As Our Life Goes On

I can hardly wait until those chives bloom again! Come on Spring! Our friend K. stopped by late this afternoon. This set my mind in motion as to what to serve for supper as his visit would go into our supper hour. I grabbed a mushroom and spinach rising crust pizza out of the freezer and sprinkled some of the leftover chicken from last night over the top. It tasted pretty good. There was enough left to send home with him for his wife. His wife was not present when he visited as she does care taking duties for her elderly mother who lives in our city. Care taking is not an easy job when you have an uncooperative person on the other side of your efforts. Take a caretaker to lunch when you can and give them a big hug.

Yesterday I bought a whole Perdue chicken at Walmart. It is the chicken with the yellowish color in the skin.  The chickens are fed marigolds to achieve this coloring. I wanted to try the crock pot recipe for roast chicken. I sprinkled salt, pepper, paprika, parsley and dots of butter on the chicken as directed and then added a couple cloves of garlic as my own touch. One hour on high and 6 or 7 hours on low in the crock pot transformed the bird into a fall off the bone treat. It was moist and flavorful and so tender. The addition of brown rice, baked butternut squash and fruit salad made it a great Sunday dinner. There is a lot of leftover chicken so we may have creamed chicken over biscuits tomorrow.

It has been a Winter of extremes. We have had a record number inches of snow. Not three feet at a time but a continuous string of snowfall and cold weather week after week. We did see the ground for a couple days after the new year started and a few days this month before the latest storm. Now it is going to warm up and another round of extreme weather in the form of heavy rain is on the way. Spring will be very welcome if only for some warmer temperatures.

 Men love sauerkraut salad. I made this dish for supper tonight using a 26 ounce jar of sauerkraut with carrot. It made a large amount. I often take this dish to parties because it is so fast and easy to make. Sauerkraut Salad 1 large jar or can of sauerkraut drained 1/2 to 1 cup sugar diced onions and celery ~~ 1/4 cup or so of each Mix together and let it sit in the refrigerator for a few hours.  I usually use only 1/2 cup of sugar because it seems too sweet using 1 cup though many recipes for this dish call for that much. It is a great topper for hot dogs or burgers. It can also be heated or fried in some olive oil and used as a hot dish.

Banana bread is best when it is hot and just out of the oven. Some honey or butter on the slice makes it a tasty treat in the middle of a cold afternoon. Those black skinned bananas that were sitting on the counter were put to good use today. I had some real butter and used brown sugar and 1 cup of chopped walnuts so it tastes even better. BANANA BREAD 1/2 cup butter or margarine 1 cup sugar 2 eggs 3 ripe bananas (mashed) 2 cups all purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 2 Tablespoons of buttermilk 1/2 cup chopped nuts. Cream the butter and sugar. Add the other ingredients and Mix well Pour into greased loaf pan Bake in oven at 325 degrees F. for 50 minutes or until firm on the top. YUMMY!

Today was a day used to catch up on chores around the house. Another Winter storm is due to hit tomorrow night and it is expected to add more than a foot of snow to the heavy cover that is already covering the ground. I will try to block that out of my mind until it happens.

We woke up to a heavy snowfall over the ice that fell yesterday. When Mr. Snowplow man walked down the driveway to retrieve the paper he found that the city plows had knocked over our paper box and the mail box which are on opposite sides of the road. Unfortunately Mr Fix-it is still sick. Two rounds of antibiotics have failed to cure him and a trip to the doctor will take place this afternoon. The driveway is not plowed and our mail and paper boxes are broken but he is on the couch feeling quite unwell. The snow is very picturesque but unwelcome right now.

We saw the ground for a couple of days but it is now covered with ice, snow and sleet. We are thankful that we don't live where there are many inches of snow expected but are kind of bummed out that the ground is no longer visible and ice is making walking more difficult again. It makes a very pretty scene but one that we are getting tired of.

This pair of Canadian Geese were reaffirming bonds and taking a noisy walk on the ice. We also took a walk around the yard. I don't think we were quite as loud. There is a lot of brush down in the yard from the windy day yesterday so we picked it up as we walked. It was hard for me to make it back up the hill after going down to where the birds were. I need to take a lot more walks to get in shape.

  Most of the snow has melted. There are a few piles of ice by the driveway and some spots in the yard that are very shaded that still retain the snow. The ice on the wet areas behind the house is melting. It was easy to walk around the yard with no snow to walk through but it was very cold and there was a strong wind blowing making it seem so much colder. The sun shone most of the day making it seem a bit nicer than it actually was. I will take a longer walks when the temperatures warm up more than they did today.

