Chats on the Farmhouse Porch

Patrice is feeling better this week and has posted some new questions for "Chats on the Farmhouse Porch".Come join in and kick back for a bit - wrapped in a blanket, because it's getting COLD out there!

1.  Do you have any special plans for this week?

Yes, indeed!  First of all, I have my kids for 10 straight days, because their dad is abroad on business.  this is easier on the kids - they can unpack and stay awhile!  they have outgrown Halloween, which, some of my long-time readers may understand has left me a bit bereft.  So, we'll have a Day of the Dead party instead.  I'm making Chicken mole and Pork Posole (which rhyme, but that is not the reason I chose them) and something for dessert...I don't know yet.  We will play Loteria for cheesy prizes after supper.  I was thinking that it would be funny to put prizes in brown bags and let people pick when they win.  Then, after the first winner, subsequent winners could either choose a paper bag or they could steal the prize of someone else.  The prizes are fabulous!  Groucho Marx nose; Pink flamingo, etc...  Both adults and kids will be there, including Sara's boyfriend, Nick, whom I will be meeting for the first time.  hey have "liked" each other for over a year, but his parents are so strict that they would not allow him to come over and spend time with us.  There are a few folks in Utah who take local religious differences to an extreme - they have been considering whether to allow Nick to accept our invitation for two weeks.

the only thing ruining my fun is that I can't find Sugar Skulls.  I have checked four Mexican bakeries, all the Mexican supermarket chains and a catering company, to no avail.  If I had known they would be so difficult to find, I would have ordered a mold online weeks ago and made them myself.  now it's too late.  one of the volunteers that works here at Adult Education with me left me this voicemail on Friday:

"Kate!  Girlfriend, you are TRYING too hard!  My Mexican friends tell me that, out in this part of town (West Valley), you can get sugar skulls everywhere! Winco, Costco, Walmart..."

I called her back and told her that, if she could find me 15, I would reimburse her and give her a bunch of roasted chiles I have in my freezer.

I got another voicemail today.

"Hey!@  My Mexican neighbors are LOCO!"  Sure, they have sugar skulls at Walmart...in Mexico!"

I haven't given up quite yet, but I"m losing hope.

2.  What's the mos relaxing thing you do?

My hot bath every Friday night.  Candles, adult beverages, contemplative leg-shaving...

3.  Have you every worn a wig?

In high school, when I played Veta in "the Canterville Ghost".

4.  Do you have an office or special place for your computer?

At home, Chuck and I have our desks situated back-to-back in our bedroom.  The bedroom is ridiculously large.  If we had a kitchenette up there, we would never need to come out.  I have a second-hand oak roll-top in there.

5.  What is your favorite kind of socks?

Whatever works with the shoe du jour.  Like my kids, I no longer care if they match or not.  If the show covers my whole foot and no one will see (or sometimes, even when people WILL see), I may have a black one that says "Noel" on the ankle; and another that is turquoise.  It;'s great!  now, when I get a hole in a sock, I don't throw out the pair;  I just throw out the sock.

Back Ache

This was one of those "git 'er done" weekends.  Chuck and I are like bears.  Like muskrats.  We can sense the aging of the season and it makes us feel compelled to prepare and stock up.  The forecast tomorrow is for rain and the following day for snow.  I have an uneasy feeling that our Indian Summer is over.

Cook-stove wood needs to be cut to a length that can be easily and quickly shoved into the burner hole.  I like a lot of different widths, but nothing bigger around than my forearm.  Chuck set up the chop-saw on the driveway for me so I could cut limbs to the length I wanted, then haul them to their storage area under the deck.  This is about a third of what I have put up, but I need a bit more.

Firewood is piling up at a factory-like rate.  Chuck and I took down a friend's dead birch tree last weekend; and this weekend, he hauled away a bunch of dead aspens from another friend's vacant lot.  It all needs to be cut, split and stacked.  Annnnd.... we'll probably need to buy another cord.

 Chuck built me these boxes a few weeks ago, and I spent a lot of time this weekend leveling them.  This was the back-achy work.  The area where I want to put them is steeply sloped.  So, I had to clamber down into the dry creek-bed and haul rocks up here.  Some of them were heavy (what I call "two-hand rocks") and had to be positioned and re-positioned as I placed them and then examined the effect with a spirit-level.  Now, I just have to get some dirt in there and amend the soil and we will be all set for spring:  asparagus and rhubarb.  So worth the effort!

I took my creaky, achy self into the house at the end of the day, where my crock pot had been making a delicious Brazilian stew.  Nate surprised me with "Mom!  I need to make tortillas!  It's a school project!  Due tomorrow!"  Add more exclamation points if you like.  There were plenty.  [Deep sigh].  "OK, Nate.  Look up a recipe and hope that we have the ingredients we need, because I DO NOT want to run out to the store.  I'm pooped".  Luckily, this is an EASY recipe!  No big deal to make tortillas.  You can see by the pictures Nate took that we all joined in and experimented with patting and rolling them flat.

