Pre-Thanksgiving Prep

Posted on November 22, 2017 by TJ

Miss Madeline Meadows has been piling up the kills. Monday she left a shrew on the mat near her food and water bowls. When I went out to feed the garage cats yesterday morning, there was a dead mouse lying there. A short time later when I went out to care for the ducks, she was at the mat eating a rodent with a flat tail and huge eyes. I suspected it was a Northern Flying Squirrel, and Google verified that I was correct. I had never seen a flying squirrel before, but I learned that Michigan has them when I researched the types of squirrels found in Michigan a year or so ago. We have seen three different types here in northern Michigan, not including the flying squirrel. I learned yesterday that most people have not seen flying squirrels because they are only active at night. I was rather sad that Madeline killed the squirrel because I love squirrels of all types–and the flying squirrel was especially cute. I’ve never found squirrels to be as destructive as mice, moles, shrews, or voles.

EJ and I wondered how on Miss Madeline Meadows had managed to kill a flying squirrel. Then today I was sitting in my chair by the window when I suddenly noticed a dark blur running as fast as a cheetah (or so I imagine) across the ground on the other side of the driveway. I looked more closely and saw Madeline on a tree truck about 20-30 feet off the ground, with a squirrel chattering angrily above her. I hadn’t even seen Madeline climb the tree–she was just not there and suddenly there, as if she had teleported. Madeline is FAST. She’s also sweet and kind of scary at the same time.

I spent all yesterday reorganizing the kitchen and pantry. I got all the coffee supplies in the new coffee cabinet. I moved all the boxes of tea where the coffee supplies used to be. I took all the canned goods from the kitchen cupboards to the pantry which freed up a lot of space in the kitchen. Now JJ has his own shelf for food items he buys, and EJ also has a shelf for items that he particularly enjoys. With all the canned goods neatly arranged in the pantry, I can more clearly see how many of various items that I have. EJ was very impressed with my work.

I spent several hours this today making pies for Thanksgiving. I made two pumpkin pies, one cherry pie, one mincemeat pie, and several cupcake-sized pies made with the leftover filling. I like using cookie cutters to cut dough shapes for pies. I put small hearts on the cupcake pies, turkeys on the mincemeat pie, and state of Michigan and heart shapes on the cherry pie. Our area of Michigan is known as the “cherry capital” because there are so many cherry orchards. I just bought my Michigan cookie cutter from Amazon. So far I only have the lower peninsula, but the upper peninsula is on the way. I really love Michigan. EJ calls me “Michi-centric.”

One of the cupcake-sized mincemeat pies sort of fell apart a little when I took it out of the cupcake pan so I ate it. Mincemeat is my favorite kind of Thanksgiving pie.

Even though there are just the three of us, none of us can bear excluding any of our favorite traditional dishes so tomorrow we will be having turkey, stuffing, squash, green bean casserole, homemade rolls, and relish items. We feast on leftovers for several days. I especially like making homemade turkey pot pies from leftovers.

EJ is off work from Thursday through Sunday. He plans to get some stuff done in the garage, including cutting up his deer. JJ gets time off from work and school Thursday and Friday. He is really enjoying his new job. He gets a lot of walking in. He said that the other day he walked 9 miles through the mall.