53F, cloudy, and rain showers in the area @ 02:00, with the winds howling out of the southeast @ 20 - 30 mph, with occasional gusts to 40 mph. Just heard a tree come down over in the woods.
Currently under a Winter Weather advisory.
Two thistle tube feeders, two sunflower tube feeders, two suet cake feeders, deer feeder, and squirrel feeder filled this morning. Two scoops of cracked corn put out on the ground for the doves and other birds. Also got new bracket installed on kitchen window and the new suet cake feeder filled and hung on that. Will refill hopper feeder and empty/clean bird bath tomorrow morning ... before the temps drop out the bottom (in the 50's now ... into the mid-teens less than 24 hours from now)
Went over to the barn and dumped about 3/4 of a large jug of Power Service White into the off-road diesel tank and stuck the nozzle in the filler hole and ran the pump back into tank for about 5 minutes to mix it up. Also filled up the Kubota while I was at it. Should now be covered to below zero temps as far as gelling goes. Since I had the forks on, juggled a couple of items around in there ... to make room for the TracVac.
Dropped the forks and put the bucket on and went up and took box blade and grabbed several loads of crusher run and added those to the top part of the driveway and graded it all out. Also grabbed a bucketload of crush and brought it down by the catch basin and filled in a couple of potholes that were starting to develop.
After that I dropped the box blade and put the drawbar on and hauled the TracVac over to the barn for the winter.
The next item to cross off the list was to pull the Stihl polesaw out and trim a couple of low(er) branches that were hanging over the pull-through portion of the turnaround. Once I got those trimmed I loaded them up in/on the bucket and hauled them up to the burn pile.
When I got back down to the house I moved the Weber grill into the garage and brought the 6 mil visqueen for the shower inside the house.
Then I headed down to Canal Fulton Provisions to pick up the duck for Christmas dinner. When I got there there was a line outside - only 4 people allowed inside at a time, masks required. They weren't strictly enforcing the 4 people thing - but everyone inside was wearing a mask and were keeping 6' apart.
Sadly there was no duck to be had - despite the fact that I had called earlier and was told by the young lady I spoke to that they had them but they were frozen. I even asked her if I should reserve it and I would come down before they closed at 18:00 and pick it up. She said no need if I was coming down before they closed today. When I got there another young lady and the owner went back into the freezer and searched high and low but alas: no duck ...
The owner was profusely apologetic, said it would probably be a week or more before they got any more in if I wanted to try then. Told him no big deal, went ahead and picked out a couple of nice, well-marbled ribeyes instead ... and he knocked off a couple dollars per pound ...
Good folks ... :thumbsup:
Might give Marshallville Packing Company a call in the morning and see if they have any duck ...
For whoever requested a recipe on the Almond Balls I haven't located my Grandmother's recipe (they were to die for
) ... but I'm still looking ...
In the meantime, here is Mom's recipe for Bourbon Balls (it is likely my Grandmother's ... as she always made them for Christmas, along with Almond Balls and fruitcake):
Mix 3 cups of Vanilla Wafers (fine crumbs)
1 cup ground nuts, particular type not specified (I'd guess walnuts and/or pecans)
1 cup confectioners sugar
3 tablespoons of Light Karo syrup
1 1/2 T of cocoa (I assume that is tablespoons ...
)
1/2 cup of bourbon
Make balls (they were around the size of a quarter or so), roll in powered sugar.
Hope every had a great day ... :thumbsup:
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