Bogieblog

Working Off the Pies

We, who usually avoid shopping on Black Friday like the plague, went shopping on Black Friday. Actually, it was WS's idea. The story unfolds thus:

Thursday, there was a huge Sunday paper supplement on the mailbox that was stuffed silly with flyers for after Thanksgiving sales. Since our vacation back to Kansas, and using the eliptical, treadmill and stationary bikes at the hotel (and Cop Car's gym), I had been wanting one of those pieces as an addition to our home gym. Our home gym consists of a multi-station weight station, plenty of free weights and a stepper. I also use the step on the deck to "run stairs". However, the only cardio/aerobic being the deck stairs doesn't work too well when it is snowing/raining/blazing sun so an addition of one of the previously mentioned pieces. I really enjoyed the elliptical and had been looking at them in the sales flyers ever since.

Thursday's flyers had some real bargains. In fact, there was one so cheap that we couldn't really afford to pass it up - $99 for an elliptical / bike combo. I mentioned it to WS, showed him the flyer, and he agreed that we would go look. There was also an incline bench on sale (I have been using the stepper raised up on part of the weight machine - not a really safe practice) that I wanted to look at. It was only a two day sale, so we had to go on either Friday or Saturday.

Thanksgiving Feasting

Thanksgiving has come and gone and the fridge is groaning under the load of food still in it.

Monday, WS invited Jimmy over for Thanksgiving, though he usually has several places to go on this day, this year his only choices were too far away. So instead of the small ham and mashed potatoes that I was planning on fixing for the two of us, I had to plan on at least 4 (Jimmy eats for two every day).

The small ham I had previously gotten truly was not enough to feed the three of us, so Tuesday I went to the store and got a turkey breast to make sure we had enough meat. I also decided that a pie was in order along with some dinner rolls. I had sweet potatoes and fresh cranberries already, but was unsure if I would use them.

Wednesday evening I mixed up the green bean casserole so all I would have to do is place it in the oven. I also made a chocolate pecan bourbon pie.

The big day came and while WS raked and mulched leaves, I vacuumed and did some cooking. I woke up thinking that a pumpkin pie was also needed, so I made that while the bread machine was beating up the dough for the rolls. We had 2 bananas that were very ripe, so next I made banana bread. Next the turkey breast went into the oven, then it all came down to timing.

Jimmy arrived in early afternoon and we kept him from starving to death by bringing out a shrimp ring (WS had found it for 1/2 price - nice!), cheese and crackers (WS had cut up the cheese Wednesday night) and chips with onion dip (which WS had also prepared the night before). While we were eating, we watched Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back. Jimmy has only seen the first Star Wars (okay, the 5th in the series, but the first out on the big screen). We had been itching to watch the movies again since going to the concert, so it all worked out.

About 5, I peeled potatoes and started cooking them; while they were cooking, I did up the rolls and got them and the green beans cooking. The last thing was to make up gravy (I decided against sweet potatoes or cranberries). WS cut up the turkey while I was pulling everything out of the oven and mashing the taters.

At half-time the end of the movie (which coincided nicely with the readiness of the food), we piled our plates high with food and started in on the 6th, um 3rd, oh to heck with it, Return of the Jedi. About half way thru the movie, the neighbor came over to chat for a while. After he left, we broke out the deserts which had waited patiently in the back room (everytime I went in there for something, I gained 10 pounds from the wonderful aromas) and watched the rest of the movie. Did I mention that Karen had stopped on her way to her daughter's to drop off a carrot cake? We certainly didn't lack for sweets!

The meal was declared as delicious by everyone. The movie night was a success (although we still have the next 3 movies to go). Jimmy was encouraged to come back for another night of feasting and lightening of the load on the fridge.

Hope everyone else's Thanksgiving was spent with good company and good food. Next up Black Friday and buying an exercise machine to help compensate for all the calories!

Thanksgiving Time

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Boring Stuff

Yesterday we dropped WS's bike off at the Harley Dealer for storage. My bike is cheap enough that storing it in the storage unit out in the woods is no big deal - WS's bike gets pampered because it isn't.

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I wish Typepad would just leave the dang template alone. Now it takes me 3 steps before I can start typing a post. Used to be 1 step. Posting pictures takes 4 steps - it used to take 2. Plus, it is slower than death when I am typing. Backspaces are slow and other things take more time than they used to. I understand that I have a 5 year old computer, but dang it it is powerful enough to run AutoCAD without a hitch, and I have a fast cable service, so these things are a part of their service apparently. Oh, and if you cancel an action, the cursor goes to the beginning of the post instead of staying where I put it. This thing is just plain beginning to irritate me.

