Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening 

by Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I do not know

His house is in the forest though

He will not see me stopping here 

To watch his woods fill up with snow

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake

The only other sound's the sweep

Of wispy wind and downy flake

These woods are lovely dark and deep

But I have promises to keep

And miles to go before I sleep

And miles to go before I sleep

 

May your day be blessed and full of love. May you find joy in the small things.

Billie C.

Dec 16

DIME STORE ANGEL
It was just a Christmas Angel, that my Mom put on our tree.
She bought it at a five and dime, when I was only three.
Each year we'd trim our Christmas tree, with lights and ornaments.
Then Mom would always tell me, what the Angel represents.

The Angels came to tell the shepherds, of the Christ Child's birth.
And, Angels are still here with us, to guide us here on earth.
The Angel on our Christmas tree, was made in such a way.
That if the light inside burned out, you just threw it away.

The light burned out when I was twelve, the Angel would not shine.
But, Mom would not throw it away, she said it looked just fine.
She loved that little Angel, that she put upon our tree.
She said it didn't need a light, for anyone to see.

Then I grew up, and I moved out to start my family.
And, I'd go home at Christmas time, to help her trim her tree.
My wife and children went with me, to mom's house every year.
The house was filled with love and joy, as we shared Christmas cheer.

The kids would always say to her, "The Angel is burned out."
Then, she would smile and tell them, what the Angel's all about.
She told another reason, for it's specialty.
Your daddy picked that Angel out, when he was only three.

My mother passed away this year, early in the spring.
And then I had the painful task, of going through her things.
The beautiful old house she owned, was left me in her will.
We moved back in the summertime, we feel her in it still.

Early in December, we brought out our Christmas tree.
I went up to the attic, just to see what I could see.
I saw a cardboard box, with markings, "Ornaments and stuff."
And in it was the little Angel, that she loved so much.

I brought the cardboard box downstairs, and showed the family.
Then they persuaded me to put the Angel on our tree.
We trimmed the tree that weekend, and we talked of Christmas past.
Then when the tree was finally done, the Angel went on last.

Every night till Christmas, all the lights were burning bright.
Except the little Angel, that had long burned out her light.
Then on Christmas morning, I arose before the rest.
I had to have my coffee, to be at my very best.

I walked into the living room, my coffee cup in hand.
Then what I saw, so puzzled me, I could not understand.
I just stood in silence, as, my eyes filled up with tears.
The little angel was all aglow, that had been dark for many years.

Bless us Lord, this Christmas, with quietness of mind; Teach us to be
patient and always to be kind.
--Helen Steiner Rice

 

****************

 Cracker Pudding
 
One quart milk
2 eggs, separated
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 cups broken saltine crackers
1 cup grated coconut- medium shred
1 tsp. vanilla
 
While warming the milk, beat egg yolks and sugar until frothy. Add to hot milk and stir in crackers and coconut. 
Cook till thick. Remove from heat and add stiffly beaten egg whites and vanilla.  Cool.  Serves 8

****************

Christmas Breakfast in a Mug

 

Christmas coffee mug
1 packet hot cocoa mix
Individually wrapped muffin
Cellophane-wrapped candy cane
Place all of the items in the mug for a quick gift breakfast. Place in a
clear decorative plastic bag and tie with a ribbon.

****************

 

 

 

*********

 

 

 

 

May your day be blessed and full of love. May you find joy in the small things.

Billie C.

Dec 15

 

Hello.  I am trying to post more often.  Today is nice and warm and sunny. I had the dogs out to enjoy the sun for a while. They really enjoyed rolling in the grass and Barney loved chasing his ball, for a few minutes.  I have put up a Tree (of sorts) in the camper.

 

 

I wasn't going to use it's sticky back, but then I thought, yeah I will. I will just have to be extra careful when I peel it off. 

 

I am thinking that, for next year, I may make a dozen of these felt birds. I didn't make this one, but I can look at it for inspiration. I do need to remove the tag off it's tail soon though.

 

 

I found this Madonna and Child at a yard sale last year and I put it where I can see it as I sit on the couch.

 

 

 

May your day be blessed and full of love. May you find joy in the small things.

