Thanksgiving Blizzard of 1950

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I remember the Thanksgiving blizzard of 1950.

OK, I'm old!

I was eight years old.

We used to have Thanksgiving dinner at the Wickersham family farm

in East Springfield, PA.

We lived in Erie.

It was mom and dad and my sister Sue and my Grandma Wickersham in the car

as we headed to the farm on Route 20. That's when the storm got really bad.

Everything stopped.  Cars couldn't move any further.

There were no snow plows on the roads back then!!

I don't know how long we were stuck.

I do remember the Red Cross bringing coffee and cocoa to the cars along the road!

We were close to Girard, Pa and there was a little bar there if we had to go to the bathroom.

My grandmother was of Quaker descent and a staunch Baptist and would not go into a bar so there we sat.

I think we finally made it to the farm but I don't remember much else about the day!

I wish we took photos back then like we do now.

But we didn't carry around our little box cameras. 

No, I'm not that old . . . we were in the family car.  Probably the Packard.

Here's a little bit about it on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTTASQXPRb0

Shirley
Added addition:
I just talked to my sister and she said, we never got to the farm.
We turned around when we could and went back home.
Of course the turkey dinner was at the farm so we had hot dogs that year!
My sister's memory is still better than mine at this point!!!

Shirley

Preacher and Me

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Some photos of Preacher and me in our riding hay-day.  

(Before my back went south!)

He's a good boy even though he's sort of a grumpy old gelding now.

He definitely has attitude!

He was really fit here.

Me too!!

Trail riding on Hinckley 606 trails

Chagrin trail ride.

Around the lake at Horse Haven

To my barn buddies now:  See, here's proof I actually rode outside!!!!!

Shirley

Oatmeal

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I eat a lot of oatmeal!

I eat it a lot of times for breakfast 

but also either oatmeal or Cream of Wheat (flavored) for a bedtime snack.  

Makes my tummy all warm and full!

I have always bought the boxes of Quaker Oats with the little individual envelopes that you can add water to and cook up in the microwave.

Easy!

My favorites being Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal and Cinnabon Cream of Wheat.

Heaven knows how much I've spent just for the convenience!

I recently saw an idea on Pinterest about just bagging up your own!

Simple and much healthier.

Why didn't I think of this!!

Just look at all the added stuff in those envelopes!!!

Doing it this way, it is just 100%whole grain rolled oats,

plus whatever you add like brown sugar etc.

Much healthier and a whole lot cheaper!

I made up my bags with 1/2 cup of quick oats and a healthy tbsp. of brown sugar.

(and maybe a little swirl of sugar free maple syrup after it's cooked!)

To make it I just pour it in a bowl and add about 3/4 cup of water and microwave it for 1min 40 sec.

Came out perfect!

I use Walmart's quick rolled oats so that alone is cheaper than Quaker and it has a softer consistency which I like it.

An added plus is that you get more to eat for a little less carbs somehow.

1/2 cup of oats this way is 27 carbs plus of course about 12 carbs for the brown sugar.

The envelopes had 34 carbs for much less an amount!

This way is a very healthy helping of oatmeal in the morning!

(You can cut it in half for kids using 1/4 cup of oats.

You'd have to experiment with the amount of water to get it right.)

Here's the site where I saw this.

http://amylovesherlife.blogspot.com/2012/01/who-likes-saving-money.html

There's some good ideas in the comments of different things to add.

Try it, you like it!!

I'm going to try making Cream of Wheat next.  I think it's farina??

Shirley

Winter in the Coop

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Well, since it's been below freezing, the water in the chicken feeders was freezing.  I took the one down in the outside run and replaced the one inside the coop with a heated dog water bowl.

This worked really well last winter.

It's sort of a pain to change the water in the winter since I have to bring two buckets from inside out to the coop. 

One is to empty the old water into and the other is the new fresh water.

 Hoses are now frozen.  Awwww, winter.

We are just lucky that we didn't get hit with the heavy snow this week end!

I also keep adding wood shavings in the coop to keep it deep and warmer.

Pepsi, the little cat, runs into the coop every chance she gets.  She then went out into the run and sat in the sun.  She'd love to just live in with the chickens if I'd let her!!

Shirley

Misc. Ramblings

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We just got a dusting of snow here in Medina, but east of here was hit hard with the first snow.

I'm feeling blessed!

It is very cold though when we are not used to it yet. 

Heck, a week ago we had a couple days in the 60's!

Now it's in the 20's and 30's!

I took my carriage driving lesson on that last warm day.

Then I took a couple pictures of the horses out in the paddock at their new hay feeding rack.

This helps with wasted hay when it was being put on the ground.

It took a few minutes for them to get brave and try it but they are happily using it now!

Hi Sezi!

When I got home I brought wood in and loaded my fireplace and put extra wood in the rack.

I even made a spot on the deck, outside the back door where I can just grab some wood without going out to the garage when there's lots of snow!

I know, it's coming sooner or later!!

Stay warm!

Shirley

An Afternoon With The Horses

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Today was in the 40's.  

A little chilly because of the wind 

but I met my friend Pam at the barn to have some horsey time.

I groomed Preacher and Echo.  Here's Preacher.

He looks like he's smiling!

Pam and I did some ground work with the two of them in the arena 

then let them free and played with them with the ball and some cones.  

They both knew I had carrots on my pocket so it was hard to get them to think of anything else!!

After that we took them out to the paddock and let them loose with their little herd from the little barn.

Echo was full of energy today!

They love the cooler weather.

              


              

Hope you enjoy the little trips to the barn.

Shirley

Chickens in the Leaves

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Chickens of course, love to scratch and peck and look for bugs and stuff.  I'm sure they get bored when they are not out in the yard. They're not finding much just scratching around in their same old run.  In the fall, with all the leaves, I try to keep putting new fallen leaves in their outer run.

When I can, I try and get the leaves from my front garden.  I think there's a better chance they'll find some "good stuff" in them.

Leaves, leaves everywhere!  And the wind doesn't help!!

I gather a bunch and throw them into the outer run.

Poor Molly is moulting.  They have seemed to moult one at a time!

Eggo and Lily look better now and one of them has started giving me a nice big green egg about every other day!  They have stopped laying much because of the loss of daylight hours and they don't lay when they're moulting.

When the wind blows hard, they all run in the coop!

They are such chicken chickens!!

Every time I clean their poop sled, they try and dust themselves in the PDZ!  It's ok I guess because I always add some DE to it too.

Last week I changed out the wood shavings for all new for the winter.  Nice and deep.

             

Silly girls.

Shirley

Crafty Me!

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Some old shirts into something else!

I have a lot of turtle neck tops like these.  I mean A LOT!

So some are quite old and the collars start to get all tattered.

I cut them up in strips and braided them.

I intended to make a placemat but it wouldn't lay flat so I made a little basket!!

Cute, right!!

I have to add though . . . this took forever and I don't think I'll do it again!!

Shirley