. The car is running well and we enjoyed getting out and about in it. The farm animals got lots of attention with us being outside so much and overall, we couldn't have asked for a better time - unless you could all be here with us :)
While we had all this wonderful sunshine and nice high temperatures over the weekend, today calls for rain, which we definitely received. Tomorrow calls for more rain and come Wednesday afternoon and evening...snow flurries lol! What else did you expect?
I hope you got outside and enjoyed the weather wherever you happened to be. I heard some folks did some sun-bathing and cooked out hotdogs on the grill..now that says warmth and summertime to me. We aren't quite ready for that here in TN but to those of you who are - woo hoo!!!!
"My childhood may be over, but that doesn't mean playtime is." ~Ron Olson
Monday, January 31, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
It'll Feel Like Spring This Weekend!
Yes folks, they (again with the "they") are predicting we will have temperatures in the low fifties Saturday and Sunday. Now that's a big difference. All this week we were in the twenties and some highs in the thirties. I can't really say that I much mind the cold weather because it really hasn't been that bad. Sure we were snowed in a few times but there's always plenty to do inside and the view is beautiful out every window in the house. I am forever amazed at how each snowfall is different.
As I have learned, the first snowfall we had was very dry. It would barely hold together well enough to make a snowman on top of the truck but we managed. Then the next snowfall was on Christmas day and it was perfect just in that distinction alone - family, Christmas, snow...what more could you ask for? Following that was this last snowfall and it was called a wet snow. It piled up on tree branches, on power lines, even on every blade of grass that was out in the open. This wet snowfall made it look like the world had come to a complete stop. It was perfectly quiet, not even a slight breeze blew. The snow fell and stayed where it landed and it was magnificent. I took plenty of pictures for you to see and there are still a few more to come. My favorite? The one looking out off the deck to the front yard. And to think it happened on my birthday....
I tease Wally that he lured me up here under false pretenses. I was told that the winters here were fairly mild and that only the occasional snowfall occurred. This part of TN is breaking all snowfall records and it's not even February yet. According to what I've been hearing, February is the coldest...Really?
Well, even with the cold and the snow I'm still enjoying all the new stuff as days go by. I'm careful to plant my feet where there is no ice. I wear hats when I don't even like the way they look on me. I have an emergency kit in my trunk and I keep the fuel in my car at a half a tank. Gone are the days of the quarter of a tank being a necessity. I keep it full now just in case...
On the bright side, Lowe's has their onions, potatoes and garlic sets on sale. They also have a huge selection of flower bulbs. I'll have to make my list and submit it to Arlene (my garden guru) and see what she says about the survival rate for this zone. There are many, many flowers that I could only look at in magazines and only dream about planting in my yard. It may well be that this year, those planting dreams will come true! woo hoo!!
It's not even close to time for me to get the garden tilled up. Trust me, the ground is still frozen down below that surface of mud. It'll be at least another month, maybe more, before I can consider digging. The bulbs are a slightly different story in that they only have to go from 1-3 inches deep and they can go in a pot. That much I can handle :) so long as those puppies (a.k.a. "lil monsters") don't dig up everything I plant! They are going to be in so much trouble...
Well folks my birthday vacation day was wonderful. As you can see from the pictures the snowfall didn't disappoint. Wally woke up before I did and told me I needed to get up and look outside. Well, of course I didn't really want to get up (something about getting my drink on the night before...) but I didn't want to waste the day either so up, up, up... that's when I started taking pictures. I did that for about an hour or so on and off while we set up our plans for the day.
We fed all the animals, I took a few birthday calls and sent a few text messages with pictures of the deck. Before long it was time to go to the Diner for my birthday cheese burger and fries. woo hoo! We ordered our food and chatted with the waitress and we watched the news on tv. The snow was done falling and the temperatures were supposed to get just above freezing. Okay - cool. Our burgers arrived, perfectly cooked and we ate with abandon. Then, surprise-surprise, the waitress comes out singing Happy Birthday along with the other diners in the Diner...and she's carrying a dessert!
I had already made a pig of myself with the cheese burger and fries and now I had this sugary, gooey, chocolaty concoction in front of me - with whipped topping on top! They were so excited to see how happy I was to have it that I had to eat it, at least some of it...right? whew - as you know I'm not used to eating stuff like that anymore so it was really rough on me but I dug in. I took little bites and I ate it as slowly as possible. It wasn't like Wally could help me - he's diabetic for pete's sake! It was two warm brownies with vanilla ice cream in between them. They were covered in hot fudge and had squirts of whipped topping on each corner. There was a birthday candle in the middle that they lit as they sang to me.
It was very, very sweet of them and, don't get me wrong, I loved every bite of it. My stomach had some issues after while but it was delightful going in :) I had a hard time thinking what to wish for as all my wishes have come true so I wished for everyone to be as happy as me and we got on with our day.
We hit up Tractor Supply for some sweet feed and dog food and while we were there Wally bought me some long underwear... not the one piece kind with the flap in the back, thank you very much. These were the regular thermal underwear and it was just the bottoms. I already have a top to go with them. We were off to Fred's...
Fred's is kind of like Wal-Mart but on a much smaller scale. I can handle Fred's if that tells you anything. They have paper towels, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, ziplock baggies, a few food items - mostly junk food and picture frames, greeting cards, etc. We found a few things we couldn't live with out and since we were in Centerville, decided to stop by Pee Wee's Place.
On the way, I noticed that the Co-op had sweet feed on sale for $6.50 a bag. We usually spend about $8.99 a bag so since it was on sale, we decided to stock up on it. I'm always looking for the bargains! lol! I posted a picture on the flickr site showing how the other side of the road looked while I was waiting in the truck at the Co-op. Wally got back in the truck and handed me a quart jar of honey. Sweet!! It's been kind of difficult to find honey other than the store brand so this was a great find. According to the label the people who sell it have a farm in Dickson, TN and another one in Umatilla, FL. How 'bout that? I'll be sampling the honey this weekend so I'll let you know how it is on Monday. :)
We stayed at Pee Wee's for about an hour or so and then we were ready to head for the cabin. It was calling my name for sure. I was ready to just hang out, relax, read a cookbook (or not) and do nothing at all...and that's what I did. After an hour or so of that I couldn't take it anymore and had to get moving. I seasoned the steaks we were having for dinner and pulled out some leftovers; green beans, corn, peas, squash casserole and stuffing. Naturally, the green beans, corn and peas all went together and that left the squash and stuffing. It went into another pot.
This being my first birthday in my new home, I was as content as I could be. I was in awe of the snow, I was as relaxed as I could be and I was ready to get the next year underway...so off to bed I went to get rested up and do just that! lol
My thanks go out to all of you who called, sent text messages and/or cards, gifts and letters. They were all so thoughtful and I appreciate all of you thinking of me and letting me know about it. Please don't be upset if I miss your birthday - if that happens, it's only because I don't know when it is. Send me an email so I can mark you on my calendar :)
Have a nice weekend everybody!! I miss all of you!
As I have learned, the first snowfall we had was very dry. It would barely hold together well enough to make a snowman on top of the truck but we managed. Then the next snowfall was on Christmas day and it was perfect just in that distinction alone - family, Christmas, snow...what more could you ask for? Following that was this last snowfall and it was called a wet snow. It piled up on tree branches, on power lines, even on every blade of grass that was out in the open. This wet snowfall made it look like the world had come to a complete stop. It was perfectly quiet, not even a slight breeze blew. The snow fell and stayed where it landed and it was magnificent. I took plenty of pictures for you to see and there are still a few more to come. My favorite? The one looking out off the deck to the front yard. And to think it happened on my birthday....
I tease Wally that he lured me up here under false pretenses. I was told that the winters here were fairly mild and that only the occasional snowfall occurred. This part of TN is breaking all snowfall records and it's not even February yet. According to what I've been hearing, February is the coldest...Really?
Well, even with the cold and the snow I'm still enjoying all the new stuff as days go by. I'm careful to plant my feet where there is no ice. I wear hats when I don't even like the way they look on me. I have an emergency kit in my trunk and I keep the fuel in my car at a half a tank. Gone are the days of the quarter of a tank being a necessity. I keep it full now just in case...
On the bright side, Lowe's has their onions, potatoes and garlic sets on sale. They also have a huge selection of flower bulbs. I'll have to make my list and submit it to Arlene (my garden guru) and see what she says about the survival rate for this zone. There are many, many flowers that I could only look at in magazines and only dream about planting in my yard. It may well be that this year, those planting dreams will come true! woo hoo!!
It's not even close to time for me to get the garden tilled up. Trust me, the ground is still frozen down below that surface of mud. It'll be at least another month, maybe more, before I can consider digging. The bulbs are a slightly different story in that they only have to go from 1-3 inches deep and they can go in a pot. That much I can handle :) so long as those puppies (a.k.a. "lil monsters") don't dig up everything I plant! They are going to be in so much trouble...
Well folks my birthday vacation day was wonderful. As you can see from the pictures the snowfall didn't disappoint. Wally woke up before I did and told me I needed to get up and look outside. Well, of course I didn't really want to get up (something about getting my drink on the night before...) but I didn't want to waste the day either so up, up, up... that's when I started taking pictures. I did that for about an hour or so on and off while we set up our plans for the day.
We fed all the animals, I took a few birthday calls and sent a few text messages with pictures of the deck. Before long it was time to go to the Diner for my birthday cheese burger and fries. woo hoo! We ordered our food and chatted with the waitress and we watched the news on tv. The snow was done falling and the temperatures were supposed to get just above freezing. Okay - cool. Our burgers arrived, perfectly cooked and we ate with abandon. Then, surprise-surprise, the waitress comes out singing Happy Birthday along with the other diners in the Diner...and she's carrying a dessert!
I had already made a pig of myself with the cheese burger and fries and now I had this sugary, gooey, chocolaty concoction in front of me - with whipped topping on top! They were so excited to see how happy I was to have it that I had to eat it, at least some of it...right? whew - as you know I'm not used to eating stuff like that anymore so it was really rough on me but I dug in. I took little bites and I ate it as slowly as possible. It wasn't like Wally could help me - he's diabetic for pete's sake! It was two warm brownies with vanilla ice cream in between them. They were covered in hot fudge and had squirts of whipped topping on each corner. There was a birthday candle in the middle that they lit as they sang to me.
It was very, very sweet of them and, don't get me wrong, I loved every bite of it. My stomach had some issues after while but it was delightful going in :) I had a hard time thinking what to wish for as all my wishes have come true so I wished for everyone to be as happy as me and we got on with our day.
We hit up Tractor Supply for some sweet feed and dog food and while we were there Wally bought me some long underwear... not the one piece kind with the flap in the back, thank you very much. These were the regular thermal underwear and it was just the bottoms. I already have a top to go with them. We were off to Fred's...
Fred's is kind of like Wal-Mart but on a much smaller scale. I can handle Fred's if that tells you anything. They have paper towels, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, ziplock baggies, a few food items - mostly junk food and picture frames, greeting cards, etc. We found a few things we couldn't live with out and since we were in Centerville, decided to stop by Pee Wee's Place.
On the way, I noticed that the Co-op had sweet feed on sale for $6.50 a bag. We usually spend about $8.99 a bag so since it was on sale, we decided to stock up on it. I'm always looking for the bargains! lol! I posted a picture on the flickr site showing how the other side of the road looked while I was waiting in the truck at the Co-op. Wally got back in the truck and handed me a quart jar of honey. Sweet!! It's been kind of difficult to find honey other than the store brand so this was a great find. According to the label the people who sell it have a farm in Dickson, TN and another one in Umatilla, FL. How 'bout that? I'll be sampling the honey this weekend so I'll let you know how it is on Monday. :)
We stayed at Pee Wee's for about an hour or so and then we were ready to head for the cabin. It was calling my name for sure. I was ready to just hang out, relax, read a cookbook (or not) and do nothing at all...and that's what I did. After an hour or so of that I couldn't take it anymore and had to get moving. I seasoned the steaks we were having for dinner and pulled out some leftovers; green beans, corn, peas, squash casserole and stuffing. Naturally, the green beans, corn and peas all went together and that left the squash and stuffing. It went into another pot.
This being my first birthday in my new home, I was as content as I could be. I was in awe of the snow, I was as relaxed as I could be and I was ready to get the next year underway...so off to bed I went to get rested up and do just that! lol
My thanks go out to all of you who called, sent text messages and/or cards, gifts and letters. They were all so thoughtful and I appreciate all of you thinking of me and letting me know about it. Please don't be upset if I miss your birthday - if that happens, it's only because I don't know when it is. Send me an email so I can mark you on my calendar :)
Have a nice weekend everybody!! I miss all of you!
"Missing someone gets easier every day because even though it's one day further from the last time you saw each other, it's one day closer to the next time you will." ~Author Unknown
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Mayonnaise Biscuits Make the Cut...and the Packers are Going to the Super Bowl!!
It was a weekend of cooking, some cleaning and plenty of good football! At least that's how mine was spent :)
I was in a major cooking mood and just couldn't stop myself. I cooked up a storm! lol Everything from mayonnaise biscuits to squash casserole to broiled salmon...it was all on the menu. Sometimes I just get in that mood and I spend my days in the kitchen mixing things up or in the living room catching the scent of whatever I have in the oven or on the stove top. Lucky for me, "most" of it was healthy.
I have to admit that some of it was bad for us but there was enough of it that was good for us to tip the scale in the direction of healthy before it was all over and done with. So I'll go ahead and get the food section out of the way for those of you who get bored with that part or simply don't want to hear it. Believe it or not, when I don't write about what I've cooked, I get email saying that I need to add it back...so there's something for everyone here :) Enjoy.
To set the mood for the food decisions, you have to know about the weather...
On my way home from work Thursday afternoon, it began to sleet. I didn't know what sleet was until it started hitting the windshield of my car. It looks like rain but it has more umph to it. When it hits the windshield, it sounds like little tiny pieces of hail. Unlike hail, it doesn't bounce off, it just stays there or it melts and runs down like a thick, slow, rain drop. Before the trip was over, it turned to snow. Before I made it down the driveway, my windshield was icing over and the wipers were doing their best to throw the ice aside so I could see to make it to the cabin.
I tell you this because it's the reason for why I didn't make it to work on Friday. I was, yet again, snowed in. This time the weather people (who I barely trust anymore) said that all the snow that fell Thursday afternoon froze into ice overnight and created a driving hazard all around greater Nashville. I wish that weather person had taken the time to drive out and see us...they wouldn't have made it 2 miles off Hwy. 100. We tried to get to 100 but were unsuccessful until our attempt much later in the day. It was messy, messy, messy.
I tell you all of that because Friday is when the need to cook hit me - good thing I was home lol! I defrosted some bottom round steak that I had bought on sale a little while back. With this I planned to make my beef, barley, vegetable soup. I defrosted some ribeyes and Wally had already taken out some hamburger meat and sausage. I defrosted the salmon and pulled some summer squash from the freezer. It sounds like a lot but it was really just enough for the two of us with only a few leftovers. It had to cover three days... :)
The goulash you see on the flickr site was concocted Thursday night as I watched the yard turn white with snow before the sun had even begun to set. This was the same afternoon I took the pictures of the bird feeders and the back yard and back porch. I read through a few recipes for goulash but none of them sounded like the one I had used in the past. While reading them I kept getting a nagging sensation that I was missing something. I had discussed it with my Mom earlier and decided to go with what we remembered as being the recipe. I kept getting confused on what ingredients I used the last time I made goulash but I'm pretty sure with this last effort, it all came back to me.
The meat browned while the onions and peppers cooked until they were just getting soft. I added a can of tomato paste, some salt and pepper, paprika and plenty of garlic - maybe 3 or 4 cloves? I added some basil (that came in my CSA basket over the summer - I dried it and saved it for just such a reason), some oregano and a can of plum tomatoes that I chopped up. The macaroni was whole wheat and it boiled while everything else got together in that big ol' pot.
It was thick and hearty just like I remembered my Mom's being and although it looked like there was lots of it in that pot, we ended up eating all but one serving which disappeared around lunchtime the next day :) Neccy wrote to tell me to send some her way - that she was hungry!
The mayonnaise biscuits came as a complete surprise to me. In between cooking, I was reading an old "Future Homemakers Of America" cookbook and low and behold, there it was when I turned to the baked goods section. I just thought it sounded too crazy to work so I had to try it. Get this, it has just 1 cup of all purpose flour, 2/3 of a cup of milk and two heaping tablespoons of mayo. That's it. You stir it together until it's smooth and then spoon the batter into a greased muffin tin (makes 6). I used non-stick spray - it's easier :)
The biscuits cooked for just 15 minutes and they were done. Sooooooooo easy folks. They puffed up nicely and had a regular biscuit texture to them. I split mine open and put a little bit of butter and honey inside then gobbled it up like someone was trying to take it away from me. I'm pleased to say they were quite delightful and will be served up many a Sunday to come in these parts. I hope you'll be here to join us for some soon :) You won't be disappointed :)
It's funny but I don't remember what we had with them...I think it was scrambled eggs and sausage but I can't be sure...lol!!
