Pages

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Halloween - 2010


It's a bit of a disappointment this year.  Halloween, I mean.  Last year was much more awesome.  As evidence:  http://thehaneyplace.blogspot.com/2009/10/halloween-y.html

But our dearest of Miss Nancy's is not with us this year -- and maybe that's why we haven't enjoyed the holiday of chocolates so much.  She's with God now, and the chocolate over yonder is so awe-inspiring that it just shuts us up.

At any rate, the horrors of the night are thus:

  1. We've only had two trick-or-treaters the entire evening, and I believe it's ok to shut the light off now;
  2. Vincent Price has only been emtombed ONCE this evening thus far, so there is death and dismemberment a-plenty in the immediate tv future here at the Haney Place; 
  3. IF YOUR HOUSEMATE IS A SENIOR DOG, you might just be relegated to 1/2 blankie...just sayin...

Saturday, October 23, 2010

After a Break - So Much Stuff - And A Recipe!

We haven't blogged for a while.  It's just horrendously busy these days.  In addition to bringing the garden in (not even done yet), we decided to CLEAN OUT a room.  I decided, after watching several episodes of Hoarders, that there was hoarding potential here at the Haney Place.  So we dragged everything out of the Office (really, our closet).  You see, this house is so old, that these old bedrooms don't come with closets.  So we turned one of our bedrooms into a walk-in closet.  Only problem was, we couldn't walk in anymore.  Suffice it to say, it is now an awesome walk-in closet, dressing room, put on your makeup, do what you need to do to get ready for the day kind of room.  And the Salvation Army received from us, earlier in the week, a whopping 140 garments from our house!!  Awesome.

So...anyway...today was Saturday.  So Stiva picked a babka bowl full of brussels sprouts, peppers (bell & jalapeno) and even a lovely red cabbage.  I cooked a bunch of brussels sprouts, and we really enjoyed them for dinner tonight.  Even James, who ate and even swallowed a whole 1/2 brussels sprout...bless his heart!  Tonight we had a nice simmered ham shank, butternut squash, and brussels sprouts w/hot bacon dressing.

So....Big Steve got the antique roto-tiller working again, after weeks of parts replacement and a lot of loving care.  And then he proceeded to pick said babka bowl full of brussels sprouts/peppers/red cabbage.  How beautiful is this?????  I ask you???


We cooked some with a hot bacon dressing for supper tonight, and this is all that is left:



Seriously -- that picture is so pretty, I can't believe I took it of my own brussels sprouts (that Steve grew)...  I'll share the hot bacon dressing at the very end.

I'm sure there is really a hard killing frost in our future, however, for now, the tomatoes, collard greens, black beans and peppermint are safe for now.  Once they are all in, one way or another, we'll begin blogging about Christmas baking/presents to put away for December.

And now, as we promised, the hot bacon dressing:

1/2 lb. good (really good) bacon, cooked crisp (reserve the bacon fat in the pan)
a bit of brown sugar (a fat spoonful or two)
1/2 c. cider vinegar
a fat tablespoon of fresh horseradish
salt and pepper (nice wet sea salt and freshly ground pepper ) to taste
one fat onion, finely chopped

Cook the bacon in a skillet till it's all crispy.  Take out the bacon and drain it, and leave the fat in the skillet.

Add everything else, and simmer till it's all really nice.  Sorry, this is the best instruction I can give you.

Pour the whole hot mess over the hot, cooked brussels sprouts.

Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!




Monday, October 11, 2010

What I'm Thankful For - Via Joradn

I'm telling you right now, close the browser window and walk away if you are tender hearted.

If you are still reading, brace yourself.  My daughter has a dog.  The dog's name is Joradan.  She's my granddaugger.  My first "grandchild".  Actually, I take much of the credit for potty training this little lady.  And I am not a racist, but Jordan has behaved so.  She really does respond violently to black folks!  Can't say why -- especially since she is jet black herself.  But on more than one occasion she has been a real jacka$$ to black folks.  There is simply no explanation.  This means nothing other than stating Jordan's fleshly self.

(Jordan is the one on the left, God love her...)



But back to the story.  Stephanie rescued Jordan (with my entire blessing) several years ago, while Stephanie was still a high school student and living under my roof.  She lived with us all a short time, then Stephanie went off on her own and took dear Jordan (my granddaugher) with her.  They have been inseparable ever since.

Lately, Jordan's behavior has been erratic, to say the least.  Stef took her to the vet, and the answer is that Jordan's mammary growths (cancer) have spread to her lungs and to her brain.  The vet gave Stef a life expectancy today of  2 weeks to 2 months - the end of November at best.

So ok, we love Jordan.  We have been loving Jordan.  She is our dear one, our sweet heart.  We hate to lose her -- we don't know if we can handle being without her.  I am concerned about how Stephanie will handle being without her.  At least for a while, till the hurt is less new and raw.

But today's x-ray told us something else.  Someone (we think we know who) had shot Jordan with bb's.  Seriously.  It's in there, on the x-ray.  Someone shot her for sport.  A cocker spaniel.  Man's best friend.  An angel.  A 20 pound wonder.  Someone shot her.  On purpose.

Words fail me.

Words fail me.

So.....deep breath.....

Jordan is a wonder of joy, energy, curiosity, willfulness, you name it.  She, like most dogs, lives in the moment.  Stephanie has given her love and care and joy for years now.  Jordan and Stephanie are like ying and yang.  They complete each other.  Stephanie will no doubt be at a huge loss when Jordan passes.  But at least she has a bit of time to prepare herself.

