December 21, 2011



Only into the first two 1/2 rows & they
should last into the first week or two
of January!

 There is nothing like getting up and having a couple of Christmas cookies with your coffee first thing in the morning.  Have I mentioned just how much I love Christmas?!

I finally had time on Monday to sit down with the new BackWoods Home magazine.  Ah, great minds.  But silly me for not listing them along with Mother Nature and the Boy Scouts for teaching preparedness!  Being prepared is their mantra, and in this newest issue is an excellent article entitled, "The 7 Core Areas of Preparedness."  And I so enjoyed this month's "Last Word."  I completely agree.  However, there is also an article on raising rabbits for meat.  Well, this is where my City Mind really kicks in.  Not unless we were in dire straits could I kill and butcher a rabbit to eat, and even then I would get tears all over it.

Yesterday the wind kicked up around mid day and blew away all the Valley fog.  Much to the delight, I'm sure, of all those living Down There.  It's been blowing all night, so I'm sure once the sun is up we will have a crystal clear day for everyone.

When Larry and Elsie visited on Sunday, we got to talking about their chickens and it turns out that two of their hatch lings have grown into roosters.  One of them is quite mean and may turn into chicken tacos.  I asked them about plucking, and Larry said that with chickens and grouse, he just splits the skin open below the neck, pulls it apart and just gets the breast out.  He says you can also cut off the legs & peal the skin off them too.  That sounds logical, and much easier than plucking.

And speaking of logical, I have never been one to wear sweats much, but I do have a couple old pair that I have practically been living in lately.  Living Down There, I always went for the tailored slacks or jeans but I have become much more relaxed Up Here in the winter.  Sweats are warmer, so I don't have to wear long underwear bottoms when it is chilly, and my outside pants and overalls easily pull over them.  So new sweats are on my Christmas list.  I hope Santa is listening. . .

I have finally created my index pages, one for the index to my blog and one for the index to my photographs.  Please let me know if there are any additional subjects you would like to see listed.  Hopefully I will remember to add to them with each posting. . .

Thought for the day: The greatest challenge of the day is: how to bring about a revolution of the heart, a revolution which has to start with each one of us.  Dorothy Day