Bony Bear!

When you wake up to the first fallen snow of winter, run outside and shout "BONY BEAR!" It will bring you luck, health, fame, fortune, friends or chocolate pie. You never know which and you can't go wrong, so give it a shot.  Bony Bear!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

For the meat eaters, one dead, cajun-spiced, roasted turkey.

For the vegetarians, Pat tackled puff pastry. Inside there is something that could probably be improved by adding real sausage and definitely some pepperoni.

And the table was set.

roasted turkey

mashed potatoes and gravy

chestnut and apple stuffing

barley and mushroom puff pastry pie

vegan shepherds' pie

sweet potatoes

Pat's purple ribbon double cranberry chutney in port wine

Indonesian rice salad with cashews and water chestnuts

spring greens with pecans, mandarin oranges and Asian dressing

roasted acorn squash with maple syrup

dinner rolls

oranges, apples, bananas and pears

apple cider

red and white wines

Julie's famous chocolate chip cookies

Debi's famous pumpkin cheese cake

Italian roast coffee

Dinner guests included Rachel, Marcelle, Debi, Julie, Matt and Sinan.

Here's to the national election results!

Bear Creek Trail after dinner--a futile, desperate attempt to walk off our over consumption.

The dishwasher worked overtime.

Leftovers anyone?

Moles

Mole! There is a mole in that hole. Holy molly, we have moles! I guess I am going to have to call Bill Murray and have him pull a Caddyshack. Oh, I love the smell of napalm in the morning.

Leaves

Today is a day that I look forward to all year. It is the first day of leaf harvest here at the Cabin. We are especially thankful this year because we had a long, wet spring and mild summer, resulting in a bountiful crop of leaves. As much as I would like to just leave the leaves, I cannot let any leaf go unturned until there are no leaves left. The dogs drag them into the house, one by one, and as rakish as it may sound, Pat won't appreciate it if I drive the shredder vac on the new carpet in the family room.

So what will we do with all of those leaves? We will eat some fresh, of course. (I like them raw, plucked fresh from the lawn.) And we will can some, freeze dry some, store some in the storm cellar, take a couple loads to the elevator, sort and sell the best ones at the farmers' market, and send a semi-truck load to the leaf-starved residents of the high plains Sands Hills in Nebraska, where many ranch hands will enjoy a once a year leafy salad. We will make leaf pies and leaf crisp. We will have leaf soup and leaf bone stew. We will bake it, and broil it, grill it, smoke it, poach it. Leaf stuffing makes a Thanksgiving dinner unforgettable. And what could be more notebook-worthy than to start a winter day with a tall stack of loose leaf pancakes? 

Rocks

Our driveway was nuttin but dirt and a couple stones I borrowed from Claire's rock collection. During the monsoon season last spring, we lost a FedEx driver to a mud hole. Fortunately, that soupy, sloppy driveway is behind us. Steve the gravel truck guy rocked our world ;-)   

Swimming Pool

Gasoline dropped to $1.79.9 here today. They must be finished with building all those manmade islands at Dubai. I had the swimming pool filled. 

Next time I will wait until after the Texas barbeque coals cool. 

Do you think my eye brows will grow back?

Adios Amigos

These three amigos. Rugby shirts by trade, comrades and kindred spirits, up and died quietly during their long summer nap. Barely reaching legal drinking age, they did not wile away their youth. Their short lives were not for naught. They canoed up north and down south, hiked mountains, wandered prairies, kayaked oceans, forged streams, coached debaters, wrote speeches, turned wooden bowls and built furniture. They built camp fires, smoked brisket, cut fire wood, shoveled snow, molded meat loaf into funny shapes, painted Little House on the Prairie scenes  on walls and fixed toys. They never asked for much, just a quiet dresser drawer and an occasional cool bath. Alas, my amigos. My loyal rugbies. I knew you well. Thank you for being there by my side, in fact both of them. Chest and back, too. Rest well, rubber buttons and all, for your toil here has left this world a better place.

Really?

Who in the world likes canoeing this much?

Suckers

Our last Skype conversation with Claire sent us looking for caramel and green apple, hard candy suckers last night. As Pat remembers, the suckers come in green and white wrappers. First we went to Patricia's IGA, since it is a namesake store. Then we went to Break Time, Wal*Mart, Target and Hallmark. The lady at Hallmark said, Ooooh! Those are delicious, but we don't have them." She directed us to a locally owned candy store in the mall. There, the clerk told us several times that they are the nation's largest retail seller of Jolly Rogers candy for independently owned stores. They sell three tons a month. I was impressed. "That's 6000 pounds!" he emphasized. I was impressed by his math, too. He could not, however, find the caramel and green apple, hard candy suckers we were looking for and declared them sold out. Fortunately,Pat spotted a box of them hiding behind the clerk. So we bought suckers to send to Belgium and an extra one for the Hallmark lady. Who knew empty nesting requires perseverance and a sweets Geiger counter?

Basement redux

With our new lawn ornaments, we finally gain acceptance from our native Missouri neighbors.

Old home office floor.

New home office floor. The new carpet is greener than this pic shows. As you probably know, we only buy sage green carpet, regardless of the town, state, house or decade.

Do you like my new, transparent desk?

Fall colors @ home

The holiday season is coming

I paid $2.19.9 per gallon for gasoline yesterday. If this price drop trend continues, we will all get free fill-ups from Phillips...and BP for Christmas.