Just A Week Ago It Was …

— Posted inOther — 1 min read

…really cold with temperatures expected to dip just below freezing overnight. The most susceptible plans were the ones in the fabric hanging garden. Those being the coleus plants which my wife had started from cuttings some four years ago and a purple plant (for lack of any idea as to what it is called) that our daughter gave to her years ago. She had not only protected those plants, but had done it in style.

Alack and alas the purple plant survived but the coleus didn’t make it. For some reason my comment about losing the coleus not being that bad because the pockets needed to be refreshed didn’t go over very well at all with her. Someday I may realize I need to keep my mouth shut and just give her a big hug when tragedies like this take place. Too bad there isn’t a manual written for husbands about how to understand women.

The Holiday’s Mean Cookies and More

— Posted inFood, Humor — 1 min read

My wife makes the best almond cookies ever, ever. I think her secret is to be more than generous with the almond meal and the almond flavoring since I always tell her that what I like best about almond cookies is flavor of almonds.

This year she tried something new, Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Bark. Excuse the missing corner as it is always necessary to take a representative sample of any new dessert she makes in order for me to make a proper evaluation of the finished product. I rated this one a 10 for artistic decoration and a 5 for taste. Not enough peanut butter as the chocolate overwhelmed the peanut butter. (That hasn’t stopped me from making sure I’ve gotten my share of it whenever it is served.) To paraphrase Quigley, “Never said I didn’t like it dear, just said I preferred it to have more peanut butter in the taste.”

Getting Ready For New Years Eve

— Posted inEclectic — 1 min read

The weather is going to be awesome for New Years Eve and New Years Day with highs in the upper 80’s. That means we will be celebrating the arrival of the new year sitting around a fire on the patio with the accompanying snacks and adult libations. It being a nice warm day today. got out the pressure washer and cleaned off the outdoor chairs and tables which we hadn’t used since late spring because of our travels and lately the lingering effects of Covid. It is easy to tell from looking at the arms just how dirty they were.

All set up around the fire”pit”. The wood is split and Saturday night Linda will be a happy girl getting to play in the fire. Life is Good.

Gardening – Out With The Old

— Posted inOther — 1 min read

Removed the center raised bed this morning as the boards were rotting out. That’s the old boards piled at the bottom of the raised bed on the left. The soil in the bed just filled the bed on the right, We use what is marketed as raised bed planting soil and because it contains a good deal of organic matter it steadily decomposes.

While the work wasn’t hard, the fact that I have don’t almost no strenuous work of any kind had me paying the price. The muscles in my lower back were telling me to stop right now. Not one to pay attention to a “little” pain I kept going. When we were done it took two hours for the ibuprofen I took to take effect. As my dear late sister-in-law, Katherine, liked to say “Getting old is pigeon poop.” This story will continue tomorrow if Amazon delivers the new metal raised bed early enough in the day and the ibuprofen continues to work.

A Different Christmas Meal

— Posted inFamily, Food — 2 min read

Our traditional Christmas meal has almost always featured either ham or turkey. This year we had something different, chipotle-lime salmon, and was it ever good. In the past I have tried to “plank” grill salmon and this time I succeeded. The water soaked thin cedar board charred adding a slight smokey touch to the perfectly grilled salmon. Clockwise from the salmon is a cucumber dill sauce, peas and mushrooms, a fresh cranberry salad and finally sweet potatoes mashed with butter and topped with a sprinkling of brown sugar.

We had a leftover frozen pie crust from Thanksgiving, so not wanting it to go to waste we made another pumpkin pie just like at Thanksgiving. Stevia was substituted for the sugar and we used nonfat evaporated milk, but it tasted just as awesome as always. Christmas means family time and because we are still feeling the effects of Covid, we didn’t fly across country to be with our daughters and grandchildren. Still we had a touch of family with this meal. The paring knife at the top of the photo Linda used to cut our pie was the one her mother had used. Christmas is truly a special time in the year.