Cats behaving badly

This picture is obviously jacked from the Net.  However this morning I heard from the kitchen; "Royce, did you make a mess of the pumpkin pie?"  "Um, no".

Somehow the one with opposable thumbs had jumped up on the counter, OPENED the cupboard and proceeded to lick THROUGH the waxed paper covering and consumed at least one sixth of the pumpkin pie.  Jeez.  I would like to have had a picture.  Now there is worry that who ever consumed all that pie may be courting the dangers of constipation. Ick.  We have three cats; the dominant one probably did not let the others get much of a lick. 

At least I dumped the pie in the garbage.  I remember years ago when Judy J and I worked at Fairchild Semiconductor in San Rafael.   She had been tasked to purchase a  birthday cake for someones birthday.   When she brought it in, she explained that the broken cover had happened when her daughter decided to help herself to some cake.   Later that day Judy confided that her poodle, Lucky, had jumped on the box and broke the cellophane cover.  I didn't find any dog hair in my piece. When in doubt throw it out.

Happy Merry etc.

Happy Holidays! above is a Kwanza cake, yummy.

Got up at 5:30 a.m. and came downstairs to celebrate Christmas.
I have risen at earlier times as a child and been promptly scurried right back to bed by exhausted parents who had assembled bicycles for me and brother, Richard.  This was after having spent the previous summer cheerfully nicking the neighborhood kids bikes if you please.  By the time we had moved to Evergreen Trailer Park in Boise, it had become policy that in order to prevent the juvenile delinquents from further episodes of theft, a couple bicycles were a good investment.  Thus Richard and I spent Christmas Day riding our new bikes all over the park.  I experienced for the very first time true exhaustion and a very sore bottom from contact with the less than ergonomic bike seats.  Wore me right out. Would love to borrow some of the youthful energy.   Coffee, morning meds and lever over pumpkin pie coming right up.  Have a good one everyone.

Can We Get Out?

I suppose retired people reminisce or jot down memories, I am more of the latter. So, I am remembering a recurring theme of our collective childhood. Dad was in control of where he worked...and when. He always said that a if a man wanted to work he could find work, and this gave him a certain amount of freedom and he was occasionally two checked as he called what ever job had terminated. He mustered out of WWII with a fairly extensive experience as a mechanic with leanings toward operating heavy duty equipment. Mom was in control of everything else; kids, food, washing, sewing, shopping, small household repairs. Together they made decisions on major purchases such as housing, cars etc. Discipline was mostly from Mom usually accompanied by much verbality, Dad tended to stick to precisely administered thumps to the top of the head.

At one point we drove a red and white station wagon, we went everywhere together on all occasions. Why you may ask? I think the habit of hiring a baby sitter became nearly impossible once we approached larger numbers, no babysitter wanted to be responsible for four or five children.

Large purchases: The folks would occasionally drive to Garden City to stroll through the various trailer houses on sale. Our hearts sank. The day was shot. We would invariably ask, “Can we get out?” “NO!”. We gazed at the outsides of a lot of brand new shiny trailer houses.

Appointments: Dad preferred the Veterans Hospital in Boise for his medical care. This was an all day procedure. The grounds at the Vets were extensive, large trees, squirrels, vast lawns, no swing sets. “Can we get out?” “NO.”

Gold mining: Dad had a gold pan and a small vial of Mercury that contained a few flakes of placer gold from various creeks in Idaho. We would go driving and every once in a while the notion to do some gold panning (if the fishing was poor) so we would stop. “Can we get out?” “NO.” For years we would sneak into the bedroom and get out the vial of Mercury and poured it out on the Chenille bedspread to chase it all over and then scoop it back up into the vial. We were careful not to actually touch it as we had been told that this was poisonous. Did we ask permission? NO.

Fishing: “Can we get out?” “NO.” Probably because the requirement for licensing had not been met. I do remember fishing a couple of times at Kids ponds that had been stocked with trout that liked hot dog as bait.

Taxes: I remember one time the folks taxes were being audited We all got into the car and drove to the Federal Building in Boise. We knew better than to even ask by then and it was a boring place for kids anyway. The Folks told us years later that one of the questions the auditor asked was “Can you prove the number of dependents you have listed on your return?” “Sure, they're all out in the car, want to see them?” “No.”

Picking up items: Dad always had to go pick up his check at the Idaho Power building in Boise. We packed into the car and waited in the parking lot. “Can we...” “No.”

Emergency Stops: One time the whole family was driving through eastern Nevada headed who remembers where. Mom was pregnant with someone and had a low blood sugar crash. She begged Dad to stop in the next town to visit a restaurant for something, a sandwich. “Can we get out?” “NO.” I think that was the last time we traveled without food in the car.

Stocking up for the drive: One of the components of many of our car related outings involving stopping at Albertsons for some maple bars and Vienna sausages, “Can we get out?” “NO.”.

Next stop was the nearest fast food for a gallon of root beer. “Can we get some mugs?” “NO.” To this day I am not extremely fond of those food items.

Eating out: Dad really liked Chinese food. He would take us all out to Louie’s Golden Dragon in downtown Boise. They always gave us a large booth and we were taught to be well behaved. “Can we have some bug juice? (soy sauce)?” “NO”. Dad liked to order sweet and sour spare ribs. These were very fatty pork ribs drenched in a very dark thick sauce. Delicious. I have never tasted anything similar to that sauce. “Can we have dessert? “No we will have dessert at home.” Learned after Dad died that Mom never did like Chinese food, so we never went back on visits home unless we went on our own.

