Life in the Slow Lane

September 16, 2017, how about it?  I started going through some of my old drafts that never turned into a published blog.  After reading it and a few others I thought why not?  It was very pleasing to read a memory on the state of my mind that day so long ago. So a walk back in time and publish for everyone to read.  Thanks for my faithful readers that have so many kind words to say to me.  Life can be a downer and that means for everyone of us.  I try to only share my ups because that is what makes me smile, the ups out weight the downs.  Also, remember I was not an English major, didn't even remotely like English class no matter what teacher I had.  Liked the teachers just not English.. So as you read you can silently spell check, punctuation check, sentence structure, paragraph subject and when to start a new one.  One thing, I don't care what is wrong, write it like I say it ✌ Have a good week and remember the down hill slide of winter is upon us.  The older you get the faster time goes Cheryle Anne ❤  Straight from Della Gross when I was just a smart ass teen! 

Big John and Little Zero, lots of work done today.

There comes a time when the lawn needs mowed, the weeds need whacked branches need trimmed and dirt needs moved.  I am the lawn mower and weed whacker.  The guy that lives with me is the branch/tree trimmer and dirt mover.  Had he not trimmed branches I am afraid one of these days I would forget to duck and get slapped right of Little Zero.  It was getting close to happening,  I have a couple scratches on my forehead for proof.  With the branches trimmed it cut about 10 minutes off the mowing time.....I can go full throttle now.  I was going to take a picture of the front of Little Zero, it is quite sad.  My reputation for beating up lawn mowers runs long and deep.  I use the front of it to push a big old picnic table so I can mow under it.  Looking at it today I thought, what the heck happened to that?  Then it flashed in front of me......I push the picnic table with it!  One thing for sure I don't have to worry about the husband bitching at me.....he gave up a long time ago trying to make me more cautious and careful.  I'm on a mission when I mow, not sweet and slow, just fast and furious.  There is the house lawn, around the garden, the barnyard, down the lane and now the camp lawn.  Maybe 2-3 acres in all.  I love to mow and today was a perfect weather day to be on the mower.  The cool breeze, warm sun and the almighty view.  Yes, this was a take it easy day to ride the mower and get a few things thought out in my wandering mind. 

While I mowed Dick used Big John to push some dirt back in the long trench he had dug for the electric cable to be buried in.  Unfortunately there was quite a bit that needed to be shoveled by hand.  All done now, just wait for it to settle, had more dirt and then the grass seed.  By spring it will look like it had never been grassless.

We started working a little late this morning.  Coffee outside and just in that "stare mode" was quit nice.  The hurry up, keep on schedule of cabin building is over.  We can work at our own pace now. We headed off to the Genesee Hardware for more window flashing for installing 2 more windows tomorrow and 2 the next day.  Window will be finished.  Then we drove to School House Rd. in North Bingham to order a bushel of pears.  They will be in next Thursday, $18 a bushel.  Next we stopped at Joe Mullets (the Amish guy that built the cabin).  Dick had planned on closing in the soffits but the more we thought about it, looking way up there and it just kept looking higher we decided..............Joe Mullett......... and his boys will get it done in a half a day where as it will take us weeks.  It's hard working way up on a ladder holding on with one hand.  What the heck were we thinking?  With luck Joe will have a day he can get over here.

The clouds were so beautiful today.

Green, green, green!  A beautiful green it is around here.  The fields have bounced back from burnt brown to spring green.  What a ride, we took the long way home to check out some roads we had always wondered........where does that go?  Today we found out and what great scenery all the way.  Dick was driving and driving rather slow, we were the only ones out and about on these back roads.  He asked, we are not in any hurry are we?  Of course not,  I'm relaxed and enjoying the ride.

Looking down towards Alma Pond from NY road to Eleven Mile.  My favorite place to
look for Bald Eagles.

 

What Day Is It?

 How many times do we ask each other, what day is it!!!  On top of being retired, no particular given place to go, people to see or things to do it is hard to remember what day it is.  Unless we have an appointment and then the phone lets me know something is going on that day.  Staying at Holden Beach is even more difficult to keep track of the days........unless........it is Wednesday.  Two events that we must remember.  One is not so exciting, set the garbage out.  The other one we look forward to, $5.00 Sushi Day at the Food Lion.  How pathetic is that for being the spice of our life?  Last year I was in the Food Lion at Holden picking out some Sushi. The Oriental man and his wife came over and said, if you come in on Wednesdays all of the Sushi is $5 and it would pay to buy it then.  So, this is the second winter that $5 Sushi Wednesday is our go to.  It is all we eat for supper on Wednesday.  10 Sushi each, so I guess we could say $10 is a tasty cheap meal.  Plus, no cooking and only 2 plates and 2 forks to wash.  

