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Post by Bean on Dec 22, 2016 7:12:03 GMT
Those types of bird feeders aren't generally anchored into the ground, they just sit on top of it so you can move them easily. I think the weight of the wood keeps them stable, even with larger birds and squirrels visiting. I can't remember mine ever falling over (although if it were in the middle of the lawn, it might get blown over in high winds!).
The zeppole look good - hope you have fun making them! Your Christmas menu overall looks really tasty (save a cod fritter for me!) and I'm sure everyone will enjoy sharing your tasty meals and treats.
The kids have been keeping a running commentary of course - 3 more sleeps until Christmas!
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Post by jolovespiggies on Dec 22, 2016 10:18:17 GMT
I know what you mean love, my feet are either too hot or too cold, they just can't make their minds up. There are times when I wish I had one of those electric foot warmers, they must be lovely if your feeties are freezing. The cod fritters sound wonderful too hun, I love frittered things like the sweet and sour chicken you can get at Chinese takeaways and restaurants. My friend has a high up bird table with netting around it and also one on the floor which is covered in exactly the same way. This way the little birdies get to have something.
Hugs Jo xx
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Post by 3piggles on Dec 24, 2016 15:08:28 GMT
We can't put bird feeders on the ground, or they get covered with snow. We put seed and feed out on the ground, so the groundfeeders have food, too, but otherwise, we have to keep them above the snow. We've found as long as we have the feeder with the peanuts for the big birds and squirrels, they don't bother the little birds. All the complaints about squirrels bothering the bird feeders, and all people have to do is give the squirrels their own food. Merry ChristmasI wanted to get this out because I know some people are in Christmas Eve already. Happy Holidays, everyone
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Post by jolovespiggies on Dec 26, 2016 15:06:50 GMT
That sounds adorable Piggles love and yes, give the little squirrels their own food, they probably prefer it anyway. Sorry I haven't been on since Thursday but I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, not that it is over yet by any means. We have loads of chocolate which we are quite frankly not going to get through as we are both used to eating less, but it is nice to look at LOL!!
I hope everyone is having a super time.
Hugs JO xx
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Post by 3piggles on Dec 26, 2016 22:35:02 GMT
I hope everyone had a great holiday(s). This is a time of year I love getting ready for, building up to, and am glad when it's all over and I can rest, too We have left over pot roast and fixings, as well as the anise and the chocolate chunk cookies we made with our granddaughter, but that's all. We actually ate more oranges and cherry tomatoes than sweets. Our granddaughter loves tomatoes, so like me, those were her snack food. I keep a bowl of them on the kitchen island, and just grab a few when I walk by. We bought extra to make sure we had enough, as last time she was here, our granddaughter ate most of them Not a bad snack food, at all! I woke to no heat or cooking, as the propane regulator froze overnight. Hubby had been up since 1 a.m., when it got cold enough to wake him. Of course, the colder it got, the better I slept, so I had a great sleep He had the camping heater, which takes propane bottles, and he had ceramic space heater going, and it was warm enough in the great room. Once I opened the bedroom door and let out the cold from the bedroom, the great room temp dropped about 5 degrees. Oops Anyway, but the time the repair man arrived, we got the propane flowing again, and I had to get dressed to go shopping, the temp was all the way up to 51 in my closet, lol! A bit chilly even for me for getting dressed Hubby said he wants to get down to storage and get the other camping heater, as they are fabulous, and don't run up the electric bill. Turned out new propane tanks often have condensation in them, and the methanol added to the propane isn't enough to dry up all the condensed moisture, so as it's pumped through the regulator, the moisture causes the regulator to freeze. Knowing it was a new tank, no one did anything to make sure the tank was dry before filling it, or to put the extra methanol in the regulator to keep it from freezing, but somehow that's our problem that they didn't do that, so we have to pay for an emergency repair at holiday rates. Sigh, oh well, better to get that out of the way. Never had propane before, or the auto-start electric generator. It would just have been nice to get some heads up on some of these things.
