October 1 2011
Today is
Nate and Beth’s wedding! Our afternoon
and evening will be taken up with the ceremony and reception. I’m really happy for them. Beth will be our first
granddaughter-in-law. In a way, she has
been an adopted granddaughter since she was in high school.
Being
grandparents means we didn’t have anything to do to get ready for the
festivities. Well, I did make some
little place cards to tell people what the different mint flavors are. The kids and their various moms and dads are
going to be busy making, taking, decorating and beautifying themselves, the
church and the reception hall. We, on
the other hand, have been relaxing!
Well, I did bake a pumpkin dessert for the Fellowship Dinner at church
tomorrow. But that certainly was not a
strenuous task.
The pumpkin
dessert was the first time we’ve used the oven in the new trailer. It seemed to work fine. RV LP stoves tend to burn a little hotter and
bake a little unevenly. So, it was nice
to see that it came out looking okay.
When we head out for the wedding we will leave early enough to drop the
dessert off at our church for tomorrow.
It seems
fitting that the first use of the oven is to create something to share at
church. Almost like an offering to
God. On a related note; we have talked
about asking our pastor to come out and bless our new home. However, as of yet, we haven’t ask him.
October 2 2011
Well
yesterday got busy shortly after I wrote the above. So, it did not get posted yesterday.
Our cat,
Kramer, is about fourteen years old and has only been outside about four
times. Each time terrified her. For years, if the door was left open, she
would either fun and hide or sit off to the side and look outside – but never
getting too close. Well, sometime on
Wednesday she got outside. The reason
that I noticed she was missing was because some friends came and visited and I
realized that Kramer was not there demanding to be petted. Ella and Sue, one of our neighbors, rode
around on their golf cart looking for the cat.
But they were unable to find her.
Last night
when we returned home from the wedding reception Kramer was in her cat carrier
sitting on the steps. Sue and her
husband, Stoney, founder her hiding under another neighbors motor home. They finally coaxed her close enough to
grab. Sue remembered seeing the cat
carrier stored under our trailer. So
they put the cat in the carrier and left it where we would find it.
Kramer was
very affectionate last night and again this morning. I think she missed her people more than I
missed our cat.
Today is
Arik’s birthday. It is amazing that that
fat little baby has grown into an awesome man, a good husband and father who
will be forty years old NEXT year. I
wonder when you stop thinking of your kids as kids? Not yet evidently.
Today is
Sunday and Ella is working all day (eight hours) to make up for not working any
on Saturday (wedding). I went to Sunday
school and church and helped with the fellowship meal afterward. I brought food to Ella at her work and then I
came home and changed.
October 3 2011
I baked
bread in our new oven in our new trailer yesterday. I had posted a photo of the loaf on
Facebook. A friend commented, “Do you
share recipes?” Here is what I sent her
in reply.
- - - -
Bread Recipe
Recipe is
kind of a loose term when talking about the way I cook and bake. However here is what went into this loaf –
with alternates that may or may not be used in any combination – depending what
I feel like at the time)
About 3 cups of flour (may replace 1 cup flour with oat
flour)
8 to 9 oz of water (may replace up to ½ with milk)
A couple of tablespoons of olive oil (may substitute Miracle
Whip)
1-1/2 teaspoons of salt (sometime add a ¼ teaspoon of white
pepper or cinnamon)
2 generous Tablespoons of sugar (or slightly less if using
brown sugar)
Around a ¼ cup of 10 grain cereal (cornmeal or Cream of
Wheat or leave out and use less liquid)
Slight Tablespoon of yeast
In a large
mixing bowl combine dry ingredients and add water and oil. Stir with a heavy spoon until well
mixed. It will be a very sticky dough at
this point. Let rest about 30 minutes
until spongy. Turn out on a well floured surface and knead with floured hands
20 times. Form into a ball and let rest
in a lightly greased bowl covered with a damp dishtowel until double in size
(30 to 60 minutes). Turn out on a well floured surface and knead with floured
hands 20 times again. Form into a ball
and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet, score top with a sharp knife and
cover with damp towel. Let rest for about
30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350
degrees. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes
(until it sounds hollow when tapped)
- - -
We are not
babysitting today because Ella had a follow up mammogram done this
morning. Everything looked okay.
We stopped
at Sam’s Club and picked up bacon (I love the maple flavored bacon from Sam’s),
some original V8 juice and a case of individual cans of assorted V8
Fusion. I plan to drink more
veggies! I’ve put some pork ribs,
drenched in Cookies BBQ Sauce, in the slow cooker and they are beginning to
smell tempting. The ribs are for supper
and I have no idea what to fix for lunch – hmmm – maybe some grilled cheese on
my home made bread!
Sometime
today I need to attach trailer to truck and move it ahead about three feet so
that I can put a leveler board under one set of tires. I was not going to level it since I planned
to take it camping once before winter sets in.
Ella had wanted to get together a camping outing with son John and
grandson Nate. John has already
winterized his trailer and I think Nate’s going to be busy enough now that he
won’t want to go out either. Therefore,
I’m going to go ahead and get ours leveled up on our site in anticipation of
skirting it with insulation for the winter months.
