The boat and black eyed peas.

Chris has had this old steal john boat for years. The problem was the guy he bought it off of never had it registered and there was no title. So... after being told year after year that we would have to do a lengthy and expensive title search that would involve police and lots of money. We finally were told get some affidavits signed that will prove it's ours. So we did and now it's all legal. Yeah!

We could have still used it with out an motor and floated around on private lakes with it but... we want to go exploring on public water ways and springs and lakes and even the intercoastal water way. Well maybe the water way, it is just a john boat.

 Being a steal boat there is no rust to worry about, pretty much all it needs is a good paint job. There is no dents or wholes or anything.

There is one piece of wood in the back I don't know if we will have to replace that or not. It's in pretty good shape as well.

Reese's is ready to go for a ride!

Almost ready for a New Year.

This year we're not going to our usual party. :( Chris has to work New Years Day. So...........We're just going to have a nice relaxing holiday at home. We're still going to make the traditional black eyed peas with rice and greens. We don't like collard or mustard so we cheat and have spinach. When I was little my grandfather used to always make the black eyed peas he'd say "The peas were for prosperity, the rice was for the riches and the green is the color of money." and I think I've eaten them every year on New Years Day that I can remember. 

I've heard a lot of stories of how this tradition came to be. Some say it originated with black people. It's definitely a southern thing. Up north they eat sauerkraut and brisket. I heard that during the civil war they ran out of food and were on the brink of death when some one turned up with a sack of black eyed peas and saved them all. So it was lucky for them. But that doesn't explain why you have the rice and greens so I don't buy that story ether.

Any way it's good to put them in the slow cooker on New Year's Eve and then they are all done and good to go on New Year's Day when your all hung over and too dead to cook. I've also heard your suppose to eat a fluted fruit cake on New Year's Day for the fruit of life. I don't know about that.

If you've never made black eyed peas it's very easy. You can cheat and use the canned kind or you can get dried ones and do the whole soaking thing. That's what we usually do. Once they are all soaked and ready to go in the slow cooker. We add our ham bone from Christmas. Or at least some left over Christmas ham. Gives them that festive taste. If you don't have Christmas ham it's also really good with a hog jowl or ham hock. We also add onion, garlic, bell pepper, salt, black pepper, some times Chris puts a bay leaf or other spices. Then you let it cook all night while you party. Check to make sure it doesn't run out of water and then next day it's mmm... good. 

Have a Happy New Year Everybody!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Holidays!

Ooooo... try eggnog with ovaltine in it. Thick rich and chocolaty. I wonder if it would be good hot. I normally like mine with rum but for kids and breakfast this would be good. I've got a giant thing of eggnog and I'm determined to drink it!!
I'm off of work until next year. So I'm just going to party until then. Put the tree up. No way. Clean the fridge out. Nope. Take down the lights. Maybe in February. I've got my snuggie, my candy cane scented socks and now a mug of eggnog with ovaltine in it. I'll be here on the couch until next year or until some normal weather shows up.
It's so cold here in Florida. The coldest it's been ever. I looked out back this morning and thought I saw the pond had ice on it. When ponds in Florida ice over they need to start explaining why. Stay warm everybody! Still partying until next year.

Holiday, Oh Holiday and it's the best one of the year!

Merry Christmas!!

I saw Santa at work. He said it was hot so he had to take his coat off. It was December 23rd. So he was in a hurry to get his mail and get up North!

Shopping:

This year was a little crazy. OK maybe I was a little crazy. Let me explain... I actually went shopping on Christmas Eve. See that's when we both got paid so it made since at the time. And then.... OMG! Never again! In fact I vowed to start shopping as soon as possible for next year. The stores were packed with even crazier people all clamoring for that last minute gift or...maybe because everyone got paid on Friday. What ever, never again!

