Thanksgiving Wishes.
From our house to yours- Happy Thanksgiving!
Its Cranberry Time
Cranberry Time
Cranberries, love them or hate them. With Thanksgiving right around the corner the cranberries are coming into their own. This time of year you can find cranberry bread, cranberry muffins, cranberry sauce, Cranberry jam, cranberry juice, Cranberry Christmas Cake and now I have a new keeper. Cranberry Breakfast Cake.
photo credit-internet
Blueberries and cranberries are close cousins and every fall the bogs of southeastern Ma and Cape Cod blossom as cranberries are harvested and fall festivals abound.
Cranberry Harvest- photo credit internet
I’ve always loved cranberries from cranberry sauce to cranberry cocktails like the Madras Cocktail. But its only been in recent years that I’ve started baking with the little red berries. I love the Cranberry Christmas cake (follow link above for the recipe) but I only make it once a year. Its too sweet to eat large portions and there is too much for just me but now I’ve added a new recipe- Cranberry Breakfast Cake.
Cranberry Breakfast Cake
Cranberry Cake- photo credit Deb Neumann
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Plain Flour
- 1 Cup white sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 Cups fresh or frozen Cranberries
- 1/2 Chopped toasted walnuts
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 Tsp almond extract
- Confectioners sugar to dust
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 350° . Butter a 9 inch round cake tin well. Set aside
Whisk: flour, sugar and salt together. Stir in cranberries and walnuts.
In a separate bowl mix together the melted butter, eggs and almond extract. Stir into dry ingredients. Batter will be very stiff if you are using frozen berries.
Spread into prepared pan.
Bake 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and top is golden brown.
Serve warm, dusted with confectioners sugar.
Notes
*Although called a breakfast cake this is great as a dessert. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.
*Be sure to mix the cranberries and walnuts into the dry flour before adding the liquids. This will keep the berries and nuts more evenly distributed
* The recipe calls for almond extract but I’m not a fan. Next batch I’m going to try the old standard of vanilla extract.
Cranberry Breakfast Cake – Photo credit Deb Neumann
Happy Anniversary to me
Happy Anniversary
Today is the 1 year anniversary of the day that turned my life upside down. Yup I was laid off from Redfin 1 year ago today. It’s not as if I’d never been laid off before but I’d never been laid off when I was 70+ years old. I just didn’t have it in me to start over again. so I’m trying out retirement. Evan after a year I’m not sure it suits me. I still wake up in the morning feeling guilty because I’m not rushing around to get ready for work. I worry about paying the bills. Social Security doesn’t go that far and my Redfin investments are still in the tank. I got a nice severance package and I’ve been using that to make up any shortfalls but it can’t go on forever.
Typical Day since Layoff
I’m trying to live the frugal life since the layoff. No spontaneous shopping trips. Minimal take out or restaurant meals. I stopped taking road trips to save on gas. One big thing I did was restrict my time ordering kindle books. Since I like series I made it a rule that I had to re-read all the books in a series before I could add a new one. I’m working on the Stephanie Plumb series now. I’m currently on book 12 but the new book is #30 so I have a way to go.
I also dropped cable and just have streaming now. That saved me $100/ mo. I’m debating if I want to downgrade the streaming service. I have “Live TV” but the price just went up and I only watch a couple of channels. If I’m patient eventually the new programing will be added to my streaming service.
Entertainment
My cats are a constant source of entertainment. Just last night Banner was trying to stuff his fluffy body into a paper grocery bag, The whole side ripped out. Balboa was quite interested in watching this and when Banner got out of the remains of the bag Balboa was there to try to get in. Banner immediately lifted his paw and bopped Balboa on the head- no claws, no rough housing just “BOP!” It was such a surprise and so deliberate. It just cracked me up. Surprised Balboa too.
Banner Photo credit Deb Neumann
Balboa photo credit Deb Neumann
Conclusion
If I could just shake the feeling that I should be working I think I’d like retirement. I don’t mind relaxing and reading or playing on the computer. I’m not bored yet. I guess as long as the money holds out I’ll keep up the routine. I wish I could think of something to do on my own time to make money. A side hustle so to speak. If I get bored or get itchy feet and want to travel again I can look for a part time job to support my habit.
Oh The Drama!
