Just need to talk to my friends ,(193)

Checked my yogurt and it is totally set up this morning. So the process worked. Will let it set in refrigerator til tomorrow, then taste it.

Going to be a rainy, cloudy day. We’re not suppose to get an inch per hour. Yes Iris that is a lot of rain.

Take care everyone

@Mint You are the best cook! I have not heard of white cornmeal cornbread. I will make some cornbread with ham and beans soon, though; thanks for (indirectly) giving me an entreé idea. I watch a YouTube channel called "Our Tribe of Many." This is a family who are starting to homestead. They moved from the city to a large acreage a year or so ago. They have ducks, chickens, guineas, two cows (and a bull they are "borrowing" so they can have calves), 3 cats, a pet dog and a "livestock guardian dog" - which is a Great Pyrenees puppy. @Lorita do GPs guard birds like chickens, or is it mainly cattle, goats, etc? She did report coyotes have gotten a number of their chickens and the dog hasn't alerted them, but he is only about 8 months old. This family has 11 children. She homeschools, makes all of their bread which includes sourdough and bagels, makes granola, makes yogurt and sour cream and cottage cheese, cooks hearty, healthy meals for her family 3x a day, and she and her husband pastor a church. I think you might enjoy seeing some of the things she cooks. I don't know how she does it all!

@JeriLynn66 I hope your physical therapy is helping. Do they say your problem has to do with ear crystals? I have 2 friends that had vertigo and it was due to that. There are videos on YouTube about that. I hope you are getting the shop sale wrapped up and can get on with the other things you need to do. You are so busy! Is hubby feeling better now? Glad Bear found a good home. If you couldn't keep him, you did the right things.

@Iris L. It's so nice you have been able to travel. An inch of rain per hour, for how many hours I wonder? We are in severe drought here in Iowa; we'd take that rain! If only it were that simple. We did get a light rain overnight, maybe 0.2". Grateful for what we get but would like more.

@ronald71111 I was surprised to hear how common implants are. Harshed Buzz said she is getting them and her husband and mother have both gotten them. A friend told me they cost about $10,000 each. Wow. Are you feeling better? Is Lou on good behavior? Be sure to take care of yourself because if you get sick you can't take care of her, plus you deserve to care for yourself too. I'm glad you have neighbors who help, and church friends who help. Enjoy the time with your family!

@Lorita Glad you are enjoying your car. Equinox are pretty nice looking! It sounds like you got your driveway in good shape too. You stay busy! Hope you are feeling better.

@jfkoc I agree Land of Lakes butter is good. Kind of pricey though. Kerry Gold or other Irish butters are even higher priced.

@ladyzetta Glad to hear your cataract surgery was successful. Do you need glasses for reading? Enjoy your trip to AZ; I think you are very blessed to have a daughter and SIL who want you to come live with them. Do they have any children?

@harshedbuzz Does your mom still cook at all? Does she have a house cleaner? It sounds like she is fairly limited physically. You are a good daughter. You do so much for her and I'm sure she appreciates it.

@JeriLynn66 You have been cooking A LOT! Are you still cooking for more than 2? Or are you cooking ahead so you can quickly pull a meal out of the frig? I know you made lunch for your hubby's employees. How nice that was of you! Do you like to cook? I only like to cook for special occasion cooking, such as holidays and when my son and his family come over on Saturday evenings. I always make a nice meal then. Often they get to take leftovers home. Last week it included pork chops, homemade bread and potatoes and gravy. Tomorrow it will be roast chicken, roast potatoes/sweet potatoes/carrots/onions, deviled eggs and banana bread. I always enjoy hearing others' menus; gives me ideas so it's not the same thing over and over.

@Lorita Divan, couch, sofa - OR, have you heard this one, davenport. That's what my folks called it. To us it's couches and loveseats.

@littleme You are a prolific writer. So proud of you!!!

@telinde I'm glad your pain has decreased. Hope therapy continues to help you get stronger.

@Jo C. Please know that you are loved and missed here. Check in if you can from time to time.

Time to exercise and get some housework done!

Beth

The sun is shining here north of Boston for the first time in almost a week. But more rain to follow tomorrow.

Good morning fellow porch dwellers. We have a sunny day for a change. It's seasonal with a breeze.

I am thinking I may spend some time pruning my lace-leaf dwarf maple-- it's out-of-control. I bought this house from parents when they were planning to retire. My house was destroyed in Hurricane Floyd, so us buying saved them the trouble of repairs and staging the house plus we both benefited from a family sale as PA's transfer taxes are some of the steepest in the country. It's not my dream house, but the school district is good and it's been a good investment. One downside has been dealing with dad's DIY landscaping-- he made the rookie mistake of not accounting for mature sizes when planting. Foundation plants are too close to the house and the trees he picked were either short-lived of encroaching on the front walk and drive. I've been slowly re-doing the space but it's not my jam so to speak.

