Good Morning everyone!
I apologise for being away from blogging. I haven't actually be "away" *I wish* I could disappear for a while, but alas, all of the problems, and chores would still be here. I have been visiting all of your blogs and keeping up with all.
I have been working around the house, just doing house things. Trying to clean up the rest of the outside and put mowers, and tools up and away. Also, parent care. Wrapping the porch up in my ugly white tarp to keep the cold wind and air out a little. It isn't pretty but gets the job done until I can get a more sturdy shutter system up.
I have not felt real good the last few weeks also. I have a terrible ear infection, from a bad wind storm we had here a few weeks ago, and it blew something in and I and several cats have been ill from upper respiratory infections. I have a doctor's appointment this morning, so hopefully I can get something to calm it down. My ears and jaw hurt really bad and its very painful to bend over to pick up things. I am so very stuffed up. So I have been running the cool mist humidifiers and trying to keep the air moist. Its so very dry here. Still no rain, or moisture of any kind since I wrote last. We are *supposed* to get some snow tomorrow. This will be our first real cold Arctic air, so I got the furnace filters changed and vacuumed out the furnace. Everything else is pretty much done and put to bed until spring.
I have mentioned that I have been playing around with wine making. I have made several rounds of wine. My very first batch was a kind of Sangria, which I like. I personally thought it turned out fantastic for my first time around. I thought it tasted so very much better than what I got at the liquor store. I will tell you that it does have a alcohol content as it does have a *kick*, but I was very pleased with it.
I have two 1 gallon jugs going with a grape juice and wine yeast, and another with a apple, cherry raspberry juice with champagne yeast. I am experimenting with different yeasts as it gives a different wine. (I'm learning). I need to get some bottles, which I have some, some recycled coffee syrup bottles, the 750 ml size. I just need to wash, sanitize, and then rack my wine up. I want to start another batch of Sangria and also a white or rose. What I am using is just the frozen juice you get in the store. I get the canister which has no added sugar and then go from there. As I can afford to do, I will try the fruit mixtures the brewing company I buy from. Oh, and by the way, I am ordering from Midwest Supplies Co. in Minneapolis,
www.midwestsupplies.com I also am ordering some kits for making a fermented fruit brandy. This is for some holiday gifts for my house neighbors. I need to start soon as it takes about 3-4 weeks for this to ferment and be bottled up in time for the holiday.
I am very pleased with their service and have had no problems getting things in the mail. They even have yogurt cultures which I have ordered and have used and I am VERY pleased the way my yogurt has turned out. I love creamy rich yogurts, and not low fat ones either. I use whole milk, and evaporated milk, so since I have used these cultures, they are creamy and rich and very nice in the morning for breakfast. They also carry cheese making supplies and brewing supplies for beer, if this is your bag. I highly recommend them., so far. I will try to post what I am doing with this. I do want to let everyone know that it is very simple to do, and you do not need complicated equipment, just some gallon glass jugs, and a few CO2 vents to vent off the gas so you do not explode your jugs. Sugar, yeast *I first used just regular bread yeast* and a warm place and you are off and running.
This year, I am doing all homemade holiday gifts, mostly food gifts. I just do not have money for gifts, and personally, I do not have family to give expensive gifts to anyway. D's family was one of those, which you had to spend huge amounts of money on to show how much you loved them, the more money spent, the more you were appreciated. I did not fall into this trap and stopped it right off the bat. You also had to buy gifts for the nieces and nephews and other shirt tail relatives, which I did not do, as I did not have the money to do this. So I stopped it, and was considered the *outlaw* in the family and was shunned ever since, which as you can tell, doesn't hurt my feelings or bother me. I love gifts that are from the heart, and from the soul. So, I am going to start here very soon on food, and then freeze it so its ready when the holidays come around.
I have photos of Dexter and Sophie. I am still trying to figure out the new blogger interface and will get those up, I am just afraid that I will mess up and delete the blog into the cosmos and Internet purgatory.
I also have some photos of the jams I did put up, so I will try to get to that this weekend. I need to dig through my very old recipes for a blogger I have met, and send her a recipe for *scrapple*. This is a very old recipe from the Penn-Dutch, Amish colonies. My grandmother made it and I have grown up on it when I was younger. It is a mixture of ground pork, and spices, and then mixed with corn meal and made into loafs and then baked and can be fried. The mixtures are as many as the stars, and can be mixed with, pork, chicken, turkey lamb, or beef. When I find this basic recipe, I will post it, and then make suggestions. It sounds gross, it does take some to get used to it, but its not. Just think meatloaf. It is very filling and makes a great breakfast or lunch fixing with stews or soups. It also can be crumbled up into a casserole and baked with veggies, or noodles. It is a great filler.
Well, I am looking at the clock, and I need to get ready and head to the doctor's office so I can be looked at and see if I can get this ear ache and infection out of the way. It makes me feel miserable and not able to get what I need done. But I hate going to the doctor anyway. Not one of my favorite places.
I wish everyone a wonderful day, and a wonderful productive weekend. Stay warm, and just be so very thankful for your many blessings and gifts that we are given, no matter how small, or simple.
Hugs to all
