Wednesday

[bluepinecones]

Trip today was blissfully uneventful except for all the traffic skirting northern side of Atlanta suburbs; still better than going thru Atlanta or the beltway but I will look for a slightly more northern route when I leave. Even the GPS gets 3/4 of an at-a-boy today - would have been a full one except it took me an hour to set it last night. There were a couple of nasty hairpin turns between the campground and first highway that made me glad Magic is only 24'. About half of todays drive was in suburbs traffic, the other half on I-85. Nice sunny day for trip.

Watsadler is a beautiful COE Park, my site and most of the ones I've seen, are waterfront. I'm on what looks like a wide channel between two larger portions of the lake. In addition to being a very nice campground (which I've come to expect with COE) was pleasantly surprised to discover a decent Verizon signal for Internet (not so good for AT& T phone) and several OTA TV stations.
Not sure I'll see much of Mitch unless she walks or drives up (she plans to do that when others arrive this weekend). Her site is two loops away - guessing a mile and half or so - further than I'm likely to try to walk. She did come by this afternoon: we made quick trip to Wal-Mart and to pick up some firewood.
:
Think I failed camping 101 this evening. Swept patio and put lots of pine needles + some cones in fire pit in anticipation of having a fire later. Came inside to heat late lunch/early dinner (left over pork roast and cauliflower). Took stored stuff out of microwave. Put food in paper bowl, covered with paper towel, turned on. Next thing I knew had flames in microwave. At least I know the smoke alarm works. I'm not tall enough to see floor of microwave and missed getting a pack of mints out. Managed to get fire out by tossing the flaming towel in fire pit and the bowl on picnic table. Of course I then had a major flame in the fire pit. Ruined my kitchen towel and burned a couple of fingers (not bad, just enough to hurt). Cannot get the black out of microwave - any cleaning suggestions? I picked a few bites of food out of burning bowl before throwing it into the fire pit. After settling down, gathered more pine needles and cones - have tried with no success to light a log for real fire tonight. Maybe better luck at that tomorrow. Now I need to see what I might have for dinner as the late lunch turned into a crispy few bites.

Anita - I think I'll be back home by end of month. Hope I get to see you; Wendy and I are running short on visits as well so looking forward to seeing her.

[dpf]

Hi...just been reading about funnel cakes....decided to google a recipe. Looks like it would be pretty simple to whip up without a mix.


Ingredients
2 cups milk
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) melted butter
Powdered sugar, for topping


Directions

Combine milk, egg, vanilla in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda, and sugar and gradually add to wet ingredients. Beat with a mixer until a smooth batter forms. Fold in melted butter. Pour batter into a funnel or squeeze bottle while using your index finger to stop the flow of the batter. Bring the funnel over the hot oil and release your finger to start a stream of batter while moving the funnel in a circular motion to create spiral-like shapes. Fry for 2 to 3 minutes until golden brown and slightly puffed. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Recipe courtesy of Paula Deen

[BarbaraRose]

Kind of late again here...
Yes, this Siamese kitten is very vocal! I grew up with Siamese cats and know how meowy they can be. This one has attitude!! She is so sweet and adorable tho! She is curled up, purring, on my shoulder right now.

Was surprised to find a deer tick on a young customer tonight. Thought they would be gone by now altho we haven't had very cold weather yet. I have never seen a deer tick before but was pretty sure that is what it was (smaller than a normal tick). Showed it to her mom and told her to remove it and bring it in to get it looked at for confirmation. Didn't look like it had been on her for very long luckily. Googled "deer tick" tonight and sure enough, that is what it looked like.

Had a "financial intervention" the other day for my dad, with my two brothers. He is completely out of money (and $125K in debt) so he has only two options; sell the house or get a reverse mortgage. We all decided on the reverse mortgage since my dad absolutely refuses to sell the house. My brother has a friend who can do it for us without affecting the trust on the house.

Anita, that must have been really scary to lose your trailer like that! What good are chains if they break? Guess you gotta make sure they are heavy duty and can do what they are supposed to.

Hope those of you with health issues get them resolved soon! Those on the road, stay safe and enjoy the view!

[Redetotry]

Kind of late again here...
Yes, this Siamese kitten is very vocal! I grew up with Siamese cats and know how meowy they can be. This one has attitude!! She is so sweet and adorable tho! She is curled up, purring, on my shoulder right now.

Was surprised to find a deer tick on a young customer tonight. Thought they would be gone by now altho we haven't had very cold weather yet. I have never seen a deer tick before but was pretty sure that is what it was (smaller than a normal tick). Showed it to her mom and told her to remove it and bring it in to get it looked at for confirmation. Didn't look like it had been on her for very long luckily. Googled "deer tick" tonight and sure enough, that is what it looked like.

Had a "financial intervention" the other day for my dad, with my two brothers. He is completely out of money (and $125K in debt) so he has only two options; sell the house or get a reverse mortgage. We all decided on the reverse mortgage since my dad absolutely refuses to sell the house. My brother has a friend who can do it for us without affecting the trust on the house.

Anita, that must have been really scary to lose your trailer like that! What good are chains if they break? Guess you gotta make sure they are heavy duty and can do what they are supposed to.

Hope those of you with health issues get them resolved soon! Those on the road, stay safe and enjoy the view!

Does a reverse mortgage mean you sign the house over to live in an receive monthly $$ till you die or move, then the house goes to the company you did the mortgage with? I would check with someone who is not affiliated with the deal.

[Queen]

Does a reverse mortgage mean you sign the house over to live in an receive monthly $$ till you die or move, then the house goes to the company you did the mortgage with? I would check with someone who is not affiliated with the deal.

That's it in a nutshell, several of my older neighbors have them.

[Readytogo]

Hi ladies I don't post much but just have to chime in! Barbie, check very very carefully everything about those reverse mortgages! I looked into it and so many aspects are a bad deal Don't want to get in your business but as someone said, talk to someone not involved. The chances are pretty good you and your siblings wont end up with the house! Looking forward to seeing Anita in a few weeks! Wendy