Snow!

In case the calendar wasn't reminder enough, Mother Nature fired a warning shot this morning.

My winterizing list is being prioritized and shifted into hyper drive. This won't last; it'll be gone by this afternoon. The lasting stuff probably won't show up for another month at least.
But never to be outdone for fun, Pipsqueak and Sweetie strapped on the skis and took a couple of runs down the front hill.

We're at about 1100 feet above sea level. The village is at something around 500, so they got rain. When I arrived at school with Pipsqueak this morning, kids were grabbing snow off the roof of my car for a quick snow ball fight.

Winterizing

We had a hard frost last night, and I hear it's going to be down in the 20s tonight. Our most important winter preparation is done; our fire wood is bought and stacked. That was finished in June, but there is still plenty to do...

• clean up the last three raised beds in the veggie garden (four are already done)
• wash the windows, take out the screens and put the storms down (there are 27 windows in our house)
• caulk around some leaky windows
• weatherstrip a leaky door
• clean out the deck pots and store them away
• put away the outdoor toys (bubbles, balls, bats, etc.)
• wash and put away the bikes

I'd like to clean out the shed and tidy it, too, but I think snow will be flying before I get to that. Sweetie still has to bushhog the field and give the lawn a final mow. The lawn grew into October this year. It usually stops by the end of August, but it was so wet this summer, it just kept on going.

What do you have to do to get ready for winter?

Cheeky Squirrel

A few days ago, I noticed that one of our bird feeders became mired in the snow the fell of the roof. A little red squirrel thought it was easy pickings for him.

I'm a bit of a squirrel racist. Since he was red, which is pretty rare, I didn't chase him off. Gray squirrels are more plentiful and pesty, and wouldn't have gotten such a warm welcome, including a few peanuts in the shell that we've been tossing out. He's pretty smart too and made himself a tunnel for easy and safe access to his food supply. After three days of 40 degree temperatures, it wasn't quite so convenient, but he wasn't deterred. With more snow falling right now, he'll have several more days of enjoying the all-you-can-eat buffet.

Staycation, Day 1, Part 2

Saturday evening, we went to our town's Tiki Torch Trek. As darkness was falling, we snowshoed around the well-groomed trails, all lit with tiki torches and marked with famous poems on the subject of nature. It was a beautiful, starry night with mild temperatures of mid-20s. That seems pretty comfortable after dealing with sub-zeroes.

Pipsqueak has the modern, light-weight, short profile snowshoes, but Sweetie and I prefer the old-fashioned, wood and rawhide version. Their only drawback is slippage on steep inclines.

After our hike, we returned to a roaring bonfire and tables of food provided by local restaurants and grocers: cheddar cheese soup, chili, an array of sandwiches, hot chocolate and hot cider, and enough desserts to rot our teeth or give us a monster stomach ache.

Sunshine Martini

... but first, I have to talk about the weather. It's cold, and not just your regular, "brrr, it's chilly!" cold. This is frigid, run-from-the-house-to-the-car cold. How cold is it?

Yes, that's a "-" in front of that 13. Down in the valley, as I was taking Pipsqueak to school, it was 20 below. I was told yesterday that cold air settles in the valleys, hence the colder temps. One of the lunch ladies was right inside the door, passing cups of hot chocolate to everyone as they came in. But enough about that... it'll warm up.... someday.

In the meantime, we have all these oranges, and if I have a drink in the evening, I can forget for a few minutes how cold it is outside. I created what I named a "Sunshine Martini" the other night.

In a shaker half-filled with ice, put:

• 2 oz. Absolut Mandarin
• 1 oz. fresh squeezed orange juice
• 1 oz. triple sec

Shake well and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with orange zest.

It's one of those sneaky drinks where you don't think you're drinking alcohol... until you try to stand. up.

Sunshine in a Box

And now back to our regularly scheduled blog posts. It seems like a long time since I've done a normal post, but here I am with the holidays packed away in boxes and the tires of my life back in their tracks.

