Tuesday, January 23, 2024

Hibernating season

We've hit that stretch of the year in Texas where the weather takes us on a rollercoaster ride. Oh wait, that's pretty much every season, ha-ha! One weekend it's in the low 70s, while the next it's over forty degrees cooler. The only season we DON'T get those fluctuations is in summer when the heat is unending. But back to my story... We've been hunkering down to stay warm after winterizing outdoor pipes and faucets. For me that also entails cooking lots of soups. I enjoy them all year, but most especially in the coldest months.

Last week it was Mexican cornbread and big pot of pinto beans. This week it's supreme pizza soup and cheesy garlic bread. My mother found the bread recipe years ago and we thoroughly enjoy it. What's not to love - a stick of butter, mayo, garlic, onion powder and chopped black olives toasted on French bread until it bubbles. I'd dip that into just about anything.



The dogs haven't seemed to mind the wet and cold too much. Pepper enjoys snuggling down into her fleece blanket in the recliner, while Finn likes hopping up to hang out with the husband in the evenings. The dogs and I scoured the yard last week after a bit of sleet fell, along with temps into the teens, and did locate a few icicles on the rain gutters and well house eaves. Our yard's dormant Bermuda grass was a bit crispy, but that didn't deter them from nosing around so long in the frigid temps that I had to shake the treat bag to lure them back inside. I'm glad I got our propane tank refilled a couple weeks ago because we've been enjoying our gas fireplace almost daily this month. I'll never go back to the mess of wood burning now that I've owned several homes with gas logs that put out some heat. I'll leave that wood rigamarole and smores routine for our outdoor fireplace under the pool pavilion that the husband can wrangle.


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