SPELLING BEE

BY BEA WESTERBERG

Almost to the end of January

Before we get into the weather, Pumpkin the cat and a few other things, I wish to give a heart felt Thank You to Daughter Nissa. She has taken the place of Husband Larry as my editor before I submit these articles to the paper. Perhaps some of the newer Loyal Readers did not know that I had some very serious stroke problems to overcome a number of years ago. I had a complete loss of memory and lost my reading and writing ability for a period of time. It was a most interesting journey back to what can be called normal but some spelling issues have stayed with me.

The articles get emailed to Nissa’s home in Virginia and she sends back suggestions and corrections. After I make any needed changes, the article is emailed to the paper for printing. I still say some words are spelled in a crazy way!

Pumpkin, the 15 pound orange tabby we adopted in mid-summer, has come a long way from hiding in corners and being very afraid of men. Husband Larry was giving him treats each night and Pumpkin slowly warmed up to him. Pumpkin and Sitka the Husky worked out a deal about 2 months down the line. It appears that Pumpkin allows Sitka to chase him about once a month or so. The rest of the time they are okay with each other and the animal world is at peace.

Pumpkin loves to explore and this household is a prime location for that activity. He likes to go down to the basement and we would close the door as that area gets cold air from the outside entry door. Pumpkin would meow like crazy to come up and we would have to open the kitchen door wide open so he could get in from the basement. Along the way he got tired of waiting for us to open the door so he could go down to the basement. He is a big cat so he can reach the lever handle and at first he could turn it but his weight kept the door from opening. Fast forward a few weeks and now he knows that he has to move a bit to the side and he can open the door and move it so he can get downstairs. Now he also can let himself back up and open the door to get in the kitchen. He no longer needs it wide open! His way on his terms! Its a very good thing that Daughter Nissa did a good job of applying the weather stripping on the outside door as I now never know when the kitchen door is going to be open.

As far as the weather goes, we all know that its going to do its own thing and does not care about plans we make. I have been trying to make myself happy by saying that we are almost at the end of the month of January and February has less days. It still does not help much when that cold bitter wind hits your face when you go outside.

Sometimes it is really hard to warm up from those outside adventures. Our old farm house has a central hot air duct right in the middle of the dining room and that has always been knows as THE HEAT REGISTER to all that ever lived here. There used to be a huge coal furnace right under that register down the basement, but we went the modern way of a gas furnace. However that register still seems to give the most heat for warming up.

Hot chocolate, tea and soup have become my food mainstays. It was fun to get a supply of hot chocolate bombs for Christmas in addition to the ones I made for myself. I get a tea shipment every month as Daughter Nissa enrolled me in a tea club for a Mother’s Day present. We both had large tea supplies to begin with and do an exchange so we can try even more kinds. If you are not already a soup maker at home, do look into how easy it is to make, especially using an Instant Pot. Almost everything can be made into soup that you can make and freeze for future use. Daughter Nissa got me some wonderful containers to freeze soup in from Lee Valley. The frozen cubes pop out really easy, either to be eaten or placed in storage bags. Freezer containers are now ready to freeze more soup! Yummy!