Authentic cuisine

The family gathered Friday night to eat at a new Mexican restaurant near our house. Casa Del Mar. Apparently it's a chain, but here's the local one:facebook.com/Casa-Del-Mar Urbana, IL
 Twas very good and reminded me of one of our favorites from our travels in Laramie, WY. I know I have featured it before. It's name is Corona Village. Probably the best Mexican place I've eaten in. Well that memory took me to one that I thought was funny. In Corvallis, we had a favorite Chinese restaurant named China Blue ran by a family. His primary purpose was making his customers happy. He was all over us to be sure we got what we wanted. Did a lot of take out from there also. It had been several years since we were in Corvallis, and in 2017, we drove the route 3 times from Mahomet to Corvallis and back. This gave us plenty of chances to visit China Blue. It was still good. Same food, but something was different. We only saw one oriental person there. We found out later that she was the grand-daughter of the original owners. So what else was different? Everyone else working there were..... wait for it...…. Mexican. The original family had retired and sold out to Mexicans. Now that was a bit strange, but they had bought the recipes and the grand-daughter helped keep it authentic. Oh here's their site: China Blue Corvallis.

My lectures were given in Ocotillo Hall

Georgia among the Cholla (teddy bear) cacti

Me and a saguaro cactus
While I'm at it, might as well give you a travelogue for that year. We started the year going back to finish our first stint at Midwestern University in Glendale, AZ where we contracted to give the imaging course in the new veterinary school. Again many of my Facebook friends will have already experienced much of this with us. We had started it by doing 3 weeks from Thanksgiving to mid December in 2016, then ran home to celebrate Christmas, the back to start the year teaching 7 more weeks. Not a
bad place to spend the winter, but actually the locals complained that it was pretty nasty weather for them. We did enjoy the sunshine and the scenery was quite different for us. Most of the buildings on campus are named after local trees, cacti, etc. so we learned about the Ocotillo tree, the barrel cactus, and the cactus wren among others.

Desert Botanical Garden Luminaries

There were a couple of cool happenings while we were there. First was the evening light show at the Desert Botanical Garden. Then in January my cousin Dave (who winters there with his wife Jane) and I went to an annual crazy light show. I'm only putting a few of the pictures here. It's called Lights of the World and is apparently set up in Tucson as well as the south side of Phoenix. If you are in the area over winter, it is certainly worth looking up.

Dave and Jane and I with Lights of the World Entrance

OK, back to the trips to the NorthWest.

Eating at Black Butte Ranch, Sister's Oregon

The first trip to Corvallis was in mid to late April. Leaving winter behind and embracing green grass and sunshine without the cacti. We took a different route which led us to Nebraska City, barely out of Missouri and we stumbled onto the Missouri River Basin Lewis and Clark Museum. It

was a really pleasant surprise. Aside from getting reacquainted with Corvallis and the OSU (west) folks..... OOPS. Did you know that there are 3 OSU's with veterinary colleges in the USA? Oregon State, Oklahoma State, and Ohio State. And the school colors for both Oregon State and Oklahoma State are Orange and Black.... Sorry, saw a squirrel.... Anyway, aside from that, I think the highlight of this visit to Oregon was that we finally ate a meal at Black Butte Ranch which was delicious with fantastic
 scenery and a waiter who entertained us with his story about moving to Oregon with his 2 kids from Alaska to get them a good education. He then plans to return to Alaska cause he just loves it there. We were told by Dr. Jana Gordon of OSU that it was a great place and we finally made it.

While in Corvallis we walked in the park and finally took some pictures of the Ballerina Statue that we had admired many times. Also on the way to Sisters, we did stop by our beloved Sahalie Falls.

 And now we have been to all the continental states except Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. I know I've told you this before. The cool thing is that in most of the states we have actually slept and ate and quite often worked with and visited local people so we really got a taste of the areas. Feel really blessed to see that good people are everywhere.

Georgia didn't make it, but one windy day, I ventured north a bit to visit the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm which was nothing short of spectacular. I got lots of pictures, but I think I'll let their pictures on the website do the job. Great to see, but lots of walking.

