My Life as I See It

2012-01-14T15:26:00.003-05:00

Well, I just had to try that recipe for the Lemon Rolls from the last entry on my blog. I halved the recipe so there wouldn't be as many of them to eat, and boy, were they good! I made a couple of little additions to the recipe. I added a tablespoon of sugar to the dough and a 1/4 teaspoon of Lemon extract to the egg and milk mixture.

I used a 6 or 7 inch square Corning Ware pan to bake them in. They were so tasty and lemony and just so goooood! Ed liked them too! So make them and have them with a hot, fresh cup of coffee! These were perfect, but sometimes things just don't turn out so well...

Kids, don't try this at home! I made a pumpkin cake in the microwave and it was so pretty and looked so good! Then when I cut into it, it was so dry it was inedible, even with cream cheese frosting on it! I think mostly because I over cooked it. The recipe was in a microwave cookbook, but was for a 1970's microwave. I tried to adjust the time and the power setting for the newer, faster cooking microwaves, but didn't get it right. Oh well. Sometimes they work out, and sometimes they don't!

Do they look as 'snug as a bug in a rug'? Since there is three cats that live on the front porch, one of these boxes usually has two cats in it. I've put a fuzzy rug inside and they spend a lot of time inside when it is so cold outside. That is Momma Kitty in the top box and she doesn't get along with the barn cats, and that is why they live on the porch. Those two black ones are her own kittens, all grown up. They are Bart, male, and Betty, female.They are both bigger than their mother.

Mennonite Girls Can Cook: Lemon Pull-Apart

2012-01-12T15:39:00.000-05:00

Mennonite Girls Can Cook: Lemon Pull-Apart: These lemon pull aparts are easy to make and are a satisfying snack for that afternoon coffee break or a great addition to your brunch menu...

My Cheeks Are Freezing!

2012-01-12T15:21:00.001-05:00

My cheeks are freezing!! Didn't want to go outside, but with three dogs, somebody has to take them out to potty! While I was already in the frigid north, I figured I would clean stalls and fill hay bags so I wouldn' t have to do it later. So I did, and with a 25 MPH wind whistling through the barn, down my coat collar, and freezing my fingers, it is a wonder, more than my cheeks weren't frozen! You can figure out which ones!!

Now, after all that, I found a recipe that you just have to make!! These Mennonite Girls Can Cook!

This looks soooo good! Let me know if you make it.

2012-01-02T12:09:00.000-05:00

Have you ever seen this before? Hmmm, it looks familiar, but it has been put away so long, I had forgotten how to put it together! Had to lay it all out and relearn, what went where!

These long cold and wintery evenings are a good time to see if I can get this quilt finished. I would love to see it on the bed. Then I would have to paint the bedroom walls to match or compliment the colors in the quilt. Now that would be a goal to reach for the New Year!

2011-12-27T11:55:00.000-05:00

Betty doesn' like this one bit. "Let me in, can't you see there is some of this white stuff gettin in my hair, and my feet are cold!"

What a differnt kind of day! Whats with all this white stuff?

It hasn't even melted from the top of the greenhouse. Maybe that is a good thing. Those double walled glass panels are doing their job, I guess. It is 55 degrees inside and feels nice.

And this is what kind of day we had on Christmas Day at Lois' house. Sunny, blue sky, 45 degrees, lots of good company and good food.

2011-12-23T21:08:00.002-05:00

We thought we would give our egg customers and a couple of special neighbors, a small treat this year. So today I made 6 pans of cinnamon rolls. When we take them their eggs tomorrow they can have fresh cinnamon rolls with their coffee! We usually go to town to deliver their eggs about 9:30 in the morning so maybe it will be time for a late breakfast and a second cup of coffee? Who doesn't like cinnamon rolls?

Green and Growing!

2011-12-14T19:42:00.000-05:00

We finally got all the piping and all that conglomeration figured out. Turned on the water and had a couple of big water leaks, so had to turn it off and wait until we could get some new connections.

Looks like a jumble of pipes to me! Glad I didn't have to make sense of all those hoses by myself!

We eventually got all the bugs worked out with only a tiny little leak, (that we will fix). Ed had to replace the thermostat as it wouldn't work properly. Then we turned the water back on, set the thermostat, and went into the house. I had put the digital thermometer unit in there so I could moniter the temperature from inside the house. As you can see, it was 52 degrees inside the greenhouse and it was 16 degrees outside! It only varied about 3 degrees.

After a couple of days to make sure the temperature was stable, where ever I set it, on Monday, I put most of my house plants in the greenhouse. They were really suffering, in the house. Way too dark to grow nice houseplants. Today is Wednesday and I can already see a difference in them! They have more color in their leaves and are just perkier! Still have to add shelves to the right side of it, above the radiator and heating unit. Love it, love it!

2011-12-06T21:29:00.001-05:00

Last night I woke up during the night, with Cinnamon Rolls on my mind! I wondered if that same Pan Roll recipe would work for these. After I came in from the morning feeding I mixed these up, using the mixer again. I substituted some White Whole Wheat flour for part of the white and rolled it out, spread it with softer butter, cinnamon and brown sugar. Rolled it into a log, sliced it, put it into the pan, let it raise for 30 minutes and we had hot Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast! How is that for making a dream come true? Crazy isn't it?

Things to Do On a Rainy Day

2011-12-05T20:22:00.001-05:00

Rain, rain, rain! It rained all day yesterday, all last night and all day today! Mud is the name of the game! So what to do on such an icky day? Make soup! I made a big pot of Hamburger Vegetable Soup, and fresh homemade rolls to go with it!

I used a recipe called Buttermilk Pan Rolls that was in my Best of Country Cooking 2003 cookbook. Since the recipe said they can be made very quickly, I thought I would give them a try for supper. They only have one rise, for 30 minutes and they were very easy to make and quick too! I would highly recommend these tasty, tender rolls. As you can see, I used my Kitchenaid Mixer, but they were hand mixed in the recipe. One other thing I did was use instant yeast instead of the Active Dry that the recipe called for, because I wanted to dump everything in at once and not have to use another bowl to soften yeast!

Rising and almost ready to bake!

These were absolutely delicious! And they went perfectly with the hot soup! By the way, I made these yesterday and this morning I made something even more tasty! And it paired perfectly with a good cup of hot coffee!

2011-11-16T15:04:00.001-05:00

Hot dogs and homemade potato salad! These were the new 'dogs' with no preservatives in them. They don't make me thirsty like the others always did.

So, how do you like your hotdogs? I had a hankering for a hot dog, with pickled onions and the whole works! But I didn't have any hotdog buns, so I made some! These were tasty, too. They were even good three days later. And do you know what made them so easy? They were made in the bread machine! These I will be making again!

Shattered!

2011-11-12T11:44:00.001-05:00

I walked out onto the porch a couple of days ago and as I stepped off of the front step, I looked toward the greenhouse and noticed that something didn't appear 'right'. With closer inspection, this is what I saw. And it nearly made me feel ill! The top left pane of glass was shattered into 27 million pieces! Oh, NO!

We had been having high winds, up to 35 and 45 MPH wind gusts. After seeing this, I wondered what had happened. Then I saw it, that nasty thing! A three foot long dead branch, about one inch thick, laying on the ground near the back of the greenhouse. It wasn't there earlier, when I had walked by to check the temperature inside.(It was 110 degrees, even though it was only about 48 degrees outside)! Hopefully, all the dead stuff has already fallen out of the surrounding trees, with all the strong winds we have had lately.

This is only the top pane of a double paned door panel, but we will have to replace it. We haven't figured out a way to keep it from happening a second time. This area is the only place we have to put it, near enough to the stove to heat the greenhouse, and still get some sunshine for the plants. We need to come up with something to let in the sunshine, but to still protect the glass. It will take some more thought, I guess. Yes, we will replace it, and try again.

And A Good Time Was Had By All

2011-11-07T19:44:00.001-05:00

Saturday morning the sunrise was very pretty, mostly blues, orange and pink. I thought the view was extra special.

