Christmas

Christmas vacation started out with a bang. My family had a "we are all still here" party. You know after the world didn't end per the Mayan calendar.

The gang gathered around talking.

We brought our signs that we no longer needed to protest the end, since it didn't end. And we also brought wrapped toilet paper. You know cause all our money was spent on Armageddon supplies and that's all we had to give for gifts, as a joke. It was a lot of fun and a good theme for a party.

Here we are warning people but we were wrong.

Since the world didn't end we decided to go ahead and decorate for Christmas.

The tree came out good.

Then husband did it. He invited all his family to Christmas dinner. With one swoop he was on the phone making  calls, organizing things and before I could question the ability to squeeze 30 people into our house, all at the same time, they were all coming. I must say I was in a state of panic but husband, being him, pulled it off.  Ham was good, food was amazingly good. I think everyone brought a dish or two, so there was a lot of different foods.

mile long table.

Everyone did fit into our house. Who new. I feel like there should be a Doctor Seuss book written about it. They all came big and small. They came with pies, they came with turkeys, they came with stars in their eyes. There were games played and talks, talked about even old photos shared. A good time was had by all, all that cared. Oh well, I'm no Dr. Seuss!

Snowman cheese ball

 We had  lot's of snacks. Balls and weenies and I made a couple of cheese balls. Even one that looked like a snow man. People brought cookies and candies and chips and dip. Just before we were too full of snacks The ham and turkey was done and we feasted like there was never going to be food again.


Some people sitting around the table before dinner.

People began spilling out onto the back porch where there was a rousing hand of poker played until the mosquitoes decided to join the party. Others went for a long walk and still others relaxed after dinner by watching the game or playing games. I hope everyone had fun we did.


It's as if he knew my husband.

Hope every one had a Merry Christmas and I can't wait for New Years Eve!


 

 

 

Mom's birthday

Mom reading the birthday card we got her.

We went to Mom's house to celebrate her birthday with her. We found her baking some of her famous cookies that she makes every year. At this time of year she is a cookie making machine. Snow balls, fruit cake cookies, man oatmeal cookies (cause mostly men like them and women know she added to much baking powder), thumb print cookies, sugar cookies all kinds, all varieties and a new one almost every year.  I can't ever get the exact recipes for all her cookies but I did get the one for the snow balls. They are called pecan sandies when she makes them any other time of the year.

Snow balls being made.

While they were baking I slipped out back and picked some muscadine vine to make a wreath with. Mom's yard would be over taken with them if we didn't cut them back every now and then. You just wind them up and when they dry they are just like an expensive grape vine wreath you'd buy at the craft store.



Wreath I made.

Husband had some fun with the wreath. He said it's the closest he'll ever get to being an angel.

My angel.
 

Mom had planted a sweet potato vine that also grew like crazy. So we volunteered to dig them up for her. She had vines everywhere.


There were sweet potatoes all over.

We suddenly started seeing large bull ants while digging. So the dig for the potatoes ended and the search for their nest started. We found them inside of an old stump. We cracked it in half and sadly killed them all. They are known for eating houses. They can get into any kind of crease and have been found in peoples walls.


Dead bull ants at Mom's house.

Mom was fighting these guys for some time. I hope we found their true nest and they wont be giving her a problem any more.

Preferred ant killer of Gramme's everywhere.

She did end up with a nice little crop of potatoes but I know there were more down there with that giant vine she had.

Sweet potatoes

One last picture from Mom's... she is trying to propagate purple pepper plants. So far no luck on the peppers but she has a few plants growing with no flowers. And only the one with flowers and a couple of black purple peppers but they are small. Very pretty ornamental pepper.

Mom's unusual variety of purple pepper.



The Copper Pot

Thanks giving in my family is always been a time when what ever family is available gets together. I remember when I was a child having a huge gathering with all my aunts and cousins out in California. There was never a focus on Pilgrims and Thanksgiving. It was always about being with family. Since our family was already in Florida, as they floated over with Ponce De Leon in 1513 and the Mayflower didn't land till 1620, the whole Thanksgiving story doesn't really apply and perhaps that is the reason why it was not celebrated in the way it was portrayed on TV by the people up north who were descendants of Pilgrims. We were already here before pilgrims. It is still a good idea to be thankful for what you've got but it's always been more of reunion time.

