Back to the unpredictable weather

We've been having typical wintery cold nights but above seasonal daytime temps.  Today it was around 47.  It only took a couple days of warmer weather and some rain to mostly clear the 13" snowfall we had on the ground.  Almost all the roofs are clear of snow.  The ground is totally saturated and super soft.  The runoff from the melting snow will continue for another couple of weeks.  Wolf River is running very high right now and Dry Creek is everything but dry.  Now would be a terrific time to be out hunting arrowheads but it's just sooooo muddy.  I guess I'm a fair weather hunter.  Anyway - to break up the cabin fever and monotony of doing nothing - Cathy decides it's time we try to make some donuts again.  We have a recipe book from my hometown.  We got it when we went back to Kinmundy, Illinois for my Mom's funeral.  The book title is "Cooking With Love & Memories" and it consists of recipes from family members and friends of the Kinmundy Christian Church, copyrighted 2002.  Anyway, a very dear friend of my Mom, Eleanor Tate had a donut recipe that was "to kill for" and it was listed in the book.  So we tried it.

I gotta tell ya - ya can't eat just one.  I remember Eleanor's donuts were always the best I had ever had, including Dunkin Donuts and Crispy Creme.   Cathy decided to make only half the recipe because we're supposed to be watching our weight (heh heh).  That half recipe made 3 dozen donuts which should last me about 2 days - lets see half dozen before breakfast with coffee, munchies throughout the day and about half dozen before bed with coffee - yup that'll just about do it. 

There probably should be a law against these things but, as Andy Griffith used to say "boy are they goooooooood!!!"  Thanks Eleanor for including your recipe in the book.  Anybody who knows Eleanor, knows about her donuts.  And the really amazing thing is it took only about 1 hour to make them.  We already made two loaves of bread so that should be all the baking for awhile.  Wonder what's next.....

And It's A New Day!!!!

It was 19 degrees when I got up this morning but the sun was coming up over the horizon and it was a beautiful, crisp winter morning.

 The sky was clear and really blue.  As the sun got higher you could see the ice that had settled on the trees on the top of our mountain.
 

When I first opened our front door i found the neighbors pony had taken up (temporary - I hope) residence.  He was standing at the end of the porch looking out.  Poor little guy was covered with ice and snow but didn't seem any the worse for wear.  A bit later Brian Cook, a neighbor from down the road, showed up with his tractor and plowed out the driveway all the way down passed the front of our vehicles.  I thanked him profusely and he told me that the county had plowed the roads with a grader but had plowed all the driveways shut so he was clearing them out.  This is a super community and we look out for each other.  If Brian hadn't plowed me out, I'd be waiting til late Monday or Tuesday before I could get out of my driveway.  I guess we really dodged another bullet with the ice accumulation.  We only lost one pine tree that couldn't stand the strain and broke over.  So far the roads are drying out and hopefully it will continue as the temps tomorrow are supposed to be in the 50's.  What crazy weather we're having these days!!??!!

Well now - ain't this the pits!!

Must be another one of those "Storms of the century" like everyone was talking about a couple of years ago. You can see the main blog photo and compare it with this one:

The main pic was taken on the 20th, just after our first snowfall of this winter.  Then yesterday it started snowing in the morning and is continuing even now.  There's about 13" on the ground now.

I took this photo yesterday evening and it has been snowing all night.

The pines in the top photo show the snowfall as of yesterday morning and the bottom pic was taken this morning.  I'm a little worried about the shed roof.  Even though I reinforced the original hand made trusses - i'm not sure they'll handle this  much weight.  Guess we'll see.  Can't even move the truck because it just pushes the snow into a pile in front and bogs down.  We'll be here for a couple of days till this stuff starts to melt - should be starting on Monday when the temps go up. 

It's always something!!!

Woke up the other morning and this critter was looking at me from my front yard.  The morning before that it was a herd of cows.  Oh, well!  At least I don't have to shoot anything - yet.  This little pony belongs to my neighbors grandson.  They can't seem to keep him fenced in.  He won't do any damage but I do worry about him being on the road and getting hit.  We had had a real heavy frost and he was sauntering around looking for more of that green stuff.

Woke up this morning to this.  Don't know where that white stuff came from.  It's been in the high 50's and low 60's for the past week.  Now all of a sudden Old Man Winter pokes his head out of the hole and it's below zero and high in the mid 30's.  Like I said, it's always something.  We were supposed to go to Cookeville, which is an hour drive, so I could get some dental work done.  I walked out to the end of the driveway and there were no tracks on the main road and that was around 8AM.  That means that the roads are unsafe and everyone is staying in.  We have a treacherous switchback below the house and once you start down that hill you can't stop on a road like this but you can slide off the side of the mountain.  Nyet.  Not today.  We'll hunker down and wait for the snow to melt but it looks like it'll be a couple of days.  They're predicting .1 inch of ice tonight and that just might take down our power lines.  Regardless - we'll just wait it out.

