And the Rain Moved In

I'm sure people would call us crazy, but Bike man and I raked our yard this afternoon in the drizzly rain.   Even after Bike man decided to head into the house, I stayed outdoors and continued to rake in light rain.  I just couldn't come inside since the temperature was in the mid 40's, which felt wonderful to me.  Yup, I was soaked when I finished my raking, but I felt an accomplishment.....just had to get those fall leaves raked before the snow flies.

Tomorrow?  Rain turning to snow.  

Full Moon

Running in the dark can be daunting, but add a full moon and it gives your run a whole different perspective.  With my headlamp turned on, I was all ready to tackle the dark road tonight after work.

So I ran about 1/2 mile and came upon a house that had a perfect view of the moonlight on Tainter Lake.  I suddenly had the urge to stop running and walk into their yard and capture the moonlight by my cell phone camera, but opted not to do that since they might look out their window and see a crazy woman standing in their yard wearing a headlamp and flashing red light!

Tonight was awesome with it's warm temperature of 46 degrees and no wind. While out running I heard an owl in the nearby woods and also heard lots of geese that found open water on Tainter Lake.  I love listening to the wildlife.

 Speaking of the lake, we have about an 1 1/2 inches of ice that has built up during the cold nights this week.  Bike man, and his son Mike, tried to launch their boat at the boat landing for a little fishing this afternoon, but didn't get too far.  The boat landing had a layer of thin ice, but as they tried to proceed out to the main channel of the lake with the boat, they ran into thicker ice.  No luck for a fishing boat.  Breaking ice could mean damaging the boat.  I think this spells the end of lake fishing and the beginning of ice fishing.......no turning back guys!   And please wait until Christmas to go ice fishing ok?  

Birthday Wishes To Our Daughter

Happy 27th Birthday Rebecca!  We love you.....

Lake Ice?

I could not leave for work this morning until I ran down to the dock to take a picture of the first lake ice.  Yup, I was really excited.  Temperature must have been around 15 degrees this morning, but really, I didn't even notice.   

All I wanted to do was capture the moment of ice forming on the lake.  Every late fall, we wait for this moment.  I know my Georgia blog friend Jackie waits for this moment as well.  I thought about her this morning as I took these photos.

Since it was really windy over the weekend, the water froze as the wind was blowing.  Isn't that cool?  So the good news is, temperatures will warm up around 50 degrees this weekend.  Bad news?  This lake ice will not stay.  That's ok, because the lake usually freezes solid around late November or early December.  It's the natural cycle of Tainter Lake and living in the Midwest.

Talked to a book vendor from Milwaukee this morning on the phone.  So she says to me, "oh, I could never live in northern Wisconsin where it gets so cold."  What???  So I shot back, well if you're an outdoors kind of person, you would love northern Wisconsin.  Why do people think northern Wisconsin is desolate and brutal?  Actually, our winter season is beautiful and we have lots of activities you can do outdoors to stay health and tough.  I love where I live........so there lady from Milwaukee!

What's in Your Pantry

Spending Veteran's Day with Bike man was very low-key and relaxing.  Enjoyed an extra cup of java this morning while catching up on my book reading.  A big thank you to all our veteran's who have served their country.

Headed out on a run around noon and burrrrr, the windchill was wicked.  Temperature around 23 degree, but the north winds were howling around 15-20 mph.  Thank heavens for a Gortex jacket!

While discussing what to make for supper tonight, our theme was, "what's in the pantry."  As you can see, I had plenty of fresh onions, carrots and kale.

Decided to use the dump-it-in method.  No specific recipe, but just pan fry strips of chicken and fresh garlic and herbs.  Add the sliced onions and carrots.  

Opened the freezer door and grabbed the homemade pesto I made back in September.  Added a nice large serving of delicious pesto....yum.

Thought about adding pasta, but decided on cooked quinoa instead. In a separate saucepan add two cups of water to one cup quinoa.....add a little chicken base and cook for 20 minutes.   We love quinoa, it's so easy to cook.

After stirring everything together, it's done.  Very simple, very easy.  What's in your pantry?  Just try it.  Look in your pantry and refrigerator and create your own homemade meal.

Domestic Skills

I don't know, it's just in my blood.  When the temperatures are mild at this time of the year, I just get the urge to hang my laundry outdoors.  I must be addicted to that clean fresh smell.  When it's 42 degrees, I need to take advantage of the mild conditions because old man winter will be returning very soon.  I think I heard him knocking at our door the other day!  I yelled at him and told him to go away.....don't come back until December 1st. 

Today was one of those joint efforts kind of day.  I headed out on a late morning run and then returned to Bike man in the kitchen feverishly working at his homemade pasties....Cornish pasties that is.

Before Bike man was retired, I always made the pasties because my family heritage is actually Cornish & Irish.  My mom taught me how to make pasties when I was a very young girl.  Surprisingly, the Upper (Upper Michigan) residents took great pride in their cornish pasties.  Of course, they make them slightly different then how I was taught. since growing up in Southwest Wisconsin.  So after Bike man retired from his job, he started making pasties the Upper way with lots of rutabagas, onions, carrots and beef chunks.  Go Bike man......thank you for being my personal chef.

Well, a last minute call from our oldest son Mike asking his dad to go fishing, transferred the pasty making over to me.  Ohhhhhh yes.  It was like old times.....rolling the pie dough, spooning the meat filling in the middle and gently folding over the dough.  This time, I decided to make an egg wash so they would brown nicely.  I had enough dough to make one more baking sheet.

Voila, after 50 minutes for each pan, the pasties were a nice golden brown and ready to remove from the oven.  We ended up make 9 pasties total.  These babies freeze really well, so I'm thinking we have pasties for the next few months.

And how do you eat a pasty?  With ketchup of course.

Pioneer Woman

Besides her new children's books, Ree Drummond has just published her third cookbook.  I cataloged her book on Friday and brought it home to review over the weekend.  So far I like the recipes, very typical of Ree's style.....homemade, easy and great step-by-step photographs.

 

Ree Drummond and Me

I actually met Ree in November of 2009 at the Mall of America for a book signing.  Aunt Krissy and I stood in line for almost three hours to get a 10 second chit chat with her since she was promoting her first cookbook.  After reading her blog Pioneer Woman for a year, I really wanted to met her.  I don't read her blog as often as I want, but hey, now I can see her on the Food Network channel!