Berry Nice !!

We had rain and maybe more to come later today! The rain helped to finish off the remaining leaves that fleshed out the cottonwood tree (pictured two posts ago) and now there are "just the berries" and a few good leaves remaining.

They look good enough to eat and hopefully they are "safe" to eat as Dino has managed to sneak a few and has for the last few years. We try to remove the fallen berries, but there are way too many to keep ahead of that game.

This week I have done my share of cyber shopping and have lost track of tracking . . . between our neighbor and us, we keep UPS, Fedex and the USPS quite busy delivering packages. It is quite fun to have the store "come" to us for a change.

Taking a break from the selection of gifting items, we looked at the prospect of Christmas dinner items. The decision as to which "protein" to select is always interesting and like the days growing up a lot of decisions are based on "whatever" is offered in the Wednesday or other grocery type ads.

Having been in the meat business for six years, my mouth always waters over rib roasts at this time of the year (or anytime for that matter) and here are two examples of current rib eye roasts offered for sale:

You have to agree that both of these roasts look "pretty good". So if one was serious one would have to make a decision. But additional facts are necessary before making the selection.

Here are the pertinent facts:

Click on the above to enlarge and then read the unbelievable details. As much as I love prime rib either one would be a major decision to make.  I have never seen a price like the first one (which is more than I spent for my first two or three cars, combined)

And look at the price per pound -- amazing. And to think what the price would be if these were not offered for sale from Costco . . .

The second roast, while costing much less is still, to me, a major purchase. So, what to do?

The third option is looking really good to me at this point -- and I have always loved a good "Christmas Ham" and who doesn't.

I could purchase a few hams and still be below the second choice of the rib roasts . . .

So, this little piggy is going off to the market AND there is always the split-pea soup that comes after the ham dinner to enjoy.

My mouth is watering already, I love ham!



Speaking of soup, we made a big pot of turkey,  barley & vegetable soup yesterday that turned out sooo good. Besides the dark meat turkey that was leftover from last week,
we added the juice from the pork shoulder roast that we were making, to the soup.  Very tasty.



While the aromas from the soup and the roast were wafting throughout the house, the sounds from Gail playing on the piano drifted throughout as well.

Dino took the moment to "enjoy" in his usual fashion, and added to this was the sound of rain at various times as well.

All in all, the combination of senses made for an enjoyable day.



Speaking of dining . . . to the right is a picture of our dining room as it appears after we "rearranged" it last week.

No longer do we have a table and chairs in the room that we only once or twice in the last four years ate at, we now have more comfortable seating.

The arrangement gives us a "nook" to read in and relax in, which we have used already more than the previous dining room setup.


The news this last week has been dominated of course by the events in "San Berdu". It is almost impossible to grasp any meaning and sense to that at all.

To counter the darkness, we looked to things on TV that would take our minds off tragedy and we found one event, Thursday Night Football, that did just that, though not until the last few seconds of the game. We almost turned the game off at one point thinking it was such a runaway victory for the Lions . . . but that would have been a mistake as the Packers proved.

So the Christmas countdown continues as well with just19 days to go. AND, less than a year to go before the presidential election. Sadly the events of this week will be an influence.


So, today being Saturday, it looks like turkey barley soup for lunch and pulled pork for dinner . . .

See you all in a few!!