Moved to a new Blog!
2008-03-02 17:09:00
Hi, in case you are looking for me, I've moved to over and take a look. Some stuff is the same, other stuff isn't. It's a bit more open to more issues than before. It's more me! Hope you will take a look!
No title
2008-03-01 10:47:00
Hi everyone, sorry but I'm discontinuing this blog for now. I don't know if it will be permanent or not, but with this dial-up connection I spend virtually all day trying to get feeds downloading and pages uploading. It is just driving me crazy and I can't even read half of the stuff I put up here, since I have no time left. It's rather pointless. I have no idea at this point when I will get out to shop and thus to get mail and the DSL equipment, but I can't continue like this. If when I do get it, it fixes my problems, then I'll be back, otherwise, there would be no point. The computer age has just passed me by and I cannot keep up with what's going on when I can't even see large portions of many sites anymore. They all have video and sound. I'm not meaning to grump, I'm just tired of fig
Marching to the Ides of errrr march
2008-02-29 13:31:00
Leap this you punky winter! The sun is blazing in epic proportions, and the wind is whistling through the trees, amazing it can be heard without leaves. I curse you OLD MAN WINTER and condemn you to months of isolation at places far removed from me. Go aggravate the Aussies and others you've neglected these many months, leave me alone now. I've braved your ice, snow, sleet and grey for too long. I've survived, though just barely at times, my eyes and heart firmly fixed upon the green horizon. You have been defeated.All that is left now are whatever remnants tossed hither and yon which may find their way to my fair state by accident. Your snow and cold making machines will be terminated at midnight and have fail safe devices to prevent your tampering. I laugh and I dance and thumb my nose a
Headless Horseman?
2008-02-28 13:51:00
We wait, impatient once again, as you threaten further with nightmarish resoluteness. You dance and prance and strut, this your not last day. Once in four you get this extra, this ordinary day played over again, only to keep counting tidy, but you claim it as another winter day, and bluster big. The machine will soon be unplugged. Have you any more to throw at us? Some tiny tantrum that you must eject in order to return to your hibernation throughout the living months in which humans play?I spit at you, I defy you, I laugh at you, poor weak, desperate winter. I have the upper hand now, I can smell it coming. You are running scared. That is why you wax grey again this day, because you are grey, grey as the face of the about to be departed as they slip from life into that other world. You li
Chase the Light Fantastic
2008-02-27 15:04:00
Where you ask was that great glowing orb of yellow that transects the sky and brings such delight to all? It was promised, but ah, she is a fickle mistress of warmth, often withdrawing her pledge to shower this earth with wanton rays of fire. I am obdurate in my demand for a southern flow of air, and know she can deliver with the soft tendrils of her wheat-colored streaks. She is as obdurate in her refusal, confining me to the glum grey where sky and hill meet and invisibly obfuscate the place of each.Oh my heart calls desperately, unable to sustain common civility as each day wanders into the next, all still bitterly held down by the clutches of him who battles against my flaxen queen, determined to freeze all of this sparkling orb until it shatters in shards of blue and green. I will not
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The winner is Algae
2008-02-26 15:05:00
Oh, winter, your power is waning. You have but 3 more days to strut around as the king of the hill. You couldn't drop but a puny inch upon my fair meadow and that after hours of crying at the realization of your imminent demise. I curse you maven of white and ice, and condemn you to another long wait before I consent to cast my eyes your way.Your wildly whipping winds do not deter my assuredness of final success. Green, in a thousand different pigments, sneaks with barely audible tiptoe into place, poised to erupt on Saturday that blessed of all days. Green, green, how green is my valley, sleeves or gables? I love you with an ardent need to escape this whirling madness of white. I have become quite mad in this blizzard of whiteout. But ah, in mind's eye, green winks at me, and I rejoice, c
Read more: winner
I May be Slightly Mad
2008-02-25 15:09:00
We wait in eager, fearful, impatience to see what this storm will bring. So far, it's still raining. The temperature hovers at that magical number of 32, holding frantically lest it lose its battle and feel the cold hands of ice clutch at its heart. (I'm kinda good ain't I?) Well, its not snowing, because I forbid it to. And apparently I have been heard. The forecasters are getting very wishy washy on exactly what we can expect, and how much. I think it evidence that weather forecasting is mostly incantations and other wishful thinking.Still, its god-awful looking out there, though our girlie girl never seems to mind. She can lay on the porch alone during a long idle rain and well, just lay there. Apparently she remains at her core, untouched by the singularly icy beads of wetness. I'm sur
Sherry Knows Art when she Sees It
2008-02-24 14:04:00
Another sunny one. We were out doing some wood earlier, and it wasn't bad at all, temperature wise. It's at least 32 now! I don't see much melting, but a bit is leaving I am sure. We are now 90% sure of getting more snow tomorrow, still there is no claim as to how much. I defy it to land on my house or my meadow!I had some fun watching the dogs up in the multiflora in search of a bunny. I saw one run out, but the dogs missed it, and were floundering pretty bad in the deep snow anyhow. The bunny, though certainly terrified probably was in no danger of getting caught even if they did see him. The cats are even venturing out a bit today. Hobbes, never one to get his feet cold, even stepped out, and when I went to look for him, discovered he had slipped off somewhere. Under something no doubt.
