Gustatory Cells

We have different gustatory cells Far Guy and I.  They are the receptor cells found in the papillia on your tongue and all around in your mouth….better known as taste buds.

Mushy is not a taste…yet that is how he described the culinary delight I prepared for supper.  He skipped lunch and might have been just to hangry to savor the flavors.

Chance thought it was a wonderful meal and he begged for more and more.

The recipe is from Farmgirl Sam.  I am not certain what she called it but I will call it…

Squash Delight

Take one acorn squash and cut it in half from top to bottom, remove the seeds, cut a flat spot on the uncut side of the squash so it rests in the bottom of a roasting pan. ( I only got the knife stuck once in the squash before Far Guy took over the cutting.)

Put about an inch or two of water in the roasting pan…mine is the navy blue speckled kind.

Fill the cavities of the squash with pork sausage adding whatever seasonings you like to the pork sausage. ( I think my mix has some sage, cayanne pepper and a few other misc spices in it.. who really remembers when they are making a mixture.)

Drizzle with Maple Syrup

Bake covered at 350 degrees for about 90 minutes until the sausage is completely cooked and the squash is soft.

The pork sausage melds with the squash with a hint of the maple syrup..perfect meal as far as I am concerned. 

Yummy not mushy.  I served it with baked carrots on the side…Chance likes them too, Far Guy not so much. (perhaps it was veggie overload for him)

I think I may have more sophisticated gustatory cells. I can tell when someone attempts to pass off potatoes from a box as real mashed potatoes…and Far Guy will just enjoy them.

He shared that eating baked squash was about as pleasant for him as eating cottage cheese would be for me. So I won’t prepare my Squash Delight for him anymore.  This will be a new go to meal for me when Far Guy has his gumbo.

Nope no photos of the food.

 

Just a deer coming out of the woods.  This one had one fawn that still had its spots. The bean field is turning yellow…the deer like beans…and yes that is smoke in the air most likely from the fires out West.

Wistful Wednesday: The Grandstand

The Grandstand at the Hubbard County Fairgrounds has changed over the years. The old one was made completely out of wood.   You could see black spots in the floor boards where not quite extinguished cigarettes were left to burn…it is a wonder it did not burn down. The seats were worn wood planks showing names of kids and young lovers from many a year.

This old photo of a Baseball Team about 1966 or 1967 shows the back side of the grandstand.  The ball diamond was right in front of the grandstand, the old football field was off in the distance with its own bleachers.

In May of 2011 there was a bad storm with high winds/ tornado.  The old grandstand what was left of it was declared unsafe.  ( It was called The Memorial Day Storm.)

First Blush of Fall

Fall has been in the air.  This week we many turn summery again. So far August has been cooler than normal with more rainfall than normal.

The Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ has just begun to color.

Chance has once again trimmed off the rose hips as far as he can reach.  Silly dog.

Today I am cooking up chicken and then making homemade noodles.  We used the last servings out of the freezer so it is time.   I also have a bunch of Fall Apples for a crisp…so I might be baking too.

Ongoing project: Christmas Ornaments

We did it.  The wood carving ornaments for this Christmas are all complete!!  Yeah us!  With less that 3 months to go!

There are 101 ornaments, I have 17 extra blank ones…one is for a new baby who will arrive in September a Great Nephew or Neice…we must wait and see.

I will give some ornaments away here on the blog as it gets closer to Christmas.  Suffice it to say, they all started out alike as carvings but as they were painted each one became unique.  I painted in batches of 12.  Depending on my mood some are a bit wilder/more colorful than others.

Accent colors

I was happy to finish yesterday.  We need four more hooks to accompany the carvings.  I will pick up small Christmas bags and tissue paper when it comes out in the stores, package them up for giving and for mailing. Seven ornaments were completed, wrapped in Christmas paper and sent home with family that were visiting earlier this month.

Not sure what I will carve next…something in bark most likely.  A smaller project. Something relaxing without a deadline.

Baked Eggs

Far Guy bakes eggs every few days. ( He needs more protein in his diet.)  Basically it is scrambled eggs, ham and cheese.  He bakes them and then wraps them and puts them in the fridge, when he wants to have them he just microwaves them!

