Toby and the gift

Mackenzie sent the book, "I Could Pee on This and other poems by cats" by Francesco Marciuliano.  I enjoyed opening it...

Thanks, Mackenzie!  I look very handsome here but I left Debbie a present in front of the dishwasher tonight and peed on the rug to boot.  That will show her not to be gone all day...whooping it up in Las Vegas...

Winter in the Midwest

You Cali people keep bragging about your 80 degree weather… Well, here's a weather update from the midwest!

The cats won't even leave the porch because the snow is too deep (several inches).

It's warming up here. This morning it was 5 degrees, as opposed to -4 yesterday, when I dropped Ted off for work. And tomorrow, we're supposed to almost get up to freezing with a toasty 30 degrees. By Saturday, it might even be warm enough to rain instead of snow!

When the sun is out it's bearable, from inside the house.

The mornings are the hardest, since the sun doesn't come up until almost 8:00, and I have to be out of bed by 6am to get to class on time.

Sunrise this morning. You can see a sliver of moon and a planet (Venus?) there on the right.

Yesterday and today classes were cancelled at the University from 5pm to 11:30am, so I don't have class this morning. The cancellations are due to the dangerous wind chill of 30-below. Local elementary schools have also been cancelled the last two days.

I heard on the radio that some kids are stuck at school in Alabama because they can't get the snow cleared out for the buses. The kids had to spend the night there last night. I seem to remember a similar story my mom told me from when she was growing up….

Anyway, I'd much rather be in California right now. I wish there were a job there for Ted!

Another Summer Day

Heading out

Big waves today.  Too bad I didn't catch any.  Water was nice though...

Forget Florets - Roast the whole cauliflower

I am going to do a Debbie and Mackenzie and show you that yes, indeed, on rare occasions my oven does get used by someone other than Sherrie.
I saw this recipe on Facebook last night - and today I went out and bought the ingredients.  Here's the finished product:

You start out with a whole head of cauliflower (I started out with 2 because I like leftovers (but there is plenty of dip for two heads so no need to double the recipe like I did).  Here are the ingredients:

•  1-1/2 c. plain Greek yogurt
• 1 lime, zested and juiced
• 2 T. chili powder.  I reduced this to 1-1/2 T. and it was plenty.
• 1 T. cumin
• 1 T. garlic powder
• 1 t. curry powder
• 2 t. kosher salt.  I used regular salt.  It was fine.  With all that chili powder, you're not tasting the salt.
• 1 t. black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 and lightly grease small cookie sheet w/vegetable oil.

Trim base of the cauliflower to remove green leaves and cut the stalk flat with the head.

Combine all ingredients in a medium size bowl.  Don't waste any lime.

Dunk the cauliflower into the bowl and fill in the voids with a spoon or your hands.  You can store the excess in the refrigerator and reuse.  Sherrie and I are going to try it with brussel sprouts later this week. 

Bake the cauliflower for 30 to 40 minutes until the surface is dry and lightly browned.

It says to let cool for 10 minutes, but I would only let it cool for 5 or less, because it wasn't very hot when I ate it.

I made a cheese sauce to dip it in, but I don't think it really added to the dish, and it definitely added to the calories.  Enjoy! 

Thursday morning - 9:30am

This is why I love surfing in the winter...

Thanksgiving (OK, kinda late but I just found the camera cord)

Dagmar hid the camera cord from me. I finally found it on her desk (she was sitting on it due to her menopausal memory loss)....her words - not mine.

This is just a start - more photos to come. 

Mom & Dad's New Place - Part II

After our group visit to TM, we refueled at Greg's Grill, a river-front restaurant, in The Old Mill District.  We had a window seat and watched it snow on the river.  Barb ran across the street to REI and found a belt to hold her pants up while the rest of us heard the story of how Robin met Clem and their subsequent wedding.  On the day they got married, Robin told Clem to go ahead to the church as she might or might not show up for the wedding.  As they recently celebrated their 34th wedding anniversary, she obviously showed up!

With full stomachs and pants well secured, we headed off to Lazy Boy.  Barb had determined that we needed an "apartment-sized" couch.  And we found an acceptable one pretty quickly (there were only three models of that size).  Finding a couple lounge chairs was more complicated as there were a million models.  A few photos follow:

And the Barbara Bear said:  this chair is heated!

And the Debbie Bear said: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

And the Momma Bear said: I'm not too sure about this one!

And the Jamie Bear said to the Momma Bear: Hey, wanna try out the ejector seat function?

Finally, after trying all 234 chairs in the store, Mom found the ONE.  The cranberry-colored fabric is the couch color and the pillow comes with the couch.

 Mom also selected a little table and lamp to sit next to her chair.

The table; I did not get a photo of the lamp.

Next, it was on to the Sleep Number bed store.

Mom and the salesman--determining her "sleep number." 

Robin joined Mom for a quick nap.

Dad's bed

Finally, we settled on a twin bed for Mom and a queen-sized bed with a frame which can raise and lower the head and foot of the bed for Dad (I'm having a senior moment and forget what it was called).


On Sunday afternoon, Jamie, Barb, and Mom courageously dragged Dad off to the Lazy Boy store and showed him the couch.

And Papa Bear gave a GROWL, which they took for approval.

And Papa Bear after many grunts of disapproval finally found a chair he liked and pronounced this one JUST RIGHT.  

AND NOW CAN WE GO HOME?  And upon hearing this proclamation, Momma Bear and the two cubs headed back to the den along with Papa Bear who was relieved to be finished with his annual shopping excursion.

The End.