Dependable things...

I have watched this tree for years...every year it just outshines almost all the trees around.  There is another downtown that must be its twin.  I snapped this one as we came home in the rain on October 31. 
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Another thing that is dependable is that for Thanksgiving and Christmas, sometimes for the family reunion, and for my girls' birthday--I will be making what we call the Pudding Cake.  We call it cake because it is in a cake pan.  It is not really a cake at all.  It has other names...one I have heard it called is Robert Redford dessert.

The bottom layer is just a simple crust made with flour and butter.  One could use a graham cracker crust if they wanted.  The next layer is cool whip, cream cheese, and powdered sugar.  And for the next layer whatever instant pudding flavor one likes.  The girls and I prefer chocolate or lemon....Roger likes butterscotch.  Once the pudding is poured and spread over the cream cheese layer,  spread cool whip on top of the pudding, just as if it were icing.

I use a 9 x 13 pan, and I do the crust layer, and the cream cheese/cool whip/powdered sugar layer.  Then I use aluminum foil and fold it at least half a dozen times till it kind of sturdy.  And I fold the ends in till it spans across the pan.  I then place it down in the cream cheese layer midway....for one end, I make instant chocolate pudding.  The folded foil holds it in that end.

Then I make the instant lemon pudding and pour on the other end...then pull the folded foil out.   Then we can have either flavor.  I bet I have made at least 150 of these in my lifetime...maybe more.  Every now and then I make one just because!

Just a post while I am in the mood...

I took these pictures a week ago...notice the color of the tree, then notice all surrounding trees.

Can you believe the color...I know part of the reason it stands out is because everything else is so drab...

But it is just glorious.  There are always a few of these trees around.  I have no idea what they are....I thought they were maybe linden trees but in googling them, don't think they are.  Whatever they are they have so much color...
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I was going to skip a day or two posting and now it has been about a week.  Just got sidetracked and didn't get back to it.  And may not again till after Thanksgiving.

I cannot say where the time went...we did the gutters of the house.  That was one day.  We have awnings over the porches, I got up and cleaned one while Roger did the garages and the rest of the house, and then he got up and did the other awning.  But I was so tired that night I didn't want to even think.  It was one of those brisk days...

While I was up there, I heard this noise...a bird...I knew it was familiar but couldn't think what.  I glanced around and didn't see anything..went back to work. Heard it again...looked around, and there went a bunch of sandhill cranes.  I made a point of going to the strip pits a day or two later, but they were not out there.  I was so in hopes they had stopped there.
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I have been getting a little Christmas shopping done...I don't mind telling you I was beginning to panic a little. So glad to have a start.

Shhhhh--don't tell anyone but we put our Christmas tree up today!  I think it is the first time I ever wanted it up before Thanksgiving was over.  But this year Thanksgiving is so late, I just went ahead and decided I wanted it up...Roger carried it up from the basement and we got it done this morn.

anyway, in case I don't get to say it before Thursday, I hope everyone has a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.

We survived the wind...

Yesterday afternoon, a storm moved through our area...the worst of it missed us.  The wind was some of the worst I have seen...I have never seen a storm move through as fast.  But we were on the tail end of it.  Our local weatherman said that the wind was reaching 75 mph at ground level.  North of us about 20 miles, two trailers were turned over.  And two or three counties south of us had a tornado touch down.

When it cleared out the first time, I jumped in the Rav to head north to capture a few pics.  The storm was still happening about 3 or 4 miles north of us.  As up you can see by the above pic, I got in the edge of it.

Then I take a few more pics as I begin to look south.

I know it has not been long ago that I gave a cloud show over on my Time Stand Still blog, but I just cannot resist when they are like this.

I will leave you with this final one...

It was starting to move in on me by this one...I grabbed a couple shots and headed for home.  The wind was fierce by then and raining hard....but by the time I got south just a couple miles, I had driven out of the worst of it.

Be sure to click and enlarge to get the expanded view.

Like this old barn

Just like this old barn, I am feeling a bit worse for wear.  Friday evening, after Roger left to go hunting, I decided to rake a few leaves.  Didn't make much headway...10 big garbage bags and that did not even get the ones in front of the garage.  Keep in mind we don't have any trees in our yard any more, other than a dogwood and a smoke bush.  So they are all from neighbor's trees.

