Archive | December, 2018

Off to See Santa

23 Dec

Carolina Granddaughter took Butch and the Princess to visit Santa a few days ago, and they had aSanta 1 grand time!  Butch sat quietly while the Princess told Santa what she wanted for Christmas, and then she did the same. So often, little children are terrified of Santa, but this obviously wasn’t the case here!Santa 2

Then three of them shared a quick bit of story time.

Later on, the kids and their Mimi went on a carriage ride through Charleston to see the lights and decorations.

And a good time was had by all!

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I Am So Tired of Rain

21 Dec

Noah calledIt has rained.  And rained. And rained some more.

84 Lumber is having a sale on gopher wood. The lower part of the lawn has always been a soggy morass, but now even the upper slope is muddy.

The only saving grace is that it is warm. Today had been pushing 60 º F (15-C) and the rest of the week looks to be the same. Heaven help us if this precipitation had been snow!

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Using Up the Leftovers

20 Dec

We had our annual Christmas Open House on Sunday. We planned on about fifty people, but the weather was beastly, so only half that many came. It rained buckets both Saturday and Sunday. Monday was lovely, natch. 

So now we have leftovers. Boy, do we have leftovers!

I took most of the leftover cheese and all of the cauliflower from the veggie tray and made mac and cheese on Monday. Yesterday, I took the leftover carrot and celery sticks, added an onion, and made Greek Orzo and Lemon soup. Today, we have a lovely supper of jalapeno poppers, mini chicken rolls, quiches – and a fresh salad. There’s no telling what the rest of the week may bring.

We also have cookies. You may have your choice of Fig Thumbprints, Pistachio and Cranberry, Red Velvet Whoopie Pies, Raspberry Streusel (also known as Those Cookies), Lime-Ginger, Chocolate Crinkle, or sugar cookies decorated to resemble Polar Bears. Or white chocolate fudge, if you prefer.

If you are very, very nice, I might ~ might! ~ share my fruit cake.  (But don’t count on it.)

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Music To My Ears

13 Dec

Apparently The Squire lived a sheltered life; he’s never heard any of the good songs. A good while back, I was singing (I guess you can call it that) a little ditty that went this way:

Looking through the knothole in Father’s wooden leg,/Oh, who will wind the clock when I am gone?/Go get the ax; there’s a fly on Baby’s nose,/And a boy’s best friend is his mother.

He accused me of making it up.

A few days ago, he was helping me make Christmas cookies, and complained ~ rightly so ~ that the cat was in the way, winding back and forth underfoot.

Oh, they’re always in the way/The cows eat them for hay./ They hide the dirt on Grandpa’s shirt/Oh, they’re always in the way!

Again, he accused me of making up the whole thing. Now, mind you, he really does have a reason for feeling this way. Last week, El Condor Passa came on the radio, and I began to yodel. I’d rather have a quarter than dime/Oh, yes, I w-o-u-u-ld./ I’d rather have a Quarter than a dime/Just any t-i- m-e.

Yes, that’s one of my songs. As if you couldn’t tell.

 

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The Water is Rising!

8 Dec

Although the are Some People in High Places who claim not to accept climate change, those of us who live in less rarified places know it for a fact.

My cousin has a sea wall around his home and the water has risen quite a bit since he had the place built. When I take Blazer for a walk in the park, I can see the river encroaching farther up the boat ramps. But mostly, we notice it here at the Rice Paddy. This place has always been a bit of a swamp, but it has gotten progressively worse. By road, we live about 5 miles from the bay, but as the crow flies it’s only a bit over a mile. While there are some valleys to be raised up, and mountains to be laid low between us and the Chesapeake, we are essentially at sea level here.

And we can tell.

Although the ground has always had damp spots – oh, heck! wet spots! – we now have more, and worse. Where once the spring outside the den window only ran in wet weather, now it runs all the time. All the ground around the front porch is soft and squishy – a sort of grab-your-boots- and-pull-them-off-your-feet mud.  It’s really bad when you need waders just to mow the lawn!  Y’know, there’s just a limit to how large a pond we can dig.

We have finally accepted the inevitability of having to move; we hoped to have time to dawdle a bit, but the entire place is beginning to sink into the mire.

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Dental Blues

4 Dec

I’ve had a toothache for the last couple of weeks, and believe me, ignoring it didn’t make it go away. As a matter of fact, I had not been ignoring it, but was in and out of the hospital and just didn’t have time to get to the dentist. I was on industrial strength painkillers anyway, so I survived.

I trotted off this morning to be there at 8:00 AM, and after a short consultation the dentist and I agreed to pull the thing out. It was the very last molar on the lower right, and sat lower than the other teeth, so I didn’t even know it was there. (I’d actually told the technician it was the tooth directly in front of this one.) We had to use so much Novocain I think the fingers on my right hand are numb, too.

I grew up before Baltimore had fluoride in the municipal water system, and have had well water most of the time since then. Believe me, it shows. The dentist showed me the tooth, and above the gum line, what wasn’t cavity was filling.

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Gastronomic Delights

2 Dec

Yesterday we saw a restaurant which advertised that they sold “Gyros and Quesadillas”. Both The Squire and I had giggle-fits for several minutes over that one.  A few weeks ago we passed a place that sold “Pizza and Kebobs” which also tickled us.

We are easily amused, if nothing else.

It has snowed most of yesterday, but we both had doctor’s appointments so we set off through the slush. Missions accomplished, we decided to run into Aldi’s to pick up milk and eggs, plus a few items for dinner.  We were in line when the woman behind me told her son to “run get some soup”. I turned to her and said, ” That reminds me. I need to get some cream soup. Today is just a Tuna-Noodle sort of day” and I  dashed off, leaving The Squire to check out. When I returned, she asked me about my menu suggestion. Apparently, she’s lived this long without ever having encountered what our girls call “Noodle Fish”.  The recipe is certainly easy enough and it’s stuff most of us have in our homes, so I gave it to her while she typed it into her cell phone.

Eight ounces of egg noodles, cooked to a little under done. A can of cream soup (I prefer mushroom, but use what you wish), a soup can of milk, and one or two cans of tuna. Mix the milk, soup, and tuna together in a casserole dish while the noodles are boiling; make them slightly al dente as they will cook some more in the oven. Stir in the cooked noodles and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.  It will serve four – less if you have teenagers.