Rain and colder temperatures were in the forecast for the rest of this week, so Handsome and I completed our outside tasks to prepare for winter. We gave the lawn its final (short) cut for the season, and put out our driveway markers before the ground freezes making that impossible. All the tools and buckets are put away in the compass barn until next spring, and now we're ready.
It all took a few hours, so we were both gassed by the time we were all done. Of course, we were feeling accomplished, but tired. So last night I made "breakfast for dinner" - homemade waffles covered in Dutch honey with a side of bacon. We talked about the events of the day and then settled in to watch a Potter movie. I was falling asleep about halfway through, so Handsome took the dogs out for the final "squirt" of the night and we turned off all the lights. We were in bed by ten o'clock. That's early for two night owls!
As you can see from my photograph, it's cloudy today, and it is colder. I'm going out now to run the dogs and take care of the barn girls before the rains come. I'm hoping that by then, I'll have a nice cuppa sitting next to my needlework stand and I'll be stitching on frogs again. I'll share my progress tomorrow. I hope you have a great day, dearies.
By the way, in case you've never heard of Dutch honey, it's not really honey, but it is delicious on waffles, pancakes and even ice cream! Here's the recipe if you'd like to make your own...
Dutch Honey
1 cup of corn syrup
1 cup white sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
Put the first three ingredients into a large saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat,
stirring constantly. Continue boiling for five minutes until it thickens, and then remove from
heat. Add vanilla and stir completely. Now this lovely golden nectar is ready to pour warm
over pancakes or waffles, and I store any leftovers in the refrigerator. I like to reheat it
before I reuse it so there are no crystals. It'll keep a couple weeks in the fridge. Enjoy!
Sherry of createology: Colder temps and getting closer to freezing at night, we have so been preparing for the winter. Measuring and ordering plant/cactus protection covers. Las year we used the nursery burlap and wrapped everything. Unfortunately we lost a lot of expensive cacti because last winter was the coldest and wettest in over a decade. WHO KNEW! Having nothing nice takes a lot of work and time and money. Relaxing while stitching sounds good. I am off to do my charity volunteer work with Days for Girls. Blessings…
ReplyDeleteHi Sherry:
DeleteI understand. Unexpected and unusual prolonged cold snaps (in tropical Florida!) caused the demise of a few large palm trees next to our home when we lived there. It was heartbreaking. Especially since we'd get new ones established and lose them a couple years later. It's hard to believe we were actually there for seventeen years! I hope your plants all make it through this winter, dear. Stay warm and do something you love today!
xoxo
Donna
I don't want to think of colder temperatures but unfortunately I'm going to be forced in into it. It says it's 1C here right now and that there's light snow. It's so light I can't see it so hopefully they're lying!
ReplyDeleteNever heard of Dutch honey before but it sounds interesting!
Hi MA:
DeleteI know what you mean. I can take it for a bit, but would be much happier if we only had about 2 months of winter instead of 6. Did you actually get snow again? ugh. As far as the Dutch honey, it's very close to the recipe I make to use hot as the sweet sauce for the Cranberry Cake recipe I've shared in my "Recipes" link in the top menu bar. The only real difference is the proportions, and while the Dutch honey uses corn syrup and heavy cream, the sweet sauce uses evaporated milk and butter. The sweet sauce is actually a bit richer - if you can even believe it. I hope you'll try it. It's really handy when you don't have maple (or hickory) syrup available.
xoxo
Donna
We've only had little skiffs of snow so far but last night we got a dumping of freezing rain. THAT I can do without!!!
DeleteNext week will be our final 'short cut' and whatever leaves come down after that will stay until Spring and then the driveway markers. I don't know what it is about the driveway markers but
ReplyDeleteonce they are up it's Winter no matter what.
Shirley
Hi Shirley:
DeleteI actually herd all the leaves into a row under our big maple tree in the front yard. The squirrels can grab them to line their nest in that tree, and the critters can overwinter under them. Thanks to a less than accurate county plow driver, we lost a couple driveway markers last winter, so I'll have to pick up a few more. I'm hoping that we either have a better driver this year, or the markers help guide the old one off our lawn. He really plowed up a huge divot last year that never did settle back down all summer. It was an adventure to mow, even though we'd tried to tamp it down. sigh As I told MA, I'm not looking forward to a protracted winter, so I hope this one is mild with less snow. That would make me happy. Stay warm, dear.
xoxo
Donna
Sounds like you had a busy, tiring day.
ReplyDeleteGlad you got the outside chores done.
We had a lot of rain yesterday.
Dutch Honey sounds delicious!
Marilyn