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The Frozen Tree

When the kids were younger (much younger!), when the second Saturday in December rolled around, our neighbor would take Phil and the older kids out to his son’s woods to cut down a Christmas tree.

In normal years, the weather in central Maine was still nice, at least considering it was wintertime. We usually didn’t have much snow yet and while it was cold, it wasn’t frigid. Walking in the woods was easy and it was nice enough that the kids didn’t whine about being cold during the hour or so it took to find a tree, cut it, and drag it back to the truck.

One year wasn’t normal; instead of turning sharply colder after Christmas, frigid weather came in with December. The day they went to the woods to get a tree, it was below zero. The highs had been below zero for a week. We bundled the older kids up and Phil and John took them to pick out the tree.

They didn’t go far. It was cold and Phil decided the top one of the first trees he found would be perfect. The only problem? The part they wanted was about 8 feet up. Phil cut the top off and the frozen tree tumbled to the ground… and broke.

The branches on the side that hit the ground all broke off. Phil was cold, the kids were cold, and they just wanted to get out of the cold. So they brought the tree home.

John said if I didn’t like it, he’d take Phil out to get another tree, but it was too cold to subject anyone to the task, so I it was fine, we’d slide it up against the wall, no one would see the flat side.

In all honesty, it was nice because didn’t take up much floor space.
And it gives us something to reminisce about years later.

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Windows 7 SP1 came out how long ago?

And even though i have automatic updates enabled, it wasn’t installed? I only discovered the problem because IE9 would not install (hey, WordPress wants me to use it :)) and I discovered Sp1 was not installed on that computer.

Here’s hoping SP1 will install… and maybe put an end to the 4 updates that won’t install (or keep reinstalling – I’m pretty sure at least 2 are properly installed but Windows is too dumb to know that. :))

 

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Mt Pisgah Inn

We’re staying at the Mt Pisgah Inn for two nights – views are great, food is great, rooms are not bad for 5700 feet above sea level out in the middle of nowhere. (I’ve actually had worse rooms.)  We arrived late yesterday afternoon and had supper in the restaurant (you don’t need to be a guest to eat at the restaurant – its a really nice place).

Great Smokie Mountains
After breakfast we headed out to look for butterflies. No luck at wagon wheel gap or tunnel gap so we decided to go on down the parkway, almost to the end. On the trip back we found a lot of blue butterflies (swallow tails?) and some monarchs. It was starting to rain but we stopped at Graveyards fields to hike down to the waterfalls. We were last there 15 or 16 years ago. They now have wooden bridges and walkways (both wooden and paved) for easy access. It’s an easy walk down and a steep walk up – but I made it.  Butterflies don’t do rain, so we came back to the room to rest and enjoy the views while i got some work done.

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Monarch migration

We’re on our way to the Asheville area to see monarchs by the thousands… we decided to go all the way down the BRP from Charlottesville Va. In the area of Arnold Valley overlook (3510 elevation), we found hundreds of monarchs (and some hawks) migrating.  We should see thousands over the next couple days when we are in the Ashville area where larger numbers cross the parkway.

Monarch butterflies
Butterflies migrating over the blue ridge
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I think I got ripped off…

We’re taking a winding route from Cleveland to Johnson city TN, going by way of Mortgantown and Elkins WV. The best route there was Ohio to PA turnpike, get off at Cranberry PA and take I 79 South.  We hadn’t went this way in years and were pleasantly surprised to see open tolling lanes (in PA) at the OH border. There are no tollgates in Cranberry… so, worried that we missed something (and didn’t want our ez pass charged full length tolls, I looked it up online… and discovered East bound pays $3.80 or so and west bound is no tolls at the OH border. So… since we’re going one way (East) we paid a high price for the few miles we traveled the PA turnpike… must remember this if we ever go this way again. I might look for a different, no toll route. 

But hey, it was the first time we used the PA EZ pass in PA since getting it in 2007. And the open tolling lanes are nice. The last time we went east (about 6 or 7 years ago) we sat at the tollgate for an hour.

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Lou Piniella is proof sons will do what’s right

My brother wanted to dump my parents into assisted living against their wishes. They wanted to die at home, not in a nursing home. He said that they should “be glad they had 3 daughters because if they had 3 sons, the sons would have forced them into assisted living months ago”.  

My husband cringed when he heard that because he would not do that to his mother and we felt my deceased brother would not be so adamant that they needed to be forced out of their home either.

Days after Mom’s death, he bullied Dad into assisted living. He said he was afraid dad would hurt himself – he was more worried Dad would damange the house and make it harder to sell, the greedy bastard that he is.

Oh how I wish Lou were my brother. 🙂

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Zucchini Brownies (Lunch box squares)

½ cup butter or margarine
½ cup oil
1 ¾ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup buttermilk (I use buttermilk powder and milk)
2 ½ cup flour
1 teaspoon soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups shredded zucchini, drained
Chocolate chips
Nuts – about ½ cup ground.

Cream butter, oil, and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well. Blend in vanilla and buttermilk.

Add dry ingredients slowly.  Stir in zucchini. Pour into greased jelly roll pan (11×16) or  9×13 cake pan.

Top with chocolate chips and nuts.

Bake at 350 for 15 to 20 minutes for bars or 45 minutes for cake.

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Turkeys in Trees

We have a large flock of turkeys in the woods behind my house. Last year we saw 3 hens and 7 chicks. This year its too hard to count them – there are at least 6 hens and 25 chicks.

We have tall trees around the backyard where the turkeys like to roost. Clearly, its not safe to be outside in the afternoon – we might get hit with something falling from the sky. 🙂

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It finally feels like a normal summer

It’s been a bad summer – between writing a book and my parent’s illness and deaths, the spring and summer has been anything but normal. We didn’t put the gazebo up until almost memorial day and didn’t bother to put up the party lights. The garden was planted late… I had the peppers and zucchini in late May and we finally rushed the tomatoes in the morning Dad went into surgery – I didn’t know when I’d be home again so I stuck them in the wet lumpy soil Phil turned over for me.

Anyway… the kids came over for supper. They said they were going to leave at 8 to take the new baby home, and I was looking forward to a quiet house. It was a pleasant evening, so we had dinner on the deck, a few bottles of wine and the grandkids played in the yard after supper. They played ball while it was still light and didn’t want to go home. Their mom relented, so they tried catching lightening bugs at dusk, and after dark, they played light tag with my pen lights (I got them to give out at shows). I’m glad they stayed longer – I needed the normalcy.