Unfortunately today...day after Christmas I decided to do my returns. What was I thinking? Well, I thought no one would be crazy enough to go out the day after Christmas. I was wrong! After all I was that crazy.  The sales were great though and I couldn't resist. I got a few ornaments for next year and bought a couple of presents for next year too. I'm so proud of myself I've started my Christmas shopping before anyone. I'll be done by the forth of July.

A Great Deal

I did get a great deal on this dog sweater. I heard that the temperature was suppose to go down to the teens. In Florida!! Central Florida! Anyway our dog, Reese's has never  been in cold weather. Dogs get cold too. I just new he would appreciate this great sweater to keep him warm. The dog didn't feel the same way. He doesn't like the great dog sweater at all. He is making his most annoyed face in these pictures.

CHRISTMAS

But...Christmas day was a lot of fun. Gramme came by and we had so much fun we forgot all about taking any pictures the only picture we got was Chris holding this piece of sugar cane my Aunt sent over. And he's making a face in it. This sugar cane was really good. The idea is too peal off the woody outer part and suck on the inner pulp, which is sweat. Well, before anyone could say anything Chris went after it with his butcher knife and nearly hacked off his finger. Luckily he only nicked it. The sugar cane is a Florida thing and  my mom remembers when she was a little girl, in Jacksonville, and used to sneak over to the neighbors and they'd come looking for her and find her bobbing up and down on the shoulders of the neighbor sucking on a stalk of sugar cane. 

Our Soldier

I spoke to Erica on the skype. She was very excited to get a Christmas card from a kid back home. It's true those cards kids make for soldiers over seas do mean a lot. Even though she was so far away, thanks to skype we were able to visit with her. We miss her so much and are praying for her every day.

Merry Christmas to everyone can't wait for New Years!!

Tis' the season.

We have been busy, busy, busy. And we still have to go shopping for Xmas. Ugh. Time is just passing at unrealistic speeds. I see other people getting so much done. Buying presents, sending cards that have some special meaning. I'm just lucky if I get any cards out at all. If you haven't got yours there is still time. Right now I'm baking cookies. The sad thing is I started at 11:00am and it's after 5:00pm. I did one batch of bag cookies, 3 different kinds and it took all day. They weren't even from scratch cookies. I just don't understand it.




Veronica and I baking



 We did get over to the Venetian Gardens to see the light display. It's always some thing special and sort of a tradition.

 





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That's Veronica at the door.



We did get the tree decorated.

We are thinking of Erica as she is garding our country in the Army and not going to be able to be with us for Xmas.We love you Erica.

Thanksgiving



Mom



We had a great Thanksgiving. Mom and Karen stopped by and we all pigged out all day long. As usual it was more than my Mom's delicate stomach could take and she got a little sick from it but lately everything she eats upsets her stomach. She likes that spicy food despite what it does to her and was eating bar-b-qed lil smokies with Italian sausages and short ribs that she made in the slow cooker. They were good but her stomach didn't like it. She also may have eaten some habanero BBQ almonds that she brought just for us. Then we served her some bodacious onion dip that had horseradish in it that probly didn't help. She also brought some fish dip that was mostly fishy but also spicy. Not to mention all the good thanksgiving foods. To yummy for her to take.







 Me checking on the bird.

I belive in dirtying all the dishes at thanksgiving or at least that always seems to be what happens. Usually I start off cooking and washing each dish as I go then I realize I'm in over my head and call in Chris, my husband the pro, who comes out and saves the diner but destroys the whole kitchen in the process.

This year I had a bottle of spiced wine that I picked up when I was in Kansas. We mulled it with some oranges and cinnamon sticks in a pot on the back of the stove and the aroma was fantastic. But we also had to have a taste of it and turns out I like warm wine.






Erica, Mary(me), and Veronica

We all tried to spend as much time with Erica as possible because she is leaving Monday for Korea and we wont get to see her for two years. She is excited about visiting a new culture and seeing a different part of the world but with all the bad news coming out of Korea lately we are all on edge about it. 