I had saved some meat gravy from something I cooked back in December. I didn't label the bag other than "meat gravy" and the date of Dec. 1, 2010 so I'm not sure what kind of meat it was other than that it was beef. This I could tell from the color of the gravy. Chicken or turkey would have been a much lighter shade. Anyway, I took it out and figured I would add it to my beef, barley soup. I scraped and chopped up the carrots - I'm a big fan so you'll always find plenty of carrots in whatever soup I make. I chopped up some celery (another thing I'm a fan of...) and I chopped the meat into bite size pieces. I had a cutting board full of goodies just waiting to go in the big red pot.
The olive oil heated up and the meat went in. It sizzled and cooked until it easily came free from the bottom of the pot and then the veggies went in. What a sight - made my mouth water :) I added salt, pepper and anise (just a sprinkling) and stirred in some beef broth. At this point the "meat gravy" went in. It thickened up the soup to a stew consistency which was by no means a flavor disappointment at all. I got it up to a boil and poured in the barley. The pot was covered, the burner was turned to medium low and it simmered for 45 minutes to an hour. mmmm mmmm GOOD!! I know I say that every time I make it but it's so true and so healthy and it never fails to warm me up :)
The raisin muffins had the cabin smelling like oatmeal for some reason. They were pretty good for being whole grain - it takes some getting used to. They do have a small amount of oil in them but the texture is light and they were sweetened with honey and simply packed with warm, juicy raisins. You could butter them I suppose but they don't really need it (Mom). They are a nice mid-morning snack for those of us trying to get more fiber into our diets...if you set one on a paper towel, it won't leave a greasy residue on it like the commercial muffins that are so popular these days.
The recipe made 12 so that provides one for each of us, each day of the week until the time rolls around again for mayonnaise biscuits...lol! Healthy for 6 days, a little not so much on the 7th... :)
As you can see from the pictures on the blog, we had broiled salmon again. Now this is healthy in that it provides a good dose of omega 3 fats which help keep our arteries clean and it's "wild caught." For salmon this is particularly important as farm raised salmon do not have the heart healthy omega 3s that wild salmon have. But I digress... lol I rinsed the salmon and checked for any bones that may have been missed in the filleting process. I marinaded it in the Grill Mates marinade for an hour or so, maybe more. I sprayed my broiler pan with non-stick spray and trust me, you don't want to skip this step. I started the fish skin-side up so it would get crunchy. I heated up the broiler and set the pan in on the very top rack. After just a minute or so I could already hear and smell it cooking. I pulled it out after almost 4 minutes and flipped the fish over so the top part could get a little crunchy too. I gave each piece a spoonfull of the marinade and back under the broiler it went. This time, when it went back in, it was only there about 2, maybe 2 and half minutes and it was done.
It was able to be flaked with a fork which meant it was done and when I did flake it with my fork, juice poured out of it! woo hoo!! Perfect salmon once again. It was tangy as could be from that marinade but it still held up in the texture department. From thick to thin the pieces were cooked through and none were dried out.
With the salmon we had the squash casserole. If you remember over the summertime (oh for those hot, steamy days...lol) I was given many, many pounds of squash. Some came in my CSA basket and some came from Darryl and the farmer lady he calls "Miss Hildi." Well I had so much of it that I sliced it and froze it and stuck it in the freezer with the thought that come winter, we might just be looking for a bag of that frozen sunshine. Hey, it worked out just fine. Squash casserole in the dead of winter is bubbling warm, cheesey, gooey and dilly. When I made a butter and whole wheat Ritz cracker topping, it made it even a little healthy :) Okay, it's a stretch, but it did have the squash in it and the added bonus of some whole wheat in there along with the vegetables...
When we went to Pee Wee's I brought Darryl some of my barley soup and he gave me 4 hamburger patties, fresh from the farm. Oh yeah - that's what I'm talkin about...I love a good beefy cheeseburger and the words "fresh from the farm" just made my mouth water! Seeing as how we never got those cows...this was a good as it gets. I fried those bad boys up and melted some cheddar cheese on top of them and we had us some good eatin' I tell ya! Wally had everything on his - mayo, mustard, ketchup (barf), lettuce, onion, tomato and pickles (my home-made refrigerator pickles of course). Me I had all but the mayo and ketchup (barf). Again, I don't remember what we had with them...but there was something else on the plate. I remember that. Darn, it was probably something really good too...oh well, if I remember, I'll come back to it.
The cake was one of the sugar free box cakes (ha ha Francis!) we were turned on to when Teri and Jay were here. I'm telling you, you would never know the difference if you were given a taste test. It's that good. Why not forgo the sugar every little chance you get? This cake mix makes it easy. It doesn't mean you can eat the whole thing in one sitting but it does mean you don't have to feel bad about eating something like cake when you're trying to watch your sugar intake or trying to lose weight. I mixed it by hand again - I figured I had the time and I needed a break from standing so I sat in the living room and watched tv with Wally while I stirred and stirred. I posted the pictures so you could see what we were eating :) and either get jealous or come see us and share in the goodness :) hahahahahaha Well?
I had some noodles left over from the goulash so I decided on a pasta salad. I just happened to have black and green olives, hearts of palm (jarred), artichoke hearts (canned), red and yellow sweet peppers and cilantro. I chopped up all that stuff, added it to the noodles and then poured on the Good Seasons Salad Dressing... oh yeah, I added a little bit of oregano and salt too... HEY!!! - now I remember, this is what we had with the cheese burgers!! lol! Oh that's too funny... even for me.
For an afternoon snack I made the deviled eggs you see on the flickr site. They are just so easy and everyone likes them and since I had the eggs already boiled (doesn't everyone?), I thought what the heck? I scooped out and mashed up the yolks then chopped up some ham and a couple slices of my refrigerator pickles. I sprinkled in some garlic powder and stirred it all together. I piled the filling on top of those slippery little egg whites and in less time than it took me to make them, they were gone, gone, gone. LOL Ever notice that about deviled eggs? They just go away so darn fast! Maybe I need to make a couple extra next time...sorry for those of you who can't tolerate eggs because they are one healthy little snack that you just can't beat.
Whew - does that cover all the food? I guess so... I'm sure some of you hope so!
The rest of my three day weekend was spent trying to figure out what sort of decorations I wanted to put out. With the holidays over all the holiday stuff is put away. It's no where near springtime yet so it's not time for that stuff to come back out. I'm kind of in the middle with nothing to display... I guess I've never really had to decorate for a winter season having lived in FL all my life...what does one do? LOL Well, I found a few things that looked wintery but not Christmassy but mostly I'm leaving things kind of clutter-free, if you can imagine that coming from me...lol!
There are some white candles in some crystal candle holders on the bathroom windowsill and I have a gourd basket full of pine cones on the table with my more wintery placemats that Sandy gave me. The coffee table and end table have nothing on them except maybe a cookbook or two...since it's been cold, I've been going through those like a white tornado. That's about it... see what I mean?
I got tons of laundry done over the weekend. We have more of it these days as we're having to do some layering in order to be warm when we're outside. Not only that but the clothes are heavier and take up more space in the washer/dryer. I'm having to use dryer sheets for the first time in forever. I don't care for them or the way they make the clothes feel but there is so much static, I had to do something. I was getting shocked all during the folding! Not pleasantly shocked either...
The puppies have grown so much that they're too tall to stand in the doorway of the Ho-dog-house without bumping their heads. They now stand in the house and stick their heads out of the house so they can see what's going on. They follow Smith and Wesson off the hill in the front yard and while the big dogs nap in the sun, we can see them out there in the tall grassess rumbling and tumbling and sniffing everything. When they bark now, they sound like much bigger dogs than they really are and before long they'll be scaring off anything that moves in the woods. Most evenings, after the roosters have flown up, the puppies patrol the edge of the woods watching, waiting and sometimes barking...
We have more sadness on the farm... :( As of yesterday we are one rooster shy. When I got home he had already gone to the Rooster Heaven in the sky. We don't know what happened to him. I hesitate to think it was the puppies because it seems they would have done something like this already if they were going to. Not only that but it's their nature to protect, not harm, farm animals. It could have been the other roosters - maybe something was wrong with him and they knew it and put him out of his misery? I don't know. I have no way to find out. It wasn't Roo if that's what you're wondering. Did I hear a collective sigh of relief? Come bedtime, he flew up into his tree and the others flew up into theirs. One of the thugs has befriended Roo and he now sleeps in his own tree, separate from the others like Roo does. oh well..... :(
When I was on my way to work yesterday I almost had a collision with three, big, fat mama deers. They were crossing the road just as I crested a hill and began my downward cruise. I wasn't even up to 30 miles an hour when I saw them coming and I pushed hard on the brakes. I didn't really "slam" on the brakes but I pushed them hard enough to throw my lunch bag to the very front of the floorboard. All my crap went flying. Water bottle, soup bowl, yogurt container, you name it. All the deer just kept going - thankfully - had I hit the three of them my car would surely have been totalled. I was thankful too that none of my stuff spilled out. I never would have thought those lids would hold so tightly... whew that would have been a big ol' mess.
So Greenbay and the Steelers are going to the Super Bowl, huh? Well I guess you know who my money is on. Who do you like???? I'm sure your party plans are in motion... we'll probably stay home and watch as much of it as we can stay awake for... lol Pee Wee's closes at 5:00 on Sunday so that's out. Besides, you know how early we go to be around here... lol we'll be lucky to make it to the National Anthem :) ha ha ha
The wonderful weather man says we're supposed to have lots of rain today, turning into lots of snow tonight and ending up with 1-3 inches by Wednesday morning. Well, Happy Birthday to me... :) That means we'll probably go out for a little while tonight (if it doesn't snow too heavily by the time I get home) and then hang at the cabin for another snow day on Wednesday. Not a bad plan if you ask me! I'll try to get to the Diner for a cheeseburger but that will be dependent on the weather... :) I already put in for the vacation day.
I'd like to thank everyone for the cards you've sent and Ernie, thank you so much for the magazine subscriptions. I'll be hitting up the recipe sections for more yummy stuff to cook, eat and blog about so I really appreciate you thinking about me so kindly.
To all those of you at the Oriole's - have a drink for me! It'll be Wednesday night bingo so I hope those of you who play will win!! woo hoo - make it the big pot! Tell Ricky, Marsha, Joyce and Lisa Adams I said
hi and please remember the Crites' for me too... Thanks again! I'll be back on Thursday with tales of the birthday to write about... it'll probably be a short little posting that day...lol!
"Believing hear, what you deserve to hear: Your birthday as my own to me is dear...
But yours gives most; for mine did only lend Me to the world;
yours gave to me a friend."
~Martial
I was in a major cooking mood and just couldn't stop myself. I cooked up a storm! lol Everything from mayonnaise biscuits to squash casserole to broiled salmon...it was all on the menu. Sometimes I just get in that mood and I spend my days in the kitchen mixing things up or in the living room catching the scent of whatever I have in the oven or on the stove top. Lucky for me, "most" of it was healthy.
I have to admit that some of it was bad for us but there was enough of it that was good for us to tip the scale in the direction of healthy before it was all over and done with. So I'll go ahead and get the food section out of the way for those of you who get bored with that part or simply don't want to hear it. Believe it or not, when I don't write about what I've cooked, I get email saying that I need to add it back...so there's something for everyone here :) Enjoy.
To set the mood for the food decisions, you have to know about the weather...
On my way home from work Thursday afternoon, it began to sleet. I didn't know what sleet was until it started hitting the windshield of my car. It looks like rain but it has more umph to it. When it hits the windshield, it sounds like little tiny pieces of hail. Unlike hail, it doesn't bounce off, it just stays there or it melts and runs down like a thick, slow, rain drop. Before the trip was over, it turned to snow. Before I made it down the driveway, my windshield was icing over and the wipers were doing their best to throw the ice aside so I could see to make it to the cabin.
I tell you this because it's the reason for why I didn't make it to work on Friday. I was, yet again, snowed in. This time the weather people (who I barely trust anymore) said that all the snow that fell Thursday afternoon froze into ice overnight and created a driving hazard all around greater Nashville. I wish that weather person had taken the time to drive out and see us...they wouldn't have made it 2 miles off Hwy. 100. We tried to get to 100 but were unsuccessful until our attempt much later in the day. It was messy, messy, messy.
I tell you all of that because Friday is when the need to cook hit me - good thing I was home lol! I defrosted some bottom round steak that I had bought on sale a little while back. With this I planned to make my beef, barley, vegetable soup. I defrosted some ribeyes and Wally had already taken out some hamburger meat and sausage. I defrosted the salmon and pulled some summer squash from the freezer. It sounds like a lot but it was really just enough for the two of us with only a few leftovers. It had to cover three days... :)
The goulash you see on the flickr site was concocted Thursday night as I watched the yard turn white with snow before the sun had even begun to set. This was the same afternoon I took the pictures of the bird feeders and the back yard and back porch. I read through a few recipes for goulash but none of them sounded like the one I had used in the past. While reading them I kept getting a nagging sensation that I was missing something. I had discussed it with my Mom earlier and decided to go with what we remembered as being the recipe. I kept getting confused on what ingredients I used the last time I made goulash but I'm pretty sure with this last effort, it all came back to me.
The meat browned while the onions and peppers cooked until they were just getting soft. I added a can of tomato paste, some salt and pepper, paprika and plenty of garlic - maybe 3 or 4 cloves? I added some basil (that came in my CSA basket over the summer - I dried it and saved it for just such a reason), some oregano and a can of plum tomatoes that I chopped up. The macaroni was whole wheat and it boiled while everything else got together in that big ol' pot.
It was thick and hearty just like I remembered my Mom's being and although it looked like there was lots of it in that pot, we ended up eating all but one serving which disappeared around lunchtime the next day :) Neccy wrote to tell me to send some her way - that she was hungry!
The mayonnaise biscuits came as a complete surprise to me. In between cooking, I was reading an old "Future Homemakers Of America" cookbook and low and behold, there it was when I turned to the baked goods section. I just thought it sounded too crazy to work so I had to try it. Get this, it has just 1 cup of all purpose flour, 2/3 of a cup of milk and two heaping tablespoons of mayo. That's it. You stir it together until it's smooth and then spoon the batter into a greased muffin tin (makes 6). I used non-stick spray - it's easier :)
The biscuits cooked for just 15 minutes and they were done. Sooooooooo easy folks. They puffed up nicely and had a regular biscuit texture to them. I split mine open and put a little bit of butter and honey inside then gobbled it up like someone was trying to take it away from me. I'm pleased to say they were quite delightful and will be served up many a Sunday to come in these parts. I hope you'll be here to join us for some soon :) You won't be disappointed :)
It's funny but I don't remember what we had with them...I think it was scrambled eggs and sausage but I can't be sure...lol!!
I had saved some meat gravy from something I cooked back in December. I didn't label the bag other than "meat gravy" and the date of Dec. 1, 2010 so I'm not sure what kind of meat it was other than that it was beef. This I could tell from the color of the gravy. Chicken or turkey would have been a much lighter shade. Anyway, I took it out and figured I would add it to my beef, barley soup. I scraped and chopped up the carrots - I'm a big fan so you'll always find plenty of carrots in whatever soup I make. I chopped up some celery (another thing I'm a fan of...) and I chopped the meat into bite size pieces. I had a cutting board full of goodies just waiting to go in the big red pot.
The olive oil heated up and the meat went in. It sizzled and cooked until it easily came free from the bottom of the pot and then the veggies went in. What a sight - made my mouth water :) I added salt, pepper and anise (just a sprinkling) and stirred in some beef broth. At this point the "meat gravy" went in. It thickened up the soup to a stew consistency which was by no means a flavor disappointment at all. I got it up to a boil and poured in the barley. The pot was covered, the burner was turned to medium low and it simmered for 45 minutes to an hour. mmmm mmmm GOOD!! I know I say that every time I make it but it's so true and so healthy and it never fails to warm me up :)
The raisin muffins had the cabin smelling like oatmeal for some reason. They were pretty good for being whole grain - it takes some getting used to. They do have a small amount of oil in them but the texture is light and they were sweetened with honey and simply packed with warm, juicy raisins. You could butter them I suppose but they don't really need it (Mom). They are a nice mid-morning snack for those of us trying to get more fiber into our diets...if you set one on a paper towel, it won't leave a greasy residue on it like the commercial muffins that are so popular these days.
