More Simple Things

I think this sounds like it would be good so I thought I would share.

 

I had a full day of messy work. I decided to tackle the wood pellet stove myself. I took the revocable interior parts out and gave it a thorough cleaning. I pulled the rotator stirrer out, cleaned it up and slide it back in. When had everything was put back together I turned it on and it rotated. I put a small amount of pellets into the hopper, turned it on again and it worked for about five minutes then stopped. I figured out it needs a bushing, which I ordered. I received a notice it has been sent so hopefully I will have a working heat source soon.

 

                

No day is complete without a photo of a tired Gatto.

Bunny Cheeks

Gatto alerted me to this little guy outside the window. It was quite accommodating. There were several years with no bunnies, I don't know what happened, but I'm happy they are back.

Tabby comes in more now that it's getting cold. He has found his spot in the old rocker. It's a good place for some spa time and a nap. 

I drove yesterday for a third time in a couple of weeks. I picked up groceries at Aldi. I'm grateful to have one in the community as prices have continued to increase, at least I can buy groceries. It's easy for me to track because I do pick-up orders, which vary little, so I can look back at the prior orders.

The sun is shining, the coffee is hot. The simple pleasures of life. 

Taking Comfort

I looked out the window as evening was falling and I saw this. It's beautiful, even taken with a  phone camera through window glass. 

November and December, especially December, my favorite months of the year. The magnificent sky scapes, the early darkness and sitting in my snug with a fire and a book. Comfort food, oh my god, how I love comfort food. Don't we all? Then, of course, there is always a but. I don't actually mind plowing snow. I can't say I enjoy the deep freeze weather but I can dress for it. The tropical summers we've been having, going through life naked wouldn't help. The utilities bills, we won't talk about. This is supposed to be idyllic, after all.

Speaking of finding comfort in food. I finally made the rhubarb cake and it is delicious. A pound or two may end up on my waste line. 

 

Saturday

This is a grocery store about two miles east of us. It was built about a year ago. There is a lot of affluence in the West Metro. There's also farmers and small towns and the rest of us. I have not been there, I haven't been much of anywhere for a few years. 

I'd say this isn't the average coffee area in a grocery.

 

Today the SNAP (food stamps) benefits end. Minnesota will support it for as long as is possible, which can't be that long, I'm sure. 

We had matzo ball soup for lunch. 

A Different Day in the Kitchen.

The finished project.

This cabinet was always a disastrous mess. Baking sheets, pot lids, colander. Just a jumbled up mess. After over 30 years I thought maybe I should do something about it, so I bought these. I put them together and cleaned up the mess.

I then decided to reorganize the others that were in desperate need. Two were actually not in need.

It was simply a matter of pulling everything out and then putting it back with some sense of order. These last few years it seems I was relatively useless. I'm back or at least partially.

Today it's the cupboards. That rhubarb cake will need to wait. When one has intriguing assignments all else must wait.

 

Not Quite Wordless Wednesday

What consumed my entire Tuesday Afternoon.

 

Rainy Tuesday

It's raining this morning and supposedly through the day. We need it and I have no plans. I have baking plans and I couldn't ask for more appropriate weather for that. I think I'll make a rhubarb cake. When you are born and raised in a cold climate the biological instinct to start loading up calories as winter approaches still exists. This is why it's so common for weight gain during winter. I tell myself a little treat now and again doesn't hurt anyone. Justification? Maybe.

Neighbor Bill brought me some of the last of his peppers. I stopped growing peppers years ago when I started being supplied by Bill. They made a good, easy and colorful stir fry for our dinner. 

 

Boo

As we approach Halloween I felt it fitting to honor the Princess of Darkness.

Frieda of the Dark

 She is a most serious cat and she holds a grudge.

So, matters of no consequence. We took a carload of boxes and bags to Goodwill on Saturday. We picked up my monthly non-wine order at Total Wine and had lunch at Culver's. If you are going to have fast food, that's the food to have. It's actually good. And the frozen custard, don't get me started. The day spent out and about meant I missed at least half of your blogs. I hate to admit that I come home mentally exhausted after being out in the world, but I do. It's what happens when a person with a tendency toward lonerism becomes too isolated. I am working on modifying myself. Stay tuned. 

Hodgepodge

Not Gatto. Tabby; aka Crabby Tabby. It's colder outside so he is seeking the warmth of a comfortable chair. We had our first frost last night, so you could say the air is crisp. The horses do a happy dance when they are let out in the crunchy morning air. The old geezers still got it.

Other than another orange cat in the house and dancing elderly horses, not much happening on the old homestead. I continue whittling away at the disorder that's in my life. Small steps. Small steps lengthen the time of the journey, but the journey does eventually end. 

As some may remember, I rarely make a casserole. I know, I know.....I was born and raised in Minnesota, land of the 'hot dish', but the hot dish was not in my sphere. My mother never made one, other  than lasagna, which could be called a casserole. I know I won't be making the kind that I hear about, green bean, tator tot, but noodles or rice, vegetables and aromatics, protein if desired, in a cream sauce, well, it's hard to beat that. Add in the easy factor and all I can say is, what have I been thinking.

 Enjoy your Friday. Make a casserole.

Just Another Day

Thursday. Time is speeding by. The East Wing of the White House has been demolished. Federal workers are out of a job. Food assistance is stopping. Cost of living is rising. Argentina gets 20 billion (or more?) to prop up a strongman. Apparently the US will be buying cattle from Argentina (how's that working for you, ranchers). Kristi Noem gets a new jet. You get the picture. Are we great yet?