Visiting neighbors and/or friends: Dad would often put us all in the car with the specific reason of going to visit friends who lived elsewhere. We would drive up to where ever they lived. “Can we get out? Do they have kids?” “No, wait until Dad sees if they are home.”. I learned many years later that; 1: Do not drop in unannounced. 2. Wait for an invitation.

Visiting grandparents: Both of our grandparents lived in the valley on their respective farms. I do not believe they ever socialized because farming is a very busy lifestyle and Dads parents were more social in that they attended card parties than Mom's parents who were more church oriented. The grandparents were knows as Big and Little. I doubt we were the first bunch of grandchildren who named them such. There some no's involved at each farmstead.

“Can I play in the chicken coop?” “NO.”

“Can I play in the storm cellar?” “NO.” It smelled of potatoes and dirt.

“Can we play on the haystack?” “NO.”

“Can we play in the corn crib?” “NO.”

“Can we play in the calves pen?” “NO.”

“Can you make me a gooseberry pie” “YES, go pick me some gooseberries and I will make a pie”. “Thank you, Little Grandma!”.

Cajeta

Crock pot caramel.   Four cans of sweetened condensed canned milk.  Take off labels, put two each in a plastic lunch bag.  Fill
crockpot with enough water to top the cans, put on high.  Let got for 8 to 12 hours, depending on how pourable you want it to be.  Mine went for approximately 12 hours and is scoopable.  Use on Tres Leches cakes or right out of the jar. These are destined for gifties to a couple of friends.  The four cans were scooped and sealed in eight four ounce jars.  Delish!

A few further comments regarding previous post and other stuff.

When Dad first started working on Hell's Canyon project he moved the trailer to Cambridge which is titled "Gateway to Hell's Canyon" or something similar.  Before that it was and always has been a farming community.  We always liked the drive to Cambridge because that meant we were going to visit Homer Bott (long time childhood friend of Dad's) and his family.  He lived on a good size ranch/farm, had a terrific strawberry bed and a horse named Oscar trained to jump up into the back of the pickup when Homer had to go irrigating.  I rode Oscar once, learned quickly NOT to lift the reins because that meant Take Off Like A Bat Out Of Hell.  I fell off and broke my glasses, well I more or less rolled off because Oscar was headed for a fence and he looked like he was going to jump...and I was not prepared to go with him.

In Cambridge, The trailer was parked in a small park  and the rail road track ran by just behind.  Richard and I loved to scrounge up double headed nails and place them on the track and retrieve our shiny miniature swords after a train had flattened them.  I somehow do not think Mom knew what we were doing or we would have been flattened.

I remember the roads into the canyon were all dirt and were not paved until later 1960's to help the tourists and fisherman find the dams.  When we were back country driving Dad would tell us to keep an eye peeled for "slow elk."  What's that Dad?  Cows.

Dad loved big machinery.  He operated caterpillars, draglines and backhoes.  One of our treasured "toys" was cotter keys.  These were very large metal  bobby pin looking things that secured teeth onto the shovel of the backhoe and when Dad changed the teeth we begged for the cotter keys, what treasures! 

Dad also loved cranes the bigger the better but never had the opportunity to work on them professionally.  One day Dad told us that TK Jensen, an old family friend and contractor with MK, was going to move a big crane around Oxbow so we all loaded up to go watch, it was muddy, it was rainy and it was boring but we all knew TK and so we watched the humongous crane inch down the road and then we went home.  While we were gone a sudden storm had gusted in and when we got home, Mom could not see the clothesline where she had hung freshly washed clothes, they were all down in the mud.  She was one ticked off woman. 

If I think of any other gems, I will post.

I had an attack of insomia and finally got up at 2 a.m. to write about Hell's Canyon Dam, my perspective at least.

 

Brownlee Dam was built in 1959 and Oxbow dam was built in 1961, all built by Idaho Power Company with contractor Morrison Knudsen. Hell's Canyon Dam was built in 1967. Dad worked on bits and pieces of all three dams and we lived in various places along the Snake River as kids.

My main memory is being in the car as Dad drove and being impressed by the muddy roads, the very large equipment used in construction and being mildly terrified at how much DOWN there was down there. Golly what a gully.

Dad had no problem hitching the Great Lakes ten wide up to a big old truck and hauling it to where ever he needed to be on a job site. However the move to Hell's Canyon defeated his skills and he called on Shorty Tallman to come hitch and haul and squeeze into nearly impossible sites on very high places. He moved us twice, once above Brownlee and once again half way near Oxbow, trailer sites were impossible any further along and there were trailers squeezed precariously into every nook and cranny.

On weekends Dad would take us for a tour of the build. We drove below Oxbow clear past Robinette which was a tiny hamlet that was flooded when Hell's Canyon was built. We were in awe of the steep Kleinschmidt grade, went up the site of the canyon in a a series of switchbacks to Paulette Ranch and the only other route was by Helicopter or 300 miles via the long way around.

