Where's the Beef???

Tuesday I made chili. I put black beans in it, which I don't normally do. I added my kidney beans after this picture was taken. Look at all that steam! When I eat chili I always put Fritos into my bowl, put the chili on top, add shredded cheese, and sour cream. Yummy!!!

My goldfish vine had a bloom!! That's the first, and only, bloom it's had for a long long time. I have been thinking that I probably need to repot it or something and maybe it would bloom some, and then it goes and has one bloom for me. The vines hang down about 5 feet long. The blooms do kinda look like a small goldfish!

Tuesday evening I didn't have the TV on and it had rained all day. I didn't know we had a line of storms moving our way and they were moving at about 55 mph and that we were under a severe T-storm warning. This was at 10 p.m. and I heard that wind roaring towards us. It nearly scared all the meanness out of me. We could hear the small hail hitting the side of the cabin along with the wind and rain. I looked out and the sheets of rain were going straight across. I expected to see trees and anything else flying by at any time. We were lucky though. There are several trees of our neighbors that didn't stand up to the wind. This was the thing all over the state and other states too. The tree clean up crews will be busy now! I'm just thankful it wasn't worse. Then it did the big dive in temperature and flash froze all that rain.

We have a new Kroger store that opened on Wednesday morning. They were giving 5 lbs. of ground beef to the first 500 customers. My husband said I should go. It was cold and I sure hated to get out of bed but I went. It opened at 0800. I got there about 0810 and I never saw such a mess of people! You would have thought they were giving away $5,000 instead of 5 lbs. of ground beef! And it was cold! The line was still filing in at 10 after and the parking lot was full with the Taco Bell parking lot also full. I just kept driving and went to the other Kroger to get what I had on my list. They are also giving away some other things which you are registered for when you use your Kroger Plus card. I went up today and managed to find a place to park. They have a salad bar and an olive bar. Well, I had never seen an olive bar before, so I learned what an olive bar is.

Saturday's Ramblings and Sunday Sign

Thursday I took Gooseberry to be neutered. I'm not sure how they do it but he seemed fine and dandy when I picked him up. Nothing there but tiny spots on each of his "male berries." No stitches. Nothing. Even though it got very cold that night he wanted to be outside in his bed. I'm sure he wonders what happened to him and what caused that area to be sore. Poor thing, but best for him to get it over with. He is the sweetest cat!

Today is cloudy and cool and we are getting a few snowflurries. According to our thermometer it is 33 right now. I doubt it'll get much warmer. This picture I took late yesterday evening looking across the lake. That is ice you see. It's been cold here. Downright nippy in fact. One night it got into the single digits. Now that is cold for us!!

Last night I didn't get much sleep. My husband woke me up at 0330 and after that I couldn't go back to sleep until about daylight. Yesterday afternoon I was laying beside him on the bed. He's in a hospital bed so I have to lay on my side and be very careful that I don't fall. I usually reach behind me and pull the rail up to one notch and that keeps me from worrying about falling onto the floor. Anyway, I took my feet and was pushing against the bottom of his feet. I did this a few times and then I stopped and said, "That's not hurting you is it?" He said, "Well, it's not doing me any good." LOL I told him that I knew he'd cheer me up if I laid down beside him. A hospital bed isn't that big but sometimes I'm laying beside him on my side, Pup gets up there too, and sometimes the cat as well. Don't let anyone kid you, those hospital beds are strong!

I love to get my husband to laugh, which isn't an easy thing to do. A friend of mine was telling me that her husband goes every morning to one of the local fast food places where he and a bunch of other old men all sit, chew the fat, and drink coffee. She calls it the "dead pecker club." When I told my husband about that he got a really big kick out of it and actually laughed out loud!! I love to see him laughing, since it is rare these days.

SUNDAY SIGN

Today's sign was sent to me by the Ralphmister. Thank you Ralph!

Ale-8-One, Made in KY

Maybe you have drank an Ale-8-One before or maybe not. Personally I have not ever been a big fan of this soft drink but some folks love it. I have a friend that moved to Florida for several years and she couldn't buy it down there. Sometimes I would mail her some, which seemed to thrill her to no end!! She moved back to KY several years ago so now she can buy it any time she has a craving for it.

Ale-8-One, the soft drink unique to Kentucky, has been bottled in Winchester since 1926.

Still a closely guarded family secret, the Ale-8-One formula was developed by G.L. Wainscott in the 1920's after experimentation with ginger-blended recipes he acquired during extensive travels in Northern Europe. He sponsored one of America's first "name the product" contests, and "A Late One" was the winning entry. The drink's logo, Ale-8-One, was adopted as a pun of its description as the latest thing in soft drinks. (yeah, I got this info off their web site.)

I decided to buy a 6 pack not long ago. I have to say that only one is gone so far. So no big fans here.

