95 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 12-16-17”

  3. Good morning, Chas and AJ. There is barely a sliver of moon in the east. Beautiful morning despite the wind. I changed things up this morning and made biscuits and gravy.

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  6. Good morning, at least for some!

    In the evening, three ambulances lined the street in front of our house with their red lights going but thankfully no sirens. I think something happened with my across the street neighbor. With Karen in intensive care and my brother having the flu, well…it was a bit much.

    I am having a good cup of coffee right now. That helps.

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  8. Chas, a while back I posted a comment about the easy way to do grits and eggs. I do not know if you saw it. First you hard boil eggs, peel and chop them up. Set eggs aside.Then you use a medium size bowl to do the grits in the microwave. It needs to be deep enough so they can cook without spilling over. Put one cup of water in the bowl. Put a quarter of a cup of grits in and stir. Add a dash of salt if desired. Cool on high for around 3-4 minutes, stopping and stirring as they get closer to the end to get them to desired thickness. They will firm up a bit more in the minute after cooking so let them be thinner rather than thicker at the end. Then stir in some of the chopped boiled eggs with a bit of butter if you can have that. You may have to try several times before you get the grits just right. It’s easy, and extra chopped eggs last a few days in the fridge for making grits and eggs on other days.

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  10. Morning! A beautiful photo indeed Cheryl! There is odd sense of comfort I get upon hearing the hooting of an owl…sort of like he is guarding the place 🦉
    Biscuits and gravy?!! Comfort food and oh so satisfying…wish I was there to partake RK!!

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  11. I thought, “whoa, that’s not a partridge in a pear tree.”

    I’ve been awake since 1:30, but I went to bed, exhausted at 8:30. Finished reading a book, prayed, thought about tarrying, petted the cat, etc.

    I need to make coffee and be productive now. I was actually IN bed for 9 hours, surely that counts?

    47 and dark here.

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  13. An owl in a pine tree. And with the snow falling down the screen it looks rather seasonal.

    38° and sunny here. I guess I’ll do some outdoor work today since it’s supposed to be in the upper 50s later on. Is this really December?

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  15. RKessler, I found a book I checked out from the library, New York a la Cart: Recipes & Stories from the Big Apple’s Best Food Trucks. It looked interesting. Is that how you are selling the food you make? You might enjoy the book. I thought our son might like to see it because I think he made an assignment for his students to write a composition about food carts since they have a big presence in Waco.

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  19. I talked to Karen and her blood pressure is finally better. She realizes that because I told her to call for an ambulance that it saved her life. The ambulance crew left a printout of her vitals inside their apartment. Her blood pressure was not at a level to sustain life. Had I gone to take her to ER, she would have died. If she had chosen to stay home then her husband would have found her dead. She had not thought of calling for an ambulance, I guess because her brain was not functional. She has left and right heart failure. They think that when she was in the hospital before the fluids got removed too fast from her system. We were both crying at the realization of how once again she was brought back from the brink of death. I keep telling her there is a reason God keeps her alive.

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  20. Janice, how scary. I’m so glad you were able to suggest the ambulance and that she called.

    I’m up early and doing some laundry, today is “hunker down” day to clean and straighten. I was in bed (and pretty much asleep) by 10 p.m. or so and awakened by the animals at 6. So, I got 8 hours.

    I left work for this coming week off on a stressful note, so that wasn’t ideal. Our editor lately has earned the nickname “cranky” which definitely fits. He’s a good editor but not a good manager of people as he continually provokes. The best way to deal with that is to emotionally “shut down” and not react or take it personally, but I’m sometimes unable to do that. I was tired & near tears when I left yesterday. Still trying to shake it off this morning.

    I thought that was an owl too. We had an owl in the neighborhood a few years ago, loved hearing it hoo-hoo-hoo when the dogs and I walked at night. And there was a white owl in the dog park I used to go to, when I lived across the harbor, many years ago.

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  25. DJ, my friend, Karen, likes owls and when I saw a white owl night light at J. C. Penney I got it to give as her Christmas gift. I have been wondering if they would let her use it in intensive care.

    That movie we saw this week, The Mentor, has a real cranky boss. The senior mentor helps the cranky young lady boss know how to better treat employees. It is worth watching for that aspect alone. I think it is a movie I would like to see again. I rarely say that.

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  27. On my small phone screen, I saw the creature as some kind of a bird rather than an owl.