We did get to reconnect with the Pacific Ocean. It was a bit chilly, but some gorgeous flowers were out. It is also interesting that Here I am on the Pacific coast wearing a jacket that I bought in Hyannis, MASS. Hard to believe that I barely got out of Indiana until I was 19 years old. 


 On our way home, we finally got things worked out to visit Oregon's Painted Hills. Again we got some great pictures, but I decided to let their website show you the beauty. Well, I am including one picture.

Thought you would enjoy my selfie prowess. 

Yes that's my finger covering my face. 

At least it's a good picture of Georgia.

Just a peek at the Oregon Painted Hills

On our first visit to Laramie back in January of 2008, we got snowed in for 3 days.  That seemed sensible being January and all. However, on our trip home this time (2017) it is May 18. Yup, they got us again. It's a good thing that we like Laramie.

However before we hit Laramie we did another bucket list item. Georgia had always wanted to go to

Downtown Park City

Olympic training center

Park City, Utah where they hold Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival at the Egyptian Theater.  We were always working against some deadline and I thought it was more "off the path" than it was. I got enlightened, so this time we made it. Another spectacular sight that is worth the effort although I would not want to be there when the crowds arrive. Not like our flatlands with sprawling parking lots. Georgia got some great purses which she uses still Fantastic, got them in Park City, Utah...…. at TJMAXX. LOL

So the second trip of 2017 is finished. I got to go to the annual Silver Lake High School Alumni Banquet to reunite with many of my high school classmates. Not bad for a bunch of 75 year olds, huh? So sad that we lost Marilyn the next winter. She worked tirelessly to keep the class together. I'm sure others will pick up the baton, but can't replace Marilyn.

Had a great Father's Day picnic with the family at Lake of the Woods. Since we moved to Urbana from Mahomet, I wonder if we will still go to Lake of the Woods or do somewhere else. 

Hurricaine Matthew had pretty much wrecked the Maverick where we typically went every other 26th week of the year. This year was Rod's family's turn. Since we couldn't go to Florida, Rod and family got a nice place on Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri for several days. They asked us to join them and we had a great time with great scenery and boating. . 

With the arrival of August we headed back for Corvallis. This time we made it back to one of our favorites, Florence, Oregon. Since we had been there a new seafood place had developed in Oldtown which is a favorite place for us. It had been recommended by a friend and it lived up to the recommendation. It appears to be a chain, but a good chain. It's Mo's, and it's just down the street from Georgia's favorite clothing shop, Bonjour. The owners must be 7th day Adventists because we got fooled and found they were closed on Saturday, so all Georgia could do was peer in the window. The boardwalk was nice and filled with booths. The 5-Pine shirt I'm wearing will become significant in a bit.  One of the great things about being semi-retired is flexibility. Yes, we went back on Sunday so Georgia could shop. Found some really great outfits.

Back at the Poultry Building in Corvallis, Dave had planted a rose bush that I hadn't noticed before. Don't know if it was the time of the year or what, but these blooms were astonishing. You know that roses tend to change shades as they mature. Well these change color from red to orange. I had to ask Dave what they were: Joseph's Coat Roses. I WILL have to get some of these. 

I'm about worn out from this posting, so I'm going to save the trip home and the last trip to Corvallis in October for the next posting. Sorry, I told you there would be more about 5Pine soon. Gonna have to wait for the next time. Hopefully I haven't made you dizzy with the "out of order" travel all over the place.

I just stumbled into something I need to share. How many of you know who Doug Kershaw is??? Well, here is an introduction if you don't and a trip in the wayback machine if you do.

Doug Kershaw

Fun on Facebook.

Below is a conversation that took place recently on our Homeowners Association Facebook page. I knew that there are several housing additions with the same name as ours around the country. This lady got bit by that fact. I am changing names to protect the ego. Enjoy

Sandy Ridge Homeowners Association

Jane:

March 5 at 7:58 PM

We just moved here and we have a large amount of trash that we need to put out. Can somebody please tell me the rules on this? Thank you

Margaret: Welcome to the neighborhood! There are two garbage companies with similar names. Area Disposal and Area Garbage Service. If you are signed up with one of them already you can make arrangements to have a large pick up. You can get recycling curb pick up service for an extra fee. I use Area Garbage Service and they offer once monthly and twice monthly recycling pick up. Hope this helps!

