Hats off to the potty box cleaners
I would be okay to last one more day before the job is done but it must be done
The world will thank you, the cats will thank you
Its a job that needs to be done. There is no getting around it
Instantly the air smells better
Hats off the garbage dumpers
Taking the waste from our kitchens and finding the ubiquitous collection can
This task across cultures remains the male domain if there is a male in the picture
Still someone has to get that waste out
The trash must be readied for pick up on the given day
The trash cans out to the street, and then back from the street
Hats off to the toilet cleaners
If you can clean another's toilet you will never starve or so the saying goes
Its really a mind over matter kind of thing.
We were taught that our poop and pee were not a thing of joy.. so cleaning it up....
We swept the walks when we were little and still sweep walks today
No one ever says,"My you swept the walk beautifully today!"
It has to be done.
So this is for the unsung heros of the cleaning set
:) Pat
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Scalloped Potatoes
I suppose the real term is potatoes au gratin. Last night I made my famous scalloped potatoes. It is quick work with a Cuisinart food processor. Most of what is needed is easily prepared with this food processor, It also helped to have cheese already grated and left over onion already chopped.
I peeled the potatoes. I ran them through the Cuis and made them all uniform in width. The new Cuisinarts have a break apart food tube that allows for larger items to be sliced.
Then I took my 8X11 magnalite baking pan and sprayed some pam on it. I layered the first layer of potatoes and sprinkled it all with leftover ham from the Easter at mom and dad's. Then I made a mixture of a cup and a half of milk and two tablespoons of corn starch. I also took a half of a cube of butter and cut it up in little pieces and it was added to the layered grouping.
So one more layer of ham and onion and cheese. Then potatoes and finally another layer of the group. the last layer was cheese and then I poured on the milk mixture. I baked it for about 30 minutes at 375 with a topping of foil. I took off the foil and broiled the pan for another 10 minutes.
They were the best scalloped potatoes that I have ever made.
We also made up the two artichokes that Mikie brought over. We were trying to remember the last time we had artichokes and its got to be a couple of years.
: ) Pat
I peeled the potatoes. I ran them through the Cuis and made them all uniform in width. The new Cuisinarts have a break apart food tube that allows for larger items to be sliced.
Then I took my 8X11 magnalite baking pan and sprayed some pam on it. I layered the first layer of potatoes and sprinkled it all with leftover ham from the Easter at mom and dad's. Then I made a mixture of a cup and a half of milk and two tablespoons of corn starch. I also took a half of a cube of butter and cut it up in little pieces and it was added to the layered grouping.
So one more layer of ham and onion and cheese. Then potatoes and finally another layer of the group. the last layer was cheese and then I poured on the milk mixture. I baked it for about 30 minutes at 375 with a topping of foil. I took off the foil and broiled the pan for another 10 minutes.
They were the best scalloped potatoes that I have ever made.
We also made up the two artichokes that Mikie brought over. We were trying to remember the last time we had artichokes and its got to be a couple of years.
: ) Pat
Monday, March 24, 2008
Grandpa on Crystal Springs RSV
On top of Grand Mesa, the largest flat toped mesa in the world near Grand Junction Colorado, is Mesa Lakes. sitting on land that once held a fantastic summer lodge with horse corrals and riding trails, a series of lakes dot the landscape. Each one has its own personality and its own reputation with our family.
The one that is most obvious from the lodge is Little Beaver lake. Usually there is a beaver colony that works this like, chewing off aspen logs and carrying them over to a water surrounded home. It is not a big lake. It aways has had fish jumping on the surface of the lake. That makes us pretty excited.
In some years the underwater plants get an upper had and the fishery is robbed of its oxygen. Fishing is slow in these years. The scenery is always worth it however.
When I was about 12. Dad got a good fly rod and he casted 40 feet off the embankment on every cast he caught a 12 incher. The embankment was great because you didn't have to worry about the backcast with your flyline. The rest of the fisherman around the lake kept saying.. look he's got another one. Their florescent cheese balls were not producing. We have always fished with flies.