Billie C.

December 11, 2015

December 11, 2015

 

Hello.  My camper is as clean as I can get it, for now. I still have to make the bed but that will have to wait until tomorrow morning.

 

 

While working in the bunkroom, I found a couple of small boxes of Christmas stuff. One is Christmas cards I made last year and the other was a smaller box of ornaments. 

 

 

 

 

May your day    be blessed and full of love. May you find joy in the small things.

Billie C.

Hello

Hello.

 

I have started decorating for Christmas. Yesterday I put a bow on the front door. I also put up garland that has lights in it along the slide out.

 

This morning I trimmed around a Small Tree that is a sticker. I don't want to stick it on the wall and will have to figure out a way to hang it on the wall. I will have to find some thread and a sharp needle to pass through the plastic backing of the tree and make a hanger for it that way.

 

We had Burger helper last night for dinner last night. Today I'm fixing Hot Dogs and Mac & Cheese, Hubby's favorite. He's now working 12 hours a day and it doesn't look like he's going to get a break until Christmas unless he takes a day off. We are hoping that he doesn't have to do that.

 

 

 

 

 

May your day be blessed and full of love. May you find joy in the small things.

Billie C.

Hello

Hello. I had every intention of keeping up with all my blogs, and I have failed. I am not giving them up though. We have moved from Iowa, back to Tennessee. Hubby is working in Cleveland TN and we are very happy to be back in Tennessee. For the first month, we were living with our daughter. our dogs were not allowed in her home though and we kept them in the camper. But as the days got warmer it was harder and harder to keep them quiet and comfortable. Then the cats started to climb on the neighbor's cars and that got us in more trouble with the neighbors. We were able to move the camper out to some property that her boyfriend owns and the cats can roam and the dogs can bark, and run around without a lead on (most of the time) and we are comfortable since we have power for the air conditioner to work. So all is good.
Hubby changes jobs here from the one we came here for, to the one we had hoped would call us, while we were in Iowa. This job is suppose to last a couple of years. Maybe even longer. The only draw-back is how far away it is from where we have the camper. It take over and hour to make the drive each way. We were doing good with that, until the job went from 10 hours a day 6 days a week to 11 hours a day 13 on, one off. That's a lot of hours to be awake and then to have to stay alert while driving, well that was not going to work at all. so Hubby has moved into a motel room that is much closer to the job. Meanwhile I'm still at the camper, with the pets. Our daughter and her children are making sure I am not lonely.
I will be having surgery on July 20 (yes, Hubby will be there with me for this).
I will have a total hysterectomy done. Found out I have cancer in the lining of my Uterus. But, unless things are much worse than expected, I will not have to have Chemo or Radiation treatments afterwards. I won't know on that until after the removed organs are examined, and I have my post op check up on Augest 27. I will be in the hospital over night when I have the surgery. The doctor told me he wants me up and walking by the end of the evening. That it would be better for me to be up and moving so soon afterwards.
Right now. my daughter and her family are planning on camping out in a tent at our place (her boyfriends land) the night of the surgery, and will take care of our pets while Hubby stays with me. She and the kids are going to be taking care of me, as hubby will have to be back to work on Wednesday after my surgery. (have to pay the bills somehow, right?)
I will try to spend more time on my blogs from here out, but no promises.
Billie C.

Feb 4, Snow

 

Hello. I know, it's been a while since I wrote to my blogs. No excuses.  We had snow last weekend and it's been a bit rough to deal with.  The dog leads are frozen and I can't get them untied to untangle them so I have been taking the dogs out one at a time, three times a day. They are dealing okay with the snow. Barney wants to play when it's day light and Macon wants to stare at a neighbors house. Not sure what he is seeing over there. Rocky just wants to get back into the camper.

 

 

Before the leads got to short to reach into the camper door.

 

Snow on the branches of the apple tree outside my door.

 

Snow on the camper. 

