EARLY CHRISTMAS

we celebrated christmas early due to work schedules so our christmas was on tues...started the day off with breakfast of course then i took care of the turkey and got it ready for the oven put it in with the timer so that was all set...i had my last visit to the PT and then a dr's appt after so i gave some cooking assignments to the gang that were still at home...lar went with me as he wanted to hear what the dr had to say about my right knee...pt went well  and i was at 124 as far as range of motion goes and she was happy so if she was happy i was also...off to the dr's to see the NP which we like...talked about the knee and she says it looks great again if they are happy so am i..but we then discussed the other knee which has not been doing so good lately...got a shot of cortizone in it to get me thru the winter  as of right now the left one is on the books for replacement when we return back home...

all the kids we anxious for us to get back home  as we had said presents could be opened up then...not sure who was more anxious the old g/kids or lisa...so that done with much fun and laughter it was time for dinner...everything was done and i must say delicious but then i cooked it...

carl-tricia-belle-mellissa left on wed about 8am and lisa and andy stayed thru till thurs and they were on their way by 3ish...so now the house is quiet and we are beginning to think about packing up the rig to get ut of town...we are looking at say jan 3rd unless the weather tells us different then we may change our plans a wee bit...but that's ok we leave ourselves some lea-way time..

hoping you all had a very merry christmas and you will enjoy the winter as we hope too....

 grand parents and great grandparents

 lisa decided to top off the wood rack a job just "loved" doing as a child hahahahaha...she sure surprised us by doing to chore...we almost fainted.....

ADVENTURE TIME

we had family arrive on sunday before christmas to start celebrating the holiday...due to working schedules and having to get a 4 year old back to her fathers we celebrated christmas early..so on monday while i was making pies lar took them to the firehouse..then a lunch and then a ride around town..to see the sights of town..not that they haven't seen them before but we like to check the sights out ourselves...off the the falls----sapsucker woods---more falls and back home...

lisa and andy arrived later in the day...with a big pan of lasagne so it was a good day

THANKSGIVING 2014

 this year we did something different for thanksgiving...our granddaughter now works as a cook/chef for the salvation army in watertown and we decided in order to have a family holiday together it made sense for us to go to watertown and help out serving dinner there...so we did exactly that...

arrived on wed and of course it was late in the day so all the prep work had already been done but we needed to report at 8 the next morning to get our assignments...arrived on time and was told we had to put on those beautiful hats (next time we will wear baseball caps)..off to the kitchen we went first to help make a fruit salad when that was done lar started doing dishes and i started to help cut up the turkey that had been cooked the day before..between 25 and 30 had beeen cooked...lots of hands making mashed potatoes--gravy---squash--cutting pies and  cakes...lots of stuff needing to be done in time to start serving at 11...

as most of you know when preparing a big dinner the worry is that will it all be ready on time...and of course it always is...not sure how many were served  but last year it was 500...we thought that the ones who came to eat were to go thru a buffet line but no they sat done and were asked by servers what they wanted just like in a restaurant....i think there must have been over 50 or more people who came to help and it worked well...they also do take out dinners and deliver to those who can't get out and at time there were close to 100 of those dinners that were delivered with the phone still ringing so not sure how many were delivered..

the salvation had also gotten alot of donated food that those who wanted could take...bread--produce--pies--etc...so it was a good day..

on friday prisoners from the local jail come to finish the cleaning up mopping floors--taking the tables and chairs down so all in all it is a community event..

we were glad we were part of it..

but guess what NO LEFTOVERS FOR US SO NO TURKEY SANDWICH...oh well that is ok..

life is good..

hope you all had an enjoyable holiday..

OPENING DAY 2014

as some of you know this is the opening day of 2014 deer season with the gun...lar has been out for 2 weeks with his new crossbow and shot on one the last day yesterday but did not connect...

so today he was up bright and early or i should really say it was still dark at 3:30 but he had things to do to get ready not sure what but man things....our friends from the north country are here so it was time to make breakfast and prepare for the morning hunt and discuss where everyone wanted to be in their lucky spots...lar went out back to where there is an old manure spreader..

around 7:20 he shot and got a nice 6 pt...so back to the house he came to get me to take me for a ride in the bulldog to get back to the house....ellie and willis saw several deer but did not get any shots at any...they also saw the big buck that roams around in our mile square...but just watched to old boy..

as  you can tell we have snow on the ground but it isn't gong to last unless we get some more tonight...so tonight  it will be off to the butcher to have it cut up then in a couple of days we will wrap it..

so it appears we won't go hungry this winter and life is good..

24 OUT THIS MORNING

This wa this morning activities at 464..first at 8 nurse eileen arrived then at 9 pt cindy also arrive to put me thru my paces...the first thing to do waas to take out the stitches which wasn't too bad a couple of them might have pulled a wee bit but not unbearable...

all is goi

ng ok...nurse and pt are pleased with my progress so again if they are pleased so am i...lar even got to keep the tool that was used to take them out

SUNDAY MORNING

this morning lar woke up and rolled over to give me my morning kiss and he said just stay put cause i.m going to make you breakfast in bed...of course I didn't want to fight it so I just rolled over for a few more minutes of shut eye...oh I could hear him our in "his" kitchen makes some sort of noise and of course not sure what he was doing I expected just maybe a bowl of cheerios and a cup of coffee...he was taking much longer than I thought he ought to be making cheerios and coffee but I just waited and watch more of the today program...


when the kids were little ne of his most famous breakfasts was an oreo cookie omeette which the girls just loved and ate...I never thought that maybe he was doing that as I KNEW that there were NO  oreo's  in the house but to my surprise this is what he brought me to eat....


now I think he is watching way too much of the food channel mainly chopped...it was very good and he sure did surprise me with breakfast..


now I have graduated to a cane except at night when I get up to go to the bathroom the pt says for safety reason and I must say I agree...now is the swelling would go c=down I'd be much happier...and I do feel/see progress each and every day..


so life is good and getting better

god bless

look close they are decorated different

FIRST ATTEMPT

while we were away this september as at bill and sandy's ---bill did some smoking of fish which got us to thinking about something we had talked about before and that was to buy a smoker....so we did...many many years ago lar made a smoker out of an old fridge which we used for a couple of years but it wasn't all that great..so away that went...we did some looking on line and went into a gander mountian and low and behold there was one just calling us to take it home...so we asked a whole bunch of questions but at the time we were in virginia and it would need to ride in the back of the truck for several hundred miles and who knew what the weather might be like so we knew that there was one outside williamsport , pa and we were going to go that way .so we waited till we got there...of course they had just the one we had been looking at and this one sure was calling take us to take it home

last night was a neighborhood bon-fire which we have often during the summer and that gave us a thought why not try out the smoker and take some smoked vension and wild turkey for  our snack to share..

of course it took a couple of days to pre-plan as the meat had to have a rub and had to sit for at least 24 hrs...so i made one up by dumping this and that in a jar then rubbing it all over the vension and for the wild turkey i marinated it in a secret sauce for 24 hrs....

we figured that it would take at least 2 hrs of smoke and we had planned 2/1/2 hrs and it was perfect...so our first attempt at smoking meat turned out just fine if you ask us...

we sure have  hade some perfect fall days..trees are beginning to turn and some leaves have already fallen...this is my favorite time of the year nice days and cool night for sleeping..all's well here in ithaca and life is still good ..god bless