Jane: Margaret: Thank you so much!!

Marty: Welcome to Sandy Ridge! We are very happy here!

Jane: Marty Thank you so much! It’s been a week of us living here and it’s so quiet and peaceful. We love it! We are excited for the summer so our children can play outside.

Marty:  Jane, what street do you live on, how old are your children, and finally, how did you get lucky enough to move during one of the coldest weeks?😂 We moved the week before Christmas TWICE, and in November once! 😀

Jane: Marty we have twins, 1 boy and 1 girl. They are almost 15months old. It has been a very cold move that’s for sure. We live on Sweetbriar.

Fred: Hi Jane ! we don’t have a Sweetbriar in Sandy Ridge - are you located in Mahomet IL?

Margaret: Don’t unpack yet if you need to move to the “real” Sandy Ridge! 😁

Jim:  Fred there is a Sweetbriar located in Bloomington...

Jane: Marty  I’m not sure now haha

Jane: Pine school is in my backyard.

Margaret: You’re definitely not in Mahomet, IL. Hope you have great neighbors like us wherever you live! 😊

Jane: Margaret: Hahahahah I’m in Ohio. Hahah

People wonder why we old folks often check and recheck to be sure we are talking with the correct people, etc. Our world has become so instant and superficial and our conversations are on the fly. I have spent lots of  "wasted time" wading through Sandy Ridge, Silver Lake, Urbana, etc. in many different states. It does pay off to pay attention to the details.

No I'm not dead

I realize that it has been a long time since my last post. Somehow my account got messed up and I couldn't get in, but they got that all fixed. Also in the meantime, I became addicted to Google Calendar which really helps keep our life straight. We continued to travel and work around the country letting us spend time in all the continental states except Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. We haven't given up hope of getting there.... bucket list?
During 2017 we actually drove back and forth to do 3 stints at Oregon State as well as driving to Phoenix for a "new" gig of teaching the imaging course at the new veterinary school at Midwestern University (Yes, Midwestern in Phoenix). That University has a base campus in Schaumburg, Illinois with a medical campus in Glendale, AZ. A really nice job and spending from Thanksgiving to March in AZ with a quick trip home to do Christmas with the family.
We didn't care for that travel back to Illinois in December with a rush Christmas and another rush back to Phoenix over the Christmas/New Years week, so worked out a deal where Amy Roth Jones, a newly boarded radiologist taught the Fall part for the second year. However on our way down Just before New Year of 2018, Georgia came down with pneumonia our first day on the road when we only got to Alton, IL (A suburb of St. Louis.)  I had a big day of teaching while Georgia was in the hospital in Alton, so Greg came down to be with her while I rushed off to Glendale to get things set up and teach 3 hours before grabbing a quick sleep and early take off to drive back to Alton. That was a miserable deal because by driving nearly straight through, I gave myself a bug and I could hardly talk, then had a head full of snot for several days. We got Georgia out of the hospital, Greg back home and us on the road again to Phoenix. The warm Southwest weather was welcomed, but when it was over and we came home, we had one of the coldest, nastiest, Aprils I remember.

The highlight of that trip was a stop off in Waco to see first hand the Magnolia complex. Georgia had become quite a fan, so that was a bit of a blessing.

The timeshare at the Maverick Resort in Ormond Beach, FL that Georgia's folks had left for Georgia and Nan had been an issue the past couple of years because the Hurricane .... I think it was Matthew.... Had pretty much wrecked the Maverick and it was unusable for 2 years. We did salvage a Florida vacation with Rod's family through Nan who got us in contact with her former neighbors, the Turners who had a place on Jenson Beach which is a couple of hours further south. Had a great time with Rod's, Ava, Mahala, Nan and her Grandsons Kreighton and Kaeman.  One day we ran up to the Kennedy Space Center and got wowed.  We did stop by the Maverick on the way home to see the progress. It is now open and ready for Business... Jeff and Pam are going to use it this summer.