The recipe made 12 so that provides one for each of us, each day of the week until the time rolls around again for mayonnaise biscuits...lol! Healthy for 6 days, a little not so much on the 7th... :)
As you can see from the pictures on the blog, we had broiled salmon again. Now this is healthy in that it provides a good dose of omega 3 fats which help keep our arteries clean and it's "wild caught." For salmon this is particularly important as farm raised salmon do not have the heart healthy omega 3s that wild salmon have. But I digress... lol I rinsed the salmon and checked for any bones that may have been missed in the filleting process. I marinaded it in the Grill Mates marinade for an hour or so, maybe more. I sprayed my broiler pan with non-stick spray and trust me, you don't want to skip this step. I started the fish skin-side up so it would get crunchy. I heated up the broiler and set the pan in on the very top rack. After just a minute or so I could already hear and smell it cooking. I pulled it out after almost 4 minutes and flipped the fish over so the top part could get a little crunchy too. I gave each piece a spoonfull of the marinade and back under the broiler it went. This time, when it went back in, it was only there about 2, maybe 2 and half minutes and it was done.
It was able to be flaked with a fork which meant it was done and when I did flake it with my fork, juice poured out of it! woo hoo!! Perfect salmon once again. It was tangy as could be from that marinade but it still held up in the texture department. From thick to thin the pieces were cooked through and none were dried out.
With the salmon we had the squash casserole. If you remember over the summertime (oh for those hot, steamy days...lol) I was given many, many pounds of squash. Some came in my CSA basket and some came from Darryl and the farmer lady he calls "Miss Hildi." Well I had so much of it that I sliced it and froze it and stuck it in the freezer with the thought that come winter, we might just be looking for a bag of that frozen sunshine. Hey, it worked out just fine. Squash casserole in the dead of winter is bubbling warm, cheesey, gooey and dilly. When I made a butter and whole wheat Ritz cracker topping, it made it even a little healthy :) Okay, it's a stretch, but it did have the squash in it and the added bonus of some whole wheat in there along with the vegetables...
When we went to Pee Wee's I brought Darryl some of my barley soup and he gave me 4 hamburger patties, fresh from the farm. Oh yeah - that's what I'm talkin about...I love a good beefy cheeseburger and the words "fresh from the farm" just made my mouth water! Seeing as how we never got those cows...this was a good as it gets. I fried those bad boys up and melted some cheddar cheese on top of them and we had us some good eatin' I tell ya! Wally had everything on his - mayo, mustard, ketchup (barf), lettuce, onion, tomato and pickles (my home-made refrigerator pickles of course). Me I had all but the mayo and ketchup (barf). Again, I don't remember what we had with them...but there was something else on the plate. I remember that. Darn, it was probably something really good too...oh well, if I remember, I'll come back to it.
The cake was one of the sugar free box cakes (ha ha Francis!) we were turned on to when Teri and Jay were here. I'm telling you, you would never know the difference if you were given a taste test. It's that good. Why not forgo the sugar every little chance you get? This cake mix makes it easy. It doesn't mean you can eat the whole thing in one sitting but it does mean you don't have to feel bad about eating something like cake when you're trying to watch your sugar intake or trying to lose weight. I mixed it by hand again - I figured I had the time and I needed a break from standing so I sat in the living room and watched tv with Wally while I stirred and stirred. I posted the pictures so you could see what we were eating :) and either get jealous or come see us and share in the goodness :) hahahahahaha Well?
I had some noodles left over from the goulash so I decided on a pasta salad. I just happened to have black and green olives, hearts of palm (jarred), artichoke hearts (canned), red and yellow sweet peppers and cilantro. I chopped up all that stuff, added it to the noodles and then poured on the Good Seasons Salad Dressing... oh yeah, I added a little bit of oregano and salt too... HEY!!! - now I remember, this is what we had with the cheese burgers!! lol! Oh that's too funny... even for me.
For an afternoon snack I made the deviled eggs you see on the flickr site. They are just so easy and everyone likes them and since I had the eggs already boiled (doesn't everyone?), I thought what the heck? I scooped out and mashed up the yolks then chopped up some ham and a couple slices of my refrigerator pickles. I sprinkled in some garlic powder and stirred it all together. I piled the filling on top of those slippery little egg whites and in less time than it took me to make them, they were gone, gone, gone. LOL Ever notice that about deviled eggs? They just go away so darn fast! Maybe I need to make a couple extra next time...sorry for those of you who can't tolerate eggs because they are one healthy little snack that you just can't beat.
Whew - does that cover all the food? I guess so... I'm sure some of you hope so!
The rest of my three day weekend was spent trying to figure out what sort of decorations I wanted to put out. With the holidays over all the holiday stuff is put away. It's no where near springtime yet so it's not time for that stuff to come back out. I'm kind of in the middle with nothing to display... I guess I've never really had to decorate for a winter season having lived in FL all my life...what does one do? LOL Well, I found a few things that looked wintery but not Christmassy but mostly I'm leaving things kind of clutter-free, if you can imagine that coming from me...lol!
There are some white candles in some crystal candle holders on the bathroom windowsill and I have a gourd basket full of pine cones on the table with my more wintery placemats that Sandy gave me. The coffee table and end table have nothing on them except maybe a cookbook or two...since it's been cold, I've been going through those like a white tornado. That's about it... see what I mean?
I got tons of laundry done over the weekend. We have more of it these days as we're having to do some layering in order to be warm when we're outside. Not only that but the clothes are heavier and take up more space in the washer/dryer. I'm having to use dryer sheets for the first time in forever. I don't care for them or the way they make the clothes feel but there is so much static, I had to do something. I was getting shocked all during the folding! Not pleasantly shocked either...
The puppies have grown so much that they're too tall to stand in the doorway of the Ho-dog-house without bumping their heads. They now stand in the house and stick their heads out of the house so they can see what's going on. They follow Smith and Wesson off the hill in the front yard and while the big dogs nap in the sun, we can see them out there in the tall grassess rumbling and tumbling and sniffing everything. When they bark now, they sound like much bigger dogs than they really are and before long they'll be scaring off anything that moves in the woods. Most evenings, after the roosters have flown up, the puppies patrol the edge of the woods watching, waiting and sometimes barking...
We have more sadness on the farm... :( As of yesterday we are one rooster shy. When I got home he had already gone to the Rooster Heaven in the sky. We don't know what happened to him. I hesitate to think it was the puppies because it seems they would have done something like this already if they were going to. Not only that but it's their nature to protect, not harm, farm animals. It could have been the other roosters - maybe something was wrong with him and they knew it and put him out of his misery? I don't know. I have no way to find out. It wasn't Roo if that's what you're wondering. Did I hear a collective sigh of relief? Come bedtime, he flew up into his tree and the others flew up into theirs. One of the thugs has befriended Roo and he now sleeps in his own tree, separate from the others like Roo does. oh well..... :(
When I was on my way to work yesterday I almost had a collision with three, big, fat mama deers. They were crossing the road just as I crested a hill and began my downward cruise. I wasn't even up to 30 miles an hour when I saw them coming and I pushed hard on the brakes. I didn't really "slam" on the brakes but I pushed them hard enough to throw my lunch bag to the very front of the floorboard. All my crap went flying. Water bottle, soup bowl, yogurt container, you name it. All the deer just kept going - thankfully - had I hit the three of them my car would surely have been totalled. I was thankful too that none of my stuff spilled out. I never would have thought those lids would hold so tightly... whew that would have been a big ol' mess.
So Greenbay and the Steelers are going to the Super Bowl, huh? Well I guess you know who my money is on. Who do you like???? I'm sure your party plans are in motion... we'll probably stay home and watch as much of it as we can stay awake for... lol Pee Wee's closes at 5:00 on Sunday so that's out. Besides, you know how early we go to be around here... lol we'll be lucky to make it to the National Anthem :) ha ha ha
The wonderful weather man says we're supposed to have lots of rain today, turning into lots of snow tonight and ending up with 1-3 inches by Wednesday morning. Well, Happy Birthday to me... :) That means we'll probably go out for a little while tonight (if it doesn't snow too heavily by the time I get home) and then hang at the cabin for another snow day on Wednesday. Not a bad plan if you ask me! I'll try to get to the Diner for a cheeseburger but that will be dependent on the weather... :) I already put in for the vacation day.
I'd like to thank everyone for the cards you've sent and Ernie, thank you so much for the magazine subscriptions. I'll be hitting up the recipe sections for more yummy stuff to cook, eat and blog about so I really appreciate you thinking about me so kindly.
To all those of you at the Oriole's - have a drink for me! It'll be Wednesday night bingo so I hope those of you who play will win!! woo hoo - make it the big pot! Tell Ricky, Marsha, Joyce and Lisa Adams I said
hi and please remember the Crites' for me too... Thanks again! I'll be back on Thursday with tales of the birthday to write about... it'll probably be a short little posting that day...lol!
"Believing hear, what you deserve to hear: Your birthday as my own to me is dear...
But yours gives most; for mine did only lend Me to the world;
yours gave to me a friend."
~Martial
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Cloudy, Rainy and Cold but it is FRIDAY EVE- woo hoo!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday slowly crept by for me... ever have one of those days? It's a day when you feel like it's just never going to end and you can't wait to get back home? Well, I can't wait to get back home every day but especially when it's like this. At 9am I was thinking about lunch...lol that's pretty bad.
I fixed myself a chicken noodle cup-a-soup and got back to my work. By 9:30 I was clock-watching again... rather than force myself to try and stay focused I figured I'd take a break from it and get a posting on the blog for all of you who have nothing better to do that read what I write...lol who's worse? ha ha ha
Well, I started the update only to be interrupted by work demands... so this posting is a combination of dates all smeared together.
Update on the puppies - well, they got their first lesson on being on a chain. They have to be able to go to the vet and as unruly as they are, it would be difficult to keep them off the other animals. We don't want to break their spirit but they do need to listen better than they currently do. So they were each hooked up to either end of a long chain. The middle of the chain was looped through the hook on the 4 wheeler and Wally sat out there with them teaching them to come to him when he called them and he taught them how to behave on the chain.
Ruger wanted nothing to do with it. He wouldn't even move. Even when Wally tugged on the chain and called his name, he just planted his feet and held tight. Of course he eventually caved in but he was a tough little cookie.
Colt had no problem being on the chain, he just didn't want to get anywhere near Wally. That's nothing new. He won't come up to either of us like Ruger does. Once he gets used to being held and petted I'm sure that will change. In the meantime...more training to be had.
He gave them dog biscuits and petted them when they came to him and after 45 minutes or so they forgot they were on the chain. When he unchained them and told them to go play, they just stood there looking at him. I guess they didn't realize they had been freed... cute little guys.
They were cute until I saw where they had turned over one of my planters with the tulip bulb deeply nestled within. Ha! That dirt was strewn all the way across the porch and the bulb was so close to the edge that it was almost over it...darn little varmints! They're lucky I didn't catch them in the act or I would have had to pop them on their noses for a lesson in what "no" means when it comes to my plants...lol This is going to be a fun spring!
(Wednesday) Update on the weather. Well, as I said above, it's cloudy and it's been drizzling rain on and off all morning but nothing really substantial out this way. As for tomorrow...that's a whole different story. They say (keep in mind "they" are typically wrong...) that there will be some light snow flurries over night and into Thursday morning. Okay, no big deal. "They" say it won't be enough to have an impact on our roadways. Cool. Thursday's low is supposed to be 18 and the high is supposed to be 46. That's a huge difference...hence the reason I say "they" are typically wrong...lol!
Friday is supposed to be sunnier but the low is 16 with a high of only 25 degrees...now doggone it that's cold. You are still planning to come see us, right? hahahahahaha Hey, if I can handle it, surely you can too...lol! Dizzy Debbie says no way could she handle it but I checked the temperatures in AZ and her lows are in the 30s and 40s...I think it really only matters if you HAVE to be out in it, which I don't unless I want to be.
Driving to and from work is actually relaxing these days. There's something about the winter that has a calming effect on the landscape and thus on me. The activity of the animals in the woods is minimal, the rustling of the leaves can't be heard from within my car but surely the sound is there for I see the leaves blowing in the wind. The great, huge icicles that cling to the mountainside hardly have a drop on the ends of them as no matter how big and bright the mighty sunshine, even it can not penetrate the cold air thoroughly enough to begin melting down those blocks of ice. They look like oddly misshapen pieces of glass hanging without fear from those rocky sides.
There are hundreds of different kinds of bird all over the place. They fly by my window at work, they converge on our front yard and they line the telephone wires as if there were no tree limbs for them to rest upon. I thought that birds flew south for the winter - apparently this is as far south as some of them plan to go. Who knew southwest middle Tennessee would be their winter resting place? Surely not I :) I watched a show the other night that told how thousands of Sandhill Cranes have made this area their year round home site. In just 8 years the population has gone from about 200 to thousands... pretty popular place, huh? lol Good for them - it wasn't so long ago that they were on the endangered species list so it's nice to see this many of them.
So apparently I offended a few of you when I wrote about the rabbit? I didn't intend to offend, after all, it's just food. These aren't like the furry little pet bunnies you see at the flea market or pet store or wherever...these are farm-raised purely for the purpose of, well, being eaten. Just like fish, shrimp, cows, pigs, etc. All are raised for the purpose of feeding the human population and so on down the chain. I just happen to enjoy trying a variety of foods that extend beyond the main 3...chicken, pork and beef. I believe it was my very own sister who said she would never, ever try rabbit. Only after I stuffed that little morsel into her mouth while she was talking did she get my point. She went back for more.
A big thank you again to Mr. Bill Hollihan for helping out at the club that day. Joe and Joyce I believe donated the rabbits from MEAT bingo. I cut them into pieces and seasoned them while Bill cooked them outside on that old grill we had. mmm mmm good! Everyone who tried it, really enjoyed it. Those who didn't try it, well, they just didn't know what they were missing out on...lol! The beef tongue was a whole different story...I'll tell it another day :)
Should we ever be forced to live off the land like our ancestors did, I'm betting rabbit will be one of the first animals to show a decline in population. The flavor is mild, nothing like chicken (hello) and it has to be cooked either really, really fast or very low and very slow. Anywhere in the middle results in a tough, chewy meat that is virtually flavorless. Unfortunately rabbit meat has no real nutritional value so unless it's cooked with a variety of vegetables, herbs or spices you aren't really getting anything out of it other than full... lol!
But enough about rabbits. Tuesday Wally took me to lunch at a place called Porky's. They serve BBQ'd pork, beef, sausages and the single most wonderful BLT I have ever laid my lips on! WOW was it ever good. I love a good BLT with the bacon just salty and crispy enough, the tomato sliced thick and sprinkled with black pepper and a pile of fresh, cool, iceberg lettuce... oh my! The bun was buttered and lightly grilled so it was warm and crunchy :) There was so much bacon on this sandwich that I had trouble finishing the whole thing. Don't get me wrong, indeed I did finish every last little tidbit, but it took some doing for certain. I couldn't even finish one glass of tea for being so full of good bacon-y-ness. It was delightful :) It's making my mouth water for it again...lol!!
Talk about good timing... Beverly Duncan has some really good timing. Wednesday we arrived home and happened to check the mail. Low and behold, there was a package awaiting us. Upon opening it, I found that she had sent us both a sweatshirt. If the weatherman turns out to be right, we couldn't have been given more appropriate gifts, nor could they have come at a better time! Thanks Bev, for being so thoughtful and for having such good timing :)
So here it is Thursday and there's just one more day left in the workweek for me. As it turns out, it's supposed to start raining and snowing around 3pm this afternoon and continue on until about 6am Friday morning. Not to worry - they say it won't amount to very much and shouldn't cause any problems on the roadway...hmmm, where have I heard that before? lol
Even though it does get cold here, it's nowhere near as bad as I feared. I thought I would just be freezing all the time but that's not the case at all. My work building is cold - my hands are always freezing - but that's the case whether it's 20 degrees outside or 90 degrees outside. As I recall, my hands were always freezing in the Orlando office too. I have to sit on them to get them warm...lol! For that matter I was almost always cold in the Oriole's building...lol just my nature I suppose.
It seems this is the time of year when the folks here begin to yearn for springtime. The talk is all about buying seeds and ordering plants and what will go where and when. As I wrote when I first started the blog, I'm here in time for this planting season and plan to spend the better part of my days off, doing just that. I'm ready for those rocks to be dug up and I'm ready to get my hands in the dirt and plant something.
Meanwhile, I'm anxiously awaiting the first sighting of greenness in my pots where the daffodils and tulips are planted. Remember those mystery plants? Well they are starting to show green leaves emerging from the ground. We all know they won't bloom until sometime around May but that's okay this year - seeing as how we know what they are now! lol! The capacity of a bulb never ceases to amaze me :)
I made a super low carb chicken parmesan last night and it worked out really well. I used a recipe from Giada De'Laurentis and was very pleased with it. You can find it on the Food Network website if you're interested. It has no breadcrumbs, just chicken, cheeses, sauce and a little bit of butter. This is the second time I've made it and somehow I never make enough. The chicken seems to shrink while it's cooking or something...I don't know. We had enough for dinner but not enough for me to bring some for work today.