Well, I was tired that night....but other than that nothing worse.  Though there is no use complaining, I still am having trouble with my shoulders...it went from the right shoulder back to the left. As a general rule it is just stiff, though I do get it flared to hurting/aching sometimes.  The raking actually seemed to make them feel better the first evening, but then that night I got moved the wrong way and they are both flared back up

Yesterday morn, I got up and ran and got the ham for Thanksgiving, then in the evening we worked on the leaves.  Roger got the blower out this time....we bagged 14 more bags, and then put a LOT on the garden spot.

By last night I was so stiff and sore I could hardly move.  Aspercreme has been applied...to my shoulder/arms.  I took ibuprofen hoping the stiffness would be gone by this morn, but it is still there.  Anyway, that is one reason I have not been around to visit...have been busy, and when I have come in the past two nights I have not wanted to do anything that required thinking or effort. 

Random 5

A scene from a week or two ago....

It is time for Random 5...I didn't know if there was going to be one so do not have them prepared.  Consequently, I have to come up with them on the spur of the moment.

1.  First of all, this makes my 6th time of doing a Random 5 post.  I thought I had only did two or three.  It is one of my favorite memes. 

2.  The pretty leaf season is almost entirely gone.  Every once in a while we come across a tree that still has some color, sometimes even a lot of color.  We wonder how they have survived when everything else is bare.  Tuesday when we went to Arthur, IL we even saw a couple or three trees that were still green.  We really wondered about that.

3.  You can actually see my dining room table for a change.  I am not quite sure when we began putting stuff on the dining room table, but it has become a real bad habit.  I assume when both girls moved out is when it started.  And got worse.  Now, there is usually coloring books and crayons sitting on it.  Add a book or two or three of mine, and the sales ad from the local grocery store.  So I cleaned it off yesterday and really want to stop using it as a catch all.

4.  The mouse I use is really aggravating....it is so heavy that I will set it aside and be in the middle of something, and it will click where ever the cursor is.  Or the page will close down.  On its own, or sometimes I just bump it from the side and it does it.  So aggravating.  Yet it has the back button and the forward button on the side by the thumb that I use so much and was the one most comfortable to my hand.  I do not like using the touchpad unless it is the only option available.

5.  Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most.  I didn't make that up, but it always makes me chuckle; also a bit of truth in it.  It always amazes me how I can be sitting sewing, and lose my scissors or thimble or thread or something.  Times when I have not gotten up for anything...not moved from my chair.  Yet will completely lose something.  And will have to spend 15 or 20 minutes to find the item.


Random 5 Friday

Smiling face...

I took a few pics of Lorelei on Halloween, and in all of them, she either has her eyes closed or something.  It didn't help that I was having trouble getting focused.  Anyway, I sat down behind her while she greeted the other kids and managed to get this one.
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It is another day on the cold side, but the sun shines so that is good.  Thinking I might as well throw a load of clothes in, till I can hang them out.  I really miss doing that as much in the winter...I will hang a load out in the summer, come in and tell Roger all is right with my world.  LOL   I even liked hanging clothes out when I was a kid.

I am not sure what the day is going to hold otherwise, but if I am going to do laundry, it is time I get started.  Just thought you might like having that smiling face greet you this morn.

What is it...

We pass this on the way to Arthur, Illinois.  I have been going to Arthur for probably close to 25 years.  Every time I pass this, I wonder what it is.  I wonder was it here before the rest of the place...or was it build when the house was built.

This last capture is not that great.  I tried to lighten it till you can see it better.  It was a total mess...Roger actually tried to slow down some to allow me to get pics, but the top one was the best I could do.

Anyway, I think I have posted a pic of this place some time before.  I am still no closer to know anything about it.  I swear, I think if someone was outside ever, I would be tempted to stop and ask about it.  Normally we are going so fast that it is just there and gone before I can think about anything.  Such as I don't even know if it and the home are built of the same brick.  And my eyes are always on it, so don't even know if I would see someone if they were out there.
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We did get a skim of snow...had big old flakes last night.  And the wind was so cold today it would just go right through a person.  Not sure what tomorrow will bring.  I think it is supposed to still be cold. 

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Sarah said Sunday night, she ended up reading 10 of the books to Lorelei, and 7 or 8 last night.  That girl does love a good story.

Aren't libraries wonderful?

This photo was actually taken by Sarah, not by me.

Glanced at my email yesterday evening and Sarah had sent me this.  My brother, Neal, had told Sarah about their library having a book sale.  At the end of the sale, they allow people to fill a bag with as many books as they can and the price is $4!  She got this pile of 30 books for just $4....can you believe that?  And Lorelei is just happy as a clam.

