Just got a call from Number One Son. He left early this morning for the Farmers Market. He says he is headed my way with butternut squash, onions, and apples. Methinks I will be busy for a while. And I think that will be the last Market run for us this season. That should pretty much take care of what I wanted to add to my food storage.
And while I am processing the produce, Son will be moving into his newly refurbished apartment. It is a one-bedroom with the kitchen and living area in one large room. Just a nice size for one person. The landlord put in a wood floor in the main room and new carpet in the bedroom. The kitchen has new cupboards, stove and refrigerator. The apartment has new window blinds and new paint, top to bottom.
I know he will be happy living there. And his Mom will be happy having one of her children so close by.
Saturday, October 3, 2015
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Sometimes Just Having a Nice Day is Enough
Not every day needs to be filled with excitement or big accomplishments.
Today was one of those days that featured the mundane. Dishes were washed. Floors were swept. Odds and ends of household chores were done. Groceries were delivered.
When you rely on a service for groceries you don't always get what you want. Bone in pork chops were on sale and I had ordered two family sized packages. Sometimes what you get are paper thin chops and you are stuck with them because you ordered the sale chops. This time they were thick cut and huge. I repackaged them for the freezer, saving out two for supper. We baked them with seasonings and barbecue sauce and fried up some potatoes to go with them. Delicious.
Earlier in the day Son and I tag-teamed baking a cake. Normally he would have just gone ahead and made it himself, (He was a restaurant cook in another lifetime and knows his way around a kitchen!) but he is still without glasses and can't see much. I mixed up the batter for a yellow cake. He buttered the cake pan and spread brown sugar over the butter. I had a can of pineapple chunks that he opened and then decided to add mandarin oranges as well. Over the fruit we sprinkled coconut and I poured the cake batter over the whole works. Forty-five minutes later we had a wonderful smelling dessert.
I had just started washing the supper dishes when the phone rang. Youngest son was a couple of blocks away and he couldn't remember the code to get in the outside door. He had a piece of cake with us and we sat and talked, mostly catching up on the activities of his children. Finally he needed to leave. It was getting late and he was still an hour from home. With a hug for his Mom and another for his brother, he was gone.
It has been a quiet evening. Fall is upon us with nighttime temperatures dropping nearly into the forties. There was some reading of a murder mystery and some snoozing in my recliner with a heavy crocheted afghan pulled up under my chin and some more reading.
Today I just let the world carry on without me. Tomorrow I will read the news sources on my computer and get mad at the stupidity of politicians, but for today, I settled for just having a nice day. And it was enough.
Today was one of those days that featured the mundane. Dishes were washed. Floors were swept. Odds and ends of household chores were done. Groceries were delivered.
When you rely on a service for groceries you don't always get what you want. Bone in pork chops were on sale and I had ordered two family sized packages. Sometimes what you get are paper thin chops and you are stuck with them because you ordered the sale chops. This time they were thick cut and huge. I repackaged them for the freezer, saving out two for supper. We baked them with seasonings and barbecue sauce and fried up some potatoes to go with them. Delicious.
Earlier in the day Son and I tag-teamed baking a cake. Normally he would have just gone ahead and made it himself, (He was a restaurant cook in another lifetime and knows his way around a kitchen!) but he is still without glasses and can't see much. I mixed up the batter for a yellow cake. He buttered the cake pan and spread brown sugar over the butter. I had a can of pineapple chunks that he opened and then decided to add mandarin oranges as well. Over the fruit we sprinkled coconut and I poured the cake batter over the whole works. Forty-five minutes later we had a wonderful smelling dessert.
I had just started washing the supper dishes when the phone rang. Youngest son was a couple of blocks away and he couldn't remember the code to get in the outside door. He had a piece of cake with us and we sat and talked, mostly catching up on the activities of his children. Finally he needed to leave. It was getting late and he was still an hour from home. With a hug for his Mom and another for his brother, he was gone.
It has been a quiet evening. Fall is upon us with nighttime temperatures dropping nearly into the forties. There was some reading of a murder mystery and some snoozing in my recliner with a heavy crocheted afghan pulled up under my chin and some more reading.
