Last Monday, during our first heavy snow of the season, we took a walk in our woods and quickly found we should have strapped on our snowshoes for the trek.
Friday, December 31, 2021
Ready For A New Year
Last Monday, during our first heavy snow of the season, we took a walk in our woods and quickly found we should have strapped on our snowshoes for the trek.
Monday, December 27, 2021
I'm Still Laughing
Thursday, December 23, 2021
Childhood Christmas Eve
I made the following blog post many years ago when I first started blogging. I know I have readers who weren't around then, so I thought it might be an appropriate time to repost it. Happy Holidays!
* * * * *
I
was fortunate to grow up in a very large extended family. My mom was
one of seven children and my grandparents and all their married children
lived in the same good-sized town. Even though I had only one brother,
my childhood was spent surrounded with many, many cousins, aunts and
uncles and my grandparents, all of whom I saw weekly if not more often.
One
get together that was a tradition for the whole clan for all my growing
up years was our Christmas Eve celebration at Uncle Frank and Aunt
Helen's house. Uncle Frank had the distinction of being the first born
of the seven kids; much to his chagrin, he was the only male child
followed by six females.
Uncle Frank and Aunt Helen were the most
well-to-do of the family. Not that Uncle Frank didn't work for his
prosperity. When he was just thirteen, he started working in a small
auto repair shop next door to where Grandma and Grandpa lived. By the
time he was forty, he owned the business which by then had become a
thriving enterprise.
The basement of my uncle's house was
finished off into a very classy "rec room" complete with fireplace,
comfortable furniture and a home bar. Not at all like the basement of
our house which was . . . well, a basement.
The party on
Christmas Eve was pretty much the same every year. We all dressed up
(haven't we lost something these days when we all dress so casually no
matter the occasion?) in special Christmas outfits, and each family
brought a festive dish to pass. Uncle Frank and his family provided the
liquid libations for both adults and children.
What a group we
made. At first we numbered probably around 28, adults and kids. As the
years went by and more little ones were born, our ranks swelled to
about 36; sixteen adults and twenty children.
Other than eating a
lot of good food, I can't remember anything specific we did on those
Christmas Eves. The night was very low key and enjoyable. When we
cousins were little we played the usual games, got into the usual
squabbles and probably drove the adults crazy. As we grew older, we
entered into more discussions, both with each other and our elders. Now
that I think back on it, I guess it was pretty amazing that that many
family members got along so well and could spend an evening together
with no one having too much to drink and/or behaving in an undesirable
way. (Well, perhaps there were a couple or three of the men who enjoyed
the free spirits more than they would have under other non-holiday
circumstances, but everyone was jovial and happy, and a couple of the
wives would now and then commandeer the car keys before heading home.)
Heading
home. Ah, that was the part of the evening that always caused me much
angst. For some reason, I had the idea Santa wouldn't stop at our house
if we weren't home and all tucked safely in bed. I was just sure we
would fail to get home before Santa got to us on his route. You have no
idea how anxious I was as I sat with my face pressed up against the
cold car window scanning the heavens as we drove the few miles home. My
eyes were peeled searching for a lit up sleigh pulled by reindeer
racing across the night sky. I never did spot Santa's entourage (thank
goodness as I'm sure I would have burst into hysterical tears if I had)
on our way home. My brother and I probably made it out of our festive
duds, on with our p.j.s and into bed faster than any other night of the
year. Knowing it was okay for Santa to arrive since we were home, we
quickly fell asleep thinking of the fun time we'd just had with all of
our cousins, Grandma and Grandpa, and aunts and uncles on yet another
Christmas Eve.
Saturday, December 18, 2021
Yes, Virginia, Holidays Can Be Difficult
Tuesday, December 14, 2021
Rudolph, Where Are You?
Growing up during the holiday time of year, the radio in our kitchen frequently played various Christmas songs and one I liked (as I'm sure lots of kids still do . . . and maybe adults also) was "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."
Sunday, December 12, 2021
The Simple Wonders of Childhood
We had a small, light-weight camping shovel just the right size for a short person so out they went to do the job.
Tuesday, December 7, 2021
Snow Arrived, Winter Is Here
This is (was) a fabric covered shelter that we've used for storage of hay and straw bales, our 4-wheeler and miscellaneous other things. We intentionally snuggled the storage shelter into the woods to protect it from the wind. Bad idea.
Friday, December 3, 2021
Recently Seen on a Sweatshirt
Tuesday, November 30, 2021
The Evil Christmas Elves Made An Early Visit
Friday, November 26, 2021
Homemade Wine
In hindsight, I realize I should have chosen another wine other than my favorite Middle Sister Sweet & Savvy which is a moscato. The end product would have been better (I'm thinking) if I had used a dry white wine (well, duh) as suggested in the recipe. I should have grabbed the vinho verde that was right next to my Sweet & Savvy.
