I Don't Feel Comf-ter-ble...

I don't feel comf-ter-ble when the tem-per-chure is so cold.  I'll prob-ly have to put on sump-m warmer in Feb-u-ar-y, like a sweater.  At least Mr. Webster of dictionary fame says so.  Webster says it's OK to use this kind of sloppy pronunciation (which we all seem to use) but we have to spell it the "right" way.  No wonder people have spelling trouble!  Even the meteorologist on the weather report says "tem-per-chure" so there is no use trying to go back and change things now.  It would be nice to comf-ter-ble-ize a lot of English words to make spelling conform to the spoken word.  But I suppose if that happened, there would be no standard for words and the whole language would fall into a black hole of gibberish and ethnic schisms--the Tower of Babel all over again.

A few family pictures--Oct. and Nov. 2011

                                                     

Me with granddaughter, age 14 mo. in Oct.

Her mom in her kitchen.

Day after Thanksgiving at great aunt and uncle's house.  Our granddaughter having her first "rug ride," a tradition with all their kids and grandchildren.

"Why are they doing this?"

Our son with his daughter (16 months old) at Thanksgiving. She's wearing a sweater I knit for her.

Playing with a few of great aunt's large collection of wind up toys.

Thanksgiving Cactus

This is my Christmas (Thanksgiving?) Cactus which seems slightly confused about the time of year. It probably will be finished blooming by Christmas as it was last year. It was supposed to be a gift as a small plant to our daughter-in-law four or five years ago but she forgot to take it home so we kept it alive and it has grown to two feet in diameter. The buds shoot out of the ends of the leaves into quite a spectacular a shower of red. It has weathered my infrequent watering and the cats' frequent snatching of a few leaves so they can play cat and mouse. It might have to be moved soon to the kitchen window to make way for the Christmas tree.

Burrowing Cats

Our son, wife, and 16 month-old granddaughter came for Thanksgiving weekend.  We are back to just the two of us now again with our two cats, Si and Sam.  Si got spooked due to us having company (probably scared of our little granddaughter??) and we couldn't find him one morning.  My husband called and searched for some time, then finally located him trapped INSIDE the box spring of our bed! He had burrowed his way into a corner of the material on the underside of it and couldn't get out.  I now vaguely recall that we had heard some clawing noises during the night and called out "NO!" a couple of times.  It was probably him trying to hide so he may have been there all night.  My husband and son had to take the mattress off the bed and turned over the box spring to free him.

A few years ago we had another cat, "BJ," who liked to burrow under blankets on the bed and make a lump in the bed.  One time we had a bedspread over our couch which hung down over the back of it.  True to his nature, he tried to burrow up under it but instead of ending up under the bedspread, he got caught between the outer fabric and the lining so we had to cut through the lining to get him out.  By then he was none to happy.  It didn't stop his instinctual burrowing habit, though.  I wonder if there is a burrowing gene?  I suppose prairie dogs must have that gene if there is one. 

Lefse--Norwegian Soul Food-- Mmmmmm!

Today I have been baking Norwegian potato lefse [lef'-suh], a popular ethnic food in North Dakota, to sell at a bake sale the Right to Life is having at a bazaar next Saturday.   It's a super fast seller.  I suppose not many want to make it as it is rather tedious and messy to do.  Three lefse sell for $3-4 and I made about 75 of them (in three sessions).   But there is nothing like the taste with a little butter on it or butter and cinnamon and sugar.  When it's hot off the grill and melts the butter it's even better! 

My recipe calls for mixing 3 cups of mashed potatoes, 1/3 c. oil, and 1 t. of salt.   Then mix in 

1 c. white flour with the potato mixture.  Use a heaping 1/3 c. of dough for each piece of lefse.  Work in enough extra flour so that it can be rolled out on a floured board as thin as possible to about 12-15 inches in diameter.   Sprinkle with flour to prevent sticking.  With a long tapered, flat stick, transfer to a large round grill and bake at 400-450 degrees.  Turn when small brown spots appear.  Transfer to large plate and cover with a towel.  One batch makes about ten lefse.  Sounds easy enough, right?   Well, a lot can go wrong! 

Potatoes should not be cooked too long or they get sticky.  They also need to have no lumps or else  holes form while rolling the dough.  Some people rice the potatoes by pressing through a fruit press.  I find this is too difficult so I just mash them well.  Only one batch should be made at a time as if the dough sits too long, the gluten in the flour makes it too sticky.  Then it takes more flour to roll them out and the lefse get tough or crisp.  (They should be pliable.)   Sometimes the dough falls apart which means not enough flour has been worked in.   Small tears can be patched by using a piece sliced from the edge.  The potatoes should be room temperature.  I have tried using  mashed potatoes that have been frozen and thawed in the microwave.  For some reason, the dough then becomes too sticky for good lefse.  I use regular mashed potatoes but some people use potato flakes.  The problem of lumps would be solved using the flakes but the taste might not be quite the same.  I put the grill on one side of the sink so I can whisk extra flour off into the sink so that it doesn't burn on the grill.

Then comes the clean-up--flour on clothes, shoes, floor, counters, window sill, etc.!!  It's good to put away anything on the counter or sitting around that would get flour on it and perhaps wear an apron. 

Robert Pastor (CFR) says JBS has slowed North American merger!

This was some great news!

 

In a letter from the John Birch Society concerning a renewal of a successful program from quite a few years ago (Support Your Local Police--and Keep Them Independent), there was a very interesting postscript, as follows:

 

"Due to our involvement in the campaign to stop the North American Union, the CFR [Council of Foreign Relations] point man Robert Pastor, in his latest book, The North American Idea, mentioned the "rejuvenated John Birch Society" as an important part of slowing down the effort four times. "  They cannot merge North America until they have a national police force to merge with Canada's and Mexico's national police forces.

Incident At The RR Crossing

On the way to church today we had to stop on the highway for a long coal train.  Luckily, most of it had already crossed.  Most of them are over 100 cars long and when they are full they go only about 30 or 40 mph. It seems that coal trains from western ND travel through several times a day to supply coal to cities in the eastern population centers. 

Then as we neared the tracks on the way home, a small white car whipped past us at breakneck speed just as the train was nearing the crossing.  The lights were flashing and the cross-arms were about to come down and we thought the driver was going to try to out-run the train or possibly snake around through the cross-arms.  But at the last second, he swerved off on a small road to the left.  At any rate, we were relieved, that he didn't try to cross!  We did slow down to stay back away from him in case there should be a crash.  Perhaps he chickened out or maybe he decided to speed down the small road and cross somewhere else before the train got there.