Those days are gone. They do not stock that little lake like they used to. The lodge tries to have some dinner service but in the past few years its been shaky. I think the liability of horses has confined the horses for rent to the ones you bring up yourselves.
It is still a great place to go fishing. It is close to Grand Junction. It is a real cool off spot when the heat gets oppressive in the Grand Valley.
So why do I have the title that I have at the top of this Blog? I am making a big watercolor of Granpa fishing on Crystal Springs Lake (One of the Mesa Lakes0, Mom took the photo that I am working from. It is a photo of the reflections of the trees on the little lake. there is not much blue in it. The trees are mostly yellows and yellow browns with an occasional evergreen reflecting. I have a yellow ochre wash on a full sheet. I have been painting tree reflections all day. I hope that it will be a successful painting.
Bob and Mikie are back in Palidade getting their house ready for the spring. Its still cold and there are huge amounts of snow coving the lakes.
Love
Pat
The one that is most obvious from the lodge is Little Beaver lake. Usually there is a beaver colony that works this like, chewing off aspen logs and carrying them over to a water surrounded home. It is not a big lake. It aways has had fish jumping on the surface of the lake. That makes us pretty excited.
In some years the underwater plants get an upper had and the fishery is robbed of its oxygen. Fishing is slow in these years. The scenery is always worth it however.
When I was about 12. Dad got a good fly rod and he casted 40 feet off the embankment on every cast he caught a 12 incher. The embankment was great because you didn't have to worry about the backcast with your flyline. The rest of the fisherman around the lake kept saying.. look he's got another one. Their florescent cheese balls were not producing. We have always fished with flies.
Those days are gone. They do not stock that little lake like they used to. The lodge tries to have some dinner service but in the past few years its been shaky. I think the liability of horses has confined the horses for rent to the ones you bring up yourselves.
It is still a great place to go fishing. It is close to Grand Junction. It is a real cool off spot when the heat gets oppressive in the Grand Valley.
So why do I have the title that I have at the top of this Blog? I am making a big watercolor of Granpa fishing on Crystal Springs Lake (One of the Mesa Lakes0, Mom took the photo that I am working from. It is a photo of the reflections of the trees on the little lake. there is not much blue in it. The trees are mostly yellows and yellow browns with an occasional evergreen reflecting. I have a yellow ochre wash on a full sheet. I have been painting tree reflections all day. I hope that it will be a successful painting.
Bob and Mikie are back in Palidade getting their house ready for the spring. Its still cold and there are huge amounts of snow coving the lakes.
Love
Pat
A Thousand Acres-- Jane Smiley
I just completed reading the Pulitzer Prize Winner for 1992. It is entitled "A Thousand Acres." It is about a family and its large farm in Iowa. The main crops grown on the soil are corn and beans. They raise a few pigs. Their expansion of the pig farm eventually does them in. Timing is a big factor in farming. They were delayed this expansion of the division of property and its control.
Loosely built around the plot of King Lear, this novel covers the tragedies of the three daughters that grow up on the farm. The father without sons decides in a drunken state to will over his farm to his daughters. Caroline the youngest daughter who does not live on the farm, escaped to the big city to become a lawyer. She had doubts about the split and the reasons behind the split. The interaction of the daughters with each other and their respective husbands and the neighbors is what this novel is all about. The other issues covered in this book are child abuse, farm expansion, and division of inheritance.
It is a well written book. It is written in first person narrative. The voice is of the less forward of the three sisters. It is also a slice of the post Viet Nam era from the perspective of the family owned farm.
The sad part is that it is as Dad always says penny dreadfuls. These women face dreadful circumstances, many of which are not their own doing, throughout the book. The women are very different from each other. They are married to very different men. They must work together as a family group for the farm to succeed.