 

Billie

 

SPICE BAGS FOR WARM DRINKS

 

This looks great for any Fall and or Winter time celebration or Cozy evening spent in front of a fireplace. I am thinking of making a few outer covers of holiday print and then filling with a couple of  muslin or Cheesecloth pouches to send to family this next Season

 

 

SPICE BAGS FOR WARM DRINKS

 

8 sticks cinnamon, broken into small pieces
2 whole nutmegs, crushed
1/3 C. whole cloves
1/3 C. minced dried orange peel (or 1/4 C. ground)
1/4 C. whole allspice berries
Optional: garnish with cinnamon sticks, slice of orange, lemon peel

 

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Tie in sachets of 1 tablespoon
each in a double thickness of cheesecloth; transfer to an airtight
container (perhaps into a canning jar with a decorated lid and tied
with
a big fall-ish bow!!).

 

One sachet of the mixture will flavor 1 quart of cider, tea or wine.
To
use, simmer 1 quart of the chosen beverage with 1 sachet for 20
minutes;
ladle into mugs. If desired, add a garnish or a sprinkling of
additional
spirits.

 

Billie C.

Jan 19 update

 

 

    Hello. Just a quick update.

We are doing well. the pets are keeping us busy. The cats all got out yesterday, and when they came back, left prints all over the camper, including the lid on the toilet. Now I have more cleaning up to do. (Thanks cats)

 

The dogs are not liking the mud but are dealing better with it than I am. I have been slipping and skidding around. At least I've not fallen yet. 

 

 

Billie C.

Update, Jan 16 2015

Hello and good morning.

 

I am trying to catch up and am surprised at how quickly I have gotten behind in just keepig up with the day to day things   When our water line froze we were able to deal with that. but when our black water holding tank froze and wouldn't drain we knew we may be in trouble.  I have a bucket I can dump waste into, but it is only a temporary fix. Good news is, we now have running water since Hubby went looking and found out that the gray water does not go into the holding tank, So we can shower and clean up as long as we have running water (I'm going to miss showering at the motel) and there has been some progress in the holding tank thawing. Not a lot of progress but some never the less.  With today's high going to be in the upper 40's we are in hopes that it will totally thaw today and we can get back to a more normal life in the camper.

 

Hubby is not feeling well. He took yesterday off of work and is taking today as well. If he can't make it into work tomorrow then he will have to get a doctor to sign off,  that he has indeed been very sick.  We are fairly sure it isn't flu because he doesn't have pain in his joints but he does have a stuffy head and is over all not feeling well.

The Pets a re loving that he is home and are sleeping around him. He will give them bits of his meal when he's home and I don't give treats until after I am done eating. 

The snow is melting and the ground is getting mushy. Barney will miss snowballs. Not that he is thrilled with them but I have been trying to make one and then toss it at him. Most of the time, the snow is so dry that it breaks into a million flakes before it even fully leaves my hand. but when one does stay together, the look on his face when it breaks in his mouth and then he looks for where it's suppose to be on the snow at his feet, is priceless.

One of the cats (Strips) got out during the time we were trying to thaw things in the back and he stayed out about and hour, now he's been trying to get out every time we open the door. I know he wants to go out but the wild cats around here have not had any shots and I don't want our cats to catch anything from them.

We have been doing a lot of eating out. Mainly to prevent having to use a lot of water, not knowing that the gray water was not going into the holding tank and the fact that the drain line was frozen at the end of the camper. I finally got that to thaw enough that water could pass and now it's almost all gone according to Jerry. Not sure if there is still ice there or not, now. I was putting rock salt in water then bringing it to a rolling boil then pouring down the sink closest to the ice block and that did wonders on that ice. I'm ready to be doing my own cooking again.

 

Billie C.

Update on me, From yesterday, Sunday Jan 4

Howdy....
Sunday, We Slept very good in our  own beds, on bew mattresses.
Macon woke me up at 6 am, needing to go out. Barney added his voice to the matter. I had to get dressed, feed the cast, then put on a  jacket with a hood under my coat. It took me longer to get dressed than it did for the dogs to do what they had to do. We had breakfast at Niland's Café, then we went  to Walmart to get the paycheck cashed and send some money to our older daughter and to pick up a money order to pay our power bill. Looked for a electric blanket for Hubby, but I couldn't find any. Bought a few Christmas things that are on sale at 75%. We went to Target and Hubby found a blanket there as well as good mattress covers. I found the $1 bins. I picked up a few things.

