Dackel Princess

Friday Five

Another week has flown by and here we are, September 1st! I think my Christmas shopping must start very soon. Here is a little bit about my week.

I felt a little tired on Monday, and woke in the night with a high temperature. I didn’t freak out, just took aspirin, went to bed and sipped ginger ale.
Wednesday found me feeling better, and the fever was gone. It is so funny how this thing comes on at the drop of a hat and departs pretty much the same way.
I’m making another batch of tomato sauce tomorrow. I have so many tomatoes to use up before they go bad.
There was a bear in our part of the “hood”! My neighbor saw him up a tree. When he heard her dog, who thankfully was on a lead, the bear climbed down and scurried off!
Going to see my daughter’s family and friends at an end of the summer party. I am really looking forward to that!

And how was your week?

My sister got married about nine days after my thirteenth birthday in November. My mom made all the bridesmaids dresses, and I selected this pretty pink color. I was Melodie’s Maid of Honor. Despite the fact that we were in the Autumn/Winter season, Mel wanted pastel colors for her bridesmaids.

Mom did an awesome job and I loved my dress and felt so beautiful in it!

Mom also made my cousin Janet her dress for the wedding.

And our dearest friend, Judi, that I have known all my life. Judi and her family were close friends of our family and we spent many happy holidays together.

I’m Still Here

I am alive. This may sound like a common and usual thing to most. but I must tell you that the last 26 hours have been very rough.

I have an auto-immune disease that can strike at any moment. Yesterday, at 5 AM I woke with shaking chills. They were so bad, I could hardly stand. I also was so cold that no matter how many blankets I had on, the shaking did not stop. I got up briefly, as I was determined to get the thermometer. I had to know what my temperature was. At first it was 101.2 Two hours later it was up to 102.8 (F).

I felt weak as a kitten and every part of my body ached, as though I had been in a boxing ring with Mohamed Ali!

I shivered, I slept, I tried to keep drinking. Arnie and Greta never left my side, as I huddled in bed, with the drone of the TV in the background for company.

By dinnertime, my temperature had begun to drop. I managed a bowl of good old Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup, crackers and more aspirin!

This morning I woke and my temperature is down to 99.8. So I am doing well. One more day in my pajamas and I’ll be back to normal.

It is a strange thing, this auto-immune disease. It can strike at any time and although a fever is almost always involved, there are times other symptoms come along with it. It’s like a bad case of the flu,

This time it was just the fever and weakness. Hubby pitched in, went to get my ginger ale, made me soup and fed the dogs.

I think today will be spent in my pajamas again. By tomorrow I should be on my feet and doing much better.

Perfect Pork Chops

I was looking around for a good, never fail recipe. I used to only use Shake N Bake, but lately my chops were dry and tough. So I found this never fail recipe and then expanded on it, which is what I usually do. Here are the tricks and tips!

Use a lot of garlic! You can use fresh and mince it all up and that is fabulous, but recently I found something new for this type of cooking. Granulated Garlic. Not Garlic Salt, just plain granulated garlic!
Powdered Rosemary leaves. I use a spice grinder to get the dried leaves nice and fine. Remember, don’t be shy with the seasoning!

Pork Loin Chop Recipe Ingredients:

Pork Loin Chops
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
6-8 cloves Garlic (rough chopped) or Granulated Garlic
Fresh Rosemary (or dried leaves)
Sea Salt and Pepper, to taste

Directions:

Season both sides of chop before cooking–and don’t be timid with the seasoning–it makes all the difference! I often use just salt and pepper, but experiment with your favorite seasonings, too–every now and then I’ll season up chops with ground ginger and saute them with onion and sliced, fresh ginger–it’s pretty darn good.
Heat olive oil in a cast iron skillet (I love my good old fashioned skillet that my cousin gave me!)–not smoking hot, but pretty darn hot–we want to sear the pork and seal in the flavor.
Place chops in the skillet; they should sizzle when they hit the pan.
Cook chops 3-4 minutes on one side and then turn. This is for chops approx. 1″ thick–adjust cooking times according to the size of the chop you use.
Cook chops 3-4 minutes on second side, then remove skillet from stove-top and slide skillet into oven preheated to 350 degrees F. Cook another 4-5 minutes and return to stove-top.
Remove chops from skillet and set aside to rest, just a few minutes
That’s it…super easy and super flavorful–it’s a great way to cook up a juicy chop without drying it out, so give this recipe a go and let me know what you think!

Friday Five: August 26, 2016

So here we are. It’s Friday. Life has been busy, somewhat stressful, but we keep going on and somehow Hubby and I manage to smile at each other, at the beginning and the end of the day. Here are the five things going on that have gotten most of my attention this week.

The roof! Oh I thought this would be easy. I liked the contractor, but last week when we had the driving rain storm, the roofer had not covered his work area well enough, and at 2:30 in the morning, I had Niagara Falls in the master bath! Talk about scary and horrifying all at the same time.
We had the roofer crawl up into one of the crawl spaces and pull the batten insulation, so we can dry it completely. We also mopped the ceilings and set a dehumidifier up. Yeah, stress, with all capitol letters!
The “new skylight” is not the correct one. Once you put the screen in there is no way to adjust the shade! It will need a retro-fit repair.
My vanity in the master bath had a back splash. I say “had” because it is damaged, beyond repair! I am heart sick!
And so far the other work we contracted to get done, has not been finished. No, we have not made the final payment, and we will not until all the issues that were caused by the roofer are resolved.