We had the ever present cupcake vs muffin tin ongoing arguement.  Why is it called a muffin tin when you put cupcake liners in it and make cupcakes…shouldn’t it be called a cupcake tin?  I say no it is a muffin tin always has been always will be.

This time he didn’t add that splash of milk to his mixture and his eggs are tougher…someone who will remain nameless told us “Only poor people with lots of kids put milk in their scrambled eggs, it makes the eggs go further when you have lots of mouths to feed.” I think milk makes the eggs fluffier and more airy.

Far Guy was struggling with the muffin/cupcake tins.  So he ordered some fancy smancy silicone baking pans.  He really likes them… the eggs slid out perfectly and with just a few swishes in the sink the pans were clean.  Here they are air drying on the counter.

He said “It is the best thing since they rolled toilet paper.”

So my question for you is this…muffin tin or cupcake tin…milk or no milk?

For the record.  I can only eat eggs once in awhile…they make my tummy hurt.

Finance and Fortune

I must be known as a board game hoarder collector.  Rick was cleaning out some of his “stuff” and sent out some old board games for me.

The next best thing if you didn’t win the mega bucks in the lottery this week.

The Finance and Fortune game is from 1936. The Inventors is from 1974.  I don’t have either in my collection.

I got one number correct in that big lottery but no power ball number 4.  I saw lots of people on television all lined up to buy a ticket, I just walked in the store and bought mine…no waiting in line…of course I had to drive 14 miles to buy the ticket.

Thistle Seed

The downy seed from a Thistle provides nest material for Goldfinches.  They do not nest until the Thistle has flowered and seeded out.

We have a few Goldfinches. They visit the Thistle ( Niger Thistle Seed) feeder and the bird bath.  Niger Thistle Seed is heat treated so it is a sterile seed…  it won’t produce thistle plants in your yard.

Here is one pair a male on the left and his dowdy female partner on the right.  I hope we see little finches soon.

19 year old project

A long time ago back in 1998 on an incredible hot summer day in August Far Guy dismantled an old Windmill near Buxton North Dakota.  It was scheduled to be toppled over and demolished. We knew the little old lady that owned the property and she asked us if we knew anyone who would like to take down a windmill. 

Part of that windmill was assembled and is near the Wild Gardens.

No it is not as tall as a windmill should be.  One sumer day back about the year 1999 Andy helped assemble it and get the legs set in concrete. I declared it tall enough. Years ago wild flowers called Rockets were planted underneath…you could see them for a few years and then the woods took over.

The vanes lanquished in the grain bin until this week.

Far Guy collected them. My other baby brother was by and said “You can get rid of that scrap metal if you want, just put it in my pile.” 

What?  It is not scrap…just a very old project. I helped to form the two hoops.

Far Guy has been working on it throughout the week.  It is not quite done…but it was far enough along to be placed in the yard.

I wasn’t expecting that it would go in the air.  Leaning up against a tree is just fine with me.  Just beyond the Japanese Tree Lilac that never blooms are three oak trees that the riding mower cannot fit in between…it is a perfect spot for some yard art!

Chance posing for the photo. It is not quite done…it still needs another hub bracket…but it was far enough along to be placed in the yard. That old hub has been moved from here to there used most recently as a door stop. Far Guy reports that he has one half of a vane left over.

Wistful Wednesday: Old Photos PR Baseball

My husband has an interest in his graduating class. I call him the “class babysitter.” In one year they will get together for their 50th Reunion.  That is a whole other can o’ worms that involves meetings and knashing of teeth.

What can I say it keeps him occupied.  He and Jackie have weekly meetings at her place of business… it gives me time to wander through the entire grocery store up one aisle and down the next and when I am done I pick him up at the Pharmacy.  Jackie missed the last monthly meeting  so he had to tell her of the goings on.  ( She was freezing up sweet corn and could not attend.)  Now several of the replanners ( different from the original planners) are having their own meetings at a local resturaunt.  Uffda…

One day Tommy( Bi polar living far away in Mississippi) called and was worried about Rick.  Far Guy was going to town so he stopped by to visit Rick.   Rick is just fine and wasn’t answering Tommy’s text messages because there are so many of them…as some days Tommy does not take his meds.

