Today was not an ordinary January day in Iowa. It was around 50 degrees and sunny. Wow, who would have ever thought that it could be so warm? Part of me thinks that it’s such a good deal because January can be so long with snow and ice, and part of me is wondering what will happen this spring if we don’t get the snow that we are used to. I’m just nervous how the spring will go if we are so dry now, but I guess it’s one of those things that we’ll have to wait and see.
Since the weather was so nice, I decided that I’d take down the lights and garland from the Holidays. I really hated to see the garland to come down because the garland was so full and colorful this year. But with the weather cooperating, down she came. We usually put the tree and garland in the garden and then burn it in the spring. William says that it’s good for the garden soil – I’m not sure on that, but we do it anyway. I was really grateful for the Roadhouse today when I was taking down the lights. It was windy and I put newspapers in between the lights when I store them to keep them from tangling up together. Well the wind kept catching the paper and blowing it across the yard when I was working outside. So I took all the lights off the fence, house, and other buildings, and used the Roadhouse to stage them when I was putting them in my totes. It worked out really well. When I was working in there I noticed another caterpillar in the gutter. I should have kept track on how many I’ve seen inside there this fall. They are always the same kind – black with a brown stripe. I think it’s kind of weird to see a caterpillar in January outside still alive and then why are they living inside the Roadhouse? Oh well, I just moved him aside so I wouldn’t step on him and continued to pack up my lights.
Our outside lights stored until next Christmas
Our furry friends in the Roadhouse
William has had a taste for the candy when you take a marshmallow and dip it in caramel and then rice cereal. I’ve never made them before and I decided that I would make them for him tonight. I got side tracked because after supper we got out the VCR and one of the tapes that I had close by was the one from Daryl’s Mom & Dad’s 50th anniversary. We ended up watching the tape and when 10:30 came around I thought I’d better start making the caramel. It didn’t take too long and I’m not really a big fan of marshmallows so I asked Daryl to taste one after I got a couple of them dipped. I would have asked William, but he was in bed by then. Daryl said he used to eat them when his mom made them and these tasted just like it. When I finally got to the last ones in the bag I was getting a handle on how to make them look a little bit better. But I think that they look really big but I’m not sure how to make them any differently. When I was waiting for the caramel to cool, I found a new recipe for white chocolate truffles. I think maybe I’ll try them out tomorrow…
Marshmallow balls