Thursday, March 6, 2014

The Sun is Shining on the Turkeys


 Began March 1, 2014

We are in the midst of the predicted winter storm. So far the predictions have been accurate for us.

Winds, cold from 33 down to l0 degrees last night until now. Maybe l/4 inch of sleet covered with a dusting of snow.

Our granddaughter and her friend came down Friday and were supposed to leave today. GD decided last night to stay over until Monday after the storm has passed. Friend left this morning and got a few miles out on I-44 and passed 4 wrecks and decided to come back. Some patches of the highway were very slick and the wind added to the trouble.

Now I am thinking it may be Tuesday before they can leave.
I don't want them to travel on hazardous roads. This points out the reason why no one should make unnecessary trips in the midst of winter. They may miss two days of college classes. My son will not be a happy camper over this one.

Cooking for them has gone well. Dinner yesterday was smothered roundsteak, mashed potatoes, green beans, salad of lettuce, tomatoes, slivers of mozzarella and toasted almonds. Dessert was cheesecake with choice of blueberry, crumbs (leftover from crust), or caramel sauce. I had never made this sauce before and it was very simple and quick.....very good too.

I think they made themselves a grilled cheese when they came in last night (late).

I am almost out of bread so I got up early (as usual) this morning and made my recipe of 24-hours refrigerator rolls. I took a third of the dough and made a pan of cinnamon rolls (breakfast) and the rest in large dinner rolls that we will use for sandwiches or just dinner.

This time I did a regular one hour raise and used the KA mixer to do the kneading. This has been a never-fail recipe for me over the years.


The girls are safely home and I am in letdown mode.


I did make a batch of bread (3 loaves) yesterday. I added just three cups of white whole wheat flour to the 8 cup recipe. I thought that would give us better nutrition but not change the texture and softness of the bread and I was right. DH was happy with it.

The sun is shining brightly this morning and will get up to 50° this afternoon. I need to finish some house work left from company so I can be ready for the next ones....over spring break.

Yesterday I did a new roast in the crock pot with a package of onion soup mix over the top and am happy to report that it cooked up very tender in the regular amount of time. I was so worried about this meat.
The real test will be some steaks that I will do over the weekend.

Today's plan is to finish cleaning the guest bedrooms and get ready for our next company which will be  around the l3th.

I just walked past a living room window and this is what I saw:



This is my favorite tree, a River Birch (betula nigra) in the morning light. I love the apricot/peachy color of the bark in sunlight:

12 comments:

  1. Oh, how I envy your lack of snow. We're supposed to get up to 50 degrees today also, but not sure if that's even enough to get all the snow off the ground. Maybe by tomorrow afternoon. I haven't seen our turkeys for several weeks now, only the deer at the feeders. Wonder if they've found better pickings someplace else. Hope the cold snap we had didn't kill any of them....looking forward to a Spring Turkey this year.

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    1. DH told me he hasn't seen any deer lately; strange how that works. I saw a huge flock of geese at the neighbor's pond yesterday.

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  2. Sounds like you are quite busy.....I do hope this sun melts this off and it dries up soon...really would like to get my garden started.....Our turkeys here seem to keep a bit of distance but they are a nice flock to look at....

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    1. I like how they run on the ground for a bit before taking flight. This group did that when they spotted me on the porch.

      Most snow is now gone; it got up to 63° yesterday, the 7th.

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  3. That bark on that tree lightens everything up Glenda. You have a great flock of turkey's too. Glad the kids decided to stay put until after the storm...especially icy roads!...:)JP

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    1. We have counted over a l00 before but not that many this time.

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  4. See you still have snow in the shadows. Same here. Temps only in the 20s daytime. Hope your steaks are tender. Only turkeys around here are in my freezer. LOL

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    1. May try the steaks Sunday.

      Hope you warm up soon!

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  5. That's cool about the turkeys. We get wild geese like that. They were out on The North Fourth the other day. I like to watch them come in for a landing. They point the tips of their wings downwards and just glide on in, in the same formation as how they fly across the sky together. They'll be walking babies across the field, going from Jay's lake to Charlie's pond, and back, very soon now.

    Glad your company's gone, what's that they say? Fish and company stink after 3 days or something like that. Heh.

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    1. I saw geese at the neighbor's pond yesterday but none here so far.

      I think we are having company around the l3th and then more after that. March will be a month to remember!

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  6. What great pics of turkeys! We seldom see them here but I hear them in the woods. I like see them fly -- like a launched topedo.

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    1. I like watching them run on the ground before take off.

      Canada geese are back now too.

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