:( Bummer :(
To go with it, I wanted yellow squash but it was in the outside freezer with a 50 lb bag of sweet feed on top of it so that was out. I didn't feel like lifting that bag right then...lol I know - lazy! Anyway, instead I took out a red pepper, a green pepper, some mushrooms, some hearts of palm and some artichoke hearts. I chopped up the peppers and mushrooms and poured on some Good Seasons Italian dressing. While those soaked, I chopped up and added pieces of hearts of palm and some artichoke hearts. I put a little salt & pepper in with everything and gave it a good stir. Was that ever good! We had whole wheat English muffins that I split, buttered and sprinkled with garlic salt then heated under the broiler and that was our dinner. I was so proud of myself for not burning the bread! lol First time for everything :)
I think with the weather being what it is some sort of stew or chili or maybe even spaghetti should be on the menu for tonight. Brrrrr :) but you know me, I love soups so I'm glad it's cold enough to warrant a big ol' pot of something hot and bubbling lol!
Looking outside my office window, the mountains in the distance are shrouded in a thick white mist. I guess it could be snowing over there already. It sure is a pretty sight to see when the people who live up there build fires in their fireplaces and I can see the smoke drifting up through the trees into the sky. You just know it's warm inside that house wherever it may be...
I can't wait to get back to mine :)
What does the weekend hold for us? I have no idea :) We haven't made any plans other than to be at the cabin playing with the puppies and taking care of the animals. Of course we'll be watching the playoff games on Sunday...GO PACKERS!!! LOL In reality, it's almost better if they don't make it (for me anyway) because then the pressure is off. When they go to the Super Bowl, it just makes me so nervous I almost can't watch. Sometimes I don't. lol!
The Super Bowl is on Feb. 6th and then only two short weeks away from that comes the Daytona 500 - finally!!! It seems to take forever to get back to racing. I still don't have a driver but maybe this will be the year I pick one out of the line-up. It won't be either of those Bush brothers (sorry Kris - just can't do it), it won't be Jeff Gordon (please) and it certainly won't be Jimmy Johnson (NASCAR's golden boy - no offense but no thanks). So who is left for me? Time will tell :)
I'm enjoying the winter as days go by and I hope my limited postings haven't bored you. This season too is very special to me even with the cold weather. I'm learning so much about how to dress to keep warm, when gloves and scarfs and hoodies are needed and how to plan meals when frozen foods don't thaw as quickly as they used to. I find that I don't mind being inside as the view of the mountains across the way keep me returning to the front door over and over.
The back yard view is so serene and completely peaceful that I can't help but kneel on the couch and look out those back windows. My bird feeders are hanging out there but the birds are infrequent visitors to them now that the snow has melted. They have nests built on the porch rafters so I do get to watch as they come and go from up there.
The back yard is lit up all the way across to the woods on the side of the cabin so I can watch as the roosters fly up at bedtime. I watch as the puppies stand at the edge of the woods barking at whatever hoodoo or creature of the night might be wandering around out there foraging for food. It is a winter wonderland that looks just like a picture post card. I wish I never had to drive away from it...
I hope your home brings you the same feeling :)
"There are compensations for growing older. One is the realization that to be sporting isn't at all necessary. It is a great relief to reach this stage of wisdom." Cornelius Otis Skinner
I fixed myself a chicken noodle cup-a-soup and got back to my work. By 9:30 I was clock-watching again... rather than force myself to try and stay focused I figured I'd take a break from it and get a posting on the blog for all of you who have nothing better to do that read what I write...lol who's worse? ha ha ha
Well, I started the update only to be interrupted by work demands... so this posting is a combination of dates all smeared together.
Update on the puppies - well, they got their first lesson on being on a chain. They have to be able to go to the vet and as unruly as they are, it would be difficult to keep them off the other animals. We don't want to break their spirit but they do need to listen better than they currently do. So they were each hooked up to either end of a long chain. The middle of the chain was looped through the hook on the 4 wheeler and Wally sat out there with them teaching them to come to him when he called them and he taught them how to behave on the chain.
Ruger wanted nothing to do with it. He wouldn't even move. Even when Wally tugged on the chain and called his name, he just planted his feet and held tight. Of course he eventually caved in but he was a tough little cookie.
Colt had no problem being on the chain, he just didn't want to get anywhere near Wally. That's nothing new. He won't come up to either of us like Ruger does. Once he gets used to being held and petted I'm sure that will change. In the meantime...more training to be had.
He gave them dog biscuits and petted them when they came to him and after 45 minutes or so they forgot they were on the chain. When he unchained them and told them to go play, they just stood there looking at him. I guess they didn't realize they had been freed... cute little guys.
They were cute until I saw where they had turned over one of my planters with the tulip bulb deeply nestled within. Ha! That dirt was strewn all the way across the porch and the bulb was so close to the edge that it was almost over it...darn little varmints! They're lucky I didn't catch them in the act or I would have had to pop them on their noses for a lesson in what "no" means when it comes to my plants...lol This is going to be a fun spring!
(Wednesday) Update on the weather. Well, as I said above, it's cloudy and it's been drizzling rain on and off all morning but nothing really substantial out this way. As for tomorrow...that's a whole different story. They say (keep in mind "they" are typically wrong...) that there will be some light snow flurries over night and into Thursday morning. Okay, no big deal. "They" say it won't be enough to have an impact on our roadways. Cool. Thursday's low is supposed to be 18 and the high is supposed to be 46. That's a huge difference...hence the reason I say "they" are typically wrong...lol!
Friday is supposed to be sunnier but the low is 16 with a high of only 25 degrees...now doggone it that's cold. You are still planning to come see us, right? hahahahahaha Hey, if I can handle it, surely you can too...lol! Dizzy Debbie says no way could she handle it but I checked the temperatures in AZ and her lows are in the 30s and 40s...I think it really only matters if you HAVE to be out in it, which I don't unless I want to be.
Driving to and from work is actually relaxing these days. There's something about the winter that has a calming effect on the landscape and thus on me. The activity of the animals in the woods is minimal, the rustling of the leaves can't be heard from within my car but surely the sound is there for I see the leaves blowing in the wind. The great, huge icicles that cling to the mountainside hardly have a drop on the ends of them as no matter how big and bright the mighty sunshine, even it can not penetrate the cold air thoroughly enough to begin melting down those blocks of ice. They look like oddly misshapen pieces of glass hanging without fear from those rocky sides.
There are hundreds of different kinds of bird all over the place. They fly by my window at work, they converge on our front yard and they line the telephone wires as if there were no tree limbs for them to rest upon. I thought that birds flew south for the winter - apparently this is as far south as some of them plan to go. Who knew southwest middle Tennessee would be their winter resting place? Surely not I :) I watched a show the other night that told how thousands of Sandhill Cranes have made this area their year round home site. In just 8 years the population has gone from about 200 to thousands... pretty popular place, huh? lol Good for them - it wasn't so long ago that they were on the endangered species list so it's nice to see this many of them.
So apparently I offended a few of you when I wrote about the rabbit? I didn't intend to offend, after all, it's just food. These aren't like the furry little pet bunnies you see at the flea market or pet store or wherever...these are farm-raised purely for the purpose of, well, being eaten. Just like fish, shrimp, cows, pigs, etc. All are raised for the purpose of feeding the human population and so on down the chain. I just happen to enjoy trying a variety of foods that extend beyond the main 3...chicken, pork and beef. I believe it was my very own sister who said she would never, ever try rabbit. Only after I stuffed that little morsel into her mouth while she was talking did she get my point. She went back for more.
A big thank you again to Mr. Bill Hollihan for helping out at the club that day. Joe and Joyce I believe donated the rabbits from MEAT bingo. I cut them into pieces and seasoned them while Bill cooked them outside on that old grill we had. mmm mmm good! Everyone who tried it, really enjoyed it. Those who didn't try it, well, they just didn't know what they were missing out on...lol! The beef tongue was a whole different story...I'll tell it another day :)
Should we ever be forced to live off the land like our ancestors did, I'm betting rabbit will be one of the first animals to show a decline in population. The flavor is mild, nothing like chicken (hello) and it has to be cooked either really, really fast or very low and very slow. Anywhere in the middle results in a tough, chewy meat that is virtually flavorless. Unfortunately rabbit meat has no real nutritional value so unless it's cooked with a variety of vegetables, herbs or spices you aren't really getting anything out of it other than full... lol!
But enough about rabbits. Tuesday Wally took me to lunch at a place called Porky's. They serve BBQ'd pork, beef, sausages and the single most wonderful BLT I have ever laid my lips on! WOW was it ever good. I love a good BLT with the bacon just salty and crispy enough, the tomato sliced thick and sprinkled with black pepper and a pile of fresh, cool, iceberg lettuce... oh my! The bun was buttered and lightly grilled so it was warm and crunchy :) There was so much bacon on this sandwich that I had trouble finishing the whole thing. Don't get me wrong, indeed I did finish every last little tidbit, but it took some doing for certain. I couldn't even finish one glass of tea for being so full of good bacon-y-ness. It was delightful :) It's making my mouth water for it again...lol!!
Talk about good timing... Beverly Duncan has some really good timing. Wednesday we arrived home and happened to check the mail. Low and behold, there was a package awaiting us. Upon opening it, I found that she had sent us both a sweatshirt. If the weatherman turns out to be right, we couldn't have been given more appropriate gifts, nor could they have come at a better time! Thanks Bev, for being so thoughtful and for having such good timing :)
So here it is Thursday and there's just one more day left in the workweek for me. As it turns out, it's supposed to start raining and snowing around 3pm this afternoon and continue on until about 6am Friday morning. Not to worry - they say it won't amount to very much and shouldn't cause any problems on the roadway...hmmm, where have I heard that before? lol
Even though it does get cold here, it's nowhere near as bad as I feared. I thought I would just be freezing all the time but that's not the case at all. My work building is cold - my hands are always freezing - but that's the case whether it's 20 degrees outside or 90 degrees outside. As I recall, my hands were always freezing in the Orlando office too. I have to sit on them to get them warm...lol! For that matter I was almost always cold in the Oriole's building...lol just my nature I suppose.
It seems this is the time of year when the folks here begin to yearn for springtime. The talk is all about buying seeds and ordering plants and what will go where and when. As I wrote when I first started the blog, I'm here in time for this planting season and plan to spend the better part of my days off, doing just that. I'm ready for those rocks to be dug up and I'm ready to get my hands in the dirt and plant something.
Meanwhile, I'm anxiously awaiting the first sighting of greenness in my pots where the daffodils and tulips are planted. Remember those mystery plants? Well they are starting to show green leaves emerging from the ground. We all know they won't bloom until sometime around May but that's okay this year - seeing as how we know what they are now! lol! The capacity of a bulb never ceases to amaze me :)
I made a super low carb chicken parmesan last night and it worked out really well. I used a recipe from Giada De'Laurentis and was very pleased with it. You can find it on the Food Network website if you're interested. It has no breadcrumbs, just chicken, cheeses, sauce and a little bit of butter. This is the second time I've made it and somehow I never make enough. The chicken seems to shrink while it's cooking or something...I don't know. We had enough for dinner but not enough for me to bring some for work today.
:( Bummer :(
To go with it, I wanted yellow squash but it was in the outside freezer with a 50 lb bag of sweet feed on top of it so that was out. I didn't feel like lifting that bag right then...lol I know - lazy! Anyway, instead I took out a red pepper, a green pepper, some mushrooms, some hearts of palm and some artichoke hearts. I chopped up the peppers and mushrooms and poured on some Good Seasons Italian dressing. While those soaked, I chopped up and added pieces of hearts of palm and some artichoke hearts. I put a little salt & pepper in with everything and gave it a good stir. Was that ever good! We had whole wheat English muffins that I split, buttered and sprinkled with garlic salt then heated under the broiler and that was our dinner. I was so proud of myself for not burning the bread! lol First time for everything :)
I think with the weather being what it is some sort of stew or chili or maybe even spaghetti should be on the menu for tonight. Brrrrr :) but you know me, I love soups so I'm glad it's cold enough to warrant a big ol' pot of something hot and bubbling lol!
Looking outside my office window, the mountains in the distance are shrouded in a thick white mist. I guess it could be snowing over there already. It sure is a pretty sight to see when the people who live up there build fires in their fireplaces and I can see the smoke drifting up through the trees into the sky. You just know it's warm inside that house wherever it may be...
I can't wait to get back to mine :)
What does the weekend hold for us? I have no idea :) We haven't made any plans other than to be at the cabin playing with the puppies and taking care of the animals. Of course we'll be watching the playoff games on Sunday...GO PACKERS!!! LOL In reality, it's almost better if they don't make it (for me anyway) because then the pressure is off. When they go to the Super Bowl, it just makes me so nervous I almost can't watch. Sometimes I don't. lol!
The Super Bowl is on Feb. 6th and then only two short weeks away from that comes the Daytona 500 - finally!!! It seems to take forever to get back to racing. I still don't have a driver but maybe this will be the year I pick one out of the line-up. It won't be either of those Bush brothers (sorry Kris - just can't do it), it won't be Jeff Gordon (please) and it certainly won't be Jimmy Johnson (NASCAR's golden boy - no offense but no thanks). So who is left for me? Time will tell :)
I'm enjoying the winter as days go by and I hope my limited postings haven't bored you. This season too is very special to me even with the cold weather. I'm learning so much about how to dress to keep warm, when gloves and scarfs and hoodies are needed and how to plan meals when frozen foods don't thaw as quickly as they used to. I find that I don't mind being inside as the view of the mountains across the way keep me returning to the front door over and over.
The back yard view is so serene and completely peaceful that I can't help but kneel on the couch and look out those back windows. My bird feeders are hanging out there but the birds are infrequent visitors to them now that the snow has melted. They have nests built on the porch rafters so I do get to watch as they come and go from up there.
The back yard is lit up all the way across to the woods on the side of the cabin so I can watch as the roosters fly up at bedtime. I watch as the puppies stand at the edge of the woods barking at whatever hoodoo or creature of the night might be wandering around out there foraging for food. It is a winter wonderland that looks just like a picture post card. I wish I never had to drive away from it...
I hope your home brings you the same feeling :)
"There are compensations for growing older. One is the realization that to be sporting isn't at all necessary. It is a great relief to reach this stage of wisdom." Cornelius Otis Skinner
Monday, January 17, 2011
Not a National Holiday for AT&T so Here I am :)
No, MLK day is not a holiday for those of us here at AT&T. While we do have the option of taking the day off, the time has to come from our vacation banks. I'm saving my days for fun times when friends and family come to visit. Oh, and for my birthday. I've decided to take a vacation day for that monumental event as well. Did I mention Neccy and I are the same age right now? Yep, we're both 47 until January 26th rolls around...lol!
When Wally asked what I wanted to do for my birthday I told him I wanted to get a cheese burger at the Diner and get my drink on at the cabin with him. That's it. He said he would make the reservations...lol!
I remember fondly those birthdays spent over at Ernie & William's house. William would build a bon-fire in the back yard and folks would stop by with wishes for a Happy Birthday. Ernie would always fix way too much food but somehow it always got eaten... :) LOL for her and I it was usually after the party was over, hello..she even made me a taco layer dip instead of a birthday cake the one year...yummy!!
Ernie always offered to drive us wherever I wanted to go for my birthday but then she couldn't really party with me AND drive us back home so it worked out better that we just stayed at her house for the duration. A good time was had by all and it kept us off the streets! lol!
A better porch party there never was...than those over at Ernie and William's house. My goodness I couldn't tell you how many times William threatened to call the cops on us for our porch party goings on... we were really quite well-behaved so I'm not sure why he said that lol! We were the best at people-watching, never letting William trim those bushes so we could see but not be seen (at least we thought so...). We had our seats and when people came over, they let us have them. No questions asked. If someone didn't know the seating assignments, they would be ever so politely educated and with the knowledge, they too would move to a new chair :) ha ha ha ha ha those were some funny situations. We knew every vehicle that turned onto the street and we even knew when one would be a turner-rounder... We had a fan for the hot, sweltering evenings of summer and a heater for the chilly (ha!) evenings of "winter." We knew which kids were hoodlums and which ones eventually would become one... We made plans for all sorts of things to do on Saturday and eventually had to agree never to hold each other to any of them until we sobered up... lol!
