Merry Christmas!

 

Another Christmas has come and gone, they seem to come quicker every year. We had my families Christmas Dec. 19th at my brothers house. My parents came up from Kentucky and also brought along my Grandma. I ended up with money a clock, some gloves and a lot of junk food. I have eaten more junk food in the last month than I have in the previous 6 months including Halloween. We had a lot of good home cooked food and of course I ate way too much. I surprised my parents with the gift from our upcoming vacation. I decided for their gift I would be that I
purchase their plane tickets to Alaska in May 2016. They protested but I figure it is a small pittance of what they have done for me over the years. On Christmas day we went down to the farm. Needles baked a turkey and Bob brought potatoes and Kenny homemade rolls and squash pie. It's was all very good and yet again I over ate. There seems to be a theme here. Anyway It was nice to be able to see the family again. Hope you had a Merry Christmas also.

Pew Pew!

 

Last night we went to the Drive Inn and watched Star Wars The Force Awakens. It was below freezing but I took my Buddy Heater and kept the chill from creeping in. We took coffee but didn't drink it until the ending credits started to roll. Both Needles and I thought it was very well done. Perhaps it was a little too much like A New Hope but it was a good solid movie and we love that it has sparked a lot of questions on what has happened over the last 30 years and what going to happen in the upcoming episodes. The new characters are likable and do their rolls well. The previous actors were used somewhat sparingly which was good, the comedic effects were extremely well done and BB8 droid turned out as adorable and they imagined it to be. I am pleased that the revamping of Star Wars has defiantly gotten off to a good start.

Whitetail Hunting Success

I had some luck with the first deer season. Head over to my Hunting Blog to find out the details.

Back from the Big Apple.

 

We are back from our vacation I will post an update over on my Travel Blog.

http://ramblinstravels.blogspot.com/

Super Blood Moon Eclipse 9-27-2015

9/11

Fourteen years ago today our lives would be forever changed. I don't think we knew at that time just how much our lives would be profoundly affected. As we have a trip to New York in the near future, I would be lying if I didn't have just a little bit of apprehension about going to a place where such tragedy and heart break has happened, but also very heroic stories and stories of American determination that restores our faith in mankind. My heart goes out to all that have lost, gave their life and suffered because of the tragic events fourteen years ago. I am looking forward to our trip but today with sadness in my heart.

TEN YEARS, ONE THOUSANDTH POST....and relish.

Today is my tenth year anniversary of blogging. This is also my 1,000 post. It doesn't seem like it has been that long. I guess time flies and all that jazz. Anyway with all of our garden tomatoes and peppers I decided we needed to make relish. As this is a photo journal here are a few shots.

 

It' been an interesting 10 years. I guess we will see what the next 10 brings.

Garden Yield

 

Tomatoes and cucumbers and peppers...Oh my!  The peppers haven' been picked yet.

New Generator

A couple years ago I purchased a WEN 3500 generator and for most of the first year that I had the thing, we didn't even have a blip in the power. Last fall I gave the generator to my father since just a couple of years ago they survived about 10 days without power during a ice storm and since then we have had two major power disruptions. One on the coldest day of the year and the other on the hottest. The first one lasted about 6 hours the latter for 16 hours. I was kicking myself for not getting another one. Last week I purchased another but just a little bit larger wattage and with a electric start. If nothing else it will probably keep us from having any electrical issues as long and I have it around.

Belated Birthday Surprise

Thank you sweet heart for the belated birthday gift. I would never have guessed this is what you had up your sleeve. I love you very much and appreciate the effort it took to accomplish this. Thank you.

 

The back story:

In 2010 Needles and I went on our first vacation, just the two of us. We decided to go to Boston and Salem, Mass. and then rent a car and venture up into Maine. We drove up to York, Maine and to Nubble Lighthouse and while there noticed an older gentlemen selling prints of his paintings of the lighthouse. We decided on not purchasing one as we didn't know if we would be able to make it back home with it in good shape. The very next year we vacationed in Bar Harbor, Maine and later that trip we ventured to Portland Head Lighthouse and to my amazement the same artist was there selling prints of that lighthouse. I purchased one without hesitation and then kicked myself for not buying one of Nubble Light the year before. Over the next couple of years I would often have regrets that I didn't purchase the print. Apparently Needles decided to be sneaky and contact the gift shop of the Nubble Light and convince them to sell one and ship it to her. This is something they said they don't usually do. To say I was surprised when I opened the gift is an understatement. For the rest of the evening and even now I get a big grin on my face thinking about all the trouble this wonderful woman went through to do this and finally put to rest one of my regrets. Thanks again Needles. LY

 

Above is the two prints of the lighthouses, Nubble Light and Portland Head . Pictures of the same lighthouses that I took while on vacation below.

 

 

The artist Bill Thomson

Psychedelic Soap

Ravenwood Hollow Soap

Garden Update.

Are garden has been doing well, even with all the rain. We got around 8 inches in June and so far in July we are over 3 inches. This picture was taken about a week ago so the tomatoes are about a foot taller. We have harvested so green beans but not enough for a cooking and we have some squash, a zucchini and cucumber ready for picking. We have lots of tomatoes but all of them are still green.

The Big Apple

Well we called about a trip package to New York and we were told the trip might be booked. About 4 days later the tour guide called and said that they had 2 seats left so in Oct. we will be going to New York. This is not a vacation spot we would do on our own so a group trip is great for us. Can't wait.

Happy 4th of July!

Vacation Summer 2015

We are back from our summer vacation so if you are interested in a summary of our trip head on over to my travel blog. We had a wonderful time and got to travel with some nice people. The link is in the gutter to the right.  (Pictured above is Mackinac Bridge.)

