December 21st Dinner Post

[livetobake]

Good Morning!

It is mostly overcast at the moment but hopefully the sun will come out some today. The high of 39 and the low of 32. Starting tomorrow night it will become a nightmare of temps becoming dangerously frigid, snow, rain, high winds and just horrid. Full tank of gas, my little snow shovel in the car, blankets, food and lots of staying home. I hope DGS makes it home from work Friday night as Friday is predicted being really bad. I have Verizon and it has been out for 2 days with today making the 3rd as they are updating the system. I would not venture out with a phone with the weather being so bad but know I will be inside without one.

The rest of the split pea soup will be dinner with grilled cheese sandwiches and the last of the rice pudding.

What will you be having?

[Chayote]

We needed to stay home today. Hot day with high humidity, thunder, lightning and heavy rain. I've had the airconditioner on most of the day. We've also been on snake watch for a couple of days. My next door neighbour came in to say that the neighbour on the other side of her house witnessed a 1.5m (almost 6 feet) brown snake going from his yard to hers through a hole at the bottom of her dividing fence. Dividing fences in Australia are solid... in Melbourne they are mostly wood palings and in Adelaide they are mostly metal. Anyway, my neighbour called the local government snake catcher to come and take it away but by the time he arrived, the snake was out of sight. He noticed a track close to our dividing fence and a space large enough for it to go through. We had a look around the back garden but couldn't find it. Also put the sprinkler on the back section of our yard to try and move it out and that didn't work. We have a medium-size shed in the back corner and although it's close to the fence, there's a 4" gap between the fence and the shed. My bet is that it's in that gap. Tomorrow I'll go out and put an egg near that gap and see if it disappears during the day.

John's surgery is looking like being carried out after Christmas which is great. Anytime after Sunday is fine but I'm pleased that he can enjoy a typical noisy and chaotic Christmas celebration before he goes to hospital.

Dinner tonight: John had a small pork steak with mashed sweet potato, peas and a baked onion; I had leftover chicken and coleslaw from last night.

[muzette7]

I found 2 cans of chicken noodle soup in the cupboard, so that will be dinner along with grilled cheese. I have all my errands done and wont leave the house until after the storm passes.

[Vera]

Chayote - Are brown snakes in Australia harmless or can they attack? We have black snakes which are good in our area. They eat 'stuff' outside that you don't want around. We only see about two or three all summer and hubby makes sure he doesn't run over one with the lawn tractor. I, however, still don't want to come face to face with one. Hope your snake is located to give you relief that it won't be sneaking up on you!!

Son and family are coming here tonight and staying through January 3. They flew to our area on Dec 15 but stayed in Northern Virginia and working out of their DC offices. So, tonight's dinner will be a beef and broccoli stir fry. I have to keep it simple since I am doing Christmas dinner and I have two refrigerators FULL with the Christmas ingredients. Guess I will start putting together some dishes non-perishable dishes tomorrow.

[CharleneG]

It’s been bright and sunny, but it is frigid out there! It was 18° when I got up at 8 am, and it’s only 24° now. It’s supposed to get even colder tonight. The snow hasn’t melted a bit. I really haven’t done much today, but that’s OK too.

I’m going to make some Buffalo wings and have more of the pasta salad with it.

[rosie]

It was a pretty nice day weather wise. 40° low in the 20s. Joe brought in a ton of wood. We are getting slammed tomorrow evening. White out conditions 50 mph winds, snow and below 0 wind chill. Dgd will be driving from Indy tomorrow after work. I'm a bit concerned. Went to Greenville today to finish Christmas food shopping. WOW it's crazy out there!
I was pretty wiped out so we just had spaghetti and a slice of pumpernickel bread.
Had a pkg hawaiian rolls that were use it or loose it and 4 over ripe bananas so I'm headed to make sliders and banana bread.

[Chayote]

Chayote - Are brown snakes in Australia harmless or can they attack? We have black snakes which are good in our area. They eat 'stuff' outside that you don't want around. We only see about two or three all summer and hubby makes sure he doesn't run over one with the lawn tractor. I, however, still don't want to come face to face with one. Hope your snake is located to give you relief that it won't be sneaking up on you!!

g'day, Vera... if it was a python I wouldn't worry, as you said they eat vermin. Unfortunately an Australian brown snake is the second most deadly snake in the world. The first deadliest snake also lives in Australia but not in our area. They really want to be left alone and they don't attack unless they are messed with. They are protected so even if it's here, the snake catcher will take it to the nearest uninhabited area. The egg is still outside near where the shed is close to the boundary fence so if it's still there tomorrow, we can assume that the snake isn't in our yard. The house behind our neighbour has an overgrown back yard so I suspect it might have gone in there.

I'm so happy for you having your family with you for Christmas day. Enjoy every moment.