93 years and counting

Today is a very special day! It's the end of my birthday month (Sean's doing a happy dance now). But that's not what really makes today special. It's Gram's 93rd birthday. Sean and I don't have many Grandparents left so it's a very exciting time when we get to celebrate another birthday with one of them. While we were visiting her for the big day all I could think about was everything she's seen in her life. I can't imagine living that many years and all the changes that will happen by the time I turn 93 (should I luck out and make it that long). I can't believe all the changes that have already happened in my measly 36 years.

So as soon as I got home I set out on a google search to see if I could find out any information about life in 1916. Here's some facts I found interesting that compares 1916 to 1973 (the year I was born) and 2008 (the most recent year I found the same info for).




*I had to look up 2008 each individually so apologies if it's off a little.

I don't personally care about the World Series, but when I saw the Red Sox won the year Sean's Gram was born I just had to add it. There was a couple of other items I found interesting that couldn't really be written in a grid so here goes. These are all from 1916.

• Montana voted in the first woman to serve in the US Congress.
• The first birth control clinic opened.
• The Olympics and Wimbledon were not held due to World War I (I'm sure there were other things too).
• Charlie Chaplin signed on with Mutual Studios and earns an unprecedented $10,000 a week.
• Albert Einstein completes his mathematical formulation of a general theory of relativity, which includes gravity.

Trying to get a picture of Duke and Gram was difficult - neither would sit still or not blink.

Duke looks like he's trying to escape and Gram is trying to hold him down or choke him.

Then Gram was having to talk to all her birthday wishes callers.

Then Duke had to give Gram birthday kisses. She tried to escape but I don't think she was fast enough.

Even though she was still on the phone, I finally got a good one! HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRAM!!!

BTW - If you want to find out about your own year here's where I found most of my information.

http://www.infoplease.com/yearbyyear.html

I hope you've enjoyed this exploration of the past with me in honor of Gram's 93rd birthday.

RIP

There are many benefits to living essentially in the woods. In my previous post I've already informed you of the importance of my husband's kids around the property. Sometimes, however, we lose a kid or two. Well, this summer we actually lost three of his kids - 2 feathered friends and one four legged friend.

We tend to have issues with birds flying into the windows. Usually they're just stunned and we just keep Duke inside for a while until they come to and fly away again. Once in a great while they don't quite make it. That's what happened, twice, this summer. As you can see in this picture we have quite a few windows. The birds see the reflection of the trees in the window and well, you know. I've read some ideas on how to reduce this but it requires ruining the absolutely amazing view we have. If anyone has any ideas that wouldn't ruin the view please let me know!

Our poor friend. At this point we thought he was just stunned.

When we went back a few hours later and he still hadn't moved Sean started to dig him a grave.

After a short ceremony and nice words the grave was covered.

With the headstone in place, the ceremony was over. Apparently one of the guests had a drink in honor of the loss.

The four legged friend we had to say good-bye to was a chipmunk. Although we're not exactly sure of the circumstances that lead to the demise of this cute friend, we do know Duke had at least something to do with it. We were outside playing and I didn't hear Duke for a while so I started calling for him. I could finally hear his tags so I headed to where he was. I could see he had something pinned down. I called (OK I screamed) for Sean to get over there because I had no idea what it was. We thought, at first, that it was only stunned too. When it didn't recover we had a ceremony for it. Sean was SO mad at Duke and he made sure Duke knew it. Don't worry - he only yelled at him. Sean couldn't hurt a flea! I felt sorry for Duke though and told Sean it was his fault because he always tells Duke to chase the squirrels and chipmunks! The little guy had a front row seat for the wedding though, in the flower bed. As you can see below, he has a much fancier headstone then the bird got. I think it's because Sean loves the chipmunks more than the birds.

Hopefully we won't have to have any more funerals any time soon!

Experimenting with Apples - Take 2

So with an entire bag of apples still remaining (Sean doesn't seem to be eating them fast enough) it was time to try out another experimental apple dessert. So you can try to make it yourself here's what I did.

Start with some Phyllo dough. Lay it on a baking sheet, spray it with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray, sprinkle a little Splenda and cinnamon and bake at 350 until it's crispy. While that's baking take a skillet and toast some sliced almonds. Add in a couple diced apples, dried cherries and dried strawberries. Squirt with a little lemon juice and cook until heated up. Add a little orange juice and baking powder. Bring to a boil/simmer. Add Splenda to taste. Stir until the juice thickens up/reduces a little. Add a splash of Stoli Vanilla. I wanted to flambe it but I got scared.

