Just Horsin' Around - Thoughts on Central Texas Real Estate and More

She was just a tiny thing when I first saw her in the headlights of my car.  As I turned into the drive that ran down behind the houses that perched on the hillside, on my way home, she ran out into the middle of the drive and stopped, waving her tiny kitten paw.  "Stop the car!  Stop the car!"  I did, of course, and waved her on across.  But she didn't go.  "Stop the car!  Stop the car!"  Clearly more communication was necessary with so tiny a creature so new to the world, so I got out to help her across the drive.  At that point, she made her move, ran around, and jumped up into the vehicle through the open door.  I got in to remove her, and she promptly settled into my lap.  "We can go now."  I drove the short distance to my house, wondering what I was going to do with her and where she'd come from.  When I opened the car door, she jumped out and trotted over to the back door of my home.  "Good to be home!" she purred.  That was about 14 years ago, when Sasseen (Assassin) came to live with the Black Cat Clan (as our neighbors called us) or, more accurately, the Dropping Off Point For Little Black Fuzzy Aliens (where aliens disguised as black cats come to be acclimated to the planet).  

It quickly became clear that we'd been honored by the Empress of the Universe.  Her word was always law, which could and would be enforced if necessary with a Long Claw In a Velvet Paw.  She never weighed over 4 pounds (though her son, Beezl, tops out now at somewhere between 20 and 25 pounds), but she always ruled.  And woe betide the Silly Monkey who challenged this.  She adjusted admirably to the move to the country - we had mice!  Many mice!  - but never lost her regal bearing.

She's been showing her age in little ways of late, without releasing her grip or losing her extraordinary beauty (she always looked like a beautiful, black, fluid velvet moving statue with golden glass eyes).  When the cold came, she insisted on being inside, curled up by the refrigerator where the warm air came out at just the right height and temperature.  We catered to her, moving her food and water dishes over by the refrigerator and giving her her favorite canned cat food and treats.  But last night, she suddenly cried out - her back end was paralyzed.  I calmed her as best I could (this was not acceptable to her, she was The Queen, after all), and we talked about it.  By the time my husband got home from work, it was over.  We did not have to take her to the vet's office (an injustice she always bore with dignity, but distaste), as we had thought we would, to be euthanized - she passed at home, with due attention and respect. 

I realized I don't have any photos of her to hand - they're all on zip disks and will need to be transferred to CD before I can share.  But her eulogy needed to be written, and shared - I'll come back and add one or two later.  

Sasseen, we'll miss you - even the horses and donkey girls.  The world won't run quite right without you here to enforce the rules, and I'm not quite sure how we'll get along without you.  Rest sweetly, dear one. 

It finally got cold and rainy here this past weekend (it was in the 80's last week, and it will be in the 70's later this week).  Weather in Central Texas is nothing if not quixotic (it's one of those places where, if you don't like the weather, wait a minute, it'll change).  But today it was clear, a beautiful day with fresh-washed skies drying in the breeze.

I just stepped out onto our front porch to enjoy the air, and caught sight of this sunset, pretty typical for around here, though I've seen more dramatic.  I felt the impulse to share a Central Texas sunset with all of you.  This photo is a bit darker than the eye sees (the limitations of photography, at least with the kind of camera I had on me), and the sunset a bit more fiery, but this'll give you an idea of one of the reasons I love living in the country on my own horse property.  (We can watch the sun - and moon - rise from our back porch, and watch them set from our back porch.) 

The last 2007 Citywide Garage Sale, a huge event that's been going on for decades now in Austin, Texas (it predates the building that currently houses it), is this weekend at the Parmer Events Center - if you hurry, you can make the last day today! 

You can go in search of a particular item, but you never know what you might find in any of the dozens of booths there each year, from dishes to saddles, quilts to books, furniture to lighting, and everything else.  It's a great way to recycle one man's trash to another man's treasure, so I guess this could be called the original "green" event. 

Christmas is coming, and this can be a great place to find that perfect, unique gift for that someone who has everything.  And, besides, it's fun!  Give it a whirl! 

So, I posted our Thanksgiving menu on a few forums, including this one, and was suddenly bombarded with requests for this recipe (out of all the items on there).  Here it is, as written by my son PJ, for those who were asking.  

1. Cut the head off of a garlic bulb.

2. Put the garlic in foil, drip the liquid of your choice over the
exposed cloves (I used Chipotle tabasco this last time, but I've used
balsamic vinegar and olive oil before to good effect), sprinkle with
salt and pepper), twist foil closed around garlic and place in a 450
oven and roast for about 20-40 minutes until garlic is soft to touch.
Take out of oven and let cool.