The silhouettes of the dark trees, reflected on the water was spectacular. I think someone said it was 34 degrees outside.

I soon went inside and found breakfast well underway. A good cup of coffee tasted so good!

Bacon, eggs, home made bread toasted, Rachel's tasty Blueberry and Cranberry cones, shoo-fly pie, fresh grapes and coffee.

It was a very busy kitchen!

Sharon, Mom, and Rachel, enjoying the unusually warm November afternoon.

It was a VERY big 'fish tale'!

Sisters, good friends, Rachel and Ruth.

Granny and grand daughter, Sarah Beth.

The day was made for long walks down country lanes.

Later it was time to mess up the kitchen again, for supper. Sarah is preparing to bake chicken for supper. With mashed potatoes, gravy and frozen corn from Lois and Kenny's garden. Also had persimmon pudding for dessert. It was the first time I have ever eaten any that I liked! It was so good I had three pieces!

The cabin, taken from the boat, while out on the lake.

Dad catching up on his reading, while enjoying the heat from the little stove.

Granny enjoying a magazine while guarding the persimmon pudding!

Yummo, s'mores! Sticky, sweet, gooey but sooo good!

Timmy and the catfish that he caught while we were eating those s'mores!

The cabin, in the dark, photo taken from the dock.

Sitting around the campfire, talking and enjoying the evening. OH, and the s'mores! I think everyone had a good time, and I know I enjoyed having everyone to reconnect with. Would love to do it again.

2011-11-02T20:51:00.002-04:00

This is what kept me busy today. Golden Crunchy Pickled Onion Rings. I made 12 pints so there will be some to share. Recipe says they are good as soon as you make them, but if you can wait for 2 weeks for them to mellow, they are 'sublime'! Don't know if I can wait that long, as I haven't tasted them yet. Just licked the spoon that I stirred them with, when it was all finished. Tasted yummy!

2011-10-31T21:01:00.000-04:00

This is our first transplant into the new greenhouse! It was about 56 degrees and quite windy outside but was 80 and toasty inside. Gypsy loved it and stayed inside for a long time, watching us.

Ditch dug and hot water pipes installed!

Getting it all hooked up!

Woo hoo! Slowly but surely, it is coming along! I can hardly wait!

We finally got the tin roof on, and yesterday we put all the hay equipment under the roof. Sure makes ya feel good to know it is all under cover for the winter. Now, let it snow! (No, not really, don't care if I ever see snow again)!

2011-10-28T21:58:00.000-04:00

Kisses!

Secrets!

Hot and Spicy Jalepeno Jam

Sam

I Have a Greenhouse!

2011-10-25T21:35:00.002-04:00

I was given this greenhouse by my father-in-law several months ago, maybe a year ago. He built it and used it for a year or so, starting seeds, growing onions and radishes, and a few other things. He asked me if wanted it and of course I told him yes! Ed and I went up and hauled it home, in pieces of course. I really never expected it to get put back together, as it was a jumble of this and that! Almost every time E talked to his dad, he would ask if it was set up yet. Finally, E told him he would set it up if he his dad would come and help. Last Sunday, this is what they did, in the rain too! It rained the entire time they worked on it, then of course it quit raining and the sun came out just when they were done! It is 5 ft. 8 inches wide and 8 ft. 6 inches long. It was over 120 degress today with the sun shining on it. E is going to hook it up to our outside furnace so we can heat it this winter. He said he will use a radiator from a small car or something like that.
The glass panels are double paned door panels. This will be an adventure! I will have to see what works and what doesn't, as far as heat and light on freezing nights. His dad told me to fill it up with plants!

2011-10-16T10:51:00.001-04:00

Any one for Wild Grape Syrup on your pancakes?

A couple of weeks ago, Sarah, Mom and I picked a 4 gallon bucket of wild grapes that were hanging from a tree, out over the roof of the horses run-in shed. Like a monkey, Sarah went up on the ladder to the roof and actually picked them for me! I spent the whole next morning picking the grapes, (they were tiny!) off of the stems. This is the yummy result. It made six, 8 oz jars of jelly, and two of these of syrup. It really smelled good while cooking and tastes wonderful, much better than store bought jelly. It is more grapey, I think. Now, if I could just find more wild grapes!

Last week, I went to Mom and Dads and came home with a couple of five gallon buckets of winter pears. I wrapped the best ones to ripen just for eating, but the rest of them are slowly being made into Pear Conserve, thanks to Granny Sue at:
http://grannysu.blogspot.com/2008/12/spiced-pear-conserve.html

This isn't as thick as jam, maybe like a thick syrup, but it is soooo good. I can see why she hoards it for special occasions! It would sure taste good on pancakes or biscuits! Have made two batches, and will make more as the pears ripen.

2011-10-09T13:09:00.001-04:00

This is a test. I have not been able to post photos, for a months. So this is to see if anything is different on here.

My busy Day

2011-08-07T22:24:00.000-04:00

I haven't used the oven all summer as it has just been too hot. Today we left it on as we were home all day. I really took advantage of it and made this loaf of Grandmother Bread because I wanted a tomato sandwich on homemade bread! I have never had a loaf of bread turn out as well as this one or rise as high! And it tasted as good as it looked!

This was supper tonight, homemade bread and sliced tomatoes (from a friend, as ours are still green, thanks Charlotte). I had canned a couple of jars of Pickled Banana Peppers, and with the rest of the peppers, I made an Italian Sausage and Mozzarella filling, and stuffed them with it, then folded a store-bought Crescent Roll around them and baked them. That is what Ed is picking up to put on his plate. They were good too.

When I was in the Dutch Pantry Store with my sisters and Mumsie a couple of weeks ago, I picked up a container of powdered cheese, specifically to make these hamburger rolls from King Arthur Flours recipe collection. I finally had the time to do it and here they are. Haven't tasted them yet, but with a grilled burger...they just have to be tasty! We will see tomorrow night for supper!
And that is how my day went, how about yours?? I'm tired but had a productive day!

Locked Out! and Pie Crust Recipe

2011-07-17T18:45:00.000-04:00

One day last week, I came home from work a little early, at about 2:45 PM. I went into the house and dropped all my stuff onto the kitchen table and then took the dogs out to the back yard to potty. We then came back to the house and I tried to open the door to come inside where it was cool, but...nope, the door had locked itself. It has always been a little sticky but if you wiggle the handle just right it would open. But this time, the lock was completely locked. I tried all the doors, all the windows...no go. I just happened to have the portable phone in my pocket. I called Ed at work and asked him if he had any ideas? No, nothing. So I went out to the garage and found a chaise lounge yard chair, parked it in the shade of a tree in the yard, and sweated and waited. It was very humid and hot! Had a dog on each side of me, laying in the grass. Finally Ed got home at 5:10 and unlocked that door! Couldn't even take a nap because of the sweat bees, flies, and an occasional mosquito, which managed to get a good bite in! We used to have a spare key, but we have misplaced it and we haven't found it yet! Enough of that!

Here is your pie crust recipe:

2 cups flour
1/4 cup opf water
2/3 cup of shortening
1 tsp. salt

Take 1/3 cup flour out and mix with 1/4 cup water. Mix to loose paste, then set aside. Using pastry blender, combine remaining flour and shortening, then add the flour water mixture. Stir just until combined, then divide into two disks, and roll out to fit your pie plate.

I want to try this but I am NOT going to turn on my oven, as we haven't had our air conditioner on yet, and we don't need to add to the summer heat. So I will wait until it is cooler in the house.

Yesterday, I adapted a recipe for a coffee cake to work in the Turbo Oven. It worked!! Since I have not baked a cake in it, I wasn't sure how it would work, but it worked well, with a couple of small tweaks. I covered the pan with foil for the first 15 minutes, (so it would have time to rise, before the hot air set the top of the cake too much) then I lowered the temperature 25 degrees. I took the foil off for the last 10 - 15 minutes to let it set up and to brown. It was perfect! It made an 8 inch cake, just right for us.