Today I just let the world carry on without me. Tomorrow I will read the news sources on my computer and get mad at the stupidity of politicians, but for today, I settled for just having a nice day. And it was enough.
Monday, September 28, 2015
Know What Makes a Grandma Happy?
A three page letter from her granddaughter who is in basic training, that's what!
I was so pleased to receive that letter last week. That is the first word I have had from her since she left the end of August. I have read it so many times I think I may have it committed to memory. I've been writing to her regularly. She can't call out yet so mail is our only communication. She said she was doing fine even with having tonsillitis and a sprained ankle. The girl is tough.
She was relieved to have qualified on the shooting range. She said she was disappointed with her score, but considering that she has had only a brief session with any firearms prior to enlisting, I was just glad she qualified at all. She is determined to improve her score.
I called her mother to tell her I had heard from Nicki. She said she got a letter as well. We compared notes. Nicki wrote to her about hand grenade practice. They threw several dummy grenades and then two live ones. She said it was "so cool!" All I could think of was that I am really glad she grew up playing baseball so she knows how to throw. Far. Very far. Far away from her.
I'm not sure where my daughter got this photo, but she posted it on Facebook so the relatives could see it. It is the only picture of her we have seen since she left. It was taken just after she finished the gas chamber training.
She will be home for Christmas. She says she just wants to give me a big hug. I wrote back that I thought there might be a hug here with her name on it. Probably more than one.
I was so pleased to receive that letter last week. That is the first word I have had from her since she left the end of August. I have read it so many times I think I may have it committed to memory. I've been writing to her regularly. She can't call out yet so mail is our only communication. She said she was doing fine even with having tonsillitis and a sprained ankle. The girl is tough.
She was relieved to have qualified on the shooting range. She said she was disappointed with her score, but considering that she has had only a brief session with any firearms prior to enlisting, I was just glad she qualified at all. She is determined to improve her score.
I called her mother to tell her I had heard from Nicki. She said she got a letter as well. We compared notes. Nicki wrote to her about hand grenade practice. They threw several dummy grenades and then two live ones. She said it was "so cool!" All I could think of was that I am really glad she grew up playing baseball so she knows how to throw. Far. Very far. Far away from her.
I'm not sure where my daughter got this photo, but she posted it on Facebook so the relatives could see it. It is the only picture of her we have seen since she left. It was taken just after she finished the gas chamber training.
"Nicki doesn't look like she enjoyed the gas chamber."
Sunday, September 27, 2015
Six Ham Bones...
simmered on the stove the better part of the day. Fished them out of the broth, let them cool and picked the meat from the bones. Cut the ham into bite sized pieces, bagged them up in Ziploc bags and stored the bags in the fridge. Strained the broth to get out any bone and gristle bits and returned it to the stock pot. Added some chicken bouillon for more flavor and found room for the pot in the fridge as well. Dumped 2 1/2 quarts of dry Great Northern beans into another pot, covered them with water and set them to soak overnight.
In the morning I drained the beans and added them to the broth. Threw in some of my dehydrated chopped onion and some dehydrated, shredded carrots. Added a bit of granulated garlic just because. About halfway through the cooking process I added the ham pieces.
At this point you have probably figured out that I don't have a recipe. Everyone has their own method of making ham and beans. Some add diced tomato or tomato juice and some have other ingredients they like to use. It is all according to taste. I tend to keep it simple. That's the way my family likes it.
The soup simmers on the stove until the beans are tender, stirred now and then to keep it from scorching. Some day I will invest in the more expensive stock pots so I won't have problems with burning whatever I cook in them, but for now I make do with what I have. And do a lot of stirring.
When the soup is done, I set aside enough for a couple of meals and ladle the rest into quart jars. They are processed in my pressure canner for 90 minutes. I wound up with 11 quarts of fantastically delicious ham and beans. Tomorrow morning I will wash the jars and label them with the contents and date.
The cheapskate in me loves that the meat was a bonus left over from canning ham a couple of weeks ago. Beans are still relatively inexpensive. The onions and carrots were purchased on sale and dried using my dehydrators. And I now have more meals that will feed us, no matter how high grocery prices get or no matter what happens around us. Add a pan of cornbread and we will eat well.