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Post by jolovespiggies on Dec 27, 2016 10:03:52 GMT
Oh no Piggles love, that must have been awful to wake up too. I dread to think what the holiday rates were as things like this are really expensive at the best of times. I love snack food hunni and it is surprising how quickly it fills you up. We had a lovely time thank you. Feel a bit deflated now as I always do at this time even though it is still Christmas.
Hugs Jo xx
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Post by 3piggles on Dec 27, 2016 19:13:57 GMT
Hubby had yesterday off work, so after doing some shopping, and general relaxing, we had a nice, lite dinner of shrimp cocktail, cod tempura, and our favorite quick salad of cherry tomatoes anc cubed cucumbers in balsamic vinaigrette. Easy to prepare and to clean up, and mostly finger foods I have some beer left from making the tempura batter, so will use it to make up some tempura veggies later this week. Gives me an excuse to not put the oil in the pot back in the container for a few days, too Freezing temps yesterday. Today the temp got up to 50F. Back to a high temp of barely above freezing tomorrow. Our New England weather rollercoaster in action Baz, I found the orange gazing ball you posted for me, at a local store. I'm really psyched to get that set up in the front garden this spring
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Post by jolovespiggies on Dec 28, 2016 9:20:00 GMT
What a coincidence, we had prawn cocktail last night Piggles love. It was all we could manage and it was delicious. Paul did it bless him, bought some of that lovely sauce and set them on a bed of lettuce and tomatoes. We also had a slice of brown bread which really made it. It is colder here today but no sign of any frost or snow.
Hugs Jo xx
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Post by 3piggles on Dec 28, 2016 22:05:52 GMT
So, one of my US friends asked me what Boxing Day was all about, and since I didn't know. I googled it: www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=good+king+wenceslas+lyricsIt seems to have originally been the Feast of Stephen, or of St. Stephen, who was stoned to death after Jesus was crucified, so his day was added on to the general celebration of Christmastide, or what we now just call Christmastime. It became a carol in 1853, though it's about an 8th century Bohemian king. It's no longer an actual holy day, just a bank holiday, but at least I know why UKers even bother to have a name for the day after Christmas. The reason I posted the words was because of the references to snow and cold. Just based on the carol, I thought the UK used to be colder and more snowy than it is now, but considering it's about a Bohemian King, I don't know if that's the case. Do any of you UKers know if the winter used to be colder and more snowy? I envy you the brown bread, Jo. Growing up, we used to have frankfurts, baked beans and brown bread every Saturday night. It's an old New England tradition. The beans be put in water to soak on Friday, and made into baked beans on Saturday. I love brown bread. I love the molasses in the brown bread Hubby doesn't care for brown bread, so I don't make it
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Post by bazookagoof on Dec 29, 2016 3:18:47 GMT
Baz, I found the orange gazing ball you posted for me, at a local store. I'm really psyched to get that set up in the front garden this spring Very glad to hear it- it's good to find it nearby, instead of ordering it through the mail and worrying whether or not it will arrive undamaged.
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Post by jolovespiggies on Dec 29, 2016 10:17:28 GMT
Thanks for the link Piggles love, it is really interesting. I knew he came from somewhere in that area but not exactly where and I love that carol. I like brown bread with certain things, mostly fish but I don't like it toasted. I love white bread for that.