Candied Jalapenos

2011-07-10T15:25:00.000-04:00

This is for you Mom. It is the recipe that I used. I did not take any of the seeds or membranes out, that is why it was so hot and spicy. If you want it less HOT, discard some of the seeds and membranes.

Candied Jalapenos

3 pounds fresh jalepeno peppers, sliced about 1/4 inch thick
Make SURE you wear gloves, and don't touch your face or eyes
2 sweet onion, sliced about 1/4 inch thick
2 cups cider vinegar
6 cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
3 cloves garlic, chopped

In a large pot, bring cider vinegar, sugar, turmeric, and celery seed to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 7 minutes. Add the peppers, garlic, and onions. Once they begin to simmer again, set the timer for 5 minutes. Once the timer goes off, using a slotted spoon remove the peppers/onions to canning jars. Fill to 1/2 inch from top. You should get 5 pints. Raise the heat under the syrup and boil for 8 to 10 minutes. Pour the syrup over the peppers, to within 1/4 inch of the to of the jar. Clean the tops of the jars, and use the 2 piece lids to seal. Process in water bath canner for 15 minutes (for pints).

2011-07-10T15:01:00.000-04:00

I finally got on my blog! I had to do it through Picassa, which doesn't give me much room to do things the way I want them. This is a photo of my new Yogurt Maker. As you can see the container, which makes 32 ounces is only half full. I can't help myself! Sarah, I made this with the gallon of whole milk that you sent home with us last Sunday. OH YUM!

2011-06-05T17:50:00.000-04:00

Summer has come early this year! E cut hay on Wednesday and yesterday we baled it and put 118 bales of our own beautiful hay in the barn loft! It was so hot and the air was 'juicy' with humidity! We baled half of it and loaded it on the wagon, then took a break and sat down in the shade awhile. Then we did the other half and sat down in the shade again. I think we need to do the hay when it is about 70 degrees! Yeah, I know it wouldn't work, not hot enough to dry it but it would be so much easier if it was that cool!

You will have to take my word for it, but my garden is growing and growing. We will have to call it the Pepper Garden as there are more pepper plants in it than anything else. I would show you pictures, but I can't get any of my photos to load into my posts. I have no idea why as I had no issues with it before, but I have tried for more than a couple of days and nothing! So you will just have to imagine what it looks like. Has anyone else had any problems with it?

2011-05-15T22:30:00.000-04:00

Here are a few photos that I took as we built and planted a new flower bed at Mom and Dads. Talk about getting your hands dirty! All winter I wanted to get out and dig in the dirt, so that is what we did! And I still have stains on my hands that will have to wear off, I guess. Can't scrub it off, but it was worth it!

Baby sister got as dirty as I did, but it was worth it to see it all planted and beautiful. Or it will be when the flowers grow a bit and fill it in completely.

When I was leaving town to drive back to my home, I passed this scene with the field of yellow flowers. It was so pretty.


Anyone remember a photo that was very similar to this one, but was taken 28 years ago?

Throw her in the creek! See how big a splash she makes! No, not really, that wouldn't be nice, but I'll bet she thought he was going to do it!

Grandboys Weekend

2011-05-01T21:28:00.001-04:00

The boys (ages 10 and 7) wanted to go turkey hunting with Grandpa, so they each brought a bow and arrow set to 'get a turkey'. Well, as they were more 'toys' than anything real, they were having fun anyway. Grandpa set up a target for them to practice on. They went for a long hike in the woods with Grandpa but no turkey showed itself. All they brought back with them were several ticks. Had to throw all their clothes in the wash machine. But they had fun anyway as the weather was nice on Saturday. Not so much today.

When I asked what was their favorite cookie, they both said Chocolate Chip, so 7 year old and I made cookies. The mixer did most of the mixing but he stirred in the chips and finished the cookies. He did a good job,

he put them on the pans and

taste tested them too! Delicious! He shared them with his brother and Grandpa too!

A fun but lively weekend! These grandparents aren't used to so much activity and constant chatter! But we would do it again, just not every day!!

Such and Stuff

2011-04-30T23:10:00.001-04:00

Ruth, here is a photo for you to figure out. This is from a couple of years ago. I went outside early one morning and found these tracks in the snow. they are about 1 1/2 inches wide. The bird tracks are from sparrow or something of that size. I don't know what they are. Notice the absolutely straight line. and the edges have lines too! What are they?

Missy enjoying a warm day on the porch this week. She gets tired of being in the house and wants to go outside. She doesn't know she is handicapped and tries to do anything she did before she was sick, but of course we can't let her go out without supervision as she could get lost or hurt and we wouldn't know it. She can still dig a mean hole in the yard, looking for a mole!!

It must really be spring! The may apples are blooming! It was raining when I took this photo. Does it look wet? Everything has been so wet! I'm rather tired of it now. I want to plant my garden now, OK?

One day this week, I was asked to make two pies, and apple and a cherry for a staff appreciation day event. So here they are, the two in the back are for the event. The two in the front were for us. I heard by the grapevine that the cherry went over very well. I almost didn't have a source for the frozen cherries, as the place I have been getting them is closed for remodeling. I finally found them in the Spencer grocery store, the ONLY place to get them in the Bloomington area!

This is another view of the lake, taken from a clients living room window. It was a rainy and foggy morning. the water is high, up into the treeline, from all the rain we have had. This photo makes me think of Scotland. Maybe it is the fog.

Yummy!

2011-03-09T20:57:00.000-05:00

I was craving shoofly pie but didn't want to make a regular pie, as E doesn't like them so I would have to eat the whole pie! (That would be a real hardship, now wouldn't it?) Anyway, I suddenly remembered that I had seen a recipe for a Crustless Shoofly Pie. I looked for the particular cookbook that had it in it and decided to make it right then and there! So here it is. It was a little bit gooey on the bottom, just enough, and somewhat cakey on the top part. Perfect! I will give Jeanne Jones her due, as this came from her cookbook, Cooking From the Cupboard. It was very tasty and hit the 'spot'!

Must use a deep enough pie plate as it rises up quite a bit.

Still too hot to eat, should have waited for it to cool but just couldn't do that.

Oops! Had two pieces! Oh, so good!

This is the molasses that I used. It is a sorghum and molasses combination.
But next time I will use just straight molasses and it would have even more flavor.

Here are the ingredient in the syrup that I used. Using sorghum gave it a whole different taste, I'm sure. And you can be sure that I will make it again!

If you so choose, you can click a photo to make it larger and to make your mouth water! He He!!!!

2011-03-07T20:48:00.000-05:00

We finished the chicken house extension this past weekend. When we get our new chicks in a couple of weeks, they will be all snug and warm with room to move around if they feel want to. It was pretty tight before, especially when they grew a bit. It just wasn't quite big enough for twenty chickens.

Maddie was quite interested in what were were doing, sawing and hammering on the chicken house. She came down to the fence where we were working and wanted to get involved too! She hung out with us awhile, just watching, then went back up to the shed to hang with Solomon and Katie, and finish her lunch.

Gypsy

She sat on the roof of the chicken house and kept up a running commentary as to whether we were doing it right or not. In her opinion, it 'would do' for 'those' kinds of birds!

One of our elderly clients gave Jannet and I, a potted bulb at Christmas time. Mine had two buds on it and a couple of weeks ago, this is what it looked like! Just beautiful! Thank you again, Katherine!

Summer Bounty

2011-02-27T21:39:00.000-05:00

Last summer I discovered a wild plum tree growing in the edge of the woods in the back yard. I guess the reason we didn't notice it before was because it never had fruit on it. It seems that everything produced abundantly last spring and summer and this small scrubby looking tree did too. There were only a few plums that feel off daily, sometimes 3 or 4, sometimes 9 or 10. When I would walk the dogs, I always picked them up and put them in the freezer, until there were enough to work with.

Last Friday, I had the day off. I took them out of the freezer, rinsed them off, and poured them into a big pot and added about 2 cups of water. I cooked them gently until they were mush, about 20 minutes, I guess.

After pouring the pulp into a jelly bag and letting it drip, I eventually came up with this!

