Just need to talk to my friends (204)

Lorita

Time to begin segment 2O4 of our thread. Thought this would be a good time before morning posts.

GG, if you stew the prunes, they won't be shriveled. My day was good. I may take Stormy for a ride everyday. the enjoys it so much. I need to get a pair of safety glasses for him. He likes to ride with the window down. This is truly Green Country now. I saw some of the prettiest trees leafing out today. Spring is here!

Good night, everyone. Sleep tight!

GothicGremlin

Hmm, I wonder if I could eat stewed prunes. To be honest I don't even know if I don't like the taste (although I love plums), I just can't get past the shriveled looks, but if they're not shriveled ……

JeriLynn — You're the only person I know who puts butter in their sauce. I'm kind of comforted to know this because since I've never encountered it, I thought some of these recipes were made up.

Carl - good to know (about the acidity). Also, for us, the shape of the pasta is a family thing, being Italian and all. I know my grandmother made the shell pasta herself, I'm not sure if she also made the mostaccioli too. If I had to guess, I'd say yes, because my grandmother and my great-aunts would also hand make ravioli.

Carl46

Thank you, GG.

I'll bet stewed prunes would be really good if you chopped them and stirred them into your oatmeal like raisins. I haven't tried it yet but it's on my list of things to try.

harshedbuzz

Good morning porch people. It's still dark here and cold. We had a freeze overnight and I expect my magnolia and cherry trees will be a mess. The magnolia blooms successively over a month, so some of the tighter buds will likely have survived undamaged.

Carl— I'm glad you were able to discuss this finding with a PCP who knows your wife and understands the nuance of the situation. A friend went through the same with her mom who developed breast cancer. Hospice was a blessing for them.

Gothic G— I find most of my Italian-American friends tend to make a single sauce— usually Nonna's from whatever region of Italy the family originally emigrated. I don't have a Nonna, so I make do with recipes I find. FWIW, I never add sugar. If a tomato-based sauce needs sugar— you need to up your tomato game. Team San Marzano here.

Marcella Hazan's Bolognese has not just butter, but after the minced veggies and meats have been sauteed in butter, a cup of whole milk is reduced to just the fat in the mixture before reducing wine and finally adding the tomatoes.

Another interesting sauce recipe is her classic Tomato Sauce which is a 28 ounce can of San Marzano tomatoes, 5T. butter, a peeled onion cut in half and a little salt. Cook for 45 minutes, discard the onion, crush any whole tomatoes left and serve over pasta. It sounds weird, but it lovely. And of course, Vodka Sauce typically has a bit of cream added.

I suspect the butter adds richness and mouthfeel. I don't know about tempering the heat; that may play into it given that the cure for a pepper's painful afterburn is something full-fat dairy.

Stewed prunes can be kind of slick. I bet they would be terrific in oatmeal.
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I see my PCP this afternoon. I'm not looking forward to stepping on the scale.

HB

Mint

Good morning

GG that was my thought process about the cream in the spaghetti sauce. I’m going to try that when I make it next because I think I will like that. I felt that way because my mom used to make vegetable soup and she would add milk to and I really that vegetable soup and it had tomatoes in it

HB that sauce is indeed lovely. Laugh out loud. I thought it was a hillbilly thing. I’ve ate that all my life and one of my grandmother made the best.

Carl life can change quickly. Sounds as if your PCP has a lot of good common sense. I hope you find hospice helpful.

BethL

Good morning.

Judith asked if we have snakes by/in the pond. I haven't seen any yet, but we have only lived here since September. Iowa's only venomous snakes are rattlesnakes but we don't see them where I live. They are mainly in rocky bluffs and timbers (2 different kinds of rattlers). Where we lived before, with the large garden, I saw garter snakes and DeKay's brown snakes. If one were to follow a page on Facebook called Iowa Critters, you would see that Iowa does indeed have many snakes. Most of the kinds I have never seen.

Lorita, you asked about a grebe. It's a type of waterfowl, like a duck but smaller and is kind of solitary. It is almost always alone swimming in the pond.

We went to the movie "The Friend" yesterday. It stars Bill Murray and Naomi Watts and a great dane named "Bing" (Apollo in the movie) who is from Newton, Iowa.

I have a funeral service to attend today and then we go pick up our taxes from the accountant.

Beth

jfkoc

How do I get back to #203???

I love Marcella Hazen.

https://danpelosi.com/recipe/marcella-hazans-tomato-butter-sauce/

Lorita

WWhy do you want to get back to 2O3, Judith? Anyway I think it's just be low this one, or was. Now it's above this one. Can't get this comment to post. Just not my day, I guess. Windy again today

Carl46

Raos tomato basil sauce has olive oil in it, and I'm pretty sure a lot of restaurant sauces have oil in them. I don't put oil in mine but maybe I should

Lorita

Never have made tomato sauce. I just use the kind in the can. But, I bet the kind you all make is better. I always put a pinch of sugar in the sauce to cut the acidity. I think I read somewhere a pinch of soda would work but maybe that was something else. Carl, glad you got good advice from your wife's doctor. Probably not a good idea to put her through all that treatment.