The heavy snow cover has kept the daffodils at bay. Usually there are sprouts that can be a few inches high in late January even though it is usually cold. The lack of light kept the bulbs from sprouting until now. Today I found a few patches of the Spring flower peeping through the leaves. A couple days of sunlight was all they needed to show themselves. They will continue to grow now even though more cold weather is coming and perhaps more snow will fall. This is truly a good sign that Spring will be here before too long. My mother had a nice perennial flower garden at our home on Wolcott Avenue in Kent. She had planted a large circle of double daffodils. They were some of the first flowers to show in her garden each year. She called it her "magic circle". I have a few of those fluffy looking daffodils in my yard now. There are no circles. They are just randomly placed all over the property and in the woods behind the house. My youngest sister lives in the house on Wolco

It is so good to see the ground again. The warmer temperatures should melt the rest of the old snow off the ground in the next few days before any new snow falls. It was actually warm enough today to travel to Hartville, Ohio to check out what was being offered at the flea market. There were a few vendors set up in the pavilion and a few in the sunny parking lot next to the large building. We saw some people who we had not seen since last Fall. The only thing that we came away with was a peck bag of apples from a local Ohio orchard. They taste so much better than the apples that can be bought in the store. We look forward to yet warmer weather when hundreds of vendors will have outside setups with lots of interesting merchandise.

It was above 50 degrees today so the 1981 Suburban got a bath. It was just too cold and too snowy before today. It will look nice for a while until the salt residue that is still on the roads flies up onto it. I have actually been able to taste the salt that filters into the heating system of the car as it travels along the road. The roads will have this fine layer of white dust on them until enough rain falls to wash it off to the sides.

After many weeks of not seeing the ground we can at last see small patches of grass in places. We were able to clear the leaves from the drains that border the West side of our foundation. We have drains on 2 sides of our house to keep moisture from leaking into the basement. We have a trench style drain along the back of the house and pipe style along the West style. Both drain down into the wet swampy area below the hill behind the house. These French drains intercept the water and send it away from the house. You can learn more about this type of drain by clicking on the link below. FRENCH DRAINS  

The snow melted quite a bit last night as the temperatures have been staying above freezing. It is slow enough though so that flooding is not a problem. Mr. Plowman continues to cough and feel under the weather even though he just finished his second course of antibiotics. I am not feeding into his energy today though. We went to a Valentine theme party on Saturday. A friend who I had not seen for a while sat beside me as we feasted on the great dishes that showed up at this covered dish party. She wore red for the holiday and she looked vibrant and healthy. As the evening went on she shared the fact that she had been diagnosed with a very serious illness but she has decided to go on living. She said that with a smile. I accepted her upbeat treatment of her condition and did not feed into feeling sorry and we went on talking about happy things. It is difficult to know how people will react to being  seriously ill. I think she is on the right track.

I traveled on the narrow path that has been made to the wood pile and then down a well traveled deer path to get a picture of the action on the bike trail behind our property. It appears that at least one cross country skier braved the deep crusty snow. Skiing on an ungroomed trail can be quite a challenge. There were other tracks that may have been walkers or perhaps deer trying to conserve their energy by taking the path that the skis made. A path of deer tracks crosses the ski tracks where they come across to make their way up into our yard. It was windy so I did not stay in the wooded area for too long lest a weak branch fall on me. A Pileated Woodpecker let out a raucous cry to tell me I was invading its territory. One of the downed branches in our yard seems to be providing food for rabbits or other animals as the bark shows chew marks. The warm sunshine and warmer temperatures made it a good day to soak up some Vitamin D.  It occurred to me that it would be a good day to make

  The weather was warmer and the roads could have and  should have been better for a trip to the thrift stores in Streetsboro today. There was a light dusting of snow on the back road on the way to the the town. By the time I came back home the wind had picked up significantly and the road was drifted in many places making it slippery and dangerous in spots. Goodwill yielded a slightly round bottomed Southwest style pottery piece. It has some dull spots but that doesn't matter to me. A large unsigned and unframed painting had interesting content so it went into my cart also. It has been quite a few days since I ventured up the back road but I was getting cabin fever. It was good to get out and shop around.

When I exited the house this morning the birds seemed to be singing loudly and with more intensity. A robin found its way into our open breezeway door and had to be ushered out. After bonking into the window very hard one time it chose the open door. I think the birds animals have many more senses than we do about the length of the day and what could be coming weather wise. All I see is a heavy snow pack on this cold but sunny day. Several inches of ice have built up on our front steps from the dripping icicles. I do not feel like singing loudly yet.

