Pins and Pie

Snow has been falling all day. I kept busy. While my mincemeat pie was baking I pulled out the Mister's Nascar membership pins and documented what he has saved. He also has saved his army dog tags and Boy Scout pins in the same box among other items from his activities through the years. He was an avid racer back "in the day" and now is a dedicated follower from his chair. I do plan to scan the news articles and photos in the near future. They are in an album for safe keeping. This project was also was a learning experience for me to try to get good enough pictures so the years on the pins would show.  Then I did a rundown of what is here.

Ed’s Nascar Member Pins

1957-yellow oval member

1958-oval red, white, blue international

1959-missing

1960-yellow oval international

1961-red member 

1962-light blue member

1963 -2 (one slightly different) -dark blue banners

1964-dark blue banners

1965-dark blue banners

Year? -2  International blue

Year? International no blue

Total 12 membership pins plus two others

Fan pin 50 years colorful Year?

Car pin blue & white with checker flag made in USA Year?

I found a few comparables on e-bay and we now realise they have a little value. 

The pie was delicious!

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Yum and Yuck

Last year I bought a large electric frypan to use for making one large batch of pancakes or French toast so I didn't have to stand at the stove making small servings, first for the Mister and then for me. He always finished his before I even sat down to start eating. Well this works out fine now! We only have this kind of suppers once in a while but the super best part is that we use the authentic maple syrup that my brother makes and shares. I noticed the date on my last pint showed that it was canned on March 6, 2017. It is almost time for him to get busy with the taps, boils, and straining process for this topnotch and fine syrup. Last night I used some dried out sourdough bread. WOW!

I purchased my cap with the pouring spout at the Palmetto Moonshine store down south. It fits well, I can heat up the syrup before screwing on the lid and must remember to rinse it after every use. I love the process of slowly streaming it all over the toast.

It is not a nice sight to look out of my windows now. Dirty snow, cinders, all unpleasant things in view. 

Sure hope I don't have to trek to the outdoor freezer for anything today! The stones poking my sock feet would hurt! My go-to-freezer footwear is frozen.

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Mac Cheese Special

Recipe first - Not as hard as it looks! I DO NOT make a cheese roux.

Old Fashioned Baked Macaroni & Cheese

You Will Need:

9 inch X 13 inch Pan

Heavy Duty Foil

Pam No-Stick Cooking Spray

1 - 10 oz. block EXTRA Sharp Yellow Cheddar Cheese 

1 - 10 oz. block EXTRA Sharp White Cheddar Cheese

(Preferably Helluva Good Cheese Brand or Cracker Barrel or Cooper)

1 - Box (16 oz.) Elbow Macaroni (Preferably Mueller’s or Barilla Brand)

1/2 Stick BUTTER (Preferably Keller’s Brand)

1 Cup Italian Style Bread Crumbs (Preferably Progresso Brand)

Parmesan & Romano 100% Grated Cheese (Preferably Kraft Brand)

Black Pepper (Preferably McCormick Brand)

5 Cups WHOLE Milk

Line pan with foil and spray with Pam. “Release” brand foil may be used instead of Pam (double lined pan).

Hand grate yellow cheese into bowl and put in freezer until ready to use. (Or use food processor to grate, more cleanup, though.)

Hand grate white cheese into another bowl and put in freezer too.

(Put a dash of canola oil in the water before cooking)

Cook macaroni at full rolling boil for 11 minutes. Do not salt. Drain.

Dump 1/2 of the macaroni into pan and spread around evenly.

With hand, sprinkle yellow cheese over macaroni.

Dump remainder of the macaroni evenly over the yellow cheese.

With hand, sprinkle white cheese over macaroni.

Generously sprinkle black pepper over all.

Evenly cover all with bread crumbs.

Generously sprinkle Parmesan & Romano cheese over all.

Cut butter into pats and place pats in two rows over top of all.

VERY GENTLY - pour 4 cups of milk along sides of pan.

Tilt pan forward and backward and left to right to make milk flow inside macaroni

Preheat oven to 350º

Bake one hour at 350º. After 1/2 hour do the “tilt” procedure again.

If dry, pour one cup milk over all.

It is done (approximately another 1/2 hour) when no milk can be seen as liquid.

Cool about 10 minutes before serving. Leftovers may be frozen.

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Do you know that baking is a national pastime? I read that somewhere.

The Original Italian Restaurant engulfed in flames!

When I first reported to you about this fire on January 7 there were several of my followers who couldn't access the link to Kim's FB page. After coaxing her to post it on YouTube it will now be easier to see this terrible and damaging fire. The good news is that they will rebuild and, in the meantime have another plan for a temporary restaurant. There is a "Paint & Sip Party" and Spaghetti Dinner planned for February 11 to support the employees after the loss if their livelihood when the restaurant was destroyed by fire. This is a wonderful and caring community!


After reaching +60° yesterday -  YES that's correct, we are back to +14° with some snow and strong winds. During the night (early morning) we had a power loss and it has been restored after 61/2 hours. We heard on our scanner that a tree up the road fell down on the lines. I wondered why the plows hadn't come through at least once since we awoke. Thank goodness for our stand-by generator! 

