I didn't want to go out to the old greenhouse today....it is about to fall down anyway, but my two very, very old goats have the run of the place, a huge area, and they are sheltered to live out the last of their days. Last night when I went out to feed, I had to get Ditz up, she could not stand, she was so weak, I carried her feed and water, and left her comfortable as I could. I dreaded today, so waited till I got off work this evening. Carried feed out to old Cocoa Bunny, and she did not call out to me, she was sad, too. ditz had passed away. I covered her with a comforter, will have to wait till this week-end to bury her, we are having a downpour of rain, and more expected. She was such a sweet old goat, lots of good milk, cheese, and beautiful babies in her younger days. I will miss her. She hated to have her hoofs trimmed, and they grew crooked. I usually had to have a friend come and trim them. She was so gentle, I would become upset when some of the others got pushy with her, so when she got too old for their behavior rudeness, I moved her and Cocoa Bunny out by themselves, lots of room, lots of weeds and leaves to eat, besides their pellets and hay. She seemed to want to live forever, in spite of her infirmities, she would hobble up to be fed. She would peek out at me when the weather was bad, "Please, Mom, come bring it to me" and I would carry feed and water out to her. I need to have Cocoa Bunny put down, but I just cannot do it yet. Just one more day, I tell myself...I just love them too much to let them go.
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I have been reading threads on kitchen aromas, the sweet smells of cinnamon, of vanilla, of baking cookies, and then you have just the opposite...when I turned on the oven, to start cooking, PPPPP UUUUUU...a mouse had pee'd in my oven ! So what do you do when you have a house full of people and the odor is very smelly? I just went in the living room and announced to everyone that a mouse pee'd in my oven, they would just have to deal with it, sprayed with cinnamon spray and listened to the great grads laughing...everyone came to the table, so I guess we lived through it....the food baked just fine...LOL...I was reading a thread where one lady had baked a mouse in hers....well, I baked a snake in mine ! Only country people can find humor in the everyday little happenings we have no control over, and still say, I love country. I sometimes hate those little hairy varmits, they can cause so much damage. We once had squirrels in the attic, and they rolled nuts from one end to the other about 2AM in the morning...or when the owls would hoot, and hit the bird cage full of doves outside, very late at night, the birds would fly and hit the fencing but the owl could not get to them, or the dogs bark half the night, or eerie sound of coyotes howling at night...
This is an exciting time....kids, grands, and greats coming for a visit.
I am making all kinds of plans...We will have all kinds of good eats, a turkey, ham, sweet potatoes,grape trifle, Oriental Salad, homemade pies and cookies...I have already received orders on what the favorites are, and we will have them ready. We are fixing the house across the street for their arrival, the kids have their own little table, tablecloth, and their own dishes...Snowmen of course, and now I have to find all the little Disney spoons and things I find at garage sales just to make it all special. There is a white Christmas tree on the table..peek inside the branches and you will find a green alligator..I know Payton will laugh at that one, and there are white fuzzy bunnies under the tree, rabbits hidden in the tree, what fun we will have finding critters at the table. I keep boxes of toys for them, and a big barn with animals, also a doll house, and the old felt board on the wall is filled with felt horses and items to lift off and on to play with...the quilts are all on the beds, and lots and lots of fluffy quilted pillows.Gifts are ready, and joy will be on the way to visit my house this weekend. The kids love the animals, they love to see the steer. the llama, the chickens, goats, and the old potbelly pigs. Yes, Santa will also make a quick visit Thursday night with the old pickup to all the kids in town as Benny and I help deliver toys all over town from the Santa/Angels at the bank. We always help our friend Pat, who is a blessing, she is really an angel in disguise, I know it, she has a heart of gold, she coordinates everything, buys many of the toys, gets them bagged and names on them, and we all go from there. The joy of Christmas is in doing, giving, caring, loving, and sharing. At this time we all have to be our brothers keepers. I cry myself at times, from some of the big hugs from mothers in need, and the blessings of our little town with the big heart, making sure the kids have Christmas again this year. I am glad to be a part of it again this year. Pat and I both gaze at the goodness of people's hearts, saying, "Yes, it will be another good year for the little ones".
Granny Lois was one of the best cooks in town. Everyone loved this recipe and she always made it for the church suppers. Everytime we talk about this recipe we laugh. The first time my daughter Karen made this, she did not know you had to bake the cornbread first, so you can imagine the mess she ended up with...we laugh every Thanksgiving over Karen's special dressing. Granny Lois wrote the recipe down for me before she passed away, but her writing was so hard to read, age had made her hands tremble and shake, but luckily, Karen still had the recipe written in younger days, so it is with joy that I share her wonderful recipe. Eat and enjoy !