The maple is starting to scrape my car and is becoming a trip hazard near the walk. I've gently trimmed it in the past, but it really needs another hard pruning. I'm afraid to screw it up but hiring it out is a crap-shoot as some of the arborists working in my neighborhood don't seem to know what they're doing. They do a lot of "crew-cuts" where inappropriate. I suppose I could remove it if I make a terrible go of it.

Speaking of tree trimming, I saw a Facebook reel last night that would make @Lorita cry. Around these parts, Bradford Pears are considered a nuisance tree; they're even illegal to sell in PA. Someone made a clips saying "The best time to trim a Bradford Pear is when your saw is sharp. Start with a horizontal cut about 2" from the ground".

Our town had them when we first moved here. The main street was stunning when they bloomed but as they got older and troublesome, they ripped them out. Now each block has a different street tree from a list of native species.

@Mint You really do have to read the labels on yogurt; I sometimes wonder how some brands can even market themselves as such they have so much junk added. I prefer Greek myself; most mornings I have a bowl with thawed dark cherries top with a little granola. I usually end up with the massive tub from Costco, but really prefer Fage which almost does taste like yogurt. I'm trying to up my calcium intake.

I find Amazon a fallback for things I can't find at my local grocer. I bet they not only have your white cornmeal, but they also probably have multiple brands. Early in COVID time when the world decided to make sourdough and I could find neither yeast nor flour, I bought stuff directly from King Arthur. Their website is a great source for recipes, too.

@JeriLynn66 I hope the PT helps. Mom finished up PT for "balance" in December. It has been so helpful for her.

@BethL I love wisteria. I planted some along a stone wall/wooden horse stall at my old house. It was gorgeous. LOL, when I was really little, my mom painted a mural of wisteria on the wall in my bedroom so it kind of hung over my beds. I was a dumb little kid; I always thought they were grapes until about 5 years ago.

I don't know if my mom would consistently consider me a good daughter. I guess it depends on whether I'm actively doing as she wants or not. She expresses her displeasure with my wishes by passive-aggressively defying what she considers to be my wishes. Sometimes they are but sometimes I think she's trying to draft me into playing the heavy as dad had been. At PT, they told her that she should avoid wearing heels higher than a 1" block heel, so of course she turns up on Thanksgiving in 3" wooden clog/boots. I may have pointed out that if she breaks a hip, I'm not the one going into a SNF and wearing elasticized pants that didn't come from Talbots because it's easier for the staff there. Let's just say there are days when I could have a better attitude. FTR, the threat of clothing from the Alfred Dunner collection did the trick. My late MIL wore nothing but those and was adorable but mom's a clothing snob.

To answer your question, her pulmonologist refers to her as the healthiest sick person he knows. Medically, you'd think she be less able than she actually functions IRL. Maybe it's denial on her part. She just hired a cleaner last month. I probably supply about 3 dinners a week for her, but she does fix herself 2 or 3 proper meals a day. She eats better-- and more-- that I do.

HB

Don't know what made me think about this, but in Louisiana I grew up with a lot of dishes that had white rice. When Lou and I married we came back to shreveport when I was discharged and found out that rice was not on their menu in Kentucky. Now I'm craving baby limas over rice with pork chops.

How many on the front porch had many meals with rice?

Ron

Ron, I make a fair amount of rice. Love red beans and rice, DH likes any Louisiana dish with rice, No sugar in our rice, but lots of butter.

Hello My Rocker Friends.

Lorita. I remember when I had all the questions, I needed answered before my eye surgery. I was told then if I needed help getting to and from the surgery center, that could be arranged. I bet if it came down to it, they would have some suggestions for you. Your doctors will want this to work for you. I'm glad you're enjoying your new car. Equinoxes are beautiful cars.

Iris. When are you planning on coming to Oregon? it would be nice if your stay will be close enough for me to drop by and say HI. Is your travel group coming to see something special?

Sara. Our snow is starting to melt. I bet your enjoying you weather being nicer, and your able to get outside more. You are such a good cook and know enough about it you can substitute things. Iam a pretty basic cook.

Ron. It is nice that your brother is coming for a visit. Hopefully it will lift your spirits a bit. It sounds like your spirits have been lifted a lot with all the work you have been doing around your house. I also love lemon cake. did you make enough for all of us on the front porch? Let Lou, be as comfortable as she wants. Many mornings if I'm not going anyplace, I stay in my PJs all day. At night I take a bath and put clean ones on. Just keep her comfy.

