Picnic preparations

DH was on a motorcycle trip to West Virgina last Friday through Sunday. I spent several hours on Friday, driving up and down country roads around here inviting people to the neighborhood party we are having this Saturday. Since I did not ask for an RSVP it is anyone's guess how many will come. It is a pot luck where I asked everyone to bring a dish to share and their own drinks. I will provide coffee and lemonade. I am making pork BBQ sandwiches from the meat left over from the pig roast and Rice Krispie Bars since there may be children here. One family told me they have 7 and another has 5. For my part in the preparation, I have the lawn mowed, and today found some cool things for centerpieces on the tables. At this time, the weather forecast is in our favor with no rain.

Weather permitting we will have a big bonfire at the next door neighbors. DH found a place that gives away pine pallets so he bought a trailer load home to add to the pile they have. I am making sure we have lots of ingredients to make smores.

We are having our granddaughter visit this weekend also. She will be here from Thursday through Sunday. Seems like there is never a dull moment in the Sticks.

Sound the taps for the Physicsmobile

DH did his best to revive the Physicsmobile, but alas it no longer driving merrily down the road. In Ohio, your cars have to pass an emissions test once every two years. It did not meet the numbers, even with some repair attempts. So the decision was made to put it to rest. Besides not passing the E Check, it is rusting badly, the air conditioner and heater are not working. We are keeping it on our property until our daughter in law comes to drive it up and down the driveway so she can learn to drive a stick shift car. Then, it will most likely be parked in the back so DH can take parts from it for other projects. I will be lobbying to sell it for scrap.

Please send a condolences to SWRM and her DH.

Sharing a piece of the pie

On Sunday I made a killer peach pie, if I do say so myself. It was from my "Perfect Recipe" cookbook that I have previously mentioned. This crust was half regular shortening and half butter. The filling had the "perfect" thickening, which was pulverized instant tapioca. It was topped with a lattice top, which involved rolling out the crust, cutting it into strips, freezing it, then thawing until pliable, weaving it, and the freezing again, before placing on top of the filling. We invited two neighbor couples over to share the bounty.

Every time they come over we learn more "history" of the neighborhood. What I mean is they tell stories about each other. It's a hoot. While they were here we told them we were interested in having a neighborhood party, which they thought was a great idea. The next door neighbor who has had these in the past said to have everyone bring their own drinks. He was upset when he provided pop and found opened but full cans all over the yard the next day. His take is that if someone wants to waste it, they should have paid for it themselves.

So I am making a flier that we will distribute to houses up and down the road. This morning I told DH I could not believe I will have another party with a large group of people. Did not the family reunion and reception teach me anything? Maybe it taught me I can do it.

Appliance Roundup

In our county, they have an "Appliance Roundup" twice a year. So I got the lariat out of the closet, dusted it off and went looking for some appliances. Guess what? I found two (not one but two) refrigerators. DH and I managed to get them into the trailer, tied them down, and today I took them away. They will now go appliance heaven. Actually our waste management takes refrigerators, air conditioners for free on these two days. They hire someone to safely remove the freon and then dispose of the carcass. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture.

Do You smell Basil?

I am sure that in the past I told tales of buying huge quantities of basil plants. Today I harvested them, getting two garbage bags full. If you saw SWRM's blog you saw lots and lots of tomatoes. Well, next you will see lots and lots of basil. She and A are coming to Ohio today to get Phi (their cat) and the basil. And maybe to see us and her brother and family. Actually they are staying with her bro and we are going their for the day.

Speaking of Phi, somehow she knows that something is up. When I started loading things into the car, she went into hiding. I do have a trick to find her however. I shake the container of dry cat food that I feed our cat, and she comes running for a treat. Her food is a mush looking concoction that SWRM makes for her. She actually cooks meat for the cat, but not DH.

An old recipe made better

Tonight DH and I are going to a concert of the New Cristy Minstrels. Not the original group, of course, but hopefully they will sing the old songs.

The shed project is going along well. We (mostly DH) has added treated wood to the bottom, then additional soil so that hopefully it will be difficult for animals to live under it. He is in the process of putting electricity in it. That involves digging a drench to lay the conduit with the wire inside. My eight perennials in pots are patiently waiting for the time I can plant them in front of the shed.

One of my favorite cook books is written by the editors of Cook's Illustrated. It is called "The New Best Recipe". They try a recipe many ways and then explain how they came up with the best technique, best ingredients, and such. Last night I made the meat loaf and mashed potatoes. Having made them for years, it was fun trying their recipe. The mashed potatoes were put through a food mill and kept warm over hot water until served. Of course it had butter and half and half in it. Meat loaf was baked on a cookie sheet, not a bread pan, covered with bacon and a ketchup brown sugar glaze. It was then crisp all around. As an aside, their taste tester tested various ketchups. Their favorite was Heinz, followed closely by Del Monte then Hunts. Just in case you want to know.

The Moving of the Shed

My shed looks quite small next to DH's, don't you think? But the plan for the landscaping is big.
We tilled on two sides and I have 8 perennials to plant before frost. So over the next year, I will post improvements as I make them.

Mock Orange Shrub

When I was a young girl on the farm in Minnesota, we had a large shrub that had beautiful white flowers that had a great fragrance. I named it "Bernice's flower tree." It actually is a Mock Orange. I had planted two by my garden shed . They normally bloom in July, but one had two blooms on it today. They grow to 10 feet tall and that wide if not pruned. As you can see from the picture, mine has a ways to go. I was thrilled with the two blooms.

I am hoping to till around the shed this weekend and plant several perennials that I purchased. This is a good time of the year to buy them as they are all half price. I am sure I will be gardening until the snow drives me indoors.

Niagara Falls, editing and margaritas

As most of you know the parents of the bride and the parents of the groom spent two days at Niagara Falls while the bride and groom were in Rome. Go figure. But we had a great time.

After the last guests from the wedding festivities left, I had three days at home before driving to Kankakee, Illinois to stay with a friend who had knee replacement surgery. It really was good for me because we just had to do "laid back" kind of activities. I needed that. Driving there I decided to take the scenic route instead of the toll roads. It was through many small towns and by the end I was very tired of the scenery of fields and fields of corn and soy beans. It was not worth the additional hour and a half of driving, especially since I can see that outside my window here.

As I am putting away dishes, flatware, and glasses from the two summer events, I have decided to think carefully if I need so many. The deciding factor was if I did not use them when nearly 50 people were here, I had too many. So today I took a wonderful donation to a charity shop: a set of dishes for 12, about 50 various water and wine glasses and odds and ends of flatware. In case anyone is worried, I kept about three dozen wine glasses, 15 champagne glasses and most of the margarita glasses.

As requested by my friend in the UK, here is the margarita recipe:
6 fluid oz tequila
2 fluid oz triple sec
8 oz frozen strawberries
4 oz frozen limeade concentrate

Blend these four ingredients in a blender until smooth. Add ice (the amount depends on how thick you want it) and blend again. Dip glass in lime juice and then fine sugar or coarse salt. Enjoy. Make sure you have a blender that can crush ice.