It was zero degrees this morning and though the sun shone brightly all day the air temperatures reached only into the teens. It seemed colder because of the extensive snow cover. The fact that additional snow has not fallen in the last couple of days is a very good thing. Mr. Plowman started on a new kind of medicine. His first round of antibiotics seemed to do little to help him. He needs lots of rest. We will just count the hours until next week when the temperatures are supposed to top 40 degrees. It will actually feel warm after the very cold weather that we have had. I can see the buds swelling on the trees. Spring will arrive in a couple of months so I will try to think positive thoughts. Flowers, blossoming trees, flea markets, walking in the yard and enjoying a warm day are my positive thoughts for today.

It is the law of supply and demand. It has been a long snow covered Winter and many people feed the birds. When we got to the farm store yesterday we found that the price of the black oil sunflower seed had gone up by slightly over 30%. The bag that we bought will be the last bag that we buy this year. We will put out the cheaper shell corn for feed when we run out of the sunflower seeds. We do enjoy watching the animals but they will be able to find natural feed soon. Warmer temperatures are being forecast and the long lasting snow cover may melt.

The sunshine today did not heat the outside temperature much over 20 degrees but it was nice to see. The afternoon sun that streamed through the dining room window felt warm and comforting. Today was used as a catch up day. Who ever catches up though?

Yea! Russ is feeling somewhat better today. Hopefully he will kick this thing by the end of the week. The cough and runny nose are still with him. I recovered quickly after catching the virus last week with no treatment needed. We did use a lot of facial tissues however. It is interesting that the box is longer than the tissues. There is a big void in the box where there could have been more of the product. I view this as deception of the part of the manufacturer. Like most things that are sold today the size, number or weight has been changed so that we don't get as much for our money. One tissue can barely contain everything that happens with some sneezes and nose blows so you have to use a couple of them. I guess that is the master plan of the makers. We have gone through several of these big boxes of tissues since the virus hit.

 That happy smiling face of my husband seen above is the way I prefer to see him. That smile has not been there for over a week. The doctor prescribed an antibiotic for his respiratory infection that should have had him feeling better in just a few days. Evidently his germs are resistant to the antibiotic medication and he feels no better after a week of treatment. We don't use antibacterial soaps or cleaners in our home. One reason for that is that I am highly allergic to them. The other and more important reason is that they can cause super germs or antibiotic resistant germs to grow. The drug companies are constantly having to develop new drugs to kill the resistant germs. This costs all of us monetarily. The companies that manufacture antibacterial soaps trade on the fear that a dangerous germ might be growing somewhere in our home. Your immune system needs to be exposed to germs so that you can gain resistance to illnesses.

Local weathermen call the precipitation that came down today a wintry mix. The rain, snow sleet mixture quickly covered the roads and added to the ice that is still on the driveway. I always thought that Winter was a pretty season but when the weather makes it more difficult to get where you want to go the prettiness ends and the inconvenience starts. The birds and squirrels anxiously await the filling of the feeders each day. We are running out of feed again. A new supply will have to be bought soon.

Six deer arrived in our yard just after 9AM this morning. It is still bow season in Ohio and they seemed to know that our yard was safe territory. After eating some corn and sunflower seeds they bedded down under the trees that they are standing under in the second picture. They are used to seeing us so they never moved from their spots when we left for the post office. The sun filtered through the boughs to warm them as they conserved their energy and hid from the hunters. After a four hour rest they arose and stretched before leaving. A hawk also visited the bird feeder area looking for unwary birds. The fox squirrel in the bottom picture has a very red fur coat. It is larger than the usual grey and black squirrels that frequently eat at the feeders. The squirrels have buried many seeds in the snow so those will be exposed and ready for consumption when the snow melts. It does not appear that that day will arrive soon.

 It took over an hour and a half to clear the driveway with the small tractor. Mr. Plowman felt compelled to get it cleaned out. It took three time longer than expected because the top and bottom layers were firm sheets and chunks of icy snow that were not easy to move. He came into the house afterward feeling sicker than when he went out to do this. This evening he continues to feel ill. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day.

We can still get out of the other driveway in our Suburban with the 4 wheel drive. Mr. Plowman did just that today in order to get some medical treatment. He should be well enough to hook up the plow in a couple of days. The ice that fell on top of the heavy snow made the driveway even more impossible to clear by hand. They say your first heart attack could be your last so we are not doing anything to the drive until it can be plowed.

A virus or infection of some type has struck the usually vibrant and busy head of the household. An intermittent fever and respiratory distress have kept him from his usual snow clearing activities.  The neighborhood driveways that he usually plows have been cleared by someone else. That is good but our driveway remains full of heavy snow and more snow or ice will be added to that tonight. He plans for an overnight miraculous cure so that he can hook up the plow tomorrow. We will see.