Boiled Peanuts

I have this bag of raw shelled peanuts, which my wife's visiting teacher gave to me. She (the VT) works at a peanut processing plant.

Anyway, I had this bright idea yesterday ... I took several handfuls of the peanuts, put them in a sauce pan with water and a couple tablespoons of salt. Boiled them for a little while ... then let them soak overnight. Today I simmered them for a bit to soften them up some.

Absolutely DELICIOUS boil'd p-nuts!!

... without all the messy shells.

Sorry, not foto ... they dun bin et.

Meeting in the Park

We passed this lovely house yesterday on the way to the park. It sits on top of a hill and the view from the 2nd floor balcony is fantastic.

The park has expanded their play equipment area ... so it really attracts a lot of children ... and the occasional oddball parent ... nuff said.

This is Mrs. & Mr. W and a couple of their daughters.

JIM showed up without his BIG blue Great Danes.

Two sisterly types enjoying a brisk outing.

Nothing quite like cousins getting together ...

Unlike Last Year ...

Unlike last year ... when the old stove burned the fruitcakes to a crisp after only 20 minutes at 190 degrees F. -- I threw those burned cakes out on the lawn, took a foto of them, and stomped them in anger and frustration ... before putting them in the trash can.
A LOT of money for ingredients went to waste.

This year in the new stove that our landlord installed to replace the bad one ...
I made 7 of these lovely fruitcakes (Julekage). Delightful and delicious!
Sister Jan even requested one of these!!

Contrasts

My neighbor sent this foto of what his truck looked like this morning in Lowell, Indiana when he woke up. No tire tracks ... just his feet prints in the snow. One of these days he is intending to get the bunk-heater fixed ... In the meantime, he wraps up in lots of layers and a sub-zero sleeping bag.

This morning, I took this picture of town ... it's there in the misty trees ... beyond the peanut and cotton fields. Two fotos, the same morning ... quite a contrast!

Rain Aftermath

That's the driveway where the water rushes down at the house

Kind of a cool reflection

The elephant ear plant dieing off in the cold

The stark beauty of winter.