Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group discussion
What are U doing today?
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What are U doing today? (Ongoing thread)
Jim, I'm sure it's been worth the waiting. :)It's warm here too. I don't mind because am allergic to the cold.
I got a pie yesterday. The day before I was out in the barn & saw some people stopped on the other side of the road. A young couple had run out of gas, so I drove over with a gas can & gave them a gallon so they could get to town. I would have done it for anyone, but they had a couple of young kids in the car & it was hot, so I was even more happy to give it to them & they thanked me profusely. Told them they were more than welcome & forgot about it. The next day the wife shows up with a butter creme custard pie that's hot from the oven. Had some last night. It was fantastic. I'm tempted to stand out on the road offering gas to all passers by...;)
What a nice surprise that was, Jim. Your good deed was rewarded.
It was a busy day. Marg & I left the house with the ponies at 6:30 & went for a ride at a local park. Then I came home & finished mowing the place - all the fields & lawn mowed. Yay! It was hot, though. I had to take a couple of breaks. It was 96 out & the humidity was high. Not terrible in the shade, but sitting on the tractor in the sun about baked me.
Jim, be careful that you don't get heat-stroke!
I didn't, but I did get laid low by a plum thorn in my ankle. I had to go to the doctor for antibiotics & can't wear my shoe now. I got some cheap flip flops, but I'm supposed to lay around with it up in the air for a couple of days with ice on it. Ugh.
Oh no! You are "Peck's Bad Boy"! LOLhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peck%27...
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025639/
Hope your ankle heals fast, Jim!
Jim wrote: "I didn't, but I did get laid low by a plum thorn in my ankle. I had to go to the doctor for antibiotics & can't wear my shoe now. I got some cheap flip flops, but I'm supposed to lay around with it..."Ouch! Here's to a speedy recovery, Jim.
Hooked up our portable air conditioner in bedroom today. Roll it into the room, hook the tube into the window kit. Plug in. Done. Turned on all the ceiling fans. Closed the doors. Sipping iced tea.
Not going outside until at 5pm.
Going up north - renting a cottage again on a lake for a week (did this last year as well). This year however have my own kayak. Plus the cottage owner built a long dock. Easier to get onto kayak. Husband will be able to fish off the dock.
My home is at the end of a dead end street, surrounded by trees (mostly pine). Quiet. Just missing a pond/lake. A lake is 2 miles away from home.
At the cottage you step off the back deck take a few steps and feet hit water. Makes the cottage and pond special - a place away from home. Relax. Enjoy the pond which can have some good sunsets. Read. Listen to music. Cottage is in a no cell zone. No internet.
Meanwhile, in Omaha,Nebraska...........Friday, Saturday and Sunday were incredibly hot and humid.
Tomorrow and Wednesday, lots of rain predicted.
What I find interesting is neither of these facts seems to stop the visitors to the College World Series in Omaha . Rain or shine, the stadium is packed.
I am unable to go---but it is a boost for the local economy. About 200,000 people attend the College World Series. The hotels restaurants and taxi drivers are rubbing their hands in glee. People who get caught in the traffic by the stadium are not so happy.! Do they broadcast scores from the College World series in the Northeast? Anybaseball fans among our members?
Mary JL wrote: "Meanwhile, in Omaha,Nebraska...........Friday, Saturday and Sunday were incredibly hot and humid.
Tomorrow and Wednesday, lots of rain predicted.
What I find interesting is neither of these fact..."
----------------------------
Had a brief rain shower this afternoon to cool off temps.
Seems there are pockets of tourists in all areas! We try to avoid the "village" during mid-June to after Labor Day. Could be "ok" to drive through weekdays before 10am - all depending on what events are taking place.
Never heard of the College World Series but that's probably because I'm not a fan of baseball.
I know of Omaha Nebraska for the location of the corporate office of Home Instead Senior Care (franchises everywhere).
What lake are you going to, Linda?Have a good time. Reminds me of all the good times Ed and I had around lakes over the years!
Mary JL, when I see the crowds watching those games, I say to myself, "I would hate being in those crowds!"Very hot and humid here too. A fan is doing a nice job for me.