One time Mom had to take Dad something maybe his lunch. She actually had to drive halfway up a side hill that was about 45 to 50 degrees. She got us up okay but turning around and getting back down was quite an adventure. She made us get out of the car when she turned it around. She confessed later to being susceptible to a GI hemorrhage as a result. Mom didn't get hysterical very often, I can only think of one other time that involved a breakdown in northern Arizona in the middle of no dang where. She thought we were going to die and had hysterics. Eventually some guys drove up who just happened to have a welding rig and Dad welded some repairs on the springs of the camper and away we went to Flagstaff and got back to Idaho with ten bucks left over. Typical Berglund adventure.

We spent a couple of hot summers in that canyon and found wild apricots to pick and Elderberries were plentiful, also rattlesnakes but never actually saw one. One time there was a summer storm and the lightning was awesome, if you were quick you could almost see lightning strike from one side of the canyon to the other. 

The last trailer park Daggett's I believe, was located next to a stream, not quite deep enough to swim in but one weekend the men got together t0 throw enough junk and wooden doors in to partially dam up the creek, hmmm Daggett's Creek now that I think of it, and we swam until we knew where every submerged rock lay. Mom took moving pictures on her wind up 8 mm Brownie and we watched them run backwards many many times laughing uproariously at the kids diving out of the water back onto the rocks.

We also would drive to Halfway, Oregon occasionally and skirt through to Baker, Ontario and home as a scenic tour. We probably visited the Barnes kids, Vicky and Shorty in Haines. There was a hot springs there and one summer Richard and I stayed with them for swimming lessons and I got a card for some level, one test was jump in the deep end and go like crazy for the swallow end. Good sunburn that year, peeled like a snake. Halfway was also where I got a bad case of blisters from playing on the Monkey bars at a local school, the blisters broke and that was the end of monkey bars.

I remember a lunch that mom got in the habit of feeding us, it was peanut butter and grape jam when mixed together looked remarkably like engine grease. So we called them grease sandwiches and we drank Pepsi to peel the peanut better from the roofs of our mouths.

I also learned the fine art of packing the trailer for a big move. Didn't consist of much, Mom stuffed pillows inside all the cupboards, taped them shut, locked the doors and away we went. I remember her commenting about a glass she had left on the counter that did not fall over during the move.

We admired the big trucks that were dirt movers. Dad called them Yukes and were from the UK hence Yukes. We bugged him constantly about getting us an inner tube so we could make it into a swimming hole which may have prompted the Daggett Creek swimming hole. We were by no means the only kids there, lots of young families.

Also I learned a couple of things while living in Hell's Canyon a neighbor taught me how to sew bound button holes, there after any and all doll's clothes promptly got bound button holes. I believe the same neighbor also gave Mom her recipe for Raisin Spice Bar cake which became a stable for the family table from then on.

I was living California when Hell's Canyon Dam was finished in 1967. I was visiting, Dad had taken off on a ten day hitch but forgot his work books. So Mom and I hopped in the car and schlepped the boots to him it was very dark by the time we got back. Dark I tell you.

If any of my siblings remember anything else, do post.  Thanks. 

PS:   Many years later went on a road trip to the Canyon, stopped for lunch at the parking spot at Hell's Canyon. Parks and Recreation would have spotted the young marijuana plants just popping out of the ground, no idea if they made it through the summer.

Inside the new Samuel Simmonds Memorial Hospital

Nice lobby!   If you have Google Earth you can look up Barrow and scroll about town and find the new hospital and if you scroll out past NARL you will see the bright blue football field.  Touchdown.brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Replacement Samuel Simmons Memorial Hospital

The new hospital is located on Uula Street, in Browerville.  Go to facebook and look at the rest of the pictures posted by Ron Nalikak.  Nice place!  If I still lived in H building I would have a very short commute!

Questionable taste but cute

Jingle....balls

Okay, we all know Kmart is in trouble but their ads are subtle until you realize......do check out the link to the advert.

Yipes.  Oh and speaking of Holiday Movies.  I did not realize there were FOUR Home Alone movies.  Watched two of 'em and now I know.   Enjoy.

Modified fruit cake

 Husband asked me if I was going to make fruitcake this year.  So go inspect stash of dried fruit.   Hmmm, dried peaches,  dried cherry cranberries, raisins,couple cups of hazel nuts, half bag of salted mixed nuts.  Hmmm, okay I can do without dates, candied pineapple and candied red and green cherries.   The only thing from the original recipe is the 8 eggs, 2 cups of flour, 2 cups of sugar and 2 tsp vanilla,  250 degrees for 90 minutes. Perfect.  First loaf already demolished.  Husband will have to brave the freezer to find the other ones. Snerk, snerk, snerk.

Country Dance

Long long ago in a land two states away actually there lived a rural community that liked to dance.

My parents liked to dance this stemming from fast paced jitterbug from the 40's to a stately two step, Us kids learned to dance at these places; Dad would teach us girls the two step and Mom would hector the boys into shape.

The country dance I remember was held in Ola, Idaho at the foot of Squaw Butte held in the grange I believe, liquor was not allowed but those did like a nip brought bottles that were left in the unlocked cars. Which became a source of easily obtained liquor for under aged drinkers. Tsk. The dance was a family affair, I went with my folks and they went with several families; the Green's, the Cutbirth's and such. So there were plenty of kids to keep each other amused.

The music was usually a local band who played country tunes, a polka or two, and the general favorite was the Schottische. This was a circle dance and the couples would start out with a kind of a two step hop and repeat. Lah dee Dah dee Dah, Lah deeDah dee Dah, Lah dee dah dee lah dah dah. Shuffle, change arms and swing. Repeat.