Georgia and I have curtailed our travel because she has not been well. In fact we have done no more teaching since coming home a year ago from Midwestern. Another major even in our lives has been the move. We loved our 2 story house with a large basement and back yard garden and lake, but late in the summer, she nearly fell down stairs several times. We thought..... This can't be... So had no hesitation to start looking for a single story home. October 27, we moved to a "flipped" house in Urbana, just a few blocks from where we built the first house in Myra Ridge Addition in southeast Urbana. Full circle for sure. As much as we enjoyed living in Mahomet, this is probably more practical and of course, we don't need to worry about falling down a flight of stairs.  Now if we can just get through this cold.

From past posts, you will see some new people in the Christmas Group Photo below. We had to do it outside because we didn't find a place in the house to pose everyone. Thankfully the weather cooperated. Wonder what the future will bring.

Sometimes problems bring good.

A few weeks ago, our gas clothes dryer of 18 years quit heating. I messed with it enough to see that I couldn't fix it easily and our laundry room is quite small and difficult to work in, so we decided to go ahead and get a new set. It couldn't be delivered until the following week, and we had planned a get away to celebrate 52 years of wedded bliss, so our son met the guys and got it installed.
We got home last weekend and of course had dirty clothes from the trip to try out the new stuff. Really cool with honest to goodness bells and whistles, though we tried to get the most simple set we could find (within reason). However before the first load got dry, it stopped and flashed “Check Vent”... I wrestled the washer over so I could look behind the dryer and maybe that flimsy flexible duct that hooked it to the outside vent was kinked. Moved it out a bit and tried again. Over the next couple of days,  3 times I had moved the units around and checked and messed with the vent thinking with the tight room it was that the flexible connector was getting kinked. After making sure that wasn’t the problem, I decided to go in to Dick Van Dyke’s (where we bought it)  and talk with them about the sensitivity of their machine. I took the reading material with me that I had quickly scanned. Before I turned onto the interstate, the thought hit me (I must believe it was that still small voice), to pull over and look at them again. This time my eyes went quickly to the details of checking the vent and rested on, “make sure it is clear to the outside”. Since our washroom is in the center of the house, there is a long run between floors to the vent out back. I remembered that a few years ago, the flapper on the outside had come off and birds were trying to build in there before I got a new one up. I thought I had checked that and put up a new one. (Don’t get ahead of me here.) I had seen some helpers online about clearing ducts (heating ducts) a few weeks ago, and had thought about doing that with the dryer vent before installing the new one. However with the trip, etc. things got too tight to do that. Part of the “helper” was to stick a blower down the vent and put a vacuum on the other end. Well I couldn’t do that. The outside vent is at least 10 feet off the ground since our laundry room is on the second floor. Anyway, I came back home and moved the stuff again and stuck a blower down the vent and all kinds of lint came back into the room and it was obvious that it was plugged. So I went outside, crawled up on a ladder and stuck a long stick with hooks on it that I had put together to string outdoor Christmas lights in and pulled out all kinds of nesting material and lint. Then went back in and hit it with the blower. After going back and forth between blowing and pulling, I got it all cleaned out and you could see daylight from the washroom by looking down the vent. After cleaning up the mess and showering, I ran another load of wash and this time no “Check Vent” warning. I do believe that problem is solved. So, maybe the old drying going bad (It had no sensor on it)... saved us from burning our house down???? Will never know, but will always think that the failure of the dryer saved our house from burning down. Of course it is possible that the plugged vent caused the dryer to fail, but I would have expected the motor to fail rather than the heater.... Who knows???? Now of course the deck on the back of our house is decorated with little tufts of lint until the weather finishes cleaning it up.

