Holiday Wrap

Christmas was a quiet, low-key affair. No tree (no room!) Hardly any presents, except for K and the pets! It was the one day when it didn't rain, so we celebrated the birth of the Baby Jesus by leveling a small patch of ground that the neighbors can't see to provide a space for our wood-crib. 2 x 4's were acquired. The construction kit's been sitting in the shed for weeks. We moved the wood for burning onto the porch to dry out, and raked and raked to an approximation of flat-earth. We hit ground-water, however, so some gravelling and sanding needs to be done. We've tarped and stowed the wood-pieces out of the anticipated rain, and will build another day. Phone calls were made, and it was discovered that Johnson was discharged from Overlake (seems a bit hasty as he'd only had surgery on Wednesday!). Steve B had come up to visit, and found he was no longer there! He has a message on his voice-mail from me, inquiring about his whereabouts.

K made an imaginative dinner: wanting a traditional dinner, but not wanting to go to the extravagant lengths of a turkey-with-trimmings dinner that would go to waste with two people, a dog and a cat, she decided to punt. We had two chicken breasts acquired for "dirt" cheap during the power outage, which she covered in yogurt and herbs and flash-seared, then cooked at a lower heat. She made mashed potatoes with red new varietals (keeping the all-important skins on), used an abandoned loaf of french bread, combined with herbs, onions and bak choy (substituting for celery) for dressing, and made a gravy from mushrooms and spices. Imaginative and less dependent on animal fat. It was absolutely delicious, just enough, and no "carcass-that-would-never-leave" in the 'fridge. It was a fine holiday repast.

They say Christmas comes but once a year, but this year we're having more than one Christmas day--the Detroit package hasn't made its way here yet, and my Seester and I have yet to exchange presents. So, let the festivities continue....
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Today I'm at the "1'sn'0's" ranch, where they had snow! Driving in I got caught in one of the Island's freakish hail-storms, which dusted the countryside, but I wasn't expecting the white stuff on the Eastside. Quite the shock.
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Still waiting for the precipitous drop in gas-prices now that the Holiday Driving season is winding down. We in the NW might have to wait becaues of the high demand placed on petrol during the "Outage of '06!" Might have created a "bump" and God knows we wouldn't want them oil prices to come down any time sooner than later. It occurs to me that they might be waiting for the traditional "Driving of the Drunks" before we'll see any change.
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Coming Up: Lots of stuff in the hopper, including a rare comics entry, and one (or two) reviews, one after a long, long journey.