The evening would progress until about midnight and there would be a pause to pass the hat for the musicians and everyone set out their potluck dishes. Mom always made a spice cake with powdered sugar frosting. When we saw that cake sitting on the counter we knew we were going somewhere. There would be a couple more dances after that and the evening was over.

I remember one time a couple of the gentlemen had imbibed perhaps too freely and their conversation became heated; one hauled off and pop pop POPPED his fist into the other guys face. Immediately Dad was there between them talking them out of their mad. He was nicknamed Shorty and it was apparent that he was much shorter than the two opponents who were gradually calming down. That particular confrontation entered the family history as “Do you remember the Ola dance when Dad....”.

Couple other things I remember vividly was the eldest Green daughter, dancing a two step and as the couple danced by I was confounded at how her partner had her arm twisted neatly up behind her back, it looked painful but she was clearly flirting.

Also that dance was the first time I noticed one of my dance partners had an erection, I did not know what that was so no joy the for dancer. Had I even innocently asked Mom what that was poking me in the belly I think there would have been another Pop Pop POP.

Favorite leftovers

We have leftovers.   That is the best thing about cooking for Thanksgiving at home.  Got the turkey bones cooked down to 4 pints of stock, yum!  

The best left overs I EVER tasted was several decades ago.  Helen Dougherty had cooked a standing rib roast for Christmas which was pretty spectacular.   The next day the left over mashed potatoes and peas and delicious bits of roast went into a sort of Shepards pie.  Dayammm that was goooood.  

Enjoy your left overs people!  Now I need an aspirin or something, the relentless late November sunshine is giving me a sunshine headache and the humidity has dipped into the low 20% so I must seek moisture.  Mebbe put on a big old pot of turkey soup and go make some noodles the kind you dry on newspapers laid on top of the bedspread.  Close the doors to keep the cats out of the noodles. 

Fifty years later.

All of the networks have been broadcasting pieces on JFK's assassination 11-22-63.

I remember it well. I was sixteen years old, in my geometry class taught by Miss Primativa Perez a spitfire Filipina five foot nuthin in heels. The announcement came over the intercom, everyone was stunned. In the picture above, most of the focus is on John-John saluting his father's casket.  Caroline had a book, wonder what it was?

The next four days consisted of being glued to the television set for hours, going to church on Sunday and watching the funeral. I didn't think there was anything I missed seeing fifty years ago but there was. There was a special unit from the Irish Army who performed close order drill of the last salute at Arlington. Most impressive. I do not subscribe to any conspiracy theories because most everyone is dead and if there was a conspiracy, nothing important came of it in the long run.

On a less serious note Friday was also a day of minor aggravation at our household. The new freezer has been gently unfreezing it's contents. The local dealer came today, defrosted it, replaced the timer unit, it was still under guarantee. Yay!!

Also I hopped in the car to go meet a friend for lunch and ticka-ticka-ticka-brrrrrrrrt. Dead battery. Called Les Schwab who came and gave a jump. He said the back upper gate was ajar and probably ran the battery down. Um, would that have caused the car alarm to go off yesterday? Yeah probably. Thanks! Drove to fill the tank and retired from battle.

We are having a few days of extreme sunshine and crispy cold nights. Oregonians do not do well in the winter when it is sunny, we get disoriented driving and having bright sunshine strobe through the trees. Drive carefully out there!

Whaaaa!?!?!?!

Yesterday, donated a unit of blood and they took my blood pressure.  Hey!  BP meds are working, it is down to normal for me.  

Today I experimented with canned biscuits with quarter of a Kosher hot dog sticking out.  B'cuz it AIN'T pigs in a blanket, 'k?  Tasty.

PS: I have never seen either of the two movies portrayed in the picture above.  Tsk.

Making cookies!

Using recipe of the Quaker's Oatmeal Box.  Only difference in technique was to make a slightly larger cookies (quarter cup size) baked at 350 for 20 minutes.  Smells soooooo good.  Pairs well with milk and a nap.  Woo Hoo!

Stuff this past week....

Well let me sum the week up:

Went out for gratitude banquet celebrated by ourselves at Hilltop House, very nice. They had remodeled since we were last there. Lots of nice cherry trim, new tables and chairs. Husband hated the captain's chairs, he kept smacking his elbow. We both determined that halibut was on the menu. Delish! It came with pasta and veggies. The salad was rather grand consisting of shrimp, pepperoni, pepperoncini, beans, pickled carrots and pickled cucumbers, some greenery, house dressing honey mustard. Oh and there was warm herbed Italian bread with a side of olive oil and elderly vinegar. We splurged on dessert; carrot cake which is as light as air and chocolate mouse (I don't think that is the way the French spell it) which was not.

Went to see my care provider, BP is still one hundred and stupid over stupid, so dropping the spendy BP med to the similar yet much cheaper BP med as well as another one. Check back and see if that worked at all. Drew some more blood for a couple more tests. Had been researching potassium over the counter, all sorts of warnings, side effects and ASK. YOUR. DOCTOR. FIRST. Jeez. OK.

Trotted to pharmacy to pick up scrips, did not have part D yet so they very nicely threw in the state pharmacy discount and got it down to 29 bucks. Thanks.

