Singing In The Rain?

Well, Sammy and I just went for a brief stroll -in the rain -and trust me when I tell you this, I wasn't exactly singing!

Granted, it wasn't a long walk -only about 3/4 of a mile, round-trip, and no, it wasn't even in a hard rain either -thank goodness for that small favor -but it was sprinkling enough that I was glad I had brought an umbrella along with me so I didn't get totally drenched or anything like that.

But it was the kind of gentle rain that, many moons ago as a child, I would have relished walking and hopping and skipping about too, from one puddle to another and I would at that time in my life, enjoyed the opportunity to splash about in those little tiny pools of water that would always form on our roadway here.

Earlier this morning, knowing Sam probably was in need of going out to relieve himself but because at that time neither Mandy or I wanted to stop and take him out, we decided to see what he would do if we let him outside, not on his lead or on the leash. This is not something we normally do as dogs are supposed to be outside on a leash at all times ya know and once in a blue moon, if he happens to be of a mind and has a wild hair bothering his nether parts, and he happens to escape to the great unknown area of the outside the door world, he has a tendency then to run all over town and neither of us really wanted the job of trying to chase him around, tracking his whereabouts down, etc. But, because neither of us really wanted to venture out right then, we decided to see what he would do with some new found freedom.

Imagine our surprise when he got out on the front stoop and then stopped. Just stood there for about 10 minutes, not even sticking one little paw out from under the cover of that tiny concrete space to so much as test the weather conditions at all! He made no effort to move off the stoop other than to occasionally lift his head -and nose -to kind of sniff the air but other than that, nothing! Finally, he started to whimper and whine a bit and then, jumped up on the door to start pawing at it which is his normal thing to do when we do put him outside on his lead. So, rather than have him continue to whine and cry and also, to make a yucky muddy mess on the glass door, I just let him come back inside and he then had to wait till I finished up a few things inside before we ventured out into the wetness outdoors. I gather he isn't any more impressed with rain than I am!

Had a little giggle this morning though with my Facebook as my son called and asked me about a post someone had made on my page in which the person had wished me a Happy Birthday. Sonny-Boy had thought it very humorous that the person putting that post up apparently had sent birthday greetings intended for someone else but somehow or other, she had slipped it in to my wall. So I had fun pointing out to her that her senility factors are apparently right in line with mine in that she was oh, only a month and two days early in her rush to see me add yet another year to my age! Don't rush me, don't push me in that direction please! It will get here soon enough.

Yesterday was a very lackluster day, to say the least, as it rained the majority of the day. And, judging by what I observed on the weather forecasts for the coming week, looks like it's all gonna consist of more of the same until Sunday!

I sure do hope that Sunday turns out to be a decent day as it is what is called "Rally Day" at our church when we begin the Sunday School instruction program again for the coming year. This year, instead of our usual picnic-type pot luck dinner, we are having a "luau" complete with a roast pig no less! Now that sounds really delightful to a carnivore such as I am and one of our church members is going to do the pig in a big cooker which should make that entree even more delectable! I've been doing a bit of internet researching for recipes that sound like the wouldn't be ultra-complicated to fix and which would go well with roast pork and the luau theme too. So far, the only thing I've thought I probably will fix is a dessert called "Hawaiian Wedding Cake" which is really tasty -but then, what sugary, high-caloric content stuff ISN'T really tasty too, ya know? Because I really don't feel like venturing over to State College to a Asian Foods Store there to pick up extra items that would be required if I tried to make some of the recipes I did look at, I may just take the lazy way out and fix either a big casserole of ham and bean potpie or perhaps, the Chicken breasts with apricot/rosemary topping -both of which generally go over quite well at our church pot luck dinners. Or, who knows, maybe I'll decide to integrate the Hawaiian theme with a bit of Swedish food fare and make a pan of what is known here as "Panakaka" and is really just a very bland flavored baked custard. In our parish, I think there are only three of us who, from time to time, make this item for a pot luck dinner and now, one of those three who make this (myself, my neighbor, Shirley, and a member from out in Lanse) is no longer living in her own home due to some physical ailments so, it might only be one of two of us then who MIGHT show up with a different cultural food entry! Decisions, decisions, huh?

Yesterday, Kurtis fell asleep on the sofa and took a little nap -an event that is usually greeted as being a good thing. However, for whatever reason known only to him, when he awoke, his mood was far from pleasant. As a matter of fact, he whined and cried and howled for pretty near an hour, during which time all amounts of prodding him as to why he was fussing so much, crying so loud, etc., met with the same answer when we asked what was bothering him. "Nothing!" Well, for crying out loud (and yes, he was doing a whole lot of that crying out loud, why on earth are you driving the rest of us more than slightly ballistic with all this whining and carrying on then?) He did eventually settle down but not before he had just about everyone's last nerve having been tromped on -royally!

Because for the past 6-8 weeks, my extra activities around here pretty much were focused on the lovely cookbook project and I had little to no time to indulge in my favorite past time, which of course is doing embroidery stuff, I finally had a chance to get back to work and do a little needlework last week. I finished up a set of pillow cases and then, started work on a tabletopper with a Christmas Tree design on it -very pretty, if I do say so myself. I'm hoping to finish off the tabletopper now today sometime and then, to dig in and get cracking on several other embroidery projects I want to get finished as soon as possible. Our church bazaar, the big event our women's group has the beginning of November, is just around the corner and I need to finalize some plans as to what I want to make and donate to that cause and get moving on it pretty darn soon too!  That, plus Christmas is right around the corner after that event and I need to get some more stuff finished for gifts and hopefully, to put up for sale as well! Always something, it seems!

So now, since it is a rather coolish, more than just a little bit wet, day here I decided that chile would probably be a good meal for supper tonight. However, I'm going to adjust it just a tad and hopefully, will remember what one of my good friends from our women's group told me she does with chile now and again and that will be too cook it like normal but then, add to it some kind of pasta to make it more of a casserole and less of a soup. That should appease the picky appetites of two small children in the household at any rate. I'm thinking I might even make an extra addition to it too in the form of some kernal corn -as in a recipe I got several years back for a good chile. We shall see about the corn though as sometimes those two kids get rather obstinate if they see a food they think is a familiar item but has one itsy bitsy change to it and then, they refuse to eat that! ARRGH! Here's hoping this won't be one of those items that will make them wig out on me!

Now, let's just hope that the weather doesn't decide to really break bad -more than it already is -and dump a heavy rain fall, complete with volumes of thunder and electrical stuff about the time I have to take Sammy out again for his evening stroll. The last thing I want to do is walk him while worrying about getting struck by lightning, ya know.

Or course, that would put a whole new connotation to "Singing in the Rain" wouldn't it?