Life in the Bristolwood

I have been complaining about all of the Christmas stuff sitting in the hallway, as I was NOT about to place it back into my poor GROANING closet. Behind our closet, actually…we have a crawl space back there, and it is not my idea of fun to crawl back there! In Michelle’s room, Mark had installed some little doors on the crawl space, and one of the spaces is small and JUST the ideal size for Christmas decorations.

Yesterday afternoon, Mark and Ben were out in the garage working together so Michelle decided to clean an area for the Christmas containers in her “cubby”. She worked steadily, and sure made a lot of noise!

I decided to check up and see how she was coming along….I padded up to her room and YIKES! What a shock! The floor was strewn with all sorts of….*junque*! I never thought of Michelle as a packrat, but she has a cubby in her room, then the two crawl spaces off the cubby. Apparently, she has “tucked away” many things there!

She picked up little trinkets….many she has kept since she was 4 or 5 years old! As she talked about all the little doo-dads, I was overcome with the reality of her young womanhood! She carefully sorted through all the things….some were plain junk, others she neatly tucked into a box for the Salvation Army. She pondered if another little girl might enjoy some of her lightly loved little goods.

Michelle finished up and left a small pile of stuff outside her door for the dump. There was a bucket…it had contained cotton candy at one point. She had washed it out and used it for storage for years! There were pieces of plastic from broken toys. Toys that I remember her playing with just a few years ago…..

WHERE has the time gone?

Yesterday, I got out some steaks I had bought at WalMart the other day. They were sliced thinly, and as I pondered what to do with them, I came up with an idea! The whole family loves the McDonald’s Snack Wraps, but with the chicken strips deep fried, we know they aren’t that good for us. I looked in the fridge, and yup…I had all the elements necessary to make steak snack wraps!

You can only imagine the surprise I felt when everyone requested these again TONIGHT! I was impressed! The only BIG difference was that the temp outside was about 30 degrees COLDER! Yes, the thermometer said 10. As in, 10 degrees….fahrenheit!

The poor grill was enshrouded in white. Better than the ice of yesterday morning, I suppose! As it heated up, the snow all disappeared…..Somehow, I cannot imagine these without the steak being grilled outside!!!

As the grill heated up, I sliced red peppers and onions into thin strips. I had little red pepper left, so I really sliced these into small pieces. I then put a little water on the skillet and covered to steam on low just until the onions were softened.

You can see that these steaks were very thinly sliced, as all three were less than 1 1/2″.

Onto the grill for about 8 minutes……

Then, flipped and grilled for another 8 minutes.

While the steaks are cooking, I cut up lettuce into very fine “shreds”. As soon as the steaks are finished cooking, I slice them also into very thin strips and mix with the red peppers and onions.

Here are the ingredients, ready to be made into wraps. I also have a small cup containing Ranch Dressing. (we love using the Litehouse Ranch from Sam’s Club) As much as I hate microwave ovens, I do place the tortilla shell into the micro for about 30 seconds to heat it up nicely…….

Before placing the goodies on, I put about a heaping teaspoon of dressing on and smear it around (finger painting! hehehehe) Then, a small handfull of the meat combo, lettuce, cheese……

And roll it up!

I think it took longer to explain all of this than it did to MAKE them! This is such a simple, yet very satisfying meal!

Bon Appetit!

This morning, I went to visit Duane’s blog…it is always so nice to go there. Anyway, he had a link to see how many of “you” there are in the US. Well, apparently, since there are 0 of me living in the US, I must not EXIST! Wow, there is a thought!

I guess I might claim I am the “Genuine Article”, or….if I don’t LIKE what is happening, I can say don’t BOTHER me, as I do not EXIST! hehehehe

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 0 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

That is what Mark calls me when I get a “radical” idea….like crawling on the ground to take a picture of my poor little Daffodils that made such a galliant showing earlier….I guess it wouldn’t have been so extraordinary, except for the fact that I did it just a short time ago….just before 9pm…in the total darkness! The motion light on the garage that I depended upon must have blown out last night, so I used the little red laser on my camera to spot the Daffodils in the darkness…The drizzle we have been blessed with most of the day has now turned to a fine snow, so I just wanted to see my little posies one more time!

I should have taken a picture after I removed the stick on top of the plant, but I didn’t see it while I was taking the picture. Remember, it was *totally* dark out there! I am truly appreciative of the fact that we have no neighbors in close proximity….I fear my nocturnal habits might cause alarm amongst those who feel less inclined to grope about in the darkness of a cold winter’s night, fiddling with and testing one’s camera!

