Friday, November 29, 2019

The Snow is History, Winds Return on Black Friday


Elephant Butte S.P., New Mexico

It didn’t feel like a full sleep last night for either of us. I managed to get my blog posted and was soon upstairs to join my sweetie. Not sure why, but when I went up to bed, I couldn’t drop off like I normally do. Bill had a movie on but with my earplugs in, I'm usually able to drop off. I guess I wasn’t as tired as I first thought.  Three or four times, I know I was awake and tossing and turning. Dreaming, I’m sure.

Not sure what kind of a day to expect with this sky
Therefore, it was after a fitful sleep that we woke up around 5, rolled over and dropped off until 7. Now is when our bodies want to sleep! It was light outside and a peek out the window upstairs showed me brown instead of white sand. Yes! Fist pump. We got up and Bill could tell by my actions that I was going for a walk. I checked the temperature, 39F, the winds, 3 mph, and I dressed accordingly. There were 2 empty wine bottles and 2 pop cans to dispose of so with my stick, I went with hands full again.


It was a nice walk and I did the full loop, just shy of 2 miles, and back home down Dirt Road. As I was walking across Ridge Rd. a little road runner was up ahead of me. He was watching me so I snapped a picture figuring he’d be off down into the desert any time. He did disappear but he must have been curious too and came back up onto the pavement, running ahead of me. 😊 So cute! Then he hopped up on a fence post and sat for more pictures before running off through the sand.

There are a lot of these evergreen trees in the park
They are very pretty, yet different than our pretty ones at home
Back home I had my tea and checked in with our friends on blogs. Seems a Happy Thanksgiving was had by all our American friends and their family and we, as Canadians, certainly enjoyed celebrating a second one. It seems ages ago that we were home enjoying the day with our own families. When I think that it was a month plus 2 days ago that we were returning from Cancun, it seems like another world, somebody else.

The road runner story
First he is there on the road and then he disappeared

He came back up as if to show me the way


He hopped up on the post and checked to see if I was still there

And then said goodbye before running across the desert
Around 10, I made breakfast but I experienced that ‘I’m not really hungry’ feeling so had to force it down. I guess it means going back to cooking it for Bill and I’ll eat at noon when I’m ready. Tea fills me, all that good fat coconut oil and cream does what a breakfast does for others. After dishes, I made a coffee. There on the counter, I saw the wishbone that Bill saved from the bird last night. Hmm, it will soon be dry enough to grab a leg and ‘snap!’. How many of you remember doing that?

And this was how the day turned out
A little sun, blue sky and a little cloud
but it made it to 54F!
The sun is making occasional appearances in today’s movie; not a star performance, more like a supporting actor, but we’ll take what we can get. The winds were increasing with gusts of 17 – 24 mph and then within the next hour, jumped to maximum gusts of 45 mph. Boy, were we rockin’! Bill went out in between gusts to bring the flagpole with our wind sock down. It has stood up great but no point in taking the risk of losing it. For about an hour, it was quite wild before they calmed again. I took the opportunity while indoors to make a batch of creamy Jell-o and put it in the fridge to set.

And a close up of the staghorn cactus
With flowers on their last leg
Bill and I sat together with our phones, downloading sounds for ringtones and notifications. Just for fun. After playing with that for a while, we read and then Bill went up to watch a movie. While sitting in my chair, I decided to get my fingers into crocheting again. Not sure what to make but even if I play with the wool scraps, I’m staying on top of the knowledge. 😊 I don’t want to forget the things I’ve learned.

Just a little Thanksgiving display with
some Elephant Butte coyote gourds
I made a bookmark for Bill, a very poor example of one but he has been using a little green tag from something that he keeps losing. If he doesn’t want the new one, I’ll use it instead of making one for myself. A bit of practice needs to take place so I can make one that I’m proud of. After finishing it, I went for my second walk. The winds were now around 4 mph up to maybe 12 so a whole lot different than earlier and the sun when it was out was warm and wonderful.