Read more: Sherry
Hey, It Really is Okay
2008-02-23 12:56:00
Well you can complain all you want, and I have certainly done more than my share, but it was simply beautiful this morning. A fog encompassed the meadow and all was clothed in a gossamer of white cottony delight. One completely forgot the cold and hardships thus endured and simply basked in God's glory. Magical it was, awesome, inspiring, the adjectives fail to convey what the heart feels when it soars to such heights, if even briefly.This is why we fight to live, no matter the odds, even when it is illogical. Life strives to live for this and this alone. To feel for that transcendent moment, a oneness with God and all the universe, fleeting, and dissolving the moment it is recognized, but so real we never forget it. We store these moments in our minds, collecting hopefully many over a lif
Who got the Pheasant?
2008-02-22 15:04:00
It's a truly beautiful day today, with the sun shining strongly and the snow twinkling with diamonds. It's above 20 degrees, and I surely won't quarrel with that given what we have been through. Soon, we can get perhaps a drive by and some idea of how bad the snow has locked us in, and then arrange for some plowing. I'm getting rather ansy now, eager to visit Michaels and investigate some new crafting things. The dogs need little encouragement at this point to go on hunting forays. The quiet winds and warm sun let them leisurely inspect hither and yon. When Brandy came in for dinner today, she had feathers in her mouth, and a grin that fairly leaped from her face. So proud she was, although heaven only knows who actually caught the pheasant. Probably it was a combined effort and she was ju
Stirfrying up some warmer temps
2008-02-21 15:13:00
Wow, we woke up to find that things were not nearly so cold as we expected when we went to bed last night. It was supposed to go down to at least 10 below, but instead we awoke to something like 1 above. It is fairly overcast, but at least its near about 15 degrees or so. Not bad, I'll take it.We had a nice stir fry for dinner, made with sirloin, cabbage, carrots, celery, radishes, bamboo shoots, and the usual accoutrement's of soy, hoisin sauce, garlic and ginger. I had none of the extras like spring rolls or such, but still, it made a nice dinner and something different for a change. Not bad after not getting to the grocery store since late January.Should you have a bougainvillea, you might like to take a look at Gardening Tips 'n Ideas, and get some help on proper care. I've never had a
Eyes Fixed on the Prize
2008-02-20 14:52:00
Well, it's sunny. I believe it is ONE degree. I believe it's going to be as cold as deep space tonight. But that is the end, and warmth returns I am told by Friday. Warmth being anything that has 2 digits and has at least a 2 in it somewhere. That's enough for me. I remain focused on only Friday. I'm ignoring everything else. Parker was his usual sweet self. He insisted I not do any real cooking today. We have curtained off the kitchen to keep the living room warmer and thus not have to go out for wood. The kitchen gets a might cold, which cuts down on how often the fridge comes on, so there are good trade-offs. Anyhoo, we had plenty of leftovers, frozen and otherwise, a bit of tamale pie, some bean soup, a cheeseburger. We made do and I was in and out of the kitchen in no time. I worry a
Read more: Fixed
Ranting in the Cold of Winter
2008-02-19 15:39:00
Boy another cold night. We have been shutting off the water every night when it's scheduled to go below zero. Our basement gets very cold. We cannot afford a busted pipe with no way out to get repair stuff. I'm all bundled up today and it gets tiresome too. The extra weight is annoying to carry around all day. Truth is, we tend to stay pretty well put. The upswing will come on Friday, and tomorrow will be worse than today temperature wise I believe. Nothing to do but endure.Blogger drives me nuts some days. I've had a heck of a time getting my political blog up today, mostly because of HTML issues. I do the same thing day in and day out, but sometimes weird code gets in and screws it all up. I cannot get the spacing right, no matter what I do. The preview doesn't show what it actually look
Has Anyone Heard of a Season Called Spring?