    Jo, I think some kind of washable shoes would be good. Saucony is a wonderful brand of quality shoes that always fit my rather narrow feet just right. I also like the deck or boat shoes that are probably not washable but may be the right color for your needs. Sperry is one brand, but others are good, too.

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  30. Jo, it is the other color of taupe with a few highlights in burgundy that I like best rather than the charcoal color. So click on the other color instead of just viewing the color shown on the link.

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  32. Chas, I have an even easier grits and egg recipe than Janice. Follow the directions on the grits box on how to cook them in the microwave. About 30 seconds before they are done take them out and add a raw egg. Stir it in and pop back in the microwave for the remaining 30 seconds.
    You can add cheese and chopped ham for a heartier meal on special days.

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  34. That was an extremely hungry young hawk, sharp-shinned or Cooper’s. I’m nearly certain it’s a sharp-shinned, but the species are tricky.

    A couple of weeks ago I was cooking lunch, and it was nearly finished and I decided I had time to run down and get the mail while it finished cooking. I stepped out the door and was walking by this tree when I saw a bird in it, a bird that notably had not flown at my presence, and I saw it was a large bird and my first thought was “dove.” Size and its slowness to fly both said dove, but when I actually glanced at the bird I saw streaks and knew “hawk.” The fact that it hadn’t flown when I was only feet away told me it would likely stay if I went back inside and got pictures through the window on the door.

    (Long story short, my husband ate lunch alone that day, and my food was cold.)

    I soon saw why it hadn’t flown–it had a bird and was reluctant to leave its dinner. Because there was a branch between me and the hawk, it was hard to get good photos. The door has several sections of beveled glass, and the middle section is decently good to get photos through–I just have to try to get the camera right in the center and zoom in enough that the edges aren’t blurred. But from the middle the branch was in the wrong place. The edge has only thin portions of glass, not good for photos, but I took several photos from that side just for a better placement of the bird–and that was crazy hard to do, to get the camera focused and get the bird in the lens (and to do both at the same time) through a piece of glass that is less than an inch wide inside the bevels, a small fraction of the width of the lens!

    After 20 minutes or so of watching it and taking what photos I could–and apologizing to my husband for not joining him for lunch, telling him it’s only the second time I’ve seen a hawk in that tree and the other time I was on the phone with his sister and couldn’t get any photos–I decided that if it hadn’t flown when I went almost right up to the tree, I could probably safely go to collect the mail, and take some photos from outside, as long as I went out the back door and didn’t go too close to the tree. So I walked out, taking a wide route around our driveway, and shot photos of the hawk from several different parts of our yard. This is one of them taken from outside. I think the hawk had to have known I was there–it was simply too hungry, or maybe by this time too full, to care, and it knew I wasn’t a serious threat. (It could fly if it had to.)

    If our house were in this photo, it would be to the left; this tree grows a few feet short of the walkway to the door. I zoomed in to take this photo, but from just the other side of our driveway and at roughly eye level to the bird–there is no way it didn’t know I was there; it just chose not to care.

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  35. Oh, yes, you can cook many things in the microwave. Scrambled eggs in a minute, but you have to scramble them from time to time. While in Romania, where the hotel didn’t have an oven in the kitchen, I even made brownies in the microwave. The joy of the Internet told me how!

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  36. Who was it that warned me about the kitten and the Christmas tree? I just posted this problem on FB:

    Sigh. We’ve never had this problem before. The six month-old, 8-9 pound “kitten” has taken to sprinting across the living room to leap at the tree, where she snatches down an ornament and runs off with it.

    She’s currently crying in the bedroom where we locked her up while we figure out how to block the tree with large presents and a rocking chair.

    I thought putting a big present in the way would help (after she conveniently attacked the paper while I wrapped it, leaving claw marks in the paper), but just realized it allows her to get higher into the tree to knock down more ornaments.

    We may have to play some noisy surprise tricks on her to get her to layoff.

    OTOH, if I don’t go near the tree, she ignores it. Some might argue the problem is my fault. 😦

    What do you suggest? Not buy nor wrap any more presents? 🙂

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  37. Ok, I sent some more ideas to the paint consultant, told him he didn’t have to do mockups of all the color #s I have him (there were quite a few) but he could select what he thought would look best. Big problem still is that front porch with full framing, it dominates and figuring out what to paint that is a dilemma.

