Sunny Saturday

Along with most of the east coast last week, it wasn't really nice here in Kentucky. We didn't have the awful nor'easter like they did up north, but the cold front popped through here mid-week and it was on the chilly side, and not a lot of sun. Saturday, however, was a beautiful day, sunny and in the 70's. It was also our last day off together until we're done at Amazon. Al is working Tuesday through Saturday, and my shift is switching to Friday through Monday, with my overtime day Wednesday. We have found a dog walker for the nights we overlap. Mich and Bill are here in Green River Lake, with Bill working at Amazon. They also have a dog, which is why Mich isn't working as well. She was worried about leaving Abby alone for so long. So she is happy to walk our two for us, and we told her if they come back next year, and she wants to work as well, we'll swap off dog walking :-).

After breakfast, we decided to go for a short drive, and do a little geocaching to enjoy the nice day. This area actually has quite a bit of Civil War history, and we visited the Tebbs Bend Battlefield. This was a small but fiercely fought battle of the Civil War, between a small force of untested recruits of Moore Is 25th Michigan and Confederate General Morgan's 800-1000 battle-hardened and confident dismounted cavalrymen from Duke's and Johnson's brigades.  This small but significant battle was completely overshadowed by the much larger and war turning point battle going on to the north at the same time, Gettysburg.  A complete description of the battle can be read here.

We stopped by the marina first to check out the houseboats.

There are also small cabins on floating docks here as well, where you can dock your boat.

Green River Lake is a pretty large lake, and this is only one of a few marinas scattered around its shores. On nice days there is quite a lot of recreational activity on the lake, and many folks must enjoy houseboating judging from the number of them in the marinas.

We found a total of three geocaches on the battlefield drive, bringing our total to over 150 caches found. The last one of the day was in this pretty little cemetery where the men killed during the battle were laid to rest.

We had decided since it was our last night off together for awhile, that we would go out for dinner to Colton's Steakhouse for Al's birthday. It was ok, but not a place that we would go running back for. The food was all right, but we received our appetizers AFTER we had our entrees. Service was definitely as little spotty. I like the steaks that Al cooks for us much better :-).

Ok, last thing, I have another crockpot recipe to share. We enjoyed this one as well. I guess it shows we're not doing too much besides working when all I have to share is recipes :-). 

Crock Pot – Chicken Chow Mein 

Ingredients:

1-2 Tablespoons of vegetable oil

1 and 1/2 Pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in 1/2 to 1 inch chunks

4 medium carrots, thinly sliced

6-8 green onions, sliced, including green

1 and 1/2 Cups of thinly sliced celery

1 Cup of chicken broth

1 Tablespoon of sugar

1/3 Cup of soy sauce

1/4 Teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 Teaspoon of ground ginger

1 medium clove garlic, minced

8 Ounces of bean sprouts

8 Ounces of water chestnuts, sliced

1/4 Cup of cornstarch

1/3 Cup of water

Directions:

Heat oil in skillet and brown chicken. Place chicken in slow cooker and combine all ingredients except cornstarch and water . Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Turn slow cooker to high.

Combine cornstarch and cold water in a small bowl; stir until mixture is dissolved. Stir into the slow cooker. Keeping cover slightly ajar to allow steam to escape, cook on HIGH until thickened, about 15-30 minutes. Serve over rice or Chinese noodles.

I do cut the recipes in half most of the time, but for this one I just halved the amount of chicken and kept the veggies and sauce the same. Enjoy!

Wouldn't It Be Lovely?

A random thought on this post-election day....wouldn't it be lovely if everyone would just settle down, get together, and work on practical common sense solutions to the issues we are all facing?

One thing I thought of over this summer is how, as travelers, we are being exposed to so many different ways of life right here in this country. We spend time in small towns in different areas. We see how folks are doing. Some areas have been downright sad to see. I read an article about a New York investment banker who was transferred to California, and decided to make a cross-country trip out of the move, going slowly and "seeing" America. The trip was an eye-opener for him, he had no idea how life was for the less well-off among us. I thought it would be a great idea for every politician to get out of their ivory towers and see how the rest of us are dealing with every day life out here.

This spirit of divisiveness in our country at this time saddens me a great deal. I am a non-confrontational type of person. I don't really find most issues to be black and white clear, but rather to have several shades of gray...and no, I haven't read the book, but judging by the numbers of them that I am packing many people are :-)! Being a small business owner for the major portion of my life so far, I usually see issues from both a management and consumer side of things. I believe I was raised to be a tolerant person. I don't understand how each side of the political spectrum can be so unforgiving to the other side. Compromise seems to be a thing of the past. Why? Why can't anything get done?

Enough said about that.

We are settled in to our schedules, working full time now. I have adjusted to the night shift fairly rapidly. My  feet are achy at the end of the shift, but there's no surprise in that, we're standing and walking on a cement floor. The weather has been unseasonably chilly, but it is suppose to warm up again on Friday. We use two electric heaters to cut down on propane usage, a Dr. Heater infrared heater in the living area and a small ceramic heater in the hallway keeps the bedroom area warm. There was frost on the windshield Monday morning as I left the warehouse, we had to defrost the windshield! Oh no! Not flip-flop weather at all.

Saturday night, even in the chilly temperatures, we gathered around a campfire for s'mores with our friends from last year, Shawn and Joy. They were here at Green River Lake last year as well..we all love it here, its so quiet and peaceful. A beautiful view greets us when we are not working. We had some bald eagles flying over the lake one afternoon, but too far away for pictures. Every morning as we drive in we see a ton of deer, usually a few polecats, the other night we saw a raccoon. On the way in to work Monday night Laura and I had a beautiful hawk sail on by in front of the truck, and snag some kind of rodent off the side of the road. It was beautiful to watch him for a few minutes.

Saturday night will be our last night off at the same time, so we're going to go out to eat at Colton's Steakhouse here in Campbellsville for Al's birthday. Other than that we have no plans until Christmas, when we'll join the tail-light parade out of Campbellsville to our winter nesting grounds :-). Speaking of which, I read something I just couldn't believe the other day. We are lucky enough to be spending two weeks this winter with family and friends camping at Fort Wildnerness in Walt Disney World...how cool will that be :-)!!  Anyway, I was cruising the Disboards forum for tips and hints on staying at the Fort, and ran across a very strange post. Yes, I know there are a lot of strange folks that post to internet boards, but this was so out there. A lady wrote in a question, saying she is coming to stay at Fort Wilderness and is bringing her chihuahua with her, and the dog suffers from separation anxiety, howling whenever it is left alone. She wanted to know a "good loop" to stay in where she wouldn't be close to any other campers so the dog wouldn't bother anyone while they were in the parks all day. As you imagine, there were quite a few remarks from folks saying you should leave the dog home, or board it in daycare, things like that. So she writes back that she's decided that she'll rent seven sites, park her camper in the middle to create a "buffer" zone, and if people still complain she'll give them $100.00 gift cards to make up for the "inconvenience" of listening to her dog howl.

Ok, what do you think? I know what I think! :-). That's about all the thoughts I have for today. I'll see what I can find interesting to write about in another couple of days. have a good one!

Two in One Day!

I just stumbled across this post and thought it was really worth passing on!

40 Things to Say Before You Die

Enjoy!