Musings

A product of contemplation; a thought. "an elegant tapestry of quotations,
musings, aphorisms, and autobiographical reflections" (James Atlas).

Well.....today I am musing about a few things, my musings hardly qualify as an elegant tapestry of quotations, however, let us begin.

Taxes -- normally this time of year I usually have my refund back already,  However, for some reason I could not find a working printer anywhere in this house.   After having gathered all pertinent forms I set them carefully aside and Husband and I went to Staples and chose an HP 6000 printer that came with all the bells and whistles. I did NOT set it up for faxes because I did not wish to mess with it.   Hooked up all the gadgets and celebrated that EVERY thing worked!

Plugged in Turbo Tax CD and fired that up. Spent about 3 hours making sure I answered all the questions correctly.  End results. Uncle Sam giveth and Oregon taketh away.   Drat!  But my main concern had been paying a whole whopping wad of folding green to the Feds because I busted open a 401K to pay for Sunroom fix, sun room roof fix, whole house paint job, various window type repairs as well as the sewer disaster, the storm gutters, the hot water heater replacement and just to make it even more perfect a replacement freezer.  But no, enough taxes had been withheld so we squeaked by.

Yay!

Made some French Toast out of bagels this morning, tasty,  It would have been quicker just to toast them and dip daintily into syrup. Erp....

We have been incredibly busy at work; December discharges were around 50, January discharges were 76!  We have finally rolled over to a new transcription server which allows us to send jobs to the parent company who hands them out to their crew to type.  The census had varied wildly in the past few weeks, we have older sicker patients being admitted due to our new physician on staff.   Job security. 

I have family moving to Hawaii on March 1.   I am saving up now for the air plane tickets to go visit, but am pretty sure I would like to go when it is not summer.   Um, field ripened pineapples. 

Aloha nui nui

HOME MADE CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP

When we were children, my mother would feed us a variety of proteins, fried chicken was one of them.  However she always saved the necks and backs to boil up to go into chicken noodle soup.   The noodles were another story.  She would pour flour onto the bread board, make a hole and throw in a couple of eggs, this got mixed together and then rolled out flat, rolled up and sliced into noodles. The noodles were invariably dried on newspaper on the beds for at least a full day.   For years we thought that was where noodles came from.

Next step throw frozen chicken parts into a pot, boil until bones come out, remove bones, return chicken to pot, bring to boil, throw in dried noodles.  Add salt liberally. We thought this was wonderful especially the day after it would get all thick and yummy.

My version, comes from left over baked chicken,which makes a fairly clear broth and does not thicken quite so well. My noodles as illustrated above are mixed in a bowl, rolled out on a floured board,sliced and dried briefly,then tossed into the boiling pot of chicken, cook 6 minutes, throw in half package of frozen peas, turn off heat. Serve in soup bowl, sprinkle with Parmesan.  Utilize spoon.  So good on a cold winter day.  Enjoy!

Tater

It seems appropriate to cook potatoes two ways in memory of Uncle Tater. He passed away a couple days ago, he was 90, suffering from dementia and pneumonia and during one of his lucid moments, angry that Fern had died before him.  (told second hand from Aunt Ollie).

Tater's name was actually Clayton but my mother, the baby of the family, could not pronounce Clayton,it came out "Tayton" and evolved into Tater.  Tater it was for 90 years.  

I remember visiting with Grandma Horn years ago and she had kept the telegraph's from the War Department informing the family that he had been wounded and I read them. He spent his recovery in England and did not grow to appreciate English food.   Part of his service involving going into one of the death camps.  I cannot imagine a more horrible thing to have witnessed.

I also remember seeing a Cowboy calendar that featured both Tater and his brother Ralph, the genuine article all dressed up in working cowboy gear and saddled horses. I hope someone in the Horn family still has that calendar. 

I have already told the Porcupine Liver story several times and you can search my blog to read it again if you wish.  

Tater had a sly sense of humor, I was visiting in Emmett one time and the Horn's were visiting. Tater greeted me and said, "Looks like you wintered up pretty good". 
....sigh....what are you gonna do?

Tater and Fern are together now, looking for a country dance and it will be a contest between Mom and Dad who are already waiting and have cleared the dance floor with a quick boogie.  

God Bless everyone.