Granny Lois's Cornbread Dressing
4 pkgs. corn bread...bake it first....
8 slices of white bread
8 boiled eggs,chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
2 medium onions, chopped
3 sticks of celery chopped
3 cans of cream of chicken
1 can of cream of celery
1 boiled chicken,skin removed, cut into bite size pieces
sage
poultry seasoning
pepper
curry powder
1/2 cup cooking oil
save broth from whole chicken
prepare cornbread, crumble into foil pan.
crumble bread. add chopped up eggs,onions,bell pepper, celery and
cooking oil.
2 cans of cream of chilcken and 1 can of cream of celery
add chicken pieces
season to taste
add broth if thick
put last can of cream of chicken on top
bake 350 for 30 mins
I was out feeding this morning and kept hearing a wailing noise, my neighbor noted me peeking under bushes and such and he came out and heard it as well.....finally located the sound, and it was a small shorthaired red furred dog, very small ears, and his tail is bobbed. He would not let me near him for quite a while, I kept talking to him, told him he had to make up his little mind and trust someone, and he left out a yelp and came rolling on the ground in front of us. I picked him up after letting him sniff my hands, and he kept wimpering......so finally brought him to the house, and got him fed and watered. Went to the store and bought him a collar and chain, and by the time DH got home, the dog had disappeared. I hoped he had gone home, but as luck would have it, one of the neighbor's children brought him back to the house...."we can't have a dog"....I laughed as I took him from her arms....we sure do not need another one. Tonight he is laying at my feet. I have walked him back and forth in front of our house all day hoping his family would come by and see him but no luck. He will spend the night in the dog crate, he doesn't like it but calms down after a little while. I got to admit....he is kind of cute, such short fur....and red in color...he has a speckled tongue,might be some chow in him, will hope we can find a home for him.....he is a good boy.....LOL.
11/24 Just an update...no one has claimed "Buddy" except us...no notices in the paper, so we believe he was dumped, he is such a good little dog, was already housebroken, he is so smart, it would be a shame to destroy an animal like him, so we will take him to the vet next week and have him checked out and get his shots...he now has a new red collar and leash to match.....he gets along with all the other dogs we have and he is my constant shadow. Such love in that little critter, and he shares it with the world.
I enjoy my house across the street...it is just for company, or if
someone has a catastrophe, such as when our town was hit by a
firestorm, I offered it to a family to use as their home was burned
down in the fire. My youngest daughter came home to visit for a
day or so, and we love to sit and visit and laugh over old memories,
she gets to sleep on the old feather mattress from her childhood,
and we get to eat and snack all day. The great grands can play and
laugh with all the toys that are in their room as well. The house has
two bathrooms, one has a shower and one has a nice bathtub. I was
cleaning up after the visit, and decided to scrub the tub. My mind
went back to when the kids were little and we had a big claw footed
one, that tub was so cold when you got in it, even filled with hot
water, your butt would shiver for an hour when you sat down in it. I
scrubbed and scrubbed, rinsed it out, then sat and looked at the
blue plastic star fish on the bottom of the tub. Why not relax awhile
and just take a nice, hot refreshing bubble bath, I told myself, you
deserve it.....so I filled the tub with hot water, poured in the nice
smelling salt crystals, then decided I would add bubbles to it, so
added bubbly soap....it smelled so nice. I got in the bathtub, and I
soaked, and soaked, such a wonderful way to soothe old nerves, I
drained the tub, and then the fun began.....I could not get out of the
tub ! I would turn myself this way and that way, hang my feet off
the edge and try to push myself up with my arms, but I am just too
old to make my body parts work anymore....hollering would do no
good, and Benny was not allowed to lift since his surgery, so I was
stuck in the tub. I tried and tried and finally decided I would have
to get on my knees, and push myself up...my poor old arthritic
knees hurt like the devil, but I managed to get out of the tub. My
knees were stinging and I decided it was not worth the effort
anymore, old ladies do not need to take baths, I will stick to the
shower from now on....I am still hobbling around with a sore knee,
slathered with ice gel, and wrapped with an ace bandage...my
perfume is on hold this week, I am menthol odiforious....it is no fun
getting old, my thoughts are young, my body old, my memories
fresh, I just have to adapt.
