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I can’t believe I’m awake at this hour yet again…and starving.
What’s for breakfast? 🙂
You poor thing.
When my older sister was pregnant with her first (she’d moved back home because her husband was in Vietnam), she would wake me up nearly every night about 2 a.m. to keep her company while she ate a bowl of Campbell’s turkey noodle soup.
So … turkey noodle soup?
I managed to fall back to sleep a little after 6. I’m glad I only have 5 or 6 more weeks to go, I feel silly getting up in the night for no real reason.
What a patient sister you were!
It wasn’t like she gave me any choice. 🙂
Organic cornflakes. Yeah, not my best idea but that’s what I just had.
I just had a piece of peanut butter toast to take the edge off. Next up: Homemade egg mcmuffins. 🙂
What are you up to today?
Sounds good! We’ll continue with the great leafmulching ™ and continue our preparations for Thanksgiving. Are you taking it easy?
We went washer and dryer shopping yesterday (the olds ones both broke within a week of each other), and found out that we’ll pay about half as much for the ones we want if we wait till Friday, so I think I’m heading to the laundromat for a bit today. And I have some work that I need to finish up today so that I have a head start on my work week. Big fun. 🙂
Leaf removal is on next week’s agenda for us. Well, certain members of the household, anyway.
We’ll be having my family favorite, french toast for brunch a little later this morning. The two littlest grand kids spent the night and are clamoring for a walk before we eat.
That sounds fun. How old are they?
The little guy just turned 4 and the little miss is 6. They wear us out! We also found that “George of the Jungle” (the movie) is pretty funny if one is in the proper mood;-)
That’s a fun age. Have a great time at breakfast!
The older resident house cat completely freaks when they come over. She spent the night in the laundry room rather than deal with the small noisy ones. The young kitty seems oblivious to it all and allows petting, if done gently.
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I’ll check this later. 🙁
Not understanding the reference, but it’s pretty.
‘Morning all.
Pawpaw, aka Hoosier banana.
OK. So that’s a Pawpaw tree (I had no idea they grew that far north). And yes, as your link explains, Papaya’s sometimes get labeled “pawpaws” in Australia, which confused the heck out of me.
p.s. Important post on the Dog Blog.
We’ve been living out here since 1979 and we have never once seen fruit on a pawpaw tree. I don’t know if they just don’t ever have them or the damn birds are very, very efficient.
You might just be too far north. I could grow really tall and healthy looking banana trees in so. Cal. But they never set fruit.
Maybe. I’m betting on the damn birds, though.
Probably a safe bet that we’re not going to get any of our kentish cherries either. All of the orchards here are covered in netting. Parrots do so like their fruits.
Jim says I’m wrong about the fruit. He’s seen them and he’s even taken photographs of them.
Taken at the same paw-paw patch a year and a few months earlier. When the fruit ripen the skin is about the color of an eggplant and the soft flesh does taste banana-like but is, to my taste, too sweet.
Love this one!
Thanks.
Are you going to take a nap so you won’t be so tired when the kiddo wakes you at 3:00 a.m.?
Heh, I had work to do from 1:00 to 5:00 am last night. The kiddo was wishing I’d go to sleep. 🙂
I am looking forward to this week being over; I have things to finish for different people, and December first is looming.
Hmm, what ya don’t learn on the internets.
Ever since I first heard the song as a child I’ve been wondering what the hell a paw-paw was.
Needless to say, ain’t none growin’ ’round these here parts.
(yeah, yeah, I know, “no trees, no paw-paws either” right?
Ah, come on. I’ve been up your way and saw a stunted tree or two. But given the glory of the red rock escarpments, the absence was hardly noticeable.
Hey, that was for AndiF. She’s always giving me a bad time about not having any trees here, even though everywhere I look I see trees. But ya just can’t always hit one with a rock.
I’m actually in eastern ND, some 40-50 miles west of the MN border, and 75 miles south of Manitoba, so no red rocks here. The badlands on the ND-Montana border may have some though, if that’s what you’re thinking of.
I tell people I live on the western shore of Lake Agassiz. (I’ve found crinoid fossils embedded in a rock). One of my b-i-ls asked if he should bring his boat, (avid fisherman),the first year he was invited to our annual BBQ. Ha, ha, he’s a “few” million years late for that.