 

A Little Ginger Spice

Let us honor orange cats.  

Or so says Gatto.

Tabby wanted nothing to do with the honor if it included Gatto.

 Enjoy today. Be like Gatto.

We The People

 

Soups On

It's soup season.

So the time for bringing in the plants, putting away the outdoor furniture, getting the windows washed is upon us. I haven't had a fire yet because I have no wood. Oh, there are plenty of downed trees, just not cut up downed trees. The guy just keeps saying soon. I need to find a repair person for the wood pellet stove. A new auger motor was installed last year, it worked for a while but the auger stopped turning again. Hopefully I can find someone, it puts out a lot of heat.

That's the news from the old homestead.

On the Road Again

Autumn is upon us.

I took this photo as I was pulling into the driveway a couple of days ago. I have now driven a car four times since the end of 2020. I made two short, solo trips this week. I think I may be on the road again. For those who don't know, I started having serious, undiagnosed back pain in 2021, so bad it affected my mobility. I was treated more like a mental patient than a medical patient. I could not walk far, which meant I needed dropping off at the door. To the only place I was going, the medical clinic.

Isn't it sad how women, in general, and older women in particular, are treated this way. I spent three miserable years before changing clinics and actually receiving help. Part of it is our private equity owned medical system, but not all. This is an age-old problem. The more assertive and persistent a woman is the more she is deemed unsteady. 

Back to the positive. I still have pain and I won't be running any marathons anytime soon, but I am able to regain independence, which is wonderful.

Unchained Melody

WOW

A peaceful photo on a Sunday morning.

Hello

Good Friday morning. I have been busy and actually getting what I wanted to do done. It does feel good to accomplish something, although my back disagrees. Backs can be disagreeable, can't they.

Finally we have autumn weather. After I finish my goal inside I have another outside. So much to do, so little stamina to do it! I received a text from my son a couple of days ago saying he's coming to visit tomorrow, bringing lunch. It will be good to see him. Gatto always enjoys another human to annoy.

Otherwise, nothing new to report. Today is Friday so it's Philly Friday at the deli. Meaning I don't make lunch. Yippee!! I really do not like making lunch, but I gotta do what I gotta do.

 

Frieda Day, Otherwise Known as Caturday.

Naughty Frieda in repose. 

I baked soda bread Thursday and three loaves of bread from dough that had fermented for three days yesterday. Ivy had mention sourdough a few days ago. I had a period in my life of messing with starter. Some really like doing this, others, me, do not. I have found letting the dough be for one to three days gives a similar result. The longer left the more 'sour' it becomes. 

My interaction here will be sporadic for a little while. I have a lot I want to do and I need to focus. After I come into my office I can look at the time and realize hours have passed. Time seems to disappear.

How Sweet it Is.

Over the weekend I made chocolate sauce.....

....and a wild plum cobbler. We have been indulging. 

The constant turmoil that is now the US is causing stress and stress tends to bring on certain ways of coping. Indulging in dessert is one of my ways.

WHIM WOOD - KATHERINE TOWERS

Into the coppery halls of beech and intricate oak to be close to the trees as they whisper together let fall their leaves, and we die for the winter.

 

Gattoday

Buongiorno

 

Good Morning

We have mild weather and sunshine. Minnesotans love to talk (complain) about the weather. I came to find farmers are particularly experienced in the fine art of weather complaints. With reason I will concede. Come to think of it, I've honed my skills. So, weather out of the way.

I don't know how but the last day of cleaning my office I managed to pull a groin muscle. Ouch! For those old enough to know who I'm talking about, I spent several days swinging my leg like Gunsmokes Chester Goode. That pain brings a person to their knees. All better now.

I did manage to make a loaf of buckwheat bread. I do like buckwheat. I'm waiting on King Arthur to deliver a large flour order, I'm down to nubbins' here. As you can see, life has been uneventful.

I did find a new piece of artwork in the powder room. Is it even called this anymore? Spidey has been hanging, no pun intended, on the wall for a few days, same spot. It is alive, I've checked. I don't kill them. They don't bother me so I give them the same courtesy.

Neighbor Bill gave me some peppers which I sauteed with onion to smother a pork chop. Some calorie busting potatoes, onions and feta round the meal off.

 

It's a Cat's World After All

A late Caturday submit to the land of blog. McCool contemplating  life on a treadmill. He came to no conclusions, other than it's just one step in front of another going nowhere. He figured out my life.

Frieda, on the other hand, doesn't care to contemplate anything other than her own comfort. 

Gatto feeling overwhelmed by the mess I made in their room. Will he ever recover from the trauma?

A few belly scratches later and we have a recovery. He's such a stalwart fellow.

Jiggy and Gatto finally had enough. Put the two-leggers craziness out of mind and take a nap.

TA-DA!

This is a photocentric post. Beware.

It made sense that some commented in the prior post that it was difficult to judge the change without before photos. In the interest of full disclosure I have photos of the remaining mess. Along with age, it seems, comes a lack of shame. 

I do have a rest home for old Macs. 

Yesterday I finished with the remaining odds and ends. I decided to leave the relic of a treadmill open, hoping I will use it. I am supposed to do as much walking as possible and this does make walking easier. Gatto likes it as another choice of cat perch. Seeing the photo reminds me I need to put the smoke alarm back over the door.

 

This took me five or six days but I stuck with it and got it done. Mark called it clean and busy. I bristled. Busy? Well, maybe, but I've had a lifetime of horses and show rings and a collection of a kazillion photos and stuff. What's the point of keeping the things you like and not having them where you can see them? There is no point. I am not a minimalist, fair to say.