Received notification from Medicare that part B had kicked in and future deposits will reflect the withholding of the premium. Crap! AND I can now sign up for part D with the plan of my choice which will cost and extra X amount of dollars. Crapola!

Note to self look for qualifications for reverse mortgage. I bet we do not qualify.

Went to Bandon for Saturday noon meeting, then scarpered off to The Station for eats. I ate from the dainty appetite menu (HA!) and husband ordered veggie omelet. We went home and that was that.

Tomorrow I make oatmeal,walnut cookies...because...we ran out. 

Sunday Dinner

Cooking on Sunday:

It has been literally decades since I last ate or prepared this dish. Mexi-Chicken. I think I first tasted it at a potluck held at WKMH in Emmett. It was memorable enough to dash off a quick recipe from whomever had prepared it.

2 cups of chopped chicken or turkey. (Today I used a plump chicken breast).

1 cup chopped onion or one whole onion your choice.

1 half cup chopped green chilies. (I like Ortega canned chilies, not too hot, lots of flavor).

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese.

12 corn tortillas torn in pieces, mix all together bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

On the backside alternate directions say: Use turkey broth to make soup base to melt in cheese and add veg and meat. Bake til brown crust forms on rim of pan, closer to 50 to 60 minutes.

My own twist this morning was to add three small Yukon Gold potatoes, a can of golden hominy, a sprinkle or four of Paprika, salt and pepper to taste. Bake 55 minutes, will see how it turns out.

Hubs did a quick spoon tasting and declared it tasted like cornbread, yep that would be the dissolved tortillas. The cats finished licking the empty skillet. Very efficient. Meow. House smells wonderful.

Been looking around.... and haircuts

Saw this posting of events at the local senior center.  Regarding the third item on the board.  It should be spelled TAI CHI.  

TIA is an abbreviation for Transient Ischemic Attack which means short lived stroke.  I am sure that tai chi would be very therapeutic for someone recovering from a TIA. 

Also went out and about yesterday for a quick cut at my Barber.   Dang closed.  Found out later that he moved somewhere else.  He only charged ten dollars to cut and the barber chair was classic and very comfortable. He didn't do anything else provided by a full salon but the cut was very good.

Today I went to my hair cut appointment at a local beauty salon, the ambiance was nice, and the cut was spendy..twenty-five bucks, no shampoo, just a spritz of warmish water. Cut was very nice, chat was good to,so must readjust gasp factor when paying for the cut. May have to limit hair cuts to quarterly outlay with occasional self mutilation of bangs and stuff hanging over my ears.  Could get raggedy looking especially if trying to trim without trifocals. Honey where do we keep the band-aids???

Schnickies, exercise!?!?!?!

After the casserole was done,  The Hubs volunteered to go walk about with me so I could take some fall leafage pictures.  So you see above.

It is a seriously glorious day ..um after the morning fog burned off and we only went about 2 blocks round wise in the hood.  Have to work up endurance gradually y'know when you are in training for RETIREMENT......

I have no idea what those lovely purple things are but up close kind of resembles Queen Anne's Lace only not quite so weedy.

Gonna have to sample the casserole after a nap.  

Lovely Autumn Days

Got nostalgic today and decided to drag out one of Mom's old recipes, typed in red, a few crossed out lines over the years but over all a darn good casserole.

Hungry Boys Casserole 1963 winner of the Pillsbury bake off. Mom must have seen the recipe and decided to try it. She followed the recipe faithfully at least once and after that she left out the Lima beans and the biscuits baked on top. Today I have more or less faithfully followed the original except I left out the Lima beans, left out the Accent (mono-sodium glutamate) and I did not follow the biscuit recipe as the canned pop open biscuits work VERY well. So here goes:

1 ½ pounds ground beef or turkey 

1 cup sliced celery

1 clove garlic minced 

 ¾ cup (6 oz) tomato paste

½ cup chopped onion 

 ¾ cup water

½ cup chopped green bell pepper 

One 1 lb can of chick peas or Lima beans un-drained

One 1 lb can of pork & beans

Biscuits

1 ½ cups flour 

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt 

 ¼ cup butter

½ cup milk 

4 tsp yellow food coloring

½ cup chopped stuffed green olives 

 ¼ cup blanched slivered almonds

DIRECTIONS:

Saute in skilled: meat of choice, onion, green pepper, garlic until veggies are tender: Drain, add water, tomato paste, salt, paprika and Accent (NO NO NO NO!!!). Reserve one cup for biscuit filling.

Add beans and peas, simmer: Prepare biscuits-- Sift flour with butter and salt, cut in butter until fine, combine milk and coloring. Add to flour mixture. Stir until moist;knead on floured board 12 times. Roll to12 x 9 inch rectangle.

Combine olives, almonds and reserved meat, Spread over dough,roll up starting with 12 inch side,cut into one inch pieces. Place meat mixture in 12 x 8 or 11 round baking dish. Top with biscuits. Bake at 425 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes.

Canned bickies: Roll out each one, fill with meat mixture, roll up, cut in half pop on top of meat mixture in your baking dish, makes 12 biscuits, bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.

Husbands review: He ate it RIGHT OUT OF THE OVEN. Declared it delicious! He looks forward to having some tomorrow when it has had a chance to cool and ever so gently thicken up.

So do any of my siblings remember eating this dish? And if you did, did you like it?

Sunday!

