Well, no snow yesterday , at least durring the day, another 4 inches durring the night and mainly just the trees sending snow off the branches now. DH is out ploughing yet again. But it is the back porch that is causing most of our grief. Dripping water and then freezing on the deck. We will have to put wood then tar paper and then the tin roof this summer. Perhaps that will stop the problem. Taking the white tin on the bottoms side off that the previous home owner had on only made it worse. We thought it would fix the problem as we were told it was condensation. 2009 I hope is the problem solving year for this.

Tonight is New Years Eve. Big night, will probably bring in the new Year with zzzzzzzzzzzzz's. Sigh, dinner tonight is Ham and mushroom omelets. with a little cheddar cheese and green onions chopped on the top, and a side of whole Wheat toast.

I used the new crock pot in the middle of the night last night. I made rice pudding. used 4 cups of cooked rice, 1 tin of evaporated milk, 1 tin of condensed milk, 3/4 cup of rasins, 2 eggs. Put them in and mixed them up in the greased crock pot ( well sprayed with Pam) and cooked on low for 4 hours. Then sprinkled the top with a little cinnamon. Anyway that was our Breakfast! LOL, no not dessert, made a lovely and warm breakfast and Dh loved it and said " You can make that again". So I will.

Looking forward to the new year, all the posibilities to come. Happy New Year!

Early morning December 30, 2008

It was another snowy day yesterday, finally clearing off late evening.
We were off to town about 8 :30 getting to the store at 9. Did what business we needed to do and got some groceries, as the weather man said we'd be getting snow around 10 am. He was right on. and it kept up for the next 13 hours!
After the groceries were all put away and lunch was over, Gege came and we played domino's for a bit in the afternoon. I invited Gege and her Husband Ron for supper ( Ken had bought a nice ham, and I had put it in the oven on a slow roast when we got home from shopping.). It was a good supper, Ken was still full from lunch and didn't eat till much later in the evening. Oh, well, The ham was excellent, the company was good as always, and there was more than enough to eat.
What is that prayer/saying?
Good friends,
Good Meat,
Good God,
Let's eat.

Anyway something like that. Well, it is true isn't it. friends, food, and God are all good. What a wonderful way to celebrate the end of another year.
We had some good news today from Tom ( Ken's friend from years ago in Dawson City. ) Tom's Son Kenny was in Hospital in Edmonton with a Heart attack. Ken has been keeping in touch with Tom since just before Christmas to see how Kenny was doing. Today good news Kenny is going home. Now lets hope for a full recovery.
I need to stop my little write up for tonight or I guess morning as it is a little past 1 am, go have my Bath and go to bed. Tomorrow ( today!) I am going to town with Gege. She has a few errands to do and I need to do a couple myself. The forecast is for the weather to stay the same for the next 10 days or so. With snow starting again in the afternoon. We want to be home and to stay put till the weather is good again! Time to get out the gardening books and dream!

Sunday Morning and the snow is still a comming!

It is still snowing. DH just went out and is hoping the snow will slow down soon so he can plough out the yard again!
I have been pleasantly surprised that we haven't had to go out in the middle of the night and sweep of the satellite dish. Most years when we get snow like this we do, so far so good. Perhaps it's because DH decided last summer to put a light on the back side of the carport that faces down to the creek. It lights up all the way back to the dish and beyond, a very nice change to taking a flash light out and hoping no cougars were around. Yes we have the odd cougar pass through the area. We lost one very lovely Cat a couple of years ago that way. Around the same time another neighbour lost her small dog. The cougar jumped off the roof of her shed onto the dog and carried it away before she could get out to try and save it. Most of the time we don't have them around, but once in a while they pass through.
The soup I made yesterday was a complete disaster! YUK, not often anymore my cooking turns out that way, mind you when I was younger that was another matter! LOL. So i whipped up some butter and flour in a large fry pan, added a tin of mushroom soup, 1/2 the soup tin of half and half cream, about 2 cups chopped up turkey, and about 2 cups green peas ( had been frozen, but I popped them in the microwave for a couple of minutes to thaw them but not cook them). Salt and pepper and some dried, crushed parsley. heated the works and served it over toast.
Was very tasty if i do say so myself, a side of coleslaw and supper was served.
Tonight I will make a curried shrimp ( with some chopped turkey as well, i will use up the turkey yet!) . I'm going to serve this over cooked noodles. on the side I will serve steamed broccoli and cauliflower. We don't eat deserts with meals, and only rarely do we have sweets.
It will soon be a new year. I'm not making any resolutions. I think just adapting to life in general and making the best of what comes our way will be my goal this year. The economy is tanking ( or has tanked,depending on which news caster one listens to) . It really doesn't seem to make a whole lot of difference to daily life as we know it. If you don't have a lot you make do, or do without. i try not to use my car anymore than is necessary. My friend Gege and I do most of our shopping together, and look out for good bargains for each other. That seems the best of all worlds to me. We share ideas as we drive into town, recipes, news and in general everything and anything. So by the time we get home, we have whole new outlooks, and ideas. We share Internet sites and things we've learned, or want to try. Often I try and remember life before the Internet. It was good, but it took so much longer to get the information that is now at our fingertips.
A few years ago the in word was " cocooning" , I think in a way that is what we do now, but we do have our friends that we see and do things with. But more and more we stay in our own community, and really don't want to travel like we did years ago.
It took us years to find where we truly wanted to be, and now we're here why should we leave. DH hasn't left since we moved here 6 years ago. I have been away a few times to visit the kids, but even though I was glad to be with them ( I do miss them) , but oh, I was so glad to be home!