Plum juice! I cooked it and did it ever smell good! Then poured it into my jars and

Wild Plum Jelly!

Fluffy Sweets!

2011-02-21T21:25:00.000-05:00

While I waited for the Barefoot Trimmer to come and trim the horses feet today, I whipped up a batch of vanilla marshmallows. When I made them the first time, before Christmas, I used a hand held mixer and it was nearly 'too much' for the machine. Well! I just had to try it again with the KitchenAid mixer! It was so easy!

After whipping them up, then you have to let them sit and dry for a few hours. When that has been accomplished it is time to cut them into cubes.

The pizza wheel did a nice job cutting them up.

Yummy! I'm going to try them in a cup of hot chocolate!

It rained buckets today while the trimmer was here. He was very happy to see Solomons feet. They are shaping up nicely, with a good concavity. I think he has nicer looking feet than he has ever had. Katie is a puzzle. She is lame if he takes her down to where she needs to be, but if he leaves her longer so she isn't lame, then the hoof wall develops cracks in the toe area. She has him pretty bumfuzzled!

So much for spring! It was 55 degrees this morning, but it is 35 degrees now and feels really chilly, after that nice warm 65! I for one will be glad when it is consistently in the 50 degree range!

2011-02-19T22:56:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we started to enlarge our rather small chicken house. We are just barely having enough eggs for our customers and hardly any for ourselves. We would like to have enough to put some chicken in the freezer. E thought that we could add another half dozen hens and maybe raise a few extras for meat. Neither of us want to do what it would take to do that, so maybe it won't happen either. But it is a thought. We know someone that says they would take care of that, for some of the meat. But...don't know if we will go that route or not.

Solomon is going to be 22 years old in May. It seems so unbelievable to me! I well remember that wet thing laying in the straw with Easter (his mother) and wondering what sort of horse he would turn out to be. Not too bad, as it turns out. He is a good boy.

A Blessed Gift!

2011-02-12T13:52:00.000-05:00

About a month before Christmas, I was asked if I would like to have this mixer, even though it had no attachments or a bowl. I told her YES, and that I would gladly purchase the pieces. She wouldn't have it that way, said she would get them herself. I had given up on it as it was months ago! Yesterday, she said they finally came into the store where she had ordered them, (after having to reorder as the company sent the wrong size). I was completely taken by surprise! But so grateful and will put it to good use! Thank you Lord!

I just can't help myself. I love this view. I took this Thursday from the dining room of the home we were cleaning. Can you imagine having this view from any window of your home? Watching the seasons change throughout the year from your dining room table?

Yesterday I took Stray Kitty to the vet, as he was coughing and not eating well, even though he is near starvation. Vet did some tests and he doesn't have any life threatening diseases, such as Aids or Leukemia, but has an upper respiratory infection and probably a sore throat as a result of that. He eats canned food like you would expect a starving cat to eat. I think he would kill for that! Also have to give him antibiotics for 2 weeks, in his food. Vet thought maybe the scabs all over his nose were burns. So we will feed him and hope he starts to look and feel better.

Now I'm off to make something with my new (used but in perfect working order) mixer. Probably cookies or something! Come on in and share them with us!

A New Face

2011-02-09T21:41:00.000-05:00

Here is another view of Lake Monroe. I would never tire of watching the seasons change from this window! The lake is frozen over and has been for many weeks.

This was supper. I roasted this chicken in the Turbo Cooker for 1 1/2 hours and it was very moist and tasty. Also had home canned green beans and scalloped cheesy potatoes. Sure wish you could come and have supper with us.

This is a new face that showed up in the barn this afternoon. He is not full grown, unless he is just small. He is also the skinniest cat I have ever seen! He is as thin as a sheet of paper. His nose has scabs all over it. He tries his best to rub on the dogs and our legs. He want someone to pet him! Do you want him? We will feed him and get him back to being a happy and filled out kitty but we don't need any more cats! We already have 6! And they are all strays but one, that have found their way to our barn, to be fed and loved. You would think we were running a homeless shelter here, now wouldn't you?

Baking Day

2011-02-06T21:27:00.000-05:00

I had a busy day today, making Hot Dog Buns.

It was a good day to stay inside and bake. I had some Brats in the freezer but had no buns of any kind. With the help of the Internet, I decided to make my own buns and this is the end result. I originally tried to make them with my homemade yeast but it didn't seem to be working as the first batch of buns didn't raise at all. I eventually took about a half cup more of flour and added a teaspoon of instant yeast the flour, then kneaded that into the the first batch of buns. That was at 2:00 PM this afternoon. It is now 9:10 PM and they are starting to rise now! So my guess is they will go into the fridge to finish tomorrow.

These photos are of the second batch I mixed up, using a different yeast. I started them at 3:30 and we were eating them at 6:30. Rising.

I will likely put some of these in the freezer as we can't eat them all while they are fresh. E grilled the Brats out on the the porch, while I made a pan of caramelized onions to top our brats with. Yummy! These are just out of the oven.

They were tasty. Maybe not as soft and light as I would have liked them to be but at least I knew what went into them, unlike the packaged ones from the store. And I like the idea of making them myself!

Maybe you would like to try to make your own? It was not hard to do, at all.

More Snow!

2011-02-05T11:16:00.002-05:00

Today we have more snow! Everything is so pretty, all the trees and bushes are frosted in white. This is the front pasture and hay field, taken through the window.

Here are a couple more photos that I took yesterday on my way to work. The whole countryside was bathed in diamonds. The sun was shining and everything just glistened and sparkled with all that ice on it. It was breath taking!

I had the camera in one hand and took these out the window of my truck. All this ice is still there, it is just covered up with today's snowfall.

For years, I used to pass this barn on my way to work every morning and often wanted to photograph it, but I never did. It is surrounded by housing developments and the old fashioned farmhouse is there too, just out of sight from the road. Would love to know the story behind this lone farm.

Click on photos to make them larger if you wish.

Winter Woes

2011-02-04T22:22:00.000-05:00

We cleaned two homes today and every bone and muscle hurts. It is a 5 hour period of bending, leaning, pushing, (vacuuming), hands and knees, (baseboards) stretching, and wiping. I didn't expect to be so sore after that fall on the ice on Wednesday. But it has been a long time since I have fallen on something as hard as that frozen water! Advil is my friend right now. Nothing is broken, just sore. Just please go away winter!

Does anyone have a daffodils trying to grow yet? Mine are still hidden in the frozen tundra. I haven't seen any robins in our neck of the woods either. Since it is supposed to snow tomorrow, I think I will make some bread and that will help warm the kitchen too!

Watching the birds at the feeder and watching the deer are my entertainment during these frozen months. Last week I drove up the drive way after work and noticed the horses all looking at something near their lot. Then I saw them! There were 8 deer grazing beside the run-in shed and 4 of them were bucks! Two were BIG bucks, and two were younger bucks and 4 does and last years fawns. They all watched me, as I sat there in my truck watching them, and then they hopped the fence and ran down into the woods behind the barn. That was a sight to see!

Iced In!

2011-02-02T17:33:00.000-05:00

E and I have spent the last two days at home because of the weather. Last night a mighty racket woke us up and I stumbled out to the living room to see what all that noise was! Well, it turned out that the temperature had briefly gone up above freezing during the night and ice was falling off the limbs of the trees.The wind was blowing like crazy so the ice was hitting the sides of the house! This was at 12:30 AM! What a racket! But by daylight it was 19 degrees again and we were in the deep freeze!

I don't think my flower garden likes all this ice either. Remember this deer, Jeanie? I think he looks pretty nice on the pole in my garden. The wind cups were so full of ice they couldn't turn, even in 30 MPH winds!

The drive way is a solid sheet of ice. E wrapped a chain around each tire on the Farmall tractor and it didn't have any trouble going up or down the driveway. But the snowplow on the tractor was completely useless as the ice was just too hard and solid and it had no effect on the ice at all! Ed had me take the tractor and a couple of chains up to the top of the driveway (just in case I had to pull the truck up) and wait for him while he drive our vehicles up the hill. With a long run at the hill he made it up without mishap. He parked them in the drive way of the neighbors mobile home. We will have to walk out the drive in the morning to our trucks but at least we can get out to go to work! The highway is clear of ice and snow. They put a lot of salt on it on Monday afternoon. I guess it helped. Wish they would salt our driveway, especially the hill!!