So yeah, a tad stressful. But, here is the good news, My grandchildren are coming on Saturday and I have all sorts of things planned. Including swimming and playing in Oma’s Lake!

TBT: Amanda

So here we are. It’s Thursday, and that means Throw Back Thursday. Today’s picture is Amanda when she was about five and a half months old. She was so strong, and so motivated to get moving, much like her son, Quinn.

My Cooper’s Hawk

On Sunday morning I was sitting here in my chair, with the last of the Olympics on, and my computer on my lap. You know, the usual killing time stuff, often done on the weekend!

Suddenly, I her a very loud thud behind me. I was fairly certain that a bird had flown into my window, as often happens, and was either dazed on the ground or dead from a broken neck.

I jumped up, and ran into my bedroom and pulling up the front shade saw one of the largest birds I have seen this close in many years.

I rushed the dogs from the room, grabbed my camera, and went back in to take as may pictures as I could, but also to determine if he was injured and would require me to call the Fish & Game Department.

He looked dazed, but I could not see any breaks in his wings, or legs. His eyes looked confused, and he sat there, taking stock of the situation.

Hubby came in and looked the bird over, and we knew right away that it was a Hawk, but what kind we could not be sure.

When I was a little girl we rescued a Red Tail Hawk with a broken wing. We rehabilitated it, until our neighbor called Fish & Game and we had to surrender the bird. That was a heart breaking day for me, because I loved that Hawk.

So, I knew it wasn’t like that Hawk, and after conferring with y friends we decided that it was a Cooper’s Hawk. Fairly common in the northern parts of America and Canada.

Then, my Hawk, shook his head, and flapped his wings, and in a moment, he was gone. I watched him as he flew away. His wing span so long and graceful.

He soared and so did my heart!

The Reunion – The Big Event!

The Saturday night of our Reunion, was a perfect night for it. It was hot, a little humid, and one of those nights that was made for outdoor partying. There was a tent (in case of rain), and the event was held at a classmates house. The yard was huge and gave all of us a place to roam around talking and joking with each other.

Think back to your High School days. You are in your teens, hormones are raging, and you are insecure and convinced that no one really knows you, or likes you and you are a vat full of insecurities! Well, flash forward, 40 years. It’s amazing how many people remembered me. How many people recalled nice things about me, and how much fun we all still can have together.

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Oh, to go back and tell that teenage me, that life is good and everything would be okay. And that these people, did like me, did care. I guess the blessing of middle age, is getting together with your classmates and seeing that we all still have a great time together.

Several members of our class, who had missed the first 35 years worth of reunions, attended this time. It was so good to see them and catch up with their lives. My hats are off to the planners, the people who spent their day setting up and to the caterers. Everything was fabulous!!!

I volunteered to help with the planning of the next reunion. Five years will go by in the blink of an eye! In some ways I can hardly wait, but in other ways, I look forward to slowly watching my grandchildren grow up! Just think Savannah will be 9 in five years, and Quinn will be 5!

The Reunion – Class Of 1976 – Part 1

I remember back in 1976, thinking it was sort of cool that I was graduating during our countries Bicentennial Year. We had a pretty neat class of interesting and good people.

Flash forward 40 years and here we are. Older, hopefully wiser, but I was really pleased to see that we are still the same good bunch we were as kids.

Our Pre-Reunion party was at a resort in North Falmouth, on Friday night. Mel and I had gotten a bite to eat before people arrived and then we mostly wandered around talking, once the party began. So many familiar faces. People I have known and cared for all my 57 years. It was so much fun!

Then someone suggested we go outside on the patio for a picture. Then things really got interesting! As we stood on the patio, suddenly off shore a thunder and lightening show began. It wasn’t raining where we were, but you should have seen the cloud to cloud lightening! Our own magic fireworks!

I sort of joked that we better get back inside before we became the next days headline in the local newspaper. “Class of 1976 Fries On Deck”!

It felt so good to be part of this wonderful group of people again. I think of them all often, keep in touch now via Facebook and enjoy or Reunions every five years!

Mom

It’s been three years since my Mom passed away. It’s a strange thing, losing your parents. When we are young, I don’t think we consider that one day that older generation will be gone, and we will be the older generation. But Mom and Dad are both gone from this earth. I cannot call them on the phone, or get a letter from them or even send Mom flowers. And remember all the times that your Mom or Dad were there just to listen to you, when life was getting you down? No, those days are over and now my sister and I are the older generation in our family, along with our cousins.

We miss you Mom. And we speak of you quite often. How thrilled you would be with your two newest grandchildren, April and Quinn and how you would have enjoyed Mel’s and my long weekend in Falmouth. We visited so many of your favorite places.

Rosamond Ruth

June 28, 1929 – August 21, 2013

Mom in April

And remember when you told us that we would know that you were close by if we saw a lovely Butterfly? Well, we saw you and knew you were with us when we went to Ghelfi’s to get Melodie’s favorite chocolate, Heavenly Hash!

Miss you, Mom and we think of you every day!

Author: Dackel Princess