One night I was going through my purse and counting my $$$ and I noticed that one of the $1 dollar bills had something stamped on it. It said, "Track George at www.wheresgeorge.com "

I had never seen this before so I went to the site and registered and then I put the serial # in of the bill and it brought up one entry. It was posted back around Thanksgiving and the person that had the bill then was posting from Frankfort, KY and they said they were going to Lexington to shop the next day and would spend it there. In the meantime it made it to me here in Somerset! I had gotten it back in change but I'm not sure from where. I know most people probably wouldn't have noticed it, and I wouldn't have either if I hadn't of been just counting my money and putting it in order, $20's to the back, then $10's, then $5's, etc. I thought that was interesting. Anyone ever see that before on any of your $$$??

CIDADA'S and MY SUNDAY SIGN

According to the reports this is the year that the Cidadas are to return. These will be the 17 year cicada's, meaning they only come around every 17 years. They are plant eaters and they sure do make a racket with their loud sounds. They have those big eyes and they get pretty good size too! You can go here to read more about them. Cicada larva live in the ground for years and live off the sap from plant roots. They have the urge to climb before they metamorphose. Some will climb high up in trees and others will make it only a foot or two off the ground before they transform.

I think we have a few here each year because I see their shells clinging to trees and different places each summer. Last summer there was several on a neighbor's tree. Here is what I usually see, just the empty shell.

SUNDAY SIGN

Soup Recipe

Some had asked for the soup recipe I pictured in the previous post. I got the recipe from the Relish Magazine that is in the Sunday paper. Here it is.

Angel Harvest Vegetable and Potato Soup Recipe

Perfect for cold, dreary nights or as a nourishing antidote to rich holiday foods.

Ingredients:
4 cups cubed potatoes (do not peel)
1½ cups coarsely chopped carrots
1 cup coarsely chopped celery
½ cup string beans
1 green, red or yellow bell pepper, coarsely chopped
1 cup sweet peas
1 large onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 (10-ounce) bag spinach
6 cups water
¼ cup butter
1½ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1½ teaspoons dried sage
1 tablespoon dried basil
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

Instructions
1. Place vegetables in a Dutch oven. Add water; bring to a boil. Add butter, salt, pepper and herbs. Simmer until vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes. Serves 10.

Recipe by Helen verDuin Palit, Relish Helping Hands, "Touched by an Angel," December 2007. Nutritional Information
Per (1 1⁄2-cup serving): 130 calories, 5g fat, 4g prot., 19g carbs., 4g fiber, 105mg sodium.

WALL TO WALL

This is a house in town that I was inside of a few years back...oh, it's been about 5 years ago I guess. At that time it looked the same except there was a huge oak tree that stood where the dirt is torn up in the picture, and the limb that fell across the porch was still there. I don't think anyone lives there anymore. I went there to have a VCR repaired. I had called the guy up after finding him in the yellow pages. The steps are very narrow and steep. The porch was piled high with clutter on each side and if you were too fat you couldn't fit through. It's still the same I see! Inside was the same way. The guy was very clean, neat, and nice. He lived there alone with his cats. He had a full time job and did the repairs on the side. There was a sofa in the living room but all you could see was the side of it. There was "stuff" wall to wall and about shoulder high. I only ever just stepped inside the front door. That was about as far as you could get. There was a little path that led through the room. I really longed to see the rest of the house because my jaw just dropped that it was like that. I did speak without thinking and said, "How in the world do you ever find anything in here?" He was very soft spoken and he just quietly said, "Well, it's just me here and I pretty much know where everything is." Then I felt so bad that I had said anything, because I sure would never hurt anyone's feelings intentionally. He fixed that VCR and later on I had him make some copies of a tape for me. The last time I was there it smelled pretty awful inside. I figured with that old house and him not keeping it up that the roof might be leaking and with all that stuff piled everywhere there was probably mold galore. Plus if he didn't provide a litter box for the cats and they managed to weave their way through and under some of that stuff and do their business, then there would be no way you could ever find it or clean it up.

They have a nuisance law in the city so I don't know what will happen to this house. I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't torn down soon. Part of the way down the concrete steps are milk jugs sitting on the left side. They are hard to see in this photo. Before when I'd drive by, there would be a big pile of empty plastic jugs laying in the yard. Gosh I don't know, he might even still live there! I just know that I was never in a home that looked like that one before!!

Tonight I made this Angel Harvest Vegetable and Potato Soup. The only thing I added to it that the recipe didn't call for was cabbage. It also said not to peel your potatoes, but I peeled mine. It turned out very well and even my husband liked it. Just perfect for this chilly evening!