Beth. No, I don't have to ware reading glasses. My eyes are working well with mono vision. Left sees far and right is for close and both of them are working together. If I don't think about it I can see no diff but if I think about it and close one of the eyes, I can see the difference. I guess its mind over matter. haha

My daughter and her DH have wanted me to come live with them for quite a while, they have no children but have 1 dog and 2 cats. I also have 1 dog and 2 cats, so it will add up to 2 dogs and 4 cats. We are all animal lovers, so hopefully they all get along. They like it when Iam around because I take over all the cooking and the house cleaning. I love taking care of them and things. And they want to take care of me as I age.

Our weather has been sunny, and the snow is melting. Hopefully this will be my last year having to deal with snow.

Take care all, if Ron has enough cake, I will see you all on the front porch. Maybe Sara, will bring some yogurt. Hugs Zetta

I rarely make rice although I do love it myself. We are having rice tonight. DH asked for Yakatori chicken which needs rice as a side. Sometimes I fix rice with just chopped tomatoes, salt, pepper and butter as a comfort food for myself. I like pilaf as a side with sauced chicken. DS enjoys rice as well. He eats a lot of burrito bowls and always adds brown rice to them. DH? Not so much with the exception of red beans and rice. Is that something you ever make @ronald71111?

Yes 37 years was a long time but I enjoyed every minute of it. I did not to want to retire but my body told me it was time to go.

Lorita.

Yes, they are different in each eye. It was going to be for distance in each eye then I would have to have reading glasses. The doctor was so pleased with how well I was seeing with the distance eye powering over the other eye, he felt the mono lenses would be the best. There was 2 weeks between the surgeries, so he saw how well I was doing. I may have needed reading glasses or not. It turned out so well I don't need readers. He sounded like it was something that not everyone can adjust too. Iam glad it was me and my eyes adjusted. 😃

Lol Ron you are right, rice is not on the menu much in Kentucky. As a child the only way we ate rice was as a breakfast cereal. I liked it that way. When I got out on my own found out cereal was just not for breakfast. my favorite rice now is basmati.

Lorita think you said you had a yogurt maker. I’m guessing it automatically maintained the heat for a certain period of time. I used 2% milk and the reason for holding the temperature is so that more water can evaporate and you get a thicker yogurt. It was very nice and thick. So the next time I think I’ll try skim milk and see how that works and maybe I’ll try to maintain the temperature for like 20 minutes, I did try it out this evening, I put a little of my sister’s red raspberry jam and some of the Amish maple syrup in it. It was so good. It just didn’t even taste like yogurt, it tasted like dessert. I’m glad I’ve learned to make my own.

David, my sister is a postal employee. She is not a mail carrier though, she works upfront. She tells me how sorry she feels for the male carriers and I know it’s very hard on you physically. My sister is retiring I believe it’s December 27 of this year she will have her 30 years in then.

Zetta they are giving snow for here Sunday 1 to 3 inches. I hope it’s winters last hurrah. Then in a couple of days and see the highest 60s so it shouldn’t be around too long.

I think I would like your rice mixture HB. All my life I’ve had something very similar except it was elbow macaroni instead of rice. My grandma’s was the best because she put just the right amount of sugar in it. I don’t think my mom added any sugar. Recently, I had some extra tomato sauce that I needed to do something with. So I just mixed it up with some rice, and added a little of cumin. It was pretty good.

Yes, I made Ghee today. My sister got me motivated. She is the one who found me in May and stayed with me for a few weeks after I got home. She has so many health problems and her diet is so limited. I just feel so bad about it. Now she’s had a really sore throat for two or three months . This is the third winter that this is happened and then when summer gets here the past two years anyways, it goes away. My sister that died when she was 37 had a head and neck cancer. Anyway, she went to.ENT here in town and he went down with scope and told her everything looked normal, but it was just very inflamed. didn’t really give any suggestions of anything to do though. so yesterday she went and saw someone down at OSU, where I was at in May. They redid the scope, and they told her that even her mouth is extremely dry, and so, of course, down in her throat area is too, and it’s just simply inflamed from dryness and they saw no sign of cancer. She said the doctor was very nice and she asked her what was the thing that bothered her most about the situation. So my sister told her the pain it causes when talking because my sister loves to talk. She told her I can help you with that. So she gave her some kind of medicine that they normally use with a Sjogren patient. It is an autoimmune disease that causes excessive dryness of eyes and mouth. It is not an immune suppressant but it does calm the immune system. She started it today and within 30 minutes she could tell it was helping. I so hope it doesn’t give her a migraine and she can use it. She loves popcorn and she told me ghee is great on popcorn. So i came home and made it and will give her two jars. She didn’t buy it a lot because of how expensive it is. Now she can have it.

Hope each one gets a good nights rest

Iris is this an organized group trip with the same people or are you traveling with friends? Coos Bay is beautiful, the whole coast is just stunning to a southern girl accustomed to the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic. My late DH and I used to travel there often when we lived in Washington State. Hoping I can get this husband there soon, though I don't know how to manage that this year.