Woke to another rainy morning Monday, the same light rain as last Saturday, and at 46˚ we'd almost hit the high of 47˚ for the day, rained all day and apparently all night and I woke to the same rain today though it's stopped for now at midday. I had heard several people say the Farmer's Almanac predicted a mild wet winter for us this year. So far they got the wet part right.
The bird feeder buffet has been open for several days now but there is still one squirrel who doesn't quite grasp that the bird feeder has been moved to the shepherd's crook hanging about 5' away from the hood.
I guess it's loathe to give up it's tightrope walking skills. I am finally seeing some birds though, even in this rain, the usual suspects...cardinal, titmice, chickadees, inca and white wing doves, and finally sparrows. I haven't seen any sparrows for months.
Several weeks ago we had the kitchen faucet replaced for many good reasons, it was old and corroded, off was to the left of center, and sometimes when you turned it on it would squirt water out the back of the handle (it was one of those single knob/handle lean right for cold, left for hot). Turns out it's one of those low flow jobs which is fine in a shower or if you have one of those water heaters that delivers instant hot water to whichever faucet but we don't. It still takes the same volume of water from the water heater to the faucet for the water to get hot, still takes the same volume of water to fill the sink to wash dishes only now it just takes longer for those to happen.
I did my grocery shop for the week yesterday instead of today since I needed to get the white bread and set it out to get stale for the dressing. That's my contribution to Thanksgiving dinner, that and cranberry sauce which I made last year and then forgot to take it to my daughter's house so it's been in the freezer all year. I'm also going to make a butternut squash/cranberry casserole. Our thanksgiving gathering is going to be small this year. Grandboy Mikey and Audra and baby Paisleigh will be staying in Arkansas, neither of the twins are coming in from their respective cities Dallas and Austin as neither one currently has a car, and two of my sister's grandkids plus one spouse (the wedding we went to this fall) are coming to spend the day with her so she won't be joining us either. So it will be Marc and I, daughter Sarah and SIL Mike, and grandgirl Robin.
I have a new recipe for stuffed acorn squash with Italian sausage, onions, garlic, spinach, cranberries, and pecans that I'm saving for next week but I wanted to go ahead and get the squash now. My HEB here in town has always been a good store but this last year or so not so much. They haven't had any winter squash really since 2019 except for spaghetti squash which we don't eat. All they had in 2020 was butternut and then in 2021 the seeds all sprouted in the compost pile and vines grew and grew and I eventually harvested close to 30 butternuts, ate our fill and gave away as much as I could. Consequently it's been well over a year since we've eaten any. Yesterday, the HEB didn't have any acorn squash or even butternut so I went to the Evil Empire who had plenty of both.
And as long as I was out I went to the library since I had about three pages left in the book I was reading so I'm set for the long holiday weekend. And speaking of such, I need to get in there and make cornbread and roast that enormous butternut squash.
Love the squirrel pic - so funny :) I might want to try that recipe (as long as it doesn't have sage in it). It sounds delicious! Last year I made a (sort of) elaborate cake that was mostly ignored (there were lots of desserts & I think people couldn't tell what it was). This year I'm buying a pecan pie. Ha!
ReplyDeleteWonder how long it will take that squirrel to wise up!! The last butternut squash I bought was tasteless, a big disappointment and I bought it at a farmer's market. Bought an acorn squash at Walmart and it was full of flavor! You never know, but I love both prepared quite simply by halving it and putting a gob of butter and salt and pepper in the seed hole and baking it. Yum! Happy Thanksgiving!!
ReplyDeleteI need to cook winter squashes more often. I just never think of them except to make that creamy cashew/coconut butternut squash soup that I love so much.
ReplyDeleteThat is going to be a small Thanksgiving but it will be nice. Chaos factor will be severely reduced. I haven't even taken time to do the math on how many we're having. Eighteen? Something like that.
It's going to be interesting watching that squirrel figure it all out. I'm sure it's going keep trying .
ReplyDeleteWe're not going to gather with family this year for Thanksgiving. We're being very cautious. So it's just going to be the two of us enjoying a quiet time.
Have a wonderful, safe, and celebratory Thanksgiving!
The recipe with Italian sausage got my attention right away. Any size Thanksgiving is nice.
ReplyDeleteI'll post the recipe later.
DeleteSquirrels are dumb.
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving. Probably better that families don't bring up politics these days! Have a great time and don't eat too much.
ReplyDeleteThat squirrel learned how to get to the feeder and given his/her tiny brain, it's going to take her/him a while to UNlearn it.
ReplyDeleteYou gotta plant more of those squash seeds! Of course, I guess if you compost them again, that's what will happen.
That's the last thing I need, another 30 butternuts. Anyway, there's cantaloupe seeds sprouting in the compost pile currently.
DeleteHappy Thanksgiving, Ellen!
ReplyDeleteAt our dinner table tonight, we discussed the pleasantness of butternut pumpkin pie to pumpkin pie. Happy thanksgiving.
ReplyDeleteI'll bet there will be some books and films involved with your Thanksgiving day -- and tomorrow. It's raining like crazy here, and predicted to keep right on until Saturday. Ah, well. I just roasted some butternut squash and made soup base from it. My little trick is to cook down equal parts of onion, apple, and squash with some garlic, nutmeg, and tarragon. Then I blend it, use some, and freeze the rest of the base. I don't add cream or milk until I'm reheating it, which makes freezing and thawing the base possible without those weird things milk can do.
ReplyDeleteWhatever you get up to, have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Not raining here currently though it did rain last night. Sure was nice to have at least one warm blue sky day yesterday. Your soup base sounds good, might have to try it.
Delete