I think Lorelei is running true to her family genes....I think out of the eight of us, only one brother doesn't love to read.  He just don't read a lot of books, but reads magazines.  I for one, have spent a lot of happy hours in libraries.  I don't so much any more since having the kindle.  But I still use the library to borrow digital content.

Isn't digital wonderful?  I borrow books for my kindle and audio books for my Mp3 player and never have to worry about getting them returned to on time.  And there is even some music available to borrow, but I haven't taken advantage of that yet.
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Chilly and overcast this morn with a 40% chance of rain.  What is more it is supposed to change to a wintry mix tonight, though the accumulation is supposed to be slight.  There is always they chance that they could be wrong...we might not get any at all, or we could wake up to a winter wonderland tomorrow! 

It is early, but we have had snow earlier.  One time on my birthday, which is near the beginning of Novemeber, I remember it has snowed a skim.  How do I remember that you ask.  At the orchard, we alway saved the Granny Smith apples till the very last thing to pick...always tried to get them in before a hard freeze.

Well, that year we waited too late...but the boss wanted to pick them in the hopes that we could at least used them in cider.  So I was picking apples with just a bit of snow on some of them, my little gloves that I loved for picking were getting soaked and my hands were freezing.  I would get down off my picker and run back and hold my hands close to the motor/exhaust to get them warmed up every little bit.  Oh, and by the way, we could not use them in cider....I don't remember why, but remember it was wasted effort. 

Since it is autumn....

I am still in a musical state of mind...so since it is this time of year, I thought I might as well post this one.  I just came across it on YouTube...I may have posted it before so just ignor it...
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I am slowly starting to sew a little bit again and enjoy it.  But don't say it too loud or I might go back into  my funky mood.

Guess what I found!!!!

Back when we were young and first married, we bought this album.  In vinyl...well, I have looked for digital versions off and on since we first got a computer.  I don't know if it was because I didn't put the 'The' in the search or what, but never could come across it.



I just wish this had been the video of my favorite song on the album.

Tonight I was messing around, first found a video of one of the songs we liked, or at least I liked.  I am not sure if Roger did, but think he did.  So headed on over to Amazon, and bought the two songs that I absolutely loved and thought I would never have again.  I just can't wait to play them for Roger in the morning and see what he thinks!

If you had to name your favorite song, could you do it?   Could you even name your 5 favorite songs....or your 5 favorite artists?  If I was forced to name a favorite song, it would be Good To Be Home by the Everybodyfields.  There is not a good version on YouTube now.  But truthfully, there are others that I love just as much, it just happens to be one that I listen to more often than any other.  Favorite artist would be impossible to name.

How could I choose between Neil Young, Eagles, Merle Haggard (his old songs), Poco, The Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Alison Kraus, Tim Grimm....Coldplay, Three Doors Down--just to name a few.


I leave you with this video...I don't think I have ever had the nerve to post it before.  I know it is different.   I heard this song while working at the orchard...I even remember the part of the orchard I was in when I heard it. I heard it on a local college radio station.  As I said, it is sort of odd, but just listen to the words...and that line 'Let the baby sleep'--well it grabbed me way back then...maybe before Sarah and Jeremy had even met.

Random 5

It is time for Friday's Random 5...I have remembered it two weeks in a row now!

I don't know how everyone else does their Random 5...but I use random thoughts from the week.  I have to write them down, or else I forget them. So sometimes I have them already to paste into blogger, others I have to think of one or two.  Today, I have them all, plus a bonus!

 1.  One positive thing about winter for me, it makes it easier for me to stay inside and sew.  When it is nice outside, I like to be out, or at least upstairs where I can see the sunshine.  I keep thinking I need to have a sewing table to set up on the porch so I can sew outside in nicer weather.

2.  I have problems remembering things fully.  I remember just enough bits and pieces of things to drive myself crazy trying to remember the whole story.

3.  I had a lot of nicknames when I was in grade school.  Two I will not tell.  The rest I loved and was right proud of...Spider, Cricket, Roadrunner, Briar Patch.  Not sure what that says about me that I loved them...but I did.  I suppose it was who gave them to me that made me like them....though I am not really sure who started the thing of calling me Roadrunner.  But it was because I made a made dash out the door, soon as we were dismissed from school of the evening. 

