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Merry Christmas from Raspberry World

Susie — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 18:44:07 +0000

Decorated house

Originally uploaded by Raspberry World.

We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
And a happy new year!

It’s been a busy month at our house. I’m thinking of all my old friends today and wishing you well. Happy holidays!

Tons of pictures are up in the December set on Flickr.

Cookie Swap 2009

Susie — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 18:22:20 +0000

I hosted my holiday cookie swap yesterday. The photo features just a few of the cookies (the leftovers). It was a great time. More pictures from the party (and from all month) are in the December set on Flickr.

I made pecan tassies this year. I had planned to make a butter pecan cookie recipe from King Arthur flour – even bought some special ingredients for it – but when I did a trial run a couple of weeks before the party, I didn’t like the cookies at all. I was shocked, to be honest. I mean, read the blog. I really expected to love them.

I still needed to use a pecan recipe since I have many pounds of gorgeous Georgia pecans right now (thanks, Mom), so I decided to go old school with pecan tassies. You can’t go wrong with a classic southern recipe. They made a nice addition to the holiday table.

I don’t remember being this exhausted after last year’s swap, though. I do have 2 kids this time, which is the only major difference, but last year I was almost nine months pregnant. I must be coming down with a cold or something. Yeah, that’s it…

Things boys say

Susie — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 03:09:34 +0000

That is one big woodpile

Originally uploaded by Raspberry World.

Tonight as I was helping Alex get ready for bed, he told me, “Pirates can’t kill Santa Claus. Santa’s reindeer fly so fast that pirates can’t catch him.”

I don’t really like to encourage talk about killing, but I couldn’t argue with his logic, either.

Earlier in the evening, Charlie was walking toward me and said, “Zee zee.” Alex used to say the same thing – so I looked behind me, and sure enough, Ziggy had walked into the room. Go, Charlie!

What do you mean, chores?

Susie — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 01:53:05 +0000

What do you mean, chores?

Originally uploaded by Raspberry World.

Alex looks a little concerned about our intentions regarding this giant pile of logs. I am sure he was happy to learn that his dad was the one who would end up having to split the 2+ cords of wood currently filling our driveway.

We are gearing up for winter here with a new boiler – it’s a dual fuel, wood- and oil-burning Danish model. Hence the log delivery. The more wood we burn in it this winter, the more money we will save on heating oil.

Suddenly it’s not so hard to believe that winter is coming. The days are cool and not all of them are sunny. The fall colors are past their peak in our part of the state. And it’s dark at dinnertime. Alex can’t wait for the first snowman of the winter, but I’m less enthusiastic about the winter weather to come.

Lots of new pictures up in the October set on Flickr. Enjoy!

Big Day

Susie — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:42:50 +0000

Driving the truck

Originally uploaded by Raspberry World.

Alex’s new bed is here! Papa is visiting from North Carolina, and he brought the pieces up and put them all together yesterday. Alex slept in his bed for the first time last night. Yay! He did great!

And the bed itself is a masterpiece… check out the pictures in the October set on Flickr. Thank you, Jim!

Finally, in unrelated news, Connecticut has legalized gay marriage! Way to go, CT!

Political Misbehavior

Susie — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 01:13:30 +0000

Sabotage

Originally uploaded by Raspberry World.

Just how angry does a person have to be to run down an innocent Obama sign on a neighbor’s lawn? Marty wrote about it on the Daily Kos.

Add another critter to the list

Susie — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 01:26:06 +0000

You remember that list, right? I’m sure you do. Well, you can add bats to it. Yes, I said BATS.

There have been tons of bats outside all summer, and I’ve been happy because they eat the mosquitoes and other pests. In fact, I wouldn’t mind them at all if they would just stay outside, but in a log cabin they find ways to get in. According to the Internet, it’s a common log cabin problem! All those little nooks and crannies give them many opportunities.

It’s not like we’re being overrun – in fact, only two bats have shown up in the house so far (both in the last week though). Marty’s gotten both of them out of the house with no minimal help from me (okay, I did open the door), so I know I shouldn’t even complain about it. But I’m feeling really stressed. And after dark, I’m walking around inside the house with the feeling that something is going to drop down on my head. It makes me jumpy. And I keep going into Alex’s room to make sure that nothing is in there, for goodness’ sake. (Nothing is.)

But mostly, it’s just creepy to have a bat flying around your downstairs. Flap flap flap.

Life in raspberry world

Susie — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:13:58 +0000

Life in raspberry world

Originally uploaded by Raspberry World.

Summer is rolling along. Today we have storms and rain, but it’s been very hot and dry recently. I’m taking advantage of the (slightly) cooler temperature today to make a crock pot soup and do some other cooking.

In our garden right now, we have ripe raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries. I am so happy that the previous owners planted all these berries — what a treat for us this year! Check out what I made today.

There’s still so much that I need to figure out what to do with in the yard. Our lot is partially wooded, so that part is easy – we just leave it alone. But around the house, there are some areas where I’m not really sure what it’s supposed to be… ground cover? Grass? Mostly it is weeds. Now they are very tall weeds.

Marty built a compost bin this weekend and we have gotten started with that. It feels great not to have to throw veggie scraps away in the trash anymore. Baby steps!

In the wild

Susie — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 01:59:55 +0000

Our move to the country has been celebrated by a whole bunch of critters, indoors and out.

When we moved in, back in February, the house was full of ladybugs. It was a little annoying, although I chilled out after I Googled “ladybug infestation” and found out just how bad it could be. They disappeared on their own as spring arrived.

Next came the carpenter bees. These huge, loud bees showed up in the spring, hanging around outside under the eaves, sounding like B52s. We had the place sprayed for them – after all, we live in a log cabin.

Next came the deer, to eat my garden. They ate the tops of my tomato plants, ate my green bean plants almost to the ground, and sheared the leaves off of my strawberry patch.

Once I covered up the garden with deer netting, a woodchuck or something showed up and chewed up my broccoli plants. Whatever it is just went right under the netting and demolished six whole plants.

Now we have the inside-the-house pests: carpenter ants and mice. Again, we can’t allow carpenter anything to settle in our house, so I called the exterminator. We had our first service today, and he sprayed for the ants and left four mousetraps baited with peanut butter in the cabinet under my kitchen sink (where I had found the mouse droppings). This evening we’ve caught three mice so far. Ziggy, our cat, seems strangely unconcerned. He’s letting Marty handle everything.

Welcome to the country.

EDIT: Make that FOUR.