Brrrrrr..........!! It's Cold!

It's shocking that it's been almost a month since my last post.  It seems like the days have flown by with most of the days spent indoors keeping the fires burning, literally, to keep the house warm and the cold drafts at bay.

We had our first snow storm last week, blanketing the ground with just over and inch of snow.  Not really that much but it stayed very cold for several days and only finally melted away yesterday.   I love the stark shadows of the trees on the bright white snow.  I've tried to take some publishable images of the black angus cows and their newborn calves in the stark white landscape, but have been unsuccessful.  The contrast is so extreme the cows have no recognizable form unless they are in absolute profile - otherwise they are black blobs.  Anyway - there are several new calves between 1 and 2 weeks old.  They are very curious and will come right up to the fence to check out what I'm up to when chopping firewood or whatever.

Tracks in the snow all the way from the woods across the road, up the driveway, onto the back porch, lots of tracks around the doorway to the cellar, and back down to the woods again.  If they were just a bit bigger I would say they were Bobcat, but I know they are from a very large feral House Cat I have seen around a time or two.  There is a small cut-out corner of the cellar door so cats can and do get into the cellar (they keep mice from invading the house).  The coming and going tracks were made close together time wise so I don't think he/she hung around very long.

We are expected to get another storm of about an inch or so tomorrow so it will be another 'indoor' day with the high temp expected to be about 25 and the low about 12 with the snow expected to fly in the afternoon and evening.  I'll split a little more kindling in the morning and bring some extra wood in next to the fireplaces and the wood stove.  Then maybe bake some banana walnut muffins for breakfast.  During the day I can either spackle the dry wall defects in the bathroom so I can paint the room or I could build the stands to hold the grow lights on the work benches where the seedling flats will go..... or I could do neither and read a good book and take a nap in front of the fireplace.  I'm sure that is what Mosa the cat will do.  Well - the napping part anyway.  I'm not sure what book she might be reading right now.

Happy New Year!

I've mentioned the country idea of 'neighbor' before.  My 'neighborhood' extends a few miles in any direction and my 'neighbors' live anywhere from a few hundred yards to a few miles from my house.
It's the season for exchanging gifts and homemade goodies like cakes and pies, and cookies and.......

One of my neighbors gave me this as a New Years present........... and that ain't water in that fruit jar.

I just love homemade goodies.

Happy New Year!

Wild Turkey

My daughter Marissa and son-in-law Justin came for an overnight stay the weekend before Christmas.  We had our family Christmas celebration and gift exchange while they were here.  For our Christmas feast I cooked some of our traditional dishes - butternut squash with white cheddar cheese, creamed onions, ham with raisin sauce, baked apples and a new center piece dish - ROAST WILD TURKEY!  My cross-the-road neighbor Allen Green gave me a beautiful 12 pound (dressed) wild turkey he got on the edge of one of his pasture / woodland margins (about a 17 pound gobbler, live weight).  Everyone who says wild turkey is more flavorful than commercially raised turkey is 100% right - and of course it's the ultimate organic free range bird and not pumped up with hormones or injected with salt water.  It was delicious.

 

First I seasoned the cavity with salt, pepper and thyme, stuffed it with celery, lemon halves, and bunches of sage and parsley.  Next I lightly coated the bird with olive oil and dusted it with a mixture of flour and corn starch.   (this helps browning later).  Then I seasoned with salt, pepper, thyme, poultry seasoning and sage.  I placed the bird on a bed of celery in a large roasting pan, draped the bird with strips of applewood smoked bacon over the breasts, legs and thighs, added a cup of chicken broth to the pan, and sealed it up tight with aluminum foil.  I roasted it for 15 minutes per pound at 325, basting it every 1/2 hour and resealing the foil each time.  After 3 hours I raised the oven temperature to 375, removed the foil and the bacon and roasted it for an additional hour, basting the bird every 15 minutes.  After removing it from the oven I covered it with the foil once again and let it rest for 45 minutes before carving.  I have to admit that the wings, which were very meaty because they actually use those suckers to fly, were tough, but all the rest was tender and flavorful.  Really a great meal.   

Mosa update - Packages under the tree

Good news on the family critter front.  Back in November we (the vet and I) thought her infected eye ulceration was so bad that her right eye needed to be removed.  After a couple of weeks of antibiotics it had healed up so amazingly well that the surgery was not needed.  She is blind in that eye, but it is completely healed and the whitish haze is getting smaller and fainter.  She had also been scheduled to be spayed, but when she was opened up on the operating table the vet discovered she had already been spayed!  She has a great personality and is very sweet.

Christmas Lights

Several neighbors have commented on how nice it has been to see the house with some lights on it, saying that it is the first time EVER that lights have been put up.  Well - that sure convinces me to put up even more next year!  Definitely candles in the windows, more bushes draped with lights,  maybe the columns wrapped and maybe even icicle lights along the roof..... mmmm......35 feet up - maybe not.

It doesn't look all that big, but the rooms are so big and the ceilings so high, it's hard to tell that this tree is 10 feet tall !!  The 600 lights and many ornaments and candy canes aren't enough - more next year !

Playing King-of-the-Hill

There is an old brick barbecue in the yard.  Cracked and broken as it is, it really needs to be demolished..... but what would the neighbor's goat play on when they all come over to visit, mow the lawn and munch on the wild shrubbery growing on the unkempt fence lines?  Actually because we moved into the house, my neighbor has now fenced in the goats on his property.  They don't have a barbecue to play on in their pen.  Too bad.

Interior pictures

My friend Michelle (not cousin Michelle) asked to see some pictures of the interior of the house.  So lets start with the floor plan.

The original 2 story 4 room house was built in 1859.  The 'family room - dining room - screen porch' was added in 1905, and the 'Kitchen - Laundry Room - Bathroom' was added in 1940.

Dining area & Kitchen

Family room - "World's ugliest paneling & linoleum"

"Parlor" facing the front of the house

"Parlor" opposite side

Foyer - front door

Foyer - stairs

1st floor Guest room - southern yellow pine floor

Guest room - east wall fireplace

2nd floor east bedroom - stove pipe thimble in the wall