We do not eat raw Sushi.  A few weeks ago we picked up one with raw and did not notice until we got home.  Being a little braver I said, I will try it, maybe it is good and just sounds awful.  I popped one in and chewed a couple bites...........yuck about the third bite down on it I felt the mushy nasty raw tuna.  I spit it out so fast!  NEVER will I give it a try again.  For the ones that like raw, have at it. 

To keep Cook'n by the Creek memories going way down south I made Eleanor Stavisky's Molasses Cookies yesterday.  They have been mentioned quite a few times since December, I finally decided to give it a try.  You see the range is electric here and it just seems nothing tastes as good cooking and baking with electric.  I can't seem to master timing and correct temperature settings.  Once something is done on the cook top it has to be removed from the burner because the coils stay hot after it is turned off!  Not like good old gas.  Shut the flame off and all heat stops.  What a pain electric is.  The cookies turned out ok, not the best but ok.  They didn't seem to get as big and soft as usual.  Another thing I tried and failed was my sour dough bread.  The starter was perfect and ready but for some reason the electric oven does not allow for moisture like a gas oven does.  Out went my starter and I will start another batch when I get back to Clara.  Nothing better than a loaf of crusty sour dough bread with a good crumb.  By crumb I mean when you cut open the cooled loaf it is full of air holes for all the butter to melt into.  YUM  The piece on top of the loaf sticking up is called an ear.......that is a good thing.  It means the sourdough did what it was suppose to do.  You never know until you take the cover off the dutch oven for it brown for the last 15 minutes.  It is the awww moment or....crap moment.  I have had a few crap moments too.

On our way for the beach walk this morning just before we go over the big bridge to the Island was a nice 6 point buck that had been hit by a vehicle.  We have seen several deer dead along side the road here.  Just like home, watch out for the deer!

One Day, Three Beaches

 It really sounds like we had a big day of beach hopping.  Not so.  We went to Topsail Island and for some reason it is divided into 3 municipalities, North Topsail, Surf City and Topsail Beach.  If they didn't have big welcome signs at each place you would think you are at the same beach.  We enjoyed Topsail Beach the most.  More laid back, few to none walking the beach and dogs are free, no leash from October 1 until May 1.  We kept their leashes with us because you never know what kind of dog might be off leash.  We have encountered a couple big mean ones that have their owner straight armed trying to hold them back.  Dang, why?  That would be far from an enjoying walk with a dog.  Plus, the worry of the damage the dog could do on human or another dog.  Since we walk the beach twice a day at Holden Beach we have learned from afar if it is a dog we need to stay away from.  Usually the beach is wide enough to walk on the opposite side of where Mr. or Mrs. Mean and Nasty is.  Back to the beaches, Holden is our all time NC beach.  We have been to the three I mentioned plus, Ocean Isle and Sunset Beach.  Both of those are beautiful but quite a bit more action and population.  Within a few years I am sure Holden will be right up there as busy and crowded as the others.  Since last winter we have seen the earth moving and businesses going up.  A new RV park is ready to open soon and is huge!  Also a big tall building going up that we heard is going to be a candy store like the one in North Myrtle Beach, 40 minutes south of us.  Build it and they will come!

There is a little bagel shop that also has homemade ice cream.  Yes!  We stopped and the bagels are the best New York style.  They also sell their special flavored cream cheese from different fruits, veggie, bacon cheddar and Jalapeno!  We did get an ice cream cone, also very good.  That is just to close for comfort, 2 miles!  In Clara we have at least a 15 minute drive to town and neither of us will take the bait to go get something we might be craving.  

Yesterday the waves were crashing and so loud we could not hear anything else.  Each day on our way to walk we say, well how will the waves be today.  Just a guess and so far we have not guessed correctly.  For some reason the days that we think the water will be calm and gentle it turns out to loud, crashing with foam and spray going into the air and on the beach.  Living in the hills of Potter County, PA is easy to know what the weather is going to be.  On the NC Coast, absolutely no clue of predicting the weather.  Red sky in the morning here is usually a beautiful day, Red sky at night is the same, another nice day tomorrow.  The one thing I do know if morning or night does not have a red sunset........rain is usually happening or soon will. 

Don't think we are down here for the winter just relaxing and walking on the beach.  Since our son and wife are so kind to let us stay at their beach place we try to do a few things to help them.  This year is was plastering, priming and painting the master bedroom.  Painted the living room, kitchen and hall way. I got to pick all the colors!  How trusting is that?  Friday they will be here to see the make-over. 😜 I am a little fearing!  Kinda like Love it or List it... 

I have to keep busy because.........after a week away I get homesick for Clara, family and friends.  Once we get home I will miss our beach walks, the convenience of Hobby Lobby 10 minutes away plus some other favorite stores.  At Holden Beach every place we like to go is no more than 20 miles away.  A Food Lion is 2 miles from us which makes it nice since it is on our way to the beach.  Even with all this stores it still feels like we are in the country.  Lots of woods, even deer and turkey sightings.  The biggest surprise was seeing 3 sets of deer tracks on Holden Beach last week.  They went right down to the water!