The Snow continues!

Ken is out clearing snow with the tractor! It is still snowing hard, but we have about 10 inches since yesterday, so it's time to move it . Much easier to do it every couple of days than wait for the snow to stop and end up moving feet not inches.
I have a pot of Turkey soup simmering on the stove. Well, actually it is the Turkey bones simmering for the stock which in a few hours I'll strain and make into Turkey soup. It will be a good way to use up the leftover potatoes and some of the Turkey from Christmas Day. I think that I'll just make some Baking Powder biscuits and call it good for supper.
Last night's Toasted Club house Sandwiches were well received, served with a nice side of Coleslaw. Washed down with cups of hot coffee. It is amazing to me how much our appetites have cut back. Neither of us eats anywhere near as much as we used to. I sure hope that this will translate to slimmer waistlines. I have tried to just make less food, and serve what we should be eating, rather than making everything we think we'd like, then pushing our selves to eat it so it won't go to waste. It didn't just to our waists! LOL. With the New Year Fast approaching, that will be one of my goals, to serve well balanced meal, but to make sure the proportions are a healthy size, and that the food prepared is done so in a healthy manner. Rather than think loosing weight I want to work more for a healthy body.
Later this morning I will go out and try to take some winter photo's around the acreage, part of the learning curve will be to upload one or two to the blog. We will see how it goes.
Ken is heading in, so will run and get him some hot coffee, that snow is driving and I know he will want hot coffee to warm up.

Boxing Day, and more snow

Another snowy day! Rick came by this morning on his 4 wheeler and ploughed out the upper driveway. It was so thoughtful of him, but he hit our log 9 a huge cedar log that is placed to stop anyone from going over the bank and dropping about 17 feet into our 4 vehicle Car Port ( this was built by the previous owners to house their motor home, and logging truck and various other equipment. ). So tomorrow will be Ken ( Dear Heart) and Rick busy fixing the damage Rick did to his Blade on the 4 wheeler. Ken has a lincon welder that we got for a song, it is mounted on a trailer with a wooden bed and everyone said we bought the trailer and they threw in the welder. That may well be, but many friends have benifited from the welder being here, and in good weather there is someone down with Ken in the Car Ports, fixing something, Cars, Trucks, trailers, oh, it's always something. Dh, has many health issues, but can fix so many things.
I guess here I should mention a little about Ken. He grew up on a trap line in the Yukon, and lived in Dawson City, before the Alaska Highway was built. He tells me about the times he came down the Alaska Highway, when they had to be self sufficient even to their fuel, and camped where the found good camping spots beside the highway.
He was the eldest of 4 boys, and it was his job to help his father manufacture what ever they needed to fix their car and equipment. You couldn't just get new things, and even if they could have gotten them they couldn't have afforded to do that.
It is an education that serves us well now we have retired. He was used to getting his own wood, and using wood heating. Hunting was a necessity, not a sport as it is today. Fixing things was a way of life, and figuring out how things worked so you could fix them was just part of living.

Little Home in the Valley

We came to our little home in the Valley Nov. 1 , 2002. It seems so long ago now.
We were looking for a place to love, a place we could afford, a place close to nature, and natural beauty, and a place we could enjoy the remainder of our years, however long that may or may not be.
Over the past 6 years we have created a garden area. With 4 trial green houses ( the 4th we have the makings of, and will be built this spring).
Several perenial beds surrounded on all sides by logs, and several with stumps placed in the middle of the bed... those flower beds being given the wonderful name of " The stump Gardens" .
Our retreat is nestled in a lovely little green valley, and the back of the property rests on a little creek called like many creeks "Meadow Creek".
Here we enjoy a quiet retirement life. Getting and cutting and splitting our own wood for heat. Gardening, and enjoying the fresh flowers, and vegetables. Visiting with our neighbours, of which we have been blessed with many wonderful friends. Dear Heart, loves going into the surrounding Mountains and Valleys, and hunting and fishing with his friends. I like fishing down at the creek from the banks at my own place.
Today our little valley is being quietly filled with light fluffy snow. Dear Heart has already ploughed the long driveway out so Christmas Day visitors can stop by, but by late evening or early tomorrow morning it will need doing again. We didn't get any snow till December this year, but now it is working over time to give us lots. While it makes for poor driving on our winding roads, it is beautiful to look at, will create lots of moisture for the comming year.
I hope to post more on the frugal living style we practice, and the wonderful freinds we have made in the Valley.
I will stop for today, and check on our Christmas dinner. Just the two of us today, but we will have Turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and mashed turnips, and Cranberry sauce. MMMMMM I love Turkey and stuffing.