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While we were dropping off WS's bike, we looked at the bikes on the showroom floor (as we always do when we are there). They had a real pretty FLTXXDRRNNT (OK, so I made up the letters, I don't really know what it was), It was a 2003, that had almost everything I want; bags, windshield (not a fairing), ISO grips, crash bars engine guards, floorboards and it was a dark blue. The crash bars endinge guards coupled with it being old enough and cheap enough made it so if I drop it, it would be no big deal. The only things missing are heated grips and a narrower seat thanwhat is on it. Too bad they wouldn't give me enough in trade for my bike to make the swap feasable (no, I didn't ask, but since I still owe, I'm guessing not). Ahh well, one can always dream and drool.

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We've had a nice stretch of weather; in the 40's and 50's. One morning it was 19 when I left the house, but it warmed up nicely after taht. Too bad I didn't get out of work until after the sun set. I really dislike when they mess with the clocks!

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Nothing else of interest going on around here, just wanted to post something for this weekend.

Hunting Season

Late yesterday afternoon the neighbor came over asking for WS's help. Seems he got himself an 8 point buck on his last day of vacation. He asked WS to help him drag it out of the woods and the use of WS's truck to haul it to his house. Now it is on WS's wood-hauling trailer so that the neighbor can take it into the station for legal purposes this morning.

Should be good for a couple venison steaks in our freezer - mmm, mmm, mmm!

Looking Forward to Sunny Skies

Today is a very exciting day for us - we should see the sun this afternoon! Last time I saw the sun was last Sunday, when we went for our last joy ride of the season (we both rode to work Monday and Tuesday). But it has been severely cloudy since then (not just cloudy, but with very dark clouds). I heard rumors that the sun shone for a short time on Wednesday, but couldn't confirm that myself. We finaly got 1.5" of rain yesterday and once that system moves out we are supposed to have sunny skies.

It's bad enough that with the time change I leave the house in the dark, get to work in the dark and get home in the dark, the least that could happen is I get to see some sun on the way home (at least for the next week or so - then I will be leaving work in the dark too).

Autumn Cereal

It's been pumpkin and squash season here for quite a while. I got a pumpkin last week and made up some "cereal" that I take to work and heat up for breakfast instead of my usual oatmeal. As usual when I make up a recipe, I didn't measure anything, but really, I don't think you can really mess this up too much.

• 1 small pumpkin (I used a small, non-sweet, decorative type but you could use a sugar pumpkin). If using a sugar pumpkin, the amount of maple butter might need to be reduced.
• Couple of pats of butter or margerine (don't substitute olive oil for this)
• Maple butter - I used about 2 TBL for the whole pumpkin. You could probably use a bit of maple syrup (the real stuff please) or if on a strict diet some maple flavoring and Splenda (or sugar substitute of choice)
• Dollop of Vanilla
• Dollop of imitation Rum
• Almond slivers

Cut the pumpkin in half and scrape out the seeds. I leave stringies in there, but that is a personal choice.

Place in a baking dish and add about 1" of water.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or so

Remove from the oven and let cool for a bit then scrape the meat out of the hull

Combine all ingredients and stir until the butter and maple butter is melted and everything is well combined.

Eat a bowl of it while it is still warm! This makes 5-6 hearty bowls full.

Make sure to eat leftovers warm - the heat brings out the taste of the vanilla. Some people would be tempted to use pecans instead of almonds. I strongly suggest staying with the almonds - they keep it lighter tasting so it is more appropriate for breakfast or a snack in the afternoon.

For nutrition / calorie reference click on the following links: Pumpkin (raw), Maple butter,

Just Shaking my Head

So let me get this right: They stop, or severely curtail testing for the swine flu this summer (point A).

Then, out of the blue the guestimate of swine flue cases and deathes has been tripled (point B).

How in the hell do supposed professionals get from point A to point B?

Even weather guessers use a lot of data to make their predictions and get it wrong on a regular basis. Now we have health guessers using no (or low amounts of) data to what? panic the populace that can't get the vaccine anyway? and to what availe?

Idjuts, just plain idjuts.

Stressed

Just a few pictures to show you what a tough and stess-ladden life our animals live:

   Fuzzy laying in front of the woodstove.

   Prince on the (forbidden) couch. Note that he has his own blanket (to keep the dog hair off the couch) and that he has managed to position one of the pillows perfectly.

Yep, our pets are stressed out.

We Gots Culture

Last night WS and I went to see the symphony. We went to the Star Wars Concert at the Manchester Verizon Wireless arena. A symphony orchastra played music from the range of movies while footage from the movies played on a HUGE high-definition screen. Naration was performed by the guy who played C3PO (the gold colored robot).

I had heard an ad for this concert on the radio and then saw a short blurb about it in National Geographic magazine.

It was an awsome experience that entertained very young kids to great grandparents. If this concert comes to your area, take the chance to go see it - it's well worth the price of admission! The only after affect is that now WS and I have to go back and watch the movies again (and watch the 1 movie that we never saw).