It’s so nice of you to cater to my overdone jokes. 🙂
Good morning everyone! One more day until the long weekend after today!
Can’t wait!
Me either! Work is really dragging today. Plus, I’m looking forward to the food…
I’m looking forward to the food but continuing to watch what I eat. I’ve lost about 18 or so pounds now and I’m not going back!
Wow, good for you! I, on the other hand, have added ten back to the 30 I shed a couple of years ago:(
It’s still a net 20 pound loss! Good for you!
I was stuck in appeals hearings all day, so could not consume my favorite addictive substance, M&Ms. I suspect that’s part of the problem, since when I’m at my desk on a normal work day, they appear on a pretty regular schedule. Guess it beats meth or lying around the county jail sleeping off a public intox on a Sunday morning, though;-)
Yeah, I’ll just stay out of this whole weight gain/loss discussion… 🙂
Well, some of us have certain time-limited circumstances to deal with that should pass eventually;-)
And since tomorrow is Turkey Day, So I thought I’d re-start our tradition of doing recipes. Here’s one from me:
Corn Casserole
medium onion
2 T. flour
1/4 t. dry mustard
1/4 green pepper
1 t. salt pepper
2 T. butter
1/2 t. paprika
3/4 c. milk
1 egg
1/3 c. crackers
1 T. butter
Saute onion and green pepper in butter. In a saucepan, mix with flour and seasonings. Stir in milk. Heat to boiling. Stir in egg. Pour into greased casserole dish. Cook at 350 uncovered for 30-35 minutes.
Yay! Recipes! Do the crackers go on top, or in the casserole itself?
I’m making cranberry chutney tonight – a double batch was requested for tomorrow.
And I had a nice full night of sleep last night. How cool is that?
Oops! Yes, mix the crackers with the butter and put them on top.
Great on the sleep.
Are you going to post the cranberry recipe.
1 pound cranberries
2 1/2 cups sugar
5 cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
1 cup water
1 cup peeled chopped apples
1 1/2 cups peeled chopped pears
1 medium onion chopped
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 cup raisins
1 cup slivered almonds
Combine first 5 ingredients (cranberries through water) in saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until crnaberries are plump and begin to burst. Add apples, pears, onion, celery and raisins, and cook until the mixture takes on a jelly-like consistency. Stir in slivered almonds and cook for 5 more minutes.
This tastes great on turkey, leftover turkey sandwiches, crackers, you name it!
Yummy!
Eek again.
Not only did I not mention the crackers. I don’t mention the corn.
Let’s try this again.
Corn Casserole
medium onion
2 T. flour
1/4 t. dry mustard
1/4 green pepper
1 t. salt pepper
2 T. butter
1/2 t. paprika
3/4 c. milk
2 cans corn
1 egg
1/3 c. crackers
1 T. butter
Saute onion and green pepper in butter. In a saucepan, mix with flour and seasonings. Stir in milk. Stir in corn. Heat to boiling. Stir in egg. Crunch cracker in 1 T melted butter and mix. Pour into greased casserole dish. Put crackers on top. Cook at 350 uncovered for 30-35 minutes
It’s early. 🙂
I have work and a midwife appt today. I was hoping that the office would close early so I didn’t have to go back after my appt, but I don’t think it will. One of the people who gets to make the decision on closing doesn’t want to go home, and the other is a weenie. Oh well.
We’re going black friday shopping for the first time ever this year – our washer and dryer died about 2 weeks ago, and the one we want is on sale (big enough to get up and go on Friday) then. I hope they can deliver it Saturday…thy say they can.
Well at least an appliance store won’t be smack in the middle of a mall. But what a no-fun way to spend money (one that I’m sure is in my future since mine are almost 20 years old).
We haven’t been shopping in bricks-and-mortar land for years. We do everything online.
I would rather die than go shopping on black friday. I did it a few years ago and I almost murdered someone….several times. Nothing like starting off the holiday season in the worst possible mood.
Good luck with that. I try to avoid the mall/big box stores that day.
