Musings

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Lou) — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 16:03:00 +0000

Frank Phillips Home - as seen on Channel 6, June 7, 2012.

The beauty of pollination

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Lou) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 20:10:00 +0000

4 1/4 minutes of beauty. Watch closely for the nursing baby bat.

Shucking Corn the Easy Way

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Lou) — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Oak Alley Plantation - Pre Katrina

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Lou) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 02:15:00 +0000

Another Pumpkin Pie Recipe - looks scrumpdelicious

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Lou) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 20:50:00 +0000

Ingredients:

* 1 unbaked 9-inch deep dish pie pastry (9-10-inch)
* 2 cups freshly cooked pumpkin, seeded, peeled, mashed
* 3/4 cup granulated sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
* 3 large eggs, beaten lightly
* 1 (12 ounce) can evaporated skim milk
* 1/2 cup skim milk

Directions:

1. To make your own freshly cooked pumpkin, quarter 1-2 small pie pumpkins, de-stem, seed and de-string them. Then steam them in a steamer over boiling water until very tender--the skin will peel right off. Then mash them using a stick blender or a food processor-hand mashing will sometimes produce lumps/strings so unless you like that, go for the stick blender/processor.

2. Preheat oven to 400°F and have ready a pie shield and a large rimmed cookie sheet.

3. Line a DEEP DISH glass pie plate with the pie pastry round, fluting the edges decoratively as desired.

4. Combine in order the pumpkin, sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.

5. Lightly beat eggs together with both milks, then add to the pumpkin mixture, stirring well to combine--it will be rather thin.

6. Pour as much filling as you can into unbaked pie pastry and bake at 400°F for 50 minutes (or until knife inserted halfway between center and edge comes out without any goo on it). If there is any extra filling use to fill a smaller mini pie plate or discard.

7. NOTE: Set cookie sheet on the rack below the rack you are setting your pie plate on in order to catch any drips.

8. If the pie edges start overbrowning, place a pie shield or a ring of foil over the edges--this will be needed or not depending on the type of pastry you use.

9. Pie should be served chilled and should be stored in the refrigerator.

Paula Dean's Pumpkin Pie

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Lou) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:30:00 +0000

Ingredients

* 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
* 2 cups canned pumpkin, mashed (or fresh pureed)
* 1 cup sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 egg plus 2 egg yolks, slightly beaten (or 2 whole eggs)
* 1 cup half-and-half
* 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, optional
* 1 piece pre-made pie dough
* Whipped cream, for topping

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place 1 piece of pre-made pie dough down into a (9-inch) pie pan and press down along the bottom and all sides. Pinch and crimp the edges together to make a pretty pattern. Put the pie shell back into the freezer for 1 hour to firm up. Fit a piece of aluminum foil to cover the inside of the shell completely. Fill the shell up to the edges with pie weights or dried beans (about 2 pounds) and place it in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes, remove the foil and pie weights and bake for another 10 minutes or until the crust is dried out and beginning to color.

For the filling, in a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese with a hand mixer. Add the pumpkin and beat until combined. Add the sugar and salt, and beat until combined. Add the eggs mixed with the yolks, half-and-half, and melted butter, and beat until combined. Finally, add the vanilla, cinnamon, and ginger, if using, and beat until incorporated.

Pour the filling into the warm prepared pie crust and bake for 50 minutes, or until the center is set. Place the pie on a wire rack and cool to room temperature. Cut into slices and top each piece with a generous amount of whipped cream.

Pumpkin Puree

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Lou) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:01:00 +0000

Quick Tip: Make Your Own Pumpkin Puree -- powered by ehow

I'm about to whip

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Lou) — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 02:57:00 +0000

Bet you can't watch this just once!

ATM

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Lou) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 22:08:00 +0000

OK guys - here's a word of warning. We used our ATM card at a Sonic in Tulsa July 8. The card reader at the drive-up didn't work, so when the guy brought the food out he grabbed Charlie's card and went inside to swipe it. Then he brought the card back out. Charlie wasn't happy about that, but he couldn't follow the guy in - too close to the order console to be able to get out of the car.