The buttery bird for 2012

It's wonderful to get together with family members you never see. Second cousins and distant relatives. To listen to the stories of the old days and what the family used to be like. You never know what bit of information that is interesting that you might hear. You hear stories you've been told but didn't quit believe and then find they were told the exact same stories. You might learn about the family history.

Cheese ball after I made it look like a turkey.

This year there was a lot of talk about a restaurant that my Great Grandmother owned up in Jacksonville located near the rear entrance of the navel base. It was called the Copper Pot or Copper Kettle not exactly sure on that. Apparently the restaurant has been converted into a house but there is still a big old copper pot out in front, from the days when it was a restaurant. I learned that one relative or another at some time or other bought the property only to be suprised to find they were a distant relative to the previous owner. My Mother and Aunt told tails of running around at the restaurant when they were younger. The big dance floor and the big kitchen area. They remember fondly an old fig tree that grew around the back and my grandmother becoming upset, when she was pregnant with one of my aunts, because she couldn't have chicken gizzards.  This was a home cooking place that served such food as turtle soup. I remember my grandmother saying something about turtle soup and I always thought she meant sea turtles but I know most turtle soup, from talking to people who's families are from Florida, was made from gopher tortoise  that are now endangered. In Louisiana they use snapping turtles for soup. I would imagine a lot of the family recipes and ingenuity for new recipes came the menus served at that restaurant. Turtle is definitely a meat that has escaped the palate of modern man. I have heard tails of people eating it in Louisiana and saying it was the best thing they ever ate.

My grandmother used to say "your all full of the dickens" and look... here is where I get it, from my mom. Here she is sneaking the whip cream.

It's sad that the old  culture here in Florida is all but gone and it is only in listening to these old stories that we learn about it and who we are and where we come from. Or we will have to read about what others say our culture is and what type of food we eat in Southern Living magazines and you can never get a full picture or find out exactly why things were done a certain way from that.

Yep there's a little dickens in all of us. Here is my Aunt waiting for everyone else to be seated so she can eat.

Thanks Giving Cheese Balls

This year for Thanksgiving we are going to my Aunts house. It's the first time in about fourteen years we haven't hosted the big day, so it's exciting for us this year to let some one else make the turkey and deal with the dreaded clean up. We are tasked with glazed carrots and cheese balls and rolls. They didn't have the flavor of ball I wanted, when I went to the store, so I decided to make my own since the recipe was so easy. I think they came out pretty good but we wont know for sure till we take them to my Aunts house.

 We also had to have nuts in the shell. I don't know why you can only get nuts in the shell at Thanksgiving time  but they are always a sign of the season at my house. They remind me of my grandfather and discussing which nuts are the best and what the names of the nuts were and where each nut can be found. It's strange the small things that remind you of long past relatives. Each Thanksgiving food reminds me of some one special to me.

And a pomegranate cause they are good. When I was a child in California we used to get them fresh from a neighbors tree. They were a real stolen treasure since the neighbor never new that they had given them to us. The little red jewels found inside were better than candy. I always imagined I'd have  a crown with jewels in it the color of those seeds.


Cheese balls all done and wrapped up ready for the feast.
 

Every one always discusses what they are thankful or grateful for at Thanksgiving and people seem to appreciate the small things in their lives just a little more. I guess I'm no different because even though I can't be with everyone I want to be with, I sure am thankful for the ones I will be with.



November

November starts the dry season here in Florida and so far the weather is beautiful. Much cooler and definitely dry. Normally I would be worried about how much extra water it will take to keep the garden alive but this year we only planted a few tomatoes and only one egg plant.


The harvest this morning.

What we did plant is growing like crazy! Lot's of little tomatoes and a few bigger ones. Even the egg plant is loaded with flowers.

Egg plant flowers

Already have two big egg plant.

Beautiful bunch of tomatoes.

Can't wait for Husband to make eggplant Parmesan with all fresh ingredients.

October!