First Sunday off in many many years.   Only missed the first fifteen minutes.  Piece on Renee' Magritte, touted as the best modern artist, very quirky stuff but enjoyable.  Now all the techies I am related to may ask how come I did not record the show?  All the VCR's finally died.   Never did get a thingummy from our cable provider, so laziness and I figured half of the show would be puff pieces from the network.

Breakfast was English muffin, piece of bacon, hot chocolate and a bunch of delicious medications. Yummy!

Unlike my sister, I am performing household tasks today as I baked cookies yesterday.  

Watched Avatar, again. Go Jake! Stupidest mineral name in the universe ...Unobtainium.

Also have stumbled recently over Burning Man 2013.   Well I watched some videos from 2012, fascinating.   Several thousand people pay fairly significant folding green to camp out in the Nevada desert for art's sakes, then they burn something large and wooden at the end of several days of dancing, singing, imbibing of probably illegal substances.   Lots of supple young things.   Lots of mechanical vehicles, some spectacular statuary.  The theme this year was Cargo Cult.  uh.....didn't actually see a lot that however it was colorful.  

Must rest....

I can haz retirement....

I don't work here anymore as of about 9:30 a.m.
 
It is now more or less official.  Got to work this morning and there was a big fat email sitting there. I opened it and decided that my services and presence were no longer required.  I chatted with HR and let the nice lady know that today was my last day. I chatted with the bookkeeper and asked her to mail my checks to my house.

I had discussed this possibility with husband so he was not entirely surprised and suggested going out for a therapeutic lunch, ooh maybe later okay?

Now I must deal with part B Medicare, Medigap insurance and signing up husband for Obama care.   yeesh.

So far retirement has been pretty exciting.  See ya!

Breakfast on Friday and other reflections

Well happy Friday boys and girls!  I decided to repeat my croissant and grilled banana from last week, butter, Splenda, Lemon Juice and cup of Constant Comment tea and a variety of morning medications. Yummy! Ah that's the life.

It has recently been brought to my attention that I can easily be replaced by three 22 year olds.  When you do the math it is fairly scary.  So I am contemplating my navel and reviewing my options.  I have rather decided that a bricks and mortar book store is a bit too expensive at this point,so I may try selling some online.  Second point is that my darn blood pressure is going through the roof probably from a combination of boss induced stress and the aging process.  Dang!  Am tinkering with changing meds and so far nuthin'. Since I haven't had a real vacation in two years or so, I may take off until New Years to see how things settle out. Or not.....  Bye for now!!
  

Littler cottage in the hood.

I noticed that the owner has been carefully working on the smaller structure behindish the slightly larger cottage. Matching mint green paint.  That will look very pretty when it's done.   I think some of the former family actually lived in the garage sized building. 

Dropped into the glasses place today, got home and there was a message from them asking how my new glasses were doing.

So, I decided to drop in.  My glasses are just fine except for when I lie in bed and read.  I noticed that the bit that goes over the ears sits every so slightly proud from the back side of my skull.  This then scritches against the pillow which I find annoying.

So the lady gently warmed them up and straightened them out a bit. I will test them later tonight as I fire up the Kindle to read sumpin' sumpin.... or play slots. 

I am truly thankful.

Slightly different tamale pie

Since purchasing a couple bags of cornbread stuffing I decided to use one bag in my tamale pie recipe.  Hmph! 

As it turns out, there was no net savings in time involved, prep time about the same.

Roast three peppers, 20 minutes.
Saute chopped onion, chop strips of breakfast style beef, open can of whole olives and slice in half to check for pits, open can of tomatoes.  Simmer 30 minutes, put in 8 ounces of ricotta cheese, chop roasted peppers, open bag of cornbread mix in a VERY LARGE BOWL, add slightly cooled mixture of meat and veg.  Pour into suitable sized casserole dishes, 350 degree oven for 45 minutes, top with frozen onion rings, for another 20 minutes. 

You can eat it hot, you can cool it off and eat it cooler.  Got two bunches out of this and will pop a well wrapped one into the freezer. Very tasty!  One of the peppers was a largish jalapeno and gave the dish a bit of a kick. Yummy!!

HBDTM, HBDTM, HBDDR, HBDTM!!!

Oh Yummy! This is a picture of a Lady Baltimore Cake.  There was a bakery in Novato that sold these things in the 60's, and one would be purchased for various celebrations.  It consists of layers of light yellow cake, the layers were usually spread with lemon curd and bananas laid on top of that. Frosting was whipped cream with strawberries on top.  and there might even be some plastic dingus on top. Do Not Consume the dingus. Delish! No idea if I would even FIND one to purchase around here and having read the recipe,I would rather find one ready made.

Okay,today we are going out to our favorite Italian place to celebrate the day.  The place has been remodeled. They took out the gorgeous 500 gallon aquarium to put in 500 square feet more of tables.

Also in the local news, our facility has chosen to purchase Cerner HIS/EHR! Whee.  If all goes well over the next six months we will qualify for meaningful use and get money from the govmint for doing so.  I can hardly wait for all filing to go away, all squabbling over multiple requests for the same charts.  All of the sheer manual drudgery will go away. There will be a new learning curve.  Yeah!!

Does the Rose Bowl parade people know about this one?

Husband forwarded me pictures of a parade from Holland from the home town of Vincent Van Gogh.
These floats are made entirely of DAHLIAS!!!  They have been having this parade since 1936.