The weatherman was quite accurate in his prediction for this morning. It is, however, 34 degrees outside now, so much of this ice is falling to the floor of the woods. I wanted to take some pictures, but was not really wanting any lacerations to the head! This morning, when I took Angus and Murphy out, I could hear branches snapping under the excessive weight of the ice on them. I knew what was ahead, as the grass sparkled when I illuminated the area with the outdoor light.

The ice on the roof keeps breaking off and making a terrible sound as it glides down the surface. I was able to take a few pictures from my window. Enjoy…or not!

This morning when we got up, there was a coating of that glorious ice on all three vehicles. After starting all three and running them for about 15 minutes, the ice broke up pretty well on the glass surfaces.

This is one of those days that just seems like it would have been better to just stay in bed! We have forgotten to renew Angus’s license and today, I remembered. Mark called the town hall, and the woman there said she would stay a few extra minutes if I hurried. I grabbed my shoes, purse, and checkbook and rushed down. (mind you, our town clerk is available a total of 17 hours a week. This makes it pretty hard to catch her sometimes.)

I got there in about 4 minutes and had not only Angus’s paperwork, but also Murphy’s records so I could license him. Well, Murphy’s rabies vaccine expires in one week…exactly….so she decided I will have to come back AFTER he is vaccinated. Hello??? My dogs (and Murphy is the THIRD since we have lived here) have always been up to date on rabies vaccines. She also reminded me that Angus needs a new vaccine in March. She smiled and said she WOULD renew him, but make SURE I get him to the vet in March.

Mark looked up info on the web, and according to state law, the owner must have a “current” vaccine. Well, if the vaccine is good until next week, it that not “current”? In her defense, the woman was not the “real” clerk. For some reason, she was unable to be there today for her 17 hour-a-week job. I told Mark that apparently this woman was making an “executive decision”.
So, I will just have to make another trip down there after I get Murphy’s shot renewed. Can you tell I am NOT a happy camper?

OK, now that that is off my chest! I did manage to get a few pictures this afternoon. When I got up this morning, the pool cover had water on it, as opposed to ice. Within a couple of hours, the temps fell to just hovering near freezing……

I took this picture of some weeds out behind the house. We had this really wet snow right after just a little freezing rain, and it made everything look so pretty!

The sky was dismal and ugly today….to say it was “gray” would not have been accurate. It was more like “without color”! I smiled as I took this picture….it reminded me of the days of my youth when I was in high school. I had a Yashica camera, and I loved taking black and white pictures with Kodak Tri-X 400 speed film. Everything came out in stark black and white!

Yes, I took my camera with me as Angus and I walked down to the mailbox this afternoon. There was this oak tree….holding its leaves….which were “frosted”.

For those of us living in the northern US….I was always of the mindset that the artificial snow sprayed on fake greens in the stores always looked so junky…..it just didn’t look like REAL snow. Well, as I looked at some of the weeds growing down by the mailbox, I did a double-take! What?They looked JUST like that artificial stuff!

And lastly, a picture I took of ice crystals on one of the Dwarf Alberta Spruces…..

In posting these pictures, you know, I think I feel better now! If I had stayed in bed, I would have missed out on all of these “magical” Winter Scenes!

As I was looking through my pictures this morning, this one really caught my eye and made me giggle……One evening, I was just fiddling around with my camera. I set it to “program” mode, which means it goes into point-and-shoot mode. Then I turned the flash off. By the time it focused, it was a slow shutter speed. I moved the camera very slightly upward while taking the picture and the result was something that would cause Jotul and the local fire department to GRIMACE!!! Believe me, the glass on the stove is, and always has been in fine shape!

I am trying *not* to complain, but this day was just toooo long!

I slept in this morning (7:20), and once I was up, I was UP! I started the day by feeding the dogs, taking them out, washing the endless dishes in the sink, and doing two loads of laundry. I have been trying to not use the dryer, as it seems like such a waste of electricity. The first load of laundry, I hung onto my nice folding rack from Lehman’s. http://lehmans.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=2793&itemType=PRODUCT&RS=1&keyword=drying+racks

I took the drying rack out onto the front porch and left the clothes to dry. The second load of laundry was sheets, so after removing them from the washing machine, I hung them on the railings of the front porch…..really *classy*, eh? Living in the woods warrants using things like railings for drying laundry, as there are so many trees, they are always dropping junk on the clean laundry.