Unfortunately, the wishbone got snapped without either of
our hands touching it
Mice? Weird.
Indoor temp - lower left
outside temp - lower right
wind speed - upper right
The walk to the beach allowed me to place my Eat More Cake rock that I’d found in Texas last spring. It isn’t in an obvious place so maybe it will still be there when we next return. Ha ha. I followed along the beach and walked up the gravel/sandy road that took me up to Ridge Rd. Everything seems to lead to the Ridge! It was incredibly quiet out there. If I hadn’t met one lady walking down to the beach, I would wonder if I was in a Sci-Fi film!




Some pictures on my walk
Back home, I was quite warm so instead of a cup of tea, I mixed up a Caesar before sitting at my laptop to work on my post. I received an email survey from Walmart regarding our pickup at the store on Wednesday. I don’t mind that at all but what I do mind is after you complete it, they offer to enter your name in a draw for gift cards etc. but then won’t allow any Canadian to enter our information. So, I had to fake an address, with a state and zip code. I finished it with at least a legit email and phone #. Frustrating though.



Shortly after 5, I placed leftover potatoes, turnip, corn and turkey in my new cake pan. The right amount of food fit in for one meal and it only took 8 minutes to heat everything perfectly in the Instant Pot. I reheated the gravy on the stove at the same time. Bill has indicated to anyone who will listen about how much he loves this appliance. For sure, Madame IP has been a valuable addition to our family. The turkey last night and again tonight is some of the moistest turkey we’ve ever had.

This was so easy - a one pot meal
After dishes, we watched a new Christmas movie together while I worked on posting my blog. Not an overly exciting day but that’s okay. Our neighbours pulled out this morning and by mid afternoon another motor home with family moved in. This is a popular place and a popular row.

Delicious and enough turkey and gravy for one more night
Good night everyone!
I hope you’ve had a good day and if you did some shopping today, in a store or online on this busy Black Friday, I hope you found lots of great deals!

Thank you for stopping by.

12 comments:

  1. What fun that the roadrunner stopped and posed for you. Really like the close up picture of the staghorn cactus. I am beginning to think I need to find a space to store a Instant Pot.
    That little tree at the beginning, the evergreen, it looks like lace. Different from what we are used to seeing, also.

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    1. Funny how we can make up our own scenarios for what the critters are thinking. :)
      I knew you'd like the staghorn. :) I would recommend an Instant Pot to anyone, as you know we love ours.
      Aren't the evergreen branches pretty?

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  2. I never thought of using the IP for reheating. What a great idea. Now I think I need that silicone sling.

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    1. Jo-Anne asked me a while ago when we had them for leftover roast beef dinner. I said no but then googled it and that's how we learned! :)

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  3. I still save the wishbone from my turkeys :-) Let me know who gets there wish when it dries out.

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    1. Sadly, the wishbone got bumped on the counter and just snapped itself. I'm looking at it that we BOTH got our wish! :)

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  4. Glad the snow disappeared quickly. As for Black Friday, I did drop by our local Safeway store and got toilet paper and paper towels for less than $5. Good deal. But beyond that I stuck close to home.

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    1. Yes, we are glad about the snow too. We didn't have any desire to go shopping although small towns wouldn't be so bad. You did get some good deals!

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  5. I went out with my sisters, more for tradition than anything. Of course now black friday starts 6 pm Thursday so there really is no crowds like there used to be. We go to breakfast after..just nice hanging with my sisters for a bit :) Dinner looks yummy!!!

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    1. What a lovely tradition! I'd like that too! We watch the crowds on the news and wonder where the heck are they? People pushing and shoving. I think it is from New York, maybe, and years ago.

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  6. A guided tour by a roadrunner. That might be a first.
    Glad the snow has left and hopefully we see no more of it anywhere any time soon.
    Leftovers looked wonderful. I always think left overs are the best part of a any meal I've liked. If I didn't like it the first time, the left overs don't taste any better than the meal. Haha.

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    1. I know, I consider myself very fortunate! :)
      We are happy the snow was a one day thing and hope it stays that way.
      Leftovers are good, some much better than others for sure.

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