The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good Guys!
Since it's impossible to reach our compost bin because of the snow, we throw scraps out to the crows every day. These guys do a great job of cleaning up anything we toss to them. They are the best scavengers and show up twice a day to see if there's anything on the "buffet". It's getting so I can call them and they come flying in.

They're also great "watch dogs". They make a huge ruckus whenever they spy the fox in the yard.

Our steep driveway, fondly referred to as "The Luge" has been particularly slippery this year with all the snow so we've had to have it sanded several times already. It's now looking pretty bad. It's difficult to tell from the photo, but those side walls are about three feet high!

The really ugly part of the door yard right now is the nearly 7 foot high wall of nasty, dirty snow plowed up against the front of the house.

As cold as it has been, I imagine we will still be seeing this pile in June!

On the positive side, the garden has had plenty of insulation this year and the spring and summer show of flowers should be spectacular!

Life is good

Hugs, Giddy

"Nuff Said!

That is NOT a smile on my face, it's a grimace! Last night, we had another 12+ inches of heavy, wet snow. We lost power last night and the generator is sucking propane out of the tank at an alarming rate. The wind is picking up and I fear we will be losing more trees as many of them are bent to the ground from the weight of the snow.

We looked out the door this morning only to see the truck was covered and we had very little room to maneuver the plow in the dooryard. Fortunately, we have a wonderful neighbor who came over with his John Deere snow blower and helped us out.

Yesterday, knowing the storm was coming, we headed in to town to stock up on a few supplies. On our way back home, we passed a local fisherman who was selling Maine shrimp on the side of the road. The price was too good to pass up - .75 cents a pound. Wow! we thought. What a bargain and promptly purchased ten pounds.

Oh, but little did we know how much work we were in for. Maine shrimp are tiny compared to Gulf shrimp.

By the time we boiled, beheaded and peeled all ten pounds, we ended up with about 4 pints of a pound apiece. I'm not sure the juice was worth the squeeze, but they are pretty tasty with a bit of cocktail sauce.


Another project was making my own curry powder. I purchased the seeds and other spices online from Penzey's spices. We have been ordering our herbs and spices from them for years and have found the quality to be fresher and far above what one can buy in the grocery stores.

First I toasted the seeds in a large skillet......

fennel, poppy, black pepper corns, cardamom, brown mustard, cumin, coriander and chili seeds were toasted until fragrant but not burned. After they cooled, I added ground cinnamon, fenugreek, turmeric and ginger and then ground it all together in my old coffee grinder turned spice grinder.

The aroma in the house was incredible and the veggies vindaloo I prepared for lunch was delectable.

When there's 90 inches of snow on the ground outside, our home inside is always warm, aromatic and delicious! However, I think H and I are definitely contemplating becoming snowbirds next winter and heading south to be with our kids and grandkids.

Life is sooooooo good.

Hugs, Giddy

A Plethora of Pizza

Last weekend, a friend and I made pizzas for the folks at the Franklin Veteran's Club. We, of course, used "the recipe" from the "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" cookbook for the dough. We both made huge double batches and we only used the Olive Oil dough which Heidi made.

So, here I was with a humongous batch of dough. What to do? Well, according to H, the only reasonable thing was to make more pizzas and put them in the freezer for future consumption. Thus, the title of this blog - A Plethora of Pizza!

We ate one and are looking forward to the rest one of these days. YUM! Oh, and I did make one boule too.

Most days, when the cats get into romper room mode, I don't have the camera handy. The other day, I was sitting at the computer, downloading photos and I happened to catch sight of Sluggo out of the corner of my eye. I could tell by the look on his face that he was in a feisty mood.

Spike was sitting on the island minding his own business, watching the birds and squirrels on the deck. Sluggo had stealthily leaped up on the stool........

Sluggo, sneaked quietly up, surprising Spike.

I got this shot off just before Sluggo, the Thug, pounced on Spike and the romp ensued. Notice Sluggo's ears pinned back and the hair standing up on his back!

The resulting chase was too funny to watch. They ran chasing each other from room to room. One minute Sluggo would be the chaser and the next would be Spike in hot pursuit of Sluggo. Whew, that was a lot of energy being expended.

