Winter Has Arrived and There's Chili in the Crockpot!

by Pa Rock
Farmer in Winter

It took awhile to get here, but winter has definitely arrived in my part of the Ozarks.  It sleeted two days ago, and we have had a hard crust of ice on the ground ever since.  The paved road out front is passable today, but yesterday a couple of different drivers slid off of the road within view of my house.  I went to town for a dental appointment Monday morning and haven't left home since.  Alexa says that is's eighteen degrees outside right now, and that it may get up to twenty-eight.  Snow is forecast for Sunday and Monday which should settle in nicely atop off of this accursed ice!

I went out and fed the cats this morning - and walked extremely gingerly on the ice.  (One more broken bone would probably get me a one-way ticket to "the home!")   I have four cats now that Mother Fiona has left the stage.  They include one enormous yellow tom who only shows up a few times a month, one fairly large yellow tom who seldom leaves, and is usually in the chicken coop or the barn - which is where I want him, and two adolescent toms, another yellow and a black.  The black tomcat looks as though he, too, will eventually be enormous.  

Despite all of the bitter cold I have been able to maintain my 10,000 steps a day health regimen as well as my in-home physical therapy for last spring's broken arm.  It is not yet noon, and I have already clocked over 6,800 steps for the day.  Of course now I am sitting at the computer, and soon I will shift to lunch and reading and possibly even watching a television program or two, so the steps will level off, and by bedtime tonight - always early - I will be somewhere between 10,000 and 12,000 steps for the day.  Then by the time the sun rises tomorrow I will already be up and stepping off a new day.

And the big news today is that I have homemade chili in the crockpot.  After feeding the cats at daylight, I came in and began browning hamburger and onions.  (My son bought half-a-beef from one of his friends, so we currently have plenty of lean hamburger!)  Then I dug through the pantry and came up with kidney beans and chili beans, a can of diced green-chili tomatoes, a couple of cans of tomato sauce, and some good Williams Chili Seasoning - and wal-la - there is chili simmering in the crockpot!  (My mother always said that Williams was the best chili seasoning, and, IMHO, she was right!)

And now as the clock inches closer to noon, I am ready for a bowl of steaming hot chili!