A Kitchen Day

Good morning, my friends. We had another relaxing day. It was Mike's birthday, and so I made him his beloved Eggs Benedict for breakfast. After breakfast, I went to work making a small dessert for our birthday dinner celebration. I tried a recipe for Lemon Pudding Cakes for Two. I happen to love pudding cake of any kind. Since I had everything I needed on hand, it was an easy choice. They had to bake for 45 minutes. When they came from the oven, they looked like this:

So I set those aside for later. The weather has been crazy here. We've had some major thunder and lightning storms. Occasionally, we get a big gust of wind, but so far, nothing too scary. It was nice most of the day, and so I went for another stroll around the pond early in the afternoon. We've really enjoyed the avian wildlife here. These ducks were having a meet and greet on the basketball court.

As I walked to the far side of the pond, this tri-color blackbird flew overhead. We have red-wing blackbirds in Oregon, but this might be the first time I've seen a tri-color.

It's private property on the far side of the pond, and so I can walk only so far before having to turn around and head back. As I made my way back to the RV, I noticed these two abandoned goose eggs. If you've never seen a goose egg, they are about three times the size of a chicken egg.

We relaxed for most of the day. Mike started our prime rib on his Traeger, and we waited for that to be done. I'd already made our green bean side dish the day before. I just needed to heat up the frozen leftover gravy I'd brought from home and to make some mashed potatoes. It was a pretty easy meal. When it was served up, it looked like this. 

I like pepper jelly with prime rib, and I'd remembered to bring some cranberry pepper jelly from home.  Mmm, mmm, mmm. And there are leftovers for another meal.

After dinner we sat outside for a bit enjoying the golden hour over the pond.

It was early evening when we were jolted out of our relaxed reverie by our weather radio alerting us LOUDLY that we were under a tornado watch. (Holy sh!t!) Some of you are used to this, but we Oregonians-in-Kentucky are not. We were advised the tornado watch would continue until 3:00 a.m. Also, we received a text from the RV park, and notification from our weather apps. Neither of us has ever had to worry about tornados. 

My friend Kate in Oklahoma mentioned some tornado tips the other day. She's been under tornado watch/warnings over the past several days. We were notified by the RV park where the shelters are (walking distance), and so we put out shoes, socks, and clothing before we went to bed last night. Kitty kennels are in easy reach. Wallets and identification are where we won’t forget them. I was very happy when I woke up at 3:30 a.m. and found myself still alive and the RV still intact and upright. 

The forecast from last night was for increased risk of tornadoes and large hail tonight. So far our weather apps show a flood watch, but nothing about tornadoes. (We’re not worried about flooding where we are.) We can’t really leave here without either driving straight into it or else having it follow us. Hopefully, the danger has passed. We’ll see how the day goes. It's our day to tour the horse farm, and that will be around 11:00 a.m. until noon. We're showing good weather during that part of the day, but more lightning and thunder for tonight. It makes sense for us to stay put where the shelters are a short distance away. If we don't need them, all the better. In either case, we'll be heading west tomorrow and hoping for improved weather as we pass through Missouri and Kansas. It'll be a relief to reach Colorado in a week or so.

So with all the excitement, those pudding cakes were a nice distraction. I added some whipped cream and a couple of blueberries.

When you cut into them, they're cake on top, pudding on the bottom. Yum.

Okay, so it's time for me to get going. We need breakfast, and then we'll be heading out to the horse farm. I'm looking forward to seeing some foals today. 

Standing Still

Good morning, my friends. We had a do-nothing day yesterday. We've been doing so much sight-seeing and driving, it's nice to just sit still and do nothing for a bit. Sunday was my birthday. Today is Mike's birthday. That can mean only one thing...Eggs Benedict for breakfast.

I've only made Eggs Benedict one other time while on the road. It was somewhere in North Carolina, I think. I tried unsuccessfully to find a blog post about it because I wanted to see what I did about the hollandaise. When I make this at home, I do the hollandaise from scratch. On the road, I use one of the envelope mixes. When I did this the last time, the hollandaise was kind of thin and flavorless. This time I used a Knorr mix, and it was actually very good. It was easy to do too. We give two thumbs up for Knorr hollandaise mix.

Backing up to yesterday, I took the first stitches on the Kittens block. It's nice to be working with some color again.

After that, it was time to wash our bedsheets. We have a small washer/dryer combo in the RV, but it's too small for sheets. Those have to go to the laundromat. Laundromats seem to get more confusing all the time. I've run into laundromats that don't take coins, and only accept cards. Back in Las Cruces, I found one that required an app and a QR code. It was a happy thing when I walked into the laundromat here to find that it took quarters...just like the good old days, when cash was king. And everything was going along swimmingly until I went to add detergent and fabric softener. These were the instructions on the machine.

Here's the dispenser they referred to. I defy you to tell me what goes where. What do those symbols even mean?

Optimistically, I glanced around the laundry room to see if there were instructions posted anywhere. Oh, silly you. Of course not. We finally had to go up to the office to ask. Having solved the puzzle of the day, we headed back to the RV and got Smitty out for a walk. The woofies beside us had moved on, and I wanted to get him out before someone else moved in.

Our walk didn't last long.

He saw the biggest effing bird he's ever seen. He worried about the mess it would make if he had to kill it, and so he decided it was best if he went back inside. A couple of nibbles of grass, and he was good to go.

While I waited for the sheets to wash, I took a little stroll around the pond behind the RV. It's a very pretty spot. The island is a nice touch.

Just a few steps away, I noticed this pair of Canada geese with two goslings in tow. Excuse me for a minute...SQUEE!!!

Ahem. Yes, they were adorable. The geese were not happy about me being nearby, and so they took their little ones and hopped off the bank into the pond...

and swam away.