 

We ropped off the power payment on the way home. Where we brought everything we bought in. Hubby put the water line on, but no water to the camper. He put the heater on it but it's still frozen two hours later. Talked to Beth for a bit. While I was talking to her, I cleaned the cat box.

 

Found ou why the water hose was frozen. The heat tape got unplugged some how. We tried to thaw it by putting it in a dog kennel, Covering the kennel with a tarp and then put the torpedo heater in front of it. Oops, the end end of the hose fell in front of the heater and melted. Now we have to replace water hose and heat tape and pipe insulation. We picked upa  new water line, heat tape and pipe insulation at Lowe's  befor going to Dinner at Perkins. I ran into Wal-mart to picked up 3 diet coke for Hubby, and 9 gallons of water before we headed  back home. Oh and we are expecting to get 4 to 6 inches of snow between Monday night and Tuesday noon.

 

Outside my door ... It very cloudy and looking like the snow is going to start at any time
The Dogs and Cats ... are sleeping on the beds I made this morning.I am waiting for them to come to me to let me know they (the dogs) need to go outside. I know it's going to take me longer to get ready to go out that its going to take them to do what they need to do, again. It is cold outside. Earlier Rocky was trying to walk on only three feet because his other foot was cold, then a different foot got cold and he just didn't know what to do.

 

From the kitchen... I have some hamburger that needs to be cooked. I'l going to add a can of Chilie to it and serve over Frito chips and put cheese on to.
I am hearing... Mid day news is on. The heater Fan.
I am wearing... Sweats.  Sweat pants, sweat shirt with a t-shirt under it and two pairs of socks
I am reading... I still need to pick out a book to read.
I am hoping... That this cold spell does not last long and we dont get any more cold weather like this for a while.
I am creating... I'm not working on anything at the moment
One of my favorite things... talking to Beth each morning.
A few plans for today... Staying warm, taking the dogs out in a bit. making dinner...
A few plans for the rest of the week... Same plans for the rest of the week. Staying warm, taking care of the pets and making dinner.

 

Billie C.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year. 

 

It is going to be a bit of a learning curve to remember to to now write 2015 instead of 2014.

 

We Welcomed the new year in  by sleeping in, at Colo motel. Our Breakfast was  at Saints Avenue Cafe in Boone. I Wore a small hat with fancy, flashing lights.

 

 

 We Spent most of New Year's day, trying to thaw  the sewer holding tank. We Had to find a heater that could blow hot air into the back of the camper. I think it's called a torpedo heater.  Plus we had to find insulation to wrap around it to keep it from happening again. We fogot to get the tarp and Jerry will have to pick that up today after he gets off work early.

 

 

 

Our Dinner was  sandwiches, nuts,and apple pie. Jerry also had chips and ,I had a banana.

 

 

While trying to thaw the holding tank we discovered   that the solids have blocked the outlet and now we are  dealing with that.

 

While trying to thaw that tank, We had to stop, shut off the heater and unplug it so we could run to town again, only to find out the place we were going to get two propane tanks filled was closed for the holiday. Just as Jerry was starting some water to heat up on the stove and pour down the toilet, the propane tank for the kitchen stove ran out.  The tank for the heater is so low it may as well be empty. 

 

 Ah. the thrills of living in a camper, in warm weather and cold.

 

 

 Today, Jan 2.

 

Jerry still had to go to work or risk losing his job because of not going in, and not having a doctor's excuse for why not.

 

Jerry still has to find a place to fill the tanks and will do that after he gets off work. He is going to try to get off as soon as he gets his check so we have some light and it not be below freezing while we work on having  to wrap the sewer line in a tarp and insulation in hopes that it will not freeze solid again.

 

While he is at work, I will be straightening up the camper and picking up and taking the dogs outside a couple of times.

 

Sunday, we are going to go pick up two special made mattresses we ordered just before Christmas, for the beds in the middle of this camper. The twin mattresses we picked up three years ago have gotten worn out because I cant turn them as needed. I can't flip them, because they are not made to be flipped, and I can't rotate them because there is not enough over-head room to get them over.

 

About the only thing I can't get done today is washing up dishes.