Staying Home...

Time for a change of pace!  Leaving our October 2024 road trip just for a bit, this time its all about things, food and happenings around our home in East Tennessee...truly bits and pieces.

Let me introduce you to "Gopher", our tailless squirrel and frequent visitor.  He/or she has been around for about 4 years at this point... With a typical life span of around 6 years but with exceptions up to 12 years, Gopher may be around for a while.  Without a tail, we're a bit surprised that he/she has survived this long.  Grey squirrel's tail assist in balance when moving through the trees and they also provide warmth in cold weather.  In cold weather squirrels just wrap their tails around them like a blanket while in their nests.  Will Gopher survive a protracted Artic blast?

FYI...In Europe and in Western Canada the Eastern Grey Squirrel is considered to be an Invasive Alien Species as it is displacing native species of squirrels. 

Around New Years Day, our neighbor Jane baked this lovely and delicious Rum Cake for us...and for other neighbors as well.  I'm usually not a 'cake guy' and some flavor enhanced cakes are too over the top intense for me.  However, we devoured all of this cake.  It kept well in the refrigerator and we found that whipped cream went well with it.  Not healthy but very tasty!

We do have a tendency to buy items that catch our eye, especially antique or collectible goodies.  Frequently they just sit around and look nice...but in this case Laurie's new/old cast iron corn bread fry pan was put to good...and satisfying use.

Laurie decided to make a chicken recipe she saw on-line that grabbed her attention.  It involved chicken thighs, garlic cloves, soy sauce, butter and brown sugar...served over rice.  I didn't think that I'd like it but the caramelized sauce with the chicken and rice resulted in a fine meal...and I had leftovers too!

Time for breakfast!

My breakfast creations are not as adventuresome or imaginative as Big Dude's at https://bigdudesramblings.blogspot.com/.  However, neither of us like to waste leftovers.  In this case I fried up some left over beef pot roast and cheesy potatoes, siding them with over-easy eggs and a slice of toast.  Excellent!

Another recent breakfast 'winner' was my combination of leftover breaded and seasoned Tilapia filets topped with over-easy eggs... While I indulge in my 'healthy' breakfasts, my better half 'enjoys' yogurt with granola.  Ugh!

One more breakfast just to avoid leftover waste... This time it was Guinness flavored Mac 'n Cheese with fried segments of leftover Klement's (Wisconsin) hotdogs.  This was a truly satisfying breakfast although it almost demanded a nap long after consuming it. 

Now for a bit of Mother Nature...

Laurie's Christmas cactus in her plant room, both pink and red, are doing their thing and looking good.  But, if you look out the window, you might note that something weatherwise was going on...

Shortly after taking the photo in the plant room, Laurie took this picture of our front yard looking across to neighbors Roger and Jane's home.  What is that white stuff coming down from the heavens?!

After the snow 'storm' passed, I took this photo of our front yard looking across at Roger and Jane's home.  We were snowed in!  Those who live a bit north would consider this a minor snowfall or inconvenience.  In East Tennessee it is a big deal.  At our stage and age, I can't shovel snow and Laurie shouldn't.  I know that the usual sequence is that it melts the following day or, at most, a couple days later.  

However, kudos to the strapping 18 year old entrepreneur who showed up at Jane and Roger's house and cleared their driveway and sidewalk.  His next job was clearing our driveway and sidewalk.  He'd cleared 6 driveways the previous night and after these 2 jobs, he had 10 more booked.  Some of the driveways were much longer than ours... I'm estimating that his prompt recognition of opportunity had to bring in over $1,000!  Not too bad...

Of course, our local birds are a bit like the residents...just not used to truly cold and snowy weather.  Mr. Robin looks confused...but I'm sure he was waiting for food bits to drop from our feeders.  As for the bluebirds, they were patiently waiting for Laurie to replace the ice in their birdbath with some hot water from the house...

This view from Laurie's 'plant room' shows our 2.5 inches of snow on the grill and railings and looking at the trees and bushes that sill remain after the building spree we've experienced in the last 2 - 3 years.

Early weather forecasts for our area claimed that we would have a warmer than normal winter.  Through January 16th, every day this month has recorded lower than normal high temperatures and lower than normal low temperatures...and we have an "Artic Blast" headed our way.

Now for a bit of retail humor...  

Laurie found this storefront photo on the Internet.  Love the name!  It actually is a store located in Berkeley California... This is our favorite kind of store...and that sign rivals the one we saw in front of an antique store in Georgia a few years back.  That one read "We Sell Dead People's Stuff".

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them...

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave