Significant Snowfall

Last Friday we had a big storm roll through.  Like the week before doom and gloom was predicted, however that storm swung south leaving St. Louis cold with a smattering of snow flakes.  This storm lived up to its predictions with approximately four inches left to shovel.

Most people here ate the stuff, but me, I love it.   I'm not particularly fond of the bitter cold that seems to accompany snow.  Saturday morning was not an ass-biting cold day so it was pleasant to be outside clearing my driveway.  Unfortunately my son wasn't home to build any snowmen with me.  We could have built a whole army!  ....hmmm that would be fun!

Since I first saw this house I've wondered how the yard would look in a good layer of snow.  According to my smartass brother, "white".  And yes it was white.  No footprints other than a track from some rabbits sullied my snow.  Five days later the white garden is nearly as pristine as the day it arrived.  Everything under the trees has melted away but not enough to detract from the rest of the yard.

Golf Balls

Have I mentioned that I live on a golf course?  And that golfballs are frequently found in my yard?  And that I now have a little stash of balls in a glass jar in my livingroom?

It turns out the jar of golfballs is a magnet for a certain grandson, the child who can do no wrong.

He lured his aunt into retrieving the balls out from under the TV. 

And then he rolled them into the office.

The balls came out again over Thanksgiving.  I figured with the crowd that balls on the floor would be a bad idea so I came up with a worse idea - showing grandson how to roll them down the stairs to the basement.  Oh how he giggled with delight over that noise!

So the party was over and the balls returned to the jar... most of them at least.  I was missing a few.  Last night I was loading the washing machine and as I passed the pool table a small pink ball caught my eye.  In the trough were seven golfballs.

I'm not sure what went on in the basement on Thanksgiving, but it looks like the golfballs had a good time!

Pancakes

We try to avoid making pancakes since it jacks with our blood sugar, but on a cold, snowy day there is just nothing better than a steaming stack of flap jacks.

Much to my sister-in-law's horror, my brothers and I and all of our assorted children eat peanut butter on our pancakes.  And to answer the question everyone asks, yes WITH syrup.  No, no butter, that would be excessive.  I used to eat them with peanut butter, jelly, and syrup but I have since dropped the jelly.  My husband eats them with only peanut butter and jelly.  We will also eat peanut butter on waffles and french toast, also with syrup. 

My youngest enjoys pancake days.  He delights in the goofy designs I attempt.  Over the summer I discovered a pancake mix dispenser that allows you to draw as you squirt the mixture into the skillet.  The trick is to get the cakes thick enough that you're not making crepes but not so thick the squirty hole gets clogged.  I'm still learning.  I bought this device at Walmart in the baking aisle.  It looks like two plastic cups screwed together with a frosting tip at one end.  Everyone needs one of these doohickeys.

**Because I love you I did a google search.  I didn't find the exact model but this is similar enough and in the same price range  https://slice-heaven.com/store/show/A80-4784   You could also get a mambo sized ketchup bottle - just make sure both the squirt hole and the screw top are large enough to load and dispense your mix.

One of the brilliant tips I came up with all on my own was how to keep pancakes warm while flipping enough to feed my entire family.  I know most people either offer one serving at a time not allowing for group dining or shoving the cakes in a warm oven until all are ready.  My eternal fear is that the oven will be too warm, take too long to heat up, will dry out the pancakes, or I manage to burn myself as if the stovetop wasn't dangerous enough.  I discovered using two deep plates, one inverted as a lid, will keep the pancakes hot for quite a while (as in over an hour).  If you're making a large stack, use a mixing bowl as  your lid.  The pancakes generate a lot of steamy heat so you just need to keep that trapped.  The nice thing is that this contraption can sit anywhere on your counter making it easy to flip the plate or bowl as you toss in the next pancake - no need to open and close the oven.  Do be careful because that "lid" gets mighty hot and I would caution allowing small children getting near it.

It might be PMS

Not sure but I just made a bowl of chopped bananas, caramel, and chocolate chips with a 2nd glass of wine (there isn't any ice cream in the house). This follows a day of being in a pissy mood and nearly breaking out in tears at work.

Or I just had a royally crappy day.  

I'm not really a stress eater.  On a truly bad day I would rather climb in the car and drive on the open highway with the radio blasting.  Or take a long nap.  Yet there is something about chocolate that soothes the inner monster.  Of the "necessities" I always have on hand besides flour, sugar, butter, and peanut butter, I will ALWAYS have chocolate chips.  Even my kids knew about mom's chocolate chips and they slyly snagged a few here and there but never fully depleting my stash.  It would have to be really bad for me to break down and buy a real candy bar.

Whatever it was, I hope it goes away tonight.

Vole Update 12/2/13

Pushing spiky balls from the sweet gum tree into the holes seems to have had some effect on my yard chomping voles.  Or they went into hibernation.

My live traps aren't very effective traps.  And what they trap don't tend to live very long.  Something has figured out how to enter and exit, taking all of the yummy poisoned bait with them.  So I keep loading them and until two weeks ago they would be empty.  I'm pretty sure field mice are the culprits.  I've caught two field mice and one vole in my traps.  One mouse had his tail caught in the mechanism and the other got his foot tangled in something.  The vole just baked in the hot sun.  All of them have required a little manipulation to remove their carcasses... with a stick.  What?  I ain't touching those things!

Unfortunately, MOLES have crossed the street and hit my yard with a vengeance.  Three neighbors expressed surprise that their vermin made the trek.  For years the moles would move from their yards to the golf course and back again.  Evidently they got word from the voles about the sweet pastures found on this side of the street.  Chatty bastards.  I now have mole poison that I drop into their tunnels.  I'm going to have to wait until we have warm weather for a long streak before really attacking them.  Hopefully I can eradicate them before spring.

December 1, 2013

Heeeeeyyyyy....

Yeah, I fell off the face of the planet.  Blame it on Candy Crush Saga.  I'm totally addicted to that stupid game and every time I have a free moment on the computer I'm trying to defeat yet another level.

While I was screwing off with computer games I sprouted a grand daughter, kind of a major development in my world.  Of course she is absolutely beautiful.

I've been missing my daily posts and I think life is starting to finally settle down so let's see how close I get to more frequent blogging activity.  There are plenty of pictures that have accumulated so it shouldn't be a problem to keep the momentum going.  Right?  We'll see.

Autumn is here

10/29/13: This morning I looked up at the exact moment the sun rose.  It was a cloudy morning casting an orange glow over the neighborhood.  It was very pumpkin hued and I tried to get a picture unfortunately the colors didn't capture well.  It only lasted a few minutes and went away.

 

Two days later a rainstorm hit and every leaf dropped from the tree