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

Winter Storm

Yesterday our first winter storm arrived.  It was right at the freezing mark all day and last night and  continuing today.  We had rain and freezing rain off and on all day, all night, and today.

Fortunately it was mostly rain and not so much freezing rain so ice did not accumulate too thickly on the trees and power lines.  The lights have stayed on....... so far.

I wish all the seed catalogs that come out at this time of year had already arrived.  Today is a good day to sit by the fireplace or stove, and plan the garden for the spring.