Week 98, 11-5-2017

Thoughts and Quotes: Oh how we love pumpkin season. You did know this gourdish squash has its own season, right? Winter, Spring, Summer, Pumpkin . . . . .We anxiously anticipate it every year.

                                                                                    Trader Joe’s Fearless Flyer

I love pumpkins. I love the way they look and the way they taste. Most of my neighbors put pumpkins out front, either in the yard or on the porch, and they look very festive. I just wish a truck would come around and collect them all after Thanksgiving to take to the elephants at the zoo. They love them. The wind and rain the past week have started stripping our trees of their beautiful leaves. I wish we could extend Fall and Spring, borrowing months from Winter and Summer.

And for a new twist on an old favorite, try this pumpkin pie. Just be sure to buy good egg nog.

PUMPKIN EGGNOG PIE

Taste of Home

1 unbaked piecrust

1-1/4 cups eggnog

15 oz can pumpkin

2/3 cup sugar

3 eggs

1-1/2 tsps pumpkin pie spice

1/4 tsp salt

Heat oven to 375°.

Line 9” pie pan with crust.

Whisk together all ingredients and pour into pie shell.

Bake 60-65 minutes.

I suggest Southern Comfort eggnog. The cheap stuff doesn’t work as well.

Of if you're near a Sam's Club, pick up one of those yummy Pumpkin Cheesecakes.

The Pepper and Pals Report: This has been a week of kitties, so a very short post. First of all, I have an appointment to take Veronica to the humane shelter to be adopted on December 5. They have high marks, are very picky about who adopts, and they're no kill. She needs a little girl to love and who will love her as much as I do. 

I wish I could keep her, but I'm spending all my time dealing with kitties, and I need to get on with things. She's so sweet, so cuddly, and so busy. She's been taking up a good part of my day. And nights until I learned to shut her out of the bedroom.

And I finally trapped Midnight. She's so tricky. Take a look at this - eating the food but not tripping the door. She put her feet through the grate instead of on it, but finally made the wrong move and victory was mine! The other kitty is a neighbor's kitty, Hercules. 

I was trying to trap BJ, because as you know, Midnight has three kittens. I emailed a photo of them to Dr. and he said they'd be okay on their own since they're eating cat food.

That was on Thursday and Dr. had so many surgeries on Friday, he said that he couldn't get to her until later. This is the arrangment I have. If I can trap them, I can take them in without an appointment, and they board until Dr. has time to operate.

The babies didn't come to eat that afternoon, nor on Friday. I called the office and told them that if they didn't show up by Saturday morning, I was going to pick up Midnight because they possibly wouldn't come to the patio without her. They'd been here only three times, but I know kitties are very resourceful. The office closes at noon on Saturday.

I worried and worried, and at 10:45 they showed up, hungry as little bears. So the operation is on, and we won't have to worry about her having more babies. The kittens were back for dinner and have already had breakfast this morning. 

I'm still feeding Pepper by hand three times a day because of his collar. Stormy continues to be my Wild Child. She's already outside today. 

Veronica wants to sleep (and play!) on my bed, so now Pepper thinks he can as well, so two mornings I woke up with him beside me. Sometimes I had the girls on the bed and Pepper on the floor; sometimes Veronica and Pepper on the bed and Stormy on the loveseat. One night Pepper growled at Veronica (he still hasn't accepted her), and I took her into the family room. When I returned, Pepper was lying right in my spot and looking at me as if to say, "And where are you going to sleep?". So I moved to the guest room. It has been a very trying week. Guess my closed door policy will remain in effect.

Here are Midnight's kitties.One black and white looks like a skunk, so I named it Flower like in Bambi. The other black and white is a true tuxedo, so I tried to think of who wears a tuxedo all the time. So his name is Fred for Fred Astaire, and of course, that means the gray and white tuxedo has to be Ginger.

On day two of them were on the windowsill catching the last rays of the sun before it dipped below the fence. And Midnight with the other baby on the ledge around the screened patio.

And precious Veronica

And poor Pepper. How he managed to dislodge his scab with his collar on is a mystery. It's looking better now. I think he enjoys being fed from a spoon. I hope he doesn't think this is a permanent arrangement once the wound heals and the collar comes off.

Tasting: Joey wanted to try the Market House Cafe and ordered the fried zucchini - yum! They come six to an order.

I had fried green tomatoes (Joey only wanted one), a patty melt, one of Joey's zucchini sticks, and half a piece of pumpkin cheesecake. Well, I wasn't that bad! I told them to just give me one of those small bags of chips in place of the french fries. Besides, I had only an apple for dinner. So there!

Thrifting: After lunch, we went to Branson to go to the scrapbook store, and I wanted to see if by any chance the thrift store at the library still had the two footed cakeplates I saw through the window when they were closed. They didn't, but I found this sweet dish for $1. The photo distorts it - it's actually an oval and not very big - sort of butter dish size.

And this pretty little Mikasa dish for 50 cents.

A beautiful tablecloth like new for only $4. The tag says "Food Network". I didn't know they had a store.

And a sweater for $2.50. You know how I love Cardinals.

And this little teapot for a library tea doorprize - $3.50

Throw it Out: Since I added four things (teapot doesn't count because it will leave), I had to throw out four plus the seven for the week. I actually got rid of twelve - three old Smithsonian magazines and nine more crochet books.

Time for Others: I started my Thanksgiving cards, not an easy task with three helpers. Thank you to Carrie and Annie for the pumpkin stickers for the envelopes. They were part of my last CARE package. 

Teaching and Learning: I fooled around and didn't start my online class on time, so they canceled me. I had to sign up and start over. Next class is November 8. Can't goof up this time. I JUST HAVE to get the Tablescape book to the printer and I need to know how to format it.

Thanksgiving: To get a jump on the dinner, you can make the cornbread for the dressing and freeze it. Buy some cheap canned biscuits from the refrigerated case and bake and freeze them. Don't tear up the cornbread and biscuits until you're ready to make the dressing. Here's the cornbread recipe:

CORNBREAD – SOUTHERN

Clabber Girl Baking Powder

1/4 cup vegetable shortening

2 cups white (or yellow) cornmeal

2 tsps baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 cups buttermilk

1 egg

Heat oven to 450°.

Melt shortening in a 9” iron skillet or 9” baking pan in the oven, brushing sides of pan with hot shortening.

Sift dry ingredients together in mixing bowl.

Combine egg and buttermilk and stir into dry ingredients, along with melted shortening.

Pour batter into hot pan.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until browned.

That's all I have for this week. My cup of chores runneth over. 

MAKE SOMETHING FROM PUMPKIN

EAT YOUR GREENS

TAKE SOME AUTUMN PHOTOS

SOME WARMED APPLE CIDER BY THE FIREPLACE WOULD BE NICE

AND MAYBE SOME POPCORN

WATCH SOME CHRISTMAS MOVIES ON THE HALLMARK CHANNELS

THANK YOU FOR SHARING MY LIFE