Just returned from CA today into ninety five degree weather. I had gone to CA to attend my granddaughter's wedding in Palm Desert and believe me it was hotter In Kansas City than the desert. I made it alone; on the plane, of course but still kind of remarkable at age ninety one. I have six grandsons who live in CA in San Diego and one in Sacramento and a granddaughter and son who also live in CA so more family there than elsewhere. The wedding reception was around a swimming pool.
Sorry about your foot Jim. Especially after you being the good Samaritan so why do bad things happen to good people? I asked our pastor that once and he told me I wouldn't know the answer until I died.
The author of Peck's Bad Boy was my husband's cousin. He was once the Mayor of Milwaukee, WI and also Governor of that state. My husband is a Peck.
I bet you never had a cat named "Rover," like we did. My husband named him that because he would fetch a rubber ball just like our dogs did.
Fun names, Jim. I, too, like Joy, love to read animal names; some names of my daughter's horses were Merlin, Dasher, Sugar and her two rat terriers are Zippy and Zoe. I once had an Irish setter named Scarlet O'hara.
I like Mom's Money. One of our boats was named Molly Brown and no she never did sink.
I like Fetchie. My daughter's two dogs names were Smokey and Bandit. Wonder how she came up with those names..
Zippy is a good name for a JRT. We laugh at Pip all the time for getting the 'zooms'. He'll suddenly start tearing around the yard or the house just as fast as he can for no other purpose than fun.
Nina wrote: "Just returned from CA today into ninety five degree weather. I had gone to CA to attend my granddaughter's wedding in Palm Desert and believe me it was hotter In Kansas City than the desert. I made..."How perfect - reception around a pool!
Glad you made it too and from CA safely. Hope you had fun at the wedding with your family.
Joy H. wrote: "What lake are you going to, Linda?Have a good time. Reminds me of all the good times Ed and I had around lakes over the years!"
Long Pond in Willsboro. Not very populated!
Nina wrote: "The author of Peck's Bad Boy was my husband's cousin. He was once the Mayor of Milwaukee, WI and also Governor of that state. My husband is a Peck."Between you and your husband - have such an interesting family.
What a difference a day makes! Very cool and breezy outside this morning. The 2 adjacent counties have some power outages and downed trees. We escaped this storm. My kind of day - cool, breezy with some sun.
Thank you all for posting.Glad you had a good time at the wedding in CA, Nina. It's wonderful how you travel at your age!
Jim, I like the expression "getting the zooms". Yes, sometimes our dog does that too. They just enjoy running, I guess. Good exercise for them too.
Linda, I had an old friend who used to vacation in Willsboro every year. I've never been there. It must be nice.
Linda wrote: "Mary JL wrote: "Meanwhile, in Omaha,Nebraska...........Friday, Saturday and Sunday were incredibly hot and humid.
Tomorrow and Wednesday, lots of rain predicted.
What I find interesting is neith..."
Home Instead Senior Care was one of the earlier firms to promote keeping seniors at home if possible. They are well known in Omaha.
Yes, it's nice to be in one's own home.
Joy H. wrote: "Thank you all for posting.Glad you had a good time at the wedding in CA, Nina. It's wonderful how you travel at your age!
Jim, I like the expression "getting the zooms". Yes, sometimes our dog d..."
Willsboro is nice. Good fishing on Long Pond.
I love watching the young Red-bellied woodpeckers. Our front porch has 3 feeders on it: 2 seed & the hummingbird feeder which is aligned with one of the porch columns. Tonight, there was a juvenile woodpecker at each one. They won't double up even though there is room for 2 in the tray feeder. The one drinking out of the hummingbird feeder clings to the porch column & leans over to drink. The Downy woodpeckers occasionally do that, but they can sit on the feeder, too. Needless to say, the hummingbirds aren't happy, but they stay clear. We only have 1 pair in the front while there are 2 pairs who have had at least one set of babies each in the back. They're drinking down about 16oz each day.
Jim, your birds are lucky to have you to appreciate them.
What kind of hummingbird feeder do you have? I have no luck at all with mine.
Yes, all the animals here are lucky. We spend far too much money feeding them & time creating cozy homes. Every one of them is fat as can be, including the birds.Nina, we've had a lot of different feeders for the hummingbirds. Doesn't seem to matter what we use, we always have a few pairs. Some years we have dozens, but it goes in cycles. In 2008, we had 4 feeders out that we were refilling daily & one held a quart. This year the front one is going through about 4 oz a day, even with, or perhaps because of, the woodpeckers' attention. The back one is going through about 16 oz each day. If they're around, they'll use most any feeder when hungry.