 Since there were only a few of us this year we used the good dishes and crystal. The table looked great. The turkey got carved before I could get a good picture of it. Mom made a sweet potatoe pie with raisons and pecans in it that was fantastic I had to wait a few hours after dinner before I could eat it. 

Evan the dog was passed out after ward. That turkey sure was good and the leftovers are going to be even better! Shortly after this picture Erica and some friends got ready to do black Friday. They were going out shopping with the plan that they would not stop until they were tottaly broke or dead tired.

The Yearling Trail

The Yearling (Aladdin Classics)

We finally got out and hiked the Yearling trail located in the Ocala national forest. It was  where the town that inspired Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings book The Yearling was located. They also filmed some of the movie out there too. But all of it is long since gone. After only about 100 years of occupation by humans the area was left to the elements in 1935. In 1933 the Author stayed with the last two living residents and was so inspired by their isolated and different way of life she wrote her book. So we set out to find the home stead of that last resident. Calvin Long. I borrowed these pictures for you.  



Calvin Long



Rawlings



When we got to the trail head they were out of maps to take along with us and we didn't really study the large map on the sign. We just set out. So when we came to the first fork in the road we stayed straight when we should have turned and ended up going around the trail backwards.



Chris trying to decide which way to go.

When we got half way around we decided to turn back to find a bathroom. If only we knew we were exactly half way and could have kept going and it would have circled back. Oops. We never got to find that homestead. But it was a nice walk. The dog was not happy with it. There were a lot of stickers and he has sensitive feet. We ended up carrying him most of the way. When he insisted on walking he would get a sticker in his foot and we would have to stop and pick them out. It was awful for him. He was crying real tears. He wanted so much to run wild and be like a real hound dog. But like I said we carried him most of the way. I think it was a little embarrassing for him.



along the trail

There had been a fire and you could see that most of the trees were burned on the bottoms. But it was still  just like the sign had said, an island in a sea of palmettos. Apparently there are areas of fertile and moist land in the middle of a desert scrub area. The town was suppose to be located in an area known as Pat's island it was so named after the mail man. . So when we finally got to the patch of trees we knew we were close. We found the old family cemetery up on a hill surrounded by a picket fence. It was very peaceful. I would hope that the ancestors that, I have who have a grave yard I've never seen but I imagine to be similar to this, is taken care of by the odd passer by. I am told it is located on waste land in Palatka somewhere but am not sure exactly where.  Some day hopefully I'll be able to hike out and see it. 



 confederate soldier. A Long.



died 1909



It was perfect hiking weather, dry and not too hot. And the sky was just as blue as it is in all these pictures. We also got to see the cistern (reservoir used to hold rain water) that the family got it's water from. It was full of dirt and weeds and looked as though it hadn't been used since 1900. We made quite a bit of noise in case there were in bears in the area so we didn't see too many wild things, a snake and a few hawks, but we did see a lot of deer scat on the trail and what we thought was possibly bear or maybe wild hog scat.

Basically we did make a few discoveries and it was good to get out and see Florida the way it's first settlers and Native Americans must have seen it. Some times it is intirely necessary to get away from the rush of everyday life and be one with nature.



Chris and Reese's on the trail



Twin Lake Park

First of all, I'd like to say thank you to all the veterans out there. With out you we would not have anything.

Today Veronica and I took Reese's for a walk around one of our local parks. It has a very nice bridge that walks out over the lakes, which are more like swamp.  While on the bridge we startled a flock of ibis that flew to the middle of the lake.

 Soon we came right up close to this white egret. He didn't seem to mind us at all until Reese's took a run at him.

He posed for a few pictures before jumping in with the rest of the birds. I wish I had a better picture to show the difference in size between the ibis and egret. Also the egret was a lot more snowy white. I guess the ibis were digging in the mud more.

After the bridge the path winds around to this beautiful oak canopy.The ground was covered in acorns so thick that it was hard to actually see the dirt. I'm sure the squirrels were storing them as fast as they could for the coming winter.