    Meanwhile, I’m still fighting with fitting organizing bins under the kitchen sink, I seem to have even less room under there now with the new plumbing — one pipe runs low and horizontally across probably 2/3 of the space — than I did when I had the garbage disposal under there.

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  43. We have a Marsh Hawk who has taken up residence on the roof of our office.

    QOD: What do you buy your pregnant daughter in law that you barely know? Today I bought her a nice robe to have for the hospital, but that hardly seems like “enough”. Son told me to buy her perfume, but Hubs said that is too personal and we should not but that. She needs something else. I thought of a maternity massage but she works for a medical spa.

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  44. If she is your daughter(-in-law) and your son recommended perfume (and presumably recommended the brand), why is it “Too personal”? To me, if anything it isn’t personal enough–it’s buying her something that presumably she would buy for herself if you didn’t buy it, and thus it is almost like buying toiletries. But it is personal enough, assuming it is truly the scent she likes, to say that you care about her tastes and she is a daughter and not just an “in-law.”

    In other words, a daughter-in-law doesn’t want to be kept at arms’ length like she isn’t “really” a relative. Or at least this daughter-in-law doesn’t. Unless she actively dislikes you, even any sense of awkwardness from her side might be a longing to feel like she is accepted and she belongs. I would love it if at the Christmas gift exchange my mother-in-law would present me something pretty like she gives her daughter. I think it was last year she got infinity scarves for daughter and granddaughters, but for me a gift card, and I know she didn’t “mean it that way,” but what it said to me was that she didn’t know me enough to treat me like I was really family. I know she didn’t mean it that way. She was 80 years old, with a husband about to see what we all knew to be his last Christmas. She wasn’t thinking through details of my feelings. But I would have felt so loved had she bought me one, too, in my own favorite colors. But if she were to buy me pretty jewelry or a pretty accessory, even if I didn’t actually like it I would feel loved. (I do feel loved by her, BTW. I just still feel like I’m an in-law in a way that no one else in the family is.) Basically, if you would buy it for your daughter, then it isn’t too “personal” to buy it for your daughter (-in-law). It’s an invitation to settle in and know that she really is family.

    Or, if she wears jewelry, or she likes shoes, etc., and you are going to see her for more than a day or two, then make up a really nice “gift certificate” that this week you will take her out to lunch and a surprise, and the surprise is taking her shopping and letting her choose something up to a certain amount–a chance to get to know her tastes and spend girl time together, and buy a gift that she will actually enjoy, and a gift that she will equate with that time spent with you.

    That’s my take, anyway.

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  49. My favorite gift from my mother-in-law was a set of books (the Outlander series of novels by Diana Gabaldon) that I had not heard of before and might not have considered, but I really enjoyed them. I don’t know if she knew I liked historical fiction and time travel, or if it was just a series that she enjoyed, but it was a great choice. Other years she got me Avon products that I hardly ever used – I suppose it was her “go-to” gift for women when she didn’t know something specific they liked. (Unfortunately we didn’t have the chance to get to know each other very well – they moved to Arizona shortly before we married, and we saw them every other Christmas, until she died of colon cancer in 1997.)

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  50. Chas, we make egg patties in the microwave frequently. I bought a Nordicware Egg Muffin Maker and we use it to make egg and cheese sandwiches (usually on an English muffin, but sometimes using frozen waffles). We used to scramble the egg right in the dish it cooks in, but over time that scratched the surface so much that the egg started sticking instead of sliding out easily. So I bought a new one and now we scramble the egg in a bowl first.

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  53. That’s the way my own family did things, too. We buy for those we see at Christmas. I bought for my mom whether or not I saw her, for her birthday and for Christmas, but I found out at one point from my sister that my mom didn’t buy gifts for everyone, so I guess it was because I bought something for her. And I’ve bought Christmas gifts (but not birthday gifts) for my sister’s kids every year, whether or not I have spent the holiday with them, simply because I only have one sister and I want to have a special connection to her kids. (I also call them each year on their birthdays, and not my other nieces and nephews, and I’ve seen them fairly frequently as they have grown up. My brothers are quite a bit older than I am, and I’ve been less intentional with their kids, as realistically I just can’t afford gifts for 20-plus nieces and nephews each year. But my sister is 15 months younger than I, and I figured when I was single that her kids were the closest I would ever get to having my own children, and I wanted them to know me well.) But the rest of them, I buy for them if I see them and not otherwise. Too many of us to do it any other way!

