Comfort Food

“We learn much by tribulation, and by adversity our hearts are made better.”
― David McCullough, The Wright Brothers

It's rainy and windy out today. Yesterday was nice so we got a ton of outside stuff taken care of before winter. One of those things was covering the wood piles - good timing as it turns out.

I was in the mood for some comfort food since I wasn't feeling "up to par" today. I don't know what it is, seems to be sinus related. I always tackle something on days I don't feel well. I think it goes back to the days of raising the girls when getting sick and doing nothing just wasn't an option. So, today I decided I wanted to make hamburger gravy over mashed potatoes. I would normally use cream of mushroom soup but I didn't have any so I decided to make it from scratch. I know how to make a roux and I used beef broth for the liquid. I used to have trouble remembering how much of what I needed so I came up with what works for me. 1/4 - 1/4 - quart. 1/4 lb butter 1/4 c. flour and a quart of liquid.

I threw one of those gorgeous carnival squash in the oven with a little butter and brown sugar, roasted the seeds just like pumpkin seeds. Used sour cream in the potatoes instead of milk. It was perfect!

Angie got me a really useful kitchen tool that works wonderfully for mushrooms. I'm sure it works equally well for other things but, so far, that's all I've used it for.

We had a visitor early in the week. I tried to take a picture with my phone through the glass door. I had to zoom so it's not a great picture but you can see him but maybe not identify him. It was a hawk, not sure what kind but saw it fly in.

We took an impromptu drive earlier in the week fearing the weather would turn and we wouldn't get to do our annual "fall color tour" so we loaded up Coop and took off. Well....the colors were few and far between and I didn't even capture one picture. One thing was right though, with this rain and wind the leaves are coming down pretty steadily at home here.

Picture of the week: 

Neighbors

P.S. We won (we would have tied but the "guys" decided to risk it)

Fall Chores

“In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.” 
― Robert Frost

The past couple days we've had a couple guys here sawing wood. We buy it in logs and they saw it in chunks for the wood stove. The next couple of days will be splitting and stacking. We stacked some today and my body is in shock! We used to do all of this ourselves but it just seems a bit overwhelming nowadays.

All the veggies from this weeks CSA box are still crammed in the fridge. There's just not enough time (or maybe it's energy) to get everything done. We were on the last week of CSA but I get a bonus week because we didn't get it one other week this summer. We'll get that on Thursday so I will need to deal with what's in the fridge before then. I was a little surprised there were no potatoes or pumpkins but otherwise I guess I was satisfied with what they offered. I don't think I'll do it next year though, we plan on trying to garden ourselves again with just a few raised beds.

We had visitors the other morning. They may be hard to see - Sandhill Cranes. Cooper tried to intimidate them by barking but they just made their noise back at him, he finally gave up.

This was so pretty the other morning. There was actually fog flowing across the field too but my camera just wouldn't pick it up. It's pretty nonetheless.

We've been following the hurricanes and watch in horror of what all those people are/will go through. I can't even imagine!

P.S. We won!

The Crafting Continues

I think I'm finally getting the hang of this overlay crochet thing. I'm still considered a newbie since I've only been crocheting a couple years. Seems like I always have to try the most difficult stuff, probably because it's the nicest looking.

It's coming along, I believe it will take me longer to weave in the ends than to create the project. Not sure on the colors yet either but we'll see how it looks at the end. It will make a nice pot holder if nothing else.

We have a guy here cutting the hay in the field, he cuts it once a year and usually later than we'd like but at least it will be cut and, hopefully, green up some for the livestock  deer this fall. They enjoy nibbling and we enjoy seeing them. We notice the fawns have grown quite a bit already, they still have spots though.

Ok, back to the mandala....

End of the Heat Wave

Today is supposed to be the end to our current heatwave. It can't end soon enough if you ask me. Why do people say things like, " At least it's not 20 below" when it's hot. At that moment 20 below would be a welcome reprieve!

It feels great this evening, a definite drop in the humidity level. We even went all out and turned off the A/C. I am glad we have the A/C but am always ready to opt for opening the windows and getting some fresh air.

Even the animals have been struggling because if the heat and humidity isn't bad enough the bugs seem to thrive in that atmosphere. We had a doe and fawn on the field last night and you could tell they were being "bugged". I'm sure just getting out of the woods was helpful.

Tomorrow should be a change for the better, the forecast is for cooler and drier weather for the week. Yippee!

This is what greeted me in my car after work yesterday, uffda!