Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is the time of year we are reminded to give thanks for all that we have. It goes without saying (but I'm going to say it) that I am thankful for my family, friends, health, and the dawning of a new day. But I'm also thankful for a few other things.

I'm thankful for:

1. Trixie Belden books. I've loved these books when I was growing up because Trixie, the main character, had to do chores like I did before she went out to solve mysteries. After my chores, I didn't go out and solve many mysteries, but I did spend time looking for secret passageways in my attic.

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2. This pencil. Clever Ward attached a magnet to this pencil so it would always stay by the list pad on the refrigerator. No more frustrating searches for something to write with when I need to add to the list.

 

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3. This computer game. Miss Landers introduced Flip Words to our family that is a cross between hangman and boggle. The whole family has gotten a lot of enjoyment out of it. And when I say the whole family I mean mostly me.

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4. This mended remote. Luckily, this remote could be fixed easily with a rubber band after the back fell off. I don't want to say that I don't know how to work the TV without it, but I don't.

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5. This rice cooker. We have had this for several years and I have not burnt any rice since we got it. Thanks to Miss Landers who recommended it after her stay in Japan.

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4. This clean lawn chair. We borrowed a power washer and look what it did for this lawn chair. Not only do we have a chair that we can use now, Wally and I had a lot of fun blasting the dirt away.

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5. A rechargeable battery for my camera.

(Picture to follow when the battery finishes charging.)


HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

A Second Look--November 23, 2011

It has been cold and rainy the last few days, so I haven't had much of a chance to get out and do a Second Look. When I did, most of what I saw was wet and surrounded by oak leaves. They are from the large oak tree in the front yard that seems to send its copious amount of leaves everywhere. I did manage to get a picture of the sun setting at dusk the day before all of the rain started.

The last little bit of sunset before dark

Raindrops on a Lady's Mantle leaf

The rain this week brought down all of the leaves from this maple tree.

Fungus among oak leaves.

A rhododendron bud that will bloom next spring.

Yes, it was a cold and rainy day when I did my second look.

Rutabagas

I've always been curious about rutabagas. Well, actually, I've never been curious about rutabagas and have never given them much thought until recently when Miss Landers brought some over from her garden for us to try. This was her first time growing them and she was curious about how they compared with turnips, so she also brought turnips that she had grown.

A bit of research revealed that rutabagas are a natural cross between turnips and wild cabbage. They are a relatively new plant in that the first time they are mentioned in literature is in the early 1600's. They go by many names including yellow turnips and swedes because Sweden is a top producer. (Can you guess they like to grow in colder weather?) The name “rutabaga” is derived from an old Swedish word meaning “root bag.”

Notice the multiple roots and yellow tint of the rutabaga.

How about our turnip vs. rutabaga comparison? This is what we observed. Miss Landers said that as she was pulling them (both root vegetables) that the rutabagas seemed to have more roots and root hairs. Both were pungent when raw and smelled like a cross between cabbage and radishes. The rutabaga had a yellow tint to it that intensified when cooked while the turnip remained white.

We were able to convince Ward and Theodore to participate in a taste test after the vegetables were cooked--which was pretty remarkable considering neither one of them like turnips.They weren't too sure that they wanted to sample anything called yellow turnips. However, they did sample them right along with Miss Landers and me.

We all agreed that the rutabaga had a definite potato taste. Theodore said that the rutabaga tasted as if it were a cross between potatoes and brussel sprouts. A fairly apt description. Theodore and I liked the turnips better with their more peppery taste while Ward and Miss Landers liked the rutabagas better with their milder taste and creamier texture.

In conclusion, will I start adding rutabagas to my grocery list on a regular basis? No. But will I now have something new to talk about when there is a lull in the conversation? Yes. :)

Notice they white color of the cooked turnips and the yellow color of the rutabaga.

 More sources:

• Rutabaga overview--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutabaga
• Rutabaga recipes--http://allrecipes.com/recipes/everyday-cooking/seasonal/winter/rutabaga/top.aspx
• Rutabaga nutrition--http://www.produceoasis.com/Items_folder/Vegetables/Rutabaga.html
• How to grow rutabagas  http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-26.html
• A serious and not so serious blog about rutabagas--http://rutablogger.blogspot.com/2011/04/breakthrough-photosnynthesis-stimulate.html

Food Waste Friday--November 18, 2011

It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money.

Here it goes for this week.

We had no weekly waste this week, so I cleaned another shelf in my pantry. There I found peanuts that were starting to get old. This kind of waste seems to happen a lot at our house. Someone will get interested in peanuts or some similar thing, and then are disinterested before they are all eaten. We need to learn to buy smaller bags even if the cost/ounce is a little more. I think that is called better planning. Not like the planning I did when I lined the peanuts up for the picture. Better planning would have left me enough room to get the "S" on the end of the word.

I guess I really don't consider the peanuts a big waste because they will go out for the squirrels and chipmunks and birds. We get a lot of entertainment from watching them. In fact Theodore said that we didn't need a TV since we started feeding them.

These guys are going to have a peanut treat soon.

A Second Look- November 16, 2011

This week we had a lot of entertainment watching critters. We watched a chipmunk that was dashing back and forth across the patio driving our cats crazy. It would fill its cheeks with seeds I had scattered, scurry back to its hole to deposit them, and then come back for more. It's amazing how much those pouches held.

 

Also, we tried again to thwart the squirrels at our bird feeder. We got a tip from a very entertaining and informative PBS video called Squirrel Wars. One of the ways Squirrel Wars suggested to keep the squirrels from climbing a pole was to put a Slinky around it. Well, we tried it and our squirrels are smarter than the one we saw in the video. Our squirrels are using the Slinky to sit on as they eat. It was amusing, though, to watch them the first few times they tried to climb with it in place.

Otherwise, most of the leaves are down and every frost kills more plants. However, there are a few still hanging on and a few that are defying the odds and blooming. I love finding these surprises.

When the squirrels aren't there, we are seeing a lot of birds at the feeder such as this woodpecker.

Nandina berries

The groundhog hole filled with leaves. This is the first time in years that it hasn't been active.

A Geranium (Rozanne) that has escaped the frost and is blooming among the fallen oak leaves.

Notice in each picture how the chipmunk's cheeks are getting fatter and fatter.

The mums are still blooming.

Our ineffective Slinky treatment.