Help With My Boo Boo

I would like my readers to help me out. I have made a fatal mistake today. I used a generic brand of spaghetti sauce, dumped it into my fried off hamburger and onions and there lie a disaster. It just laid there and was not "my" spaghetti. I started adding. I added minced garlic, pepper, Italian seasoning, home canned tomatoes, Parmesean cheese, I let them simmer, I tasted, I simmered some more and it still had no character. Does anyone have any ideas, except never buy off brand spaghetti sauce? If you have a Google account please leave a comment, I would love to hear from you.

My Fearless Warrior

It is often said, that a man protects and provides for his family. My man is no exception. He provides for his family, mainly me, but the protection thing has been lacking or I guess I should say not really needed until just lately.
Armadillos are strange animals that have invaded our neighborhood. Armadillos are generally thought of as being in the south of the United States, like Texas or Oklahoma comes to my mind. As far as I am concerned, they are one of the ugliest animals I have ever seen. They have over 2000 scales just on their head! I would like to meet the person that thought it would be interesting to see how many scales they have on their head. They sound like a gardener’s helper because they eat insects and all kinds of things that get in gardens that eat plants. I want to tell you all about that if in fact you don’t know much about these horrible animals. They very much are like ant eaters, they have extremely long claws and dig big holes in your yard looking for these insects. They dig such big holes they are dangerous to my health, like twisting my ankle while walking in the yard. Our yard is not the only yard in this beautiful neighborhood that is being ravaged by these beasts.
The neighborhood men have set up a vigilante against these believe it or not; mammals! I cannot imagine my mother looking like an armadillo!
Well there was nothing to it that Fran had to get a rifle because the “things” were under the house and had potential of ruining the plumbing and wiring. So after a lengthy background check Fran got his rifle. Then there was target practice when we got home. Surprisingly enough he was an excellent shot. So the big night came, you could hear the armadillo outside by the house, I heard it first, then Maggie, finally Fran. Maggie jumped up on the back of the couch, Fran ran outside with his trusty rifle and the armadillo, of course, ran under the house.
This has been happening three days running with no luck. The rifle has been put away, mainly, Fran says because Maggie scares them away.
Today I read on the computer that if you put out moth balls around and under your house, it will keep the armadillos away. Even Windex will work to keep the horrible things away because the section of brain that “smells” things have bigger percentages of room than ours does. Hmm, moth balls versus a rifle and expensive ammunition. I think the next time before a large purchase I might look up the solution on the computer first.

Feelings Of Urgency

The other day I was talking to my brother on Yahoo Messenger. He wanted to see how I was feeling and just general visiting. I told him that Fran and I were freezing potatoes for the freezer. Keith made a remark that made me smile, he said, “You would have been comfortable in the 1880’s that you have been writing about this last few days.
I told him that I would except for the long skirts and blouses. I would have to have shorts and pants to wear and that would not have been approved of!
A few years ago I had this urgent feeling that I had to buy a house and have it paid for before I retired. I did that. On the month of the final payment, my husband left. Oh, was I lucky to have a house that was paid for!
This year I have these urgent feelings that I needed both of the freezers full. Keith asked me if I was paranoid about anything, I said, “ no but if you live in the country and can’t get into town you need food, water, gasoline, lamps and lamps oil, candles, battery operated radio, and extra tanks of propane.” We have a generator and have hooked up our camper to that as well as the house. It could be that I am a human wooly worm this year, I just feel in my bones that this winter is going to be a doozy. A lot of people in Missouri and other places believe that wooly worms predict the severity of winter approaching. If the head and tail are black the winter will be severe. If the worm is more of an orange color, the winter season will be mild. I have no clue if that is substantiated, but the people swear by it. The ice storms that we have are worse than snow at times. The ice falls on branches and the power lines. We are surrounded by timber and have lost power several times in the last year.
My hope is this: a nice mild winter and our food will last a long time.

Fran's Cabbage Soup

Fran’s daughter e-mailed me the other day and wanted to know if he would send the recipe for his Cabbage soup. I thought to myself, “Oh my gosh there are two people in this world that likes that soup.” Needless to say I do not like this particular soup, especially because like the title says it is cabbage soup. It has no meat in it or meat base.
Fran loves this soup and when he makes it, he makes gallons of it. I am not exaggerating, he makes a blue canner of it. I don’t think he will be doing that this year because we have both freezers full to the brim with meat and vegetables that we froze for the winter. We are finishing making hash browns and French fries today and then the freezers will not have an inch of room. Watch and see we won’t get any snow and will be able to get to town anytime we want to. Well I guess that would be a good thing, wouldn’t?


