SPELLING BEE

BY BEA WESTERBERG

Cooler days ahead

Jack Frost has come and nipped most of us in the Twin Cities area but he missed my cannas by the She Shed. I know he will return with stronger powers so I better plan for a “dig”. I made a trade of 2 decorated felted dryer balls for a small number of cannas from Neighbors Tony and Rose. Little did I know that I would get canas growing up to 10 feet tall in the new ground area by the She Shed! Maybe they thought they were doing a Jack in the Bean Stock thing. I probably will need to get my small chainsaw out to cut off the thick stems before I dig them up. I have tried keeping the bulbs overwinter for many seasons and it always has been a complete and total failure. This year everything I dig up will go directly to Rose and Tony’s basement where they can do their magic or whatever it is they do to keep these bulbs happy and healthy for 2022.

I noticed that some of the local trees have not had their leaves ripped off by the winds have been getting a lot of late color. It is very nice to see that along with the green lawns. When they do come off, they will be adding color to leaves already on the ground. Let’s hope they can do that for awhile before the you know what that starts with an “S” will come and cover everything up. We will be ordering that for Christmas so I am not saying that it should stay away forever. It might be one of the few things that will not be stopped by the transportation mess we having with almost everything else.

Daughter Nissa came home for a quick before Christmas trip and is now tucked all safe back in her home in the Washington D.C. area . She got a lot of things done that were getting hard for me to do like washing the range hood, shampooing the dining room carpet and moving a large number of canned goods downstairs. The new cat, Pumpkin Cheddar Krispy Kitty, feel in love with her instantly as she walked in the door. She got head bumps and baby bites within seconds and he was laid out for a tummy rub right after that. That answered our question; “was he going to run and hide when he saw her”. The Minnesota economy should also be happy as Nissa did her trip to Stitchville USA to stock up on stitching supplies. I got to do some color planning and pick out threads for some of her projects. We had our lunch at Panera’s which is just a few stores away from Stitchville and Nissa ended up going back to the shop twice because some of her D.C. friends “needed” things. To have an amazing lunch outside on October 19th is one for the books. A young Panera employee who was picking things up saw us going to the yellow Mustang and said he was available for adoption and he is a great trash picker upper and does dishes!

As it gets cooler,the baking hormones are kicking in and this time of year is all about “Pumpkin”. How about something a bit different and do a Pumpkin Pull Apart Bread. There are several recipes out there for you to Google and are quick to put together. Most of the recipes will tell you to stand the bread pan on its narrow end so you can start putting in the biscuits/dough and they will stay in place as you stack them up. Then you will turn the pan to its normal direction and everything will stay in place and be ready to bake. A cinnamon glaze will top it off after baking and they will be ready to serve and be pulled apart.

Okay, you may have a few fresh, real pumpkins on hand. Our local Walmart seemed to have a bumper crop at a very reasonable price even though it was said there were shortages. (Guess who got a few of them). Again, do a Google call and you will see there are a lot of ways to use them including making face scrubs, roasted seeds, puree for soups and for dog food. Some places do have drop off places for “used” pumpkins to be composted. If you are a gardener and know the pumpkin is not a hybrid and you want it again, save the seeds. Smashing them on the street or in the neighbor’s yard may be fun but is not considered a good option.