Amber Lance

Last night it was a little after 11 p.m. and my husband told me he wanted to get up. I said, "It's after 11 p.m.!! Why do you want to get up?"
He said, "There's two men here."
Me: There is not two men here. There is no one here but me, you, and the dog.
Him: Yes there is.
Me: Okay, who is it?
Him: Amberlance.
Me: What????
Him: Amberlance.
Me: I can't understand you. Say it s-l-o-w-l-y.
Him: A-m-b-e-r-l-a-n-c-e.
Me: Okay, is this someone I know?
Him: He nods.
Me: Say it again please. Slowly!!
Him: A-m-b-e-r-l-a-n-c-e.
Me: Okay, spell the last name.
Him: L A N C E
Me: Lance? I don't know anyone by the last name of Lance. What is the first name?
HIm: Amber
Me: Amber Lance??? I don't know anyone by that name....Amber Lance... amberlance...... ambulance????
That got vigorious nodding on his part.

I just cackled out with laughing them!! All that time he had been trying to say ambulance!! I told him that that wasn't a person but a thing. I said, "Well I guess the two men must be paramedics, right?"

He nodded again. LOL

I guess it's not so funny to read about it but it was sure funny to me. After he had his second stroke it affected his speech, so at times it's hard for me to understand him. Usually I can understand him better than anyone else but he stumps me at times. He gets confused at times and he was pretty adamant that there was an ambulance out there with 2 men. I told him that our driveway was empty and he didn't need an ambulance and neither did I, so why would one be here? He let it drop and didn't say anything else about it and didn't try to get up anymore.

Yesterday his brother came down driving his 1936 Chevy coupe. It sure is pretty and sounds really nice. He is willing to sell it for $25,000. I told him that he would only miss it if he sold it. He was offered $23,000 but refused to let it go at that price. I don't blame him. He has too much $$$$ and labor in it to let it go for any less.













I do hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday and a wonderful week!! Can you believe that the middle of the month is almost here??? Yikes!
SUNDAY SIGN

Did I Mention...........

These past 3 days have been so pretty and just like spring days instead of January days. I am not complaining. Monday it was a little bit windy but so nice and I got out and raked some more leaves that had fallen from the Bradford Pear trees. I used the riding lawnmower and tried to blow some into a circle to save raking. It did help and I'm all for that. I do not like raking leaves. I put all I can in a spread out sheet and then bundle them up and, in order for the wind to not blow them all back up the hill, I took them about halfway down the steps and dumped them. Then I had to close my eyes because the wind lifted them up and I got a face full. After the leaves were done I rode the mower over the rest of the yard to grind up any leftovers. I must say it looks much better. Then yesterday the wind blew even harder and I saw oodles of leaves flying across the yard from the neighbors house. Our fence catches most of those, so I'll need to rake some more at some point. Did I mention that I don't like raking leaves?

Last night we got the rain and winds that brought some tornado's to the midwest. Thankfully they had lost strength when they got here. I only heard a few rumbles of thunder. We did get 3/4's of an inch of rain. You could really hear the wind and rain when it started.

This morning when I went into the bedroom and asked my husband, "How do you feel?" He replied, "With my hands." Nothing like a wise cracker!!


"Hey, is that thing on??"

Sunday Sign

My Sunday sign is late but it's still Sunday, so really not all THAT late! This weekend has been busy for me, with no time to get it up until now.

"SORRY FOLKS"

This is a little squeaky toy that I got Pup for Christmas. I've never seen him act this way with any other toy. He has lots of toys and a few favorites, but this one is certainly special to him. He carries it around all the time and will hardly put it down. He likes to put it on the back of the sofa sometimes and he will leave it there. Then he'll go back and carefully get it down again. When he goes outside I have to take it out of his mouth. He must think that this is his "baby." He gets it very gently and rarely ever makes it squeak.

I also went back to the vet yesterday and got Pup refills on his antibiotics. He has started that horrible sneezing again and I sure don't want him getting sick like he was before. Of all the things that I have found to get him to take his pills, putting it in some BBQ pork does the trick. I tried him with Vienna sausage and deli turkey and those wouldn't work. I guess the BBQ has such a strong odor that he can't smell the medication at all?! Beats me, but I'm so glad it works!

We have had a couple of cold nights. I think last night it was in the single digits with the wind chill making it worse. My neighbor called me and asked me if I could cut her water off at the meter since her lines had frozen up overnight, even though she had left them dripping. At the time she called me the social worker that comes from the VA was here to see my husband. I told her I'd do it as soon as she left, which I did. The meter is right beside the road and you have to get on your knees and bend over in that hole that houses the meter and turn it off with a wrench. It's not the easiest thing to do with not much space in there to work. I always dread it when cars go by because there I am with my head and arms down in that hole and my big behind sticking up there for them to see. Now that surely must be a frightening sight. I should put a sign on it to apologize that says, "Sorry folks."