Speaking of boxes, our co-operative market is having their annual citrus sale this week... cases and cases of grapefruits, pink and white, and naval, cara cara, juice and blood oranges, all at rock bottom prices. This might be the highlight of January for me for two reasons: I love food, and I love a great deal. I picked up a case of pink grapefruit and a case of juice oranges, but I'm going back for another case of juice oranges on Friday. I feel like 100 of them just won't be enough. Fresh squeezed is the only orange juice I'll drink; I'd rather not have any than drink the stuff from concentrate. It's too bitter and acidic tasting.

We have a juicer attachment for our Kitchenaid Mixer, which I'd probably use if I was going to make a pitcher of juice. But for a glass or two, I prefer this vintage Waring hand juicer that my mother passed down to me. Just put a half an orange in the hopper...press... and pour. A little pulp can get by, but I don't find it offensive when I have a glass of this sweet, sunny nectar.

New England Ice Storm

I'm back after 36+ hours of no power after the New England ice storm. (Oh, sweet internet, how I have missed you.) I see the news made Yahoo! News "Most Popular" section, so many of you may have heard of our plight. Frankly, we had it made compared to those who are dependant on power for heat as the temperatures dipped into the single digits last night.

For those of you that have experienced a natural disaster (hurricane, tornado, earthquake, flood) an ice storm is unlike those for a couple of reasons: it is insidious as it can sneak up on you while you're sleeping and you have no idea anything is wrong until you wake up in the morning, and when you do wake up and look outside, you can't help but think how beautiful it looks with everything looking crystalline as it's covered in ice.
We could couldn't shower or flush (electric water pumps), but we had our pond to get buckets of water for manual flushing and heated water from our ten gallon stores for sponge baths. Our furnace didn't work, but we have two wood stoves and a parlor stove to keep us warm. We could cook on our gas cook top after lighting it with match, and candles provided our light. When the refrigerator/freezer started to feel not so cold, mother nature provide food storage on the deck. We might have felt the the Ingalls family in "Little House in the Big Wood", but we had only hours to endure what they coped with for a lifetime.
Yes, it put a temporary cramp in my holiday preparations, but it was fun last night as we sat around the parlor stove, roasting marshmallows, reading, knitting and talking. Pipsqueak fell asleep by the fire, and I carried her to bed. I'm glad the power is back on, but living the "simple" life for a day and a half wasn't so bad either. I did not lose the joy!

Tree Cutting Tradition

Each year, almost before Thanksgiving dinner has fully digested, we swing into Christmas gear with the annual Christmas tree cutting and picnic. Some formally local friends now living in Connecticut join us.

We convene at Christmas Trees of Vermont, a farm in Springfield, Vermont, where we get to choose from over 40,000 frasier firs, each one full and shaped to perfection. They also have pre-cut trees, wreaths, visits with Santa Claus, and free hot chocolate.

Before going out on the hunt, we sustain ourselves with a sumptuous picnic, complete with freshly polished silver, lace tablecloth and real china and glassware. We start with Old-Fashioneds served in stirrup cups (cider for the Pipsqueak). Then it's on to turkey sandwiches wrapped in parchment paper and tied with string, Cape Cod potato chips and freshly baked Toll House cookies. Pipsqueak carried hers in the family heirloom provisions kit which her grandmother carried on fox hunts. You can see it attached to her belt. The leather case has a silver sandwich box and a glass and silver flask.

It was a beautiful day (not too cold, not too windy) so we dawdled over our picnic and tree choice, just enjoying the outdoors and taking a walk. We're not always that lucky; there have been bitterly cold days and once when it was so windy, we had to hold things down on the table.

Pipsqueak helped with the sawing, the tractors pick up our tree so we don't have to carry it the half mile back to the car, and then they bail it up nice and tidy, which makes it easy to load and unload from the top of the car and get in the house.

In case your wondering how to make our cocktails, here's the recipe...

Old-Fashioned

In a rocks glass, muddle 3 dashes of bitters, 1 t water, and 1 sugar cube, using a muddler or the back of a teaspoon. Add 1 orange slice and 2 maraschino cherries and muddle with other ingredients. Almost fill glass with ice cubes and add 3 oz. bourbon (we use Wild Turkey).

Cheers!