Where is she?

Tune into our other blog to find out...

ontheroadinthevw.blogspot.com

New look at the pancake breakfast...

This morning was the "Valentine's" pancake breakfast put on by the firemen of Earlville who deserve extra credit this year. They spent ALL of Thursday night at a house fire in Earlville (the family got out safely but their home unfortunately burned to the ground - started from an electric boot warmer). Then the firemen were called out again last night because parts of the rubble had started to burn again. However, they were all at the fire hall serving breakfast at 6 a.m. (this is farm country remember)... with smiles on their faces (even if some of their eyes were half closed).

The turn out was great - guess this COLD weather is making everyone feel "housebound" so folks are more than ready to go out for everything. "Housebound" madness seems to have reached new levels as you can see from the new hairdo on the kid in the photo. His mother (sitting across from him) proudly told me it's easy to do with a combo of hairspray and Elmer's glue and that it washes out easily. The snowmobilers were speculating how you could make a helmet fit...

The Joy of Cooking...

Breaking news... it's still winter. Just north of here they've gotten almost 8 feet of snow (going for 100 inches) from this storm. We've gotten just "a touch" in comparison. However, we've shared in the wind and the cold which means I haven't been walking. (Been working on broadening my hips I'm sure!)

To do this, I've been cooking - mostly on the wood stove. I'm still learning but getting better. Haven't burned too many things and am learning what those trivets were really made for - to separate the pots from the top of the stove if you want a lower cooking temperature. It works. In the past couple of weeks we've only cooked one meal on the regular stove. John even used the oven one night and roasted a chicken. Tonight's menu is gumbo with rice to put us in a Louisiana frame of mind since that's where we're headed next week (barring any sneaky storms coming from the west). I'll continue blogging as we travel but probably on the other blog site - will let you know, I promise.

PS - the best part of cooking on the wood stove in weather like this is it keeps the kitchen warm without guilt or impact to the pocketbook.
PSS - I finished those beastly seats!!!!!!!!!!

Oscars & Beans

In case you've forgotten, the Oscars are coming up the end of February. Until about five years ago, they really didn't hold much interest for me (other than curiosity as to whether I had actually seen ANY of the movies nominated for best picture). Then we happened to visit a friend on Oscar night and discovered that if you're willing to pledge a few dollars and enter a "contest" to see who can come up with the most correct winners, the Oscars become a WHOLE lot more interesting. I happened to "win" that first year through no fault of my own. I've been hooked ever since. I've also lost ever since - through no fault of my own, of course.

So, what, you may ask, has that to do with beans? It goes like this... When the Oscar nominations are released, John & I diligently print out the list and attempt to see as many movies as we can either in the theater (preferred) or on video/DVD. We happen to have a fairly OLD TV (it still works doesn't it?). It's so old in fact that the connections for the video/DVD are in the front. This is okay (who cares about looks anyway?). However, there's a short in the connecting plug in the TV which can't be fixed. This means sometimes you get a picture, or sound, or nothing, or, if you're very lucky, picture & sound - together! John discovered by chance that if you hold the cord "just right" and your mouth "just so" you get both. Rather than holding the cord throughout the movie (he does rather block the screen for anyone else who wants to watch), a jar of beans makes a fairly decent substitute. Of course the trick is to make it to your seat without jiggling the cord AT ALL (VERY hard to do in an old house). Our house sitters for some reason find this part of the "what you should know about our house" instructions fairly perplexing. Will we ever replace it? Only the Oscars know for sure...

Return to the BS

That's BS as in "beastly seats"...
Having finished everything else I really wanted to do, the back seats from the camper have finally reached the top of my list. Yesterday I finished the bottoms, today I'm working on the backs. Talk about using every inch of fabric. One of the final side pieces that could have been done as one piece has now evolved into four pieces. Ah, the stress of it! So, I'm taking a break and writing this instead.

One thing that tends to inspire me when I have to do something I really DO NOT want to do, is to think of other jobs I might be doing that are far worse. (Cleaning for example...) This morning I noticed what you see in the photo. There are three people up on that round area of what will be Colgate U's new science building. They are working not only up in the air (you could never get me that high without being strapped down to something), but they are attempting to put down metal roof decking... in the wind (at least 20mph)... in 13 degree F. weather... (I know 13 is Colgate's lucky number but not for these folks.) Whatever they're being paid it is NOT enough. I'll go back to my BS and count myself lucky.

Boys at play...

What do men in the north do in their free time when they're not out in subzero weather barbecuing chicken?
They play at being Mr. Science in the workshop and dream of making wooden boats that won't sink in the summer.

Bruce proved to be master at mixing up the "magic goo" that

John poured over the canvas that

Steve stretched over the hull of the boat.

Apparently it worked for the boat now has a fairly solid top for the first time in 30 years. (If they'd only figure out some way to keep the bottom from leaking!)

You'll notice that Tillie is snuggled securely in the corner of the workshop looking more like a storage unit than a vehicle of leisure. She, too, is dreaming of summer and the wonderful trips that lie ahead.

Snow, wind, cold...