October is always full of perils for me. So... I usually dread it. This October is no different. If I can just make it through this month I know I will last the rest of the year. Every October some one gets sick, the car brakes down, some one gets mad at me, the house falls apart, doom, destruction and more.
 Just in case I got the cars looked at.  Don't know why but usually the car brakes down. Actually my brakes were pretty bad and the solenoids had to get replaced too. And  Husbands truck had something wrong with the cooling sensor so every time he went to start the old thing, it flooded and would not start. If my car had broke down, we would have really been in a pickle. So we headed that off, because for sure I was doomed. I gambled that it would be cheaper to get the work done than risk getting in an accident because of brake failure. But now I'm a little strapped for cash which is not good cause my pay is destined to take a hit soon. But that's life one minute your on top of the world, the next, bam, something slaps you right in the face and knocks you back down. Just cause it always happens to me in October doesn't mean that it's that weird. I figure as long as I keep getting back up I'm OK. And after October things always seem to turn around.

So we decided to start the month with a real German dinner. You know October fest.  Plum glazed sausages, boiled red potatoes, and blaukraut. I plan to post the sausage recipe on the recipe site.
It was something new that we had never made before I liked it but the kid thought it was too sweet for sausage and the husband disliked it completely. I think it would have been good if the sausages were bar-b-qued. The blau kraut was really good and the recipe was posted in a previous post to the recipe site.
 I hope every one hangs in there and makes it through October or at least until candy day. Cause with a sack full of candy who cares what problems you've got.

Turtle

My Puppy thought this was a new kind of dog and tried very hard to smell it's butt.

Eventually he got board and went looking for something more interesting.

He found some honey suckle in bloom.

 

He found some lizards hiding in the four o' clocks.

 

 

Four o'clock's bloom in the morning and in the evening when the light is low.



He decided he was going to sit here until I pulled all the weeds.

Hurricane Preparedness.

Two more storms on the way the big orange blob by Africa doesn't look friendly.

Is preparedness a real word? It doesn't sound like it. HUNKER DOWN! If you were here for the big five hurricanes you hate me now for that.
 Well, it's hurricane season again and we've got another hurricane with it's sites set on Florida. Well, just left of Florida. Are you prepared? They get people worked up so bad on the TV "We don't want to have what we had in New Orleans." "Be sure you have a three day supply of water and food and flash lights and bla, bla, bla. Over and over again.

Hurricane supplies. That's right we are going to drink the rum. Or some of it.

Truth is here in the smack center of the state a Cat 1 hurricane is more like an afternoon thunderstorm that is off and on all day for a day or two. And what you need to stock up on... well if you buy your supplies now you wont have to worry about them later when a bigger storm comes.
Some people had to go a week or two with no electricity during the big five but that was just pockets of people that were in hard to get to places. Most stores have back up generators now so they can be up and running as soon as their employees can show up for work. If your elderly you may want to plan on getting a hotel for a few days to avoid the heat.  You could try one of those generators but unless you have a really big one they aren't going to be able to run an air conditioner and a refrigerator and a television. So you may want get ready to ruff it out. Here is what you will really need.

1. Alternative light: sure flash lights work great for porting to the potty but for sitting around playing cards you are better off with a hurricane lamp. They will stay lit for ever with out having to refill the oil and are a lot cheaper in the long run. 
2. Games, books and things to do with out the T.V. 
3. Alternative cooking method: We just bar b qued for a couple of days. We kept the meat cold with ice in the cooler and then cooked it all at once so it would stay fresh longer. Worked good.
4. Water: We stocked up on the drinking water but forgot to fill our tub. We were on a well and with no electricity there is no water. We were prepared for water contamination and had plenty of bottled water but the big problem was a lack of toilet flushing water. We ended up going to the local grocery store with our big jugs and they filled them with water from the sink in the back.
5. Gas: I never plan on going any where but you never know so I always fill the car up just in case and then at least I don't have to later. Also the gas trucks wont come for a while after the roads are clear. Here in Florida if the hurricane hits the Gulf side sometimes they close the refinery and gas is hard to come by for a couple of days.
6. Bread: I'd stock up on bread and in fact I have. After the hurricanes the bread was sold out for days. The trucks can't run for a few days till the roads are clear so you have to make due with what the store has and I think everyone around here must have lived on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Cause it was sold out for about a week after the hurricane.
7. Food that does not require refrigeration: You want to be sure to have enough snack foods. Crackers, chips, cookies. We also get dried fruit, granola bars and some canned meat mostly tuna, and sardines. Maybe a canned ham. And then we can always donate it to a homeless person or shelter after hurricane season if it doesn't get eaten. Duh! can opener to go with the food.
8. Toilet paper: Just because.
9. Ice: of course.
10.  Clean up materials.  Ax or Chainsaw, Rakes, hedge clippers, big black bags.

