Weekend entertaining

Fifteen people were at our "Freezer Dinner." The criterion was that you were to find any food item in your freezer or pantry that you wanted to use up, make a dish with it and join us for a great dinner and fun. We had appetizers, five crock pots with great dishes, and several desserts. Oh, did I mention more bottles of wine that we could drink, so I really ended up the winner.

I may have one more this year before winter is over fora different group of friends.

Then on Saturday, we invited over a couple who live about two hours away. For that meal I put strip steaks in the broiler, made a mushroom ragout with three kinds of mushrooms and stuffed potatoes that can be made ahead and just warmed up.

To add to the "eating frenzy", we had breakfast on Sunday at an buffet with our biker club. Needless to say, DH and I were happy with just a salad last night.

Having been with friends who have serious health issues I am again very grateful for my health.

Milkweed, moss, and twigs

At the edge of our woods there is a stand of milkweeds. I hope the Monarch butterflies know they are there. Even in Winter I see beauty in them as the pods are open and some seeds escaping.




This third picture sent DH into peals of laughter (almost rolling on the floor kind). He asked what I saw in the picture. When I told him I saw green moss, snow, and purple stems. He just did not get it. Guess that is why I am taking the pictures instead of him. I think there is a lot of great color and texture in that picture. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you will see what I see.


Since taking these, snow has returned. But soon the flowers will be out there and so will I with my camera.

House decorating

As most of you know we have been living here for more than two years. Since the day I moved in I knew I wanted to decorate the house differently that it is. It is an interesting mix: the house is Country, my furniture is Early American and now my taste is quite contemporary. The whole task is rather overwhelming for me as far as trying to figure out where to start. But I have been looking at furniture, reading books and magazines. DH recently gave me the assignment of making a detailed budget. It is to include the cost of all new furniture, light fixtures, window treatment, floor coverings, paint, etc.

Today I had someone come out and measure for floor coverings and another person came to give an estimate for painting. Maybe I should not be overwhelmed, as the cost may make decisions for me. I do feel like I am moving forward, however. Once I have started there will be plenty of material for the blog.

Gardening Seminars

Last Saturday and today I attended gardening seminars. Last week I learned all about blueberries. There are various size plants and they actually are quite attractive as a landscape shrub. The key is planting them correctly and then covering them with a net if you don't want to donate all the berries to the birds. We have a really nice "pick your own" farm near here. I think I spent at least $75 there last year. So, if I can pick the best spot here, I may plant some. It will take a few years for them to have enough berries for us.

Today the class was on starting your own plants from seeds. About the only equipment one really needs is a grow light. Fortunately I have two. Years ago DH put two grow lights on a bookshelf that I have and I had house plants under it. I quit using it because the houseplants had grown too tall for the space between the shelves. The instructor actually shared seeds with us and gave us some great web sites. As I left the nursery after the seminar, it looked like Christmas outside with the snow falling. Guess I have a little time for planning.

Walking and riding

For the last three days the temperature has been 40 and above so I have gone for a walk each day around the perimeter of our woods. The snow had mostly melted in the fields but not in the woods. It was slush about one foot deep in places. Today I had completed the walk and was trying to get back to the house, but could not get across the runoff "stream" so had to walk a long way around to find a place where it was narrow enough for me to jump across. My feet were quite wet by the time I got home and I really feel it in the calves of my legs. There is evidence of a lot of wildlife in the woods. I am not real good at identifying them all however. I look at footprints and scat. If I am right, we had a coyote real close to the house. Mollie beware! Mollie is our cat.

The next is hardly news, but I will tell you anyway. This weekend DH got two new (to him) motorcycles. The Kawasaki is the bike for the Continental Divide ride in June. He is planning to ride from New Mexico to Montana as close to the Continental Divide as possible. This one needs a lot of work. He will be putting what amounts to protective amour on it so when he hits rocks and tips over it doesn't damage it, which could be a problem when they are a long way from civilization. Sounds like the ride is good blog material, don't you think? To bad the blogger is not going on the ride.



The Triumph Tiger was for Shawn, or so I thought. DH likes it a lot so may give Shawn the Goldwing (which is the yellow one, for those of who who didn't know). So we'll see how this all shakes out.

Thinking Spring, a bit early I will admit

We have made it through the week with no more snow - some cold nights (minus 4) but no more show blowing for me. It should melt a lot this weekend when it will be in the 40's . I have started shopping for seeds for my garden. This year: no viney stuff like squash or zucchini because they take too much room. DH helped put a fence around the garden to keep out critters and I must plant within that. I will have more peas, and good green beans. The climbing beans last year were not flavorful at all. DH remembers "ground cherries" from his childhood so I am looking for seeds for them. Recently I cooked with the canned green chilies and they had no flavor, so I want to plant some, which I will either can or freeze. Do any of you have a suggestion for a kind that has average kick to it?

Today was "Hair day", which means color, highlights and cut. All for $45. I just cannot believe the money I save living in the sticks. But I probably make up for it by spending on gas since I have to drive at least 20 miles for any serious shopping. At the Motorcycle show DH tried to talk me into getting a scooter, which gets 60 MPG. I keep saying I just want a four wheel vehicle to drive in the woods. He said if I got that he would put a snow blower on it and I could do all the snow removal. Actually not a bad price to pay, I would say.

Update on snow blowing

In response to the requests for photos from my last blog, I took a couple. The snow was only a foot deep, but yesterday it was 40 degrees and so had started to melt. The snow then was extremely heavy. The blower kept plugging up and I had to push it because the power to the wheels just could not move the blower. So after about 2 hours of that I was down to one layer of clothes and drenched in sweat and blown snow. I hope it is cleaned enough so that when it freezes again this week we can still drive on it. I was grateful for the snow blower as it would have been impossible to shovel that much heavy snow.

We watched the Superbowl game at S and S's house. I have added one picture for Styling with RM.

I have acquired a much needed skill

DH, with his mechanical skill has the snow blower up and running and actually in the garage so it is ready for use. He has blown the snow out of our rather long driveway a couple of times, while I sat in the warm house, feeling quite guilty. On Friday, after he had yet another dental surgery (and was in a Vicodin stupor) he asked if I would learn how to use the machine. So out we went. Actually it wasn't that difficult. I just needed to know how long to keep the choke on and the function of each control. We currently have over a foot of snow, which normally would not be such a problem, but it is a dry snow and there is a constant wind, so the drive keeps drifting shut. So today I will be putting my skills to practice.

I will also note that DH had the surgery on Friday and was out of it all day because of the Vicodin, but on Saturday miraculously recovered so that we could attend the motorcycle show in Cleveland from 10:00 AM to 9:00 PM. But the day didn't end well when we were stuck at the end of the driveway at midnight and he had to get sand to put under the wheels, shovel and even use the blower a bit.

Today it is very sunny and 40 degrees so maybe the snow will just melt and I will not have to use the blower. I hope to receive only encouraging comments from those of you in the warmer climates.