In the morning I drained the beans and added them to the broth. Threw in some of my dehydrated chopped onion and some dehydrated, shredded carrots. Added a bit of granulated garlic just because. About halfway through the cooking process I added the ham pieces.
At this point you have probably figured out that I don't have a recipe. Everyone has their own method of making ham and beans. Some add diced tomato or tomato juice and some have other ingredients they like to use. It is all according to taste. I tend to keep it simple. That's the way my family likes it.
The soup simmers on the stove until the beans are tender, stirred now and then to keep it from scorching. Some day I will invest in the more expensive stock pots so I won't have problems with burning whatever I cook in them, but for now I make do with what I have. And do a lot of stirring.
When the soup is done, I set aside enough for a couple of meals and ladle the rest into quart jars. They are processed in my pressure canner for 90 minutes. I wound up with 11 quarts of fantastically delicious ham and beans. Tomorrow morning I will wash the jars and label them with the contents and date.
The cheapskate in me loves that the meat was a bonus left over from canning ham a couple of weeks ago. Beans are still relatively inexpensive. The onions and carrots were purchased on sale and dried using my dehydrators. And I now have more meals that will feed us, no matter how high grocery prices get or no matter what happens around us. Add a pan of cornbread and we will eat well.
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Achoo and the Importance of Backups
Yep. Head colds. Both of us. Son is sneezing a lot. I've had little energy the past couple of days and thought I was just tired but woke up this morning with a stuffed up head. Nothing serious. Head colds come and head colds go. We will survive.
Son is worse off than I am. On Tuesday he was cleaning the lenses of his glasses when they fell apart. Right where the nose piece connects with the lens frame. Glasses are now two separate pieces. Can't be fixed. Optometrist didn't have a frame that the lenses would fit. Friday is the earliest he can get in for an eye exam. In the meantime he is home. It is tough to run a forklift when you can't see more than six inches beyond the end of your nose. He says he was way overdue for an eye exam anyway, but isn't happy about having to miss work. Still has his sense of humor intact, though. While feeling his way to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee, he allowed as to how learning braille might not be a bad idea. :)
This got me to thinking a bit more seriously about having a backup for some of the common items I use nearly every day. We have a Mr. Coffee. Useless without electricity. I do have one of those coffee pots where you pour hot water in the top and it drips down over the grounds. That pot is about 70 years old. Got it from my Dad. Makes great coffee. But it might be a good idea to invest in another coffee pot that doesn't need to be plugged in. After all.....coffee is the elixir of life. I really don't know if I would want to face another day without coffee. :)
Can openers are another thing I would not want to do without. I have two hand-held openers. Because of a bit of arthritis in my hands, I need ones that are large, easy to grip and easy to operate. Should the ones I have cease to work, I would be hard pressed to open a can. I should have more can openers stashed away.
I have two kitchen mixers - one stand mixer and one hand held mixer. Both have electric cords attached. I think I need to find one of those old fashioned mixers that has two beaters that are operated by turning a crank. One of those old beaters was a necessity in my Mother's kitchen. She didn't have an electric mixer until I was about 15 years old. (That was a banner year. Got our first electric mixer, our first television set and my first and only baby brother that year!) And although the new mixer was a time saver and labor saver, we had managed just fine without it. Now I dearly love my Kitchen Aid stand mixer my kids gave me for Christmas a couple of years ago. It makes life easier when the aches and pains of aging slow me down somewhat. But as a backup, the old beater mixer would be a good thing to have.
Now that I can see again, I have been doing some sewing in the evenings. I've been piecing a quilt using just needle and thread to sew the pieces together. Just wanted to see if I could make a quilt without using my sewing machine. So far - so good. I like the results even though it is time consuming. Anyway, that got me to thinking about sewing supplies. A couple of years ago I took advantage of a sale at Joann Fabrics. Stocked up on pins, needles, thread, etc. I noticed lately that my supply of thread was getting low. We live in a throw-away society. Lose a button or get a hole in a garment, out it goes and we buy new. Well, some of us buy new. Others like me were raised to fix what we had. Sewing supplies for hand sewing could be important in a grid-down situation. That includes the kind of thread for darning holes in socks. I know.....nobody darns socks any more. But if your last pair has holes in the heel and you can't get any more, darning socks is a useful skill.