Soap Sales

This weekend was the start up of the Sumner Farmer's Market. Since Needles has gotten into the soaping business she decided to set up a booth. She got up and left early this morning and I followed a couple hours later. We had a good turn out and did pretty well for 4 hours. We had great weather and got out of there before the heat of the day set in.

Ravenswood Hollow Soap Facebook

New Antenna!

Above is the before and after pictures of our new antenna. The antenna is much smaller but is supposed to have a longer range. We are able to pick up most of the channels we could get with the older antenna.

Garden 2015

 

Garden plot 2015 Tomatoes l-r: Big Beef, Celebrity, Jet Star, and Husky Cherry Red; Peppers: Habanero, Jalapeno, Cuban Belle, and Orange Bell; Marketmore Cucumbers, and Blue Lake green beens (not shown is a hill of zucchini and a hill of yellow squash)

A weekend trip and storm damage.

Family Cookout

 

This weekend Needles and I headed to Kentucky to visit my parents for Mother's Day weekend. I left work an hour early and we headed South making it through Henderson before all the rush hour traffic. We ate way too much and visited late into the night before retiring to bed. The next morning we went looking for labels at the local Wal-Mart for Needles soap but came up empty. For lunch we ended up at the local Chinese restaurant and again ate too much. Sense a trend there? That night we had a cook out and had hotdogs and marshmallows over a fire. At about dark the guests headed home. Shortly after going in for the evening I got a call from my brother. We apparently had some severe weather damage at home. Our house lucked out but there were several house around that had large trees down and power outages. We ended up with one shingle blown off and a mangled T.V. antenna. I feel we dodged a bullet.

Wind damaged antenna.

Nice relaxing weekend.

 

Above the pink dogwood is in bloom and below.

 

A family of robins has made a nest in the front Japanese maple a few weeks ago. I have not bother it an decided to check it out today. It is filled to the brim with babies.

 

This weekend Needles and I headed north to Casey. Home to everything BIG. Needles was wanting to get her yarn and fiber fix while I was intrigued about not only the largest knitting needles and crochet hook in the world, but also the largest wind chimes, golf tee and future home of the largest rocking chair. Needles got her fix so we headed back toward home with a stop in Olney for Chinese food. We had a good day and hope to go back on not such a gloomy and rainy day.

Che Che Che Changes..,

Little did I know that 2015 would be the year for some drastic changes but that is indeed what it has turned out to be. I recently applied for another job and was lucky enough to get it. This is how fast it went down. I found out the position was open on a Thursday and talked to HR, sent in my resume the following Monday and had an interview the next Thursday and was "officially" hired the next Monday. So it all happened in about a week give or take. I have been in my current position for almost 9 years and I think things were getting frustrating. Maybe a little too frustrating for my taste and some things that were coming down the pipe could make the job even more frustrating. Although I don't mind a challenge from time to time, the idea of going through what we did 5 years ago on top of a interface that could possibly blow up in our face made the job less palatable. I do hope I am wrong about this. The position I considered a couple years ago became available so I made the move. The decision was not an easy one and I hate that I will not be working with the friends I made in my current position but I think in the long run the move will be better for all involved. I have a couple of days left and I start my new job Monday. I am excited and a little bit scared but I am sure things will work out. It's hard to go from one of the people in the department known as the "go to" person when things don't work to the newbie on the block. One funny thing is that I started this blog a week or so before I started my current job. We will see what the future has in store for the blog also. Maybe some changes.

Golden Anniversary

 

This weekend we embarked on a secret mission. We went down to Kentucky to visit my parents. But our visit had an alternative and devious plot. Our mission was to get my parents out of the house for a few hours and allow family and friend to gain access and decorate for a surprise 50th Anniversary Party. I would like to say that we could not have pulled it off without my Aunt Rita that contacted most of the people that would attend the party. She also decorated while we were out and about and baked a half chocolate half white sheet cake. Thanks Rita for all your hard work.

Winter Wonderland

Our area of the world has been a winter wonderland for going on 3 weeks now. I think it's time for this white stuff to go away. Looks like the warm weather is just on the horizon but we have some more of this white stuff before then. Good night.

New rack for the soapin.

Since Ravenswood Hollow Soap has been getting several requests for fund raisers and the like. We have had to expand into an new soap rack. This one will hold at max capacity approximately 600 or 700 bars of soap. We only have about 140 cut bars on it with another 80 in the molds. Our other rack has roughly 300 on it and the kitchen rack has about 80. I hope we sell all of it. Wish us luck.

Valentines Day!

Yesterday Needles treated me to a massage at the Market Street Salon after work. Today for breakfast she made chocolate gravy and homemade biscuits. This is a breakfast that takes me back to when I was a kid. My mother would make this for my brother and I on Saturday mornings. We would grab our plates and set in front of the T.V. soaking in the Saturday morning cartoons. Thank you very much for my Valentines Day gifts sweetheart. You are very thoughtful.

Google Maps

Smokin weekend.

This weekend I did an overnight smoke of a couple of pork butts. I put them on the smoker at 11:00pm last night getting up to check on them at 4am, 6 am and 8am. I pulled them off the smoker just before 11am today. They turned out pretty good and even though it got below freezing last night, I was able to maintain the temps pretty well. Tomorrow is our 18th anniversary so I am not sure what we might end up doing. Not sure if we might get out and about or just stick around the house.

The picture is from a smoke session back in the spring.

Just a picture.

Holiday Travel

 

Last weekend Needles and I went down to visit my parents after Christmas. We enjoyed our all to fleeting visit and returned home to put in a 3 day work week and then back to Kentucky to visit with Cynical and Ragged. It was nice to see everyone but I am glad to be home and sleeping in my own bed.

Pictured is the Ninki Roll the Crazy Spicy Roll and the KY Roll.