They don't really show it as it really was. It was pretty and sparkly, but very treacherous. I found out how treacherous! I was being very careful, but the next thing I knew, I was flat on my back in the driveway, out in front of the barn. I have an egg size lump on my head to remind me, that you can't be toooooo careful! I am fine, just a bit sore and stiff. With an inch of ice on the ground, I don't see it melting real soon as the temperature isn't supposed to get out of the 20's until Sunday.

2011-01-26T21:26:00.000-05:00

I love the contrasts in this photo. The sunshine and the dark storm clouds beyond the woods were really a sight to see. This was taken last spring from the front yard, looking east. E's garden spot is just beyond that fence on the right side of the photo. Look at all of that green! I so want to see green again!

Jeanie, thank you for the comment on my blog. No, I don't take care of my little boys anymore. This March it will be 2 years since they moved to Texas to live with their mother and her husband. They have been back each summer to spend several weeks with their father here in Indiana, and they have come and spent a couple of days or a weekend or two here with E and I. They love it here and beg to go to Nana's house. I miss them but they are in a better environment now. They are in kindergarten, and are doing very well. They are 5 years old now.

Since they left, I have been cleaning homes for people. I am one of a three person crew. We clean 8 to 10 homes, some of them are 5000 to 8000 square feet homes. Very large and with three of us, (sometimes 4 of us) it takes us 3 to 4 hours to clean these huge homes from top to bottom. We do a couple of small homes too, that takes us 1 1/2 hours. It isn't my favorite thing to do, I'd rather take care of babies, as a Nanny. But right now it is what is available to me. I love the lake views from these homes. Beautiful. No, I wouldn't like to live in these homes either, Too big!

Winter View

2011-01-25T20:31:00.000-05:00

Winter is gray and cold, but if I had this view to look at any time I wanted to, I just might enjoy winter a little more.
This is the view from the living room window of a new client today. That is Lake Monroe in the background. They have floor to ceiling windows all along the lake side of their home and the views are beautiful, even in the wintertime.

2011-01-24T21:23:00.000-05:00

This is a strange creature! It is trying to hide behind the maple tree, but couldn't resist peeking out at me. How does it decide which way to go? Hmm, a funny looking creature indeed!

We have six barn cats and only one of them was given to us as a kitten. The other five were all strays that showed up here at the farm. One as a kitten, one as a local 'wild' cat, that we would see occasionally. But now he is a pest, wants to wrap around your ankles all the time and is always in the way. But yesterday we saw a seventh cat, one we haven't seen before. It is a gray tiger colored cat. How much longer before he moves into the barn too? There is always food there, so he won't go hungry, I guess. We don't need seven cats!!

Catching Up!

2011-01-23T13:51:00.000-05:00

I have neglected this blog long enough. As this is a new year, I will start where I left off and try to keep it up to date and interesting. There is always something going on, whether it is with the the gardens in summer, something being concocted in the kitchen, or maybe just the pets and their silly antics!

This photo is one I took this past week from the living room window of a clients home. They live on a hill overlooking Lake Monroe and have an eagles nest in their back yard! She graciously gave me permission to take a few photos.
I have been impatiently waiting for warmer weather. I look out the window...no, the snow is still there! I so want to get my hands in some nice warm garden dirt! This has been going on long enough, in my not so humble opinion!! Go away winter!!

Redbud Jelly Recipe

2010-10-14T11:47:00.002-04:00

Flowers of Life, sorry it took me so long to get back here to post the recipe for Redbud Jelly. It is almost too easy to make! Something I have noticed though, is that over time, the lovely rose color fades a bit to a more orange color. Still tastes good.

Place 2 cups ( I have used up to 3 cups) of rinsed redbud flowers in a jar and barely cover with about 2 cups of boiling water. (They will float, so I push them down a couple of times.) Cover, let stand 24 hours. (After they cool off to room temperature, I stick them in the fridge.) Strain and discard blossoms.

To 2 cups of the extract, add 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice, and 3 Tablespoons of Sure Jell powdered pectin. Bring to a boil and add 2 cups sugar and bring back to a boil and boil hard for 1 minute. Pour into jelly glasses and seal.

2010-10-14T11:46:00.000-04:00

Here is the recipe I used to make the blender pie. Lemony and good.

http://therunawayspoon.com/blog/2010/05/blender-lemon-pie/

Redbud Jelly

2010-04-18T19:09:00.004-04:00

Isn't this pretty jelly? Tastes as pretty as it looks! This is redbud jelly, made from the flowers of the redbut tree!

2010-03-20T11:06:00.002-04:00

I made a pot of coffee this morning and baked this Strawberry and Cream Coffee Cake. Anyone want to come and help me eat it? It is pretty to look at, and tastes good too! I found the recipe Chickens in The Road Blog and just had to try it out! I used some of my own homemade ricotta cheese and mixed it with cream cheese. Oh yummy! I didn't know ricotta was so easy to make at home! Now, I'm going to make a Lasagna using my own ricotta.

Betty hurry, we have eaten half of it already!

2010-02-22T22:59:00.013-05:00

Yesterday I was reading a blog written by a lady in West Virginia. She had been sent by another reader, an old cookbook from the 1930's. In it was a recipe for homemade yeast for baking bread.

She posted it with photos of her instructions and modifications as it was written with the implication that you just knew how to do it. I guess they did back then. Anyway, I just had to try it. And if this works like it is supposed to, I will never have to buy those little packets of yeast again! Woo Hoo! Sounded like a frugal idea to me! So this is how mine played out!

First, the recipe!

Cooked potatoes, sugar, yeast and salt and ground ginger. Ginger? Why? I have no idea, but I added it per the recipe anyway. She explained a bit about yeast in her blog. All yeast whether it comes from a package (Fleishmans) or homemade, comes from wild micro organisms from the air. The original recipe called for 3 cakes of yeast, but then, you use your homemade yeast to make you own new yeast, forever if you want to and never buy it, ever again! Add warm potato water, (that the potatoes were cooked in) cooled to barely warm.

Cover and set aside to rise till bubbly.

Meanwhile, as the yeast is rising, dry a couple of cups of cornmeal in a warm oven.

When the yeast is ready, start adding the cooled corn meal,

until it is stiff enough that you can roll it out like pie crust, about 1/8 inch thick.

Allow to dry, crumbling it up with your fingers or a fork several times as it dries. I think mine could have used a bit more cornmeal as it was still a little sticky.

When it was dry enough, I put it in the Magic Bullet and blended it into a coarse powder. (this was my own modification). As soon as I had some ready to use, I used her bread recipe that is a heirloom recipe from her grandmother and greatgrandmother,

and my own homemade yeast and this is the beautiful and very tasty result!

Oh, so good and I have almost a full quart of homemade yeast to use anytime I want! It did take longer for it to proof, and longer to rise, but my kitchen was cool too. But even so, I think the longer proofing and rising, made the bread that much tastier!! Oh yum!!

2010-02-14T14:33:00.006-05:00

Yesterday the mail carrier left a package on the front porch. And as we weren't expecting anything, I promptly opened it and was I ever surprised to find this! Thank you, thank you, baby sister! What a pleasant surprise! I sat down on the couch and put my feet up and read through the entire book! How to choose what to make first? The photos are beautiful and the recipes sound sooo good! On Sunday mornings I often cook for breakfast. Sometimes we make waffles, biscuits and gravy, omelets, monkey bread, an egg casserole, bacon and eggs or an egg sandwich. After looking at these scrumptious recipes, this one caught my eye as the perfect one to try for breakfast this morning! Have you ever had Hardee's Breakfast Bowls at their restaurants?

These were sooooo good and easy to make too! Lots of flavor and very filling. We both loved them! If you don't do mornings, you could do the prep work the evening before and just bake them for breakfast! You gotta try these!! Recipe makes 8 servings, but I halved it.