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  56. Jo, an office co-worker had foot problems and her specialist recommended only a few brands. Saucony was among them. Not too many people are familiar with them, but ever since I had my first pair, I have loved them. I use to find them online and get a pair for me and a pair for Art when we needed new ones. I don’t remember where I ordered those from. We have worn them for years. When the co-worker told me her doctor’s opinion, it confirmed my opinion of them. I would not get the lowest priced in their line, however. Those have not felt as cushioned when I tried them.

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  57. Chaos, you might want to go to your local library and check out a few cookbooks for learning more about microwave cooking. I cook fresh fish in it with great results. Also, you can cook veggies in it. Mostly, you don’t cook things and expect them to turn out crisp. Scrambled eggs are great in the microwave. They have a puffy or airy texture that is pleasant. The mug cake book I got while in TX is for cooking individual size cakes in coffee mugs in the microwave.

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  63. Oh, my city tree … I need to water it today, with less than an inch of rain so far this season (and the short days to boot), I’m having trouble scheduling the water it needs. But maybe I will hang an ornament on it … Ooh, or a little string of battery lights …

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  66. I am enjoying the solar lights but they are not so visible with all of the snow on the trees. I expect it to melt off but it has been a little cold for that. Not dog park cold, of course. Brrrrrr.

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  67. I could try solar for the little tree out front I guess. We’re still getting decent sunshine and the tree has no shade over it.

    We now have a fleet of dockless rental bikes all over town. I saw one the other day that had been outfitted for Christmas, with garland strung through the basket, very cute.

    Others, of course, haven’t fared so well. One bike was found on top of an elementary school building and another was floating away in the harbor. We want to do a little series on the weirdest places the bikes are turning up so randomly.

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  68. Sometimes it is chaos with me.
    Sometimes, at lunch or dinner, she will seem to forget that she is having lunch. She will stare isto space. I often wonder where her mind is. It has to be somewhere, but she never comments on what she is thinking. If anything.
    I will remind her that she is having lunch several times.

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  69. We do a Yankee Swap on the Saturday or Sunday after Christmas instead of gifts between adults. In-laws, out-laws, and neighbors come and a good time is had by all. It also alleviates the problem of trying to see one another on Christmas Day.

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  70. I don’t expect gifts from my siblings or parents, but it is a joy to be able to give them when I’m able. Sometimes, I can only afford to give a family gift, sometimes I have the time to make a few gifts, and sometimes I can give each person a gift, like the Christmas after I returned from West Africa. None of us come to our Christmas gatherings with any expectations, and so are pleased with what we are given. Our parents have never been wealthy, so Christmas gift giving has never been about getting everything or even anything we wanted.

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  71. We have a pretty sparse Christmas, compared to the gifts my parents used to give. Nightingale & I are giving Chickadee an X-box Live subscription (don’t ask me what that is, but she’ll like it), & a cute unicorn umbrella. Nightingale loves TJ Maxx & its affiliated stores (Marshall’s & Home Goods), so I got her a gift card. She is still keeping an eye out for a really nice Christmas sweater for Chickadee, but most of those out there are of the “ugly Christmas sweater” variety (& Chickadee is a plus size, which makes it harder to find what she’s looking for). They each have a gift for me, too.

    With all of us giving presents to The Boy, he will receive several presents.

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  72. OK, I bought a very cute, short-but-full Christmas tree at the local family-run lot I did a story on a couple years ago. I’ll set it on something and put it in a front window. Although that may be risky with Annie and Tess (who gets rambunctious when the postal carrier comes) — tree + window + screen could all wind up on the front porch. But we just have 1-2 weeks to get through with it.

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  74. We’re doing a lighter Christmas this year. We shop to lists, which I don’t actually like very much. (By the time several people are buying from your list, it’s really kind of like saying, “Hmm, it’s December. What should I buy myself for a couple hundred dollars or so?”) We do end up buying additional little stuff that isn’t on anyone’s list, though.