If you blow up the picture there is  website to visit.
I liked this one best but there was a clutch of surreal giraffes resembling a Medusa, a tigress and cubs,  a stylistic rhino,  A very realistic dairy cow who had a diorama of a dairy farm in side her. 

I'm wondering if these folks have ever thought of entering the Rose bowl parade.  They would certainly be contenders for any sort of international float competition.  Only thing is,  are Dahlia's available in late December? 

Also in the home front, it is Friday, washing cloths, changing the bed, baking corn bread stuffing and considering a tomato, avocado salad a bit later. 

Medical front:  Upped the BP med dosage, need to get more exercise...sigh...

Work proceeds beyond busy,  but we are closing in in a vendor for the electronic health record.   Just imagine, no more chart assembly, no more hunting down of charts, no more copying chart by hand for release of information.  There will be other tasks I am sure and I look forward to playing with new toys.

Luncheon

We ran away to Freddy's today and of course that means we eat at Kum Yon.  Husband loves the Tofu, Mushroom, Broccoli dish.  I like the Lemon chicken. Today he asked for extra sauce.  Yep, they delivered with double sauce and an over flow dish on the bottom.  Yummy!  Husband came close to over dosing on the sauce.  Good work!

woikin'

Mama Mia!  It has been insanely busy at work,no time for falling asleep in the files.

The other transcriptionist is on VACA this past week and while Kat outsourced as much as possible, my posterior was considerably flattened after a long week of progress notes, histories and physicals and x-rays.  Also last night it was obvious that I would not complete the last ten x-ray reports before it was time to punch out so Kat authorize some OT.
And THEN at7:30 last night JUST before Project Runway's runway, got called in to do a discharge transfer.  I'll catch it on re-run next week.  Oh and NEXT week the very uber busy clerk is on VACA and I would like to know who is going to answer the phones on Monday.  Oh yeah...me.  Won't get much done that day. 

Husband went shoppin'

Got a call at work.   We drove downtown to where husband took his dress jacket to get the sleeves altered. The lady had this old 30's waterfall armoire for sale.  Sold!  I have to somehow shoehorn this next to my bed.  This will wait until I get said corner vacated as it is currently occupied with several boxes of Christmas Ornaments....can you say storage? I am thrilled, thanks for shopping, Darling Man!!

Annual Kiwanis City Wide Yard Sale

I didn't take my camera so I 'jacked this from the web and must give props this is White Mountain Jig Saw Puzzles.

So we went armed with bags, large hats and a keen eye for a close parking space.

There were over a hundred vendors to browse amongst, sorry Gale no wooden crutches, saw some aluminum ones and passed on those

I purchased a "Double Pashmina" for 15 bucks,made in China teal and gold, nice. I also purchased a very nice antique porcelain lamp, you know the kind grandma used to have(Or maybe I imagined it) of a couple dancing in costume of times long ago, made in Germany, says so on the back.

The hubs found several kitty items, a cute kitty flower pot, black and white salt & pepper shakers, a kitty music box, an American Folk Art kitty picture, a small kitty wearing ice skates.

We were out of there in under two hours and fortunately the very large red truck blocking access to the road had left the premises! Let's boogie!
So home basking in the cool of the house.

Here is the latest installment of the bungalow paint job. How nice!  The sides I can see are now painted a lovely mint green.  I don't normally drive west on this street I routinely back out in the morning and head for work. 

The last time I backed out headed west I accidentally scraped my neighbors big old truck and had to replace the quarter panel and due to a pesky unripe cataract, my depth perception has gone straight to Heck in a Hand basket,so gimme room people.

Anyway back to the sides house.  Yeah, we left the house going west and the west side has a few boards painted white.   Reminds me of a book I read as a youngster,  "Stranger In A Strange Land" by Robert A. Heinlien (Grok that).   One of the characters, Anne, was a professional witness. When she put on her robes, she was ready to witness.  And she would have stated, "The house has two wall that are painted light green."  She could not state what color the other walls were even if she saw them because the color might change logically speaking.  Within the context of the story the Witness was a binding instrument in all sorts of legal issues. 

Makes sense, it is well known that eye witnesses do not always see exactly what happened at a crime scene, accident etc.  For instance the recent plane crash in San Francisco.  Many people said the plane cart wheeled when in fact the video shows the plane flaring up and rotating almost all the way around before coming down facing the end of the runway.

Now for something a little different...

You may have to click on these to get a better picture but they are some of my left over Barrow bus tokens.  Yes, Barrow had a very nice public transportation while I was there, they would stop if you stopped and hand over a token and you could ride all over town.  At any rate there about 15 of them.  Being the fascinating artifacts that they are I think they deserve to be on a belly dancing costume or at least get made into a bracelet or anklet. 

One of my friends makes jewelery and her daughter is learning to Belly dance, so Amanda, get all dressed up, wear these well traveled tokens and dance your little toes off.  And would you friend me?   Face book cannot find you, I know you are out there.

Little house on the block

The paint job on the little house is coming right along. The painter's technique is slow and careful.  He scrapes each board, paints each board white and then paints each board minty green.  Nice.

I watched 12th season of Project Runway last night.  They have a few extra twists this season.  Tim Gunn gets a vote to be used only once.  If he thinks the judges have sent some one home that should stay,Tim can bring them back.