Part way round there is this one oak tree that forms a perfect hammock with one of it's branches to take a break in. So of course we stopped.

There are lots of palm trees here. Some were planted when the park was established but most are natural. Originally a good portion of this park was covered with palmetto bushes and the lakes were not even accessible. but now there is a great play ground.



I did a little photo editing here.

We love coming to the park and I know the dog likes it too. We always find something interesting and new.

October!

Fall is in the air finally. It's so nice almost perfect temperature wise but we haven't had rain in about 21 days so every one's grass is turning brown. If we don't get rain soon we will be under fire watches. Not that we are planing to have any fires.

PFC Erica

We celebrated Oktoberfest the beginning of the month at my Aunt Patty's the last night of Erica's visit. She brought two of her friends from the army with her. I don't think they slept the whole time they were here. Erica ran them all over showing them the sites. The springs, the beach, night clubs. I hope they had fun. The last night they were in town the whole family got together at Aunt Patty's even some family I hadn't seen since I was about five. Everyone brought a German dish to share. Lots of cabbage/sauerkraut was consumed. I think everyone had fun. We brought different German beers for everyone to sample. We even brought a pumpkin beer.


Sweet Potatoes



Sweet Potatoes





I harvested my sweet potatoes today. The vine had died back and with the dry weather, I figured it was time. I was so sad to find only four tiny potatoes. The vine had grown so lush and beautiful. And then to top it off they all had been bitten by a very fat, now dead, grub worm.  I hear in some countries people eat the grubs. Yuk! We have found quite a few grubs in our garden and they are all so disgusting. I plan on finding ways of getting rid of them.

I also have been growing a gator pear. For those of you not from Florida that would be a Florida avocado or slimcado depending on what store your shopping at. They are actually way more healthy than their southern cousins, the Hass, and you eat them when they are green not black. I got the seed a couple of months ago and kept it wet. I thought it had rotted when I noticed it had roots so I went ahead and put it in a pot and said "it will undoubtedly die there", but no, it lives. So now it is in it's much larger pot and I'm hoping for alligator pears for my salads in a year or two.  I was reading it could take 8 to 20 years. I'm going to have to read up on them to see if I can rush it along. I hope it's not like an orange and needs a graft to get fruit. We will see. It could be an interesting tree anyway.

Alligator Pear

Just hanging around the house.

I know I'm always saying I'm going to get the hang of this blog thing and someday have tons of readers and make loads of money but.... I just forget to post stuff. Well here is my latest post about what's going on:

 Recently my sister came down to Florida all the way from that far off land called Kansas. Which is a lot like Florida with out trees. It's flat and you can't trust the weather. But we have beaches! And forest and swamps to play in so it make it better here. She stayed with my Aunt who also lives in central Florida. So we were pretty busy running back and forth, shoping, swimming at my Aunts, we had a bar-b-q and in general had a great time

Brother in-law with sister at Aunts house.

I was at the grocery store the other day and needed some dry oregano but my usual brand (the cheeper one) wasn't there. So I looked in the "mexican isle" (that's what my uncle calls it) cause some times you can find good spices there for less, but no. Not there either. They did have the more expensive fancey brand so I bought that, then I started worrying that there was some sort of oragano shortage. Like a pest ate it all or there was a blight. I don't know. So I came home and harvested most of my fresh oragano. I did notice some bug had laid eggs in its leaves, so I picked those leaves off. I got quite a big harvest form my one little plant and now I'm drying it by hanging it over my stove. I don't know how I would cook with out oragano. It goes in just about everything I cook.

We finally got some figs off our tree. Yes, we got jumpy and harvested them early, not all of them, just a taste.  Mmmm.... figs. It's been so dry and the tree is young so it's been sucking up a lot of water. Chris didn't water it one day and the leaves started turning yellow. But... we gave it a little water and now it's making more figs. These figs are really big but so far they aren't all that sweet but that could be because we picked them a little early. I've heard fig jam is really good so if I get enough ripe at the same time I might try making some.