Posts Tagged ‘breakfast’
Lake Fun
We enjoyed wonderful weather for anything we wanted to do at the lake yesterday, starting with a run to town to buy a replacement screen door for one that wasn’t holding its shape anymore. Yes, we measured first but upon arrival back at the house, we discovered they sawed an inch off the old one to make it fit.
Had to borrow a saw that will allow us to complete the installation today.
Gave us a chance to hop on the pontoon and venture out on the lake for a picnic lunch.
After some beach time and swimming, we played cards out on the deck. I built a fire in the firepit for cooking a flank steak dinner.
That gave us a chance to finally sit on the benches I built from wood left over after our deck rebuild at Wintervale, which Mike helped us accomplish.
Topped off the evening with a triple-game that Barb introduced as, “Fishbowl.” Each participant writes a word on three pieces of paper and tosses them in a bowl. You form teams and take turns playing “Taboo,” charades, and “Password,” reusing the same batch of words each time.
You’d think that would make the solutions easier, but the belly laughs came from how many times people goofed up despite the obvious answer if we don’t stray from the 15 choices we created. Simple pleasures.
We are having tons of fun! Now it’s time for a waffle breakfast before cutting the bottom inch off the new screen door…
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Normal Morning
I’m writing a little late this morning as I have been occupied with solo coverage of the ranch this morning, as Cyndie spent the night at her mother’s house in Edina yesterday. Delilah and I startled a couple of deer in our woods on our morning walk, which then grabbed the attention of the horses who were grazing nearby in the back pasture. Their heads were all on full alert when we popped out of the woods.
I took a picture of some fantastic-looking fungi on the edge of one of our trails as we passed.
The horses were a combination of calm yet mischievous as I set out the pans of feed for their morning rations. They had serenely paraded their way into the paddock from the back pasture alongside Delilah and me as we made our way to the barn. The four horses conveniently avoided being positioned on either side of our serving area under the overhang, so I decided to serve them where they stood for a change.
They quickly set about moving around from one pan to another, snitching bites between rotating to be sure no other horse was getting something they didn’t have.
I finally coaxed Mix to the far side and closed a gate to disrupt their dance. That solved things and they all stopped to finish the pan at their feet in front of them while I rolled the wheelbarrow around the paddock to do the morning housekeeping.
By the time I finished tending to the compost pile and returned to get Delilah in the barn, the four horses we already around the corner in the back pasture again, grazing peacefully.
On our way back to the house, I need to detour to the shop to pick up some tools for a kitchen project Cyndie left for me. She bought new slide-out racks for cabinets that are going to require some customization of the dimensions of the openings. There, I discovered a mousetrap had tripped and the victim was being cannibalized by other vermin. Oops.
My bad.
Back in the house, the dog and cat were served their breakfast and then I fed myself.
Somehow, the early morning hours have vanished, but it was all rather normal except for the fact I was alone with the animals.
I look forward to getting the kitchen enhancements installed. Anything to make Cyndie happier in the kitchen is going to directly benefit my luxury of being exceptionally well-fed.
It only takes one morning of fending for my own food to be reminded of how well I have it every other day.
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Not Suffering
Just a little rain up here at the lake yesterday afternoon, but we are living the life of luxury, regardless.
Breakfast on the deck.
But earning it by taking care of that too-long neglected task of tending to the gutters on the backside of the house. Out of sight, out of mind, you know.
After I dug for long enough, I actually found a gutter underneath all that mess.
More family arrived yesterday afternoon and we dined like royalty and stayed up too late playing cards.
It’s another classic summer weekend ‘at the lake.’
Aahhhhh.
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Special Dish
I’ll admit it. I am inordinately attached to a specific bowl, which I prefer to use for cereal and ice cream. Try as she might, Cyndie has been unable to get me to give up the remaining pieces of our original (old) Midwinter Stonehenge Wild Oats pattern dishes from over 3-decades ago. What can I say? If I still had any of the Melmac dishes from when I was a kid, I’d probably be using those, too. I stick with what works for me.
That is, until I spun the big chair up in our loft, tipping the side table, knocking the last remaining bowl from that Wild Oats set crashing to the floor in pieces. It was heartbreaking. My last bowl. Gone.
Now, how silly is it to get so hung up on one specific bowl? I have used others. Since there had been only one Wild Oats bowl left, there were plenty of times when I would open the cupboard to find Cyndie had used it and it was in the dishwasher waiting for the next wash. I would give in, and take an alternative. All that would do for me was re-confirm that substitutes don’t cut it. That style of bowl has always been my one and only favorite.
But now the last one was gone.
As I was lamenting the sad occasion, Cyndie suggested I try one of the “green” bowls. It was sweet of her to offer, but those bowls are so not my bowl. They are way too wide, and therefore, the capacity is too much. Their shape, too gradual a slope. It’s like a plate, with the outside edges raised up to form the vague shape of a bowl.
One more time, Cyndie tried to help. She suggested I search online for the pattern.
“You can do that?” I said.
You sure can. God bless the internet. Replacements, Ltd. performs miracles. They “replace the irreplaceable.” Who’d a thunk it?
I will be eating breakfast this morning out of my “new” cereal bowl. It is the perfect shape. The perfect size. The perfect weight.
It is interesting that the 2 bowls they sent have different appearances. They each have characteristics that appear to match our originals, but one of them looks much more like a copy. The print is nowhere near as crisp. But, they are the right shape and size, and that is most important of all. The pattern is secondary; soothing to my penchant for familiarity.
It’s like being in the year 1980, every morning! Bring on the Shredded Wheat!