Kellners, Kellners Everywhere

As long as I can remember, my last name has been a problem. I remember my dad pronouncing it "Kneller, K N E L L E R" or sometimes "Kneller K N E double L E R".... Wondered why he did that. Didn't take long for me to find out. Probably the most common misheard version was "Miller". Don't know how many times if I just said "Kneller" (For those uninformed, the K is silent), the clerk would look and look and not be able to fine my file. Sometimes I would say "Kneller with a K". Well that would through them for a loop and I would need to start over. So I would then say, "It's like your knee, the K is silent". After fumbling around a bit they would then find the file and I would feel embarrassed as if it was my fault that they couldn't figure it out. Then comes the written version. I started putting a card, driver's license, or something that had my name written on it so we wouldn't have to go through all that. Invariably, they would then say "Oh, Kellner"... I do remember hearing my dad say, "Look at it" Where is the "n"? Tending to be a bit less confronting, I would go back to the "It's like your knee KNELLER". Of course I don't know why this confusion should surprise me. How many people do you know who pronounce "Pharynx" as Pharnyx or "Larynx" as Larnyx?????
So why am I boring you with my daily cross to bear? You see, the only time I had ever heard Kellner or saw it was when folks confused my name. I have been known to look in phone books for Knellers and Kellners and rarely found either one. Recently my world came crashing down. A new apartment complex went up on my route to work. This is the same route I've taken to work, hospitals, etc. for 19 years. Here is the sign in front of the complex:

I almost drove off the road. Of course at first, I thought it might be a relative, but quickly noted that the "n" was indeed after the "ll" and it was truly Kellner. You realize that now, all Knellers in the CU area now have our frustrations turned up a notch or 2 because there is no chance people will get our name correct now that they have seen this wretched sign. So should I call them and complain? Probably not. There may be a time that I do call them and ask them to read this post. Surely they will get a kick out of it.

Well that isn't the end of this tale. Last week Georgia and I finally got to take a trip to Door County, Wisconsin. We had gotten a late start and were nearing the end of the trip when lo and behold, a road popped up, then again, and again. Somewhere between Milwaukee and Green Bay Wisconsin there is a little town named ....... yes..... a town; Kellnersville. Anquish rose. There it is again. Why must I be tormented by these people? Here is some info: http://www.city-data.com/city/Kellnersville-Wisconsin.html Kellnersville

I'm trusting that all you Knellers whether by birth or by mate choice fully understand my problem. Only those female Knellers who "married out of the name" can chuckle as they escaped this issue. I know some really great people who carry the name (Kneller) and although we have traced our lineage to Bavaria, Sir Godfrey Kneller did his part to give us a bit of status in old England.  Godfrey Kneller
Of course, if you look too closely at him, you will get more confusion over the name. Gottfried Kniller
Kniller, Kneller, Kellner, Miller..... I give up. Guess I will continue to be Kneller K N E L L E R and just smile as I got through the process of getting folks to understand who I am. I must wonder how many young ladies hesitated before "taking" that name, or felt duped once they too realized the difficulty of bearing the name!!! 

More things to notice on this trek through life.

After working for a week at the Missouri VMTH we are "stuck" in the Tiger Hotel 
because Georgia is feeling punky and not up to traveling today. So to make use of the time, I thought I should do a posting since the last post was just after my cardiac bypass surgery. 

Plaque on Tiger Hotel

Let me start by saying that this locum was great. The residents I worked with were wonderful and everyone I interfaced with was just super. A really fun time, except that Georgia couldn't get out much. We decided to step it up a bit in housing and rented an Executive Suite at the Tiger. Pretty swanky place for a refurbished old hotel. Not sure I would ever get used to depending on hotel employees for everything when I'm so use to doing things myself.  

Georgia in Louisiana, Missouri on the Mississippi

I may come back to this, but I started thinking about writing a post when we crossed the Mississippi River in Louisiana, Missouri where we stayed in a refurbished 1850's building at The Eagles Nest Bed and Breakfast. It was a great mixture of modern and quaint (again much like the Tiger). One of the things we liked about that place was that we didn't feel pressured to interact with others. The breakfast was great. Louisana seems to really be working on becoming a touristy river town, but may have a long road because although the main street of town is going through some really nice renovation, when you get away from there, you see lots of empty buildings run down residences. Not sure they will be able to overcome this enough for folks to want to come and visit. Hope so, but not sure. We came here because it was on the route from home to Columbia, Missouri, home of the Missouri Tigers. 

