Battened Down

If all the wet leaves freeze on the driveway (20 degrees tonight) it'll be slick as a hockey rink. It was fine today, zero slippage. Went to the library, met TR for lunch; though Brandy, who works with his mother, had arrived before him, and we had a chance to gossip. She left me half of her lunch for my dinner. Excellent. There's some ground veal for half-price at Kroger, so I get a package, with no idea what I'm going to do with it. Meatballs maybe. Supposed to be cold but clear tomorrow, and I'd like to get two more ricks of wood inside, and haul a couple of barrow loads from down the way. Everything is uphill to the ridge. Everyone warned me about the weather today, which is interesting, because I don't have to drive in it and they do, and there's very little chance I'll freeze to death. I pull a chair up to the stove and read for eight hours. Then spend an hour with the dictionaries, checking definitions. I don't qualify as a threat, nor as a defense... I just don't qualify. The temps start falling mid-afternoon, no smell of rain, but I picked up some whiskey and tobacco just in case. I made my yearly raid on Tim Horton's Fall Arrangement of corn stalks and squash. I salvaged three acorn squash and two butternuts, before the freeze could turn them to jelly. Later, I halve one of the acorn squash, putting the seeds in a small bowl of water, so I can clean and roast them, with a little garlic powder and salt tomorrow (I love them). Stuff one half with sausage, and put a tablespoon of orange juice in the other. Prop them up in an iron skillet (I have some small rocks I use as shims) and put them in the oven. I made corn bread. When the squash was done, I took out the sausage half, filled the second half with raspberries and popped it back in the oven. This was a very good meal. I only burned myself once, which is pretty good, considering two extremely hot cast iron skillets. The eggplants were lovely at Kroger today. I want to make a parmigiana with thin slices of cured loin on the side, for which I can buy all the ingredients; but I also want to cure a loin, which is one of those things that I enjoy doing. Make it your own.