New toy!

 This year I got a weather radio. It is also a siren, an AM/FM radio, a flash light, and a cell phone charger. It has a USB port. It is also powered by rechargeable batteries that collect electricity by cranking it or by solar power. It has a solar charge panel. So you can just put it in the sun for a day. No cranking at all. It also has a spot to put head phones and a place to attach a regular plug.

But after I got it home I found out you have to insert the rechargeable batteries to keep it charged but the screw on the battery hatch was very small requiring me to go out an buy screw drivers. Always test all your supplies like radios, chainsaws, and generators before the hurricane so you are sure how they work when you need them.


New screw drivers.

You will also want to have first aid supplies on hand. One year during one of the hurricanes, between the waves of rain, my mothers neighbor climbed a tree(100ft high) to saw off the top before the whole tree fell on another neighbors house. A large gust of wind blew and he flew right out of the tree. Luckily his chainsaw was unharmed but he suffered a broken arm. Ambulances and police weren't running so he had to tough it out until the storm let up. (Note to self: put more aspirin in the first aid kit)

After the hurricane everyone always pitches in and helps everyone out. It only takes a few days around here to clear the roads and pick up debris.  Blue tarps show up every where I don't know where people were getting them. I think they were giving them out free last hurricane. Of course,  major repair jobs take longer to clean up. Like trees on houses and roofs ripped up. But in general people came out right after the storm. During the big five people came out every time a band cleared. We picked up the tree branches, sawed down the ones that looked like they were falling then fled back inside till the next wave of wind and rain came. Of course I'm not recommending anyone go out in a storm. And if you climb a tree be prepared to get blown out of it.

 We have had to evacuate before and then drive back as soon as possible. Of course you have your car all packed with stuff to take with you, that's a whole other list. One important thing you want to check for, if you plan to evacuate, is keeping good tires on your car. This year we will be hunkering down at home and my tires are bald as can be. The main threat in driving after a storm  is always a chance of downed power lines. The power companies will cut power to some areas because of the live lines on the ground but that is no garantee the line is dead even days later it may have power to it and is deadly. My best advice is steer clear of them. We have had to drive over a few downed lines but I'm sure the power was probably cut to them. It's super dangerous. Also you want to be careful of debris after the storm. There  maybe some wind causing branches, leaves and stuff  to be still blowing around. Also flooded areas: it may look like a shallow puddle and then be really deep. Rule of thumb there are no traffic lights all lights become a four way stop. Even when green because the lights tend to get all screwy and blink what ever color. Use caution at all intersections. I know a lot of people want to drive around and look at the damage in there neighbor hood. My best suggestion is walking but then you have to be careful of displaced animals so take a big stick.

Oh yeah and don't get too smashed at the hurricane party or the next day when you have to do all that clean up it will be no fun.

Wild Boar attack

Every morning I walk my dog around the house. Well, this morning just as we were about to go back inside we came upon a wild boar standing between us and the front door. At first I thought it was a pet of one of my neighbors. It was black with fluffy fur all over no bald spots and it even had a beautiful long fuzzy tail. I clapped and shouted at it but it just stood it's ground and looked at us as if it wanted to eat us.

Sus scrofa, is the name of Florida wild hogs.

Soon I noticed it had tusk about three inches maybe four inches long and I new right then that I was faced with a giant wild hog. The only thing I know about hogs is they have been known to eat people and are very unpredictable and dangerous. I couldn't make it to my front door and I didn't have the car keys to jump in the car. I thought about jumping in the back of my husbands pickup truck but I didn't think I could do it fast enough with out letting go of my dogs leash. So I stood my ground. And yelled for my husband as loud as I could. No one came not even a neighbor. I could be getting murdered and no one would ever know. I backed up against the truck. My faithful dog stood barking between me and the wild beast. 