Too adorable for words.

I'm guessing that's dad leading the way.

Inside, Sadie considered the best way of attacking this bird that was easily four times her size. She figures she could defeat it, given the chance. It's one of the benefits of being an indoor-only kitty when we're traveling. She can talk tough without having to show it.

So I expect today will be another slow day for us. Our visit to the horse ranch is tomorrow. We're a little on pins and needles about the weather. You might have heard about the scary weather system that passed through Kansas, Oklahoma and the surrounding area yesterday. The weakened system is heading east now, and it looks like it will arrive here sometime this afternoon. They're talking about the possibility of tornadoes and large hail, both of which we'd just as soon avoid. 

This morning we're checking weather apps, listening to the weather radio, and checking local weather broadcasts frequently. It doesn't seem as if we need to up our angst to panic level just yet. So we're paying close attention, and we will skedaddle out of here if it seems advisable. We've been known to pack up and leave an area in less than ten minutes. We're also taking our cues from the folks around us, including the RV park folks. Nobody seems particularly concerned. 

Assuming it doesn't get any more exciting this afternoon, we have a small prime rib for our dinner. I made some green beans yesterday, and I'll make some mashed potatoes today. Also, I have some leftover gravy that was frozen and brought from home. I'm hoping Mike can do the prime rib on the Traeger, but we can do it in the oven if the weather turns nasty. Also, I'm trying out a new recipe for Lemon Pudding Cakes for Two. I'll tell you about all of it tomorrow, assuming we don't have to pull up stakes and run for our lives. All I can say is we're keeping our fingers crossed. If you guys will keep your fingers crossed too, we should be fine [she says, glancing out the window nervously].

Georgetown, Kentucky

Good morning, my friends. We find ourselves in Georgetown, Kentucky, this morning...so named for our first president, George Washington. Looking up Georgetown, I learned it is the birthplace of Nellie Showalter (1870-1946). And if, like me, you've never heard of her, just know she was an American women's chess champion. Also, it's the home of Steve Zahn, the actor, who lives on a farm in the same county.

It has been pouring rain here for much of the morning with lightning and thunder so loud it sounds like gunfire. The thunder and lightning have quieted since I started writing, but we're expecting rain for much of the day today and at least part of the day tomorrow. Happily, the forecast is for good weather the day of our horse ranch tour.

And before we get too far along, I should remind you that we're back in the Eastern time zone for the last time this trip. I'll leave it up to you if you want to reset your watch.

Okay, but we're getting ahead of ourselves, so let's just back up to the yesterday morning. Before we left, I was able to finish stitching the 3rd covered bridge for Grandpa's Bridges.

That background fabric has a bit of a bluish tinge to it that doesn't photograph well. Sorry it looks so shadowy. Finishing this block was my goal for May's

so I'll link up there when the party starts at the end of the month.

Here are the blocks I have for this quilt so far:

Next, I'll be starting on the 10th of 12 blocks for the "Kittens" quilt...this one:

It was an easy drive from Bowling Green to Georgetown. We're just a little north of Lexington, Kentucky, here. Also, a little east of Kentucky's state capital of Frankfort. Kentucky is a surprisingly beautiful state. I don't know why that should surprise me, but it's easy to understand why it's called the "Bluegrass State." Everything is lush and green. Driving along, we're surrounded by dense forest on both sides of the road. It looks like this:

Except when it looks like this. There are places where the roadway was cut through many feet of Kentucky limestone.

It was a good day for barns and other rustic structures.

We passed through the town of Versailles, Kentucky, just before reaching Lexington. Lexington is known as "the horse capital of the world." Indeed, we came here to tour a horse farm. Approaching Versailles, we saw this beautifully painted water tank. I tried to capture it as we drove by, but I was thwarted by a Wal-Mart truck that got in the way just as I snapped my picture. (Wal-Mart!!! Shakes fist.) Anyway, I found this image online. 

The art was completed by artist Eric Henn. It displays a painted scene of thoroughbred race horses with the caption, "Welcome to the Horse Capital of the World." The water tower is especially visible to eastbound traffic. 

And don't go pronouncing "Versailles" with a snotty French accent. No. Here in Kentucky, it's pronounced ver-SAYLZ. Also, it happens to be the home of William Shatner, of Star Trek fame. Also, Edward Platt. He was the actor who played the "Chief" in "Get Smart." (Please tell me you're old enough to remember "Get Smart.")

A little farther along, we saw this:

This is The Kentucky Castle hotel. It is an honest-to-goodness turreted castle. It can be seen driving by on US Hwy 60. It was built by Rex Martin Sr., who began building it in 1969 after he was inspired by a trip to Europe.

It wasn't long before we reached our final destination. When we arrived at the RV park, we pulled up next to these gorgeous iris.

And we have a very nice spot here. This is the view from our window. You can see the clouds rolling in, but we didn't get any rain until this morning.

As I watched, a great blue heron flew across the pond and landed on the other side.

Closer to our site there were a couple of ducks...

and a kildeer.

And this might be a perfect spot for Smitty to get out except for...

Wait...do you see what Sadie sees? Drat! Woofies! The people in the site beside ours have two stupid woofies. We know they are stupid because they are woofies, and all woofies are stupid. They can't help themselves. We can only hope they won't stay the whole time we're here.

We have four days in Georgetown. As I mentioned, we're here for the horse farm. That will be for Wednesday. In the meantime, we'll do whatever strikes us. It may mean just lazing around for a few days. There are some things of interest in Lexington, and so we'll see how we feel as the days dawn. With rain coming down in buckets, I foresee a day spent lazing around the RV and slow-stitching.