I was in a hurry this morning, trying to rush to the store, buy the groceries, see if Daughter needed my car to go to Abilene to bring her husband home from the hospital, and just was in another world. I could shop in the dark at our local grocery store and I was zipping down the aisle, getting Benny some of his favorite drinks, Sprite Zero and Coke Zero....I got them from a stack on the wall, said Hello to my friend Linda's hubby as he was shopping as well, and started back up the aisle to get some dog food...a gentle voice said aloud to me, "Do you mind trading me carts?"....I had rushed off with his cart and left mine in the aisle. Boy did we laugh over that one...we had similar brands of food as well....as I got to the check out, we teased each other about which bill we wanted to pay...he decided his was less than my $104 one. Small town America.....another funny to tell this week.
Brother-in-law arrived, and I had everything ready to go...clothes packed, eyeglasses, and my paper plate instructions in my purse. We started out, and I kept referring to my "Little Book"....I write down street names, landmarks, so I know where we are..the blind leading the blind....and as we approached the hospital, I referred to my paper plate instructions. Too funny, my brother-in-law is such a cut-up and kept laughing at my instruction sheet. It did not take long to get him released, and we were on the way home...no worries now, Benny knows his way around in the dark. As a highway patrolman, he knows all the ins and out of the city. We safely arrived at home...typical country man....he had to walk across the street to the rain gauge to see how much rain it held...one and one-half inches.
He is tired, his incision is still draining some...looks like someone cut his throat...cut from his ear lobe to his shoulder, but he is mending, the steer will be glad he is home, and the dogs gave him a great barking welcome when we pulled in the driveway.
I absolutely hate going to a bigger city...I would rather have all my teeth pulled out ! The traffic is so erratic, some drivers scare me to death (and I am NOT driving in that maze !) You watch as there is a near miss....did she notice ? She was on her cell phone and trying to make a turn....they drive too fast, cut you off in lanes....I am not city minded at all. I ask myself at times, how did I manage to drive in Phoenix, AZ when I was younger, and manage....maybe because I am old now, and traffic frays my nerves.
The road is under construction, so there are waits at times which last about fifteen minutes or so...when you have a Dr. appointment, in the city, you have to leave thirty minutes to an hour ahead just to make sure you get there on time.
Next is finding the building...Hospital buildings all look alike to me...I have busted radar...I have to write everything down. I swear I am going to buy a Garmon as soon as all this is over...at least a little robotic voice knows where to turn, I am lost in a maze.
I do not like the idea of Endocarotid Artery surgery on Benny, but he has to make his own decisions....and he elected to have the surgery on Monday. At least he listened and got a second opinion, and I did not like that opinion either. Although this is the surgery I have seen before, when I worked in OR, I know what will take place. Benny's Dr. is unaware I am a nurse...he has a name that cannot be pronounced, and is a strange man. I know he dislikes me, I can tell from the way he speaks to me, but I let it roll off my back like water. Maybe I puzzle him as well, who knows ? I am used to the country Drs.....God Bless them....who have such caring ways. I find that specialists just want to get the job over with, we are just another number to do surgery on, and hopefully, all will go well and we will be home in a few days where I can take care of him myself.
Benny's brother insisted on taking us to the hospital the day of surgery and staying there with me as long as needed. I am grateful and thank God they moved back to be close to us. They are very close brothers, which is great.
I just keep praying and asking God to help me move this rock out of the way, the Word tells me I can move a mountain with faith, I am just having touble keeping the shovel steady as I start the task. I keep telling myself, just a little bit of dirt at a time, and remember all the friends and love and prayers behind each little push. We will move it.
And then I look out at the antenna on my car and see the little Jack in the Box face swaying in the wind, and I have to laugh....Yes, I can now find the car, Jack will help me too.
There was an univited visitor at school today......a troublesome kind.....He walked across the auditorium stage like he belonged there, with pomp and circumstance, and surprised one of the cafeteria staff on her way to the cafeteria which adjoins the auditorium. He was a nice guy, luckily he did not wear any strong perfume, but he was still unwanted. What was he doing there ? We all wondered that ourselves....seems someone left the door open last night, so that is probably why he decided to visit......what was this visitor you might want to know......MR. SKUNK ! I am wondering if he wemt back outside, or if tomorrow will mean we will have to find a live trap to capture him in...that should be fun ! He may have heard how great our school is and decided to come check things out for himself....LOL
Well, he is still on visiting status this morning....I made some suggestions, but they just opened the door again, hoping he will wander out....He could turn out to be a real little stinker....this teenager needs to go home.....