So as we left Pittsfield, Illinois and I-72 to head across the countryside toward Columbia, we had noticed that we were in Pike County, Illinois. As I walked around Louisiana Sunday morning, I noticed on one of the town's 20 murals that it was dedicated to Zebulon Pike, the caucasian discoverer of Pike's Peak in Colorado. We started seeing his name around town and as we pulled out, it was clear that we were in Pike County, Missouri. My mind flashed back to our many trips on I-74 between Champaign County Illinois and the various places we have frequented over the years in Indiana. On that trip, you go through Danville, Illinois which is in Vermillion County, Illinois. You go from there to Vermillion County, Indiana. So I got to thinking..... I'm betting the area names probably came about before the State lines were drawn and many lines were drawn through communities. So now of course, I wonder how many adjacent counties of the same name in different states actually exist. Not sure I have the gumption to research that. Maybe that would be easiest done as a Facebook project by asking folks to list the ones they know. Hmmmmmm... OK, Guess that's all on that subject. Any thoughts? 
 
Back to the locum work. One very important thing to note is that as a St. Louis Cardinal fan, it certainly is an honor to be working in Clydesdale Hall. Need to see if it was named after some person named Clydesdale or if it could be named after the horses. I must wonder because all over the vet school are images of mules, so I think the Missouri Mule has taken up residence there. So here is a picture of Clydesdale Hall. 

Another important fact is that Clydesdale Hall is across the street from several Agriculture building including the Dairy Department's Bucks Ice Cream  where one of the imaging residents took me the last day during a light point in the schedule. Not sure, but I'm thinking he is a frequent partaker. He also knew quite a bit about Sparkys Ice Cream downtown. I have to agree that it is pretty tasty ice cream (Mizzou).... (Didn't make it to Sparky's). Well, that reminded me of our days on the Purdue campus where the Dairy Department's Ice Cream was also a favorite. And According to the Edam Cheeseballs that are shipped to us each fall by our friend Mike Thomas, at Mississippi State, the Dairy folks there turn out some really good cheese. Guess that could be another research project, to see what the different universities put out that is good besides students.  

I can't close this without mentioning other food. Friends took us out to eat at a couple of really tasty places,  Addisons  is right around the corner from us at the Tiger. A happening place with really tasty food. Then I got to

reconnect with a former imaging resident from Illinois Jesse Nagy and his fantastic wife Dusty who took me to Chris McDs  for some more tasty goodies. Speaking of seeing former colleagues, There was Keith Branson in anesthesiology and Keven Keagan in equine (although Dave Wilson was away and I missed hooking up with Philip Johnson, but did get to see one of my favorites from Oregon State, Shannon Reid. Dusty by the way works with Food Animals. Before I get off the food, I must mention that our next door neighbors are familiar with Columbia as their daughter did her college work at the U of Missouri. The place they mentioned that stuck in my mind was Shakespeares Pizza    which is temporarily on 8th street, just down the block from us. We ate there twice. That tell you anything???? As an aside, here is a cute little thing that occurred while eating with Jesse and Dusty. Another former resident with whom I wrote the book, is a graduate of the vet school at the University of Missouri and knows Jesse and Dusty well. While we were eating he sent me a message pertaining to the book and asked if I had run into Jesse. Shortly after that, he texted Jesse to tell me "Hi" if he saw me. So I snapped this picture and texted it to him.... His reply, "I take it that Jesse said "hi" for me."    

I think I have rambled enough for now. while we were in Missouri, we missed the gender reveal to unveil our 4th great grandchild (and first girl) Penelope Jane and  a celebration of completion of high school work for our grand-daughter CJ. It was fun and fulfilling, but ready to get back home. Wondering what shape the gardens are in at this point.     

