Glorious Day - December 2, 2021

Man, yesterday afternoon was glorious.  Seventy degrees.  Sunny.  I sat on the (now-winterized) back porch with both doors open, letting the breeze flow through, until dark.  

Yesterday morning on my way to work, it was very foggy.   I turned on my headlights to be better seen in the fog.  I am still driving my old Wrangler since my other car is still at the body shop.  The Wrangler doesn't have some of the conveniences of today's cars.  The headlights don't automatically come on when the engine is cranked.  Neither do they automatically go off.  

The Wrangler does have a chime that is supposed to sound when the driver door is open and the key is in the ignition or the headlights remain on.  This safety feature does not work if the fuse is blown or has been removed from its slot.  Why would the fuse have been removed from its slot? you might ask.  It might have been removed from its slot if a son had wanted to joy-ride in the Jeep with the doors off back in the summer when the weather was warm.  (The chime will sound constantly with the doors off and the engine running if the fuse is in place.)

So.

I rolled up in The Boss's driveway at 7:45 yesterday morning, and when I got out of the Jeep, it did not tell me that my headlights were on.  When I got back in the Jeep later that afternoon and turned the ignition key, the engine didn't even grunt. I had forgotten to turn off the headlights.  

Neither I nor The Boss had any jumper cables.  

It took 30 minutes to get a live person on the phone at AAA.  Finally, after 30 more minutes, a wrecker showed up with a battery charger.  

While I waited for the wrecker, I found the fuse in the glove compartment and put it back in its slot.

Today, one of my goals is to install the AAA app on my cell phone, if the ancient device will accept it.

Thanksgiving Weekend - November 29, 2021

 

I hope you had a perfect Thanksgiving holiday.  

Ours couldn't have been much better: lots of good food and family, with a little down-time over the weekend.

On Friday, after the cooking/eating/visiting was over, I got my covid booster shot.  My first vaccine was a J&J shot, but I got the Moderna booster after reading that it ramped up the immunity a little better.  After the J&J shot, I had a headache and felt kinda bad for about a day.  I didn't know what to expect with the Moderna shot, so I scheduled it for the long weekend to give me time to recover if it made me feel crappy.  I had a bit of a headache - not bad - and was a little draggy for a couple of hours on Saturday morning.  Overall, it was not bad at all.

Good thing, too, because Saturday afternoon, Granddaughter #1 texted me to ask if she and her sisters could spend the night.  I said, "Sure!"  They got here about suppertime.  We fed them pizza and left-over chicken & dumplings.  We made things in the sewing room.  The next morning, The Nugget woke me up pretty early and helped me make biscuits.  We made round biscuits and star-shaped biscuits and Christmas tree-shaped biscuits.  She wore flour on the end of her nose for the rest of the morning.  ;)

They went home around lunchtime.  

About that time, I put on a pot of white beans to soak.  We had a ham bone and some drippings left over from Thanksgiving; they made the beans tasty.  Nanny showed up for a few minutes about the time the beans got done, and I sent a bowl full of beans home with her to keep us from having to eat beans for the next four days.  Later, I made a pan of cornbread to go with the beans.  Home-made chili sauce on top of the beans rounded out our supper.  (Guess what we're having for supper tonight.)   ;)

Thanksgiving Eve - November 24, 2021

The Best Boss in the World, being female and smart, and understanding that the day before a big food event (such as Thanksgiving dinner) is as busy - if not busier - than the day of the event, has given me the day off to cook.  

My brother woke me up with a phone call about 7 a.m.  We'd talked a few days earlier about visiting over the holiday.  His daughter and her family have come from Texas in a rented camper/van, and I'd hoped to see them before they head home. This morning's call was to let me know that today would be the best day to visit.  I'd planned to see them Friday, but since we'd need to do our visiting on the front porch (due to covid concerns) and it was supposed to be warm today, I changed my plan.  The Niece was taking the kids to the zoo in the morning, but would be home around noon.  

I'd promised to bring candied yams, a pecan cobbler, and a baked ham to Thanksgiving dinner.  Before the visit with my brother's family, I had time to boil the yams and do some other prep work.  A little before noon, I headed to my brother's house.  His visitors weren't home yet, so he and I had some rare uninterrupted time to chat.  After a while, The Niece and her family came back from the zoo.  The kids were tired and hungry.  She fed them and put them to bed, and then we had some time to visit.  

I got home mid-afternoon and commenced the cooking. The cobbler and the yams went into the oven together.  The ham a few hours before the Thanksgiving dinner, so I didn't do anything with it.  And I had time to spare.  I wanted slaw with dinner, so I made some.  