So do I, but the desperate need to do laundry trumps all…
Sounds pretty yummy! But I have to admit ya had me goin’ there (for longer than I care to admit, before I scrolled down ) wondering where the corn was… 🙂
The flowers are insanely small.
This one was so small the it was not even recognizable as a spider to the naked eye (or the eye-glassed eye). I suspect it was lying in wait for one of the teeny tiny wasps that fertilize these orchids.
Loved all those pictures are the orchid — it’s so tiny and delicate — but of course one with a spider beats them all. Spiders are so cool (and helps a tiny bit my disappointmebnt on not getting to see the Huntsman).
Oops, I forgot.
Here’s the still photo.
It will take me awhile to upload the video. Unfortunately, since there was no lighting, it’s very poor quality.
w00t! (though I’m sure I’m the only person who’ll say that).
This shot is majorly unfocused, but it does give you a sense of scale.
[Off to bed – goodnight all]
Unfortunately I didn’t think to set up a light. It’s very grainy as a result.
Oh, cool. Wish there was slo-mo.
You can see how they got their name. It’s the thing I find most unsettling about them, how quickly they move. Catching them in the house is a real treat.
Oh that is so cool. Thanks for going to all the trouble to capture that and upload it.
Small spider.
eek!
Another of the Tigers (also in bloom right now).
purty
A couple of years ago, when I first posted a photo of a Leopard orchid, which unsurprisingly look very similar, someone here called it a “fetal pig orchid”. I still find that description very apt for any of the Diuris orchids, and very funny.
Good morning all! Thanks for the lovely and interesting (in that order) photos, keres.
I forgot to mention, as its name implies, it’s edible. As are the closely related Leek orchids. In fact, most orchid bulbs are edible. There’s even an ice cream made from orchid bulbs.
It sounds really intriguing!
The “Fox testicle” name is a bit off-putting, but then it does really help one visualize the twined bulbs of the plant.
Did some one say ice cream?
Back when Andi and I had a cone a day habit, Carl our local pusher said all his best stuff started with this orchid.
vanilla |vəˈnilə|
noun
1 a substance obtained from vanilla beans or produced artificially and used to flavor sweet foods or to impart a fragrant scent to cosmetic preparations : [as adj. ] vanilla ice cream.
2 a tropical climbing orchid that has fragrant flowers and long podlike fruit. * Genus Vanilla, family Orchidaceae: many species, in particular V. planifolia, the chief commercial source of vanilla beans.
* (also vanilla bean or vanilla pod) the fruit of this plant, which is cured and then either used in cooking or processed to extract an essence that is used for flavor and fragrance.
How silly of me to have forgotten that vanilla is an orchid.
Best ice cream I ever made was a simple French vanilla recipe – using milk from my Angora goats (less “goaty” than from a dairy goat), eggs from my Muscovy ducks, and a real vanilla pod. Mmmmmmmm.
Oh, and sugar.
Ooh, that sounds delicious!
Oops.
Meant to say: Anything with home-grown or -raised ingredients is bound to be better than anything else.
Absolutely! I decided to grow a few vegetables among the flowers in our raised bed gardens out back last summer. What a difference it makes!
Our veggie garden is just getting started. Except for the rhubarb, which I’ve already harvested and froze the first cuttings, and is almost ready to cut again.
Unfortunately, we are limited by water (we’re on rain water up here, which is above where the town water main reaches) to a relatively small one.
Fortunately we have good friends with a small farm. We buy all our veggies from them in season. Including 50lbs of tomatoes to make pasta sauce with. I think we’re finally down to a last jar or two from last years efforts. We also buy up his green beans, etc., and can or freeze them.
Imogen’s mum has quince and plum trees, so we make those in to paste and jams as well. Basically, if it stores we’ll store it.
I thought you were going to say you grow your own sugar. 😉
Not unless we move to far north Queensland.
Australia grows so much cane sugar that high-fructose corn syrup isn’t really used here like it is in the corn-infested US. If you ever have a hankering for “classic” coke, just come here, as it’s still made with pure cane sugar in Australia. It also explains why rum is the national drink, after beer.
Its quite a wonder that hump day has been magically transformed into Friday! Thank you FSM!
To anyone who might be forced to work <ugh!> over the holiday weekend, my deepest condolences.
