The last time I posted anything was about "baby, light my fire" and boy did I not realize the truth to that statement. You see, I got married on Thursday and henpecked on Friday.
We'll start with the getting married part. Judy arranged for her minister to marry us in his office Thursday afternoon and then we needed to get ready for the Texas Boomers Christmas rally that was starting on Friday. When we told people we were getting married, they all had two questions, what is Judy wearing (nobody was interested in what I was wearing) and who is going to be at the wedding. So ya'll know, Judy wore a nice pair of slacks with a blouse and jacket with a pearl necklace. She was beautiful. I would tell you what I wore but since that was several days ago, I don't have a clue. It was just us, the minister and a witness from the office. No big deal.
We went back to Judy's and starting getting things ready to go to the rally the next day. We did take a break and go to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Carrabba's. I hadn't been to the Woodlands location for several years and was surprised that one of the assistant mangers that had been there was now back and remembered me. Carrabba's is well known for their good food and their outstanding customer service but you'll never believe this, they have one of the best steaks in Texas. I always have a filet and it's always prepared to perfection. Of course being a "use to be regular", they provided us with a complementary shrimp scampi appetizer that was a meal in itself. I don't know how they can do it, but somehow I only managed to pay for about seventy five percent of the meal. They didn't charge for the wine, dessert or coffee. Now you know why we go back often.
Friday morning was time to load the motorhome for the rally. The weather was threatening but so far so good. We got to the rally grounds, checked in and started setting up. Its nice to push a few buttons a be level and the slides extended. The next project was getting the Christmas decorations put up...here is where the henpecked part comes in. I've never put up Christmas decorations in my life. I'm not sure I've even ever helped. But here I am, stringing lights, arranging candy cane lights, getting the snow man at just the right spot to hold our "just married" sign, wreaths hung on the motorhome and the big red bow Judy had made attached to the front of the motorhome. It was fun. I can't believe I just typed that! It was all worth it though. We won first place.
The rally was great. Its always fun being with our Texas Boomer friends and of course meeting and making new friends.
Sunday morning, we packed up a drove back to the Conroe house. We stayed there until Monday afternoon and then headed to the country. We left fog and drizzle in Conroe and arrived in the country to blue skies. Each morning we get up early, have coffee and then dress in warm clothes for a walk around the property. Oh boy, on these cold brisk mornings it feels so good to breathe in that cold dry air. We usually walk for about forty five minutes, unless we spot something that we want to just stop and admire. The birds have been awesome. American gold finch, chipping sparrow, yellow bellied sapsucker, dark eyed junco, pine warbler, and eastern bluebirds by the hundreds. Its really fun to study the different behaviors birds have.
We'll be going back to Conroe tomorrow. We'll have Christmas with my children and grand children Friday night at my son Craig's house. That should be fun. Deb is making shrimp creole and Judy is making coconut cream pie and two different kinds of cookies. Yum! I can't wait to see all those grand kids and of course their parents.
Blessings to all.....
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Oh baby, lite my fire...
Yep, gets your attention doesn't it. Its not that fire I'm writing about, its a real wood smoking wood burning fire in my fireplace.
Most east Texans practice this well know little secret when building fires...use the east Texas pine knot. Have you ever used a piece of pine knot to start a fire? If not, you are in for a treat, just don't catch the chimney on fire. You can buy "flat wood" from places like L. L. Bean for some outrageous price or you can do what we east Texans do and go for a nice peaceful walk in the woods and gather it on your own. I scavenge pine knots two different ways. First, find a pine tree that a wind storm blew over say sometime last year. That way it won't still be green or old enough that the termites have eaten away the best parts. Side note...I once had a neighbor in the country tell me, "if you lay a board down while you go eat lunch, the dang termites will invade it and you'll have to cut another one". But then again, thats another story, back to the pine knots. Second choice is to find a stump where a pine once stood. Maybe a stump left during logging, that would be the preferred one. Then you just take your saw and cut it off near the ground, hopefully this will leave you with a 6-8 inch log. Perfect. When you get through strolling around in the woods taking in God's handy work, go on back to the house and I use a double bit axe to split off little "sticks" from the log. You want to get the heart of the log. That's the center that still has lots of pine sap in it. It may even still be a little sticky, thats okay. You just want that good golden color and boy does it smell good too. You want them to be about the size of my index finger, so the next time we shake hands be sure an check out my fingers.
Now comes the fire building part. Get you one or maybe two of these sticks and place them on the grate in your fireplace. I usually add a few pieces of other kindling and then some nicely seasoned firewood. My choice is red oak. Strike you a match and not like we use to see in the movies on the butt of your jeans, strike it on the striker part of the matchbox please. Lite those little pieces of pine knots and stand back to admire your fire building skills. Once those knots get burning you'll get a roar going up the chimney and thats why you can't use too many or you'll burn the house down. And I don't need anybody blaming me for a house fire.
So now you know about pine knots. If you are ever near the country place and I still live here (on and off), drop in and we'll go pine knot looking. A word of caution however, if you go walking through the country place with me you may start negotiating to buy it before we get back to the house and get a fire built.
Blessings to all....
Most east Texans practice this well know little secret when building fires...use the east Texas pine knot. Have you ever used a piece of pine knot to start a fire? If not, you are in for a treat, just don't catch the chimney on fire. You can buy "flat wood" from places like L. L. Bean for some outrageous price or you can do what we east Texans do and go for a nice peaceful walk in the woods and gather it on your own. I scavenge pine knots two different ways. First, find a pine tree that a wind storm blew over say sometime last year. That way it won't still be green or old enough that the termites have eaten away the best parts. Side note...I once had a neighbor in the country tell me, "if you lay a board down while you go eat lunch, the dang termites will invade it and you'll have to cut another one". But then again, thats another story, back to the pine knots. Second choice is to find a stump where a pine once stood. Maybe a stump left during logging, that would be the preferred one. Then you just take your saw and cut it off near the ground, hopefully this will leave you with a 6-8 inch log. Perfect. When you get through strolling around in the woods taking in God's handy work, go on back to the house and I use a double bit axe to split off little "sticks" from the log. You want to get the heart of the log. That's the center that still has lots of pine sap in it. It may even still be a little sticky, thats okay. You just want that good golden color and boy does it smell good too. You want them to be about the size of my index finger, so the next time we shake hands be sure an check out my fingers.
Now comes the fire building part. Get you one or maybe two of these sticks and place them on the grate in your fireplace. I usually add a few pieces of other kindling and then some nicely seasoned firewood. My choice is red oak. Strike you a match and not like we use to see in the movies on the butt of your jeans, strike it on the striker part of the matchbox please. Lite those little pieces of pine knots and stand back to admire your fire building skills. Once those knots get burning you'll get a roar going up the chimney and thats why you can't use too many or you'll burn the house down. And I don't need anybody blaming me for a house fire.
So now you know about pine knots. If you are ever near the country place and I still live here (on and off), drop in and we'll go pine knot looking. A word of caution however, if you go walking through the country place with me you may start negotiating to buy it before we get back to the house and get a fire built.
Blessings to all....
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