I put the feeders out the beginning of April & keep them out into October so those traveling through know of the place too. We have a lot of good areas for them to nest in the trumpet vines, pear, & hawthorn trees. There are multiple watering spots for them & a lot of gnats due to the horse manure. When something like the locusts bloom in the spring, they'll barely touch the feeders, but in the dry part of the summer, they'll swarm them. It's been wet, the trumpet vines & bee balm are flowering, so they're not hitting the feeders as hard as they will later this week when it gets dry out.
Sounds like a garden paradise. Keep up the good work.
I finally got the rotten coon who has been making my life miserable. Not only have my fish pond & bird feeders all been left alone, but we finally got some zucchini. Actually, suddenly we had half a dozen. Too much to eat at once, so what to do?Zucchini bread. No problem. I generally make a couple of batches every year using a recipe from my mother. Until my daughter talked me into using her bread machine since it's easier & makes less mess. Hah! I managed to put the ingredients in just backwards the first time. Well, the birds are happy. The second loaf came out looking & smelling pretty good, but I used up more time & dishes.
Garden Lasagna is basically lasagna made with zucchini taking the place of the noodles. Good stuff, easy to make. Again, a recipe from Mom & I won't be using anything but the regular oven this time!
;)
I love zucchini! Never had zucchini bread or lasagna made with zucchiniI love Greek lasagna, otherwise known as Moussaka. I love egg plant.
http://www.mygreekdish.com/recipe/mou...
"The base for a traditional Greek moussaka is most commonly fried eggplants. Some moussaka recipes also use sliced potatoes, so if you like potatoes, try adding a layer of sliced potatoes as the first layer to this amazing dish for some extra comfort during the winter months."
I made moussaka a couple of years ago, but I'm the only one that likes eggplant. I generally make eggplant parmesan & freeze most of it for later meals.Zucchini bread is just a quick bread. It's a lot like spice cake recipes - you can use almost anything in them. Whether you use sour cream or condensed tomato soup, they taste about the same.
Here's the Garden Lasagna recipe:
9x13" baking pan, preheat oven 350 degrees for 30 to 45 minutes
- 2 med zucchini sliced fairly thin - can cook out water first or use raw
- 1 lb ground beef
- 45 oz jar spaghetti sauce
- 16 oz cottage cheese
- 16 oz shredded Mozzarella cheese
- 1 tblsp parsley
- 2 beaten eggs
- Season bread crumbs
Frizzle beef & Optional (microwave/cook some of the water out of the zuchinni.)
Beat eggs, beat parsley in & then mix well with cottage cheese.
2 layers of each, so half each amount each time.
Layer zucchini - (if uncooked, add a thin layer of bread crumbs to soak up excess water.)
- Beef
- Cottage cheese
- Mozzarella cheese
- finish top with some bread crumbs.
Bake 30 to 45 minutes until top cheese browns. Let stand 15 minutes or so.
Thank you, Jim. My mouth is watering.
Here's the Zucchini Bread recipe. I cut it in half a lot of times. It's pretty similar to the one in the book that came with the bread machine. I like it since nothing about it is exact.3 cups shredded zucchini (2-3 medium)
1-2/3 to 2 cups sugar
2/3 cups Vege oil (or 3/4 cup butter)
2 - 3 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
(baking soda & powder amounts can be swapped or just one or the other.)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp grnd cloves
(Optional) 1/2 cup nuts &/or raisins
- Preheat oven to 350 & set rack so top of loaves in center.
- Mix all together & pour evenly into 2 greased loaf pans.
(Nuts & raisins best put on last & cut in as they'll sink to bottom otherwise.)
- Bake for 50-60 minutes, until knife clean when stuck in. (Bake lower & slower, if anything. Center tends to be wet & heavy.)
- Cut sides free & dump out immediately when done.
This seems to be a pretty basic recipe for a lot of quick (batter) breads. Replace the zucchini with bananas or carrots. The amount of sugar can vary by a lot (1 cup to 2.5 cups) & it still tastes good.