Musing of an old fart again

These past few weeks as you went searching for that perfect pumpkin to carve into a face or scene for that one night of celebration of something that I will never understand, called Halloween, you surely ran into at least one cardboard bin of "Pie Pumpkins". These are small pumpkins, really too small for carving, but may be used as part of a harvest display or maybe painted. I have talked with several ladies into their 50's who admit that they have never made a pumpkin pie from pumpkins, but always from a can, and now the instant pumpkin pie which is even less of a process.
I think I'll start this right out with my complaint rather than with the reason this issue has come to my attention. Yesterday, I went looking for "pie pumpkins". Wow!!! What a deal. I distinctly remember that for the past few years, you could get pie pumpkins right up to Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving..... you remember. It's that Holiday where families gather together to eat and watch Football. We associate it with the mistake the Native Americans (at the time) made in welcoming the Europeans, but it wasn't an official holiday until the Civil War and declared by Abraham Lincoln. Thanksgiving origin Have you noticed that the most important thing about Thanksgiving today is the fact that "Black Friday" has encroached on this peaceful holiday of being thankful for being born, or assimilated into the best nation on earth so we can scratch and claw in monster stores to save a few dollars? Which brings me to my complaint, that Halloween has grown into a major holiday and as soon as it is over, it's Christmas season. Thanksgiving is just a glitch in many calendars that gets in the way of preparing for Christmas or other religious holiday of "the season". So I went out looking for pie pumpkins yesterday, just a few days after Halloween. I ran all over town and folks I asked gave me that dumb look (Like I'm dumb, not them!!!) and said, "No we don't have any right now".... Right now????  One even said, "no, once pumpkin season is over they are taken out"..... Pumpkin season is over????? Halloween is over, when people mutilate pumpkins and set them around to look at and smash in the streets, and of course, feed the squirrels, but pumpkin season includes the glory of Fall, Pumpkin Pie..... All those pie pumpkins were available before Halloween. Anyone make a nice pumpkin pie from scratch for Halloween???? But now as Thanksgiving approaches, it's time for pumpkin pie. Am I right? How many of you will eat several pieces of pumpkin pie within the next 2 months? Of course most won't make them from "pie pumpkins"... So I must wonder why in the world they label them "pie pumpkins" and then remove them before pumpkin pie eating season begins. After hitting Schnucks, County Market, IGA, Aldis, and Walmart, I was about ready to make the trek out to our local orchard Curtis Orchard and Pumpkin Patch, where I was sure I would find what I needed, but swung by Meijer as a last check. Lo and Behold, after wandering around the produce section, I stumbled onto a display of "Pie Pumpkins" Glory Be, someone is thinking. I'm sure I would have enjoyed the trip to Curtis Orchard, but would have bought much more stuff than I needed. I gathered up my pumpkins and gleefully checked out. Of course I had to stop and tell one of the "greeters" that Meijer was the only store in town with pie pumpkins. Everywhere there were a few left over "gourds" for decoration, but pumpkins were nowhere to be found.

So why was I on such a quest for pie pumpkins?
Several years ago I stumbled onto a recipe for stuffed baked pumpkins. The first one was stuffed with chili components and although it sounds strange, was really quite tasty. I found other recipes and of course concocted variations using apples, cinnamon, raisins, marshmallows, etc. Since neither Georgia or I were up to doing the whole Halloween thing this year, but wanted to enjoy the little guys, we invited family members to come out with their costumes, eat pizza, and hand out candy at our door as well as hit the neighborhood. I decided to bake a few pumpkins as a treat. The cold wind kept the number of trick or treaters down, but there were enough to make it worth while and the boys did get to warm up at the fireplace after they ventured out for a short trip up and down our street. Although Greg and Pam enjoyed the pickled eggs I had prepared, Jeff and others weren't so cracked with them, but the stuffed pumpkins were a hit, especially with a bit of vanilla ice cream and cool whip. This week we got an invitation to one of our kid's house for Thanksgiving (Actually, I think we are invited to 2 different ones on different days).. That is great considering our physical situation. So I asked, "what can we bring?"  The answer was quick and precise; "Those Pumpkins"... Thus began my search for pie pumpkins after Halloween and you know the rest of the story.

Jack and "Baby Jack" in his "outer" outfit.

Pretty amazing that both Bruno and Aaron showed up as kings/knights with swords without conferring.

No matter how you mess them up...... still gorgeous!! Grand-daughters.. Love the red eyes (a camera trick, right?)

Baby Jack in his "jammy" outfit.

A stuffed baked pumpkin; not mine

So that's my latest excitement. Many have asked how I'm doing at 6 weeks after bypass surgery. Walking a lot and trying to be obedient about not using my upper body and waiting for cardiac rehab to start next week. All my medical people tell me I'm doing very well. I don't feel as good as I did before this all began, but I'm thankful to be here with an outlook that a heart attack probably won't be what takes me out. Looking forward to regaining my vigor. There's to much life to be lived to lie down and quit now.... Right??????