So, who needs to rely on the Gods of Great Parking Places for Black Friday shopping when you have your very own driver? Here's our driver. That's right - Bob took the ladies shopping at 4:30 in the morning. He would drop us off at the door. Park. Sleep. Pick us up. Drop off at the door. Park. Sleep. You see the pattern. At the Castleton Mall there were strolling carolers in 19th century costumes, reindeer on stilts, and jugglers. And we got free light bulbs and coffee at Keystone. It was Baleigh's first Black Friday adventure. Here she is before we left the house. She held up pretty well. I wonder if she'll want to try it again next year.

We had a very nice Thanksgiving. Bob went on to Effingham to visit his mom and dad and I came back to Kendallville to work on my Tuesday Club presentation that I have to present, well, on Tuesday. I'm getting there, but not finished. I just took this time out to blog a bit.



Maddie, the Amazing Barking Dog is handing out congratulatory woofs this week, as if they were pills and she, a doctor. Yes, Maddie salutes the girls who passed sections of the CPA exam: They would be:
Lindsey - who passed Financial
Rachel and Laura - who both passed B.E.C.
Hey, these tests are really hard,
so, congratulations, you smart number girls and

Woof, Woof, Woof, Woof, Woof
Woof, Woof, Woof, Woof, Woof
Woof, Woof, Woof, Woof, Woof

That's five woof's apiece for those of you who are not so hot with numbers.


Maddie has been in trouble with Bob because he took her to be groomed and when he was driving her home (after spending $50.00 to get her all spiffed up) she had diarrhea all over the back seat of the new company SUV that he just got last week.




Hey Kids, Guess who's leading in the East?
Green Bay sent him "packin"- didn't seem to care in the least.
Now I bet New York hopes he'll stick around
You know they're 8 and 4
I'm sure they'll win some more
I just read it in a magazine
Brettie and the Jets
Brettie. Brettie. Brettie and the Jets






No recipe this week - but I will be teaching another cooking class at the Park Department on Tuesday. We'll be making carrot cake and decorating Christmas cookies. You local peeps can still get in on that action if you call Sally at the park department tomorrow. There's just nothing like a cookie!

"If you're a circus clown and you have a dog that you use in your act, I don't think it's a good idea to also dress the dog up like a clown, because people see that and they think 'Forgive me, but that is just too much."' Jack Handey

Happy Thanksgiving! After much negotiation, it looks like we will travel to Indy and have dinner at Brent and Lindsey's house, and will, hopefully, be joined by some of our Illinois peeps. I'll help Lindsey with the turkey and dressing on Thursday morning, as this will be her first bird, one of the most memorable milestones in a woman's (or man's) life. We'll take pictures.

We've decided to spend the night down there on Thursday and move our BLACK FRIDAY shopping experience to Indianapolis as well. I've composed a little BLACK FRIDAY song here on the blog. It should be sung to the tune of Black Water by the Doobie Brothers.

Black Friday

Well, I've loaded the car and she's ready for shoppin'

Target and Best Buy, they're callin' my name.

Sales clerks a jumpin'

Crazy people keep bumpin'

Into each other as we head down the aisles.

Oh Black Friday, keep on shoppin'

May the Gods of great parking places keep on smilin' on me

I baked another baby shower cake this weekend. The baby's initials will be T.N.T., so they had a dynamite themed shower. The mothers-to-be these days already know if they are having a boy or a girl and have already named the baby by the time they have a shower. What is up with this? Where is the surprise? What happened to the fun of guessing? If you already have two boys and you know number three is also a boy, where is the incentive to push???? I personally think this takes some of the joy away from the whole experience. Ashley - hold your ground. Let it be a surprise.

We all enjoy a fully-dressed turkey at Thanksgiving!

From the Archives: Little Rob runs through the leaves at Pokagon State Park, wearing the sweater that Grandma Darlene knitted for him. (I did not know that he was a boy - I did know that he was big)

Recipe of the Week: Who doesn't love fudge? This maple fudge is yummy, although a little expensive to make - enjoy!

Prizewinning Maple Fudge

1 1/3 cups (1 can) Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 cup pure maple syrup
1 cup brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 cup nuts

Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan except nuts. Simmer slowly, stirring until sugar dissolves. Continue cooking mixture, stirring occasionally until it reaches soft ball stage or a temperate of 236 degrees. Cool without stirring to a temperature of 110 degrees, or until mixture just feels warm. Beat until thick, add nuts and pour into butter pie pan. Allow to set.