WOW - AIN'T HEERED FROM YA IN A COON'S AGE

That's probably what this blog has been saying about me.  Well - I'm gett'n my crap together and intend to make an entry.  It'll probably be rather lengthy to start with just to get me caught up from August 2015.  Don't worry - I'll try to keep it interesting.  Back at ya in a bit-----

It's only fitting to start with the most beautiful and meaningful photo I've taken recently.  This was taken off our back porch looking East into Kentucky just after an August shower.  So - to kinda catch things up since Kristy's visit early July, we had a visit from our other and oldest child, Lisa and our grandson Channing, from West Virginia.

  That saddle isn't usually there, I just got it out for Channing to play on as he's gonna be a cowboy someday.  We spent a lot of time out on the boat and, in general, just lounged around.

Our summer quieted down after Lisa and Channing left and we turned to all the things we usually do during our summers - canning, out on the lake, lounging around, out on the lake, entertaining our friends, out on the lake.  You get the picture.  Anyway - Cathy had had her right shoulder replaced in April 2015 and has recovered quite well.  Now her left hip is bothering her.  Went to her orthopedic surgeon for a look see and he said he was surprised it took her this long to start feeling the pain.  He reminded her that in 2012 he had told her that both her hips were in bad shape because of arthritis and osteoporosis and he replaced the worst one, the right hip.  So now we're trying to see how long it will be before this one has to be replaced.  Cathy has been dealing with the discomfort of this degenerative disease since the 1990's but it really started becoming painful and disabling in 2004.  She had to finally quit working in 2010 because even use of her hands and lower back were causing pain.  She had applied for a disability in Sep 2010 and was immediately turned down.  We appealed the denial but got shot down again - so we got a lawyer.  He has been working with this case for several years and Cathy finally got a hearing with the Administrative Judge that decides the cases for Social Security.  When she and her lawyer left the hearing, they were both disappointed that the judge was going to get an outside opinion before he made his final decision.  Well, low and behold, I checked the mail this morning (Sunday - cause I didn't check on Saturday) and we have a letter from the Judge finding in Cathy's favor.  Talk about a surprise.  Cathy and I had both given up on ever hearing anything further on her case.  You see - miracles do happen - even when judges are involved.

In October Cathy and I headed to Florida to attend the 1st birthday party for Kai, our other grandson.  This is Stephen and Lisa's son.

 That's Lisa with Kai in their Kitchen.  He's getting a bite to eat and I think she's feeding him some of Grandma's canned green beans.  

He's a chip off the old block.  Cathy had always teased Stephen about giving her some little slanty-eyed grand children and now she has one.  He's a cutie and everyone just loves him, including his Grandma and Grandpa Elston.

That' Stephen in the backward hat helping Kai open his birthday presents.  You'd think an Elston kid would not need help opening gifts but Kai is more interested in the colorful paper and boxes


So - onto the blog saga.  We went to my sister Diane's for Thanksgiving.  She lives in Illinois with her son Robert.  It's about a 7 hour drive from here.

We had a relaxing and very enjoyable Thanksgiving. 

That's Robert in the middle.  He definitely is not a little guy but he is one of the most mature, mild mannered young men that it's been my privilege to know.  Diane - ya done good!!  She and Cathy have always been close, ever since Cathy and I went home for a visit in 1967 before we got married.

Ain't they cute!!?!!
Unfortunately the holidays did not pass without a dark cloud.  Cathy and I had hardly been home from Illinois a week when we got a call from Diane telling us that our sister, PJ had died.  PJ had been having some long standing medial issues.  Anyway - Cathy and I headed back to Illinois to help with arrangements.  Needless to say it dampened our spirits considerably.  But life goes on, yes...

We decorated like we always do but with fewer presents.  This year we spent our Christmas at home alone.  We enjoyed each other and the peace and quiet here on the mountain.  The unseasonably warm weather kinda put the Christmas mood at bay.  We're used to seeing some pretty cold weather, if not snow around this time of year but not yet.  It's had been in the 60's for crying out loud.  But warm weather or no, Christmas came and went and now it's freezing out there.  Today it was 8 degrees when I got up and it only got up to 31 during the day.  Like they say - ya gotta be careful what you wish for - ya may just get it...

About four months ago our friends from North Carolina were in Tennessee.  Bob wanted me to make him a leather wallet and he ordered the kit from Tandy Leather while he was here.  I've been tooling leather since 1965 but it's something I keep as a hobby rather than try to make money at it, then it would be more like work.  I only work with the leather when I'm in the mood otherwise you can very quickly ruin an expensive piece of leather.  Since Bob had been both a Senior Chief (E-8) and a Warrant Officer while he was in the Navy, I decided to put the Senior Chief anchor and WO shield on his wallet by way of personalizing it for him.

This is what I came up with.  The leather was originally a very light tan color which is tanned especially for tooling.  After I finished tooling the design into the leather - I used an antiquing dye to darken the leather and help the design standout.  I still have to finish out the inside pockets and lace it up before it's done - but you get the idea.  I also finished another leather project that I'd been wanting to do for a long long time.  It's a miniature saddle that you buy as a kit in pieces and put it together almost like a real saddle.

I left this saddle in it's natural tan color and detailed it after my own personal saddle.  Now I've got to make a saddle tree for it to sit on and I'll put it in the living room to become another dust collector that Cathy loves soooo much.  Ain't I thoughtful    :  )

Well that's about enough for now.  I've kept you long enough and it's getting close to my bed time.  Til next time - hopefully not 6 months either.