My mother used to make lemon icebox pie for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  All that was in it was lemon juice, egg yolks and sweetened condensed milk.  We didn't even cook it, just mixed it all together and poured it in a pie shell.   The Husband (and most menfolk, it seems) loves this lemon pie.  I'd bought lemons and a graham cracker pie crust earlier in the week, contemplating the pie.  There was supposed to be a can of sweetened condensed milk already in my pantry . . . . 

And there was a can.  It expired in 2020.  

Now, I'm not much of a stickler for expiration dates.  As long as the milk ain't clumpy - even if it reeks just a tad around the rim - I'm drinkin' it.  So I opened the condensed milk.  The color was a little more "golden" than I remembered.  But it was "off-brand" milk; maybe it's normal for it to be that color.  It tasted okay.  

In gathering all the ingredients for the pie, I noticed that the pie shell said, "Two extra servings!"  Upon closer inspection, the pie shell did, indeed, seem larger than normal.  The problem was that the standard lemon ice box pie recipe doesn't make a very big pie.  I needed to either double the recipe or use a smaller pie shell.  There was not another can of condensed milk in the pantry, and if there had been, there's NO TELLING how old it would've been.  So to the store I went.

Got a small pie shell (in case my lemons did not produce double the amount of juice) and two more cans of condensed milk.  Dumped the old one down the sink and started fresh.  Even micro-planed some lemon zest to sprinkle over the meringue.

Although my mother never baked her pie, I baked this one.  I hope that didn't screw up the taste.

The early bird may get the worm, but . . . November 23, 2021

 The Granddaughters and I had a successful shopping trip Sunday afternoon.  We stopped at multiple stores, looking for fancy dresses.  Granddaughter #1 needed a dress for a masquerade party.  Granddaughter #2 needed a dress for her Christmas band concert.  Granddaughter #3 didn't especially need a dress but is old enough to feel left out if her older sisters had fancy new dresses and she didn't get one, so we bought one for her, too.  (The Little Rotten Baby didn't get one.)  Everybody was happy with the choices, and we made it back safely from the city.

* * * * * * * * 

Over the weekend, a mouse ran past my foot on the back porch and scampered behind the cabinet next to where I sit when I'm working at the computer.  I baited a trap with feta cheese and eased it into his path.  Come yesterday morning, I checked the trap.  It was upside-down atop a belly-up mouse.  GOT HIM!  

Since I was about to go to work, I did not want to fool with getting the mouse out of the trap, so I left it where it was.  And promptly forgot about it.

After work, when I went out to the porch, I heard the distinctive sound of the mouse trap rattling.  I thought, "Surely that mouse is not alive."  I peeked into the crack where I'd set the trap just in time to see another mouse run behind the cabinet.  THE SECOND MOUSE HAD GOTTEN THE CHEESE!

Disposing of dead, trapped mice is usually The Husband's job, but he wasn't here, so I steeled myself and freed the mouse carcass from the trap, then I re-baited it with nice, fresh feta.  

The trap hasn't been sprung this morning.  Come get it, little dude.  You know you want it.  ;)

Re-Raspberries - November 21, 2021

The raspberry syrup that I re-cooked yesterday morning turned out more like raspberry butter.  It is delicious.  

I spent most of the day on the back porch yesterday, painting boards that Cousin Roger had brought over here earlier in the week.  I'd said to him, "What do you want painted on them?"

He said, "Maybe some of them knolls."

"Knolls?"

"You know. . . them things like you painted on that other board with their hats down over their eyes."

"Oh.  GNOMES.  On all of the boards?"

"Naw.  Just put something Christmas on all of them."

Now, I never had an original idea in my life, so I hunted on Pinterest for something to paint.  

"Knolls."  Check.  

I found a board on which was painted a cow with a wreath around its neck.  Being a country boy, I figured Roger would like a cow.  So I commenced painting.  But I got my proportions wrong, and the cow turned into a calf.  He'll just have to be happy with a calf.

* * * * * * * * 

Two weeks ago or more, Roger brought over a pair of overalls for me to "fix."  There was nothing wrong with the overalls.  The problem was his belly.  It had grown outward, and his overall galluses wouldn't meet the buttons.  He wanted me to splice in a piece of fabric to lengthen them.  

I had other things to do, so I tossed them aside in the sewing room, and have been tossing them around the sewing room ever since.  This morning, I decided to get it done.  

I've draped them over the couch on the porch.  If he waits more than a day or two to come get them, he'll probably need to shake them for lizards.

* * * * * * * * 

Granddaughter #1 called a few minutes ago.  She needs a dress for a party (and/or her Christmas concert) on December 18.  She wanted me to take her shopping.