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Well I continue to be a true geezer and have senior moments galore. But honoring Bud’s memory is more than worth a post in the wrong place.
LOL. Maybe you can crawl inside with this caddis fly larva and emerge a beautiful, well . . . winged something.
Another Tasmanian oddity, terrestrial caddis fly larva (most are aquatic, for those unfamiliar aquatic bugs, or fly fishing).
Uh … I don’t think so, for either the crawling in or the emerging beautiful whatever.
Yeah, but don’t you sometimes wish you could wrap yourself in silk, liquefy your body, rearrange all your cells, and metamorphose into something winged and dazzling?
(Or, a giant cockroach, if you’re Franz Kafka)
Just me, then.
The original owners of our house were very fond of pink and purple flowers. With this years decent rainfall we are awash with brilliant colors. Even the green of the grasses is a sight for sore eyes.
No weeding, no watering, no worrying.
Morning/Afternoon Keres,
Happy T’giving and I still say those plants don’t look as good as a paved over yard to me.
Hiya FM.
Is there going to be a big crowd for Turkey Day?
Morning Andi,
Yep a big crowd as usual. I’m counting around 30 right now, but that’s just a rough number.
Do you and Jim have any big plans, or are ya’ll just taking it easy today?
Big plans — well for us. I’m going up to Indy to get my mom, then we’ll go to my older sister’s where there will be a decent crowd (though lots smaller than yours), and then my mom is going to stay with us for a couple of nights. And tomorrow we’re going to Cincy to Jim’s mom.
That’s a lot of traveling. The farthest I’m going today is 10 miles out to the farmhouse and then back here.
If you need any extra relatives to show up, I’ve got about 10 at the house right now I can send up. You can tell your Mom that they’re 14th cousins 5 times removed that she didn’t know about. 😉
As long as they don’t mind sleeping out on the deck in wet 35 degree weather, they’re welcome to come camp out.
That sounds about right. We don’t let anyone in the house that’s past 3rd cousin. Although there are a few 3rd cousins that push the limit. 🙂
Ugh, I just checked the forecast … make that 30 degree weather.
Well I have to go get ready for my busy day.
See ya and have a great day.
I think I’m outta here too.
You and Jim have a great day and be careful on your drive.
Wow, what gorgeous profusion.
Lovely!
OK, I’ll see your purple and raise ya two yellows.
These were taken Tuesday evening. I’ve been trying to tell them its ok to take a break from blooming and rest for a few months, but they’re obviously ignoring me. A bit spooky, when one thinks about climate change.
You really don’t want to up the ante too much, if for no other reason than my ammo is all in bloom right now. 😉
Good morning Andi and FM! And good night to keres if she’s still up. 🙂
We’re off to Jersey later today. I am so hungry…looking forward to plenty of dinner later.
Morning CG,
You should have the guys up cooking you breakfast. Hope you have a safe drive to Jersey and a lot of food to eat.
I’ll bet everybody there is salivating, just waiting for that chutney to arrive.
Have a safe trip.
Have a good trip! We’re off to Long Island and likely hours of traffic later today. Ugh.
On a good note, the great pumpkin cheesecake seems to have turned out well. I won’t know for sure until the tasting many hours from now.
Good luck circumventing the maze! The last time I drove there, I became hopelessly lost at the Triboro trying to get back across to Manhattan and wandered around Harlem for an hour or so until I regained my bearings.
There was a big construction project going on then and someone had been lax about restoring the directional signs for a lot of the on/off ramps.
Good morning and Happy Thanksgiving all!
We’re feasting at the community Thanksgiving dinner given by the county EMT/rescue squad. Its a no-charge, donations only event that has been popular for quite a few years and the food is very good. Then we’re going over to the local nursing home (my mom’s former residence) to visit anyone there who wants a little companionship for awhile.
We were hoping to get together with family, but unfortunately, illness has intervened in our plans. I’m looking forward to the alternative plan, tho.
That’s a nice thing to do, ID.
Yes, very nice. Luna applauds you for your shared interests. Although you probably get less pats.
Today’s weather: Drizzle, with 100% chance of wet dogs wanting to come into the house.
Enjoy your postprandial stupor.