"Somebody told me it was frightening how much topsoil we are losing each year, but I told that story around the campfire and nobody got scared." Jack Handey

I almost did not blog at all this week because, I've got nothin' - That's right, no peculiar fungus to report, no musings, reflections, or theories - nuttin.' Oh, we did have an upsetting critter incident in the hood this afternoon. Our neighbors across the road came over and told us that a young deer had jumped the fence into their yard and broken both legs. They called the sheriff's department and were waiting on somebody to come, but, they were very distressed about it. I didn't go over and look, but Bob did. A deputy came and took care of the situation, and the carcass is in their front yard at the edge of the road. I guess somebody will come and pick it up??? I'm also told that Kathi Lee Gifford will be coming to Kendallville in a couple of weeks because East Noble High School is putting on a musical that she wrote, called Key Pin It Real. I worked for Sally at the park department this week, and will be working for her until Thanksgiving. Bob and I were given charge of our granddog, Roxanne from Thursday until Monday, because Candace's family (accompanied by Rob) went to a wedding in Florida. Roxanne is a lap dog. If you're sitting, she'd like to be sitting too, please, on you, if that's alright. Here she is helping Bob with his expense report.



Bob and I did have a discussion about best cartoon characters. He has always liked Foghorn Leghorn, Baloo the Bear, on Jungle Book, and Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote. We both really liked Yogi Bear, although, I think my fondness for Yogi might have something to do with his pic-a-nic baskets. And, tell me if I've got this wrong, now, but I'm almost certain it is universally known that the best cartoon episode of all time is..........



KILL DA WABBIT







From the Archives: I'm posting this picture of Lori, Lindsey, and me, taken before the start of the Indianapolis 500 mini marathon a couple of years ago, because if I want to do it again in May, I have to hurry up and register or there won't be any spots left. Thirteen miles. Do I really want to do it? In the picture, I am the only one of us who is wearing the shirt they gave us for the race. I was told that wearing the official shirt is a very dorky thing to do - apparently you're supposed to wear shirts from OTHER races you have competed in (as they are wearing). So, I guess, if I wear this shirt at the 2009 race, I will be cool. So much to worry about.

Recipe of the Week: I got a request from Lindsey this weekend for some recipes. This is one of them. It's rather out of season, as you prepare these on the grill, but, you can fix them in the oven as well.

Blue Cheese Grilled Potatoes
1/2 cup butter
1 (4 ounce) package crumbled blue cheese
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
4 medium baking potatoes, cut in half lengthwise
4 small onion, sliced 1/4 inch (about 24 slices))
4 (14 X 12 inch) pieces heavy duty aluminum foil


Prepare grill; heat until coals are ash white. Meanwhile, in a small bowl stir together butter, blue cheese, parsley, salt and pepper. Spread one fourth of butter mixture on cut sides of both halves of each potato. Top one half of each potato with six onion slices. Put each potato back together. Wrap each in aluminum foil; tightly seal top and sides. Place on grill. Grill, turning potatoes every 15 minutes, until they are fork tender. (50 to 60 minutes)

Oven Directions: Heat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare potatoes the same way. Wrap in foil. Place potatoes in a 13 X 9 inch baking pan for 55 to 65 minutes, turning them once, about half way through baking.

"If you see an animal and you can't tell if it's a skunk or a cat, here's a good saying to help: 'Black-and-white, stinks all right. Tabby-colored, likes a fella,"' Jack Handey

We had to memorize this poem in the sixth grade. It's one of my favorites and I usually think about it every fall:

Something Told the Wild Geese
by Rachel Field

Something told the wild geese
It was time to go,

Though the fields lay golden

Something whispered, "snow."

Leaves were green and stirring,
Berries, luster-glossed,

But beneath warm feathers

Something cautioned, "frost."

All the sagging orchards

Steamed with amber spices,

But each wild breast stiffened
At remembered ice.

Something told the wild geese

It was time to fly,
Summer sun was on their wings,

Winter in their cry.

And here's another reason not to hang around.

Maddie Salutes: This is a new feature on the blog that might appear again from time to time. When anybody does anything of note or import, Maddie, the Amazing Barking Dog, will honor you by barking her fool head off in a most congratulatory way. And this week, Maddie gives out a five bark salute to Emmet, in Cleveland, because the front page that he designed for the election day edition of the Plain Dealer was talked about on both CNN and MSNBC. Congratulations Emmet! You're knocking us out down here! And to you from Maddie:

Woof, Woof.....Woof, Woof, Woof!

The rest of you should get busy and try to come up with something that impresses Maddie.

I was putting together a playlist of songs for Thanksgiving Dinner this week. One of my favorite Thanksgiving hymns is We Gather Together. It always makes me think of Thanksgiving Day on Captain Kangaroo, when, at the end of the show, Mr. Green Jeans (or maybe it was the Captain, I'm not sure) would carry out a beautiful turkey to serve to everybody at the Treasure House, and that song would play, and then we would be whisked right off to the opening of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which bored me silly after seeing four high school marching bands and the Underdog balloon.

Oh, how I loved the Captain, and Mr. Green Jeans, and Bunny Rabbit - it was so cute the way he would whack his little head on the counter, demanding carrots. And Mr Moose, with his ping pong balls, was hilarious. Yes, I loved them, but not Grandfather Clock, because he was just creepy and Dancing Bear? What a farce! That bear was only shuffling his feet. I read that the Banana Man was an old vaudevillian, whose costume couldn't be cleaned. It smelled terrible and when he was on the show, nobody wanted to be anywhere near the set.