Just talked with Darwin. He lost a key to his PU which is three or four years old. His daughter and he went to the dealership to have one made and he said it would be $1,000- 1500. His daughter found a place in Ft. Smith (on the internet) that would make it for $110. Long trip but worth it. Moral of the story -'do not lose your car key!

Iris L.

Good morning!

Another sleepless night.

Iris

Lorita

Try to sleep some today, Iris. Well, should have left that wall or half a wall alone. I have one coat on and it looks worse than before. Will let it dry an hour and put on another. I've painted a lot and it didn't look like this. Limited on amount of paint I have and maybe should have stirred it longer. I'll paint what is visible first and go from there.

FedEx delivered my Chewy auto order, three heavy boxes that will stay, unopened, on the front porch til needed. The driver said he had delivered 25 orders so far today with 12 more to go. I was at the back when he came and got out on the porch as he brought up the last box. He said he was worried about me because I'm always out there.

Beautiful day here but very windy, again. Everything is so green the air seems green.

GothicGremlin

Just popping in for a sec (more later), but I just had to comment on the various spaghetti sauces. My sauce is exactly as HB describes - it's the same sauce my mom made, which is the same as my grandmother's, and my great-grandmother's. There's not a lot of variation. Sauce made by my cousins and when Peggy made it, all have (and had) a similar flavor. And yeah, it's regional. When my s.o., me, and Peggy went to Sicily (her bucket list item), we went to hole-in-the-wall restaurant in a small town in the vicinity of where our ancestors are from, and the sauce was so similar to ours, that if I didn't know any better I'd have said one of the relatives made it. So with that in mind, it just never occurred to me to make it any other way. Funny how we all are.

jfkoc

I wanted 203 because it had yesterday evenings posts.

Iris…sleepless nights are hard. Hopefully tonight will be better

"Billions of cicadas are about to emerge, creating a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle

Two large broods of cicadas in the Midwest and southeastern U.S. are set to surface simultaneously—something that hasn't happened in over 200 years"…National Geographic

Caro_Lynne

Hi Porch Peeps!

It's almost six months since the passing of my LO; still cry at the mention of his name or just thinking about him but am learning to live with the grief as it will be with me the rest of my life.

It's taken me over a month to catch up on the porch posts. When I finally got to this page, I forgot all the ones I wanted to respond to; I should have taken notes. Anyways, to the birthdays I've missed - Happy Birthday, have a great year!

Carl am sad and sorry to read about your DW's health issues, you are both in my prayers.

David, I'm glad to hear you DW is home and doing better. I can't imagine how you must feel not being with her. Stay strong.

HB, sounds like you mom is doing better, hope that continues.

Lorita, Mint, Iris, Joan, GG, Beth, Ron, Zetta, JeriLynn, Sandy, Eagle, Marie and anyone I've left out - I've missed being here and hope to engage more. I've been keeping busy with house stuff and will post more details another time.

Take care all xxx Caro

Lorita

The world is back on its right axis again. The second coat made the difference - should have used a primer but didn't have any. The room is all ice water blue again. Even painted behind the chest all the way to the baseboard. My arm is tired but May paint all the way to the bathroom door before I quit. Daniel, who replaced the drywall in that area, did a miserable job and hid it behind the chest. I have.a small mirror, a couple.of.pictures and a.huge, white, plastic fan to hang later.

Used to like to paint. Painted the kitchen and cabinets twice and all the woodwork in the house but I was 25 years younger then. Age does make a difference. Charles and I did all kinds of work from laying new floors to building fences. He would want to stop and rest a minute but I wanted to keep going. He would, sweetly, remind me that he was ten years my elder.

You all are really making me hungry for pasta and sauce. My sister used to make the best spaghetti sauce but I never tried.

JeriLynn66

@David1946 We are now on 204. Wanted you to be able to find us❤️

Iris L.

Welcome back CaroLynne!

Surprisingly, I got a lot of work done today. Hopefully I can sleep tonight.

Lorita, didn't you all just get over a locust plague a few months ago? Are cicadas different from locusts?

Iris

BethL

Welcome back, CaroLynne. May you find peace and comfort. "Grief is the price we pay for love." - I believe it was Queen Elizabeth who said that and it's true.

Carl46

Thank you, Caro, and welcome back. And thank you to all of you who have supported me.