3. In the meantime, boil Yukon Gold potatoes (as many as you need to
feed you and yours) in salted water until a fork comes out cleanly
from the chunks of potato, about 20 minutes.

4. Drain potatoes place in a bowl with about half a stick of butter
and a few splashes of heavy cream or half and half.  The quantity is
to personal taste.

5. Squeeze garlic cloves out of their skins (they come out easily
after roasting).

6. I use either a masher or an immersion blender to mash the potatoes.
 A ricer would do just as well, they all make for a different
consistency.

7. Crumble your choice of blue cheese into the potatoes and fold.  The
quantity is up to you.

8. Chop green onion and sprinkle over the top, then serve warm, after
the cheese has had a little time to get soft and delicious.


This works well with other cheeses too, and I've incorporated fresh
rosemary and it's just as good.  All in all, as long as you put in
that roasted garlic, your only limit is your imagination.

I may not eat for days.  And days and days.  (Except gumbo tomorrow - it's a tradition and required.)  Even the critters got extra goodies.  (And this morning J.D. and Joey got the end trimmings from the andouille sausage and are convinced that those are the Best Dog Cookies Ever and, please, ma'am, could I have some more?)

This year, instead of running around nuts in the kitchen and having everyone to our house, we gathered at my son's house in Austin.  We provided a few dishes; he cooked the turkey and some side dishes, our daughter and her SO brought the desserts.  At one point, I walked into the kitchen where the two of them were working on dishes and said, "I'll just get out of your way."  She looked at him and said, "When's the last time you heard her say that that in this kitchen?"  He replied, "I've never heard her say that in ANY kitchen."  So, yeah, it's My Kitchen, but this year I discovered the joys of just letting go and letting the grownup kids do it.  

Okay, so yesterday, we had: 

Turkey (with a spiced skin from a rub that I have to get the recipe for from my son)

Two kinds of dressing - one with jalapenos, andouille and pork sausage, one without the jalapenos, but with sausage and bacon - the dueling dressings made by father and son

Collard greens cooked with bacon and spicy V8 and assorted other secret ingredients - my traditional recipe

Garlic blue cheese mashed potatotes - exotic recipe by my son the chef

Sweet potatoes with golden raisins and cinnamon and onions (my other contribution)

Squash New Orleans (from Cooks.com if you want the recipe - really delicious way to make acorn squash that my husband discovered)

Pink Stuff (a concoction involving cottage cheese and jello mix and fruit salad and Cool Whip - sounds awful, but is addictive even to confirmed health food nuts, a recipe inherited from my husband's mother and thus a holiday tradition made by the youngest in the family for all holiday meals)

Pecan Pie

Pumpkin Pie

Nouveau Beaujolais

Hot Coffee

Today, the leftover turkey and andouille is simmering in a Thanksgiving Leftovers Gumbo for tomorrow's Saturday After Thanksgiving Turkey Gumbo Day (never eat gumbo on the day it's made).

So, what family tradition face-stuffing did YOU do yesterday?  

This year I'm doing a little something different in the sweet potato department for Thanksgiving.  Instead of my usual, wondermously flavored mashed garnet yams, I'm going with this recipe - Moroccan Sweet Potatoes with Raisins & Cinnamon.  A quick search of AR shows that I haven't shared this with you before, and Thanksgiving seems the perfect time, so here it is.  Note that the ingredients are things that most cooks would have around the house anyway.

5        tablespoons  olive oil
1        cinnamon stick
1        medium  onion -- peeled cut in half lengthwise and then crosswise into very thin rings
3        medium  sweet potatoes -- peeled and cut into 1 inch slices (I prefer garnet yams)
1/2     teaspoon  salt
1/2     teaspoon  ground ginger
3        tablespoons  golden raisins
1/4     teaspoon  cayenne
1        teaspoon  sugar

Put the oil in a wide sauté pan or large frying pan and set over medium high heat.
When hot, put in cinnamon stick and the onion.

Sauté for about 3 minutes, or until the onion has lost much of its water.
Add the sweet potatoes and stir.

Continue to sauté another 6 to 7 minutes or until the onion begins to turn light brown and the sweet potatoes have picked up a little color.

Add 3/4 cup of water the salt, ginger, raisins cayenne, and sugar.

Bring to a boil.

Turn the heat down to low,cover, and cook gently for 7 to 9 minutes or until sweet potatoes are tender.

There should be almost no liquid left in the pan, except for a little oil (if there is, uncover and boil the liquid off). Serve hot.
 

I hope that each and every one of you has an absolutely wonderful, relaxing, stuffed Thanksgiving Day, complete with family, friends, football, parades and, yes, TURKEY!  

Things that I'm thankful for this year:

My profession is one that requires me to make new friends, as well as contributing to my ability to do so. 

