Well its Sunday again and I've been home since Tuesday. But it has been a busy week and I wanted to get a few pictures on here. I don't think I have mentioned that I was on the Ohio River last week. One of the major differences in the Lower Mississippi and Ohio Rivers is that on the Ohio River there are locks and dams to go through. We went through several during my 6 days on the boat. It looks completely different. I'm pretty sure everyone knows how the lock process works. The difference in this lock experience is that at 10:15 am, about 20 minutes before we approached the lock, the captain called down and said we were gonna do crew change while in the lock. Now that meant it was right in the middle of lunch. I made 2 pans of chicken rotel, (recipe follows) one for us and one for the crew coming on along with green beans, turnip greens, corn, and salad with wheat bread. Unfortunately we didn't get to eat!! :(
But back to the story. After I got all my stuff together, I was standing in the galley finishing up. The pilot walks in and says, "Ready to hit the ladder?" (See the picture above) I looked at him like he was speaking a foreign language. I hadn't considered HOW we were getting off the boat. At this point let me confess that in orientation when they were discussing climbing lock walls I didn't listen very well. I was going to the lower Mississippi and we don't have locks, so I assumed that would never happen to me. Well we know what assuming does!!
The boarding crew threw the monkey line, used to offload our luggage and load their luggage. I asked if I could stick my foot in the loop and let them haul me up. No dice!! So I belted on my life vest, so of course I couldn't see my feet. (Who am I kidding? I can't see my feet without the life vest without bending over!!! ) So looking like a big orange pumpkin, I approached the ladder. Twenty five feet above my head was my destination!!
I looked at the Mate and said, "Any suggestions?" He said, "Hand over hand. Three points on the ladder at all times." I asked him if I had any more points I could keep on the ladder cause three just didn't seem like enough!! He just shook his head and said, "Don't embarrass Mississippi!" And off I went. I can cross that off my bucket list now!!
It has been a busy time at home. Wednesday we spent the day at the zoo, Thursday Lauren and David left for his brother's wedding in Orange Beach, and Saturday we went to Andrea Hawkins and Brett Rakestraw's wedding. Beautiful!! Congratulations to Andrea and Britt and Will and Kelci.
Time to start packing up cause tomorrow will be a busy day. Got to get my hair did before I leave!!!
Till later......
Chicken Rotel
4 chicken breasts - boiled, deboned and shredded
2 quarts chicken stock
1 stick butter
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped bell pepper
2 cans rotel tomatoes
1 pound thin spaghetti
1 lb velveeta cheese, cubed
1 8 oz can mushrooms
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup frozen English peas
Salt and pepper to taste
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Spray 13 x 9 casserole with Pam and place chicken in dish.
- Combine broth, onions, bell pepper, butter and rotel tomatoes. Bring to a boil.
- Add broken spaghetti and cook al dente. (About 8-10 minutes.)
- Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients. Stir gently. If needed add a little more liquid to make it runny. Will thicken when it cooks.
- Pour over chicken and mix.
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until bubbly.
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