I think I need to go over my list (Yes. I am one of those. I make lists.) of items to add to my preps. Seems I have forgotten a few things. The world around me doesn't seem to be improving much, so I don't think it would be wise to delay.
Son is worse off than I am. On Tuesday he was cleaning the lenses of his glasses when they fell apart. Right where the nose piece connects with the lens frame. Glasses are now two separate pieces. Can't be fixed. Optometrist didn't have a frame that the lenses would fit. Friday is the earliest he can get in for an eye exam. In the meantime he is home. It is tough to run a forklift when you can't see more than six inches beyond the end of your nose. He says he was way overdue for an eye exam anyway, but isn't happy about having to miss work. Still has his sense of humor intact, though. While feeling his way to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee, he allowed as to how learning braille might not be a bad idea. :)
This got me to thinking a bit more seriously about having a backup for some of the common items I use nearly every day. We have a Mr. Coffee. Useless without electricity. I do have one of those coffee pots where you pour hot water in the top and it drips down over the grounds. That pot is about 70 years old. Got it from my Dad. Makes great coffee. But it might be a good idea to invest in another coffee pot that doesn't need to be plugged in. After all.....coffee is the elixir of life. I really don't know if I would want to face another day without coffee. :)
Can openers are another thing I would not want to do without. I have two hand-held openers. Because of a bit of arthritis in my hands, I need ones that are large, easy to grip and easy to operate. Should the ones I have cease to work, I would be hard pressed to open a can. I should have more can openers stashed away.
I have two kitchen mixers - one stand mixer and one hand held mixer. Both have electric cords attached. I think I need to find one of those old fashioned mixers that has two beaters that are operated by turning a crank. One of those old beaters was a necessity in my Mother's kitchen. She didn't have an electric mixer until I was about 15 years old. (That was a banner year. Got our first electric mixer, our first television set and my first and only baby brother that year!) And although the new mixer was a time saver and labor saver, we had managed just fine without it. Now I dearly love my Kitchen Aid stand mixer my kids gave me for Christmas a couple of years ago. It makes life easier when the aches and pains of aging slow me down somewhat. But as a backup, the old beater mixer would be a good thing to have.
Now that I can see again, I have been doing some sewing in the evenings. I've been piecing a quilt using just needle and thread to sew the pieces together. Just wanted to see if I could make a quilt without using my sewing machine. So far - so good. I like the results even though it is time consuming. Anyway, that got me to thinking about sewing supplies. A couple of years ago I took advantage of a sale at Joann Fabrics. Stocked up on pins, needles, thread, etc. I noticed lately that my supply of thread was getting low. We live in a throw-away society. Lose a button or get a hole in a garment, out it goes and we buy new. Well, some of us buy new. Others like me were raised to fix what we had. Sewing supplies for hand sewing could be important in a grid-down situation. That includes the kind of thread for darning holes in socks. I know.....nobody darns socks any more. But if your last pair has holes in the heel and you can't get any more, darning socks is a useful skill.
I think I need to go over my list (Yes. I am one of those. I make lists.) of items to add to my preps. Seems I have forgotten a few things. The world around me doesn't seem to be improving much, so I don't think it would be wise to delay.
Saturday, September 19, 2015
Good News and Bad News
Sometimes good news and bad news can come in the same package. Both came to Son and me by way of a phone call from my landlord.
I had wondered what happened to my neighbor, Alberta. I had knocked on her apartment door several times but there was never any answer. Nobody in the building seemed to know what had happened to her. My landlord told me that Alberta had been hospitalized. The tests run by her doctor showed she was full of cancer. There was nothing to be done but keep her as comfortable as possible. She passed on a couple of days ago.
