Food Waste Friday--November 11, 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 worked very hard and had two major successes this week. We had no food waste and we didn't eat out for any family meals. Yea! A big deal for us. I hope we can keep this momentum.

Food we didn't waste.

A Second Look, November 9, 2011

See what was happening in the yard this week when I took my Second Look.

The Japanese maple has not lost any of its leaves yet.

The hydrangea has bloomed one last time this fall.

A blue jay has been visiting our feeder recently.

Balloon flower seed pods.

A new color of mum is blooming.

A cardinal at the feeder one early, foggy morning.

Deer were also out that foggy morning.

Later that afternoon, they were relaxing in the yard. I think they're getting too comfortable here.

Dusk comes around 5 o'clock now that we've had the time change.

Ode to the Andy Griffith Show

Statues of Andy and Opie erected by TV Land.

I Love Watching the Andy Griffith Show

I love watching Andy who has no gun.

I love watching Aunt Bee when supper is done.

I love watching Barney get out of a plight.

I love watching Opie do his homework at night.

I love watching Goober pump gas with a flair.

I love watching Floyd pretend to cut hair.

I love watching Gomer sleeping in church.

I love watching Earnest T. jump from a birch.

I love watching Thelma Lou smiling at a dance.

I love watching Helen give Andy another chance.

I love watching Mayberry in a rerun.

I love watching Andy who has no gun.

In case you can't tell, I have been watching the Andy Griffith Show for decades and I don't seem to tire of it. That's why I was thrilled when we were able to stop in Mt. Airy, NC, on our recent vacation to visit the Andy Griffith Museum. Mt. Airy is the small town that Andy Griffith grew up in and that Mayberry was based on. One of Andy's lifelong friends has been collecting memorabilia about him over the years and decided to open the museum a few years ago.

The museum was just as I imagined it should be--one large room with a friendly and homey feel. Somethings were behind glass, but many were in the open and easy to get close to like Andy's typewriter and desk. Among the other things on display were the keys to the Mayberry jail, Barney's chair, Andy's justice of the peace sign, and original clothing worn by many of the cast on the show. I spent most of time in the museum saying to Ward, "Look at this! Look at that." He was a very good sport in that he was not quite as excited about the Mayberry memorabilia as I was.

It's nice when you find something simple that always makes you smile. Andy and the gang do that for me.
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A couple of other things:

• There was more in the museum than Mayberry related things because Andy Griffith has had a lot more to his career than the Andy Griffith Show.  Matlock, for example.
• Also, in my informal survey throughout time, I find that people who were raised in a small town or rural area tend to like the Andy Griffith Show more than people who grew up in urban areas. I think there may be a future post on this subject. What do you think?

Food Waste Friday--November 4, 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.

Mold, Lovely, Mold

This is the week for lovely, fuzzy, green mold to become plentiful in my refrigerator.  I found pesto, cheese, and lemons that all sported the fuzzy look. The ironic thing is that I found the lemons under produce saving bags in the produce drawer. I guess the fruit and vegetables have to go into the bags and not under them for them to work. I'm not sure why this was the week for several long shelf-life things to go bad, but I'm going to blame it on the vacation that my husband and I took last week.

When we got back, I did an experiment. I did not go to the grocery store to fill our relatively bare pantry, refrigerator, and freezer. I cooked with what was on hand. We had lentil soup, meat loaf and baked sweet potatoes, and chili. So, when it seemed like we had nothing to eat, it really meant that we had nothing to eat that we felt like eating or fixing right then. This would suggest that we've become pretty dependent on convenience foods and eating out. Actually, I already knew that. Now what are we going to do about it?

Second Look--November 1, 2011

This week we had an uncommon October snow. While some places had over two feet, we only had a couple of inches. It never really got much below freezing, so many of the plants bounced back as soon as the weather warmed up. There still seems to be as much animal life as ever. I guess a little snow isn't going to slow them down.

Marigolds bent down from the weight of the snow.

These mums bounced right back after the snow melted.

Now that the leaves have fallen from the top of this maple tree, we can see the squirrel's nest in it.

Another new addition to the herd in the field behind us.

This chipmunk had to work hard at getting this large hickory nut to its burrow.

Honeysuckle berries. I've never noticed these in years past.

Black-capped chickadee on feeder. Adult chickadees don't migrate so we should see  these this winter.

Deer hoof print