Pink!

My monster attack plant has settled down and is producing  pretty pink blossoms. 

Found this on internet and it may be the same variety of succulent. (pachyphytum)

Well since I have a new one—maybe two!— growing from the original plant, a leaf that fell off, we may see what happens next.

Looking closer I see THREE!

Halloween Creations

Havin' fun now.... Every year I create a few of these. In the past they were better - more colorful, more intricate, more spooky BUT  I still enjoy creating them. These are the last of this year. 

Sentimental Pumpkin

For many years I enjoyed going to the orchard, picking out some gourds and pumpkins and decorating the cabin porch. Now I only put one out there, next to "Henry the Hen", the small orange one.

You see, it is ceramic. It was my mother's. It was given to her at the skilled nursing facility where she spent the last years of her life after a fall, shattering her thigh bone. It was filled with an arrangement of colorful real flowers of the season. Every resident at the facility received one. She decorated hers! After she died, I took it as my own and love how her decoration has lasted and I cherish this special pumpkin! It makes me laugh as it must have made her do the same after her artwork was completed! I find it funny that some things really matter!

This is a happy pumpkin and is loved!

Concoction

A mixture of various ingredients - Yes, that is what I created today. I have been eager to use my new casserole dish. I thought about it and thought about it. I am only one person to eat it, whatever I make, but....

After cooking for my large growing and hungry family for so many years I had to invent meals often with whatever was on hand. This is what I did today.

I had a few small elbow macaroni in a jar; maybe about 1 1/2 cups. I had a small can of chunk white albacore tuna packed in water. I had a can of cream of mushroom soup. I had several packages of freshly blanched and frozen string beans in the freezer. I had milk. I had butter. I had dried parsley, onion powder, paprika, celery salt, black pepper and a final chunk of garden tomato. 

This is what I did: 

I cooked the macaroni and drained it. Then, in a separate bowl I mixed the drained tuna fish into the soup. I took some of the frozen string beans and chopped them into small pieces, then added them into the mixture. Some of the parsley, onion powder, celery salt, and black pepper were incorporated. I put a chunk of butter into the clean casserole dish and zapped it in the microwave for about 20 seconds. I poured the mixture into the dish, added a coating of parmesan cheese and a sprinkle of some milk. Topped it off with some paprika and tomato chunks. Baked it all in my new dish for about an hour at 325°. Then I hit the broil level for about 5! OH MY GOODNESS! SooooGood SooooGood SooooGood SooooGood! Yes I'm still a "foodie." I almost forgot how much fun it is to make up a tasty and nutritious meal.

Before 

Baked

There is a lot left over! Now I know why casseroles are favored for gatherings. I'll have to freeze portions to enjoy at another time. This sure was a success! YUM!

You can't smell it,

You can't taste it,

You CAN see it larger by tapping on image!

Bleak

Donned my hat, gloves, lambswool scarf and jacket with many pockets filled with hankies, and went for a very short buggy ride this morning. I wanted to be sure to get a couple of pictures of the cabin after the lawn guy has blown leaves, cleaned it out a bit and covered the things that need covering. I know he'll return to repeat the leaf blowing and mowing one more time. The peak of color has risen and is gone. Temperature at 11:30am is only 59°. It will be a very long wait for me to see pretty and be warm.  I simply do not like cold. Yes, I know, quit your fussin' and deal with it. You knew it would happen. Well I don't have to like it - NOT AT ALL.

Until next year in April this will be what I  hope to see.

At least until then I can read books by the fire and watch TV and dust a bit. I  can look out and see what is going on. My new eyeglasses help. AND....It's warm in here!

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Back to Work

Several months ago I had purchased a box of frozen Black Angus beef burger patties. There were 8 in the container and each weighed 5.3 oz. I fried two in my new little electric pan and they were tasty but I still had quite a cleanup. I do not like to clean up after cooking now. I have even forsaken use of the big heavy cast iron fry pan because it is simply too heavy for me. It takes too many steps in and out of the cabin to the gas grill on the porch to keep an eye on them. Grilling is out. Oh what to do with the 6 that are left? Six times 5.3 oz. = 31.8 oz. —just about 2 lbs. of frozen meat! Then I remembered that in 2021 I had used the old 1915 Buffton slaw slicer on a nice onion and had frozen the results. When I went looking for that bag, I came across another bag of a chopped red pepper from 2021. Well.......MEATLOAF came to mind! After thawing the patties overnight in a large bowl, I added the onion, red pepper,  two fresh eggs, a sprinkle of garlic powder, a shake or two of parsley flakes and black pepper, some Italian-flavored bread crumbs and a dash of milk. Left out salt on purpose. Hand Mix! Mix! Mix! I lined my ancient aluminum pan with foil and put the meaty concoction in. I pressed down the edges so the juices and fats would have a groove to fill and put it in the 325° oven for about two hours! You should know that the internal temperature has to reach about 160° before meatloaf is considered thoroughly done! After pouring off the liquids, I proceeded to slice this loaf into slices and then froze each one individually. (Had one for lunch.)