I combined my blueberries (they were wild blueberries) and sugar in my two-quart Pyrex pitcher. Next the bottle of wine was poured in and I stirred until it seemed the sugar was dissolved. A plastic wrap cover was wrapped over the top and I placed the container on a shelf in my pantry where it would have no problem staying "chilled" these days.
The blueberries looked none the worse for wear so I put them in a refrigerator dish to save for some other use.
I labeled the cover of the blueberry dish so no one would eat them with their breakfast oatmeal and get an early morning buzz. (Actually, I did eat them with my oatmeal and they were fine. So was I.)
Then I poured the homemade (ha-ha) blueberry wine back into the wine bottle and put it in the refrigerator.
Wednesday, November 24, 2021
Thanksgiving Wishes
Tuesday, November 23, 2021
First Snow - But Not Impressive
The wind picked up and started to really blow. (Picture taken before strong winds blew.) We watched as it literally tore the leaves off the apple trees. Those trees usually hold on to their leaves almost until the new buds push them off in the spring.
I made it only about half way out our driveway when I came upon the blockage of the second tree in about a week's time that's been blown over by the wind. You can see the stump where it broke off to the right of the drive.
Thursday, November 18, 2021
One More Fall Chore Done
We had the help of our quasi-grandson to accomplish the task. Look closely on the top of the bale of straw and you'll see the bobcat he brought out to move the straw with.
I guessed it would take two bales of straw (they're big, hefty bales) to cover the whole berry patch, but ended up needing about a third of one more.
Then we laid cattle panels on top of the straw to keep it from blowing away before a few inches of snow fall and are enough to hold it in place.
Monday, November 15, 2021
A Good Day, But Glad It's Over
Friday, November 12, 2021
And The Rains Came Down
Tuesday, November 9, 2021
Today and Tomorrow May Be the Last Hurrah
The garden is finally ready for a long winter's nap. It's no doubt hard to believe we're still in drought-like conditions looking at the green grass you see above. They say grass is hard to kill, and that's the truth. Even though most was matted flat and straw-colored in August, and we had only a sprinkling of about three showers, the grass drank up every drop and came back to life. We've also had about a month of very heavy dew each morning which I'm sure helped all growing things.
We recently shredded three bales of straw which we'll use in the chickens' nest boxes in the next several months.
Papa Pea pitchforked it into a spare water tank which we'll cover to keep the shredded straw dry and usable all winter.
Evidence of the drought still having an effect is our sad-looking pond. As shown by the picture of the east end of it, you can tell where the water line normally would be by the dirt around the sides.
Friday, November 5, 2021
Jottings
Tuesday, November 2, 2021
Public Service Announcement
Thursday, October 28, 2021
If Only . . .
Sunday, October 24, 2021
Should I Have Been Outside?
I'm the official cookie baker, providing the naked sugar cookies, Chicken Mama makes the frostings and provides other decorations. This year the event will take place this coming Thursday after school. Not wanting to be up until midnight (I'd never make it) on Wednesday night, I got the double batch of cookies made and baked today. Now they're stashed in the freezer until they're needed on Thursday.
The end piece I
Saturday, October 23, 2021
An Unpleasant Job
I give my hard-working husband one whole lot of credit for doing this ugly-bugly, uncomfortable job of undercoating our old vehicles to protect them from all the winter slush and salt we drive in several months of the year. It enables us to keep our vehicles usable and safe for much longer than they would otherwise. Thanks, hon.
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
Garlic and Mint and . . . Frost?
I finally got my garlic planted yesterday. Each lovely, little clove is now snuggled down under 2-3" of soil, covered with a thick blanket of straw mulch which is held in place with a cattle panel to prevent our fall/early winter winds from dislodging it. Sleep tight, garlic. See you in the spring.
My raised bed of mint finally filled in to a really nice degree this summer. The two bare-ish spots you see at the far end of this picture are probably where I made the last cutting a little too close to the ground. (Bad, Mama Pea.) Also, some of the greenery you may be able to see is dandelion greens or other hardy little weeds, but if you've ever tried to weed a mint bed you know how much of a tangled torture that can be. I'll be more diligent come spring.
Saturday, October 16, 2021
How Do Ya Like Them Apples?
This year's harvest wasn't the best. We got only 42 apples off of our two trees in the "cage." But most of them are quite large in size and are making wonderful eating apples.
We planted another Chestnut Crabapple this spring to add to our existing one, so we had apples from just the original tree this year. They're the largest crabapples I've ever seen and also the sweetest tasting. We save them for eating-out-of-hand, too.
This shows the size of both the Zestars and Chestnut Crabapples. About three inches across for the Zestars and two inches across for the crabapples.
We came home with four 5-gallon pails (three pictured above) of wonderful apples from their big, 35+ year old tree. It was planted by the previous generation that owned the house, so they weren't sure of the variety all these years later.
Papa Pea, who worked in an orchard during his high school years, thinks they are most likely Baldwins.
I've made two batches of applesauce with the first two pails in the past two days. More on the schedule for today. Above shows one batch of the half cooked down sauce in my biggest stock pot. And, oh! The aroma that has been permeating the house!