There's so much more to be told of those days but I'd have to change the names to protect the innocent and then what fun would they be?? lol
Back on the farm... the snow is melting away although it's a much slower process than when it piles up I must say. When I walk over to feed the horses, it's now hard and crunchy instead of the powdery soft stuff that first fell. There were many, many snowmen on display as I drove to work last Thursday and Friday...all to be headless and fallen over on my way in this morning. Their hats and scarves and noses being the last of the display and they were on the ground at that. One family got very creative and built what looked like a makeshift igloo - come Sunday, it was just a few strange looking snow something or others...
The puppy poo is much easier to watch out for if that's any consolation :) LOL that doesn't mean I didn't step in any, because I sure did...but it is easier to spot now that the snow is gone. I just have to remember to look for it. Colt is still being stand-offish and Ruger is soaking up all the lovin he can get. He still sits up when he gets fed and now he's taken to giving us his paw as if to shake hands. We didn't teach him either of these two things, he just came up with them himself - smart lil' feller :) With the weather warming slightly we might have a chance to get outside and spend some real training time with both of them. They're doing pretty good on their own but they still need to learn some manners. They both got lessons on trying to steal bones from the big dogs... we heard a couple of yips and yelps when they tried it!
It seems they might be putting themselves on a new schedule. Their breed is supposed to stay awake nights and protect the farm then sleep during the day. Up until this weekend, they were sleeping when everyone else did and waking with us too. Saturday they got up early and played hard for the better part of the morning. I told Wally I think Wesson was trying to lure them away much like the Hansel and Gretel story...he headed off down the driveway and both puppies went running after him. I thought he would turn back or cross over to the other side by the outhouse but he just kept going. Before too long, they were all out of my sight. I thought to myself that he must be trying to shake them and there they were with no bread crumbs to drop...lol
Apparently he's not so good at shaking them because they all came back together some 15 minutes later...lol I guess the big dogs are stuck with them after all...lol! Anyway, so they played and played and then they crashed out for almost 3 hours! That was a long nap. I figured they had either been up most of the night or they were trying to get themselves on a night schedule and needed to get as much daytime sleep as possible. I don't know but when I left at 5am this morning - they were both up and outside the dog house running around playing already. Oh to have some of that energy :)
We went to Pee Wee's for a little while Friday night. We didn't want to stay long because it was forecast that freezing rain would be moving in. Well, that never happened but since we were already home I made us some sandwiches and we finished off the macaroni salad and went to bed. The night before I had decided that we needed a summertime dinner instead of all the wintertime comfort food we've been eating. Comfort food is good but I wanted something a little lighter and "summery" feeling - you know what I mean? Well it ended up being lemon-pepper chicken breasts and macaroni salad :) Even though it was barely above freezing outside, it was 70 degrees in the cabin and reminiscent of summer picnic with the lemon-pepper permeating through the downstairs and the mac salad chilling in the refrigerator.
It could only have been better if I'd served it on paper plates with plastic forks and a pickle...lol!
The freezing rain never came Friday night, nor did it come as forecasted Saturday or Sunday night. We're still waiting for it today...lol I did have some rain on my way in this morning but not even enough to keep the wipers on. It'll probably start the day I forget my umbrella at home...:)
So after breakfast (cube steaks with biscuits and gravy) Saturday morning I had a list of things to get in Fairview and Wally decided to come with me. We started at Food Lion where we picked up some B1G1 free Shrimp, some milk and some yogurt for my breakfast at work. We fueled up my car ($2.91 a gallon!!!!) and then went to Tractor Supply. We got sweet feed, dog food (we seem to be going through it pretty quick these days...), some parts that Wally needed and a long sleeved t shirt for me. It's plum colored and it was $6.00. That's it. Nothing fancy. If they had more of them in my size, I'd have bought a few of them but they had just the one. We got a nozzle for the hose that was on clearance and then we were done.
We stopped at the post office and cleaned out the box then headed back to the cabin. With everything unloaded and put away we had plenty of time to relax. We watched the playoff games and played with the puppies. Before long it was time for dinner - shrimp on the Bar-B! It had been marinating in garlic, butter, hot sauce and seasoning salt so all I had to do was put it under the broiler and let it go (too cold to fire up the grill...). mmm mmm good!!! It was salty, garlicky and just a little crunchy on the edges... we ate two pounds between us...lol!! I usually wrap it in bacon with cilantro but we wanted it to be simple and quick so that was out :) It was still very good!
I cleaned the kitchen and organized the pantry and then settled down with a cookbook, a cold beer and football on the tv. We had a perfectly relaxing Saturday.
Sunday, not to be outdone, we drove over to the meat-getting-place so we could get some bones for the dogs. Of course there's no point driving all that way if I'm not going to get any meat... sooooooo I got some ground beef, a beef roast and a rabbit. No, Kat, the rabbit is not alive - it's dressed like the first one I got but that doesn't mean it's in a tuxedo or anything...lol. It is cut up and ready to braise in Riesling wine with shallots and winter root vegetables but I'll go there when I actually cook it so you can see pictures that'll make your mouth water - promise!
We fed the dogs their bones and broke the ice in their water bucket. We fed the chickens some scratch and I filled my new bird feeder - I forgot to mention that I picked up another bird feeder at Fred's. The one bird feeder just wasn't enough with all that snow on the ground. Now that it has started to melt it seems the little birdies don't need me anymore...they have been busily pecking up everything on the ground they can get their little greedy beaks on. LOL
Oh - breakfast on Sunday you ask? Whole wheat pancakes with honey and butter and spicy, warm sausage patties on the side. We chased it all down with some iced tea. I figure there's a balance between the not so healthy sausage (although it is without hormones or any additives or preservatives since we made it fresh ourselves) and the very healthy whole wheat pancakes. Honey - all natural and harvested from a guy down the road from us. Butter - real butter with no trans fatty acids to clog our arteries. Yeah there's a little cholesterol but our bodies do need a little bit of that - it's been proven! So there...
Sunday I cleaned the living room floors - ahhhhhh! They look so nice! As you can see from the photostream I accidentally took a picture of them so I went ahead and posted it. lol I was coming back from taking pictures of the puppies and meant to push the off button...well, you see how that worked out for me...lol With the dogs all enjoying the bones, the roosters pecking at the pieces that go flying, the snow beginning to melt away and a 4 lb pot roast in the oven, our day was once again all about relaxation.
The roast was grass fed beef that was truly a splurge as it was quite expensive but as soon as we took that first bite, we realized that the cost was worth it by far. This roast doesn't cook down to nothing like the roasts you buy in the store. Indeed it stays as big as when you first put it in the oven. I sprinkled on some garlic powder and some fresh thyme that Teri brought (sorry Teri - it never rooted so I figured I should use it before it goes bad...) up New Year's weekend. I poured some Dale's (low sodium) marinade and a 1/2 a Corona beer into the roasting pan. I emptied a packet of Lipton Onion Soup mix over top of all that and covered it with foil. The oven was set to 325 and I timed it for about 3 hours.
About every half hour I basted it with the juices from the bottom of the roaster. Talk about making the cabin smell good... I've said it before but they really should make that scent into a candle...lol! It was all I could do not to try it but as with all roasts, it really does have to cook for a long time in order to be tender. After three hours I still wasn't satisfied with the texture so it went back in for another half hour. Meanwhile, (you knew there'd be a meanwhile...) I made Italian green beans with beef bouillon and garlic powder and I made the honey-buttered carrot recipe that I learned last spring. I should have taken a picture it was such a pretty dinner. We savored those juicy morsels and talked about the next time we would be having a roast - we plan to make it exactly the same way. Maybe just maybe you'll be here to enjoy it with us :) Ernie - I think even William would like this one... lol
Well the games were all a surprise to me - I don't know about y'all but I never expected the Jets to beat the Patriots. Of course, even though Green Bay is my team, I surely never expected them to beat Atlanta. This Sunday coming up should prove to be very exciting the in way of football. With the end of football season slowly closing in on us and the racing season not set to begin until Feb. 20th, what will we do to fill our weekends???? ha ha ha - I'll be browsing through seed and plant catalogs, I know that much :) This year will be much more productive in the garden now that I've learned a little more about this climate and this gardening zone.
Now that the snow is melting, the dirt road is just a little bit sloppy...okay, it's real sloppy! I have the sloppiness all over my car but not to worry - remember that rain that's supposed to be coming? Surely if we get what they say we're in for, all that sloppy stuff will wash off. The last time it happened, I had a dirt ring around my car in the work parking lot...lol! It was like the chalk outline the police make of the murder victims. ha ha ha
So our winter weekend mornings are spent considerably more lazy than those of the spring, summer and fall. We watch the weather forecast while we have our breakfast. We feel the animals and give the old dogs their medicine. We play with the puppies and sometimes we actually get some chores done. Mostly we relax and enjoy the beauty of the woods. With the trees void of leaves we can see far and wide. Across the hill the snow still hasn't melted. In the sky the hawks soar with the wind. The squirrel nests are abundant and the squirrels run back and forth across the drive way and up and down the trees like there's some sort of race that only they know about. When the sun goes down the colors are striking. They go from a dusty blue-ish gray, to purple-ish pink, to orange, and then only the darkness littered with stars above. It's beautiful.
Just this morning a huge owl flew in front of my windshield as it swept down to catch its morning prey. Fortunately it wasn't headed in the direction of the puppies or the roosters... I'm pretty sure it was big enough to try and take one or the other. While I was fixing dinner last night I saw a little deer crossing the driveway. She really should be bigger than she is but maybe she's the dwarf one we've noticed lately. She was a taunter as she hid behind the trees and wood piles only just peeking out to nibble the grasses where the snow had thawed. Little did she know I had already taken out my contacts and could barely see her with the binoculars let alone look down a rifle sight at her...she got another day.
The weekend came to a quiet close and we were sleeping soundly by 7pm. I almost nodded off during the game but somehow managed to make it until the end. whew - that was tough. I hope you did just what you wanted to over the weekend and I hope it was relaxing. There's plenty of time for an honest day's work come spring :)
When Wally asked what I wanted to do for my birthday I told him I wanted to get a cheese burger at the Diner and get my drink on at the cabin with him. That's it. He said he would make the reservations...lol!
I remember fondly those birthdays spent over at Ernie & William's house. William would build a bon-fire in the back yard and folks would stop by with wishes for a Happy Birthday. Ernie would always fix way too much food but somehow it always got eaten... :) LOL for her and I it was usually after the party was over, hello..she even made me a taco layer dip instead of a birthday cake the one year...yummy!!
Ernie always offered to drive us wherever I wanted to go for my birthday but then she couldn't really party with me AND drive us back home so it worked out better that we just stayed at her house for the duration. A good time was had by all and it kept us off the streets! lol!
A better porch party there never was...than those over at Ernie and William's house. My goodness I couldn't tell you how many times William threatened to call the cops on us for our porch party goings on... we were really quite well-behaved so I'm not sure why he said that lol! We were the best at people-watching, never letting William trim those bushes so we could see but not be seen (at least we thought so...). We had our seats and when people came over, they let us have them. No questions asked. If someone didn't know the seating assignments, they would be ever so politely educated and with the knowledge, they too would move to a new chair :) ha ha ha ha ha those were some funny situations. We knew every vehicle that turned onto the street and we even knew when one would be a turner-rounder... We had a fan for the hot, sweltering evenings of summer and a heater for the chilly (ha!) evenings of "winter." We knew which kids were hoodlums and which ones eventually would become one... We made plans for all sorts of things to do on Saturday and eventually had to agree never to hold each other to any of them until we sobered up... lol!
There's so much more to be told of those days but I'd have to change the names to protect the innocent and then what fun would they be?? lol
Back on the farm... the snow is melting away although it's a much slower process than when it piles up I must say. When I walk over to feed the horses, it's now hard and crunchy instead of the powdery soft stuff that first fell. There were many, many snowmen on display as I drove to work last Thursday and Friday...all to be headless and fallen over on my way in this morning. Their hats and scarves and noses being the last of the display and they were on the ground at that. One family got very creative and built what looked like a makeshift igloo - come Sunday, it was just a few strange looking snow something or others...
The puppy poo is much easier to watch out for if that's any consolation :) LOL that doesn't mean I didn't step in any, because I sure did...but it is easier to spot now that the snow is gone. I just have to remember to look for it. Colt is still being stand-offish and Ruger is soaking up all the lovin he can get. He still sits up when he gets fed and now he's taken to giving us his paw as if to shake hands. We didn't teach him either of these two things, he just came up with them himself - smart lil' feller :) With the weather warming slightly we might have a chance to get outside and spend some real training time with both of them. They're doing pretty good on their own but they still need to learn some manners. They both got lessons on trying to steal bones from the big dogs... we heard a couple of yips and yelps when they tried it!
It seems they might be putting themselves on a new schedule. Their breed is supposed to stay awake nights and protect the farm then sleep during the day. Up until this weekend, they were sleeping when everyone else did and waking with us too. Saturday they got up early and played hard for the better part of the morning. I told Wally I think Wesson was trying to lure them away much like the Hansel and Gretel story...he headed off down the driveway and both puppies went running after him. I thought he would turn back or cross over to the other side by the outhouse but he just kept going. Before too long, they were all out of my sight. I thought to myself that he must be trying to shake them and there they were with no bread crumbs to drop...lol
Apparently he's not so good at shaking them because they all came back together some 15 minutes later...lol I guess the big dogs are stuck with them after all...lol! Anyway, so they played and played and then they crashed out for almost 3 hours! That was a long nap. I figured they had either been up most of the night or they were trying to get themselves on a night schedule and needed to get as much daytime sleep as possible. I don't know but when I left at 5am this morning - they were both up and outside the dog house running around playing already. Oh to have some of that energy :)
We went to Pee Wee's for a little while Friday night. We didn't want to stay long because it was forecast that freezing rain would be moving in. Well, that never happened but since we were already home I made us some sandwiches and we finished off the macaroni salad and went to bed. The night before I had decided that we needed a summertime dinner instead of all the wintertime comfort food we've been eating. Comfort food is good but I wanted something a little lighter and "summery" feeling - you know what I mean? Well it ended up being lemon-pepper chicken breasts and macaroni salad :) Even though it was barely above freezing outside, it was 70 degrees in the cabin and reminiscent of summer picnic with the lemon-pepper permeating through the downstairs and the mac salad chilling in the refrigerator.
It could only have been better if I'd served it on paper plates with plastic forks and a pickle...lol!
The freezing rain never came Friday night, nor did it come as forecasted Saturday or Sunday night. We're still waiting for it today...lol I did have some rain on my way in this morning but not even enough to keep the wipers on. It'll probably start the day I forget my umbrella at home...:)
So after breakfast (cube steaks with biscuits and gravy) Saturday morning I had a list of things to get in Fairview and Wally decided to come with me. We started at Food Lion where we picked up some B1G1 free Shrimp, some milk and some yogurt for my breakfast at work. We fueled up my car ($2.91 a gallon!!!!) and then went to Tractor Supply. We got sweet feed, dog food (we seem to be going through it pretty quick these days...), some parts that Wally needed and a long sleeved t shirt for me. It's plum colored and it was $6.00. That's it. Nothing fancy. If they had more of them in my size, I'd have bought a few of them but they had just the one. We got a nozzle for the hose that was on clearance and then we were done.
We stopped at the post office and cleaned out the box then headed back to the cabin. With everything unloaded and put away we had plenty of time to relax. We watched the playoff games and played with the puppies. Before long it was time for dinner - shrimp on the Bar-B! It had been marinating in garlic, butter, hot sauce and seasoning salt so all I had to do was put it under the broiler and let it go (too cold to fire up the grill...). mmm mmm good!!! It was salty, garlicky and just a little crunchy on the edges... we ate two pounds between us...lol!! I usually wrap it in bacon with cilantro but we wanted it to be simple and quick so that was out :) It was still very good!
I cleaned the kitchen and organized the pantry and then settled down with a cookbook, a cold beer and football on the tv. We had a perfectly relaxing Saturday.
Sunday, not to be outdone, we drove over to the meat-getting-place so we could get some bones for the dogs. Of course there's no point driving all that way if I'm not going to get any meat... sooooooo I got some ground beef, a beef roast and a rabbit. No, Kat, the rabbit is not alive - it's dressed like the first one I got but that doesn't mean it's in a tuxedo or anything...lol. It is cut up and ready to braise in Riesling wine with shallots and winter root vegetables but I'll go there when I actually cook it so you can see pictures that'll make your mouth water - promise!
We fed the dogs their bones and broke the ice in their water bucket. We fed the chickens some scratch and I filled my new bird feeder - I forgot to mention that I picked up another bird feeder at Fred's. The one bird feeder just wasn't enough with all that snow on the ground. Now that it has started to melt it seems the little birdies don't need me anymore...they have been busily pecking up everything on the ground they can get their little greedy beaks on. LOL
Oh - breakfast on Sunday you ask? Whole wheat pancakes with honey and butter and spicy, warm sausage patties on the side. We chased it all down with some iced tea. I figure there's a balance between the not so healthy sausage (although it is without hormones or any additives or preservatives since we made it fresh ourselves) and the very healthy whole wheat pancakes. Honey - all natural and harvested from a guy down the road from us. Butter - real butter with no trans fatty acids to clog our arteries. Yeah there's a little cholesterol but our bodies do need a little bit of that - it's been proven! So there...
