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                            Getting ready for New Year's Eve
Back to our Monday, Wednesday, Friday routine at the gym working off the grasshopper cheesecake, Philly cheese steak sandwiches, Friendly's Jim Dandy and Swiss chocolate almond sundaes that we enjoyed while in Florida.  Decadent eating!  No guilt.

Yesterday I tackled one of the three kabocha squash still sitting outside on the back porch.  This one is not even the biggest one.  Cliff quartered it for me.
Quarters were brushed with melted coconut oil then sprinkled with cinnamon, baked at 400 for about an hour until soft.
                                           Seeds saved for next year's garden.
Kept three cups for us and froze about seven cups for soups and other recipes this winter.

The Christmas decorations are starting to come down.  Cliff removed all porch lights, disassembled the trees, and gorilla taped some of the boxes.  Tomorrow the boxes will take their place in the garage attic.  After all, the mice need their warm homes back for this cold winter ahead.  Living in the woods is an adventure I love.  We haven't seen any bear for some time or heard coyotes.  Our neighbor up the road just discovered a flying squirrel in his attic, which explains some of the noises we've been unfairly blaming on the mouse.  A thud on the roof was easily explained as a dead tree branch but nocturnal scratching sounds in the gutters can't be blamed on tree limbs.

Today the temperature reached 51 degrees with sunny skies.  I miss the children terribly but we needed to get back to our retired routine. 











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