Friday morning I saw these deer digging in the snow, trying to reach the grass underneath for their breakfast. All of this snow makes it hard for the little creatures and the wildlife to keep their bellies full.

This is Sam. He is usually in the house with us when we are home. He is a big dog, 76 pounds, and really too big for our house, but he enjoys being where we are. He is about 10 years old. Not sure exactly as he was adopted from the pound. We are all tired of this cold and snow! We want to go outside and play in the garden, don't we Sam?

Go Away Winter!

2010-01-09T21:04:00.007-05:00

We moved my bird feeder out into the center of the yard and E. wrapped a sheet of flashing around the post for me. The feeder was a couple of feet from a tree before, and there was smaller shrubbery and weeds growing around the bottom of the tree. The sqirrels would jump from the tree to the feeder and clean it out in a short time! Our three cats were able to hide in there and ambush my birds too! Now, since we have moved it away from the tree and added flashing to the post the feeder is mounted on, the squirrels don't raid the feeder by climbing up the post, the raccoons don't climb the post and eat the suet cakes, then carry the suet feeder away as they have done in the past, and the cats can't hide and sneak up on the birds any more!

It seems that the birds have been eating the sunflower seed and the suet cakes at a much faster rate than in previous years. They suck down the seeds so fast that I have to refill it daily and sometimes twice a day! These are the same feeders that I have had for the last few years. It also seems that there are a lot more birds too. Why is that? Last years birds came back and brought all their 'inlaws' and 'outlaws' back with them!? Hmm-mm. Colder weather? Thursday, I looked out of my kitchen window and saw this. The horses , Solomon, Katie and Maddie, were all standing out in the snow storm. As cold as it was, they looked pretty comfortable. No one was shivering. (It was 18 degrees!) I have a tendency to want to baby them. If I'm cold and uncomfortable, aren't they too? No? But I left them outside. They do have a run-in shed that they can get in if they want to. Sometimes they do, sometimes not. It took them about 4 or 5 years to use it though. I don't know why. A couple of hours after this photo was taken, after they each had a blanket of snow on them, they did go back to the shed!

Here is a photo of an unusual bird that I spotted at my feeder on December 30. I looked it up in my bird book but didn't see it in there. I emailed this photo to the 'birder' lady that writes a 'bird' column in our Sunday paper every week. She wasn't sure either so emailed the photo to someone else that she said is THE BIRD PERSON of Indiana. He emailed her back and said it is a Pine Warbler and is only the 11th time that people have reported back an overwintering pine warbler in Indiana! He asked for my name and location to put in his database and commended me for the photo as documentation that it was actually seen here! This bird was at my feeder for over a week, until we got all this snow. I haven't seen it since, so I guess it moved on to warmer weather. She also asked permission to use my photo in this Sundays edition of the paper. Said she was going to do her column on 'winter oddities' and wanted to include this bird! I'll have to keep my eyes open for more 'oddities' !

Click photos to view them larger.

Cranberries!

2009-12-25T09:59:00.008-05:00

I love cranberry sauce but have never tried to make it before. I found a recipe that sounded yummy with the canning directions also. Has maple syrup in it too, and just couldn't resist trying it. It is so much better than the canned stuff! I have made it a couple of times and now I have some on hand to add to a turkey sandwich! Sooo goood! Cooking!

Straining!

Smooth!

Canning! In the water bath.

Oh yum, give me a spoon!

More Of This and That

2009-08-09T15:52:00.001-04:00

When E ordered his garden seed this past spring, a free packet of carrots were included. These were all colors. I didn't even know carrots came in these colors! I planted them and they actually grew! Here is a bowl of them that I pulled. Some tasted good, some were kind of dense and fibery, if that is a word. But they were quite pretty in the bowl.

I planted a short row of these wax beans. Maybe a 4 foot row, but only five plants actually came up. They have been very prolific and I have picked the plants twice now and there are still little baby beans on the plants. I made Pickled Wax Beans with them. They turned out pretty nice. Even taste good.

This is my last bowl of salad greens. Boo hoo! I planted Buttercrunch Lettuce and it did so well. I loved the salads that we made from it. We made a Greek Salad, I think. We made it with grape tomatoes, sliced red onion, Kalamata olives, grilled chicken chunks, Feta cheese, and probably some things I can't remember. I made a homemade dressing with mayo, a bit of sugar and a bit of vinegar. I have had a request for that same salad again. Guess I will have to plant Buttercrunch for sure next spring.

More of This and That

2009-08-09T15:32:00.000-04:00

I have been having some trouble with my photo program, so I will have to blog using Picasa. It doesn't work the way I want it to, but it is the best I can do at the moment. It will only upload 4 photos at a time, hence the different blogs today.

My garden has matured and the potato vines all turned yellow along with the onion tops. I dug up the potatoes and was quite surprised at the bounty. After planting a few leftover grocery store 'taters last spring, there were some very nice sized ones under the dirt. Some nice big ones too! I just wish I had a cellar to store my gardens bounty in for eating later!

There were several nice onions. I haven't used any yet so don't know if they are hot or sweet. Time will tell.

I only planted one tomato plant in my small garden. It is a Heritage Tomato called Elberta Peach. It is small, but tasty. I have been making Caprese Salad with them. Oh, so yummy! I don't think we are going to get enough tomatoes from our gardens to be able to make anything. Ours is just now starting to show a bit of color! We should be deep into tomato canning season by now. I wanted to make spaghetti sauce to can. We even planted extra plants to have enough to can, but it looks like we will have to buy tomatoes this year.

Abit of This and That

2009-08-09T15:05:00.000-04:00

Missy is slowly progressing. I expect to see her walking in a little while. She sits up and attempts to stand, just can't quite make it yet. Here she is laying on the porch while I vacuumed her rug in the house. The cat is Bart, on of the strays that came last year on July 4th. He loves everybody, even rubbing on the horses legs when I go out to put hay out! He is a real pesty cat!

I went to J.W. Jones (a local horse riding and camping place) and picked wild blackberries, a couple of weeks ago.There are about 4 or 5 quarts of berries in this bowl. I cooked them until they were soft, then strained out the juice and

made some lovely Blackberry jelly! I was going to go back and get more to but lots of stuff got in the way and I haven't been back. It may be too late for berries now. I found a bunch of chiggers too, something we don't seem to have here at home. I think it was worth it though when you put homemade jelly on a freshly toasted and buttered English muffin! Soooo gooood!! Yes, it was worth it!

2009-07-04T10:50:00.011-04:00

Missy is showing a bit of improvement. She can lick her back toes if she wants to now. I saw her roll herself over form left to right! She also spends more time up on her chest as she is in this photo, instead of flat out on her side. Her appetite has improved a lot. For a long time, she would hardly eat at all, now she will eat everything put in front of her! Her back legs are still not working yet, but she is able to do much more than she could 3 weeks ago. Her demeanor is much happier. I give her a full body massage and stretch and work her back legs in a swimming and walking motion. She seems to like all the attention.

This is a photo of a single flower of one of my Hostas. I have several different varieties, but don't know the names of any of them. I liked this. It reminds me of a lily. Smells nice too.

This is E's garden, with the horses' run-in shed up on the hill behind it. There are two plantings of sweet corn, also of green beans, one row of kidney beans, one sweet potato growing in the stack of old tires, several varieties of tomatoes, one short row of potatoes, and lots of volunteer cherry tomatoes, all over the garden.

I found this hiding in the cucumber leaves in my garden! I love fresh young cucumbers. I am making cucumber and onion salad with this one. If I get enough of these at once, (there are three plants) I will make bread and butter pickles.

I am growing my cukes on a wire cage this year. Hopefully they will be easier to pick and produce more fruit. An experiment in progress.

Garlic anyone? This is elephant garlic. I have heard that it is milder than regular garlic, but as this is the first harvest, I haven't tasted it yet. Whatever am I going to do with all of it? How to preserve some of it? any ideas? This is just one plant and there are at least 4 more!

