HOME ON THE RANGE

I'm on my own for a few days while Bruce is traveling to far away countries.  I'm exaggerating.  He's not really in far away countries.  Just another state.  He is in Virginia.

That is also where my youngest son, T is currently stationed in the Navy.  On Monday night, T drove up to where Bruce and a friend/co-worker are staying and they had dinner together.  Two retired Navy dudes and T, who is an E4. I am sure there was a lot of colorful Navy lingo zinging around that table! 

Here, at home it's me, the big dog, Kona and two cats. We do a good job of holding down the fort, so to speak.  I handle feeding the animals, making sure the doors are locked, taking the trash out, setting up the coffee pot for the next day (critical) and setting my alarm (equally important).

Kona takes care of all the patrolling, roaming, growling and alerting me of skunks, racoons, rats and strangers.  It's her job. 

The cats on the other hand simply watch both of us from a distance (in awe, I am sure). That's their job.

Well, that and sleeping.

And sometimes, sneaking a piece of dogfood out of Kona's bowl.  What's up with that?  Does anyone else's cats try to eat dry dogfood? 

I think I have just been blessed with odd cats.

I would love to continue to chat, but it's late and I have to get up at the crack of dawn tomorrow.  Ummm, make that BEFORE the crack of dawn.  Anyway you slice it, its too darn early.  And it's past my bedtime.  G'night!

A GOOD LONG DAY

I know it's been a few days since I posted. 

I took a weekend to "check-out" for a few days with some girlfriends. We went to the desert town of La Quinta.  Friday night, we walked to down to a favorite mexican restaurant and shared an appetizer plate for dinner.  

We slept in Saturday morning, savored our coffee and hotel breakfast and then enjoyed a relaxing Saturday in the pool, lounging, sipping ice cold drinks, chatting, reading magazines and simply having the best longest day I can remember.  We all remarked that the day seemed to last forever and since we were having such a good day, we were very thankful that time slowed to a crawl for us.

Sunday morning, we slept in even later, ate our breakfast outside on the patio and enjoyed some more poolside time before heading home.  One last stop on our drive home--the outlet mall outside of Palm Springs for a bit of shopping.

It was so nice to have a couple of days with no agenda to follow or appointments to meet.  

But now back to the real world...work and appointments call my name.  It was fun while it lasted!

IT'S ALL GOOD

This is going to a short and 'to the point' post today.

I love Tasty Kitchen.  I love all the deliciousness there.  I could stop there and literally lose myself for days amongst the scrumptious, delectable, sweet, chocolatey, hearty, spicy, photos and recipes.  I wouldn't even have to pack a thing.

That's all I have to say...I just felt the need to share today. 

PEPPER WATCH

I went out to my garden and checked on my jalapeno peppers.  I have quite a few in various stages of growth.  Some are small and there are a bunch of tiny peppers coming on and also some flowers that I am hoping that I hope will turn into more hot peppers. 

I would like to get enough to make one more recipe of jalapeno pepper jelly.  I took a couple of jars of the second batch up to my brother's house Friday night and served it over a block of cream cheese with crackers as an appetizer to have before dinner.  It was delicious with the bottle of Leonesse Syrah we sipped with it, but again, the jelly wasn't spicy. No kick.  Just a hint of heat.

I am going to be using all whole peppers in the mix to kick up the heat in my next batch.  Probably my final for the season.  The flavor is really good in both of my other batches, but the heat is just not there. I would still call this one mild.  I won't go as far as to call it boring this time, but still not "there" for me.

I think my peppers will be ready in a couple of weeks and I will be up to my elbows in jelly making again!

TODAY

Today I'm tired. Why?  Let me see if I can come up with the answer to that question.

• I stayed up too late last night (we were watching season 2 of Sons of Anarchy).

• Yesterday, I spent a couple of hours completing some housework and some much needed organization in our garage, so we could access our home gym area and work out. THAT was a workout in itself.

• I started my weekend out Friday night socializing at my brother's house--super fun night--eating appetizers, sipping wine, outstanding steak dinner, telling stories, laughing a lot and finally, late in the evening we watched Don Henley's 'Inside Job' concert DVD. It was 1:00 a.m. when we said our good-byes and headed home. One of the best Friday nights ever! 

  

• I need a lot more sleep than I manage to get.

• I should have taken a nap yesterday.

• I had a restless night and a hot flash.  Gotta love middle age.

• I am always tired on Mondays.  It's how I roll.

• I have a lot on my mental "to-do" list and that always makes me tired.  Note to self: write some lists today, and get all of that outta your head.

• I stayed up too late last night....