Feb. 26, 2003 ~ Cheating again
I've been busy all day making phone calls to let people know that church activities are cancelled tonight, so please excuse me for cheating. Instead of writing an entry, I'm going to post part of today's letter to Soldier Boy.
Here tis:
"We are having ridiculous weather here. Remember me telling you about how springtime was busting out all over? The tulip trees, pear trees, and lots of other flowering trees are in bloom, things are turning green, and it was seventy degrees as recently as Sunday. Well. THAT didn�t last. We now have the proverbial �Winter Wonderland,� and whoever thought of that term obviously didn�t have to spend much time out IN it. On Monday the temperatures dropped below freezing, which wouldn�t have been so bad but for the rain and sleet, which of course froze. The streets in our area didn�t freeze, which is great, but there is still ice everywhere else. The trees are pretty, if you don�t pay attention to the cracking sound of limbs breaking and crashing to the ground. This sound woke me during the night, and my heart was racing. Then I remembered that we probably aren�t at high risk anymore, now that the big oak tree in the back yard is history. So I went back to sleep, hoping that the limbs on the trees near the house weren�t big or heavy enough to do any damage, should they tumble down.
We�d been keeping a couple of heifers up, Bonnie�s and Bessie�s, and we turned them out this weekend. They�re separate from the herd, as they�re still young, so I was out in the front pasture feeding them this morning. Remembering last night�s falling limbs, I thought I might walk over to the fence and check it out. As I approached it, a couple of huge limbs cracked and fell, and I froze, realizing that this now fell in the category of �not a good idea.� I looked behind the pond dam and there were two big does, staring back at me. They twitched their tails and wiggled their ears, and then one after the other crawled through the fence into the woods. I warned them to be careful, but somehow I don�t think they were paying attention. They also probably do not speak or understand English, but this has never stopped me from talking to animals before.
After finishing up my chores I came inside, and noticed four more does in the hay meadow. They�re so fat! Is this the time of year for them to be pregnant? Probably so. I expect they have their fawns in the spring. They�re so pretty and are fun to watch. No, they are NOT fun to eat, but they�re nice to look at.
I know you are an old hand at dealing with ice and snow, and probably would have managed this little spell of cold weather just fine... But I truly dislike dealing with ice. The heat pump is completely frozen up, so we are using wood heat again. Just when I was making a tiny bit of progress at getting over this stupid sinus infection! The smoke really stuffs us all up, but it can�t be helped. We can�t do without heat.
It�s 34 degrees and the ice is melting somewhat, but it�s been cloudy since Monday (and it�s been raining or sleeting since then), so we will probably have ice for a while longer. This should be the last day of it, though, if we are to believe the weather reports. I still remember the day when you guys were at school, and that ice storm hit earlier than expected. They were predicting it would arrive that night, but it showed up that afternoon while you were still in class. When I realized it was sleeting hard, I headed out to pick y�all up, and before I got there the roads were so slick that it was hard to drive. I showed up in my rubber boots, but was still slipping and sliding around. My memory isn�t the best� you were still here then, weren�t you? It might have been just your brother, but I think you were here, too. That drive home was a pain, especially going up the big hill! Once home I didn�t have any desire to set foot out of the house until it started clearing up.
I made a really good, easy potato soup yesterday. One of my coworkers told me about it. It called for a bag of hash brown potatoes, 4 cups of chicken broth, and a packet of low fat country gravy mix. I forgot to ask about extra water, so I added some, and it was still awfully thick. I might have been able to use about 4 cups of water in addition to the broth, or possibly more. But it was delicious, and so easy to make. The gravy mix added thickness and just the right amount of seasoning. I added a bit of Velveeta Lite, and it was excellent. It would have also been good with saut�ed onions and possibly some fresh mushrooms with garlic� and ham. There is something about cold weather that makes soup seem so good!"
Not all that interesting, is it? Hey, it's been a quiet week! I am reduced to talking about the weather and food. Such is life.
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