The hospice people came out today and we are admitted. We are trying to continue the day care, and we will have nurses twice a week and several other perks from hospice, including a wheelchair and a bedside potty chair. One is a 5-day respite as often as once per month. I haven't spent a night away from home since about 2017, so I will probably take advantage of that.

Lorita

Hsppy to Dee your post, Caro Lynn. Sorry for how you feel. I feel pretty much the same even after over ten years. Glad you are back on the porch.

Carl, good that you all are in hospice. We had hospice for less than a week.but they were a big help.. Please take advantage of all they offer.

Iris, I watched a Nature show this evening about Tanzania and thought about you being close to there next month. This wss mostly about lions. I missed part.of it but it will be on again Sunday afternoon at 2:p.m. so will watch it again.

Good night, everyone. Sleep tight.

Iris, it was grasshoppers and they ate everything in sight.. So far I haven't see any of the little ones. They start out tiny and get st least two inches long. Awful!!

Mint

Good morning

Caro so nice to see you back on the porch

Carl so nice to hear that you’re going to get some needed help

Lorita

Good morning. Up at midnight to let the GPs out, back to sleep, up st 3 to let them in. Cow had lifted the hydrant handle so had to go out and turn off water, then back to sleep.. Going to stay in bed a while if the cats will stop rattling the doorknob. .

eaglemom

Good morning. It looks nice out, but my phone just sent me an alert: high pollen count. That would explain why my eyes are driving me crazy itching. DH is a little wheezy also, now I know why. Ugh. I forget how many times I've wiped down the patio of yellow pollen & its covered again.

DH & I are still in shock from our taxes the other day. I knew we'd owe, but goodness I never dreamt we'd owe that much. When the accountant told us the total owed, we both just looked at him, with a blank stare. I finally said, stupidly "what, are you sure?" But I loved DH's comment "is your computer turned on?" We went over the numbers multiple times, ouch. I will be chatting with our financial advisor so we're not caught so off guard again.

The drier is going off, time to empty it and refill it. Laundry is the ongoing beast that never changes, its a constant here. More later. Let's be safe everyone.

jfkoc

up…

Lorita

Beautiful sunny, calm day. Going to be warm. Gary came and replaced the broken window in the barn. The 27 x 31" piece of plexiglass cost $35. So, think the barn Is fixed up except for electricity. Will soon be time to open the north doors.

The blue paint turned out to be a couple of shades darker than the rest of the bedroom so I now have an accent wall. The other paint may have faded some. Still have one more little area to take care of and replacing furniture. Need to go through the drawers and weed out some things I haven't worn lately.

I found a little elm,baby of the big elm we lost, so will transplant it. It's about three feet tall and the shape is good. Also found a foot fall black walnut I need to put somewhere. I'm sure there will be lots of little maples soon- the yard is covered in maple seeds. I discovered one of my clematis has survived. We have an old gaslight in the yard and I wrapped wire around it and the clematis had reached the top of it - no blooms yet.

Enjoy the pretty day. Back later.

Iris L.

Good morning. I slept for 11 1/2 hours. That makes up for last night, when I was awake all night.

Carl, I'm glad that hospice will be beneficial to you.

Iris

jfkoc

back from bank…I had $1.400.00 in old Travelers checks to deal with.

back to redoing files in my Elfa cart. I ordered black files. …really looks good

Carl…glad you have a Hospice onboard. I found them very helpful.

Mint

ttt

Iris L.

Judith, what a nice surprise to come upon old Travelers checks! You can get some nice gifts for yourself or someone.

I looked up the Elfa cart. It looks very useful. Better than piling stuff on the table or counters.

I just noticed that spring has a smell. I was standing outside my door and smelled a fresh "green" fragrance, so pleasant! Usually what I smell smells like car exhaust.

While I was outside my local hummingbird flew right up to my face. I was so startled because I thought it was a bee and I shooed it away. But it came back and flittered around me for a few moments. It must have been curious about me.

Iris

ladyzetta

Good afternoon Porch Friends.

Caro. It's very nice seeing you back on the porch, thank you for remembering me. Your grief will be a lot longer then 6 month. Posting here will help you a lot, so please keep posting. I know how hard it is to catch up on these threads, even if you miss a few days. Remember we are here for each other.

Carl. You have made a good decision. Hospice, is a outstanding choice, please take advantage of the respite time, you need it.

Lorita . A Accent wall sounds beautiful, especially being blue, blue is my favorite color. I know what you mean about the kitties getting you up. I woke up this morning, with the 3 cats playing with a coffee pod, that one had gotten out of the basket, we keep them in. All 3 cats were batting that pod all over the house.

Iris. I wish I could sleep 11.5 hours, you must have really needed it. I think if I woke up after sleeping that long, I would be scared.

Good day, to all. Hugs Zetta