Sunday, November 1, 2015

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Come again some other day.  (But preferably not for a while, please.)

Talk about dismal!  We've had nearly a week of very gray, rainy days.  Our day time temps have been well into the 40s but the dampness makes it feel much colder.  Much, much colder.

We were so very fortunate to have gotten our potatoes harvested the day before these rains started.  I hate to think of what a totally mucky, muddy mess it would be to try to dig them now.

The trees are now bare of leaves and our landscape has taken on a drab, monochromatic look.  We shall have to tolerate this blah scenery until snow cover arrives.  I do know that if this past week's rain had been snow, we'd be plowing and shoveling non-stop to get out from under it.

Papa Pea and I have been sleeping better the last few nights.  (I'll bet you feel so much better now, right?)  He claims the changing of the seasons wreaks havoc on our body clocks and that certainly did seem to be the case for both of us earlier this fall.  Or now maybe it's just the shortened amount of daylight that has finally convinced our bodies that it's the season for more hours of good, sound shut-eye.

We've been enjoying the apples our friends from the southern part of the state brought to us on their visit a couple of weeks ago, and since harvesting the apples from our own trees this past week, we have even more to make use of and enjoy.  I made a huge batch of applesauce (or applesass, as I like to call it) yesterday with the ones from our trees that had bruises, blemishes, or bird pecks (blast those Blue Jays) in them.  My dear husband sat and helped me prep all the apples.  How much faster that task went with four hands rather than just two.

A pan of Apple Slices I made yesterday just bit the dust as dessert after our dinner tonight.  Dear daughter helped by eating one good size slice yesterday, but the rest of the 10" x 15" sheet pan easily slid down the gullets of me and my housemate.  With no trouble at all, I might add.  (Hey, it's the season for apple-anything, right?)

I changed my decorations this morning from Halloween to Thanksgiving.  I've also been giving some thought as to some new and different dishes I can try in the next couple of weeks as possibilities to serve on Thanksgiving.  Not sure how many will be around the table yet, but getting a start on the planning makes me feel ahead of the game.

My hands and fingers have been wanting to have needles and yarn in them lately so I've been working on some small projects.  Gotta love those small projects in that they get done so quickly.  Instant gratification.  Well, not instant.  (Rarely is anything instant, is it?)  But whipping through a miniature knitted bell or mitten to put on the outside of a gift definitely gets done faster than, say, an Aran fisherman's sweater, you have to admit.

Tomorrow they say we will see some sunshine.  Should that happen, it will be much welcomed.  Our solar panels might even become useful rather than just a very large, drippy ornament out in the field.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds great. Here too we are having heavy rain. It will be a better idea to do harvesting now so that they will go easily...

Laurie said...

Glad you were able to harvest your potatoes before the rain set in. I'm sure the change of seasons and time is talking to your body's clock. Just this evening, I felt like it was time for bed. I checked the clock and it was 7:30. Ha!

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

We got a little bit of rain, but I do not like the time change. It's almost pitch dark at 6pm and I feel like I should be in bed, ha ha!

Mama Pea said...

Weekend-Windup - I've got everything out of the garden now. Just need to put down some winter mulch on a few things. Hope your weather clears up!

Mama Pea said...

Laurie - Yes, yes! I like it being lighter in the morning, but oh, my! Feels like it starts to get dark around 4:30!!

Mama Pea said...

Kristina - It's probably Mother Nature's way of telling us we need more sleep in the colder weather . . . but then when do we get the sit down and relaxing time at the end of the day?!

Sue said...

I certainly wish we could get rains like this past week during the growing season! Wouldn't that be a novel idea?
Still trapped indoors. Week 3. I guess my winter hibernation has started early this year. On a bright note, ever SINGLE DRAWER in this house has been sorted and cleaned. I'm a paragon of organization.
(I'd rather be outside!!)

Love that header photo.
Have a wonderful week

DFW said...

Please send the rain our way! There's a high pressure system over us that is keeping both the rain & the cooler temps away. It's supposed to be 90 here today! Yuk. Glad you got some more apples & boy do those apple slices sound like a bit of heaven. I like apples a whole lot more than pumpkin.

Mama Pea said...

Sue - Yep, when the weather outside is bad, we do tend to (make ourselves) get to those inside jobs that have gone undone all summer. Trouble is when I organize and put things in a "better place," I can never remember where that new, better place is!

Our week is starting on gray, heavy, damp and foggy. Oh, well. :o]

Mama Pea said...

DFW - Ninety!!! Oh my. I can see why our damp, coolness would be welcomed in your area. We have a fire going in the kitchen wood stove, I have a turtleneck and fleece lined sweatshirt on. How different our parts of the country are.

Although I do like pumpkin pie and pumpkin bars, I'm like you and could eat a lot more apples than pumpkins!

gld said...

That rain sounds good to me! I do know what you mean about the gray dismal days though.

I didn't buy extra apples this fall. The first ones I bought didn't taste especially good; maybe too much rain.

I am thinking about Thanksgiving cooking too.

Mama Pea said...

gld - I truly don't mind gray, drippy days . . . but too many of them in a row and for some reason, I start to feel very slow and logy!

Before we got these apples from friends and our own harvested, I bought a few apples from two different places and found them a bit tasteless. I've heard other people say this, too, as you have. Wonder what's going on?

Sandy Livesay said...

Mama Pea,

I think you and I need to send our rain to several of our friends. We've had enough here too. It's good to hear you were able to harvest your potatoes before the start of the mud from all that rain. Were you able to harvest all that you expected this potato season?
Homemade applesauce, YUM!!! I wish we had tree's here. I'll be buying a case or two to make all kinds of apple stuff soon.

Time sure does fly, Thanksgiving will soon be knocking at our doors. I haven't yet figured out what to make for Thanksgiving myself. One thing, I'm sure we both will have is turkey, as for the rest of the menu......were still working on that. I love the idea of twice baked potatoes however, I'm also craving homemade sweet potato casserole. See what you've started......LOL!!!!

Mama Pea said...

Sandy - Our potato harvest this year was about half of what we usually get so, sad to say, we'll have to be careful about how many we share with others. But, on the other hand, when they're gone, they're gone! :o}

Twice baked potatoes sound great and the ones I make can be made and frozen ahead of time. However, I have a feeling there would be a few "complaints" around our table regarding not having good, ol' mashed potatoes and gravy!

Leigh said...

It's one week later and I'm still chanting "rain, rain, go away." :)

Mark said...

We're doing about right here, and seem have avoided the fall tornado season. No complaints from NE Indiana!

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