Sunday I cleaned the living room floors - ahhhhhh! They look so nice! As you can see from the photostream I accidentally took a picture of them so I went ahead and posted it. lol I was coming back from taking pictures of the puppies and meant to push the off button...well, you see how that worked out for me...lol With the dogs all enjoying the bones, the roosters pecking at the pieces that go flying, the snow beginning to melt away and a 4 lb pot roast in the oven, our day was once again all about relaxation.
The roast was grass fed beef that was truly a splurge as it was quite expensive but as soon as we took that first bite, we realized that the cost was worth it by far. This roast doesn't cook down to nothing like the roasts you buy in the store. Indeed it stays as big as when you first put it in the oven. I sprinkled on some garlic powder and some fresh thyme that Teri brought (sorry Teri - it never rooted so I figured I should use it before it goes bad...) up New Year's weekend. I poured some Dale's (low sodium) marinade and a 1/2 a Corona beer into the roasting pan. I emptied a packet of Lipton Onion Soup mix over top of all that and covered it with foil. The oven was set to 325 and I timed it for about 3 hours.
About every half hour I basted it with the juices from the bottom of the roaster. Talk about making the cabin smell good... I've said it before but they really should make that scent into a candle...lol! It was all I could do not to try it but as with all roasts, it really does have to cook for a long time in order to be tender. After three hours I still wasn't satisfied with the texture so it went back in for another half hour. Meanwhile, (you knew there'd be a meanwhile...) I made Italian green beans with beef bouillon and garlic powder and I made the honey-buttered carrot recipe that I learned last spring. I should have taken a picture it was such a pretty dinner. We savored those juicy morsels and talked about the next time we would be having a roast - we plan to make it exactly the same way. Maybe just maybe you'll be here to enjoy it with us :) Ernie - I think even William would like this one... lol
Well the games were all a surprise to me - I don't know about y'all but I never expected the Jets to beat the Patriots. Of course, even though Green Bay is my team, I surely never expected them to beat Atlanta. This Sunday coming up should prove to be very exciting the in way of football. With the end of football season slowly closing in on us and the racing season not set to begin until Feb. 20th, what will we do to fill our weekends???? ha ha ha - I'll be browsing through seed and plant catalogs, I know that much :) This year will be much more productive in the garden now that I've learned a little more about this climate and this gardening zone.
Now that the snow is melting, the dirt road is just a little bit sloppy...okay, it's real sloppy! I have the sloppiness all over my car but not to worry - remember that rain that's supposed to be coming? Surely if we get what they say we're in for, all that sloppy stuff will wash off. The last time it happened, I had a dirt ring around my car in the work parking lot...lol! It was like the chalk outline the police make of the murder victims. ha ha ha
So our winter weekend mornings are spent considerably more lazy than those of the spring, summer and fall. We watch the weather forecast while we have our breakfast. We feel the animals and give the old dogs their medicine. We play with the puppies and sometimes we actually get some chores done. Mostly we relax and enjoy the beauty of the woods. With the trees void of leaves we can see far and wide. Across the hill the snow still hasn't melted. In the sky the hawks soar with the wind. The squirrel nests are abundant and the squirrels run back and forth across the drive way and up and down the trees like there's some sort of race that only they know about. When the sun goes down the colors are striking. They go from a dusty blue-ish gray, to purple-ish pink, to orange, and then only the darkness littered with stars above. It's beautiful.
Just this morning a huge owl flew in front of my windshield as it swept down to catch its morning prey. Fortunately it wasn't headed in the direction of the puppies or the roosters... I'm pretty sure it was big enough to try and take one or the other. While I was fixing dinner last night I saw a little deer crossing the driveway. She really should be bigger than she is but maybe she's the dwarf one we've noticed lately. She was a taunter as she hid behind the trees and wood piles only just peeking out to nibble the grasses where the snow had thawed. Little did she know I had already taken out my contacts and could barely see her with the binoculars let alone look down a rifle sight at her...she got another day.
The weekend came to a quiet close and we were sleeping soundly by 7pm. I almost nodded off during the game but somehow managed to make it until the end. whew - that was tough. I hope you did just what you wanted to over the weekend and I hope it was relaxing. There's plenty of time for an honest day's work come spring :)
"How old would you be if you didn't know how old you were?" ~Satchel Paige
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Calm Down... I'm Back and Here's the Posting You've Been Unpatiently Awaiting!
I would have if I could have but I couldn't so I didn't.... come to work that is. The snow began to fall sometime Sunday night and it didn't let up until this morning. The temperatures stayed below freezing but the sun did finally make enough of an appearance to melt away that snow which was covering the roadways. If you go to the Flickr site, you'll see all the new pictures. Please, feel free to comment on them. I love hearing what you think.
I got home early Friday and the temperatures started to slowly drop from then on. I think the high yesterday was 28? In any event, we had plenty of supplies for ourselves and the animals. As the winter sun began to set in our backyard, many an animal was ready for bed and warm once there. The puppies followed the rooster brigade through the back yard towards the trees and watched as their feathered friends made their assent for the night.
With no one left to play with them, they took to running around in the yard playing by themselves. Smith and Wesson had retired for the night to the warmth of their dog cabin and if the puppies dared to bother with either of them, I'm sure they were properly scorned.
It wasn't the kind of weather that makes you want to stay outside but we did get in the white farm truck and go down to the barn and over to the trailer to load up some wood. The We had our dinner of ribeye steaks and sweet potatoes and we too settled in for the night. We watched "How I Met Your Mother" and a few other sitcoms and it wasn't long before we were ready to retire to our roost on the second floor.
Our only plan for the weekend was to spend lots of time with the puppies so they would get to know us better and so they would learn some manners. What we awoke to was freezing cold temperatures and a cold, drizzling rain to accompany them. So much for building a fire outside and hanging out with the puppies! It was just too cold and now, to top it off, the wind began to blow. There was a winter storm to the south and west of us and it was clearly going to come in before the weekend went out. We didn't need anything from the store so we changed our plans and simply settled in for the day.
I don't think the puppies minded one bit. They played until they were worn out and then napped for a couple hours before getting up and starting all over again. We're pretty sure that Smith and Wesson are glad we have roosters so the little guys will leave them alone...
I worked on organizing and packing up the Christmas stuff which is no small job by any means. You saw how much of it there is :) There were boxes and tissue paper and styrofoam packing materials everywhere you looked. The only way to do it is to dig in and that's just what I did. All the snowmen came down first and then the decorations that were on display in the spare bedroom and bathroom got put up. From there it was like an avalanche...lol! Box after box after box was filled to the brim with Christmas ornaments, stockings, snowmen, candles and wreaths, etc. all disappearing with lightning speed not to be seen again until December 2011.
I was exhausted to say the least! I made us a simple venison/roast beef and barley soup that simmered for about an hour on the stove top, filling the house with the warm scents of beef, onions and peppers all mingling together. We had our dinner in our chairs because the table was still full of Christmas stuff awaiting the appropriate boxes. The temperatures continued to drop as we went to feed the scraps to the dogs and give the roosters some of their feed. Gone are the days of foregoing the coat and gloves at feeding time, gone are the days of lingering to pet and play and watch. We get the animals fed and with puppies on our heels make haste back towards the heated cabin!
My bird feeder is a busy place these days...finally :) The back porch is a veritible hub of activity now that blankets of snow cover the ground and little insects are difficult to come by for all the birds. At any given time there are at least 6 birds in attendance and all are awaiting their turn at the feeder. There are 8 perches on the feeder but they eat only one or two at a time. I have no idea why this is...perhaps they aren't the neighborly types??? lol I figure I'll go ahead and get a couple more feeders to hang out there and see if I can draw in some Cardinals. What we have now are two different kinds; little, black-feathered birds with white bellies and yellow beaks and fat, little, blue-feathered birds with white beaks. I'll have to see if I can find them in my bird book so I'll know what they're called. They aren't quite as fierce as the hummingbirds were but they are insistent when it comes to taking their turns. It appears all animals have a pecking order...lol pun intended :)
With temperatures being what they are, we have to leave the water running in the sinks and the tub so the pipes don't freeze... even during the day folks. Come Monday, there was so much snow that the weather update was basically this...if you don't have to be on the road - don't be on the road. I stayed home. Every county with the exception of 2 had schools closed. Public transportation in downtown Nashville was re-routed to their snow routes only (not sure what that means but that's what they said on the new...ha ha ha)
As far as the eye could see it was a thick blanket of white and still coming down. On the farm we saw puppy prints in the snow all around the cabin and even a few spots where they took the time to roll around a bit. They were up pretty early because it was still dark outside but they had already been playing around. There weren't any rooster prints...lol
By dawn we had already eaten breakfast, biscuits and sausage gravy, and I was back to finishing up the Christmas packing process. We watched at the puppies ran around in front of the rooster trees until finally the roosters began to fly down. They don't just fly down and land right below their tree... that's where the puppies lie in wait. Indeed they actually fly over to the back porch before landing just outside of it. The puppies aren't sure what to do - chase the roosters that have landed or wait under the tree for those that haven't yet flown...? It's funny to watch them as they decide and even funnier to listen to the sounds of the roosters as they try to avoid being herded another day...
The horses came up to the gate to be fed and they both had snow on their backs and built up under their hooves. They snort and stomp and are generally in a bad mood. But the stomping gets rid of the clumps of snow stuck to their hooves so I don't worry about it. I'm thinking their mood is because they are cold, even though they have very thick fur coats, but it could just be they are tired of the hunters... I brought them both a bucket of sweet feed and pet them on their noses. They are skittish as ever and more than anything I want spring to come just so I can get close to them again. I long for those days, like this past summer, when Rebel would walk right up to me and let me pet him without shying and turning away. It's going to take more time with Smokey - in fact, I believe it will be just like starting over with him. These days, most of the time, he's in a foul mood. I guess if I heard gunshots throughout most of the day, I'd be in a pretty foul mood myself.
I reheated some of the refrigerator soup that I made while Mom and Neccy were here so we had comfort food to warm our bellies and keep us hydrated. Ever had refrigerator soup? It's always a good thing. I think it was Joyce who first named it for me. I had eaten it many, many times growing up but never knew what it was called. It's decidedly different each and every time no matter who makes it, no matter when it's made. You clean out the refrigerator and anything that is still good goes into the pot. Mine had corn, green beans, canned tomatoes, cubed chicken strips, rice and some of my homemade chicken broth... I added onions, celery and lots of pepper to kick it up a notch (thank you Emeril) and viola' soup was on!
What's not to like...? Go ahead, look in that refrigerator of yours and start cleaning it out for soup. You won't be disappointed... unless of course your leftovers have gone bad, in which case, I can't help you.
We stayed busy Monday and the time quickly passed. Before we knew it, the sun was setting low over the hills. We watched the news for the weather update and found that more snow was expected in the overnight hours. Well, they weren't lying this time. For certain another inch to an inch and a half fell before Tuesday morning dawned. In fact, it was snowing when we woke up and it continued to do so on and off throughout the entire day. The sun tried to peek out a few times but was hard pressed to do any kind of work melting that snow away. The roof over-hanging the front porch was lined with various lengths of icicles. They weren't even thinking about dripping.
Tuesday we decided it would be a good day for a driving lesson for me...well, I didn't decide it, Wally did. I had no intention of even trying to drive but he was right. Tuesday did present the perfect opportunity for me to learn a little something about driving under the influence of these harsh conditions. We donned our layers of clothes, our coats, our gloves and a scarf for me. We turned on the car so it could warm up. The minute I hit the seat of the car, my nerves were pretty well shot. lol Still I backed out of my spot, turned the wheel and headed away from my safe haven... Slow as molasses I made my way down the path passing the outhouse and the split in the driveway. Picking up speed I passed through the first gate and was feeling so so about my progress. As the driveway goes downhill I give the car some gas so as to have enough speed built up to get to the top of the next hill. Yeah right... I started up that hill with what little speed I had built up and my little car just said no. It just stopped right there about 20 yards from the top and wasn't having anything to do with going any further. At Wally's instruction, I backed it up to get a better start. Nope - still no go.
Well, long story short, I tried a couple more times to no avail and finally Wally took over. He backed us all the way back down the driveway, built up more speed than I had and off we went back up the hill. And to a complete standstill we came once again :) No go. Okay little car - we get the point. He backed us down again and was able to turn us around on the road that leads to the holler (don't even ask me how he did that - the snow was so deep I have no idea how it worked) and finally we were back at the cabin. Not to be deterred, we decided to try it again in his truck.
Well he was able to get us up to the top of the hill and out the top gate and we actually drove over to the road where Otto's bar is. There had been a couple cars/trucks ahead of us, as noted by the tracks in the snow, but not many. The snow was deep and crunchy sounding from having froze overnight and we couldn't see any part of the dirt road at all. The paved road wasn't much better. We were going to go to the Diner if we were able to make it off the farm but after seeing the condition of the roads, we decided breakfast would be better enjoyed if eaten at home. Later, when we tried again and were actually able to get to Hwy. 100, we saw that the Diner was closed after all so it wouldn't have done us any good to try and get there that morning.
I cooked up some bacon and fried eggs with toast, butter and jelly (not for me - I don't eat jelly...nope, no way... kind of like Neccy with beets...lol!) and it was devoured with a hunger not usually displayed at breakfast...guess all that snow driving really worked up an appetite! ha ha ha.
Since I was still not able to get to work, I set out to plow through some old cookbooks that I hadn't read in a long time. I found some recipes that I had wanted to try but never quite got around to...they'll be presented in upcoming blog issues, don't you worry :) It was nice to just sit there on the couch with my house clean as could be, my animals all fed and watered, birds at the feeder, my honey in his chair and my home warm and comfortable. Moments like that don't come very often so I think it's important to appreciate them when they do. Ahhhhhhhhh
Now don't get me wrong, it was still cold and snowy but it was one of the most beautiful days I've ever seen. Weird how that can happen, huh? So, later on Tuesday we were able to get to Hwy. 100 and we made a couple of stops while we were out. We dropped off some garbage at the dump, got some sweet feed from the Ace Hardware store and fueled up the truck at the Shell station ($2.89 a gallon!), we stopped for beer and then went home. What should have taken us about 40 minutes took an hour and 28 minutes instead. The roads were only slightly better than they were earlier and it was challenging to say the least. Thank goodness Wally was driving. I'll learn but Tuesday wasn't the day for that. lol!
Little did we know what was to greet us the next morning... how about this...all that snow had started to melt overnight and when it did, because of the below freezing temperatures, it froze into ice? yep... black ice was touted as being the danger of the day for all secondary roads.... me? Yep - stayed home again. You better believe there isn't one piece of dirty laundry, including sheets and towels... there isn't one surface with dust on it, nor is there one bathroom or sink that doesn't have a lingering scent of bleach...lol Snow days, it seems, are better for cleaning than springtime...
We did get out and about a little bit Wednesday afternoon when the snow began to thaw... we went by the co-op and picked up some chicken feed and grass seed and figured while we were in Centerville, we might as well pay a visit to Pee Wee's. We were there for an hour or so, drank a few beers and visited with Joe and Darryl and a couple other people and then headed for home. Coming down the driveway looked like a picture on a post card...Mother Nature in all her glory had worked a piece of art and I was ever so happy to be drawn into the picture.
Obviously I'm at work today and for all it's worth I have to say that it's not a bad thing at all... I know what the view is like on the way home and I'm looking forward to enjoying the ride. More so than anything else, I'm looking forward to being back home. Come see for yourself just how hard it is to leave... It was one of the first things Neccy said after being there for about 2 or 3 hours. :) Farm living might not be for everyone but it sure does suit me just fine!
Ha Ha Ha Here's a good quote for today... for all of us!
"I've been on a constant diet for the last two decades. I've lost a total of 789 pounds. By all accounts, I should be hanging from a charm bracelet." ~Erma Bombeck
I got home early Friday and the temperatures started to slowly drop from then on. I think the high yesterday was 28? In any event, we had plenty of supplies for ourselves and the animals. As the winter sun began to set in our backyard, many an animal was ready for bed and warm once there. The puppies followed the rooster brigade through the back yard towards the trees and watched as their feathered friends made their assent for the night.
With no one left to play with them, they took to running around in the yard playing by themselves. Smith and Wesson had retired for the night to the warmth of their dog cabin and if the puppies dared to bother with either of them, I'm sure they were properly scorned.