4.  Can I say that I am having a real hard time making myself do anything.  Not even things I want to do.  Whether it is things I just want to do or things I need to do, there are so many I have a hard time making a decision what I want to do first.

5.  I always either watch something on Netflix or something from YouTube...almost every single night.  In fact, I usually watch till I fall asleep while watching.  If I watch Netflix, it is usually some mystery with British characters...or an episode of All Creatures Great and Small.  If I watch YouTube, it is quilt related videos 90% of the time.



Bonus:  Roger still calls Lorelei 'the baby' when talking about her.  I told him the other day, by the time she is 16, she is not going to like being called the baby.  But in reality, knowing her and her love for her Papaw, she probably won't mind it coming from him.
Linking to Random 5...

Amazing sky

 Click to enjoy an expanded view.

The other day as we headed to see Lorelei and her mom and dad, this is the sky.  Only you are only getting a hint of it.  There was roll after roll of clouds just like this one.  Well, at least 4 or 5 but my lens was not wide enough to capture it.
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 It is rainy and wet outside this  morn.  The cats still ran outside when I opened the door for them.  I don't know what they think they will find when they get out.  Maybe they are just taking advantage of the few 'warm' days that remain.  When we had the cold snap, they were content to be inside with us.  With it being in the 50's the past couple of days, they have about ran us ragged wanting in an out. 

I am not sure what this day is going to hold for us...Roger won't be hunting in the rain.  I can't help thinking about all the tales he can tell about deer hunting...things that have happened to him and his friends.  But the funniest is always the cat/tree stand tail  The one posted here. Most of you have seen it, but you might enjoy it again.

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Another time, back when money was hard to come by, Roger built his own tree-stand.  It was heavy...and did not fold down, making it hard to carry through the woods.  Then he had to find a tree big enough, yet not too big.  He would place the platform against the tree.  There was two pieces of angle iron that reached back past the tree. One side had another piece of angle iron that was hinged.  He would swing it to the other piece that portruded past the tree and fasten it.  I do not remember how it fastened.

Now, he had this webbing, something really strong.  He attached two 'loops' to the platform.  That is the best term I can think of to describe it.  He slid each foot into a loop and  he was ready.  He would reach up as high as he could...I don't recall if he just used his arms/hands or if he had something else that helped grip the tree, he would reach up as high as he could and then lift the tree stand with his feet.  This tipped it enough till the bar across the back did not bite into he tree any more, and he could pull the tree stand up a bit at a time.  Then when he stood on it to reach up again, his weight on the tree stand made the bar across the back bite into the tree and it could not slide down...

One time, he came home and told me he had about tore  his arm out of its socket!  I don't remember if it occurred when he was climbing up, or coming down the tree, but the webbing his feet were in....one side pulled loose...or one of his feet came out of the loop..he happened to have hold a tree limb with one hand.  There he was hanging by one arm....all his weight plus the weight of the tree stand.  And the tree stand was heavy.  It  was hanging from the one foot all cockeyed. 

I remember he talked about hanging there with one arm and trying to flip the tree stand with the one foot till he could get some kind of hold with his other foot.  I don't remember much else, but remember it was not so funny at the time, but later it is one of the tales that brings much laughter.

Another gray day....

This was our Roger's window one day last week.  Click to enlarge it.  You know winter is fast approaching when you see scenes like this.   It is another day just about like the picture, only it is not actually raining right now.  But the roads are wet, and it looks like it could start at any moment.

Is anyone else watching The Voice?  We did not watch the first couple of seasons, but really enjoy it now.  I haven't got a favorite for sure.  There is one that--I cannot think of his name, but if you watch it and I say the nerdy one, you will know who I mean.  He has an awesome voice.  Now there is one I don't like/enjoy...a female.  But won't say her name...I may end up liking her before it is over with.

I am reading An American Journey:  Travels with Friday in Search of America and Americans.  Just so you know, Friday is what he has named his bike.  I am really enjoying it.  He did a ride when he was a kid after reading Steinbeck's Travels with Charley.  Fifty years later, at the age of 65, he decides to do another trip, this time instead of a couple hundred miles, it is a thousand miles.  I am not half through the book, but have really enjoyed it so far.

Sarah was putting away her Halloween decorations.  While she was busy, Tootie took the opportunity to sneak off to the bathroom.....

to do her own make-up.

I thought you might enjoy the results...

That smile is enough to light up the room.
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 I hope to get to visit and comment tomorrow...hope everyone has had a good weekend.  I sure have.