Hugs Jo xx
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Post by 3piggles on Dec 30, 2016 21:57:30 GMT
The last Friday of 2016. I'm not much of a follower of the Time Square ball, but since my Morty lived a few minutes passed midnight last New Year's Eve, this NYE is more of a remembrance of him than a celebration of anything, for me. I can't believe it's been a whole year since we lost him. We got about 10 inches of snow yesterday. It was gorgeous. Heavy, wet snow, so it clung to everything. The back yard rock wall was totally white Hubby did some snow blowing last night, as the plow was already clearing out street, and the mound the plow was creating at the end of the driveway would be like concrete in the morning. He had everything cleared and was off to work by 8 this morning, but we're starting to get the plow mounds along the side of the road. Definitely a sign that winter is here. Also, we've had more snow already this season, than we had all of last season, so hopefully this will break the drought. Hubby got out of work early today, as they closed the office at 2 p.m. for the long weekend. We rearranged the office enough to move the piggy fridge in there, so we can finally put something in that spot next to the washer, to hang the dry clothes, etc. It will be nice to have some sort of laundry center. I have a utility sink, washer and dryer, but that's all. We found one online that we like, so I will order it. Also, it rolls, so when I can no longer carry the full laundry basket, I can just roll it around.
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Post by Bean on Dec 31, 2016 6:35:21 GMT
Not sure what we're doing for New Year's Even yet as we only got back from our travels last night, but I'm going to get some nice food in and we can decide whether we stay in with a film or head out and eat it all tomorrow (not that we'll be out at midnight - even if we go out earlier, we always come home to see the new year in since we've had the kids). Having woken up at 5am this morning for no good reason, I think I'll be needing a siesta to stay up until midnight!
Some years the only thing that's kept me awake is knowing I'll get woken by all the fireworks at midnight (there are lots of displays round here) but the kids like to stay up now, so they'll keep prodding me! They do the Spanish grapes thing (where you eat a grape on each chime of the clock at midnight to bring good luck for the year). I'll raise a glass to Morty too, 3piggles.
Sounds like a lot of snow over there! We've had a really cold week and lots of fog (which has made our journeys slower, but there have been some awful crashes because of it, so we're glad to have stayed safe) but no snow.
The prawn cocktail sounds lovely, Jo - I haven't had it in years!
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Post by jolovespiggies on Dec 31, 2016 9:56:35 GMT
Not meaning to be a misery but I don't like New Year Piggles love and I can see why it is a sad time for you. That is some snowfall, I would have loved some here last week.
Yes the prawn cocktail was lovely Bean hunni, it is something I never get tired of. We will see the New Year in but I always feel so deflated at this time of year, sorry to be such an old grump.
Hugs Jo xx
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Post by 3piggles on Dec 31, 2016 20:21:38 GMT
Happy New YearYou're not being a misery, Jo. It's not much to me, either. I never was a party person, almost always spent the Eve at home, off the roads and away from all the drunk drivers. Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Even started about the same time I started staying up to ring in the new year, and I really used to enjoy watching that. Now that Ryan Seacrest has taken over the show, it's gotten to be a whole lot of talk, a whole lot of interviews with people in the crowd in Time Square, and a whole lot less performing. We'll probably still watch it, but I miss Dick Clark. The Eve and Day have become food times for us. We ordered our Chinese take out early, and have it home well in advance of needing it. We'll reheat it for dinner, and have that and other things tomorrow, too. We've done New Year Chinese for as long as either of us can remember. We even have a branch of our favorite Chinese restaurant about 25 minutes away, so we tried that, and the Crab Rangoon we tried was really good We did some shopping, just to get what we needed for right now, and we stopped at Target to get me a couple of new hats, and to get a bottle/can opener. We had one of those openers that made the triangular holes in the cans so we could pour out the contents, and it also popped the caps off bottles. I have no idea where it went in the move, so we finally got a new one. Ooh, big spending slurge I also can't find the hats I had in the coat closet at the last house, so I bought two more. Another Ooh, big spending splurge I think we spent a whole $20 on all of it The shopping sales start tomorrow, but we aren't in any hurry to get more stuff, so we can do some shopping throughout the week. Thank you for remembering Morty, Bean. I hope you all have good nights, and I really hope 2017 is at least a decent year. We lost over 130 celebs in 2016, passed Brexit, elected a narcisistic game show host as president, and basically set two of the strongest countries in the world back a few decades. I have all digits crossed for 2017 not to be the disaster I'm afraid it's going to be. Possitive thinking I'll talk to you all next year
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Post by Bean on Jan 1, 2017 7:54:52 GMT
There are enough of us sane folk that hopefully we'll all be able to power through what the world throws at us. Looking at the problems other countries are having, it could certainly be worse.
