Winter Has Arrived

 We knew snow was in our forecast but we didn't get much. Vince is supposed to go to Kansas City tomorrow and that trip may have to be rescheduled. I think it's kind of a mess up there.

This morning before daylight I was out with Oscar and it was sleeting. He was so funny. I don't know if he thought it was little animals or what. He kept running around like he thought he was going to catch it but then he never could actually find it because it was hitting the ground. It was hitting him on the head and that kinda scared him. Cooper never paid any attention to it at all. They're so funny.

Then I spread straw across the patio - the part that water and snow fall down onto from the deck above. It will get icy and we have to walk across about 10' of it to get to the covered part where there's no ice.

Then Vince got the propane heater in the basement hooked up and showed me how to use it. It's the same heater we had in the greenhouse in Texas and I used it there but haven't messed with it since. Don't worry - we have plenty of carbon monoxide detectors. This heater is meant for indoor use and is supposed to be totally safe. I will only use it if the power goes out and the house is freezing. It's actually going to get warmer each day so I'm not real concerned. If the power is off, I will need a battery for the thermostat on the heater to work so Vince brought in a battery and showed me how to do all that. Now that I know how to do all the things I need to do, he probably won't even be able to make his trip. Also, there's a gas stove in the basement and a gas stove upstairs and gas fireplaces on both levels so I'm not going to freeze. The gas fireplaces burn through the propane way more than does the heater or the stove so those will be my last resort.

Here are a few pictures from this morning. We really didn't get much snow but the first snow is always the best!

When I'm in the kitchen, I can see out this window. I can see the road and kinda judge the road conditions because the traffic headed west is coming up on a BIG hill and if there's any ice at all, no one makes up that hill.

Our magnolia tree is beautiful with snow. It reminds me of Louisiana because the Louisiana state flower is the magnolia. Seems like the tree should be state tree too but that's a bald cypress and I love those too. The snow reminds me of how lucky we are to be living where there's a little snow but not too much. Having grown up without snow, I will always be like a child on snow days.

You can see that the deck has a thin coating of snow and all the roofs have snow. 

Tomorrow I will make a cross stitching post! There hasn't been a lot of stitching going on but with Thanksgiving behind us and a few days to myself, I expect to get a lot done and have a good report in a few days.

Thanksgiving 2025 is History!

There's nothing really interesting to report from here. Monday and Tuesday of last week, the windows were replaced. On Monday, the guys got the four downstairs windows done. There are two more smaller windows but they are on the north side and hadn't had nearly as much sun damage as those on the east side that were all replaced. Then they moved upstairs and got two very large windows that are at least 7' tall done. By then, the weather was looking very threatening and they decided to come back the next day and get the remaining six windows done. I was expecting another full day of barking but those guys were here a little after 7 and were done by 10:30.

On Tuesday, Vince had an early appointment for bloodwork; then we had an Azure pickup east of Carthage, then we both had haircuts. It was coming and going all day.

On Wednesday, I went to meet Debbie and we spent the day talking with a bit of stitching! I went to her town so it was an hour driving there and an hour driving back.

Thursday we ate at the Thanksgiving buffet at one of our favorite local restaurants. Chad, Nicole and Addie were coming Friday so once we were done (and stuffed) at the restaurant, I came home and started cooking. I made cornbread dressing, sausage dressing, sweet potato casserole, pumpkin pie, pecan tassies, sweet tea and unsweetened tea, and boiled the giblets for the gravy. I spatchcocked the turkey - first time I had ever done that and I will definitely cook the turkey (and probably chickens too) that way from now on.

Friday morning I peeled and cut the potatoes for mashed potatoes and waited til later to boil them and make the gravy. I also roasted the turkey and I think it was the best I've ever made. Should have taken pictures but didn't.

Chad, Nicole and Addie arrived and we visited for a while, then ate, then visited more. They left and I had a huge mess to get cleaned up. Got that done and as I'm sure everyone who cooked Thanksgiving dinner will agree - I was totally exhausted.

I'm writing this post Monday evening and I have not left the house since we ate Thanksgiving lunch out!

I'm supposed to have PT tomorrow morning but not at all sure the roads will be clear enough for me to drive. We had a bit of snow today, are supposed to have more tonight and it isn't going to be above freezing til tomorrow afternoon. We'll see.

Saturday, we had turkey sandwiches and turkey clam chowder for dinner. Sunday we heated up turkey, the two dressings, the sweet potato casserole so I didn't have to cook anything. Today I made turkey bone soup (boiled the bones/skin with carrots, celery and onions, strained it. Added fresh carrots and celery and onions, then added pastina. We were going to have grilled cheese sandwiches but decided all we wanted was soup. I had cooked breakfast a bit late. So, I have not done much cooking. Oh . . there was a good bit of broth and I didn't need it all for the soup so I canned 4 pints of rich turkey broth.

I'm always super happy to get good broth.

That's about it. Sorry to have been missing for almost the entire week!