Today, we were expecting (according to the TV weatherman), 3 to 6 inches of snow. H and I got up early and began plowing/shoveling around 9 am as there was already about 5-6 inches on the ground. It is now 1:30 pm and as far as I can tell, there is another 2-3 inches on top of what we had already and it's still coming down. So much for AccuWeather!

This brave squirrel was hanging on desperately despite the wind whipping him about.

The trees are beautiful cloaked in white, even though I've really had just about enough of the montone color.

I guess the grill will have to be idle for another few weeks! Oh well, there's always PIZZA!!


Life is Good,

Hugs, Giddy

Late Winter Doldrums

My Muse has once again flown the coop! Like me, she is tired of the dirty snow, the ice that has built up in the door yard and the wind which keeps blowing the cold arctic air in our direction.

It wouldn't be so bad if we could get out to hike in the fresh air, but with over 2 feet of snow still on the ground, that's not possible. Yesterday, in desperation, I walked up and down our long, steep driveway 6 times just so I could get fresh air and exercise. At least that was over a mile.

On a bright note, I did notice the pussy willow was beginning to bloom!

I have not been idle on these long winter days and nights. So far, I have finished knitting numerous market bags, dishcloths, socks and, TA DA!, the sweater is finished!


And here is my latest pair of socks.

The winter sunsets continue to amaze us with their beautiful colors.......

These Mourning Doves are regular visitors to the deck buffet.


And through it all, the cats do what cats do best!

Life is Good

Hugs, Giddy

And on it Drags!

Winter, that is. We had one glorious day yesterday. The temperature got all the way up to 47 degrees and the sound of melting snow was music to the ears! For the first time in weeks, we went outside without jackets on and soaked up the warm sunshine and natural vitamin D.

Unfortunately, this respite from freezing temperatures was all too brief, and today, we are back in the deep freeze. H and I have been pretty good about maintaining a good exercise schedule, and since it's too cold and icy to walk outside, we spend 30 minutes most days on the exercise bike or the nordic track and several days a week doing our yoga. We miss the fresh air though, that comes with a brisk walk outside.

The day before yesterday, we had sea smoke on the bay.....


and yesterday, we had record breaking warm temperatures. The sky had an eerie glow and looked for all the world like we might expect a thunderstorm!

Sluggo hunkers down in his basket for several naps a day....


I'm almost finished with my cardigan. I just have to sew on the band with button holes and then sew on buttons. I tried to get an updated picture of my project, but it seemed that Spike thought I was knitting it for his comfort!

In our attempt to keep from putting on those "winter" pounds, H and I try to eat healthfully. Our meal of spinach stuffed meatloaf, steamed veggies and a baked sweet potato really hit the spot the other day.

Another one of our favorites is one we had frequently while stationed in the Azores - Caldo Verde, which is just a soup of kale, onions, garlic, potatoes, and andouille sausage. Just the thing for a cold winter's day.


I was rummaging through my photos this morning and found this one of a visit with my eldest son in Florida. Gee, a day at the beach sounds pretty good right about now!

Life is Good,

Hugs, Giddy

Got Snow?

Yep, we sure do!

Warning: Those of you residing in the Great White North, just move on over to a warm climate blog now. You will not find the following in the least bit interesting!

When I last posted, we had over 50 inches of snow on the ground. H had managed to plow most of it off the drive way and door yard. We then had another 6 inches of light fluffy stuff which we plowed 3 inches of until it got dark and looked like it was letting up. Oh, the snow let up all right, but then came the sleet, freezing rain and rain. We awoke to a good 4 inches of crunchy ice. Not fun. Our steep driveway was a sheet of crunchy ice and the truck barely made it to the top of the hill. "Uncle"!!! We called our trusty local plow guy and had him come widen and sand the drive. H went out this morning and shoveled the dam the state plow made at the top of the drive.

It's been a long week.

This is the view from the top of the driveway

That little piece of wood sticking up behind me is our sign post at the top of the drive. The box for the newspaper is buried under the snow, so the paper delivery person is just chucking the paper in the middle of the drive these days.

The front gate hasn't been closed in weeks!

Our little garden weather station is all but buried under three feet of snow.

I think this view is a whole lot better. But, as the saying goes, we wouldn't appreciate spring nearly as much if we didn't have winter.