It wasn't the kind of weather that makes you want to stay outside but we did get in the white farm truck and go down to the barn and over to the trailer to load up some wood. The We had our dinner of ribeye steaks and sweet potatoes and we too settled in for the night. We watched "How I Met Your Mother" and a few other sitcoms and it wasn't long before we were ready to retire to our roost on the second floor.
Our only plan for the weekend was to spend lots of time with the puppies so they would get to know us better and so they would learn some manners. What we awoke to was freezing cold temperatures and a cold, drizzling rain to accompany them. So much for building a fire outside and hanging out with the puppies! It was just too cold and now, to top it off, the wind began to blow. There was a winter storm to the south and west of us and it was clearly going to come in before the weekend went out. We didn't need anything from the store so we changed our plans and simply settled in for the day.
I don't think the puppies minded one bit. They played until they were worn out and then napped for a couple hours before getting up and starting all over again. We're pretty sure that Smith and Wesson are glad we have roosters so the little guys will leave them alone...
I worked on organizing and packing up the Christmas stuff which is no small job by any means. You saw how much of it there is :) There were boxes and tissue paper and styrofoam packing materials everywhere you looked. The only way to do it is to dig in and that's just what I did. All the snowmen came down first and then the decorations that were on display in the spare bedroom and bathroom got put up. From there it was like an avalanche...lol! Box after box after box was filled to the brim with Christmas ornaments, stockings, snowmen, candles and wreaths, etc. all disappearing with lightning speed not to be seen again until December 2011.
I was exhausted to say the least! I made us a simple venison/roast beef and barley soup that simmered for about an hour on the stove top, filling the house with the warm scents of beef, onions and peppers all mingling together. We had our dinner in our chairs because the table was still full of Christmas stuff awaiting the appropriate boxes. The temperatures continued to drop as we went to feed the scraps to the dogs and give the roosters some of their feed. Gone are the days of foregoing the coat and gloves at feeding time, gone are the days of lingering to pet and play and watch. We get the animals fed and with puppies on our heels make haste back towards the heated cabin!
My bird feeder is a busy place these days...finally :) The back porch is a veritible hub of activity now that blankets of snow cover the ground and little insects are difficult to come by for all the birds. At any given time there are at least 6 birds in attendance and all are awaiting their turn at the feeder. There are 8 perches on the feeder but they eat only one or two at a time. I have no idea why this is...perhaps they aren't the neighborly types??? lol I figure I'll go ahead and get a couple more feeders to hang out there and see if I can draw in some Cardinals. What we have now are two different kinds; little, black-feathered birds with white bellies and yellow beaks and fat, little, blue-feathered birds with white beaks. I'll have to see if I can find them in my bird book so I'll know what they're called. They aren't quite as fierce as the hummingbirds were but they are insistent when it comes to taking their turns. It appears all animals have a pecking order...lol pun intended :)
With temperatures being what they are, we have to leave the water running in the sinks and the tub so the pipes don't freeze... even during the day folks. Come Monday, there was so much snow that the weather update was basically this...if you don't have to be on the road - don't be on the road. I stayed home. Every county with the exception of 2 had schools closed. Public transportation in downtown Nashville was re-routed to their snow routes only (not sure what that means but that's what they said on the new...ha ha ha)
As far as the eye could see it was a thick blanket of white and still coming down. On the farm we saw puppy prints in the snow all around the cabin and even a few spots where they took the time to roll around a bit. They were up pretty early because it was still dark outside but they had already been playing around. There weren't any rooster prints...lol
By dawn we had already eaten breakfast, biscuits and sausage gravy, and I was back to finishing up the Christmas packing process. We watched at the puppies ran around in front of the rooster trees until finally the roosters began to fly down. They don't just fly down and land right below their tree... that's where the puppies lie in wait. Indeed they actually fly over to the back porch before landing just outside of it. The puppies aren't sure what to do - chase the roosters that have landed or wait under the tree for those that haven't yet flown...? It's funny to watch them as they decide and even funnier to listen to the sounds of the roosters as they try to avoid being herded another day...
The horses came up to the gate to be fed and they both had snow on their backs and built up under their hooves. They snort and stomp and are generally in a bad mood. But the stomping gets rid of the clumps of snow stuck to their hooves so I don't worry about it. I'm thinking their mood is because they are cold, even though they have very thick fur coats, but it could just be they are tired of the hunters... I brought them both a bucket of sweet feed and pet them on their noses. They are skittish as ever and more than anything I want spring to come just so I can get close to them again. I long for those days, like this past summer, when Rebel would walk right up to me and let me pet him without shying and turning away. It's going to take more time with Smokey - in fact, I believe it will be just like starting over with him. These days, most of the time, he's in a foul mood. I guess if I heard gunshots throughout most of the day, I'd be in a pretty foul mood myself.
I reheated some of the refrigerator soup that I made while Mom and Neccy were here so we had comfort food to warm our bellies and keep us hydrated. Ever had refrigerator soup? It's always a good thing. I think it was Joyce who first named it for me. I had eaten it many, many times growing up but never knew what it was called. It's decidedly different each and every time no matter who makes it, no matter when it's made. You clean out the refrigerator and anything that is still good goes into the pot. Mine had corn, green beans, canned tomatoes, cubed chicken strips, rice and some of my homemade chicken broth... I added onions, celery and lots of pepper to kick it up a notch (thank you Emeril) and viola' soup was on!
What's not to like...? Go ahead, look in that refrigerator of yours and start cleaning it out for soup. You won't be disappointed... unless of course your leftovers have gone bad, in which case, I can't help you.
We stayed busy Monday and the time quickly passed. Before we knew it, the sun was setting low over the hills. We watched the news for the weather update and found that more snow was expected in the overnight hours. Well, they weren't lying this time. For certain another inch to an inch and a half fell before Tuesday morning dawned. In fact, it was snowing when we woke up and it continued to do so on and off throughout the entire day. The sun tried to peek out a few times but was hard pressed to do any kind of work melting that snow away. The roof over-hanging the front porch was lined with various lengths of icicles. They weren't even thinking about dripping.
Tuesday we decided it would be a good day for a driving lesson for me...well, I didn't decide it, Wally did. I had no intention of even trying to drive but he was right. Tuesday did present the perfect opportunity for me to learn a little something about driving under the influence of these harsh conditions. We donned our layers of clothes, our coats, our gloves and a scarf for me. We turned on the car so it could warm up. The minute I hit the seat of the car, my nerves were pretty well shot. lol Still I backed out of my spot, turned the wheel and headed away from my safe haven... Slow as molasses I made my way down the path passing the outhouse and the split in the driveway. Picking up speed I passed through the first gate and was feeling so so about my progress. As the driveway goes downhill I give the car some gas so as to have enough speed built up to get to the top of the next hill. Yeah right... I started up that hill with what little speed I had built up and my little car just said no. It just stopped right there about 20 yards from the top and wasn't having anything to do with going any further. At Wally's instruction, I backed it up to get a better start. Nope - still no go.
Well, long story short, I tried a couple more times to no avail and finally Wally took over. He backed us all the way back down the driveway, built up more speed than I had and off we went back up the hill. And to a complete standstill we came once again :) No go. Okay little car - we get the point. He backed us down again and was able to turn us around on the road that leads to the holler (don't even ask me how he did that - the snow was so deep I have no idea how it worked) and finally we were back at the cabin. Not to be deterred, we decided to try it again in his truck.
Well he was able to get us up to the top of the hill and out the top gate and we actually drove over to the road where Otto's bar is. There had been a couple cars/trucks ahead of us, as noted by the tracks in the snow, but not many. The snow was deep and crunchy sounding from having froze overnight and we couldn't see any part of the dirt road at all. The paved road wasn't much better. We were going to go to the Diner if we were able to make it off the farm but after seeing the condition of the roads, we decided breakfast would be better enjoyed if eaten at home. Later, when we tried again and were actually able to get to Hwy. 100, we saw that the Diner was closed after all so it wouldn't have done us any good to try and get there that morning.
I cooked up some bacon and fried eggs with toast, butter and jelly (not for me - I don't eat jelly...nope, no way... kind of like Neccy with beets...lol!) and it was devoured with a hunger not usually displayed at breakfast...guess all that snow driving really worked up an appetite! ha ha ha.
Since I was still not able to get to work, I set out to plow through some old cookbooks that I hadn't read in a long time. I found some recipes that I had wanted to try but never quite got around to...they'll be presented in upcoming blog issues, don't you worry :) It was nice to just sit there on the couch with my house clean as could be, my animals all fed and watered, birds at the feeder, my honey in his chair and my home warm and comfortable. Moments like that don't come very often so I think it's important to appreciate them when they do. Ahhhhhhhhh
Now don't get me wrong, it was still cold and snowy but it was one of the most beautiful days I've ever seen. Weird how that can happen, huh? So, later on Tuesday we were able to get to Hwy. 100 and we made a couple of stops while we were out. We dropped off some garbage at the dump, got some sweet feed from the Ace Hardware store and fueled up the truck at the Shell station ($2.89 a gallon!), we stopped for beer and then went home. What should have taken us about 40 minutes took an hour and 28 minutes instead. The roads were only slightly better than they were earlier and it was challenging to say the least. Thank goodness Wally was driving. I'll learn but Tuesday wasn't the day for that. lol!
Little did we know what was to greet us the next morning... how about this...all that snow had started to melt overnight and when it did, because of the below freezing temperatures, it froze into ice? yep... black ice was touted as being the danger of the day for all secondary roads.... me? Yep - stayed home again. You better believe there isn't one piece of dirty laundry, including sheets and towels... there isn't one surface with dust on it, nor is there one bathroom or sink that doesn't have a lingering scent of bleach...lol Snow days, it seems, are better for cleaning than springtime...
We did get out and about a little bit Wednesday afternoon when the snow began to thaw... we went by the co-op and picked up some chicken feed and grass seed and figured while we were in Centerville, we might as well pay a visit to Pee Wee's. We were there for an hour or so, drank a few beers and visited with Joe and Darryl and a couple other people and then headed for home. Coming down the driveway looked like a picture on a post card...Mother Nature in all her glory had worked a piece of art and I was ever so happy to be drawn into the picture.
Obviously I'm at work today and for all it's worth I have to say that it's not a bad thing at all... I know what the view is like on the way home and I'm looking forward to enjoying the ride. More so than anything else, I'm looking forward to being back home. Come see for yourself just how hard it is to leave... It was one of the first things Neccy said after being there for about 2 or 3 hours. :) Farm living might not be for everyone but it sure does suit me just fine!
Ha Ha Ha Here's a good quote for today... for all of us!
"I've been on a constant diet for the last two decades. I've lost a total of 789 pounds. By all accounts, I should be hanging from a charm bracelet." ~Erma Bombeck
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Happy Friday Eve!!
GOSH here it is Thursday already and I've only been able to get one posting on the blog. Sorry about that but you know how it is coming back to work after all those days off. Email jail, calls to return, finalizing year end reports/projects, etc. Okay, those of you who are retired might not remember what this time of year is like but those of us in the daily grind are deep in the middle of it right now...lol
By the time I arrived home Monday afternoon, I was bushed. I think my brain was just tired of having to work...lol I fed the roosters and then got some doggy biscuits and gave them to all the dogs. The little guys will come up long enough to grab one from my hand and the big guys sit and wait their turn. Both puppies are going up on their hind legs and barking at me from about 2-3 feet away. I just hold my ground and eventually they sneak in for the grab! Of course Ruger takes his and runs up under the porch. Colt is such a pig, he just gobbles it up without waiting to see what it is...lol!
First, I pay attention to the big dogs because they are patiently sitting there waiting their turn. I'm hoping the little guys will learn from them but so far, those little pups have no manners whatsoever! They are beginning to learn their names but you have to say them two or three times before they pay attention. This puppy stuff is hard work but they're still so cute and playful we don't try to make them learn too much too fast.
Remember how the old dogs wouldn't have anything to do with the new dogs when they first came home? They have slowly started to accept them, except when it comes to major food in their bowls. Tuesday morning as I drove by the Ho dog house, they were all in there together...finally!! I had turned on the light the night before because it was supposed to be 28 degrees. The old dogs were huddled together and sound asleep across from the light and the pups were sitting opposite of them looking out as I drove by.
I'm sure they were anxiously awaiting the awakening of Smith and Wesson as I'm sure they were more than ready to start playing. It was 4:51 am :) Apparently the puppies are morning dogs like I'm a morning person while Smith and Wesson are more "brunch" dogs...LOL! oh that's funny :)
They are still too little to get up on the back porch but the front porch is now fair game. Colt figured out how to use the stump to get up there but Ruger still uses the ramps. He's far too cautious to just take the leap like Colt does. Ruger is a little less coordinated too. I'm not saying anything bad about him, it's just that when he tries to jump up on the ramp from the side, he always falls down. Colt never misses. It's like Colt has springs on his feet - he jumps right on up like it's nothing. Ruger is a little bigger than Colt and less likely to be out in the open as much. Ruger is the last one to come around for food of all the dogs. He's making sure we aren't trying to catch him...most of the time, we aren't but sometimes we have to.
Tonight we have to catch them so we can check on their collars. They (the collars) were small when we got them and that has been a couple weeks now. I'm picking up size large after work so we can change them out. They (the pups) aren't going to like it but it has to be done. We have some hunks of pork fat to lure them in....ha ha ha pork works on everyone at the farm!
So Monday's dinner was quick and simple and much like comfort food is, very warm and filling. I wanted peas but I have to be careful not to burn out Wally on them because I could eat them two or three times a week and not think twice about it. He's not as big a fan. I thought well, let me see what's in the pantry. I found a partially filled bag of those fried onions and thought, hmmm, maybe I could made a pea casserole like the green bean casserole we all enjoy for Thanksgiving... I grabbed the onions, a couple cans of peas, a can of mushroom soup and off I went to the kitchen. The kitchen is only a couple steps from the pantry so it wasn't like I was doing a "Rachel Ray Balancing Act." lol!
I mixed the cream of mushroom soup with a little bit of half and half that Teri had left here and then added some black pepper to it. I drained the peas and then mixed it all together. I crushed the fried onions and sprinkled them all over the top of it and popped it in the oven. Easy!! After about 30 minutes that little casserole was hot and bubbly - just what I was looking for.
I could have eaten just the peas but I knew that was not going to fly with Wally...lol! Darryl had given us a whole pork tenderloin off of which I cut a few slices. I seasoned them with garlic powder, seasoning salt and black pepper then I got out my trusty Wolfgang Puck skillet. I coated it with olive oil, heated it until the meat would sizzle when it hit the pan and set in the pork to fry. It was sliced thin enough that it didn't take long to finish. The little tiny bit of fat that I left on the edge was crunchy on the outside and melt-in-your-mouth on the inside. I would have been hard pressed to get any of it if my kids or Dizzy Debbie were here. But alas, they were in their respective states... :)
We had our dinner and then watched a little tv (sound familiar) until bedtime. We have been following "How I Met Your Mother" which I didn't care for at first but now I like it as it sort of reminds me of Friends without the rudeness...I like Friends but they go a little too far for my tastes sometimes. Another favorite is "That 70s Show." I love that one even if it is all re-runs. Fez cracks me up and so does Mrs. Foreman! Anyway, all of those shows are good for a laugh and since they're re-runs, we don't feel so bad if we miss out on them by falling asleep :)
Tuesday I guess I was doing a little better but still busy as heck at work. Then, about an hour before I was to leave, my boss sent out a project for the whole team that she needed back that same day... boooooo. Well I was able to get my part done but my poor brain was once again on overload by 2:30 in the afternoon. The weather was chilly but not freezing, the drive was really nice because the kids still weren't back in school and the farm was calling my name! I came down the driveway to see all the roosters come running up, Smith was on the porch watching me and Wesson was following me alongside the driveway. The puppies were bouncing up and down like I was the best thing to show up since sliced bread...not that they know what that means but you get my drift. I felt so welcome :)
I pet all those who would let me and took my junk inside. I cleaned out my bag and put away my scarf, gloves and satchel. Back outside, I picked up the jug for the rooster food and headed towards the outhouse. Oh they all came running and all the while making their little cooing sounds. If I run, they run. If I run faster, they run faster and they coo faster too...it's funny! Roo is too cool for all those antics. He takes his time and stays off to the side of the Rooster Thugs. :)
I fill up their jug and sprinkle the scratch around in a circle. I always take and drop a couple handfuls behind me for Roo because, even if they would let him in the circle, he wouldn't follow those restrictions regardless. He stays where he can watch them because we all know they'll try to run him off if they can. Meanies! Before they even finished eating all the food, they suddenly just lined up and trotted off to hit the trees for the night. I guess I was too late for them to finish their dinner. Roo flew up last and had the whole big ole' tree all to himself. Good boy.