A bit blurry - Nate has a hard time holding the camera steady.  They were very yummy!  Our compliments to the chef.

And then, it was off to the hot-tub to soak my aching back.

Six Word Saturday

Wild party tonight.
Going as chimney-sweeps!

Crisp, fall weather today.  The high point of my day today was the long run I took along Top of the World Drive.  I ran in the shadow of the mountain for the first 6 miles or so, then came out into the sunshine, still feeling strong. 

I really had to pee, though.  Sara told me that, the other day when she was running with the cross country team, one of the girls had to pee and just went and knocked on a door. 

Wow!  Did the person let her in?

No, they just closed the door in her face. 

Some people are just bolder than others.

The low point of my day was in the ladies' locker room at the rec center, where I changed after running.  I have never really noticed this before, but my left boob is hideous when it's cold!  The circulation isn't great, because the mastectomy side is a thin layer of living tissue stretched over a water balloon.  It looks purple and splotchy, like hands do when they are cold and chapped.  You can see the exact line of the implant. 

Chats on the Farmhouse Porch

Time for a "Chat on the Farmhouse Porch".  Go check out Patrice at Everyday Ruralty!

How many animals do you have?

Not as many as Patrice!  We have Scarlett, out spoiled princess of a Rose-Breasted Cockatoo; and Tobi, our adorable rabbit.  As my daughter Sara says, "Look at that face!  Awwwww......  Look at that face!"

Have you begun Christmas plans:  travel; decorations; crafts; menu...?

WHAT!?!  No way!  Wait!  What month is it?

Do you celebrate harvest season or Halloween?  

Well, my kids still like Halloween a little, but they are starting to grow out of it.  Chuck and I like to dress up and find a party, preferably one with dancing and flirting.  This year, I think I will go as a chimney sweep!  I also want to have a Dia de los Muertos party.  I was thinking sugar skulls... La Loteria...  suggestions?

How do you heat your house?

Well, we do not live on a natural gas line, unfortunately.  We have to buy propane, which is very expensive, to heat the house using under-floor and in-wall water pipes.  We try to use this as little as possible and rely mainly on our wood stove and our 1927 cook stove for heat.

Do you like dishes with white centers or centers with patterns?  

I don't even notice whether the dishes match or not.  Bad, huh?

Slumber Party

It is getting colder at our house.  Time to get the stoves ready for cooking and heating.

 This has me thinking about Halloween and whether I could make a cute Chimney Sweep costume.  Black top hat...leotard...muffler...soot smudges (we have real soot!).  On the other hand, these are not cuddly brushes.  They are sharp, stiff wire. Not good in the dance floor.

I am sitting at one of those wireless Internet stations in the airport, waiting for my flight for Phoenix to board.  Ah, in fact it has started boarding; but I like to be one of the last people to get on.  I'll wait a little.  I have had some stress this morning already.  I was so sure hat I had booked this flight under my old name; I held off on changing my name on my drivers licence and my credit cards for this reason.  Imagine my surprise when I went to check myself in and saw that I had booked in my new name.  SHIT.  Turns out that this problem can be solved, for $50 and a long wait at the desk.   

The line to board is moving faster.  I am going to see my aunt, who has not been well and has been asking for me. I have postponed this trip long enough  Finally, I stopped trying to block out a three-day visit and am just going. My aunt protested, "That's not much of a visit!"  Don't think of it as a visit, Aunt Marian.  Think of it as a slumber party. 

Gotta fly. No time to edit.

Chats on the Farmhouse Porch

It is late in the evening, and I am almost ready to go home from the night school where I teach.  It is sweltering in here - we have turned on the school's boiler, but the weather has warmed up again.  I'm thinking that I would like to go home and have a soak in the hot tub with an adult beverage.  Did everybody else have a great day?  Let's hang out with Patrice on the Farmhouse Porch for a little while.

1.  Are you doing any crafts or DIY projects right now?  No!  I wish!  I am feeling so un-creative at the moment.  Mostly I'm just too busy with Mom stuff and teacher stuff to do the more home-like projects I would enjoy.

2.  If I could snap my fingers, I'd make Curried Chicken Pot Pie for dinner.  I have been craving it.  It's a little bit fiddly, but so yummy.  Maybe this weekend...

3.  What author would you like to have lunch with?  Diana Gabaldon, who writes the "Outlander" series.  I would try to pry some details about the next installment out of her.  Perhaps I would have to ply her with mojitos or something.

4.  I wanted to tell all you folks at "Chats" that I really do have a front porch (with a swing)!  But because of the isolated location of the house, I don't get to sit and chat in real life with very many people.

5.  My rental property has been on my mind a lot lately.  I have to do an upgrade of the electrical system that is going to cost over $3,000; and my brand new tenants are moving out already!  They signed a year's lease.  But the wife is a brittle asthmatic and is allergic to something in the house.  She has been at the Instacare already and coughs incessantly in the apartment.  I decided to  let them go.  But it is going to cost me...