Besides shoveling snow, I've been busy knitting away on a Fair Isle v-neck cardigan. I'm finished with the body and am now working on the first sleeve.

Hope everyone is staying warm out there and as you may expect, I'm reading a lot of southern blogs these days!

Life is GGGGood!

Hugs, Giddy

Digging Out

Man, did both the local and national weather service miss this one! We were supposed to get 5-9 inches of snow over Sunday and Monday. Piece of cake. We were prepared, right? Well, before all was said and done, we were inundated with 22 inches of white stuff.


It started out with a nice, fluffy snowfall, slowly drifting down during the day. It was beautiful. That evening, it turned to sleet and later rain, which caused us to have a nasty layer of ice under the next layer of fluffy, white stuff, which turned in to heavy, wet stuff.


We had plowed and shoveled until late Sunday afternoon and thought we had seen the end of the storm, which up to that time had dumped about 15 inches on us. Harumph, so much for 5 -9 inches. Then, waking up on Monday, we were surprised to find that Mother Nature had wickedly dumped another 8 inches of snow on us. Up and at 'em again with the plow and shovel, however, this time, it was not nice and fluffy and easy to move. Instead, it was a wet, heavy blanket with a layer of ice and slush sandwiched in between. YUCK!

This picture was taken *before* we plowed for the second time on Monday.

By the time we finished up, this pile was taller than me!


H's bumper sticker reads "Stop Global Whining". 'Nough said.

Life is pretty white and cold this week!

Hugs, Giddy

Sneaky Darned Cat!

His Majesty, Spike has been awfully nice to me lately. I suspected that he was just in a loving mood, or perhaps a bit cold and wanted a wee bit of warmth. But, NO, he was after my chair!

There I sat, contentedly knitting my latest Eco Market Bag and enjoying the fact that Spike had graced me with his presence. Notice, how he is slowly eking his way down into my chair.

I got up to fetch another hank of yarn to begin another project, and before I knew what had happened, Spike had co-opted my seat!

That look says it all, doesn't it? "Ma, you're not really going to boot me out of here, are you? Not when I'm so comfortably ensconced"?

Well, you know the old saying, "If you want the best seat in the house, move the cat"! Unfortunately, I'm just an old softie and elected to move myself over to the couch. Sheesh.

I have finished two more market bags since the weather has been too cold to venture outside. And, I gave one of my previous ones away to a friend, so he and his wife could begin a more eco friendly lifestyle.


He, however, did not understand the concept!


Life is Good,

Hugs, Giddy

It's a Deep Freeze Downeast

Well, it IS January in Maine, after all! Cold is to be expected and cold is what we have. Last night we got down to 0 degrees and the rest of this week is not looking to get any warmer. However, on the positive side, we did gain 18 minutes of daylight.

The full moon we've had for the past couple of days, while beautiful, has kept our bedroom lit up like Broadway, making sleep a wee bit difficult. I really must do something about that one of these days. I have a few ideas, but finding the time to do sewing eludes me. Right now, I'm into declutter mode. Each day, I try to do one small decluttering chore; files shredded, magazines tossed, a cabinet cleaned and reorganized, etc.

Photography has taken a back seat these cold days, but I did notice the setting sun glinting off the snow covered spruces in the front yard yesterday, so I dashed out to get a quick shot.

This morning was really bitter cold, but the sunrise was gorgeous! I jumped out of bed, grabbed the camera and did NOT open the slider to get these photos of the sun highlighting Cadillac Mountain with a soft, pink hue. I expect the shot would have been better had I opened the door, but unlike H, who trudged up the driveway to fetch the newspaper, I'm not that crazy!


Since it's too cold and icy to get our exercise outside, H and I spend 30 minutes most days downstairs in the family room, he on the stationary bike and I on the Nordic Track. If the Sopranos are on the TV, it makes the time fly.

Now, mind you, we are generally up with the chickens and once the sun drops behind the hills, we are ready to get comfortable and settle down for the evening. First order of business is to change in to our "comfies", then stoke up the wood stove and then decide what the evening's televisual feast will be. After leaning back into our life sucking chairs, I pick up my knitting and with a cat or two to help keep my tootsies warm, we spend a quiet, toasty winter evening.

Life in the Great Frozen North is good!

Hugs, Giddy