We had a nice evening - cooked up some nice food, had a few glasses of bubbly and watched a film. I was the one who struggled to stay awake, we had to play some card games in the last half hour to keep me conscious!
The grapes were a bit of a challenge as we got the giggles - it's hard enough eating 12 grapes quite quickly, but if you're laughing, it's even harder!
Oh Jo, one of the dishes I made last night for our Mexican spread had prawns in, so I siphoned a few off to make a prawn cocktail after you'd put the idea in my head. It's so long since I've had one (and it used to be one of my favourites) so I really enjoyed it - thanks for the inspiration! No one else would try it though!
Hope everyone enjoyed their evenings and Happy New Year to you all!
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Post by jolovespiggies on Jan 1, 2017 15:31:27 GMT
I am glad it isn't just me Piggles love as I must admit I really dislike January and February. It is silly really because it is only time passing by as it is meant to but New year always makes me cry especially when hearing Auld Lang Syne. We just stayed in and had a few little snacky bits. Tonight we were supposed to be having Beef Wellington (ready made I hasten to add) but poor Pauly has an upset tum so it will have to be tomorrow.
I am glad you had a nice evening too Bean darling, we had some nice sparkly elderflower as neither of us drink now but I am afraid I wasn't very cheerful. I cannot believe I used to go out and party until well gone 12, now I just want to go to bed LOL! We watched Harry Potter and then Robbie Williams in London. It was really enjoyable. I am glad you managed to save some prawns for a prawn cocktail Bean hunni, I could eat it every day.
A very Happy New Year to all my dear friends on here and their little furries too. Let's hope 2017 is going to be a better one for us all.
Hugs Jo xx
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Post by 3piggles on Jan 1, 2017 22:24:27 GMT
Our NYE consisted of signing up for Acorn TV, so we can watch The Murdoch Mysteries, watching a few of the British shows on Acorn, checking in with the on-air festivities periodically, and generally being bored out of our minds. I was missing Morty. I've had a bad feeling about 2017 for quite a while, and truly hope I'm wrong, but it weighed on me something wicked last night. I just couldn't get into a celebratory mood, at all. The Chinese food was good. The guinea girls got lots of NYE treats. So there were some highlights. I'm just glad I only have to do that once a year. I noticed some stores were closed today, which is nice, giving their employees a day off. Not all stores, of course, but even a few makes a nice dent in all the holiday commerce. Trumpcakes is crowned King in less than 3 weeks, starting the new era of Trumpcakes, Farage and Putin. Ramp up that feeling a dread a few notches! Russian hacker codes has already been found in some electricity generating/providing plants, so a power failure may be a terrorist attack. Great! Just what we need. And as someone pointed it, it was in a plant in Vermont, which has more cows than people, so the authorities figure it wasn't meant to be found, as who would expect it to be there? One possible terrorist attack avoided! Last loss of 2016, Father Mulcahey from M.A.S.H. He went on to the spin-off of the gang working in a civilian hospital, but the spin-off didn't last very long. Haven't heard of him doing anything since then. He was 84. If nothing else, maybe 2017 will be a better year for celebrities! Watching football, cheering for our own and for friends teams, and generally having a relaxing first day. Good way to start a new year
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Post by jolovespiggies on Jan 2, 2017 10:08:36 GMT
2016 has seen so many famous people die, it is almost uncanny. Many of them were favourites of mine like David Bowie and Alan Rickman (he may have been last year.) Glad you had a great start to your New Year love.
Hugs Jo xx
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