December 31st

Well, 2021 is almost a memory.

There's a quote from

Alfred, Lord Tennyson that says,

"Hope smiles from the threshold

of the year to come,

whispering 'it will be happier'..."

I surely hope so.

I wish that all my family and friends

have a happy, healthy and prosperous

new year filled with love.

 I hope that they have 12 months

of happiness, 52 weeks of fun,

365 days of success,

8760 hours of good health,

52600 minutes of good luck

and

3153600 seconds of joy!

and remember...

whatever you do,

it ain't over till.....

so keep on trying!

*******************

We have a couple of the sunflowers

that opened to display their colors.

So beautiful, thanks for planting them squirrels!

These are a few more of the random

sunflowers. Squirrels buried the seeds

and with the mild to hot weather,

they are blooming. We put tomato

cages around them to keep them upright.

The chicken girls are on patrol looking

for tasty bugs.

🐞🐛

These are russet potatoes that

are going into a prepared bed

next week. Just hope it doesn't freeze!

Beets

Cauliflower

Broccoli

They are too small to harvest

so we will cover the bed

if there's a chance of a freeze.

Minew

 finishing her breakfast this morning.

Hungry kitty!

************************

In the song from Frank Sinatra,

there's a line that says...

"The best is yet to come"

So,

let's be optimistic 

and hope that it will be true.

and

this...

💚

 

December 24th

T'was the night before Christmas,

when all through the house

not a creature was stirring.......

Our house is modestly decorated with

a Christmas tree

and a few outdoor decorations.

But,

 we didn't put out our

ancient, light up Nativity set, that

the CEO rescued more than 20

years ago from the trash heap

in front of someone's house.

But,

I think this is the year

it may actually go there.

St. Joseph's painted brown hair

has a middle-aged male pattern

baldness thing going on as most

of the paint has rubbed off.

Yes, I can probably paint 

on some new hair.

But,

Baby Jesus' toes have been gnawed

on when we had squirrels in the attic.

Yes, we can cover Him up with

a strategically placed blanket.

(gives' credence to the phrase

Sweet Baby Jesus!)

But,

the Blessed Mother has an irreversible

problem that I really can't fix.

Her nose has a rather large crack

with a hole right on the tip.

It's like Mike Tyson gave Her

an uppercut that missed and

smashed Her brittle plastic nose.

Dead center.

Roughly about the size of a Half Dollar!

The figures are lighted from

the bottom,

so, a large beam of light comes 

up right through the middle of Her face.

It's frightening!

It's only rivaled by lighthouses.

And,

it is so bright that she could

signal distress calls to ships at sea!

Bless Her heart.

***********************

The recent harvest of cherry

tomatoes and a purple bell pepper.

Broccoli

Spinach, Endive, Mustard Greens

and Romaine.

They are amazing in salads.

We noticed several sunflowers

growing all over the yard.

We think the squirrels bury the seeds.

This one is about 3 feet high.

Can't wait to see the bloom!

I don't have any new Chicken girl pictures.

They are camera shy lately.

Still no eggs,

so

maybe they are avoiding me.

If this is true,

I'll go out to the coop

and we'll have a heart to heart

about the lax egg production.

****************************

My sister is the

keeper of our

Mom's Christmas Tree.

Isn't it beautiful?

Such a nostalgic tradition!

Love it!

*******************

Christmas wishes

to all who read this humble blog.

I hope that this Christmas

is one where love is shared

and memories are made,

December 7th

Today has been 80 years since the

United States was thrown into

a collective nightmare.

Yes, it's true that we were the last

of the major combatants to enter the war,

but this conflict really started in 1939 in Europe.

I saw a statistic that read,

for the 1,364 days of fighting,

the U.S. lost nearly 6,600 military

personnel per month!

That's staggering.

But...

all told, the conservative estimate

of war casualties was

between 70 to 85 million,

or 3% of the world's population at that time.

Few people younger than myself,

have a parent or relative that

fought in WWII.

Even fewer are alive now that actually fought.

The bloodied fields and battle grounds

have grown over with grass or

been built up as housing complexes,

with no lingering echos of war.

But...

I still get chills and get choked up

thinking of the sacrifices these

men and women made to

preserve freedom.

It also makes me wonder whether

in the current climate, would, 

the words of

Ralph Waldo Emerson's poem,

"Voluntaries", 

written during the Civil War, apply.

"When duty whispers low,

Thou must,

The youth replies, 

I can.

Never Forget

***************************

We are still getting a decent crop of bell peppers,

 hot peppers, cherry tomatoes

and lettuce.

The herbs are doing ok too.

I've been harvesting and drying 

marigold flowers and mint for my tea.

I use a heaping teaspoon in my tea infuser

with hot water and let it steep.

Delicious!

Marigolds are an ancient herbal medicine

used for its' anti-inflammatory properties.

Onions.

The lettuce is looking wonderful!

We have many different varieties.

The thing with home-grown lettuce

is that it's not tasteless like

the stuff you buy,

it actually has great flavors.

I've been eating a home-grown salad

pretty much daily.

I add the lettuce, cherry tomatoes,

bell peppers, some green onion

and sprinkle with my dried herbs.

Delish!

Yesterday's haul.

If I don't get to the bell peppers

quickly enough,

the chicken girls will eat them!

This is the leftovers from the 2nd one 

I found partly eaten on that bush.

They have no regrets!

That's Nugget and Lucy.

My entourage.

They follow and cluck or meow

till I acknowledge them with pats.

Ethel, Nugget and Hazel

Lucy

Minew

The broccoli garden.

It's over a foot tall now!

A lonely survivor

of the artichoke harvest.

My baby rose that was

my Anniversary gift.

She's about to bloom.

We had an unwanted visitor yesterday.

A hawk!

He didn't really frighten the girls,

but the sparrows and house wrens

went scrambling for cover.

A side note...

This crazy weather is either

hot, cold, clear, cloudy, rainy or foggy,

and all in one week!

This is a picture of my drive home after dropping 

the kids at school yesterday morning.

The fog was literally rolling in towards

me as I was driving.

The closer I got to home, the foggier

it became!

***********************************

I made up a new sandwich today.

I call it the BLOAT.

It's bacon, lettuce, onion, avocado and toast.

I hope it catches on!

Although its' been a few hours now

and I'm thinking it may live up to its' name.

I'll just go take a Tums.

😞

Thought I'd share a really

easy and delicious

Garlic Cheddar Biscuit recipe

2 cups Bisquick

3/4 cup milk

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar

Oven to 450 degrees

Add all ingredients till well incorporated

Spray a cookie sheet with PAM or

line with parchement.

Scoop (I use an ice cream scoop) the

dough and place on cookie sheet,

not too closely together.

I usually add a sprinkling of

shredded cheese to the top.

Bake for 10 minuits.

Makes about 10 biscuits.

Note: I've doubled the recipe,

added bacon bits to the batter at times

and brushed the tops with melted butter

before serving, just to change it up.

These are great for dinner or with eggs for breakfast.

Enjoy!

*********************

Remember,

the hardest thing to say, to someone

is that you're

sorry.

or "Pass the Worster sauce"

er

"the worstshire sauce"

um,

"watrchessere sauce"

Whatever!

Be Nice!

💚