 All of a sudden it blinked and then came charging at us I thought "this is it I'm going to die" but my little dog, half dachshund half chihuahua, (Chiweenie) morphed into a hound from hell. His fur standing even higher on end, his mouth tripling in size as he went charging toward it jumping up and doing a full body slam against the side of the beast as he bit at it's cheek. The hog was so stunned it gave me time to run like heck to the neighbors house,  dragging my little dog by his choke chain the whole way, I banged furiously on the door. Finally after what seemed an eternity the woman answered. Rubbing her eyes she says "What?" I said "There is a big pig in my yard!" and she looked at me like I was crazy. But when she came and saw it she was like "Oh my what do we do?" The big boar stood staring at us. And I was ready to knock this woman down run past her right in her house. But it decided it had enough of my little dog and just walked away down the road.

Pictures were taken when it came back.

The whole time I though I wish I had my camera. But I was glad to be able to get back to my house. I got my husband who barely believed me. He went out side to see if he could see any thing and sure enough the pig had come back. Just as black and fluffy as can be. So I got the camera and snapped some shots. I was scared to get too close to it after being charged at so that's why the pictures aren't the best. 

 

When I got to work and told my story one of the ladies I work with asked "Did that pig have a fluffy tail?"  Yes it did. I never expected a wild animal to look so nice and fluffy. Well it turns out the same pig was at her house the day before. It attacked her horses and cut a six inch gash into one of them. They hunted it for a while with big hunting dogs but when the dogs had it trapped it bowled right through them and escaped.  I guess I was luckier than I thought. Turns out this boar was very aggressive and had already attacked other animals. I'm glad I called the sheriff and I hope they got it while I was at work. If not I hope it doesn't come back.

Rainbow Springs State Park

After tubing we were all hungry and decided to go to the State Park and cook up some hot dogs.

Husbands enjoying the picnic pavilion.

 We checked out the swimming hole. Everyone decided it looked more like a swimming pool. The water is right out of the spring (you could drink it) and clear and clean as can be with no chlorine needed. The water is deep about 11 to 12  feet and the only way in is to jump. It's about a five foot jump off the dock area into cold 72 degree water. They don't allow plastic floats in the water but you can bring a noodle.

Crystal blue swimming hole.

No one really wanted to take the plunge but be did find a very small area surrounded by weeds and got our feet wet. I was half expecting an alligator to be under the weeds but we didn't see one alligator all day.

This is what the lush green water plants look look like from below.

There was a bunch of fish till we chased them away. But you can still see the one lone fish in the middle.

There is a lot to see and do at Rainbow Springs other than swimming. There are water falls that were built years ago when it was a tourist attraction. They are always so romantic to look at. They have beautiful flowers planted around them and there is always something blooming but the best time to see them is of course the spring.

Romantic photo spot.

The falls go under the walks and the trail meanders around so you can see all of them.

A variety of mosses.

You can see some of the flowers here.

 Some one always tries to climb the falls but it clearly states on a sign that it's not allowed. I bet a climbing wall near here would be a nice addition.

I think this is the largest of the falls.

For some reason they don't advertise it but there is the ruins of an old zoo on the property as well. We imagined there were monkeys and tigers here but probably it was just goats and maybe some horses. Youngest daughter was brave enough to enter one of the cages to see if she could get a clue of what might have been in there but all she found was a big banana spider.

Monkey in a cage.

The only animals living in the zoo now were the spiders and one little squirrel.

Zoo creature!

 Past the zoo area is the butterfly garden. I like this part because of all the native plants they've got that I've never even seen. When I see these for sale I'm going to start collecting them. They are drought tolerant and much better for the environment not to mention my pay check.

Entrance to the butterfly garden.

 Wish I would have taken photo's of the names of the plants because by the time I'm writing this I have no idea what they were.


Not sure what this is but it kind of looks like a pine cone with flowers on it.



Butterfly milk weed.



I think this is beach sunflower.

 After walking around we were all pooped out and ready to go home. Also a summer storm blew in and made sure it was time to go. This is definitely a great place if you like to explore.