Oh, and speaking of laundry….I LOVE my front loading machine! You don’t need to mortgage the house to get a front loader, either, as there are less expensive machines than the Maytag models! Mine is smaller than the Neptune, and cost a whole lot less….it is a GE. I have also discovered that adding a cup of baking soda per large load really freshens the laundry and helps keep things from getting too “stiff”!

So, as the laundry was out on the porch, the wind began to kick up and things went flying by the front windows! I grabbed the sheets which were almost dry, and the drying rack and dragged them inside. The drying rack went in front of the woodstove, and I threw the sheets into the dryer for a few minutes.

Meantime, I had to help Ben with his schoolwork, as he had fallen behind a little. He needs little help, but every time I got up to do something else, well, you can guess! After lunch, we kept working until I thought my brains were going to EXPLODE! Finally, at about 2, I decided perhaps a little walk in the woods would refresh us! But, before the walk, I needed to fix a mess I made the other day!

When we got the snow the day before yesterday, I started to shovel, then got sidetracked. I forget what other activity drew me away, but over the day or two of sitting, a lot of the little piles turned into ice about 2″ thick. I had to salt and try to break up the pieces. I also needed to clean around the trucks…..yeah, 3 bay garage……trucks parked OUTSIDE. Ugh……

I finished my little task, and off we went! I, of course!, grabbed the camera as we headed out the door.

Ben brought along a small pruning saw, as he was looking for a sapling to cut to whittle. Living in the heart of wine country, we find ourselves surrounded by grapevines….some out of control! This bugger was about 3 1/2″ in diameter. Ben decided to cut it at the bottom so it will die. We have seen much smaller vines take large trees into their grips and kill them!

I am not sure what this particular conifer is, but it is a one of a kind in our woods! We have very few conifers, and most are red or white pines. Not as pretty as this tree! And under this tree is a very special little area…..

Ben made a little cross to mark the spot where we buried Carly’s dear little Doxie rescue, Oscar. Little Oscar was only with Carly’s family about three days when he passed away from a dreadful disease called HGE. This disease comes on like gangbusters, dehydrating its victim through vomiting and bloody diarrhea…the only hope is getting the pet to the veterinarian immediately!

My heart nearly broke to bits the day the family buried little Oscar…..it was so sad.

We made our way to the back of our property. It is really nice back there, and it is a brisk walk in the best of conditions, as it is entirely uphill. Ben and I went to survey one of my little tasks when spring comes…..This huge white oak fell last year. It is on our neighbor’s land, but he told us to go ahead and take it. Mark says there is over a cord of wood in this tree. I had to smile at how little Ben looked standing on this tree!

As we walked along the stream in the back, I just had to take some pictures!

This one was of some “crunchy” dirt along the banks of the stream.

Just looking out through the woods……….

And lastly, this is a spot that I would LOVE to put a little cabin on. It is near our back property line, and it is just so nice there.

I was correct about this little walk refreshing us. Ben and I went back to work on decimals when we returned. We were able to work until it was time to fix dinner. I had bought some thinly sliced Ribeye Steaks last night, so I fired up the grill and fixed those. Mark was feeling good enough to eat normally again, so I made the steaks, veggies, and a salad for dinner. After dinner, there were dishes to do, then I needed to grab the sheets out of the dryer. Fold the sheets, make the bed…..

Finally, I think I am ready to settle down for the day!

Oh, I forgot to mention another one of those “little tasks”…..Last night, I stopped by the Dollar Tree to see if they might have some glasses. I broke one last night, and they haven’t had them since Thanksgiving time, but I thought I would check anyway. They had them! I looked around the store a bit, as they sometimes have some cool things. I found an interesting item called “The Works” for the toilet bowl. It said it removes lime scale and hard water stains. I thought we were going to have to replace the toilet upstairs, as it looked HORRIBLE! Not any more!!!!!!! That stuff bubbled up and removed all of the mineral build up! Yay!

Such an exciting entry…..laundry and toilets! Ah well, even life in the Bristolwood is sometimes mundane!

Yes, those are still the same carnations that I posted several days ago! There are tiny little patches of kind of a beige color on a couple of the flowers, but they still look terrific! I love carnations, and every time I go near the table, I cannot help but breathe in that sweet spicy fragrance!