I have dug two hills of my potatoes. There were some nice sized ones. I wasn't expecting much, as these were just 'grocery store' potatoes that had started to sprout so I stuck them in the garden this spring. I like this kind of a bonus! Free potatoes! Wish I had a root cellar, then I would grow enough to feed us a long time. I am going to make potato salad with these.

A man and his grill. Last weekend we went to Mom and Dads for Fathers Day and had a lovely visit and good food. E grilled the chicken which was very juicy and done just 'right'! He is a 'good cooker' as David told Mom one summer when he came to spend a couple of weeks with us. I don't remember what she had made but it was something he especially liked, I'd guess.

The hungry horde! Everyone filling their plates. The weather was just lovely, very comfortable to eat outside.

Anyone for homemade sweet tea? It was so tasty and 'hit the spot'!

I see chocolate cake, bannana pudding, and watermelon for dessert.

This nice looking young man brought his hearty appetite too. His Chocolate No Bake Cookies were very tasty! He can make a mean cherry pie too! A man of many talents.

What is she loading her plate with? Looks like baked beans and a piece of chicken. Bet she had chocolate cake for dessert!

It was a perfect day, good food, good company to eat it with, good weather, lets do it again real soon!!

A Mixed Bag

2009-06-21T18:08:00.006-04:00

Yesterday as E and I were driving through Cloverdale we happened to see this! It was sitting in a car lot among other vehicles. We drove in and gave it a good look and yes! it is my old truck! Has the ding on the left side of the trucks bed where the flag pole fell over and dented it, among other blemishes well known to yours truly! It has been polished up and is sitting pretty. When we traded it in, we were given $400.00 dolllars for it. We also would like to know if it has been repaired or just covered up? Who knows! And this is the price tag on it! Yikes, but that sounds quite high to us. No, I don't want it back, I like my Blazer a lot! Even if the airconditioner doesn't work just yet!

Solomon had an itch! He is bothered something awful by the little midges, no see ums or what ever you call those little biting things. They don't seem to effect the girls like they do him.

This is a messy job but some one has to do it! Living under so many trees, the leaves really pile up on the barn roof. Maybe if the roof were steeper, they would wash off when it rains, especially like it did today! We had 2 inches of rain in 2 hours!

About 4 weeks ago, we got up early (Starts at 6:00 AM and ends at 12:00) on a Sunday morning and went to the Cory Creek Trade Day. I think that is what it was called. It was chilly so early that morning, and hot later on when the sun was up high. There were rows upon rows of venders selling everything imaginable. Antiques, junk, garden plants and flowers, popcorn, walking sticks, small tractors, all kinds of household goods, handmade items, chinese stuff, everything under the sun! Chickens, dogs, goats, a calf, rabbits, someone said they even sell horses sometimes, but didn't see any that day.

One vender had baby ducks for sale and someone wanted to buy only the females. He reached into the cage and grabbed a duckling.

He would hold this string with a washer tied on the end of it, over its back. If the string swung on way it was a female or a different way it was a male. Now did he swing it whatever way he wanted to, or did some unseen something make the string swing? I'll leave that one up to you to figure out!

Another shot of the rows of venders. We had fun, it was a lovely morning to spend time together and enjoy each others company. I think between us we spent $5.00!

Babies!

2009-06-16T12:22:00.001-04:00

I was checking out the weeds in the flower garden at Moms and came across this little guy, sitting in the old lilac bush. He was calling for Momma to bring him something to eat, I guess. I was within 3 feet of him, and he never did leave. I think this is a baby Chickadee. Love those tufts over his eyes!

One of our hens went broody and wanted to be a momma. We gave her two eggs to hatch and this is the result. Only this one hatched. It is the tiniest little chick I have ever seen! Lets hope this is a pullet baby. (a girl chick).

I spotted this flower in a friends yard and just had to take a photo of it. It is a Gerbera Daisy. I love the way it is colored! So pretty.

Signs of improvement with Missy are tiny, but we think we see a little. I watched her lick her back foot yesterday and she has not been able to do that up until now. We think she sits up on her chest longer too, instead of laying flat out all the time. Can't wait until she can walk again and I won't have to carry her outside and out to the back field to 'go potty'.

Missy And What Ails Her

2009-06-09T13:04:00.005-04:00

We think Missy finally has a diagnosis. Weeks ago, I noticed that Missy didn't wag her tail or even lift it up over her back any more. She ususally carried it curled up over the top of her butt. But it just hung down all the time. The next thing I noticed about her was that she didn't go off and do her 'own thing' anymore. She tended to stay near us as we were out and about in the yard or at the barn. I even commented to E that she sure was staying with us all the time. And her favorite activity was to go out and dig in the clumps of tall grass and weeds in the fence rows. At the same time I noticed that she seemed more 'jumpy' than usual. She was reacting to any sound and with an abnormal quickness! Not like her at all, with her Terrier personality. She wasn't afraid of ANYTHING!

Then she started stumbling a bit, and couldn't get up the step onto the porch without help. Then she would fall down. I also noticed that she couldn't bark. When she tried, there was just a weird sort of squeak. It just progressed until she couldn't walk at all, couldn't get up, couldn't turn herself, could only stand for a few seconds, then would fall down. We took her to the vet again, and this time she took x-rays, changed her steriods, prescribed an antibiotic and a pain med. Vet couldn't find anything of significance on the x-rays. All her bloodwork came back normal. Vet was pretty puzzled, thinking she had a back injury but couldn't see anything on the x-rays. She has no fever, no nothin'. She has a good appetite, has normal pottying, but needs help from us to hold her up so she can potty. I carry her outside 4 or 5 times a day for her to potty. She doesn't always 'go' but she is offered the opportunity.

Last Wednesday and Thursday I had to be gone all day, so took her to the vets to board her for the day. I took her home at night, but at least while at the vets, someone would take her potty and turn her several times a day. When I left her I asked that the vet do one more evaluation and tell us whether she thought she had improved any or gotten worse. It had been about two weeks since she had seen her. We were ready to put her down as this couldn't go on forever like this. We couldn't make contact with the vet for a couple of days. Then on Monday morning she called me here at home, and told me she had been doing some more research and studing on Missy's case. What caught her attention was the comment I had made to her that Missy couldn't bark. After studing on it she thinks this is what she has. She has almost all of the symptoms of Coonhound Paraylisis. I never heard of this before but here is some information.

http://www.petplace.com/dogs/acute-polyradiculoneuritis-coonhound-paralysis/page1.aspx

And if you want to read a blog by someone else that had a dog with this, here is that link and this dog was a 155 pound Mastiff!

http://coonhoundparalysis.blogspot.com/2006_03_01_archive.html

I learned a lot by reading this blog and the different links they have. Also the comments are full of information.

Now we just have to take care of her until she is able to be mobile again. The vet said to make sure she eats and drinks and to be especially careful that she doesn't get pressure sores.

Any job seems to get bigger the more we try to fix it, doesn't it? The hallway between the living room and the bathroom had an uneven floor too. Since we had finished the floor in the back room, and painted the whole room and had it essentially finished, E thought we should go ahead and tear out the old carpet in the hall way and redo that floor! It was also concrete! Here he is trying to make some sense out of someone elses hideous repairs. Will keep you posted.