She had been my neighbor for probably 15 years. I would tease her that she must have radar that could detect when I was canning, for often she would come by about the time I was taking jars out of the canner. I knew that she missed having the home canned food, for she talked about all the canning she had done when she lived on the farm. I always sent her home with a couple of jars of whatever I was canning. Her radar worked on homemade bread as well. When I still had my Yorkies she would knock on my door once in a while and ask if she could visit them. They loved her and they made her laugh with their antics. She was a good woman and a good neighbor.
The good part of the phone call was that now there was an apartment available. My landlord wanted to know if my son wanted it. Of course, the answer was "Yes." We both had checked around town for apartments and anything decent was way more expensive. My landlord includes all utilities except telephone and cable in the rent. In a climate that can see -20 degrees or colder in the winter and hot, humid days in the summer, having the heat and air conditioning covered is a big deal. It will be a little while before he can move in as the landlord is having the apartment painted, new carpet installed as well as replacing the old appliances. But it is a relief to Son to know where he will live. And it is nice for me to have one of my children within hollering distance.
I have mixed feelings. I am sad to lose a good neighbor and I feel bad that the apartment became available the way it did. But at the same time, I am glad for my son because he really wanted to be able to live in this building. I guess that's just the way life turns out sometimes.
I had wondered what happened to my neighbor, Alberta. I had knocked on her apartment door several times but there was never any answer. Nobody in the building seemed to know what had happened to her. My landlord told me that Alberta had been hospitalized. The tests run by her doctor showed she was full of cancer. There was nothing to be done but keep her as comfortable as possible. She passed on a couple of days ago.
She had been my neighbor for probably 15 years. I would tease her that she must have radar that could detect when I was canning, for often she would come by about the time I was taking jars out of the canner. I knew that she missed having the home canned food, for she talked about all the canning she had done when she lived on the farm. I always sent her home with a couple of jars of whatever I was canning. Her radar worked on homemade bread as well. When I still had my Yorkies she would knock on my door once in a while and ask if she could visit them. They loved her and they made her laugh with their antics. She was a good woman and a good neighbor.
The good part of the phone call was that now there was an apartment available. My landlord wanted to know if my son wanted it. Of course, the answer was "Yes." We both had checked around town for apartments and anything decent was way more expensive. My landlord includes all utilities except telephone and cable in the rent. In a climate that can see -20 degrees or colder in the winter and hot, humid days in the summer, having the heat and air conditioning covered is a big deal. It will be a little while before he can move in as the landlord is having the apartment painted, new carpet installed as well as replacing the old appliances. But it is a relief to Son to know where he will live. And it is nice for me to have one of my children within hollering distance.
I have mixed feelings. I am sad to lose a good neighbor and I feel bad that the apartment became available the way it did. But at the same time, I am glad for my son because he really wanted to be able to live in this building. I guess that's just the way life turns out sometimes.
Thursday, September 17, 2015
Sometimes...
it is hard to take. I'm talking about the constant barrage of bad.
I don't want to see any more videos of mutilated babies. My heart is already broken when I think of all those lives taken. Babies who never had the chance to find out who they were. Or who they could become or what they could accomplish. Babies who were then cut up like so much meat to be sold.
I don't want to see the latest method the terrorists use to kill people. It was more than enough to see the beheadings and the crucifying and the burning in a cage and the drowning in a cage. I don't want to see any more of the dark, evil hatred that lives in the hearts of those who can even think up those new ways to torture human beings.
I really don't want to listen to any more of the snarky insults that presidential candidates toss back and forth like a beach ball. Are they candidates for the most powerful leader of the free world or are they third graders on the playground. Hard to tell the difference.
I don't want to hear about any more executive orders done in secret on a Friday afternoon or a holiday weekend. I particularly don't want to hear about the latest one that promotes the study of behavioral patterns of American citizens. Really? And why does our government need to know this?
I don't want to watch any more news reports about the hordes of people crossing borders, both at home and in Europe. Or about the terrorists making their way into my back yard. Or about our leaders allowing and encouraging this to happen.
