Woodland Buddies

 

It started about eight years ago, when Vince Rozmiarek, a volunteer at Indian Hills Colorado Community Center was asked to build a large sign along Parmalee Gulch Road. At first, the sign informed passersby of weddings, birthdays and veteran’s events. But on April first it read, “Indian Hills annexed by Morrison (a nearby township). Slow down.” “I really had the people at the Sit N’ Bull bar scared out of their minds,” says Vince. “I decided to start throwing things up there.” The sign has been full of puns and dad jokes ever since. Here are some of my favorites: “Silence is golden. Duct tape is silver.” “Of course I’m an organ donor. Who wouldn’t want a piece of this?” “Cold? Go stand in the corner. It’s 90 degrees.” “I can tell people are judgmental just by looking at them.” “Despite the high cost of living, it’s still popular.” And, “I scream, you scream. The police come. It’s awkward.”

Six Houses

 

Ashley Orians met Charlie on her college campus in 2010. Ashley was a college student and Charley was a tiny orange kitten with a broken tail. Ashley rescued Charlie, intending to care for him forever. But in February 2015, Charlie disappeared from their Charleston, South Carolina home. Ashley never stopped searching for him, even after she moved to upstate New York. She finally found him on a “missing pets” Facebook page. Charlie lived outside a dentist’s office, where he was pampered for six years by patients and staff. Ashley is under quarantine after contracting COVID-19, so Michael Morgan’s pet transport business arranged for Charlie to come to her. “It’s an honor for my company to be involved in this reunion,” he said. “It blew me away they were actually able to find the cat.” Ashley’s thrilled. “I can’t say how excited I am he’s back. What a great start to 2021! I couldn’t have asked for anything better.”

Four Snowball Blocks

 

Last November, I bought more Granny Smiths than I needed for my stuffing recipe. I also overbought fresh cranberries. Better to have too many than too few, right? I froze the extra cranberries, but the apples have been sitting on my counter for 45 days! Rather than push my luck any further, I'm making this:

 

 Cranberry/Apple Crisp

 

4 tart, firm apples, peeled, sliced 1/4" thick

2 cups cranberries

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Dash nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 cup flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

 

Preheat oven to 375F. Whisk sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cornstarch and salt together. Add fruit and stir. Spread 9” baking dish. Bake 20 minutes; remove from oven. Whisk together flour and brown sugar in a medium bowl. Using a pastry cutter, cut in butter until crumbly. Cover fruit with crisp topping and place back in the oven for 45 minutes. Serve with whipped cream.

Nine Churn Dash Blocks

 

“As part of the presidential transition, Barack Obama asked Bush if it would be possible for him to meet all the ex-presidents. Bush was happy to oblige, and organized a White House luncheon in the Oval Office January 7. Bush and Obama were joined by Carter, Clinton, and George H. W. Bush. The luncheon lasted over two hours, each former president ordered his lunch à la carte from the White House mess, and the tone was convivial and friendly. ‘All the gentlemen here understand both the pressures and possibilities of this office,’ said Obama. ‘For me to have the opportunity to get advice, good counsel and fellowship with these individuals is extraordinary, and I just want to thank the President for hosting us.’ Bush was equally effusive. ‘We want you to succeed,’ he replied. ‘Whether we're Democrat or Republican we care deeply about this country.’” – from Jean Edward Smith’s biography of George W. Bush

Snowball Block

Did you receive a poinsettia last Christmas? I got three! The smallest one was already dropping leaves at a shocking rate when it arrived, and barely made through the holiday weekend. The middle-sized one will probably follow in a week or two. The biggest plant has a chance of surviving, especially if I put it in a pot with better drainage. If it’s still with us around Mother’s Day, I’ll move the pot out to the patio. Before the autumn nights get too chilly, I’ll prune it, give it a larger pot, and move it back indoors. Here’s the tricky part: for a poinsettia to “bloom” again, it will want 14 or 15 hours of dark each night, and a constant temperature around 65F. I do have a room in my house that comes close to those requirements, so it might just work out. And if it doesn’t, I can always hint that I’d like more of these next Christmas!

Four Houses

 

“Remember what the Book of Mormon taught us. It is difficult enough to be poor in material goods, but the greater pain is in the heavy heart, the dwindling hope, the damaged dreams, the parental anguish, the childhood disappointment that almost always attend such circumstances. May God, who has blessed all of us so mercifully and many of us so abundantly, bless us with one thing more. May he bless us to hear the often silent cries of the sorrowing and the afflicted, the downtrodden, the disadvantaged, the poor. Indeed, may he bless us to hear the whispering of the Holy Spirit when any neighbor anywhere is suffering, and to drop everything and come running. I pray in the name of the captain of the poor, even the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.” – Jeffrey R. Holland

Another Empire House

 

There are some books that are worth reading again and again. I find if a decade has passed between readings, the book seems completely new to me. The book hasn’t changed, of course. I have. I’ve been thinking lately it might be time to revisit Tolkien’s trilogy:

 

“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.” – Bilbo Baggins

 

“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.

"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

 

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” – Thorin Oakenshield