    My sister tells me I am really good at shopping for her kids, that none of them has ever been disappointed by anything I’ve bought. One year I bought her two oldest genuine coonskin caps, and a year or two later bought one for the third son (who was now old enough to enjoy them, too), and those were hits. One year I bought a coffee-table book about frogs, and it was said to be a huge hit with the whole family (they are in an area that has a lot of frogs, and they all like them). This year we have been focused on other things and suddenly it was “Wait, Christmas is in two weeks, what on earth should I buy for them?” So I asked my sister if she had any suggestions and she said anything animal related (knowing also that that’s an area of expertise for me). So I asked if field guides would work, and she said yes. So I got to go through and choose my own favorite field guides for birds, butterflies, and insects (I expect that one to be a favorite), and then added one for reptiles and amphibians and one for Alabama wildflowers and trees. I won’t be labeling any of them as for a specific child, but buying five of them gives them each something to open and it’s something they should all enjoy and learn from. But if they each like one particular one best and their mom chooses to have them each have one of their own, they can do that. I just expect the insect and bird ones to be fought over. A new one on moths is out, and I would have ordered that one for them instead of the flowers and trees, except that the northeast one is out (and I have it and it’s great–it’s amazing how many beautiful moths there are), but the one for the southeast is coming out several months from now. Anyway, that was kinda fun to stock a family’s field guide library with ones I know to be good, and I imagine they will be both fun and practical for a homeschooling family who lives in the country.

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  76. I was raised by a mother who insisted — and went to great pains — on getting just the *right* gift for the person. Even if it meant shopping and shopping and shopping for it, which it often did. I’d get calls from her (when I was a young adult) about how she found the perfect gift for so-and-so, some aunt, or whatever, that I may also be buying for, asking if she wanted me to get it on my behalf. I’ve inherited that but find it pays off for the few folks I do buy for these days. It can’t (shouldn’t) be “just anything.”

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  78. My right ear that nearly closed up is doing better, still a bit irritated but I’m taking the 925 silver studs (supposedly nickel-free, at least for the most part) out 2-3 times a day to clean it with saline solution and/or hydrogen peroxide and putting Neosporin gel on the posts (thanks, Kim) when I put them back in. The infection seems to be going away. I will put in titanium studs tomorrow which I know are nickel free.

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  80. That’s a great story, kare, thanks. My last paper closed down after 100+ years, such a sad thing to see happen. Most of the papers I work for now have been around just as long, we have framed historic front pages in our lobby with headlines about the Nazis, wars (and rumors of wars), from years gone by.

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  85. I heard it called White Elephant here, too, this week. Also, Dirty Santa is common.

    Donna, Art and I watched A Dog Year last night and thought it was great. I know you have seen it considering the dog breed.

    Cheryl, our son learned to read from those Golden Guide books along with the others such as Peterson’s. We still have quite a collection of them. I truly believed that he was destined to become a naturalist. You are a great gift selector.

    Looking forward to a report from Jo if she got to go to DSW. I buy online but need to check out a new local store.

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  86. We officially have our new pastor in place. Now moving forward with other changes. Some previous members came back today, and I am wondering if they will rejoin It was great to see them because one had been my life group teacher.

    My friend, Karen, was doing better yesterday when we last spoke. I tried to call today but did not get her. I will assume the best.

    My husband’s pastor has been dismissed because he was not a good fit for that church. They will get a new pastor in January. It is easier to move pastors around in the Methodist church.

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  92. Janice, I got to DSW and found a pair of Asics. I then called my daughter who told me her mother in law was just going to get me a gift certificate for a store in Grass Valley!! oh, well.. Now I will have to see what they have. I took a picture of the ones I like and will see if they can get them for me. I liked the store and may shop there again when I visit.

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  93. We always called that a white elephant gift exchange. You all bring something silly or something you no longer want. Then you pick numbers and get to choose a gift. You also have the choice of opening the gift you choose or stealing a gift someone else has opened. Always fun to see what is popular. One year the gifts were so bad that we all hid them around the home where we had the party because no one wanted to take them home. There was even a clock that ran backwards.

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  94. Not all white elephant gift exchanges do the “exchange with other people” part of that gift exchange, and one can also do the “swap your gift with someone else if you like” with gifts that are new and not “white elephants.” In Nashville, for instance, a group of ladies had an ornament gift exchange every year–you bought the ornament new, so it wasn’t a white-elephant party. And in Chicago my workplace once did a white-elephant party, but with maybe 70 people in the room, having it be a game where people could swap with someone else would never have worked. (By the time you get past 20 or 30 participants, that takes way too long.) But my church in Chicago did a party that combined both, white elephant gifts and the swap-it-if-you-don’t-want-it aspect.

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