Today I got a phone call from my bank. (Not my branch, but the people tracking such things for the bank.) There were charges from Oklahoma City on down to Texas - with a number in Arlington. To the tune of about $300. The card is now canceled and we're starting the dispute process to get our money back. Charlie asked Chris at our branch if this kind of thing happens very often - and he said he sees about one a week, and that's just at our little branch.

"Our" card that the crooks were using was a physical card - no pin number was entered. Chris said they read the magnetic strip and duplicate the card.

Can't say for sure it was at Sonic, but that's the only time the card was out of Charlie's control. Law enforcement doesn't usually do much follow-up on these guys - they have bigger problems to concentrate on. And the banks have insurance through VISA - so they're not out money.

I guess the only way to really be safe is to use cash - but then if you're carrying around cash the bad guys could get you too!

Scammers go to us two times in one year. The other one was using the credit card online, then the number was passed around to other "companies". Our bank fixed that one too. Yeah for Arvest!

Paula Deen Cooks Fried Green Tomatoes - Get Cookin' with Paula Deen

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Lou) — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 23:40:00 +0000

These look yummy! The onion relish is especially interesting.

Fried Green Tomatoes

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Lou) — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 23:30:00 +0000

Here's a video by Screaming Cockatoo. Looks Yummy!

Bowling with the cousins - Spring Break 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Lou) — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 01:50:00 +0000

Freeport - Spring Break 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Lou) — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 01:49:00 +0000

Cousins at Grandma's House - Houston

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Lou) — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 01:48:00 +0000

Gardening - Instructions to plant asparagus

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Lou) — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 14:26:00 +0000

We're planting asparagus for the first time. The crowns finally came through the mail - with no instructions included. So what do you do? Go to the internet. This video looks like it gives good, detailed instructions.

Sonic Boom

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Lou) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 04:31:00 +0000

Want to see what a sonic boom looks like? If you don't want to watch the whole launch go to 1:50 to see the "pressure waves". Interesting.

Pants on the Ground

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Lou) — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 15:07:00 +0000

This guy was the last audition for American Idol this past week (1/13/10). Even if you're not a fan of AI, you've got to see this.

This is one cool rapper!

There's an interesting article about him at http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/realityrocks/301708/general-larry-platt-a-real-american-idol/

Snow Melt

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Lou) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 03:25:00 +0000

The 12th day after the original snow storm on Christmas Eve 2009. The temperatures are now single digit, so all that melting will turn to ice. Doesn't sound good for driving in the morning. Oh no, this was a panorama and all you can see is 1/3 of it. Click on picture and go to Flickr to view complete photo

Christmas Eve Breakfast at Marletta's

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Lou) — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 21:35:00 +0000

Great food, great friends...MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY 2010

Family Game Night - December 9, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Lou) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:41:00 +0000

We do "Family Game Night" every Wednesday - not to be confused with Utah's "Family Home Evening". If we forget be assured Miss Emms reminds us!

Somebody Loves Me

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Lou) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:00:00 +0000

Here's a new music video of Charlie playing "Somebody Loves Me".

The Orangutan and the Hound

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Lou) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 14:57:00 +0000

I found this on the Kim Komando site today. Here's what she had to say about it:

"Dogs really are man’s best friends. But maybe they’re just best friends in general. It’s hard to think of more unlikely buddies than these? Roscoe is playful old hound dog. Suryia is an equally playful orangutan.

Suryia lives in an endangered species habitat in South Carolina. Roscoe was a stray. They met while Suryia taking a walk with his handlers. They saw each other. They approached each other. And they played. Their friendship was instantaneous. When it was time to go home, Roscoe followed."

Anything but Love

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Lou) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:07:00 +0000

Just got a new Kodak Zi8 movie camera - it's about the size of an iPhone - and this was its trial run:

Umbrella Dance

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Lou) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:04:00 +0000

Charlie was playing the piano - so what's new - and Emma decided to do an impromptu "Umbrella Dance" to accompany him.

Acceptane, Courage and Wisdom

noreply@blogger.com (Sandy Lou) — Sat, 02 May 2009 17:25:00 +0000