I've discovered Active Rain and am participating in it regularly.

My family not only will be celebrating Thanksgiving together for the first time in a while, but we're all living in the same town again.

I still live in a free country where differing opinions can be expressed without fear of being jailed or shot (gotta keep vigilant on that one).

My health is reasonably good and I've made it to 58 and look to make it a lot longer - woo hoo! 

I live in Texas.  For the others of you that do, enough said. ;-)

Mostly, while life has its challenges (and how boring it would be if it didn't!), I'm thankful that life is pretty good, all told, when one looks at the alternatives.  

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!  

This has been the motto of the Texas Department of Safety almost as long as I can remember, and before it was official, it was the unofficial motto of Texas drivers all across the state. Of late, I've noticed that with the influx of out of state transplants from more harried climes, the "friendly factor" on the road has lessened considerably, so I thought I'd write a tutorial in the fine art of driving friendly for those who are unfamiliar with the concept.

Doing such things as

• waving (just a finger or two off the steering wheel, though there are local variations) when you meet an oncoming car on country roads, whether you know the person or not
• letting someone merge into your lane if they are signaling that they need to
• if traffic is heavy and someone needs to enter the stream of traffic from a parking lot or driveway, when you approach the driveway and have to stop, stop just before it and wave them in
• when seeing a sign that says "lane closed, merge left", immediately signal and merge into the lane to your left
  
• generally being polite, considerate, and, yes, friendly to those with whom you share the road.

Not doing such things as

• when you see someone signaling a need to merge into your lane, making darned sure that they don't merge in front of you and scootching up as close to the car in front of you as possible to prevent that from happening; after all, you need to be in front, it's important;
  
• when you see someone who needs to enter the stream of traffic from a parking lot or driveway, make sure to stop in such a way that it is impossible for them to do so; after all, you were here first
  
• when seeing a sign that says "lane closed, merge left", immediately zoom as far forward in your lane as you can, bypassing the long line of traffic to your left and force your way in at the front of the line - after all, you're more important and deserve to be allowed to cut in front of everyone else
  
• generally acting as if you own the road and everyone else on it is, at best, much less important than you and, at worst, shouldn't even be driving on your road.
  

There's other ways of driving friendly, but this is just a sampling to give you an idea of the attitude that's involved. When in Texas (and, hopefully, elsewhere), drive friendly, folks. We like it that way, and eventually, you will, too!

When I was growing up, one of the bits of wisdom that I was taught was, "Just because it's in print, doesn't mean it's true."  Many people seemed to believe that if something was in a book or the newspaper or a magazine, that somehow meant that it was absolutely true, because nobody would print anything that isn't true and accurate!  And it was an important part of growing up to learn that this was not necessarily the case.

These days, with the internet, the problem is compounded.  Many people think that if they receive it in their inbox, or they read it on a website, it must be absolutely true.  Well, just as in the Olden Days, that's still not the case.

This belief, however, is how we get things like spam.  Do you ever wonder why on earth spammers keep sending out that nonsense that no one would possibly believe and pay them money for?  Well, enough people do fall for it to make it worth their while.

It's how we get those interminable hoaxes traveling around the internet, warning us of various dire consequences if we don't take the precautions they advise.  (Are you ever reminded of the tabloids at the checkout counter about Hilary Clinton bearing the two-headed baby of a space cow?  I am - but people believe them and send them around, nonetheless, just as some people believe what they read in the tabloids - after all, it's in print!) 

It's how phishing attempts work - they convince the recipient that they are true and real and they ask for private information such as your credit card numbers, social security number, ID and passwords, in order to steal your identity. 

It's how we get people thinking that they can get full service for cut rate commissions, or that an estimate of the value of their home from an internet site made by a computer that knows nothing more than can be found on the public records can be as accurate as one by someone who's seen the home and who knows the specific market.  After all, it's in print, isn't it?  And no one would put anything on the internet that wasn't true and accurate!

The internet is a wonderful, vast, and useful place that allows us a freedom that we've never had before, to learn more things, to experience cultures that we wouldn't otherwise experience, to meet wonderful people that we'd not have had the opportunity to meet before.  It's full of wonderful true things.  However, human nature hasn't changed and, unfortunately, now, just as then, some people will put things on the internet, in email or on websites, that aren't true.  We still have to apply logic, research,and the old adage, "if it seems to good to be true, it probably isn't" to what we read.  We have to depend on websites like snopes to find out if all those warnings are real (hint: they aren't, 99.9% of the time).  We have to take what we read with a grain of salt - just like we always did.  Especially if it tells us what we want to hear.

Go out and play on the internet - enjoy!  But, to quote a wise old policeman from an old TV show, "Be careful out there!"