Just need to talk to my friends (192)

You're right, probably all of the above and probably more. There is an open doggie door to the building. I know there's some of mother and daddy's clothes out there plus Charles' and mine. There's two trunks and a freezer out there that has dishes and quilts, I think. Oh, well, that's for another day or someone else. Judith, are you over your concussion?

Morning, It's a beautiful, sunny,cool, calm morning. Got out early with Stormy to check everyone - looked okay. Then took Sheena for a walk. She waits by the yard gate for us to get back to go for her walk.

Judith, when you declutter or rearrange, or whatever, it seems like everything's in an awful mess for a while - much worse than it was originally. Then, gradually it all falls back into place. I remember that from when I'd change my clothes out spring and fall.

Did you used to sew and quilt? When I was younger and working I sewed almost all of my clothes - so did all the other women - but the price of material and notions went up so it was almost cheaper (counting your time) to buy readymades. Good luck in getting everything sorted out.

Sara, thanks for the recipe. I will try that. I'm with you - if I only had one vegetable to eat, it would be potatoes - in all forms.

Talking about your mother eating so many bananas - Carol had some routine bloodwork done and her doctor asked her if she was eating a lot of bananas - potassium was higher than normal. She had been eating one for breakfast every morning so he told her to cut it down to half of one each day. Maybe your mother's potassium was higher than normal and since she cut back on the bananas things have evened out. Glad she's feeling better.

Ron, I've tried to eat persimmons before a good frost. If you do it one time, you'll never do it again. How they can pucker your mouth so much is beyond me but they certainly do.

Your potato dish sounds kind of like the way we used to cook new potatoes. We'd cook them in water until just about done, then add a slurry of flour and water to thicken them. Made a nice, tasty sauce. We never cooked them with peas like most people did.

Nice you got to go to Church and have a little "me" time. I know you enjoyed having Lou with you but she's probably happier being at home.

Need to get up to the store to get some gas today. The last few years I've become the world's worst procrastinator. Never used to be like that. When something needed to be done, I did it. Now, I always think tomorrow will be fine.

Talked with Mike a couple of nights ago and he was picking up his supper from a restaurant in town. I remember and remarked that it was the only restaurant I'd ever seen chocolate gravy on the menu. He asked for the recipe - said his mother used to make it and had what he remembered as Indian Head biscuits. He said he used to make them when he was in college but lost the recipe. I've heard of cat's head biscuits - think they're just really big ones. Have any of you heard of Indian Head biscuits? What about chocolate gravy? We used to have that, sometimes for breakfast, sometimes for part of supper. My folks used water instead of milk so it wasn't as thick as if made with milk. Very easy - they brought 2 cups of water to boil in a skillet. Combined 1/2 C. sugar, 1/2 C. cocoa, 2 T. flour and a pinch of salt and whisked it into the boiling water and cooked, whisking, until thickened. Then served it with butter over hot biscuits. I liked to break my biscuits up into the butter and gravy. That makes me hungry and I just had my breakfast.

Think I mentioned I talked with another electrician and he's going to try to come out after today to see what needs to be done. I'll be glad to have lights in and around the barn - seems so very dark out there.

Hope all of you enjoy the day and the pretty weather if you're having it. On the news they keep showing pictures of the pretty leaves - looks really pretty around Tulsa and probably NE of here. Also said the peak is here for the foliage on the Talimina Drive - it's beautiful drive from around Talihina to Mena, Arkansas, across the ridge of the mountains - Ouchita, I believe. Back later. Just checked and it's Winding Stair Mountain.

Maybe it's a southern thing, JeriLynn. Hope things are good for you today. Was there a good cotton crop this year?

Sara, can you use the bottled lemon juice? I saw a juicer on QVC where you just out the cut lemon in half and it juices it automatically. I wouldn't be able to juice them either. Yesterday I moved and carried a short car ramp and two feed pans and it really made my left lower rib cage hurt. Spread out a huge car tarp to dry so I could fold it. Thought I might close that barn door but maybe not. I'll look at it and decide. Do you drink the lemon juice straight? Doubt I could do that. But if it works guess I could - better than having stones. After all this potato talk, think I'll have a baked potato after while.

Hi, Ron, I was thinking a while ago - maybe we did use milk instead of water at the end - after they'd cooked and we were ready for the sauce. At any rate, they were good. So sorry for the hard time you had with Lou today. Reminds me of one time when Charles had to have bloodwork - took me to try to calm him down while they did it - dentist was a hard thing, too - just couldn't understand what to do. Sounds like the barbeque did the trick. Now's the time for you to lay down and take a nap - bet Lou's tired, too.

Judith, Darwin has a huge equipment barn - not for cattle but for his equipment which he has sold now except for his Mule (sort of like a Gator). He had two huge tractors, haybaling equipment, etc. He told me the other day he has it almost full of wood he's cut. I don't know of any place around here that does have a barn for cattle - ours are sort of spoiled. He told me the other day there's between 400 and 500 head of cattle on his place now - that's probably a section and a half - quite a few more than he ran.

Shirley, you'll never guess what - I just got home from going up to our little convenience store. While I was there I saw this gorgeous, white car sitting beside the post office. So I had to go in to mail letters and I asked the girl working there what kind of car it was. I had walked all around it and couldn't see a name but the insignia on the front looked like a Chrysler. It was a Chrysler 300. Asked her how she liked it and she said it was her dream car. She did say you really have to be careful on dirt or gravel roads or any place that's a bit lower or it'll bottom out. It does look really low - specs say 4.4-6". My Mercury was about 5" and it worked okay but this really looked low. Might be able to put on bigger wheels and tires. When I had my Cougar I had to have them change out the wheels because they were too wide and picked up gravel that scarred the fenders. The car is beautiful.

When I was going up to town some of the heifers were by the fence next to the road and two babies were outside the fence. When I came back one had gotten back through but one was still out. People go up and down that road 90 to nothing and I was afraid one would get out in the road and get hit. I called Darwin to ask him to call Toad and tell him so he could check the fence. I don't have his number. That's the only old fence on the place - I've had all the others replaced and that one will have to be done eventually.

Glad I got that trip made - need to shampoo my hair so it'll dry before I have to go out and check again.

Judith, I've never used it but have you used pink Himalayan salt? I've heard salts taste differently - do you find that to be true?

Think I'll have a baked potato for supper - sorry, already said that a while ago. I have to use up those potatoes. Maybe I could put them down in the cellar where we used to keep our potatoes. They kept from June until the next spring when we had new potatoes. But, I haven't been down there for a while. So, I won't. One of my favorite ways to have potatoes (I've never made them) is the potato wedges you can buy in the deli at WM. They are sooo good.Have to learn how to make those - did read a recipe a while ago that sounded easy.

Love this thread! We talk about everything and get answers to questions we have about anything.

Thanks, Sara, for your tips on French fries. Wonder what putting into water does? Maybe gets rid of some starch? Also love sweet potato fries. Usually cook some of each and the sweet potato ones are dessert. I use a unsafe oven and it works great. Usually spritz the fries with olive or vegetable oil. What is it you like about avocado oil, Sara? I looked for it in our grocery store before it closed and they didn't have it - maybe WM.

Shampooed mg hair and dried it, then went down to check heifers. All seemed good but they were scattered.

I'll stop for tonight. Sleep well.