Rick had a bunch of old photos that we scanned for posterity.

Far Guy has been collecting photos for a number of years, borrowing them and scanning them, keeping track of obituaries etc… He made a three ring binder with many old photos and they make real good Wistful Wednesday blog fodder!

This is one:

I think this is most likely from 1964 or 1965. Good old Mr Toops was the coach.  There are at least three different age groups in the photo, kids from Far Guy’s class, some from mine and some from the class after mine.

The center steps of the old high school was a great spot to take group photos.

Far Guy was never home during the summer so he was never in baseball.  In fact I could always throw more accurately than he could until we got Chance and then that ball obsessed dog taught him to throw!  Practice makes perfect!

Eclipse

There were high clouds but you could still see the sun was out. We ran errands in town.

People were standing outside with various glasses.  One group at the Farm Supply store had welders helmets.  In one parking lot people were pointing and they had no glasses on at all, the sad thing was they had small children with them.  We saw one guy stopped in his car with his sunglasses on…just stopped in the middle of the road. 

  As it got darker more car lights came on.  It never got really dark, but it was a twilight.  Far Guy called it an eerie twilight.

I waited in the car while Far Guy ran one errand and watched people watch.

I hung one of my old cameras a point and shoot out the window and took a photo. Nothing much to write home about. We were supposed to be at 80% of the eclipse.

The only other solar eclipse that I can recall was in July of 1963.  My baby brother built a box to view it, I may have helped him…I do not recall that part, the design was probably something out of the old Grit publication.  I recall people saying back then that you could look through old negatives…negatives were larger back then.  It was a sunny day back in 1963 as we sat out in the yard waiting for the eclipse to happen. It seemed darker than it was today, but perhaps that is because it was a sunny day….and I was younger and more easily impressed.  That time it was 78% and the main track was up in Canada.

My brother was at home in Oregon for the eclipse yesterday, they had special Tshirts and glasses…it looked like they might have been having a Total Eclipse of the Sun party.

Coffeepot feeder

Neither of us could resist this new feeder. 

I think this is a younger Chickadee his feathers are not exactly right.

Both the Nuthatches and the Chickadees can feed at the same time.  Although the Chickadees sometimes chase after the Nuthatches.

Red Breasted Nuthatch hanging on in a normal position instead of assup.

Plink, Plink

This year we have some Acorns! Not as many as some years.  The plink plink sound as they fall off the trees and onto the steel roofs is good to hear.  Last year we had no acorns.

We sat outside and woodcarved for awhile yesterday, it was about 78F and a nice breeze was blowing.  Our Christmas Ornament project is moving right along.  37 are completely done and many more await painting.  We have about 7 left to carve. ( I think the total is 99 ornaments)

It seemed like a very “loud” day with traffic noises and people leaving the lake…and one  “summer teenager” on some kind of loud dirt bike.  When it was quiet we could hear the plink plink of the acorns reminding us to enjoy every bit of these last Summer days as Fall is coming on fast.

Old Fashioned Tiger Lilies

A few of my Tiger Lilies escaped the deer foraging through the wild gardens.  These were a long ago gift from my Uncle Otto.

The patch used to be larger, but I am thankful to have just a few.

My Mother had Tiger Lilies growing on the farm in the little flower garden that was planted over the old outhouse hole.  We got a flush toilet in about 1960 and after that the old outhouse area became a flower garden…the flowers grew quite nicely there.

I can also picture Tiger Lilies along side my Maternal Grandparents home.  They really popped against the white house….Grandma had chicken wire around her flower beds…mostly to keep the dogs from laying in her flower beds.

I know they come in all kind of fancy colors nowadays…but I like the old fashioned ones the best!

 

The arm

I have an arm. It may hurt like the devil but it is a complete arm.  I have appointments with two different surgeons but not for two or three weeks.