While I was enjoying the aroma of a meatloaf baking, I took the last of the Oxheart tomato seeds that had been fermenting for a few days, rinsed them and dumped them on newspaper. It took about 1/2 hour to separate each as an individual with my tweezers and they are in the drying process now. 

It is a good feeling to be productive. (I forgot that I was going to make French onion soup with those onions! Oh well.....

My friend just dropped off some pink and purple Cleome seeds from her garden.

She also saved some pink poppy seeds for my flower garden project next year! Now I have high hopes to see lots of color next summer as I have a good supply of seeds! 

A Memory...(No pots included)

I have posted this memory before but it keeps coming back. I'll use different images this time. It all started when my mother was an only child and animals were her pals.

NATURE RULES!!!!!!!! 

Something you didn't know about me - I have raised and returned to their own habitat, baby squirrels, baby rabbits, baby raccoons, baby groundhogs, baby possums, baby crows, baby owls and more. In fact, the baby squirrels and baby rabbits were put in a clothes basket with my momma cat and she nursed and groomed them along with her own kittens. When they became too playful in the house, I set them free. The squirrels took a long time to adjust to the wild and came, precariously, from the tree to the house on the clothesline, begging for fig newtons (their favorite cookie).

I once looked after oriole peeps in a hanging basket that I pinned on the clothesline, too. It had fallen from a tree when they were very young and I found it on the ground.  I would reel it out to the tree and the mother would feed them. I would reel it in to the house so I could see how they were doing. One day they weren't there. I don't know if they flew or were eaten by hawks. The basket was empty except for many little white mites!

I learned early on that if I let the small kittens outdoors the hawks would swoop one up - drop it to kill it - swoop down, get it and fly away. I saw this happen! At first, I thought the kittens had wandered into the woods and got themselves lost, but I could never hear their cries nor find them. It was very upsetting to me.

I killed the crow with "kindness!" Jester was doing nicely in a large home-made cage. We had a vacation planned to go to the seashore for the weekend and I put a whole ear of field corn in the cage to last him until we returned. Well......when we came home, he was dead, clutching the perch, with the empty corn cob laying nearby. His crop was huge. We figured he pigged out! Of course he didn't have enough grit in his crop to grind up that much hard corn in one sitting!  Lesson learned.

The raccoons were kept in the horse trailer. I bottle fed them. They were very noisy and loving. When the male became a bit aggressive, I set them free. Did you know that they don't actually wash their food? I always had a dishpan of fresh water for them and they would dunk their kibbles before eating. It became apparent that they don't have enough saliva-production to eat.

The owls were in auto accidents. Stunned and a bit brain damaged, they were fed bits of hamburger meat until well. It was my brother who found them lying on the road.

If you wonder how I obtained all of these babies, be assured they were all orphans to begin with!  That's another story.

 

Years ago, when Ed was recuperating from his heart surgery in May and June, I watched, from my kitchen window in the cabin, a robin build her nest in the carport. I soon saw 4 little eggs. Then, I saw 4 little heads peeking up with mouths opened wide. I saw Momma bird feed those 4 little bare~naked babies. I watched their fuzz turn to feathers. One day I saw a big crow take the last one away in his ugly bill. Boy did that make me angry! Too late for any of them to be saved. I know we shouldn't interfere with nature, but DARN! 

All of my children learned about nature and caring for pets as did I and my siblings. It has carried on through several generations now.

A Chat And A Beer With Gere

Al delivered my new casserole dish and treadle mug (#2) he broke #1, and talked me into a chat in exchange for one of his Japanese-inspired teacups that will be on display at a local Artist Gallery this weekend! How could I resist? Well I could NOT!

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Early Morning Movement

As I was drinking coffee and watching the movement of the lake waters I saw activity on the bank. As far as I could see, there were 4 long bodied critters climbing the frosty bank and going across the road down into the area behind the dam. At first I just watched and my curiosity was fired up so I grabbed the camera, zoomed out to see better. I have determined that they were either muskrats or otters  but definitely not beaver. THEN! I saw another dark head moving but it never came totally out or went up the bank. I hope you can see the trail they made through the grass as they went up and over. I apologize for the images not being very clear but it really is a long way from the cabin to the area over there! I regret that I didn't capture the crossing activity. They looked to be having family fun.

? Image might be clearer if you enlarge

The next activity I saw was a loose dog. That wasn't interesting except it did cause me to wonder where it came from because all residents I see in this area walk theirs with leashes and pick up the droppings. Oh well.

It is our first frost. Dang!