Chicken, Past the 'Best By' Date, It's been Five Years

One thing I didn't write about in my last post was that my dad died on 9/11, in 2019. We had seen him in August and he was doing pretty good for 93. Just a couple weeks after we left though, he fell and broke his hip and was put on hospice.

I flew back to San Diego and got to be with him when he died. Most of the family got to say their goodbyes. We all flew back down in October for the memorial. I sometimes dream about him. The other night I had a dream about him, my mom and my sister. An interesting thing, whenever I dream about someone who has died, they never speak. They'll laugh, we're doing things together, but they never talk.

Okay, on to lighter things. Beth has been asking me if we could make chocolate chip cookies so Monday night after work I got out all the ingredients. Since our kids have grown up I just don't bake anymore. So all of our flour was expired. Well I don't know, does flour actually go bad? It was definitely past the 'best by' date so I tossed it. Same with the vegetable oil, we were out of butter... sigh. So I jumped in the car and ran to the store.

Beth puts in the flour, baking soda, salt, she helps add the eggs, runs the mixer, then puts the dough on the tray. I let her make one tray, then she gets to take those downstairs for herself. In this picture she's telling her friends, "Hey everyone at All Aboard! I'm making cookies!"

Have you been able to see the Aurora Borealis this year? It seems to be happening a lot lately. I headed outside this week and looked up through my camera and all I saw was pitch black. Holding my phone up and looking at the screen, there was nothing. But as I took pictures, I could see a light image appear. When I got in the house, this is what I had:

 

 

Just a little bit of pink, but it's there! I was shocked! There really was nothing to see with the naked eye, not even the clouds. It was dark. I don't like the dark so I'd be outside for just a minute, then come back in. Then I'd go out again a few minutes later. I'm such a chicken.