I didn't have any dog biscuits with me so the puppies didn't want anything to do with me. I donned my coat and a scarf and some gloves and jumped on the 4 wheeler to go see Wally at the barn. Brrrr it was cold on my face but the sun was still out and it was a nice ride. He heard me coming through the holler before I even got anywhere near the barn. Things echo down in the holler :) He showed me the work he had done and what was to come next and then we loaded up in the white farm truck and headed back to the cabin. By then, it was too cold for me on the 4 wheeler :)
Jeff was working with Wally so we drove up to the gate to let him out and then down through the trails we went making our way home...The cabin looked so inviting with my kitchen light glowing gold against the onset of darkness.
Does anyone actually walk into the house and start cooking or does everyone have a million things to do before the cooking can begin? For me, I like to change into my "cooking clothes" as Neccy calls them. All they are is a pair of stretchy shorts and a tank top - preferably bra-less (ahhhhhh) and my slippers. I like to take out my contacts and put my hair up in a scrunchy. Once all that is done, it's time to decide what I'm having with whatever meat I took out earlier that morning. While I'm deciding, I'm pilfering through the mail sorting it into trash - burn pile - file or take to work. If I don't sort it as soon as possible, it'll never get done and that stuff really piles up quickly!
Once the decision has been made on side dishes, I'm off to the refrigerator and pantry to collect the ingredients. Of course I notice that I've been neglecting the floors lately and make a mental note to sweep them as soon as dinner can be left alone to cook. But first, last night's dishes need to be put away and the tea needs to be made... lol is it the same in every household or am I that unique?
I made cube steaks that we bought at the meat-getting-place and to go with them some steamed broccoli and some canned corn. The broccoli was smothered in Velveeta cheese otherwise some of us would prefer not to eat it...I won't mention who. The corn boiled in its own juices until the juices were about gone and then it was heavily peppered. Those cube steaks came out really good and I'm proud to say I made my Mom's burnt flour gravy to go over top of them. It may not sound good but it is actually to die for. It is just so wonderful you can't imagine.
Mom made it (with me watching closely and helping to stir) while she was here over Christmas and I think I would like to have it every night if at all possible. Mine was a little thicker than hers but the flavor was right on the money. For my first time making it, I didn't do too bad at all. We ate every bit of it :) Sorry dogs and puppies, there weren't any leftovers to be had... except for some of that broccoli ha ha ha I took it for lunch the next day :)
With dinner out of the way I thought I would give myself a break and just rinse the dishes and wash them the next day. Well, you know how that goes....you start putting everything away and wiping down the stove, counters and cutting board and next thing you know, you're washing dishes. Yeah well that's how it went for me... what's the point in leaving 2 of everything for the next day when it won't take but about 10 minutes to just wash them? Dang it - no break. By the way, I forgot all about the floors...
Wednesday came early as I woke up at 3am on the nose. Just one more hour would have been nice but it wasn't the case. I watched that show about "Tool Time," whatever the name of it is...? There were two of them back to back so I waited to get up until they were over at 4. So began my day. As soon as I start moving around I hear the "cock-a-doodle-dooing" start up. I think all 6 of them get going at the same time and I laugh to myself when I think of our visitors soundly sleeping until that song starts... hee hee hee
When I walked out to get in my car, I was greeted by the puppies barking their little heads off...you would have thought I was a robber! They were growling and half way lunging at me and acting real threatening :)
At least they are doing their job even if they don't have good judgement on who gets barked at and who doesn't...lol
My car was cold and needed warmed up so I played with them while that went on and then it was off to work! woo hoo I can't complain, the roads were clear and the traffic was, well, non-existent for the most part. The day passed pretty quick and while I was typing an email about the weather forecast predicting snow, it actually started to snow. It didn't last long but it was pretty to see it coming down in front of the mountain view out my window at work. Those were some big, fluffy snowflakes too... then they turned into rain. They say we'll have some more between tonight and tomorrow morning. I hope the roads are clear enough for me to get to work - I don't want to get behind after just now getting caught up :)
Before I knew it, I was on my way back home. The sun had come out just long enough for me to get to my car and get about 20 minutes down the road and then it clouded over again. Just as I was entering into Hickman county someone had run over a skunk and it was stinking to high heaven...oh my goodness that is one smell I could do without ever having to experience again. ARF! I couldn't get it out of my car. It was cold outside and drizzling rain but I had to open that window and let it out. It was worse than anything Jarrett ever did in the car...lol! Oh, it was terrible, just terrible.
Since it was cold, snowy, rainy and colder still, I decided we would have chili for dinner. I have the easiest recipe ever and it cooks up real fast so, I thought, what the heck? I browned the meat and added some chopped up onion and green pepper. I poured in two cans of tomato sauce and a can of chili beans. I usually add two cans of beans but it seemed like that would be too much this time - don't know why. Anyway, I dropped in a dried red chili pepper and a packet of chili seasoning and stirred it all together. Once that got going I chopped up some canned tomatoes and added those along with about half a beer. I peppered it up and got it simmering until, after about 20 minutes, everything tasted just right! Dinner was served and I was a pig. I had two bowls while Wally had just the one. There's not much to compare to sleeping on a belly full of chili...I was snug as a bug in a rug in that big ol' bed and I slept all the way up until 3am again this morning...whatever :) I'm getting used to it... lol!
You'll be happy to know I haven't seen a deer since a week ago today. Wally says hunting season ends at the end of January so there's not much time left for me to get one in the freezer... keep your fingers crossed! lol I'm sure some of you will cross them in the hope that I don't get one - that's okay, I know who you are! ha ha ha ha ha
"Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home." ~Edith Sitwell
By the time I arrived home Monday afternoon, I was bushed. I think my brain was just tired of having to work...lol I fed the roosters and then got some doggy biscuits and gave them to all the dogs. The little guys will come up long enough to grab one from my hand and the big guys sit and wait their turn. Both puppies are going up on their hind legs and barking at me from about 2-3 feet away. I just hold my ground and eventually they sneak in for the grab! Of course Ruger takes his and runs up under the porch. Colt is such a pig, he just gobbles it up without waiting to see what it is...lol!
First, I pay attention to the big dogs because they are patiently sitting there waiting their turn. I'm hoping the little guys will learn from them but so far, those little pups have no manners whatsoever! They are beginning to learn their names but you have to say them two or three times before they pay attention. This puppy stuff is hard work but they're still so cute and playful we don't try to make them learn too much too fast.
Remember how the old dogs wouldn't have anything to do with the new dogs when they first came home? They have slowly started to accept them, except when it comes to major food in their bowls. Tuesday morning as I drove by the Ho dog house, they were all in there together...finally!! I had turned on the light the night before because it was supposed to be 28 degrees. The old dogs were huddled together and sound asleep across from the light and the pups were sitting opposite of them looking out as I drove by.
I'm sure they were anxiously awaiting the awakening of Smith and Wesson as I'm sure they were more than ready to start playing. It was 4:51 am :) Apparently the puppies are morning dogs like I'm a morning person while Smith and Wesson are more "brunch" dogs...LOL! oh that's funny :)
They are still too little to get up on the back porch but the front porch is now fair game. Colt figured out how to use the stump to get up there but Ruger still uses the ramps. He's far too cautious to just take the leap like Colt does. Ruger is a little less coordinated too. I'm not saying anything bad about him, it's just that when he tries to jump up on the ramp from the side, he always falls down. Colt never misses. It's like Colt has springs on his feet - he jumps right on up like it's nothing. Ruger is a little bigger than Colt and less likely to be out in the open as much. Ruger is the last one to come around for food of all the dogs. He's making sure we aren't trying to catch him...most of the time, we aren't but sometimes we have to.
Tonight we have to catch them so we can check on their collars. They (the collars) were small when we got them and that has been a couple weeks now. I'm picking up size large after work so we can change them out. They (the pups) aren't going to like it but it has to be done. We have some hunks of pork fat to lure them in....ha ha ha pork works on everyone at the farm!
So Monday's dinner was quick and simple and much like comfort food is, very warm and filling. I wanted peas but I have to be careful not to burn out Wally on them because I could eat them two or three times a week and not think twice about it. He's not as big a fan. I thought well, let me see what's in the pantry. I found a partially filled bag of those fried onions and thought, hmmm, maybe I could made a pea casserole like the green bean casserole we all enjoy for Thanksgiving... I grabbed the onions, a couple cans of peas, a can of mushroom soup and off I went to the kitchen. The kitchen is only a couple steps from the pantry so it wasn't like I was doing a "Rachel Ray Balancing Act." lol!
I mixed the cream of mushroom soup with a little bit of half and half that Teri had left here and then added some black pepper to it. I drained the peas and then mixed it all together. I crushed the fried onions and sprinkled them all over the top of it and popped it in the oven. Easy!! After about 30 minutes that little casserole was hot and bubbly - just what I was looking for.
I could have eaten just the peas but I knew that was not going to fly with Wally...lol! Darryl had given us a whole pork tenderloin off of which I cut a few slices. I seasoned them with garlic powder, seasoning salt and black pepper then I got out my trusty Wolfgang Puck skillet. I coated it with olive oil, heated it until the meat would sizzle when it hit the pan and set in the pork to fry. It was sliced thin enough that it didn't take long to finish. The little tiny bit of fat that I left on the edge was crunchy on the outside and melt-in-your-mouth on the inside. I would have been hard pressed to get any of it if my kids or Dizzy Debbie were here. But alas, they were in their respective states... :)
We had our dinner and then watched a little tv (sound familiar) until bedtime. We have been following "How I Met Your Mother" which I didn't care for at first but now I like it as it sort of reminds me of Friends without the rudeness...I like Friends but they go a little too far for my tastes sometimes. Another favorite is "That 70s Show." I love that one even if it is all re-runs. Fez cracks me up and so does Mrs. Foreman! Anyway, all of those shows are good for a laugh and since they're re-runs, we don't feel so bad if we miss out on them by falling asleep :)
Tuesday I guess I was doing a little better but still busy as heck at work. Then, about an hour before I was to leave, my boss sent out a project for the whole team that she needed back that same day... boooooo. Well I was able to get my part done but my poor brain was once again on overload by 2:30 in the afternoon. The weather was chilly but not freezing, the drive was really nice because the kids still weren't back in school and the farm was calling my name! I came down the driveway to see all the roosters come running up, Smith was on the porch watching me and Wesson was following me alongside the driveway. The puppies were bouncing up and down like I was the best thing to show up since sliced bread...not that they know what that means but you get my drift. I felt so welcome :)
I pet all those who would let me and took my junk inside. I cleaned out my bag and put away my scarf, gloves and satchel. Back outside, I picked up the jug for the rooster food and headed towards the outhouse. Oh they all came running and all the while making their little cooing sounds. If I run, they run. If I run faster, they run faster and they coo faster too...it's funny! Roo is too cool for all those antics. He takes his time and stays off to the side of the Rooster Thugs. :)
I fill up their jug and sprinkle the scratch around in a circle. I always take and drop a couple handfuls behind me for Roo because, even if they would let him in the circle, he wouldn't follow those restrictions regardless. He stays where he can watch them because we all know they'll try to run him off if they can. Meanies! Before they even finished eating all the food, they suddenly just lined up and trotted off to hit the trees for the night. I guess I was too late for them to finish their dinner. Roo flew up last and had the whole big ole' tree all to himself. Good boy.
I didn't have any dog biscuits with me so the puppies didn't want anything to do with me. I donned my coat and a scarf and some gloves and jumped on the 4 wheeler to go see Wally at the barn. Brrrr it was cold on my face but the sun was still out and it was a nice ride. He heard me coming through the holler before I even got anywhere near the barn. Things echo down in the holler :) He showed me the work he had done and what was to come next and then we loaded up in the white farm truck and headed back to the cabin. By then, it was too cold for me on the 4 wheeler :)
Jeff was working with Wally so we drove up to the gate to let him out and then down through the trails we went making our way home...The cabin looked so inviting with my kitchen light glowing gold against the onset of darkness.
Does anyone actually walk into the house and start cooking or does everyone have a million things to do before the cooking can begin? For me, I like to change into my "cooking clothes" as Neccy calls them. All they are is a pair of stretchy shorts and a tank top - preferably bra-less (ahhhhhh) and my slippers. I like to take out my contacts and put my hair up in a scrunchy. Once all that is done, it's time to decide what I'm having with whatever meat I took out earlier that morning. While I'm deciding, I'm pilfering through the mail sorting it into trash - burn pile - file or take to work. If I don't sort it as soon as possible, it'll never get done and that stuff really piles up quickly!
Once the decision has been made on side dishes, I'm off to the refrigerator and pantry to collect the ingredients. Of course I notice that I've been neglecting the floors lately and make a mental note to sweep them as soon as dinner can be left alone to cook. But first, last night's dishes need to be put away and the tea needs to be made... lol is it the same in every household or am I that unique?
I made cube steaks that we bought at the meat-getting-place and to go with them some steamed broccoli and some canned corn. The broccoli was smothered in Velveeta cheese otherwise some of us would prefer not to eat it...I won't mention who. The corn boiled in its own juices until the juices were about gone and then it was heavily peppered. Those cube steaks came out really good and I'm proud to say I made my Mom's burnt flour gravy to go over top of them. It may not sound good but it is actually to die for. It is just so wonderful you can't imagine.
Mom made it (with me watching closely and helping to stir) while she was here over Christmas and I think I would like to have it every night if at all possible. Mine was a little thicker than hers but the flavor was right on the money. For my first time making it, I didn't do too bad at all. We ate every bit of it :) Sorry dogs and puppies, there weren't any leftovers to be had... except for some of that broccoli ha ha ha I took it for lunch the next day :)
With dinner out of the way I thought I would give myself a break and just rinse the dishes and wash them the next day. Well, you know how that goes....you start putting everything away and wiping down the stove, counters and cutting board and next thing you know, you're washing dishes. Yeah well that's how it went for me... what's the point in leaving 2 of everything for the next day when it won't take but about 10 minutes to just wash them? Dang it - no break. By the way, I forgot all about the floors...
Wednesday came early as I woke up at 3am on the nose. Just one more hour would have been nice but it wasn't the case. I watched that show about "Tool Time," whatever the name of it is...? There were two of them back to back so I waited to get up until they were over at 4. So began my day. As soon as I start moving around I hear the "cock-a-doodle-dooing" start up. I think all 6 of them get going at the same time and I laugh to myself when I think of our visitors soundly sleeping until that song starts... hee hee hee
When I walked out to get in my car, I was greeted by the puppies barking their little heads off...you would have thought I was a robber! They were growling and half way lunging at me and acting real threatening :)
At least they are doing their job even if they don't have good judgement on who gets barked at and who doesn't...lol
My car was cold and needed warmed up so I played with them while that went on and then it was off to work! woo hoo I can't complain, the roads were clear and the traffic was, well, non-existent for the most part. The day passed pretty quick and while I was typing an email about the weather forecast predicting snow, it actually started to snow. It didn't last long but it was pretty to see it coming down in front of the mountain view out my window at work. Those were some big, fluffy snowflakes too... then they turned into rain. They say we'll have some more between tonight and tomorrow morning. I hope the roads are clear enough for me to get to work - I don't want to get behind after just now getting caught up :)
Before I knew it, I was on my way back home. The sun had come out just long enough for me to get to my car and get about 20 minutes down the road and then it clouded over again. Just as I was entering into Hickman county someone had run over a skunk and it was stinking to high heaven...oh my goodness that is one smell I could do without ever having to experience again. ARF! I couldn't get it out of my car. It was cold outside and drizzling rain but I had to open that window and let it out. It was worse than anything Jarrett ever did in the car...lol! Oh, it was terrible, just terrible.
Since it was cold, snowy, rainy and colder still, I decided we would have chili for dinner. I have the easiest recipe ever and it cooks up real fast so, I thought, what the heck? I browned the meat and added some chopped up onion and green pepper. I poured in two cans of tomato sauce and a can of chili beans. I usually add two cans of beans but it seemed like that would be too much this time - don't know why. Anyway, I dropped in a dried red chili pepper and a packet of chili seasoning and stirred it all together. Once that got going I chopped up some canned tomatoes and added those along with about half a beer. I peppered it up and got it simmering until, after about 20 minutes, everything tasted just right! Dinner was served and I was a pig. I had two bowls while Wally had just the one. There's not much to compare to sleeping on a belly full of chili...I was snug as a bug in a rug in that big ol' bed and I slept all the way up until 3am again this morning...whatever :) I'm getting used to it... lol!
You'll be happy to know I haven't seen a deer since a week ago today. Wally says hunting season ends at the end of January so there's not much time left for me to get one in the freezer... keep your fingers crossed! lol I'm sure some of you will cross them in the hope that I don't get one - that's okay, I know who you are! ha ha ha ha ha
"Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home." ~Edith Sitwell
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