And I really don't want to hear any more Black Lives Matter rhetoric, especially the calling for the killing of our police as recently happened just a few miles from my front door. I would like to know, however, just who are you going to call to save your backsides when all the police are gone. I sort of doubt that Sharpton and his ilk are going to come riding in to save the day.
Sometimes I envy those who go blithely on their way, happily ignorant of the turmoil in the world around us. Maybe there is something to be said for keeping your head buried in the sand. Or for staying asleep. But for those of us who are awake and have seen these horrors, these attacks on our God given rights, this calculated effort to ruin America, there is no way to unsee it all. And what gets to me the most is the knowledge that there is nothing I can do about it.
I can vote, but more and more that seems like a lesson in futility. We think we are electing people who will make a difference - who will actually care about what the voters think. Only to discover that about 15 minutes after taking the oath of office, they are ready, willing and able to begin feathering their own nests while leaving us out in the cold.
I know that I need to stay informed. If I don't know what the danger is, I won't know how to keep away from it or how to meet it head on, whatever the case may be. But right now I am on news overload. I don't know whether to scream or cry.
So instead I will pour a glass of milk and grab three freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. And when the rain stops tomorrow I will go sit on a bench and watch the Minnesota River flow lazily by on its way to the Mississippi. And I will spend an afternoon sewing quilt pieces together. And I will write a letter to my granddaughter in the Army, telling her how much her Grandma loves her. And I will let the world continue to speed ahead toward disaster without my knowing about it. Just for a day or two. For sometimes - not very often, but sometimes - that is the only way I can deal with our world without having my head explode.
I don't want to see any more videos of mutilated babies. My heart is already broken when I think of all those lives taken. Babies who never had the chance to find out who they were. Or who they could become or what they could accomplish. Babies who were then cut up like so much meat to be sold.
I don't want to see the latest method the terrorists use to kill people. It was more than enough to see the beheadings and the crucifying and the burning in a cage and the drowning in a cage. I don't want to see any more of the dark, evil hatred that lives in the hearts of those who can even think up those new ways to torture human beings.
I really don't want to listen to any more of the snarky insults that presidential candidates toss back and forth like a beach ball. Are they candidates for the most powerful leader of the free world or are they third graders on the playground. Hard to tell the difference.
I don't want to hear about any more executive orders done in secret on a Friday afternoon or a holiday weekend. I particularly don't want to hear about the latest one that promotes the study of behavioral patterns of American citizens. Really? And why does our government need to know this?
I don't want to watch any more news reports about the hordes of people crossing borders, both at home and in Europe. Or about the terrorists making their way into my back yard. Or about our leaders allowing and encouraging this to happen.
And I really don't want to hear any more Black Lives Matter rhetoric, especially the calling for the killing of our police as recently happened just a few miles from my front door. I would like to know, however, just who are you going to call to save your backsides when all the police are gone. I sort of doubt that Sharpton and his ilk are going to come riding in to save the day.
Sometimes I envy those who go blithely on their way, happily ignorant of the turmoil in the world around us. Maybe there is something to be said for keeping your head buried in the sand. Or for staying asleep. But for those of us who are awake and have seen these horrors, these attacks on our God given rights, this calculated effort to ruin America, there is no way to unsee it all. And what gets to me the most is the knowledge that there is nothing I can do about it.
I can vote, but more and more that seems like a lesson in futility. We think we are electing people who will make a difference - who will actually care about what the voters think. Only to discover that about 15 minutes after taking the oath of office, they are ready, willing and able to begin feathering their own nests while leaving us out in the cold.
I know that I need to stay informed. If I don't know what the danger is, I won't know how to keep away from it or how to meet it head on, whatever the case may be. But right now I am on news overload. I don't know whether to scream or cry.
So instead I will pour a glass of milk and grab three freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. And when the rain stops tomorrow I will go sit on a bench and watch the Minnesota River flow lazily by on its way to the Mississippi. And I will spend an afternoon sewing quilt pieces together. And I will write a letter to my granddaughter in the Army, telling her how much her Grandma loves her. And I will let the world continue to speed ahead toward disaster without my knowing about it. Just for a day or two. For sometimes - not very often, but sometimes - that is the only way I can deal with our world without having my head explode.
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