Well according to a son of ours..... you know, that oldest one who's initials start with Kevin Wilson......Gordon is a wimp (and a chicken) because he didn't keep on driving his Infiniti until the 300,000 mile mark. It only has 289,000 (too cold and snowy to go out and get the exact number) and runs well. Just starting to lose things like heater fan, dash lights, radio(Gordon says he checked the fuses) and it never did handle well in the snow. So.... for the second time in our 38 years of marriage we have purchased a new car. A few hints on buying a new car - do your homework first then go on a snowy day when they only have a few customers so not much prospect of a sale and then make them an offer that makes the dealer want to cry!
In case you can't tell from this snowy photo it is a Ford Fusion Hybrid. Turns out there is a steep learning curve to driving this - the first one being how to tell when is it really running and ready to go. The dealer forgot to tell us to look for the little green light on the dash - we sat at our mailbox last night perplexed and bewildered as it would not move. You can turn the key far enough for everything to look ready but of course the gas engine doesn't start up(that is a weird sensation to drive off without a sound)..... got turn the key just a little farther.
Here is why the poor new car is sharing the great outdoors with the other Wilson cars.... Snowing hard (again) even as we speak.
Great day to finally get cracking on some traditional holiday tasks. Just took my infamous fruitcake out of the oven. For those who don't know about this.... years ago I took Helen's (Gordon's mom) fruitcake recipe and morphed it. I just couldn't take the candied fruit and started substituting dried fruit. Quite a few years ago my recipe even made the Bend Bulletin -short article with the recipe and a photo! (must have been a slow week in the home and garden section). Anyway, it is a true fruit cake but not what you think.... although it is heavy enough to use as a door stop.
Just in case you are interested here is the recipe:
8 cups of assorted dried fruit: I usually use dried apricots, pineapple, dates, cranberries and papaya, except for this year I forgot the apricots (I was going to head to Costco and never got there) Be sure to cut up the largest fruit such as the pineapple and papaya and separate any pieces sticking together.
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
8 cups pecans
Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together. Put dried fruit in a very large bowl - you need room to stir (also helps to have a strong arm and a sturdy spoon). Mix up the fruit and then add flour mixture and start stirring. Make sure you stir from the bottom up - you are trying to coat all the fruit.
Beat the eggs and sugar together, add to the fruit and flour mixture. Again stir and stir until now it is all a gooey mixture. At this point at the pecans and stir again. I suppose the pecans can go in earlier but the original reciped said to add at this point so I always have.
Be prepared to get your hands into the goo.... Press mix into 3 regular size loaf pans - lined with oiled parchment paper. You can skip the parchment paper but it really makes is so much easier to get these out of the pans!
Bake at 275 degrees for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Turn out and cool on rack.
Bet you can't guess where I spent my Christmas weekend! So much fun to snuggle and play with sweet little Tabor. Currently he's working on his fine motor skills - plays with tags and ribbon loops for hours, ok its really only a lot of minutes, on end. Give him a toy and he plays with the tag! Funny to watch him as his so intent as he manipulates the tags. His clever mommy even made his a tag blanket with great colorful loops of ribbon. 