It's winter up here! (If I only knew how to turn that ! upside down - "up" excitement is not quite what I'm trying to convey here.)
The good news is that we're in this magical little spot where we're still measuring the snow in inches rather than feet - that's reserved this time around for Buffalo and the Tug Hill Plateau. However, we are among those who can count the temperature on their fingers (one hand, please, and make it heavily gloved). The minus numbers are counted on one's toes. And the wind continues to howl making New Year's resolution walks out of the question.

However, the Colgate U. pool is still heated and available and we can paddle about thinking of warmer times and places even if we do have to tread through the cold to return home. And, of course our weathermen (they do seem to be all men up here) LOVE being the center of attention. They wouldn't trade their location with Hawaii for anything in the world - too boring. We, on the other hand, after complaining about NOT having winter, are only too ready for "boring" to return.

Bicentennial Celebrations

Today was our town's BIG kickoff celebration for its bicentennial. The photos tell you how hardy the folks from Lebanon are. Most communities would NEVER even consider having a chicken BBQ in February but our most hardy were there at 6 AM building the fire. (John is NOT a native and was NOT among them. He just ventured down to take photos.) It should be noted the temperature at 6 was below zero with a breeze. In this photo around 1:00, they're just beginning to take the chicken off and it was DELICIOUS!!! They did 175 halves and we sold every one. (You might note in the photo there's still snow on the ground next to the grill - temp only got up to 5 - no wonder the guys still have their hoods up! Also note the bottle sitting on the block behind the guy to the right. That is or was blackberry brandy...)

Not to be outdone, one of our local teams of horses came with a wagon to give rides to the adventurous. (The high was 10 with a nice breeze.) Fun seekers were more than happy to come inside after their "refreshing ride" for chicken dinners, homemade desserts and all the ice cream they could eat. Speaking of desserts... there was a contest so of course, in the spirit of things, I had to enter something. I won first prize in the historic category. (I haven't been able to decide yet if that was an honor or not... By the way, it was an apple pie.)

Can this be true?

Yesterday morning I was half listening to NPR news about students at the Univ. of Iowa monitoring their laundry via web-cam. Having spent many hours in my pre-washer-ownership days, this sounded like a very practical use of technology. Then the news reporter went on to say that another school was using fingerprint identification to let students access their accounts to pay for meals. Thoughts sprang to mind of a large university getting a grant to do this. I stopped dead in my tracks when they said the school was in Omaha, Arkansas.

They must have meant Omaha, Nebraska, right? But no. I went to the web site and it was Omaha, Arkansas. (So....? Big deal!... What's your problem you might ask?) Well, it's the public school I attended and graduated from... with a class size of 13. By anyone's standard that is SMALL. It's also rural (less so now that Branson, MO, the next wide spot in the road north of Omaha, has decided to give Nashville a run for its money). Had something happened to suddenly cause Omaha School to explode in population?

I went hunting on the web for the local paper (from Harrison the next wide spot to the south... I told you Omaha was small). According to them the Omaha cafeteria during the 2 hour serving time was a "beehive of activity" serving about 560 - that's K-12 plus staff. (Many NY schools serve thousands so that seems rather small. However, it definitely indicates the school population has grown since I went to school there). I guess a small problem to some, is a big problem for others. Of course the bottom line is cost. How pricey was this fingerprinting account system? $375 That's cheaper than a computer. I'm surprised other schools haven't caught on.

Our own version of Punxsutawney Phil...

In case you missed it, today was Groundhog's Day. The forecast was for overcast skies - always a good sign since in upstate NY that means ONLY another 6 weeks of winter instead of at LEAST 6 more weeks of winter.

Daybreak comes and I'm awakened to... sniff, sniff - is that skunk or do John & I REALLY need to brush our teeth? The odor was there again on our walk this morning - sent the groundhog back into his hole I'm sure.

I always thought skunks hibernated until a skunk came and ate seeds under our bird feeder most of one winter. I was always careful to make sure he wasn't there when I let the dog out until... You guessed it! I let the dog out without looking. Just as I remembered, Red was getting sprayed in the face. NOT FUN!!!! especially in February!!! A fan of the internet, I immediately went to the computer to do some research (and avoid dealing with the Red who was busy burying his nose in the snow.) "Douche" they said (on not in) so I called John to stop at the store. John's dilemma? What scent to choose. Poor Red ended up smelling of "Spring Flowers" with a slight under-aroma of skunk the rest of the winter. We were ALL glad for spring that year!!!

More from Podunk

Finally! At last the paintings are done that my town requested!! (I hate to run this close to a deadline but sometimes it can't be helped.) From left to right...
The Old Mill - no longer there but we knew the Irishman who salvaged a lot of the stone.
Lebanon Federated Church - the Baptists & Congregationalists decided in 1920 to merge & kept the "better" of the two churches.
Old Schoolhouse - one of the few remaining that looks like it did then.
Lebanon Community Center - the town's old depot.
Stowell House - home of abolitionist Horace Stowell & on the "Underground Railroad".
Tomorrow they get printed and made into cards (or at least that's tonight's plan - you know how that goes...)