I wrap my entire brace and arm in a fluffy blanket so it stays toasty warm at night and avoids any facial injuries by said brace flopping about in the nightime. I concocted a daytime brace with an elastic stocking and vet wrap…it helps with the pain.

Far Guy is my right arm.  He can scrub floors, scrubbing used to be my thing to do ..now it is his.

Thank goodness I am somewhat ambidextrous. I am not good at writing with either hand right now.  I will need more practice.  I can type (hunt and peck)! I can play cards totally left handed but someone else has to shuffle cards for me (those years dealing Black Jack have come in handy who woulda thunk it?)  I can wash dishes with one hand. I can pet the dog, I can dust…and I can cook as long as the pots and pans are not too heavy and have to be moved... my grip is non existent.

Carpal Tunnel sucks but I am trying to make the best of it.  I will be glad to get this common aging problem behind me.

My dreams are equally awesome and somewhat strange really weird, it must be from all the Ecotrin and Ibuprofin that I have been consuming.

This is the last I will mention it, I will let you know all about the surgery when it is over and done with.

Blanket Flowers or Gaillardia

Original Wildflower Gardens

I planted flowers in this area 18 years ago.  It used to be more formal gardens, we tended gardens in between customers all summer long.  After we retired from the greenhouse business we were both burned out and just let the gardens go “wild.”  We don’t water or fertilize or do anything special, what survives …survives!

Flowers by the sauna, Gaillardia out front and Ratibida out back with various other flowers. The Gaillardia is going to seed and is on my list for collection!

Ratibida pinnata

The small windmill.  You can see the sauna and my garage in the background.  The Liatris, Rudbeckia and Physostegia (Obedient Plant) are in bloom on this end of the gardens….along with some really tall Thistle.

Liatris out in front with a sprinkling of Rudbeckia and Marge Grass in the background.

This is a new arrival this year, it showed up on the edge of the Marge Grass. It is a Helianthus  or Woodland Sunflower.  A bird must have dispersed the seed into the area.  It is a native to Minnesota plant.  Not to mention one of my favorite flower colors!

Chance usually walks out to the gardens with me. When he was younger he would run the perimeter of the gardens and lay in wait for the ball.  Nowadays he doesn’t run, he will play ball on a good day but lays down with the ball after it is thrown once or twice.

I took these photos on Tuesday toward evening, yesterday (Wednesday) it rained all day.

Wistful Wednesday: Far Guy’s Family

This is a photo from Cousins Bonnie and Wayne.

Grand Forks North Dakota about 1958.  The car we think is a 1957 Plymouth Fury Stationwagon. The photo is taken in the driveway of Jim and Esther’s home (Marvin’s brother and his wife).

Evelyn has her cosmetics case ( I think either Trica or Jennifer has it now) her purse and something else in her hands?  Marvin is wearing one of his favorite flannel shirts under a wool coat, Janice has been shopping, she said “We often went shopping when we went to Grand Forks.” Far Guy is holding Muggy.

Far Guy said “I forgot  all about that car, my Dad didn’t have that one very long.  We might have been in Grand Forks for Easter that year.”

Far Guy’s parents were born in 1914, they have both been gone for some time now.  His Dad in 1994 at the age of 80 and his mother in 2006 at the age of 91.  His sister is alive and well and lives in Indiana and she still likes to shop!

 

The new wild garden

Back in May my brother put in a new drain field for our septic system.

The work has been completed.

Far Guy planted some old wildflower and left over garden seed out there.  One day we picked up a bunch of Sunflower Seeds and planted them too!

We watered

I had been going out there to spray the Poison Ivy to get rid of it. I wore my pretty red boots.

I stopped going out there. We could see a few marigolds blooming here and there.

It is a jungle out there. The deer have been in there eating and chomping off most of the sunflowers.

This is one of the survivors.

I will get out there one of these days.  Some of the weeds should be pulled because they are shading out the flowers.

On the far end we planted a Spruce Tree and some Lilacs.  Far Guy babied those lilacs for weeks…so they have a good start.

It doesn’t look like much yet, but once the wildflowers get established and we can mow a few paths it should be a pretty area.  If not then the deer will have another spot to graze.