Wednesday, January 02, 2008

West Texas Christmas (On New Year's Day)


Well, we survived a total of 5 1/2 hours in the car with the kids yesterday. They were actually very good, because we left home early in the morning and left Texas late in the evening, so they were tired.

The kids loved opening presents from Grandma and Grandpa P and all the aunts and uncles, even though we didn't actually get to see everyone. We enjoyed getting to meet Hazel and hope to get to know her better in the future as she adjusts to us and learns more and more of the language.

I have a few great quotes from this weekend. If you don't know my grandparents this may not be funny, but since most of my readership consists of family members, these shouldn't need much explanation. The quotes are from memory and may not be verbatim. I don't think Grandma and Grandpa would've appreciated my putting a digital voice recorder in front of them and asking them to repeat themselves. A little awkward for the flow of conversation.

Grandma P


"I don't know why so many women think making pie crust is hard. It's just like playing with playdough." - Grandma makes those absolutely perfect pie crusts that are just the right texture, color and taste. According to Grandma, it's easier than it looks.

"I can't believe it's January and we're still eating tomatoes. We literally had thousands of those things this year." - The Victory Garden still lives in my Grandparents home.

Grandpa P

"They had peas and corn 3 for 89 cents so I bought a couple cases." This would be par for the course at my grandparents house. Grandpa is always on the hunt for a good bargain.

"I wonder what's in this can." - Grandma wanted Grandpa to get a can of green beans out from the shelf, but he wanted to see if one of his label-less cans might have green beans. After finding one full of spinich and one full of some strange tomato/green stuff he gave up for the time being and got a can with a label on it.

"That carpenter's glue was all gummed up; you couldn't even pour it out. When I put it in blender the blades wouldn't move, so I put it in the mixer instead and added a little hot water. I think it'll work now." - There is no effort too great if it saves a little money. (I would be comparing the cost of a new blender to a new container of carpenter's glue, but maybe there's something I don't know there.)

"I had seven eggs for breakfast yesterday. Of course, 6 of them were Banty eggs and the other was a pigeon egg." - I think I can safely say that my grandpa is obsessed with birds. He always has chickens, and almost always another type of bird as well. In the past there were ducks, geese, turkey, quail and others. Now it's just chickens and pigeons. Art calls them Grandpa's Random-Acts-of-Kindness Pigeons. The flock started when Grandpa rescued pigeons here and there. Some from under an overpass, and the first one from a hawk that he yelled at. Now he's got a little flock that lives with the chickens and, apparently, provides eggs, although Grandpa said they cooked up strangely.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gross. He can have all of the nasty pigeons that roost in my pine tree.

JAM said...

Ah, ye olde marathon, one-day granparent's house run. Makes me want to sleep late just thinking about it.

Love the pigeon story.

Sounds like the kids made out like bandits this year.

aftergrace said...

I miss your grandparents. They are too sweet. I remember the chickens your grandparents had when they lived down south. They had one huge fat hen that really ruled the roost. She used to chase us out of the hen house.

Lilibeth said...

Yep, that's me mum and pop.

Qtpies7 said...

Oh, that is funny! LOL I'd rather make a playdoh pie crust, but it isn't that bad making a real crust. Not that I have perfected it.