Weather Change

Warming up and impending rain is the latest word.  I called the township road department to alert them that the large catch basin at the side of our property was filled with debris and was plugged. I couldn't believe that within half an hour they were here digging it out. A heavy rain would cause the hillside flooding waters to go across the dirt road and down across our beachfront into the lake if it remains plugged. This has happened several times in the past. The Mister always kept the basin free and open but no longer can.  

I finally got around to baking some cookies. Yes, I used the prepackaged little squares of dough and they are very tasty. It is the easy way. Sometimes easy is a good choice. 

As I looked out the kitchen window I did finally catch the red male cardinal on the lawn by the shed under the hemlock tree.  It was a fast shot because I believe he saw my movement and he flew away quickly as I had interrupted his breakfast. 

And last, the temperature has risen to +40° and the fishermen have arrived. So far there are six of them. The ice should be very thick and safe. 

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Update: Saturday night it is supposed to go back down to 0°!! 

January Birthdays

Family members Amanda, Richard, Jennifer, Krista, Cianan, Zachary - all have birthdays this month.  I have made two computer photomanipulations to celebrate a couple of these. The process takes a bit of time and trial and error, but in the end, I have what I want to express. This post is just a display of my wintertime art. 

To see in better detail please click on image.

I do not have Photo Shop. I use FREE internet sites without having memberships, plus two applications of my early 2013 Apple notebook computer. 

News Video of Fire

Link to public post or our town's loss of the Restaurant below.

 I'm getting word that people cannot access Kim's page with her very descriptive photos. Although that route won't work for some, the one below should.

 This should work. http://wnep.com/2018/01/07/montrose-community-reacts-to-restaurant-fire/

Awful Cold and Awful Fire

I think we're stuck at -8°! This was at 7AM. At least the sun is shining earlier!

We went grocery shopping and when we returned it was still below zero, but now, late afternoon it is all the way up to +19° so there is hope for a warmup.

Last night in this freezing weather a local family- owned Italian restaurant and pizzeria burned. A local photographer took fine pictures of this dramatic happening and put them on Facebook. I won't snatch any of her photos but hope you may see them by clicking on her FB link and then scroll down to the 42 shots that tell the awful story of the fire. This is an old town with old buildings and it is a great loss.

 Town Fire in Freezing Cold Night

Comfortable Cabin Fever

My body is trapped indoors because of this cold weather but my mind isn't.  My granddaughter has been drawing and sketching since she was a little girl. She says she was bored at work one day and sketched this female form. Here are my interpretations.

 her original sketch

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City Kids

These are my renditions of my great nieces and nephews in the snow.

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Winter Woes

For 16 years we traveled to our place in SC three times a year. Our beach campground has seen snow and ice before. We know how it can be and weren't really in awe as some visitors and residents are today. Currently the southern visitors and residents are having winter woes again.  I dug out a few of my photos to show you my memories. I have many more pictures of these two events which we experienced when there during the month of February.

February 13, 2010

February 12, 2014

The Day After

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Winter Baking has Begun

I bake with no excuse at all

It beats a trip to town

The oven heat is warm and sweet

The temp outside is down

So have a treat

And share my love

with busy hands

That use a glove.

Silly me!

Chewy brownies! YUMMY

Hey! It's Winter!

So far we are very lucky to have a nicely warmed home. I will say that the bathroom is only +60° and that is because we keep the "back rooms" closed. Of course the bedroom ceilings are still open to the rafters but that's OK. 

I found this poem years ago and changed it to suit my state. I also have saved the graphic, and now have made it into a photomanipulation to show you what happened in the old days gone by. Ummmm.... Keep warm folks. Count your blessings. Mother Nature is in control even over Old Man Winter.

A Pennsylvania Poem

It’s winter in Pennsylvania

And the gentle breezes blow

Seventy miles an hour

At thirty-five below.

Oh how I love Pennsylvania

When the snow’s up to your butt

You take a breath of winter air

And your nose gets frozen shut.

Yes, the weather here is wonderful,

So I guess I’ll hang around

I could never leave Pennsylvania

‘Cause I’m frozen to the ground!

~orig. by Tom Weaver, MN~

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New Year News...

Out of the old and into the cold! It even went down to -10° for a short while  as the sun came up. This was taken at 7:15 am. Brrrrrr!

Now for the bad news....My brother is in the hospital with a sudden problem. He drove himself there last night and left his water in the kitchen trickling as we all do when extreme cold temperatures prevail. He has called several family members to have his dog let out today and to feed both the cat and the dog. My brother-in-law drove out there this morning and found the water NOT trickling. Pipes are frozen. Dog has been let out. Another of his friends nearby is going to care for his chickens which are kept at a different location.  My brother-in-law will return later this afternoon to again tend to the dog and cat's needs as brother will probably stay in hospital for a couple of days. If his son, who does plumbing, gets his girlfriend's frozen water situation problems fixed in NJ he may drive up here and see what he can do about these circumstances.  

And, my brother-in-law's daughter, who lives in Delaware, has a furnace failure. It is good that there are two wood stoves in her home. It's hard to get furnace repair help on a holiday.

The Mister simply cannot tolerate this cold air with his COPD and, even though we want to help, we cannot. What a predicament! 

I guess we all forgot to hang a lemon in the doorway to keep the GOOD energy flowing. Is it too late?

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