And Stephanie is like Jordan -- full of love and zest and life -- she will be fine -- after a while.

But what about the one who had to shoot a dog?  What about that?  What kind of life is a dog-shooter living?  Could they know God?  Do they know God?  Again -- words fail me!

Dear Heavenly Father -- thank you SO MUCH for the love and mercy you shower upon us each and every day.  THANK YOU for your grace and for showing us goodness and plenty and bounty in this earthly life every day that we wake up and our feet touch the floor.  THANK YOU for our families and our friends and for your total acceptance of us just as we are -- not worthy of you and yet, you love us.  Dear Father -- PLEASE touch the heart of the person who did this -- wherever they were in their earthly walk back then, Father -- please show them your grace and mercy and show them the love of your salvation, through Christ Jesus, Amen!

Thank you Lord.

And this is why I praise God tonight.

I told you not to read........

Sunday, October 10, 2010

What I'm Thankful For -- A Good Dog!!!

All my life I've had a good dog (whether or not my mother thought they were good dogs).  A good dog will guard you and your property, and put a serious hurt on a threat to either.  Now, I'm not talking about pit bulls, or trained attack dogs, I'm just talking about a good dog.  Any breed, doesn't matter.  Small, medium, or large.  Pure breed or mixed.  It really doesn't matter.  I believe with all of my heart that any dog could be an awesome guard dog - the only prerequisite is that they love you to pieces.  Which is impossible to avoid if you just love them to pieces first.  But wait a minute - mirror image - God loved us to pieces before we were born -- do we love Him to pieces?  How often?  Seriously???  I'm thinking the dogs have us all beat here on this one...but I digress....

So....I'm talking tonight about being THANKFUL for the knowledge of what a good dog means to me.  A good dog is the image of what every Christian ought to aspire to.  Obedient - cheerful - and a servant till their dying day.  I can't even imagine being more faithful to my Lord than my good dogs have been to me.  They are a life lesson from God, not to mention a blessing in that they are the best friend you could ever know.

All that being said -- I observed Mr. Tuffy in Theo's old space, looking very much like Theo did in the few months preceding his decease.  I looked at Tuffy, and his look said "I am SO TRYING to be your best dog, but Heaven help me, I am just soooooooooooooooooooooooo tired".  God love him, he is.  And he was and is still the best faithful servant anyone ever had the privilege of knowing.  And a life lesson, to boot.  Thank you Lord, for the blessing of a good dog!!!





Saturday, October 9, 2010

October 9, 2010 -- What I'm Thankful For

I think that, aside from what I'm doing and cooking and whatever, I need to focus on what I'm thankful for.  It's REALLY easy to bitch and moan and complain.  There is no end to that.  But every day, henceforth, I'm going to think about what I'm thankful for and dwell upon that.

So today -- the main thing is this -- the day.  Just the day.  It was an exquisite October day.  In the 60s, clear, brightly blue, with the reds, oranges and yellows of the fall mixed into the background.  Gorgeous.  Thank you so much, dear Lord!  After a week of dark and grey and rain -- your Glory!!!


At any rate, it was a real toss-up today.  I could have been thankful for my kind, industrous, insightful, ingenious husband, who expertly trimmed my mother's new kitchen window that he installed last week.  I don't know, but I think the beauty of God's day cleared and influenced his thinking, so I think the day trumps his awesome, wonderful, loving work.

I also could have been thankful for the wonderful, marvelous, gluten-free (and therefore safe!) meal we had at 99 restaurant after the work was done, courtesy of Nonnie, and my tummy is still full now at 9:15 p.m.  Thank you Lord for your many blessings!!!

I could also be thankful for the mother who adopted me as a little homeless waif, so many years ago, and did the job of raising this challenge of a strong willed child into adulthood, and hopefully, today, I am a part of the answer, not a part of the problem, due to the strength, intelligence and love of a woman who found herself responsible for me due to Divine intervention, in answer to her youthful prayers.  Thank you, and HAPPY 86th BIRTHDAY, dearest of Nonnies.  (HUGE smiles here from me).

At any rate, I am taking a vow to abstain from reading the news (and if you know my life, you know what a sacrifice this is) and spend my mental energy of each day on what I have to be thankful for that day.  Maybe I should change the name of this blog to "The Thankfulness Blog".  Just sayin'.....

Sunday, October 3, 2010

A Turkey Dinner - But First, BREAKFAST!!!

So tonight, we're having a turkey dinner.  Turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy, you get the picture. 



But that's not were today went.

Today, we took the last remining Haney tomatoes and mixed them with Nonnie's last remaining tomatoes and made a pot of sauce:


So you take your garden fresh tomatoes, add some italian seasoning and fresh garlic, and simmer all day long while you do other stuff.

And then, you think about breakfast.  So we did 1 1/2 dozen english muffins  (sausage/egg/cheese sandwiches)



And we can cook about a dozen egg sandwich eggs at a time:


We also did some wraps -- we do the bacon in the oven:



And put it in those wraps:



Take that danged blasted tortilla, lay down some cheese and some meat (we used bacon here today, but you use ham, bacon, hash, whatever you have):


And before you know it, you've got a freezer full of breakfast.  Haney style!!



Maybe it doesn't sound like much to you.  But to me, it's breakfast time peace for several weeks  And you can't put a price on that.

Today's count:

18 sausage/egg/cheese/english muffins
20 bacon/egg/cheese wraps
20 french toasts breakfasts (texas toast style)