To plate it take the cooked phyllo dough and place it on the plate. Add the fruit and nut mixture, top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and drizzle with fresh honey. Enjoy!

I think this is the best view of the dish.













From the top....













It makes 2 so don't forget one for your honey!













Sean's reactions?
"Where did you get this recipe from?"
"That's pretty good!"
"What's this flaky stuff? I'm not too horny about it."

Experimenting with Apples - Take 1

Having spent most of my years in Kansas sometimes you are sheltered when it comes to certain things. Now that I spend quite a bit of time in Maine I'm learning all sorts of new things (and words - I see an entire post about this topic in the future). Every time we drive into town we pass an apple orchard. As the weather started getting cooler Sean started saying "It's almost time to go apple pickin'!" This made me very excited as I had never been before. The day finally came when the sign at the apple orchard went up "U Pick". The time has finally come!!! Last weekend we made our way to pick some apples. I almost think Sean ate more then he put in the bucket. I wouldn't do it because it made me think of going to the grocery store and eating stuff before paying - just can't do it. Come to find out I could have eaten as many as I wanted - the lady even said so. "We don't charge for the ones you eat while picking." What a concept!

The apple orchard.

Some ruby red apples just waiting for me to pick them!

Sean trying to get the ones way up high for me.

Letting Duke try out the pickings. You can see one of the bags of apples we ended up coming home with.

Duke not quite sure if he likes it or not. They were "wicked tart".

So, now I have a million apples and I have no experience with doing stuff with them. I quickly looked through the internet to see what kind of things I could do. My plan is to take the ideas from the recipes and see if I came up with my own concoctions. I have made my first attempt and it actually wasn't too bad. Oh, by the way, the orchard also had fresh honey. They have bees because they need them to pollinate the trees. I'm also trying to see what all I can make with it too. Here's how I made my first treat.

Take a microwavable bowl and slice one pear and a couple apples (they're small) and place them in there. Add a couple tablespoons of orange juice and honey and some sliced almonds. Mix it up. In another small bowl mix about 1/4 cup of oats and a tablespoon or so of brown sugar. Pour it over the fruit mixture. Spray a few sprays of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray on top. Place in the microwave for about 8 minutes. Serve warm with a dollop of ice cream on top. Enjoy!

My husband's kids

So they're not really kids, but that's what he calls them. They all have fur or feathers. I knew he had an obsession with them before we got married but it's getting out of control now. We buy more food for them then we do Duke (ok so Duke only weighs 6.5 lbs but still). He has to fill up all 12 feeders multiple times in a week. But it doesn't stop with the birds - he has to feed the squirrels and chipmunks too. In one of his recent trips to Blue Seal he found the ultimate block of food for his kids. It is about 12x12x12 (inches that is) and solid food.

Since I knew he was obsessed and he loves to take pictures I found the best birthday present for him - it's called a BirdCam!!! I quickly bought it for him for his birthday earlier this year (May). What I learned from this (and the iPod I bought him several years ago that it took him over a year before he used) is, yes he's completely a computer nerd, but he likes what he knows. So after asking him multiple times when he was actually going to try out his new BirdCam I decided to learn how to use it myself. I thought the pictures of the kids eating the new block of food would be cute. Come to find out the BirdCam is super easy to use! It has lots of options though - you can do pictures or video and you can choose to have it take them automatically or with a remote sensor. Here are a couple of my favorite pictures we captured over the weekend.

Day 1: All butt shots.

Day 2: We moved the block in hopes we'd get a picture of their front sides. You can leave the camera out all night - it's weather proof. However, we cannot leave the block of food out all night as it's not night creature proof. We have a family of racoons that ate a lot of suet before we figured out where it was going so fast. We now have to bring the suet and the block of food in each night. That's why the first few pictures have the block missing - we hadn't gotten up yet. They didn't seem to have a problem cleaning up the leftovers from the night before though.

The sun was on the wrong side but I thought he just looked guilty in this one.

Some feathered friends.

Posing....

Posing...

Mourning Dove showed up to the party.

Looking for a tasty spot.

Found it and enjoying it.

WELCOME!!!

Welcome to my new blog! As you can probably tell by the name of my blog I'll be posting anything and everything that comes to my mind. You can expect stories about my cute dog Duke, my silly husband Sean (or maybe that should be the other way around), and our travels to name a few. I hope you enjoy.