Food vs Weather

It's strange - every time the weather gets severe, particularly during the winter months, we seem to turn to food.  Well "turn" may not be the right word to use here but, in our house, here on the mountain, we do a lot of cooking.  My wife is a particularly good cook and I might seem a little prejudicial but I've been eating her meals for going on 48 years now.  I've seen them evolve from throw-away to freeze and eat again as leftovers.  She just seems to have the knack for putting things together or following a recipe that turns out right.  She's cultivated menus from our overseas tours and a lot right here in the good ole US of A, mostly southern I might add.  Anyway - today was another cold wintry day, with temps in the 20's, so we felt like making hot, oven baked bread.  So we did:

We made these two loaves, which is enough to hold us for about a week or so. This is the picture of them going into the oven for a spell of baking.  Since we were having lasagna for supper we decided to have some with our meal, even though it wasn't Italian with garlic.

 It had a real good texture, relatively soft crust and was sooooooooo good, especially sopping up the tomato sauce.  I can remember my Mom making bread, rolls and tea rings one Wednesday each month that lasted our family of seven about 2 days.  The guys on my track team and I used to run about an eighth of a mile to my house then around back to the porch where Mom would have buttered hot rolls waiting for us at about 1000AM.  Wow - what a memory and this bread brings it all back.  Wonder if they remember it as well as I do??
  Cathy finally got her disability approved through Social Security but not until after a lawyer and a fight.  Believe this - we fought with them for 5 years over $60 a month more on her monthly social security payment.  Admittedly  the payments went back to 2010 when she first applied for the disability but - come on now - $60 a month?????   Some might ask why we persisted in pursuing this even when we knew the payment was so small and I'll tell ya that it's the principal of the thing.  Social Security apparently automatically disapproves all disability applications, unless they're based on life termination illnesses.  They even turned us down on two subsequent appeals but finally saw the light when we got a lawyer.  Actually he helped us better organize and present our case to them and it wound up with Cathy appearing with her council before an Administrative Judge who heard the case and requested further outside opinions.  Anyway - it went in Cathy's favor and we're happy.  Our lawyer didn't get much by way of income from this case but in his words - if someone doesn't represent the lower claims, who will.  He said that there are a large number of claims exactly like ours in this county but most people just give up fighting against the "system."  I fully understand the attitude but refuse to give in to it.  Anyway - we're both relatively healthy with the normal aches and pains (Cathy has a few more than I do because of her replacement surgeries) and we're trying our best.  What the hell, life only comes around once - that I know of - and you'd better enjoy it while you can.  Age has a way of taking enjoyment away from you oooooooh so slowly.  Okay - time to lighten up

 

Found this guy sitting outside my back window this morning.  He's a little puffed up to keep warm but at least the snow is melting today.  It's supposed to warm somewhat for the next couple of days then head back down the hill into the teen and twentys.  Hey - we wanted four seasons - well we almost got it.  It goes from winter straight into summer then fall and back to winter.  Kinda wondering what the next few years of change will bring - maybe fall will disappear and we'll be back to two seasons, summer and winter - just like Florida!!!!  

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. 

Man-O-Man It's almost August

So much has happened since my last post in May. Cathy started her in-home physical therapy and has shown remarkable progress.  Her therapist, Craig, seems to be amazed that we are so dedicated to getting her back to normal by doing the exercises religiously, even when he isn't here.  Of course there's pain but there always is when you're reconditioning repaired tissue.  At any rate, she's up and around so much better than before surgery and is really trucking on.  I wouldn't be surprised if she starts washing her own hair in a week or so.

As usual, with this season of the year, canning is high on the list.  However, firstly I went out and picked a few gallon of blackberries for the freezer and took a gallon to Cathy's orthopedic doctor's receptionists.  They seemed quite pleased to get them and, being country girls, they knew what to do with them as well.  Next we put away a bushel of North Carolina peaches and expect to get some more for canning.  We eat of lot of peaches in the winter, especially with our granola yogurt breakfasts.  Then we got about a quarter bushel of rattlesnake beans from our neighbors, Joe and Jan, and canned them. Joe also brought down about a half bushel of corn and a Cushaw squash. that big thing  I'm holding.  It weighed 16 and a half pounds.  Basically they treat them like a water melon or garden squash.  You can eat it raw, including the seeds, bake or fry it, make it into bread or you can use it just like a pumpkin and make a pie.  Ain't never had one but we're gonna try it.

You probably noticed another bushel and half or sweet corn in the swing as well.  It has all been canned.   Now were working on canning the tomatoes for salsa, sauce and whole tomatoes.  Of course Joe brought lots of cucumbers, which were immediately turned into pickles, miraculously overnight.  We've gotten a half bushel of green beans to can, along with more tomatoes and beets.  It's interesting that beets are kinda hard to find around here.  Guess no one really likes them but we sure do, whether they're just cooked or pickled.  Thus far we've canned about 30-40 quarts of produce, which will save a lot of money in the winter.  This way we wont have to go to Walmart and get $50 worth of vegetables for $80.  We'll have our own and we'll know who raised them and where and what they have in them.....
Kristy and the grand kids made their annual trek up from Florida and spent almost 2 weeks before heading back.  Hunter, Kristy's youngest and only boy, was really demonstrating what the terrible two's is like.  Kristy says she can't take her eye off him for a second and, NOW, I understand what she means.  He's always exploring and I guess that's what boys do until it gets them into trouble.  I took him for a walk up the mountain road and that walk, combined with his morning activities, resulted in an early nap.

He sleeps like I do - impervious to all around him.  Of course, you can't come to visit grandpa without going arrowhead hunting and this time was no exception.  I took Kristy and Lilly down to the old logging road after a heavy rain.  This was the logging road that the bulldozer left a few weeks back that we were hunting on.

Much to Kristy's chagrin, Lilly found her first arrowhead and it was really nice.  Kristy has hunted every time she comes up but has yet to find a whole one.  Not to be outdone -

I found a point that I was able to classify as Agate Basin from 10,500-8,000 years ago.  I wasn't able to fully identify Lilly's point because there are so many in this area that look similar, however, her material was a red or deep rust color which I have not seen from this area.  And what would a visit to Gpa's be without a few trips out on Dale Hollow Lake.

At this point we're just leaving the marina transiting though the no-wake zone but Hunter is all about the buttons and switches.

Even after we reached our swimming hole, he was still trying to get it started.  Gotta admit, he persistent.  Our friend Bob and his grandson joined us in Bob's pontoon and tied up alongside for an afternoon of cool adventure.

Things have kinda settled down for now but in a couple of weeks, actually next week the 30th, our oldest daughter, Lisa and her son, Channing will be visiting for 10 days.  We haven't seen them since 2009 - so Channing will have grown a lot since then.
Cathy wanted some roses for the front of the house so we picked up some Knock-out roses when we were in Lowes a few weeks ago.

Surprisingly, they're thriving and they really look good right next to the Azalea's.  Wonder which will overtake the other first - my money is on the Azalea's.  Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.  Maybe when things return to a normal pace, I'll finally be able to blog regularly.