The good part of this novel is that the narrator stays in character throughout. It is an interesting story. It is well crafted. It is not as detailed at the Annie Proulx's shipping News.
I hope you are reading a good book.
Love
Pat
Loosely built around the plot of King Lear, this novel covers the tragedies of the three daughters that grow up on the farm. The father without sons decides in a drunken state to will over his farm to his daughters. Caroline the youngest daughter who does not live on the farm, escaped to the big city to become a lawyer. She had doubts about the split and the reasons behind the split. The interaction of the daughters with each other and their respective husbands and the neighbors is what this novel is all about. The other issues covered in this book are child abuse, farm expansion, and division of inheritance.
It is a well written book. It is written in first person narrative. The voice is of the less forward of the three sisters. It is also a slice of the post Viet Nam era from the perspective of the family owned farm.
The sad part is that it is as Dad always says penny dreadfuls. These women face dreadful circumstances, many of which are not their own doing, throughout the book. The women are very different from each other. They are married to very different men. They must work together as a family group for the farm to succeed.
The good part of this novel is that the narrator stays in character throughout. It is an interesting story. It is well crafted. It is not as detailed at the Annie Proulx's shipping News.
I hope you are reading a good book.
Love
Pat
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Easter at Mom's and Dad's
After debating back and forth whether we should go to the Easter celebration. I decided to go.. just 2 hours over to Morgan Hill.
Acacia flew in early this morning on virgin air.. yes, she loved it. Cammie and Dominic were there and enjoyed the festivities. Mom made a wonderful Cook ham and didn't over sweeten it with a bunch of gunk.
Kelly and Reza arrived and had a good conversational time with us. Reza's news.. his parents are in the process of getting some visas to come see them.. maybe this summer. We had some great pies and cakes. Cammie got a fondue fountain going and had chocolate covered everything.
Bob and Mikie Sue were there for a short period of time before being scooped up and headed to the SF airport by M Lopez for a trip to Salt Lake City.. and a rental car to Grand Junction.
My leg is doing better but Mom and Kelly suggest that I go back in tomorrow and get another shot at a shot.
Dad's new computer is a gasser.
Sue stayed at home for this trip. This week is particularly hard for her because it is the week she lost both of her parents (over three years)
Next week I have off. So we are looking forward to seeing the Heather girl and the Linzi girl.
Take care
Pat
Acacia flew in early this morning on virgin air.. yes, she loved it. Cammie and Dominic were there and enjoyed the festivities. Mom made a wonderful Cook ham and didn't over sweeten it with a bunch of gunk.
Kelly and Reza arrived and had a good conversational time with us. Reza's news.. his parents are in the process of getting some visas to come see them.. maybe this summer. We had some great pies and cakes. Cammie got a fondue fountain going and had chocolate covered everything.
Bob and Mikie Sue were there for a short period of time before being scooped up and headed to the SF airport by M Lopez for a trip to Salt Lake City.. and a rental car to Grand Junction.
My leg is doing better but Mom and Kelly suggest that I go back in tomorrow and get another shot at a shot.
Dad's new computer is a gasser.
Sue stayed at home for this trip. This week is particularly hard for her because it is the week she lost both of her parents (over three years)
Next week I have off. So we are looking forward to seeing the Heather girl and the Linzi girl.
Take care
Pat
Saturday, March 22, 2008
The Shots are working!
I got a shot of something like Kflex for two days and row and some sulfa oriented pills to take. It really seems to be working. If the pills don't make it I will be back at the Dr.s office. We are testing my thinking about the allergies because they antibiotics that I think that I am allergic to are far and away the best meds for this job. I have some benedryl on hand to make sure if I have a rash it won 't compound the issue.
Last night I hooked up the TV in the bedroom to a 29 dollar DVD player.. still not satellite.. I bought Legend at my local store and watched it. OMG.. will Smith plays himself. Its a futuristic movie with a huge fright factor. I was glad I watched it on DVD rather than in the movie theater. The setting is a time in the future when a discovery of curing all cancer goes array.
