We have a turkey breast in the smoker this morning which will be the entrée for our Thanksgiving dinner. We know that we are blessed on this day and others by the grace of God. May He bless you and yours on this day of thanks.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Bob
Craft Fair and Bluegrass Festival
Although we don’t normally venture out on the weekends, today held a special reason, actually two, to lure us out of the comfort of our beautiful home. It was a beautiful spring-like day with sunshine and temperatures in the mid to upper 70’s.
The first event, an arts and crafts show downtown by the library, was interesting; there were many vendors of jewelry, clothing, pottery, knick knacks, books and other stuff. We looked around a bit and Verna bought a decorative screen cover for a wine glass to keep the bugs or falling debris out. We didn’t stay too long, just enough time to look at all the booths.
The other event was our Annual Bluegrass Festival. There were several bands that we listened to, all of which were very good performers. We also browsed the vendors up at the Rodeo Grounds where the event was being held. I bought a souvenir T-Shirt commemorating this year’s Festival.
Photos of me in my new cowboy hat at the rodeo grounds and of Verna browsing at the craft fair. Click on either image to enlarge.
Household Dietary Changes
Verna and I are now on a low carbohydrate dining regimen because of recent doctor’s advice. I could stand to lose some weight and She needs to lower her triglycerides and glucose. With those criteria in mind, we are now avoiding pasta, bread, cereal, fruit and other carb and sugar laden food items.
About the diet: we’re not going to strictly count carbohydrates, but rather select food items that we know are on the “good” list. It’s not really hard to do and there is plenty of on-line help and printed recipes that support the diet.
The Cobb Salad (pictured above – click to enlarge) we had for lunch yesterday was nutritious, high in protein and fiber, and delicious. Since October 21st, dinners that we posted on the Food Blog reflect the sorts of things we are now eating.
Over the last week, we have been easing ourselves into revised eating habits and this weekend we prepared both main meals with the diet in mind. We’re just getting started and already we’re noticing subtle changes to our bodies.
Retirement Anniversary Number Nine
Yep, today is the ninth anniversary of retiring from the aerospace mill. Truth be told, I don’t miss it a bit but have occasionally dreamed about being back in the work environment. Mostly hassle dreams where I can’t find my car or someone is being stupid. Reinforcing the notion that I don’t miss it a bit!
I made the Roman numeral nine above with Xara, a 3D graphics app that I have had for years. The text texture is from an image of a stormy and sunny Grand Canyon view I lifted from the Yavapai Point Webcam which looks at a northwestern view of the canyon from that location.
Rainbow Light Up Shoes
We took what is likely our last trip for this year down to the West Valley today to shop at Lowe’s and Walmart in Surprise. The snowbirds are already starting to show up and the traffic down there is bad enough in the summer, let alone when the population doubles in the late fall and winter months. Our population more than doubles here in town, but the traffic and crowds in the stores here are tolerable. I grumble some, but that’s to be expected from an old curmudgeon.
The point of this post is actually to show the electric sneakers Verna picked up in the store. She had socks on her list and they are located by the shoe department. She saw these shoes and liked them for their sturdy appearance and comfortable look. We did not realize until we were back at home that they had rainbow lighted soles.
The shoes each have a battery, a light array around the soles, a control button and a charging jack. The lights can display single or multi colors with billboard motion. The shoes came with a remote control and charging cable that plugs into a charging port. What will the techies think of next?
Electric Pepper Mill
With both of us experiencing discomfort in our hands with osteo-arthritis, we have had difficulty using simple kitchen tools like our traditional pepper grinder. The grasping and twisting motions were difficult for us to dispense fresh ground pepper without experiencing pain. Sure, the pain was minor, but, still it was unpleasant. What could we do to alleviate the pain?
Enter the OPUX Battery-operated Salt and Pepper Grinder Set! Our order arrived today which included two grinders, one for pepper and the other for salt. However, we use a salt shaker for when we dispense salt and seemed to have an extra grinder. But Wait! We could use a battery operated pepper mill for the RV. So Verna installed the batteries in both, loaded them with peppercorns and placed one on our kitchen counter in the house and the other in the galley in the RV. Perfect! Now, with the press of a button, freshly ground pepper is painlessly dispensed on our foodstuffs either at home or on the road.