I hate shopping.  I hate driving in the city.  But I love The Granddaughters, so I said yes, but we have to go today, for next weekend is Black Friday, and after that there'll be Christmas traffic.

It's raining today.

Wish us luck.

Raspberries - November 20, 2021

Two days ago, Nanny showed up at our back door with two boxes - about 4 cups, altogether - of fresh raspberries that her sister had given her.  The berries were about to get too ripe.  Something had to be done with them soon.

I love raspberries, but I did not want to bake with them.  Raspberry syrup seemed like a good idea.

There are lots of raspberry syrup recipes online.  The general idea seems to be twice as many raspberries as sugar, and twice as much sugar as water.  So I washed the berries, measured out two cups of sugar and a cup of water, and set it to boiling on the stove.  When the sugar dissolved, I added the berries, cooked it for 10 minutes or so, strained out the seeds, and poured it into a jar, thinking I'd have some on a biscuit the next morning.

I had some on a biscuit this morning.  It tasted okay, but it was too thin and could've been a tad sweeter, so I poured it back into a pan, added 1/3 cup sugar, and boiled it another 10 minutes.  It still seemed to need something, so I added about 2 oz. of creme de cacao and cooked it a few minutes longer.  That did the trick.

Until it cools, I won't know if the syrup is the right consistency.  If not, it'll go back on the stove for a bit.

* * * * * * * * 

Yesterday, The Husband bought a kerosene heater for the back porch.  We already had a propane heater, but the fan won't work, and we've had to stand right next to it to keep from freezing.  We ran the new heater for a couple of hours on a low setting, and it warmed up the porch fairly well.  It might not knock off the chill when the outside temps are below freezing, but since we don't have too many of those days in these parts, this heater ought to do the job nicely on most days.  

Gold star for The Husband!

The pickin's in our kitchen pantry have been slim for the past couple of weeks.  Last week, I "made do" by pulling things out of the freezer for meals that could be re-cycled.  Chicken enchiladas held out for three nights.  Pork roast left-overs became vegetable soup that got us through the rest of the week.  This week, The Husband has been on a business trip, and my dinners have been cereal, peanut butter sandwiches, and toast with a side of M&Ms.  But he's coming home tonight, and so yesterday I placed a grocery order to be picked up between 3 and 4 p.m.  

Before 3, the store called and asked me to delay the pickup until 4:45.  I wasn't too thrilled by this - who wants to unload groceries in the dark? - but I showed up at the appointed time.  Most of the pickup parking slots were full, but I found one and called the number on the sign to let them know I'd arrived.  And then I waited.  And waited.  And waited.  The whole time I waited, I did not see one grocery order come out to another customer.  Finally, people started getting out of their cars and going inside for their own groceries.  I was about to do the same when my order came out.

I was driving my old two-door Wrangler since my other car is still in the shop.  In the summer when the top is down, it's not a bad grocery delivery vehicle; the bags can just be pitched in over the side.  But when the top is up, as it is now, loading and unloading a big grocery order is a bit tricky.  I told the attendant, "Pile as much as you can on the passenger floor and seat, then hand me the rest and I will stick them in the back seat." 

Bags, packed too heavy, tore open as the attendant lifted them into the car.  Inexplicably (and they do this ALL THE TIME), many of my items- a 2# can of coffee, a cabbage, eggs, bread - weren't bagged at all.  WTF?  

The attendant said, "I'll go back in the store and get you some bags for those that tore."  To save time (and help the other waiting customers), I followed her into the store and grabbed a handful of bags, myself.

At home (and it's dark by then), I re-bagged the items from the bags that tore and took them inside.  When I went back for the rest of the things, more bags tore, and canned goods rolled all over the driveway.  

Later, after I'd put the groceries away and sat down to check my email, there was an email from Kroger:  "Let us know how we did."  

Boy, did I ever let them know how they did.  Having started my work career as a teenage grocery store sacker back in the days when grocery bags were made of brown paper, I felt entitled to opine that someone had done a half-assed job on my order.

I felt better after venting.

Later, as I ate my peanut butter sandwich, I watched TV for the first time since The Husband has been gone.  Now, I don't even remember what I was watching, for as I sat there munching my extra-crunchy Jif and M&Ms sandwich, the front storm door began to rattle as if someone was trying desperately come in.  It was pushing 9 p.m. by then, and I wasn't expecting any visitors.  Before I could get up to see who was at the door, it felt as though the couch slid to the left and then slid back to the right.

I knew what that was:  EARTHQUAKE!  Magnitude 4.0, according to the web site.