Is Your Snowblower Ready?

Ours isn't. It's buried behind many, many items. Who knew that we could use it after Saturday's snow. This was to be a 1-3 incher. Our last measurement was over 5 inches. Getting back to the snowblower, here is a bit of trivia, it was invented in 1925 by a man in Quebec, it uses a pumplike system of impellers to break up the snow and force it through its stack and out of its path. Some say, that it flies harmlessly into another jurisdiction. All of the pictures that are posted were taken by Les this morning before the neighborhood started to movc around and before the snow started dropping off the trees. We will be going out shortly to clear off the cars and do a bit of shoveling. And if the sun stays out, I will be hanging out the holiday flags and maybe get some pictures of them as well. Have a great Sunday.

Looking down the hill from our mailbox. Isn't it beautiful?

Front of the Duck Hilton and our workshop. Star will soon be changed to a wreath.

Red bow on a small piece of iron fence.

The fence was to be inventory for Black Duck Antiques, you see how far it got.

Deer tracks in our front yard, heading to the Juniper bush. Yummy.

Banana Bread Recipe

Good Evening All, Les thought that it would be nice if I published the Banana Bread Recipe for anyone who would like to give it a try. We all have different versions of our favorite foods and if you are like me, I always want to try something new. I don't always get to do that, but I want to. So, here goes.

Banana Walnut Loaf

3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup shortening.
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs.
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup mashed banana.
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 cups all-purpose flour

Mix sugar, shortening and eggs, beat until light. Add mashed banana. Sift flour with baking powder, salt and soda. Stir into creamed mixture, beating until smooth. Add walnuts. Pour into a greased 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 60 to 70 minutes or until loaf tests done. Cool on rack, makes 1 loaf.

Now my, only modifications to the above is that I do not put in 1 cup of walnuts, I put in about a 1/2 of cup and if I have more then 1 cup of banana, I put the extra in as well. Enjoy.

Les has been working on my blog all day today, adding things and improving the look. My header picture is our pond, it doesn't look so great this time of year, but we will give you updates. The white house in the back is not ours, its a fairly new house, maybe 4 years old, nice neighbors. Well if you live in the Mid-Atlantic states my guess is that you are getting snow. It has been snowing for about 6 1/2 hours now. The snow is heavy, we even had a mini blackout a while ago. No plowing (I think it caught them off guard) and I noticed that a mini van is stuck across the street from our house. It could not get up the hill, sure how it doesn't get hit if the plows come by. I measured the snow in three places and took the average, 5.33 inches, and this was suppose to be a 1-3 inch with nothing sticking on the roads!! Well, I have few blogs to read and then maybe watch a movie. Have a good evening.

Blogging For Dummies

No,that's not my readers, it's my new book. Actually it's, Google Blogger For Dummies. After reading so many blogs for months now, I decided that I really wanted to improve upon ginnysyard. And not knowing much more then what I post on my blog now Les and I decided it was time to take a trip to the bookstore. Our favorite bookstore, Barnes & Noble. We had no problem in finding the dummies books, but boy I was not expecting the price. $24.99!! I better have a darn good blog when I done reading this book. We have lots to work on over the winter, my blog, our e-store for BlackDuck Antiques, Les' blog, etc. Other then our trip to the bookstore and moving some furniture (inventory for the antiques business) around, we didn't do much. I did go looking for insulated curtains/drapes this a.m. and ended up coming home and ordering them on-line from Country Curtains. I have ordered from them in the past and you my pay a bit more, but you can't beat the quality. Well, I'm going to start to read my book, keep checking back for the new and improved ginnysyard. And if you live in northeast PA, look out for some snow flakes tomorrow.

Heat's On

Here is a picture of our two girls. Dolly (in the background) and Maggie (front). For some reason, this year they have taken to sitting on top of the radiator. They are sisters and both are 6 years old. Maybe they need a little more warmth now that they are getting older. This is a rare occasion that they both are sitting together. Dolly is our timid one, Maggie is the bully, but that night they were being pals and getting along, usually Dolly steers clear of Maggie. I just finished putting a Banana Bread in the oven. It is a recipe from my M-I-L, she got it off of the back of a package of Diamond Walnuts. It's a favorite of ours. And for some reason it only gets made this time of year. When my M-I-L was living she always made two, one was put in the freezer for Christmas morning and we ate that while opening presents. I don't carry on the tradition of making two, but I always have some type of bread or muffin made for us on Christmas morning. I'm taking off tomorrow and I'm thinking of hitting a small mall near us. We don't really do Christmas shopping for each other, but around this time of year I like to go and window shop. Boscov's, one of the anchor department stores at the mall is having sales on insulated curtains/drapes and we could use some of those for the drafty windows. With any luck if the weather is decent this weekend I would like to get outside and do a little decorating, put up some wreaths, garden flags (Christmas ones of course) and I don't know what else just yet. We also need to get some more wood on the porch for the wood stove. Well I left Les watching the timer for the banana bread, but I want to be near by when it goes off. Have a good evening.

Full Cold Moon

Good Evening All, tonite we have the first of two full moons in the month of December. Tonite's is the Full Cold Moon. Strange, the weather weenies say that during the night tonite the temperature will rise, yet it is the Cold Moon. We won't see the moon here in North East PA tonite, do to the rain that started to fall at about 4:00. Les and I started to move some furniture, etc. around today to make room for furniture that did not sell at the Antique Show this past weekend. We need to bring in a blanket chest and a crock bench. Over the next few months we will be listing items for sale on our e-crater store, once it is all set up, I will list the address for you to check out our wares. Well, I have some blogs to read and then it's time to get ready for bed. Have a good evening.

All Done For The Season

We had our last Antique Show for 2009 and we are happy to report that it ended on a profitable and happy note. We will start up again in March 2010. It has been a while since I posted, almost a month to the day and I hope to correct that. I really enjoy reading blogs and hope if I post more, I will pick up readers. December 1st already!! Yikes, I have not started to even decorate, I still have to close up the house for Winter ( pull down storm windows, heavier curtains, etc.) If you remember we live in a old house, not very energy efficient, so what ever we can do to improve that will help. I really don't decorate that much, all of our family lives in other states, most in NJ, but rarely get to come to PA for a visit. You see, I'm the baby of the family which means they are older then me and use that as a excuse, i.e. It's so far to PA, why don't you come to NJ. Hello, last time I checked the mileage was the same and not bad at all. So, you may ask why don't you go to NJ? Well, we really never get a invite, though we are always asking them. Enough about the family. Back to decorating, I think I will do a bit more then usual, but in a Primitive/Country way. But, for now the cats are crying for dinner and I have some work to do. I hope everyone has a good evening.

Geese & Cleaning Up

Canadian geese are now daily visitors, stopping at the pond to rest before continuing on their way. Some leave at night but some stay all night. And boy what a racket, honking, flapping their wings making sure everyone is aware that they are in the neighborhood. We started to clean up our Mud Porch yesterday and really got alot done. We need to do this from time to time. It is a landing spot for many, many things. Bird seed, cat liter, groceries and inventory for our antique business.This is where it all happens before you enter our Kitchen. Oh, I forgot its also where the firewood gets stacked as well. So you see it needs cleaning up from time to time. It really is a seasonal porch, spring and summer you will find seeds, garden tools, etc. And in the fall/winter you will find firewood and wait the snow blower when we need to use it. I better finish cleaning it up. I didn't realize how much goes there!! Have a great day, Happy Novemeber.