It's The End of the World As We Know It . . .

. . . and I feel fine.

Does anyone know - was the world supposed to be kaput by the time we all woke up this morning or do we all have to awkwardly wait around for the end today ala Seeking A Friend for the End of the World? If the world happens to not ex/implode before midnight, does that mean we'll be living in a post-apocalyptic world for now on?

Since this is the third time (I think) in less than two years that the world was supposed to end, I'm developing a rather flippant attitude towards the impending doom. I'm sure you are too. Admit it. And honestly, I think anyone who survived the Y2K boondoggle is apt to apply a grain of salt to any forecast of doom and gloom. (I'm not sure how we'll be explaining the Y2K hysteria to our grandchildren. "Well kids, lots of people were really worried that the world would end because the computer chips in our coffee makers might not work. Oh humanity!)

I was talking about the apocalypse du jour with my dental hygienist last week (because that's the sort of thing you talk about with dental hygienist . . . am I right?) and she pointed out that she doubted the world would end today because she still had an unpaid credit card bill. Well played! I have a feeling that fate is not so kind that I'm going to escape my current holiday credit card bill. Ah well, better to pay up and face another day than to have both bill and myself obliterated. Besides, if I really thought the world was ending today, I wouldn't have gone to the dentist's! ;)

There is one thing that I know for sure about today: it's the winter solstice and the official start of winter. Hooray for days getting ever so gradually longer!

Not only was yesterday the last official day of autumn, it also marked the end of deer season at the cabin. At long last, all the venison from this year's deer has been processed and/or turned into sausage. Tonight we'll package up the last batch of sausage, squeeze it into the very full chest freezer and then we are done! *excitement!*

Usually we just make bulk sausage (Italian, wild rice, etc.) that can be used in lasagnas, egg bakes, etc. But because we had so much sausage meat this year, not to mention a snazzy new meat grinder, we actually tried our hands at stuffing sausage into casings. The process requires some patience, but really, we made a massive batch of potato sausage (tres Scandinavian, yah) in short order last night.

 

Here's an approximate breakdown of what our deer turned into this year:

20 pounds potato sausage
21 pounds wild rice sausage
16 pounds Italian sausage
6 pounds Chorizo
8 pounds breakfast sausage
Assorted cuts: roasts, round steak, ribs, sirloin

Hmmm, I wonder what everyone's getting for Christmas . . . .


 

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Holidays Done Right

Happy Solstice everyone! Not sure we're going to get any sunlight today on this shortest day of the year, but it does look like a very blue sky is trying to peep out from behind some dramatic grey, purple, and pink clouds. Today we have just over 8 hours of daylight; about 9.5 hours of visible light. Although we will start gaining daylight by just seconds starting tomorrow, it's always nice to make it over the hump.

After I get a few more hours of work in today, I'll be hitting the hot and dusty (or should I say, the curvy and icy) and heading into town for the night. Tomorrow, I'll accompany my parents to Chicagoland, where we'll be spending a week with my paternal grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. We'll be meeting up with my brother and his girlfriend while we're down there as well. On the return trip, I'll be dropped off for another crafting extravaganza. I won't be back to the cabin until the new year!

Andy is understandable somewhat miffed by all of this, but someone's got to stay home to watch the cabin and make some money. ;) And before you feel too bad for Andy, keep in mind that his mom'll be up to spend the holiday with him and he has family gatherings to attend. He will be fine. I think.. . . There is plenty of food in the freezer, so hopefully he won't spend too many nights eating his bachelor standby: cold refried beans smeared on an unheated tortilla.

There have been lots of posts on the blogsphere lately about trying to find Christmas tree, so I thought I'd focus this post on some of the positive aspects of the holidays. Here are a few things I'm glad I've done so far this holiday season:

Bought local gifts. I always have good intentions of buying my presents locally. Then when push comes to shove, I inevitably end up buying all my presents from Amazon. (It's so easy!) But this past Friday, I spent some time downtown and finished up my Christmas shopping in town. Not all my presents were bought locally, mind you, but it did feel good to know that some of my Christmas dollars were going to cycle right back through my community.  

Made holiday cookies in limited quantities. Everyone loves a treat. But ubiquitous Christmas cookies just tend to make people ill, and eventually, after all that sugar's worn off, downright grumpy. This year's Christmas cookie baking has been limited to the cookie baking extravaganza with my mom's family (and the majority of those cookies were donated to a community cookie sale) and one batch of Danish puff. My waistline thanks me.

Stayed focused.  This holiday season, I kept my head down and kept working. I banked hours, I got things done ahead of time. It really wasn't fun. But it means that I can leave for the next week and a half and not worry about not working. I've earned my holiday this year and won't experience a dip in income over the holidays. *whew!*

Family time. I have not spent a Christmas with my father's family since 2005. My grandparents are in their 80s. That means Christmases to come are probably finite. Since I am able to, it feels like the right thing to spend the holidays with them. 

Come what may. Earlier in the month, I just wasn't feeling the Christmas cheer.But rather than let the calendar dictate my feelings, I waited to go through the Christmas decorations until I was actually interested in rooting through the box and decorating the cabin. We got the tree later than usual, but we were both ready to have a tree by the time it did go up. The holidays have unfolded naturally which made it all a little less stressful. Now I'm ready (I think!) to be full of cheer and goodwill to men.

What things are you glad you did this holiday season?

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Wordless Wednesday: Cabin Fever?

I'd say there's no explanation, but perhaps the fact that we're rapidly approaching the shortest day of the year is explanation enough.

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How Many Hands Does It Take To Put Up Siding?

Apparently six.

By the middle of last week, Andy’d reached the point in the shed project that it was time to deal with the siding. The floors were in. The walls were up and square. And according the carpentry expert down the road, it made the best sense to put up the siding before dealing with the roof.

So Andy and I headed out back to hang some siding. The only issue was that T1-11 siding is really much heavier than it appears. Also, when you have a short ladder that just barely allows you to peep over the top of the wall, it doesn’t work so well to have someone peeping over the top attempting to see if the piece of siding is square while the other person crouches on the ground, turning red in the face, trying to support the piece of siding and make the necessary adjustments to get the siding on straight. There was complaining, bickering, frustration, and in the end, defeat.

What to do . . . . what to do?

The good thing about staying in your hometown is that there’s usually an extra pair of hands around. Yesterday, Andy’s cousin came over and between the three of us, we got two walls done. Only two more walls, a window, a door and a roof and we’ll have a shed!

Happy Solstice! We had the most exquisite long summer day yesterday: blue skies, a touch of breeze, no humidity. The garden loved it!

Today, the official kickoff of summer as far as the calendar’s concerned, is overcast and humid. Rain seems imminent and although the rain will keep from weeding the garden, it also means we won’t have to water.

In truth, as another blogger pointed out this morning, it’s not really the start of summer: it’s midsummer. It does feel much more like the middle of summer. Yesterday, after the siding success, we sat on the deck talking for a bit and realized that July 4th, that unofficial mark of summer’s halfway point, is nearly upon us. That’s not necessarily a bad thing: July 4th is the grand opening at work. The next two weeks will be the last big push there while the second half of summer this year promises to be more orderly and relaxed.

I put in a half day at work today, which got me home and fed before three. It’s going to be a busy week on the work front and I’m trying to avoid overtime. I may have to head over to work every day this week, but at least that means I have a little more time at home each day too.

I should do dishes, but I think I’m off to hunt for wild strawberries before the rain reaches us.

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