Recipe For Cabbage Soup

Rutabaga chopped up
1 head of cabbage shredded
Carrots 8-10 or 1 package chopped
2 chopped up onions
Celery package chopped
3 big cans of tomatoes chopped up
3 big cans of tomato sauce
Cover vegies with water and juice of the tomatoes and sauce

Needs to cook most of the day. Could put in crock pot. The last hour you put in barley. Put in salt, pepper, garlic salt, jalapeños if you like it a little warm, he said 2-3. Lowreys seasoning salt, whatever seasoning you would like. He tastes all the time. I don’t like it like you guys do, I make mine with Hamburger. Everybody likes it different. I put mixed vegetables in mine too. You can just go crazy with creativity. lol

The Telephone Comes To Cherokee

The telephone in this day and age is taken for granted except when the power goes out. I am of the old school and always always have a phone that does not need electricity to be used. My phone is a funny looking gadget, but it sure works.
The article that was written in the centennial Courier started by saying that they need not dwell on the tremendous vistas that were opened with the coming of the telephone. It was one of the most revolutionary turns in the mode of communication. The world truly became a smaller place; time and distance were harnessed as never before; and we can do no more than pause and pay tirbute to a great man___Alexander Graham Bell.
The first telephone exchange to be installed in Cherokee was started on June 7th 1883 when T.T. Kelm of the Iowa-Minnesota Telephone Company came to Cherokee for the purpose of creating interest in the new business.
There were telephone exchanges on and off and stock purchased and sold out on and off until Northwestern Bell Telephone Service came to be in 1925 by actual election of the people. The city of Cherokee was allotted the total of 6 telephones. The messages in the city was approximately 11,000 per day in 1975.
In the year 2009 we have a gazillion cell phones, can talk on our computers and we seldom see public phones anymore because every one but me carries a cell phone. Don’t get me wrong, I have one, just forget to carry one. I get a lot of flack all the time because of this, or I don’t charge it, etc.
The picture of the phone above is a telephone that was rescued from a bonfire. These old phones were not well liked by people because you had to crank them to get the operator, then often you were on a party line and could be overheard by others. The article said these old phones were thrown down wells, burned and a multitude of things happened to these old phones. I have one that looks like the real thing, but is a replica. I love it. The slanted part I can write something on it, the drawer holds pens and other goodies. Like I have said before, I am not always happy with change. I do like my computer though!

Seldom Heartbreaking News In the 1880's

Most Productive Month: 1881
“Census___ During the year 1881, there were 88 marriage licenses issued in Cherokee, county.
The month of December seems to be the most productive of matrimonial engagements, fifteen licenses have been granted during the month of the shortest days.
“There are 139 births recorded for the year, and sixty deaths. Those two latter items are known to be sadly incorrect, but physicians are paying more attention to the law than formerly. ”____Jan 5, 1882
Latest Wire On Tax
A Washington telegram of the 20th says: The Ways and Means Committee, on the question of the repeal of the income tax, stand five to four, the majority being AGAINST it.
I hope you enjoy these articles, the contradiction of the news then and now is just amazing to me. The last article is about the prices of what farmers were getting for their crops in 1870.
Market prices for 1870 were always to be found in the Times since Van Der Cock and Van Epps made an attempt to keep the paper posted on the latest increases or declines in prices.
On series of market listings put forth by the noted general store, during this time, showed wheat to be selling at 50 cents per bushel, corn brought forty cents a bushel, potatoes seventy cents, and onions were going strong at $1.25 per bushel.
Muslin could be purchased for twenty cents per yard while nails were selling for seven cents a pound. Dry cord wood could be sold for $4, but the green wood brought only $3.75.
I have now covered for the most part four pages of the seventy eight page edition of the centennial celebration of the Cherokee Times. To me it is amazing what they chose as news. As I was folding these fragile pages this little two liner caught my eye: “Mr. Jones, the editor went to Meridon, which is about seven miles from Cherokee, by horse back.”
Can you imagine how big our newspapers would be if all “news” was reported such as this? So far I haven't seen any heartbreaking news in this paper. Next week I will be looking into the Courier.

"Because I Said So"

Those of you who are parents: How many times have you said that to your children because you don’t know the answer or because you don’t want to deal with a whining child?
“Because I said so” is a blog I just love. She, too, has six children like my daughter does. She has crazy things happen in her home. She does seem to see the humor in them as do I. She posts her news almost every day. I should post myself as a follower but she has thousands already. “ I kept thinking, “Yup, that’s me, Yup that’s me!”
Dawn’s website is mom2my6pack.blogspot.com.
Today’s post is about self checkouts at grocery stores and department stores. I would rather wait in line 2 hours rather than go through a self check out line. Nope, won’t do it.
If you don’t want to sign up as a follower that’s fine, but I think you would like her posts and give you a chuckle from time to time that we all need.
Dawn almost always has a picture to go with her post. The other day she titled her post as ‘My Assistant’ meaning her three year old. A picture of her desk covered with post it notes glued on with little scribbles, “reminding” herself to do things, I am sure. I loved it. Check it out!