I bought two TVs since we have three hookups. I needed to have a TV at each hookup spot or pay 150 dollars for each one not activated. Luck would have it that the bonus money for using the costco AMex card equalled 300. And the Costco exec. Membership bonus was 200.. so we got a TV for the Art room for the cost of the taxes. I had saved enough for the new TV in the Family room.. It is waiting for some help to get it up in place and take down the errant EDTV plasma. It is still a very nice TV except that its power supply is gone and horsing it off its wall is more than a one person proposition.
Costco finally got some more Wiis in. After the fun we had with it at Christmas, I thought I needed to buy one too before they disapeared again.
So we have lots of projects... not the least of which is to free our life from the big blue containers that hold buckets and buckets of vital information and treasures.
This morning I went out to the local farmer's market. I bought some locally produced olive oil from Gustine. The farmer from Le Grand had some huge cabages and some brocoli side pieces (maybe rabbi) and some free range eggs with extra omega 3, flax. some of the eggs were blue. Also they had some blackberry honey. Its their strongest.. yum. I went home and made Susie some french toast with real French bread.
I am setting out the new pomegranate tree today. It looks vibrant. Still digging the hole is a multi session accomplishment. I am glad that I can take a break and come in and blog a little.
Boy this blog has been all over the place.. Maybe because I am finally feeling better after three weeks of being down.
I hope you have a successful Saturday morning.
Love
Pat
Last night I hooked up the TV in the bedroom to a 29 dollar DVD player.. still not satellite.. I bought Legend at my local store and watched it. OMG.. will Smith plays himself. Its a futuristic movie with a huge fright factor. I was glad I watched it on DVD rather than in the movie theater. The setting is a time in the future when a discovery of curing all cancer goes array.
I bought two TVs since we have three hookups. I needed to have a TV at each hookup spot or pay 150 dollars for each one not activated. Luck would have it that the bonus money for using the costco AMex card equalled 300. And the Costco exec. Membership bonus was 200.. so we got a TV for the Art room for the cost of the taxes. I had saved enough for the new TV in the Family room.. It is waiting for some help to get it up in place and take down the errant EDTV plasma. It is still a very nice TV except that its power supply is gone and horsing it off its wall is more than a one person proposition.
Costco finally got some more Wiis in. After the fun we had with it at Christmas, I thought I needed to buy one too before they disapeared again.
So we have lots of projects... not the least of which is to free our life from the big blue containers that hold buckets and buckets of vital information and treasures.
This morning I went out to the local farmer's market. I bought some locally produced olive oil from Gustine. The farmer from Le Grand had some huge cabages and some brocoli side pieces (maybe rabbi) and some free range eggs with extra omega 3, flax. some of the eggs were blue. Also they had some blackberry honey. Its their strongest.. yum. I went home and made Susie some french toast with real French bread.
I am setting out the new pomegranate tree today. It looks vibrant. Still digging the hole is a multi session accomplishment. I am glad that I can take a break and come in and blog a little.
Boy this blog has been all over the place.. Maybe because I am finally feeling better after three weeks of being down.
I hope you have a successful Saturday morning.
Love
Pat
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Dr. Visit Not Good
The Doctor today took one look at my leg and said that he needed to spend the time working on my leg instead of giving me the physical that was planned.. this was after be blood work was taken last week and a EKG was taken today.
He decided that this cellulites should have been done by now.. so he inquired about the reations that I had in the past on penicillin clones and decided that it was worth giving me a shot of something like kflex.. a penicillin clone that is a little different.
I also need to spend some more time off of it.
Already it seems to be working better.
Love
Pat
He decided that this cellulites should have been done by now.. so he inquired about the reations that I had in the past on penicillin clones and decided that it was worth giving me a shot of something like kflex.. a penicillin clone that is a little different.
I also need to spend some more time off of it.
Already it seems to be working better.
Love
Pat
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)