2008-02-18 12:35:00
Ouch, another subnormal idiotically cold day in Iowa is at hand. The snows have abated but the wind remains to tell us that its "not so fast" into spring. Spring
? I'm not sure what that word is? It's sort of sunny out, but not really. Oh it's just soooo depressing. Parker went out to put some wood on the cart, and of course, it was all glued together by ice. Nice. Still we have enough we hope to avoid having to do any serious work outside for a couple of days, hopefully long enough to get by this latest assault on humanity. And the good news is that temps are going up next weekend to over the freezing mark! Oh I am content to find a silver lining in a hog's ear today.Another good thing (Martha would be proud) is that Parker, the dear is cooking today! Always a solid treat for me. I've got
Read more: Anyone
, Heard
, Season
the Winter that refused to End
2008-02-17 11:57:00
It's a quiet day. I think most of blogdom is in mourning for the horrible state of Iowa as it struggles to survive this impossibly nasty, ugly, mean winter. We are being hit once again in what seems a never-ending parade of storm after storm. This one started at midnight last night, and it rained and rained and rained. Finally near 8 a.m. it began to turn to sleet then snow. The wind is now whistling and the snow continues as best I can tell, since most of our windows are clogged with icy frozen snow. I can only respond by simply refusing to look at it, or think about it. We are in for something in the vicinity of 5-6 inches more.There is not much to link you to today, and frankly I'm not particularly in a blogging mood. Parker says the cable has returned after looking somewhat questionabl
Gardening and Food, Together
2008-02-16 13:18:00
Another sunny day and warmer than yesterday. We got out and Parker chumped wood and I carried, and we got plenty for the next couple of days at least. We are expecting more snow (sigh) but they are being strangely silent about how much. Whatever it is, is not of much import to us either way, we are stuck. I must say that I am starting to daydream a lot about green things and the smell of roses, and the sound of insects. The warmth of sunlight.....reverie my dear readers is a two-edged sword. It feels good at the time, but the jolt back to reality is painful.On to what may be of use:***********************Here's a tip that works. If you bake bread a lot like I do, and use a mixer to knead, (I love my Kitchen Aid almost as much as Parker) then here's a nice help. Pour a tsp of oil on a napki
Sunny frigidity and Chicken stock
2008-02-15 14:49:00
Afternoon friends and new visitors. The sun is shining brightly and to those who heat with wood like we do, such days are important. The sun reduces dramatically how much wood we burn to keep warm. So the sun is my friend! LOL. We didn't need to cut or haul wood today because we still have a full cart from yesterday. Such minor victories are important to rural folks.Speaking of the weather, there are less than 2 weeks before spring, and I have yet to see anything promising when I look outside. Fields of snow confront me at every turn. I persist in my insistence that this much change, and quickly. I want bare ground come March 1.********************Sandi from Sandi's Crochet Blog has another simple pattern for a winter scarf though not a heavy duty one by any means. She also has some nice c
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, Chicken
Valentine Wishes and a craft or two
2008-02-14 14:55:00
Howdy and welcome to another day of pure bliss, and a Happy Valentine
's Day to everyone. We just finished our wonderful special meal, and it was good. I made some croutons for a nice salad, and then baked potatoes and 2 wonderful t-bone steaks. I hardly finished half before I couldn't eat another bite. Parker did better, and the dogs got a bone a piece and were giddy with happiness. I made some truffles for later, dipped in chocolate sprinkles and almonds. They are so messy to make, but sooooo good.Well, as long as we're here, I guess we might as well see what's going on that might be interesting.*******************I don't do juice, mostly because I need the fiber and the fruit sugar is really hard on my system, so when I eat fruit which is sweet, I pay a price but at least get to eat a li
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Dreaming of Spring and Filling Space
2008-02-13 14:44:00
Well a good day today and you don't often hear that from me in the winter time. I beat Parker at Jeopardy today, final Jeopardy that is, and that is a rare occurrence. If I have to hear his advice one more time, "the answer is in the clue," I may commit a crime of some sort. Well that's overstated a bit, but it's surprisingly difficult to live with a man who is smarter than you are. It's a serious blow to the ego you know. Women are well, just smarter by gender alone no?The other hit of the day was the tamale pie I made for dinner. I took the same recipe I linked to and just changed the chicken to venison and added some corn. It was really good on another cold afternoon. Tomorrow it's steak and something else. If the lettuce is still good, then maybe I'll make a nice salad and some homemad
Read more: Spring
