Flood Update

It is like we are living in a swamp in the South. The ducks are coming close to our house for viewing. The kids just kind of hang out of the window watching the water. Very interesting stuff.

Shoveler Ducks.


They have had to close our road off, but people are still able to drive through with trucks. The people living down the street are pretty much right in the middle of the swamp. The river is closed below Bethel, which means the back up of icebergs and logs are going to continue to create flooding. Lets not forget...we have FLOOD INSURANCE! ;)

Flooding Before the River Break Up

The river is still frozen, officially, not broken up yet. People are getting really excited about this break up as you can see ice jams up the river which means a loud and aggressive break up. This also means that we are most definitely headed for a flood.

Our back yard is already flooding. This usually does not begin until after the river breaks. Greg says I have to think positive thoughts so that it doesn't flood our house.

Lumber Jack

The river is most likely going to flood our area when it breaks up, and Greg is having to work double time to cut the wood. Our area has not flooded since we moved into our house in 2004. Our neighbors say that this winter has had all the ingredients for a big flood. Don't worry we have flood insurance. :)

Mud Boots

Mud boots are expensive in Bethel, but they are really needed, as the roads are muddy and full of water about six months of the year. The kids finally get to use their mud boots because the weather is now in the 40's. Playing in the muddy roads is a fun activity in Bethel.




Moxy wants to do everything that Ruby does, but his coordination is not as good yet. Ruby tends to help him a lot. I think she likes that he is starting to play and be her pal.


This is about the 5th time that Moxy's boots got stuck and he would fall backwards into the mud. He was pretty frustrated in this picture because he did not want to get his little sock gloves muddy but that was the only way to get leverage unless mommy helped him back up.

They found a whiskey bottle to kick around. These tend to scatter the road at certain times of the year in Bethel. These bottles go for about 75.00 or more in Bethel.

Scrambled Tofu

A lot of people scramble tofu for breakfast, but it always sound gross to me. However, I finally did it, and it was very good. It tasted even better thrown on top of Barley.



The recipe I used is:
-firm tofu pressed and then crumbled into a pan of olive oil and pressed garlic.
about a teaspoon of tumeric (for color and acts as an antioxidant (fights free radicals))
about a teaspoon of cumin
some salt and pepper
I used some zucchini, garlic, and onion sauteed into the scramble mix.
It seems that you can scramble with any type of vegetable that you like even shredded carrots.
By the way the Greg and the kids did not seem to want this. I had to force Greg to take a bite. They actually like scrambled eggs better.

Moxy and Ruby Doing Their Daily Chores

Moxy and Ruby were at one point fighting over the vacuum cleaner. Ruby vacuumed for about 15 minutes, then Moxy wanted to try. I loved that cleaning was fun for them.

Food is Yummy and Pretty

Sometimes we forget to change our order for Full Circle Farms and we get stuck with Green Beans. Our greens beans have typically gone to waste. But recently we discovered that they taste really good, and make a pretty picture. I like to eat them whole dipped in hummus, Ruby likes to open them up and eat each pea individually, and Moxy likes to pull the peas off of the bean and hoard them on his eating tray.

We don't like all oranges. All that "orange" species have in common is the color and texture. What you get inside varies on the actual individual orange specie. This Mineola orange is definitly our favorite ORANGE. Sweet and always juicy.