A Colorado snowfall in real life!

Well, now if it has to snow, this is the way to do it.  Here I set snowed in by a foot of snow with one daughter, one grand daughter, one grand something in law, and two great grandsons, ages 2 & 5.  The highways are closed from here to Kansas and beyond.  Help!!
Some one suggested tranquilizers for them, but I find it works better if I take them along with a big shot of Jack Daniels!
I have measured all over the back yard and come up with a figure any where from 9 inches to 23 inches.  So I guess it is anyones guess as to how much we got, but here is the good news...it has stopped snowing and the sun is shining, so snow is going to be out of here in short order.  This is Colorado and I am in the Banana Belt part of the state.  The moisture here is usually nil, if you get my drift.  Even the geese did not get very excited when they saw the snow.  Just walked out and when they figured out their bellies were dragging bottom they just sat down.  They do not seem to mind the snow at all.  The only thing they do insist on is that the straw in the house stays dry.  I guess they are silly.  That is where that saying mother used to use came from...."Oh, you silly goose!"
OK.  I am going to go call Debbie and see if she is buried yet.  Just wanted you to know that I am house bound for a while.

This is enough to make me want to give up eating!

 Know what that is up there?  Looks like a bowl of mashed potatoes, maybe?  Or maybe it is a bowl of ice cream?  First let me tell you what I made the other day.  It was client outing for the month of March at SCAP.  We were going bowling so I made Sloppy Joe's for lunch.  Kimie always comes when we have those and I love her baby! 

I like to try to cook kind of healthy most of the time, so I got me 6 pounds of hamburger.  I put this in a big pot and cover it with water.  Then I work the water into the hamburger.  This does 2 things.  First it makes the whole pot a more even consistency, no lumps.  Then it renders the fat out a little better then browning it in a skillet and trying to drain it all off the meat.  Then I pour the whole thing in a strainer set in a big stainless steel bowl.  Result is very dry hamburger with very little fat.  Then I throw it all back in the crock pot and add my onions, peppers, ketchup, garlic, brown sugar and what ever else and set it to simmer.  Result is some of the best Sloppy Joe's you are ever going to bite into and no preservatives except what snuck in with the ketchup.

So here set this bowl of water with grease on top of it.  What to do with that.  Can't put it in the sink.  Won't pour it over the fence cause the Llama's might eat it and get sick.  One solution and the only one I could think of was to let the grease get cool and harden and then skim it off and put it in the trash.  Crisis averted.

So when I got home that evening the grease was indeed firm enough to remove.  So I did that I put it in this bowl.  I dumped the water and washed that bowl and went to bed.  The next morning when I got up and went to make coffee I found this on the counter.  First thought was it was a bowl of mashed potatoes some one forgot to put away.  Silly Lou!  It was that bowl of fat!  Light bulb went on and I knew what I had to do. 

When we think about fat, it is something we never visualize.  Well here it is for you to look at and think about.  This bowl of fat weighs in at 12 ounces, sans bowl.  6 pounds of hamburger yields 12 ounces of fat or 12.5% fat.  That equates to roughly 2 ounces of fat in each pound of hamburger.  Visual here....picture a pound of hamburger made into 4 patties.  Half of one of those patties is solid fat.  Now picture your self with a spoon dipping in that bowl and chowing down on a couple spoonfuls of that crap in that bowl. When you read the nutritional info on the back of a package of what ever, think about this.

This is fat.  This is what it looks like.  Whether it shows up in a pot pie, a bowl of ice cream, a pat of butter, glass of milk, or a doughnut, this is what it looks like.  Ever watch the Biggest Loser?  I rest my case.

Do not misconstrue this message.  Our bodies do require fat.  Check with your doctor or dietitian as to your needs.  I profess to being ignorant in these matters and bring a doughnut to the party and I am all over that sucker.  Just thought you would like to see what it looks like piled up in a bowl!

The feeble mind is easily amused!