, Dreaming
, Space
Mostly food, cuz I mostly eat
2008-02-12 13:24:00
Happiness can be measured in rather small doses in the wintertime. We avoided the bulk of the last storm now ending finally. What it added to our accumulation is a mere drop in the bucket. I was out for a short time slogging through it trying to help Parker carry in firewood. It's only about 20 feet, but it seems much further. I may be in shape by the summer if this goes on much longer.Parker is rather pleased no doubt that the weather lets him off the hook for Valentine's Day. He usually starts making remarks about bloodthirsty diamond hunters about this time. He watched how tofu was made today, he thinks its poison. That has nothing to do with Valentine's Day, nor diamonds but well it helps understand Parker's mind if you combine them. See it's like a pinball machine in there, thoughts
Food, Nastalgia, wintery crafting
2008-02-11 15:03:00
Afternoon friends and new visitors! LOL...okay that's like three people. Anyway.......I can get DSL!!!! Alas, they send some "equipment" via UPS and we cannot get to our mailbox. So, after getting all the information I told the gal I would call back when we were dug out again. Darling Parker offered to walk to the road, only a mere 1/2 mile, but in places its probably more than 2 feet deep. No 57-year-old who has bad lungs from smoking since 8 is gonna do that! So we wait. At least I know that things will get better. It just takes me so long to run through my lists of blogs and newspapers every day. My political blog is getting pretty big in its roll and it just takes hours of agony. I'm constantly running disk clean-up and defrag to keep me going. But I can get DSL...yayaya. Does this mea
Wintery blues and Pizza and quilts
2008-02-10 13:17:00
Afternoon folks and it's a frigid one here in Iowa, mostly because of an intense wind. I pity those who have farm chores today. The dogs are quite content to mostly sleep curled up on their cushions and the cats have all found their nappy places as well. Parker and I are layered up and snug, having gotten enough wood in yesterday to hold through most of tomorrow at least. It's pretty, I'll give it that, the sun is shining fiercely.Give me a prayer or two for tomorrow! I'm checking into DSL and hoping it solves my feed woes. If not, at least with the faster download I could ignore feeds and just download the sites again and again. But at this point, I'm not even sure we can get DSL. We shall soon see. Designate that prayer to the unimportant list--wouldn't want God to miss anything importan
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My kingdom for speed!
2008-02-09 13:00:00
Well it's been a crummy day. It started out just fine, but as I was working on my other blogs, my feeds started jamming as they do every day. But I have not been able to clear it up, and my computer seems to run so slow I could bake cookies while it loads a site. This is definitely not good. Monday I'm going to look into DSL, hoping that speed is my only problem.I've never been interested in scrapbooking, but I may have been in error. I assumed it had everything to do with making nice dodads on photo albums. Since we are not really a picture taking family, I never thought I had much use for it. But I'm getting the idea that its part of a larger hobby of "paper crafts." Am I correct in this? And if so, exactly what is all involved here? I've not been able to get a very good answer so far.
Searching the Blogosphere Far and Wide
2008-02-08 12:42:00
If you are up for scenes of snow, there is a very beautiful blog from Iowa City, called the Iowa Garden. Always nice pics, although today, its not the usual flowers, but the devil-awful snow we got again the other day. We usually don't get the deer coming quite that close, but we saw some branches gnawed quite high up the other day, and that was within about 8 feet of our house. I say that the deer usually don't come that close because Bear and Brandy do not allow foreign critters on Peyton land. Well, except for at night when they sleep.If on the other hand pomegranates are your thing, (nice transition yes?), Family Style Food, has some tips on juice extraction and and and, a very interesting and yummy looking recipe for Pomegranate Sorbet. Unfortunately I'm snowed in, and I'm thinking th
Read more: Blogosphere
Just a little extra cash!
2008-02-07 12:01:00
Good afternoon! Well, all thoughts of the "prettiness" of the snow have faded, as we face the miserable reality that we are snowed in again. And as far as I can see (a week), no thaw is in the offing any time soon. Still, its cozy and pleasant indoors. It's not so cold the dogs don't stay out a good while, the wind is down, and the cats wander and sleep, eat, wander, and sleep.I confess that I have an ulterior motive in setting up this site. It has always been my dream to make some money at home in some fashion. Yet, I am continually stymied in this regard for I have a problem. I am addicted to nothing! I can do it all, and passably well too. I can quilt, sew, knit, crochet, bead, paint, and a slew of other things. Yet I end up always getting bored. And it might be 2 years before I get exc
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