My mouth is watering. I love that bread. Used to have a neighbor who made me moussaka.
I made zucchini pickles today & scalded my hand while pouring out the boiling water from canning them. It's not bad, but it sure hurt for a while after I did it. Supposedly I can try eating them after 24 hours, but I think I'll wait until I finish off my current bread & butter pickles. These are similar.I made the Garden Lasagna recipe for dinner tonight & it needs some adjustment: NOT 2 layers of each, so half each amount each time, but 3 layers of zucchini.
- zucchini (about half)
- Beef
- Sauce
- zucchini (about 1/4)
- Cottage cheese
- Sauce
- zucchini (about 1/4)
- Mozzarella cheese
- finish top with some bread crumbs. Not too many or the top crust gets too hard.
I used about 2 lbs of zucchini, 2 medium sized ones, & microwaved each one about 4 minutes then set them aside to cool. I thought that would have cooked out enough of the water, but it didn't. I think I'll nuke them an extra minute each next time & still put some bread crumbs on the bottom.
Jim, you're a born cook!
Great worry; my grandson and family packed their SUV with two kids, wife and all the belongings they could cram in and took off hoping when they return they aren't homeless. Fire in Winters getting close. Heidi called Tim and he said he heard the wind shifted. Hope so. Say good thoughts for my family.
Love veg lasagna and yours sounds especially good. I make really very good regular ground beef lasagna; takes seven hours but not standing all that time.
I'm so sorry to read that about your grandson, Nina. Where is that happening?I'm not much of a cook & I usually don't do it since I don't have the time. Yesterday was another wet one, so I spent a lot of time inside getting things done. The garden lasagna is pretty quick & easy, but the pickles took forever. After cutting up the zucchini & all, they have to soak for 2 hours in brine, then they're drained & the pickling juice is boiled up & poured over them to soak another 2 hours. Then there's all the hassle of boiling up the jars & lids just before reboiling the pickles & sticking them in the jars. Then another 10 or 15 minutes boiling them all before all is done. It takes forever.
Usually I wind up going off to do other projects & get too side tracked. I managed to sew up 4 pairs of my pants during the process, so didn't go stir crazy or forget. I like sewing less than cooking, though. I only do both because Marg doesn't. She never sews. She has a talent for undoing knots which extends to being completely unable to make any sewn item last more than a few minutes. It's pretty incredible. She knows a lot about it. Her mother was a fantastic seamstress, but the last time Marg sewed a patch on one of the kids' shirts, it was coming unraveled by the time he got back from the first meeting.
She cooks simple stuff regularly, but has a bad stomach & can only tolerate bland foods. The smell of onions or peppers turns her stomach, so if I want them, I have to cook them myself & I love them. She's worse than I am about anything complicated & getting sidetracked.
My grandson lives in Winters, CA that is very near Sacramento. We are hoping the fire doesn't reach his home. Last night his sister who lives near us called him and he said he heard the wind shifted. We pray so. My husband is also the one who does the sewing in our family. He has made lampshades, couch covers, chair covers etc. I have done some in my life but one huge mistake was putting sleeves in on the wrong side.
Nina, hope your grandson and the family will be OK.
Jim wrote: "I love watching the young Red-bellied woodpeckers. Our front porch has 3 feeders on it: 2 seed & the hummingbird feeder which is aligned with one of the porch columns. Tonight, there was a juvenile..."The red-bellied woodpeckers have a different sound than the other woodpeckers. Let you know they are heading to the feeder. Watch out fellow woodpeckers.
We continue to take the hummingbird feeders in at night around 9pm. I'd like to get them back outdoors around 5 or 530am - that's when the hummers seem to be around. Sometimes, we just don't wake up until after 6am. They come back so guess they aren't mad at us - just patiently waiting in the trees nearby!
Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group
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It's up to 92 now & brutal out there even just sitting on the lawn mower. I mowed all the field fence lines with the little mower & hope to get most of the lawn done before I come in for dinner. Tomorrow I need to finish the lawn & mow the fields.
Marg wants to go riding at a local park first thing. I guess we'll do that. It doesn't open until 7am, so I should have time to get the bills done & call Mom before we leave at about 6:30 or a bit later. Probably later. Except for her school bus run, Marg hasn't been on time for anything.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-C-I...
The story of my life.
:)