Our Little Friday the 13th Drama
It was annual physical day for my little fur family. Its also Friday the 13th. That should have told me how it would go. The never ending fur drama thanks to Balboa. No getting around it. They have to see the Vet. In an effort to relieve stress for the little guys I use a mobile vet who comes to our home. Dr. Ross is wonderful. She is a soft spoken, gentle woman as good with stressed out owners (me) as she is with the little fur babies.
ROSS VETERINARY HOUSE CALLS
The Check up Last Year
We should learn from experience right? Last year Balboa ran and hid. It took all of us to round him up. With that in mind Dr. Ross suggested that I put him in a carrier before she arrived. The appointment was for 11:45. I started to try to put Balboa in his carrier at 11:30. I figured it would be easy. Boy was I wrong! It took all of that 15 minutes and then some. Once I finally got him in the carrier I put it on the floor. I figured he’d scrunch down and calm down. I went outside to wait for Dr. Ross so she wouldn’t have to ring the doorbell and set them off again. We were back inside within 5 minutes but poor Balboa had managed to roll the whole carrier across the room and was upside down with the floor cushion on top of him. He wasn’t a happy camper.
Balboa – Photo credit Deb Neumann
Balboa
Since Balboa was so stressed we decided to give him his check up first. I let Dr. Ross extract him from the carrier so if he got away it would be her fault- not mine. She expertly moved him from carrier to a grooming blanket making a kitty burrito. He growled and hissed the whole time. This got Banner all wound up. My usually friendly Banner started to growl and hiss too. He didn’t run or back away. If anything he appeared to be planning to come to Balboa’s rescue.
Balboa on his cat tree- photo credit Deb Neumann
With Balboa secure in the grooming bag he got his shots and nail trim and was soon ready to be released. Of course he was off like a shot to hide. Now it was Banner’s turn.
Banner
Banner is usually friendly and into everything but Balboa had him all worked up too. We didn’t need the grooming bag but his check up wasn’t without resistance either. He hissed 3 times! very unusual. But finally we got him weighed and nails trimmed. He didn’t even notice the shot he got. Snuck that one right by him!
Banner- Photo credit Deb Neumann
The Results
In the end Banner kept his weight right where it was last year. In fact he may have lost an ounce or two. He was 15.10 lbs. last year and this year he weighed in at 15.07 lbs. We’re very pleased. He was back to his calm, normal self as soon as Dr. Ross let him go.
Balboa also maintained. He was 11.02 lbs. last year and this year he weighed in at 11.04. And here’s the thing- after all that kitty drama he was out of hiding and exploring his carrier almost before Dr. Ross was out the door. She hadn’t even gotten to her car! The big faker wouldn’t have come out so quick if he’d even been half as traumatized as he let on. Dr. Ross said his heart rate was not as high as she expected for the tantrum he was throwing!
Banner & Balboa- Photo credit Deb Neumann
At least that’s done for another year. See you in 2024, Dr, Ross
I’ve been blocked!
Blocked Again
I’ve been blogging for years and never had so much trouble with my site. I logged in to post an update and found I was blocked from any new posts- AGAIN! This seems to be happening a lot and its very annoying. This time it was a “Fatal error” with my SEO account. All of those things are supposed to update automatically but apparently the hosting platform is still mixing up the old aroundustyroads.com with the new, active one of arounddustyroads.com. Anyway it took a couple of days/tries but it seems to be working now. Fingers crossed.
Flickr
I have a Flickr account and for a long time it was linked to this blog in the side bar. Lately it doesn’t seem to be updating so that’s another thing I will need to work on. I haven’t worried too much about it because I haven’t added too many new photos to my flickr account but the recent photo contest got me busy uploading some of my pics since that gives me online storage. So if anyone is interested here’s the link to my flickr photostream
Here are a couple of examples of what you’ll find there
Yogi Bear
Wyoming Black Bear 2017- photo credit Deb Neumann
Yes, I know this bear doesn’t look black – more of a cinnamon brown and he didn’t look very big. He could have been a big ole Teddy bear sitting in some kind of bush, you could hardly call it a tree, right by the road and everyone was pulling over to get a look. He paid no attention to any of us gawkers. There must have been some berries or something in those leaves because he was really busy licking them up.
Bull Elk
Bull Elk Wyoming 2017- Photo credit Deb Neumann
The same trip I got to see a huge herd of elk migrating to the elk reserve near Jackson Hole. These two handsome guys were just standing there seemingly surveying all of their domain. The herd wasn’t far away and that consisted of the cows and calves and a few younger bulls. .
Elk herd Wyoming 2017- Photo credit Deb Neumann