From the Archives: 1961 - Brian, me, Jeff, and Shorty Pants

A baby shower cake that I made this weekend

And finally, the Recipe of the Week: I made these for Rob this weekend.

Scotcheroos
1 cup sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1 cup peanut butter

6 cups Rice Krispies

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup butterscotch chips

Bring sugar and syrup to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in the peanut butter. Add rice krispies. Press into a butter 9 X 13 pan. Melt the chips and spread over the top.

"Instead of putting a quarter under a kid's pillow, how about a pinecone? That way, he learns that 'wishing' isn't going to save our national forests." Jack Handey

Well, another Halloween has come and gone, and I made it through the entire season without eating one piece of candy corn or one Brach's mellowcreme pumpkin. Bob was in Wisconsin and had planned to return Wednesday evening. He did not drag his sorry carcass home until almost one o'clock this morning (Sunday). He does have three weeks of vacation that he says he's going to take before the end of the year. We'll see if that really pans out. The weather on Trick or Treat night was wonderful, and we had more visitors than we've had in recent years. They were pretty taken with my book of treats. When you open it a witch's voice says "Have some candy!" or "Yummy!" or "Choose carefully!" Some of them were also amazed by my barking dog.

"Your dog just keeps barking," remarked one fairy princess.

"Don't I know it, Princess. Don't I know it."


Reflections on the Orphans and other Illinois team mascots: Well, another high school football season has also come and gone, and the Centralia Orphans were, again, winless, going 0 for 9. I think this makes them 0 and 39 or 0 and 40 - something like that. Maybe they might want to think about changing their name? It is quite a co-inky-dink that my sister and I were just having a discussion about where and how the Centralia team came by such a lame-o/loser name, and this week she ran across an article in a recent issue of Illinois Country Living magazine that pertained to this very topic.
It seems that the name, Orphans, came from a coach the team had in the early 1940's named Arthur Trout. Either: A. The team was playing in the state championship and their uniforms and equipment came up missing and they had to beg and borrow assorted uniforms from other teams and looked like a bunch of orphans out on the floor. Or B. Coach Trout was very frugal and made the team wear a variety of mismatched, leftover uniforms from the past and they looked like a bunch of orphans out on the floor. or C. Coach Trout was a big fan of D.W. Griffith's epic film about the French Revolution, Orphans of the Storm. He used the silent picture to motivate his team, and they looked like a bunch of brave and fearless orphans in a storm out on the floor. Nobody seems to know for sure.

The article mentions some other noteworthy high school mascots like our own beloved Effingham Flaming Hearts, and our neighbors, the Teutopolis Wooden Shoes, and it gives a shout out to the Hoopeston Cornjerkers and the Cobden Appleknockers. My niece, Megan, used to teach at a school whose mascot is the Pretzels. She commented that she didn't get what was intimidating about a pretzel, but then, President Bush almost choked to death on one, and she decided that, perhaps, pretzels were more formidable than she had realized. Well, Megan, you weren't the only pretzels at the snackbar. Apparently New Berlin High School also adopted that name. It seems that back in the 1930's, at a district basketball game, the score was so lopsided that the New Berlin players on the bench started throwing pretzels at each other and a newspaper reporter dubbed them the Pretzel Throwers. This was later shortened to just plain old Pretzels, but still, they were worthy opponents. Flying pretzels? You could put an eye out with one of those things.












Get out the vote Peeps!










From the Archives: 1957 - A single strand of pearls looks good with anything, anywhere, - even standing on the kitchen counter in only a pair of sturdy cotton panties.









Recipe of the Week: I catered a breakfast on Friday, and served the standard, glazed fruit, Hashbrowns-Helen, cake-mix cinnamon rolls, and Wake-up breakfast casserole. It occurred to me that I had shared all of these recipes on the blog except for the casserole recipe. Lindsey took this to work a few weeks ago, and people are still asking her for the recipe, so here it is for all of you. It comes from the Thorpe House Bed and Breakfast in Metamora, Indiana



Wake-Up Casserole

2 cups seasoned croutons
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 4-ounce can mushroom pieces, drained
1 - 1/2 pounds bulk country fresh sausage, crumbled
1/2 cup shopped onion
6 eggs
2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

Topping
1 - 10 3/4 ounce can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk

Place croutons in greased 9 X 13 pan. Top with cheese and mushrooms. Brown sausage and onion. Drain and spread over cheese. Beat eggs with 2 cups of milk and seasoning; pour over sausage. Cover and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, mix soup with 1/2 cup milk and spread on top. Bake at 325 degrees for one hour. Serves 8 to 10.

"Children need encouragement. So, if a kid gets an answer right, tell him it was a lucky guess. That way, he develops a good lucky feeling." Jack Handey