Guests

Mar 162011
 

Well, we had a nice surprise last night!

Rick’s folks stopped at our house on their way home after some doins in Ohio.  Always good to see them as I don’t get to travel with Rick out their way very often.

And I was even happier about this surprise because I had supper already cooking in the slow cooker and didn’t have to worry about what to make for supper.  Yay!!

I had been rustling around in the freezer Monday trying to think of something for supper that  night and came across a venison roast (hind quarter, to be exact).

Now, please don’t tell me I need to show you where that comes from on this guy.

Good.

So, I’m thinking that I’d just whip that puppy up with some fixins’ and Rick would come home from work to a delish supper.

Yeah, well, I made the mistake of trying to look for a cool way to cook it and came upon the dreaded phrase:  “One of the toughest pieces of venison.”

Crap!

OK, time to look for a marinade recipe.  1/2 hour later I found one that had all the ingredients that I had laying around the house.  Mixed ’em up, plopped the roast in a bag with the marinade and set it in the fridge overnight.  Got up in the morning and threw it in the slow cooker with some onion, herbs and beef broth and prayed that it would turn out better than shoe leather.

When I got home from work 9 hours later, I boiled some potatoes, nuked some corn and held my breath on the outcome of the roast.  And. It. Turned. Out…. fairly well, I’d say.  Very tender with a nice taste to it.

Phew!  I can still claim some cooking skills.

And no, I didn’t get any pics of the final presentation.  I didn’t want Rick’s folks to think I was weird or something by taking a picture of a piece of meat.

Maybe next time.

Keepin’ it Real

Mar 152011
 

I’ve really enjoyed doing this webpage… err blog.  And I’ve had a wonderful time being able to discover other people that have sites like mine that, to tell the truth, make me laugh and smile and realize that I am not the only person that tends to tell it like it is.

However, to borrow the phrase from one of people that I absolutely adore and who was my “Website Find” back when I started this, The Pioneer Woman, “I’m keepin’ it real.”

By that I mean I am letting you know exactly who I am and letting you into my world.

My husband is named Rick, not “Sexy Man” or “The Hubby”.

My kids are Christine and Nichole, not “The Sophmore” or “Twinkles”.

Not that they would have had much of a vote on the subject, because after all, I’m the Mom and what I say goes.  Yes, I would have listened to them and if they really would have wanted to stay under the radar, I MIGHT have let them, but hey, it’s too late now.  Love you!  MWAH!

I lay it all on the line folks, and I’m proud of who I am and who my family is.

Now, before you start razzing me, let me say this:  I am not putting down other blogs that do this.  I realize that people require a certain amount of anonymity.  Cool!  I get it!  Completely understandable!

And I really get a kick out of seeing how creative other bloggers can be when choosing the names of their family members.

And I love, love, love reading everything that they have to say and the things that they share.

So my whole reason for this post?

Well, there is none, really, just keepin’ it real 😉

 

Sugarbush Begins!

Mar 142011
 

On Sunday we tapped the Maple trees on our property to officially kick-off Sugarbush 2011.

Not a big deal, you say?  I beg to differ.  This is a very important day where I live.  Not only does it mark the coming of Spring, it reminds us of our connection to the land and everything it has to offer.

Besides, it’s the best damn syrup you’ll ever taste!

But as I said, today was just the beginning with tapping the trees.  It wasn’t as warm and sunny as I would have liked, but when I think back to previous years, we were trudging through alot more snow that we did today.  And if the weatherperson is correct, this next week will provide ideal conditions for the sap to run (fingers crossed!).

Before we could start, we had to get all the buckets.

Rick had to haul all the buckets and taps from the shed so they could be washed.

And here are the cast of characters for this episode.

And we’re off in search of the Maple trees.

Like I said, not much snow to walk through, probably 6 – 8 inches.

We use the modern convenience of a cordless drill.

After Rick blows out the sawdust from the hole…

…in goes the tap.

Success!  First bucket hung.

Nice row of Maples in the front yard.

We tapped 18 trees in all.  This small amount of trees has yielded us 60 – 90 gallons of sap in previous years, which turned into about 3 gallons of finished syrup.  It may not sound like much, but it is plenty for the 2 of us, with extra to gift to friends.

I can’t wait to go out and hear the “tap tap tap’ as the sap drips in the buckets.

Stay tuned to the next episode were we start collecting the sap!

Change Every Friggin’ Clock in the House Day

Mar 132011
 

Daylight savings time has come to Wisconsin.

Hmph…

Bunch of malarkey if you ask me.

Twice a year we have to go around the house and reset the clock on the microwave, coffeemaker, alarm clock and any other apparatus that shows us the time of day.  Luckily, the cable box and computers have a mind of their own and take the task amongst themselves.

So how many of my clocks have the same exact time on them?  None.  Zero.  Zilch.

I keep my alarm clock 12 minutes fast so I’m not awaken by the blare of music and have to jump out of my cozy bed to shut the blasted thing off.  I keep my coffeemaker 10 minutes fast just in case I happen to wake up before my alarm clock.  Even the computer and cable box can’t decide which time is correct.

And why does this time change always have to occur in the middle of the night?  Do people actually set their alarms for 1 a.m. just to get out of bed and reset their clocks to 1 hour ahead?

One of my friends provided a suggestion for this particular pain in the rear:

DST should happen during the day in the middle of the week, not when we are clinging to the last bit of the weekend

Makes perfect sense to me!  This way we do not lose that hour of sleep and can shorten a work day by one hour.  Who wouldn’t love that?

 

Few Words

Mar 122011
 

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past 24 hours, you are well aware of the devastation that has been inflicted upon Japan from an 8.9 earthquake.

One of my friends posted this picture on Facebook yesterday and all I could do is stare in shock.

Then I came upon a video on the internet that showed the tsunami waters causing so much destruction and death that I could only sit there and stare.  Numb at the scene that was unfolding before my eyes.

As I was looking for these photos, I came across this:

This is from a post about Cat Island , which is off the east coast of Japan.  Seeing this post made me think about the loss of animal lives from this event.  While some may not consider that as newsworthy as the loss of human lives, it forced me to come to terms of how much is lost.  Homes, crops, businesses.

As the days go on, this story will loose it’s prominence in the news, but the effects will last for years to come.

And I realize that it is not only the people from Japan that are affected by this disaster… we all are.

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