The cast is the usual 16 designers.  I like to see the various looks.  One of the characters is a young man who is all about sustainability.  He told the make up person that no product could be used on his model.
And he rehearsed with his model so that she would act out a little vignette as she walked the run way.  After she heard that she did not get make up, she stomped the runway and did not act out the rehearsed vignette.  She also went barefoot, HE wore the snappy strappy jeweled heels, my dear.  Interesting character but can he deliver a design?

The first challenge was the unconventional materials challenge. They were taken to a small airport and 16 divers jumped out and the designers had to use the parachute silk to make their designs.  It actually turned out pretty cool.  I look forward to this on Thursdays.  Yay!!

Paint job and other topics

Please note the neighbor is painting the little bungalow what appears to be a gray green tint and he has uncovered the lovely little diamond window at the top of the wall. Nice work.

Duh book review.   We recently had a very nice book sale at work. I purchased on impulse I might add "Cloud Atlas" By David Mitchell.   I picked it up because of the movie trailers I have seen and for NO OTHER REASON.

This is the kind of book my professor in college would have had the class read and critique.

Without sounding like too much of a dumb ass here goes.  There are ten chapters, at least three of them are named the same.   My personal test has always been how captivated am I by the first sentence? "Beyond the Indian hamlet,upon a forlorn strand, I happened up a trail of recent foot prints."
1.  I do not care for first person narrative.
2.  Who is he looking for, My Man Friday?  Nope human teeth consumed by cannibals.  ew.


It natters on and on until we come to this chapter:

"Sloosha's Crossin' An' Ev'rthin" after.

First sentence:  Old Georgie's path an' mine crossed more times'n I'm comfy mem'ryin, an' after I'm died, no sayin' what that fangy devil won't try an' do to me.....gimme some mutton an' I'll tell you 'bout our first meetin'. a fat joocesom slice, nay, none o' your burnt wafery off'rin's....

Hmph.   Sounds like English, maybe Hill Folk English in about 500 year after civilization as we know it fails.

So basically this is 500 pages of very colorful yet not tempting enough to wade through thoroughly not even if I were being paid.

The reviews on the back page shed little light regarding plot other than "The result is brilliantly original fiction that reveals how disparate people connect, how their fates intertwine, and how their souls drift like clouds across the sky".

Hmmm sure sounds like Pullet Surprise to me.

ANOTHER DELAYED MOVIE REVIEW

I accidentally watched "Red" (Retired Extremely Dangerous) tonight.  It is Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Helen Murrin, Um Malkovich and this fellow above, Karl Urban. Sqinch yer eyes a bit and he morphs into "Bones" From Star Trek. Yepper's, however,he only had to look very intense with a bit of scar tissue and um lots of shooting.  Apparently there is a Red II coming up soon.   I woulda thought we'd run outta bullets. 

ER somewhat late Movie review

I have not willingly attended a movie theater for some years given that I have never enjoyed wading through the debris of the former seat occupants.

So my entertainment viewing usually consists of channel surfing and arriving at the almost beginning of such a film and thinking that this might be worth viewing.  Settled and watched last night...yawn.

An so 2007 Live Free and Die Hard.  Bruce has held up very well since Nakatami Tower.  His task in this film is to bring a computer geek to the FBI while a super villain (extremely good looking) is bringing down the infrastructure of the USA because, well he can and there is all the money ever owned by the USA as well being taken into his account, um which apparently is hack proof.

Anyway 90 minutes later Bruce has shot a few people, been shot and even shoots himself through his own shoulder to take out the bad guy who has him in a choke hold.  OH and lots of spectacular explosions, he even manages to bring down an F35, did not know they could hover. How long does that last before fuel runs out or Bruce Willis tricks the pilot into ejecting? 

I was reading where the last film 2015 set in Tokyo will be his last film before he retires.   Will there be any good looking bad guys with a taste for butt kicking chics left by then? Dunno.

RUN......it's its a Book Review....

Alrighty then, "Roses in Moonlight" by Lynn Kurland. This is one of her time-travel romances that started with "A Dance Through Time".  Lovely.  Start with that one and enjoy the history along the way.

Derrick Cameron and Samantha Drummond.  They don't know it but they have common ancestors back around 1602 or so.

She is 26, living a very sheltered well educated life with her mother who is manic 24/7 and her Shakespearan actor father, very self absorbed. Her siblings have managed to escape the clutches of the parents.  Samantha's older brother sends her a ticket to London to housesit for some people. She happily flies to London.

Derrick is 32, owns Cameron Antiquities and finds missing/stolen antiquities.  He is cynical and is finally becoming really really tired of crooks.

Enter Samantha. She is tasked to deliver some Victoria embroidery to someone in London. Derrick follows here because he is certain she has a piece of Elizabethan lace.

The tale becomes bit more involved.   Samantha's luggage has been salted with the Elizabethan lace AND some priceless antigue diamonds. WTF? where and how did those get in the purse?

A accidental trip through a mushroom ring lands here in 1602 England, she can tell mostly from the smell of sewage in the streets.

Eventually Derrick discoveres she is not a thief but quite a bit more than she looks....and Samantha finds that she likes Derrick.  There is a bit of time travel to return diamonds and rescue their mutual ancestor from The Tower of London etc.

All ends well, and there is not even a HINT of any of the other main characters going off on a time travel jaunt. Well except for Granny Mary.