Boo!

Did you think I died?  Nah, it's just been a busy few days, and a sick few days.  I got the intestinal virus that's been circulating all winter, then passed it on to Cliff.  I was only sick two days, and not all that sick really; just vomited a few times and couldn't eat.  Cliff is another story.  He has slept more that I've ever seen him sleep, in daylight hours, at least.  He's on the couch asleep now, has been for hours.  I wake him up every once in awhile, just to make sure he's OK.

When he first got sick, he just stayed in bed most of the time.  I think it worried Gabe:  He's used to our regular morning routine:  He and I get up long before dawn, Cliff stays in bed until seven AM.  I get the dog pottied and fed, then make my coffee.  Then I play Words With Friends and/or read, and Gabe lays beside me.  When he hears Cliff moving around in the bedroom on a normal day, he'll hunt up one of his squeaky toys and take it to Cliff, who doesn't react... he doesn't wake up easily.  Then when Cliff comes in the living room, Gabe keeps putting the toy on top of Cliff's foot and sometimes Cliff with throw it.  That's how it goes.  But Cliff was in bed in daytime and the dog kept going in to check on him.  He isn't allowed on the bed, but he'd go to Cliff's side of the bed and gaze up there, trying to understand what's going on.   

When I did that last entry, I intended to get right back here and tell you about our experiences at Graceland.  But it's been so long, I decided to fill you in on the happenings around here.

The weather is crazy, as always in Missouri.  One thing can be counted on:  The weather will get up in the 80's in early April, and just as soon as the majority of the fruit trees open up their blossoms, we get a hard freeze or frost warning.  All the blossoms made it through the night before last unscathed.  I think there's another chance of a freeze on the weekend, but I think we're pretty safe.

I have quite a collection of Better Homes and Gardens cookbooks, but few months back I decided to get rid of a few of them.  When a new book comes out, there are always some old recipes dropped, and new ones added.  Well, I guess I threw away the only one of them that had one of my favorite recipes in it, Butterscotch cookies.  There aren't any butterscotch pieces in these, it's just called butterscotch because of the brown sugar and butter, I suppose.  I googled and searched, and uncovered several cookies going by the name, but none were even close to what I wanted.  I was getting pretty unhappy about the situation this morning when it occurred to me I might have shared it in the blog at some point.  I put butterscotch into the little search box at the top left, and there it was.  I've not met anybody who doesn't love these cookies... even my daughter, and she isn't really a cookie fan.  I used to quadruple the recipe around Christmas, because it doesn't make many cookies if you're sharing them.  These are chewy, not crispy.

BUTTERSCOTCH COOKIES

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup shortening
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/3 cups flour
3/4 tsp soda
3/4 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Melt butter and shortening. Add sugars; mix well. Add egg; beat till light-colored. Sift flour with soda; stir into egg mixture. Add vanilla and nuts. Chill.
Roll into small balls. Bake on ungreased cooky sheet in moderate oven (375) 7 to 10 minutes. Remove at once.

This gives you an idea of how useful a blog can be.  If I want to know when Cliff had open heart surgery, I search the blog.  If I wonder when I got my dog, I do a search.  A while back I mentioned to Cliff that we planted grass when we first brought the trailer house back here, and he said, "We never planted grass here!"  To the blog I went, and not only did I find an entry about planting grass back then, but there was even a picture.  About the only arguments I am able to win around here are the ones that are about something in my blog.

Our tractor club is doing a static display of tractors at the John Deere Dealer's at Carrolton today, and we planned to go.  However, Rip Van Winkle in there is doing well to wake up and go to the bathroom.  I'm not disappointed we didn't go, though.  The high temperatures will be in the 50's, so we'd end up sitting inside to keep warm.  

Alrighty, dear readers.  I'll try not to wait so long before the next post.  I hope I haven't forgotten everything I saw at Graceland.

Yours truly,
Donna