2009-05-29T11:28:00.004-04:00

I have been making mulberry jelly again. I went to Stoneridge and picked up the berries that Enrique had in his freezer. He had saved them and was waiting for me to come and get them and make them into jelly for him. He said he would get me the jars and sugar, but I haven't heard from him for weeks. I have kept saved the receipts for all the jars and sugar that I have purchased. I need to get them out of my freezer so just started to 'do' it! If he never comes through, I will have a lot of jelly sitting here! There is still enough in the freezer to make this much more. I think he had 12 gallons of frozen berries that I picked up!
Our little dog, Missy, has hurt herself somehow. About a month ago, maybe a little longer, I told E that something seemed wrong with her. She didn't hold herself right, and she stayed close to us when we were all outside. The first thing I noticed about her was that she didn't hold her tail up over her back anymore. Her normal routine was to see what she could scare up out in the fields. She was always running from here to there, digging and hunting for who knows what in the grass. Mice and moles for sure! Her decline was so slow that we didn't notice it for awhile, but then she had some trouble walking. It was kind of crooked and slow. I took her to the vet, and it just so happened that our usual vet wasn't available that day, so another one saw her. She thought she might have had an upset stomache. A couple of days later I took her back, as she was even worse and requested our regular vet and she gave me some anti-inflammatory for her, (don't know if I spelled that right). She said she should start to feel better in the next day or two. She did find that she had pain at a certain place in her spine. Well she got worse all week end, so I took her back on Tuesday. (Monday was a holiday). She said if she doesn't show improvement she would do x-rays. So that is what she did. She couldn't find anything significant. But she found that she definitely has pain in her back someplace. She thinks she has damaged a disk in her back, likely shaking chipmunks. Missy has taken them away from the cats and then kills them and sometimes eats them. The cats have killed lots of them in the last several weeks (at least 15 of them) and she would always steal them, shaking them vigorously. As it is now, she can't get up by herself, she can't walk except on the kitchen floor where it is smooth, as she drags her back legs which makes her fall down. I have to roll her onto a towel to pick her up as it makes her cry if we try to pick her up just with our hands. I have to carry her outside to potty, which she has a very hard time with as her hind end is very weak. She can't lift her head up if she is laying flat out as she is in this photo. She is lying on a 4 inch thick piece of foam. Vet said this could take as long as three weeks to start to heal. The only improvement that we have seen at all, is in the last couple of days she has been holding her tail a couple of inches higher. Her appetite is very good. She just needs her legs to work properly.

Here she is doing what she loves to do most! Digging! Gotta get that mole!!!

Here are some more random flower garden shots. Love these lilies! They are so bright and cheerful.

I finally replanted my Hen and Chickens. They have survived the winter and my neglect. I took them out of a broken clay pot and stuck them in this one. They have already started growing to fill it up.

I was given this bird bath and even though it has a crack in it, I liked it. It doesn't hold water for long but I did see a bluejay getting a drink from it. One of the cats too!

Early this spring, I started to use these Small Mesh Hay Nets for feeding the horses. The idea behind them is that the horses take longer to eat their hay rations so are satisfied longer. It keeps them busy longer. More like grazing. It used to take them about 1 hour and 30 minutes to eat 10 pounds of hay and now it takes them about 3 hours to eat 8 1/2 - 9 pounds of hay. And we are feeding less hay too!

They really seem to like them and even if I put loose hay on the floor, if they have these filled nets hanging in their stalls, they go for these first. There is a lot less waste, and they are busy eating, instead of just standing around. Now if it would just quit raining long enough to dry out the round pen, I could exercise them too!

Now what is she doing? She wants green grass, so has figured out a way to get it! There is an electric fence around their lot, so what does she do? Gets nearly down on her knees so she can reach under the fence and get it! This girl is very ingenious! She can only do this now that the grass is tall and has started to fall over, so she takes advantage of it at every opportunity!

Ok, I'm off to go clean stalls and sweep up the barn floor. The farrier is coming on Monday to trim the horses 'toenails'.

Views of our little bit of country

2009-05-25T10:57:00.008-04:00

Today is a rainy, lazy, slow day. We should be cutting hay, but it will have to wait until a dryer day to do that! The horses have to eat, but I dread all that sweaty work. It is doubly hard to do, because our hayfield is on a hillside, but it is 'what we got'!

Here is a photo of my garden that I took this morning out in the rain. The pototoes are ones that I had for cooking that started to sprout. I planted them in the garden and they are really nice looking so far. No bugs or anything There are jalepeno peppers, sweet peppers, onions, garlic, radishes, carrots, cukes, a tomato, beets I just planted, and buttercrunch lettuce. It isn't all planted yet, either. Oh and you can see the rhubarb and the horseradish in the back.
This is what recliners were made for, on a day like today! A holiday, very overcast and rainy!This is my little flower garden. I made it when we moved here almost thirteen years ago. This past winter was pretty hard on it and several of my perennials didn't survive it. I have lots of annuals to help fill it in. I have planted a couple more perennials, but it will take them awhile to fill out and look nice.

Gypsy, begging to have some of your attention!

These are my mud puppies!!

Baby sister and I went to Brown County a few weeks ago and here are a couple of photos that I took. Don't know what this is but it was pretty neat.

I spotted this young lady, standing in front of a church with all the spring flowers blooming around her. Is this what is known as a 'tourist'??

And here is a photo of my new wheels! It is in the hospital, getting the heater core repaired. When I drove it, the windshield would fog up and a mist or vapor would flow from the vents and from under the dash. It didn't do this for the first three weeks we had it. Hmmm, wonder why...

Well, I hope I have rejoined the blogesphere. Will try to update a bit more often.

Update to an Ordinary Life

2009-04-19T17:52:00.008-04:00

My birds are having a hard time trying to feed themselves and avoid the resident predators. Miss Betty is hiding in the daylilies, waiting and watching, hoping to catch one of my feathered friends. She hid in there for about 15 minutes, then made her move, only to miss her target! But once in a while they don't miss. Birds were lucky this time! Katie and I have been going on long walks. Vet said she needs to lose about 100 pounds, (to say nothing of the 40 I need to lose!). She has something going on with her stifle joint, so I'm not riding her, just going for walks. On one of them, down into the front hay field, we came across this antler shed, laying in the grass. After E came home from work, we walked around the grass, and nearby woods, looking for the matching antler, but couldn't find it. This came from a good size deer, according to E.

On Easter Sunday, we drove up to visit the grandboys and their Mom and Dad. They had a ball playing with Grandpa! Eli is 8 1/2 and

Even is 5 1/2. Eli love to come and 'discover' the eggs in the henhouse! He likes to help Grandpa with whatever he is doing and Evan likes to help me cook!

Grandpa and the grandboys!

This last weekend the grandboys family came down and camped at Brown County State Park. I took a walk, on one of the hiking trails and found this Dittany coming up through the leaves. There were lots of plants and that section of trail. I wanted to snip some and bring it home for tea, but figured it was not a good thing to do in a State Park. Don't know if it was against policy or not, so I didn't pick any.

It was late when we left their campsite and it was about 8:20 when I took this photo. The views are spectacular, even when it was nearly dark. But we had to hurry home because we had animals to feed that were waiting for us, so I didn't get to take photos like I wanted to.

Anyone for Hot Cross Buns? I used a recipe in the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day and made a sweet dough and made these yummy buns. Oh, they were good! I also rolled out a portion of the dough and made it into Cinnamon Rolls and they were the best ones I've ever eaten!

Formed and rising on kitchen table. I didn't have currents, (the tradional fruit) so I cut up golden rains and dried cranberries and added them.

Want one? Help yourself!

2009-04-14T09:06:00.001-04:00

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/Artisan-Bread-In-Five-Minutes-A-Day.aspx?page=3

http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/

2009-03-29T20:52:00.009-04:00

Yesterday I had a head of broccoli was just crying to be made into a Broccoli Salad. I chopped it, chopped some red onion, added crumbled cooked bacon, a double handful of yellow raisins, and made a dressing with mayonnaise, sugar, and vinegar. Chill overnight and enjoy! Only I couldn't wait for it to chill, I started sampling immediately! But I did manage to save half of it until the next day. This is my favorite salad!!
Anyone for a piece of Crumb Cake? I made it this morning to go with a good cup of coffee! It sure was tasty! Made with brown sugar and nutmeg!

I haven't baked anything sweet for a long time and I found this recipe yesterday, where I had cut it out of a magazine, years ago. Just had to try it. If you like coffee cakes you would like it.

Here are two baby squirrels that my sister is raising on a bottle. They are so cute and trusting. This one on the back of my hand is only about 4 inches long. They are bright eyed and playful.

Very curious little creatures!

Last Saturday, baby sister and I went on a Field Trip with the Photography Club. I have been a member for several years and she just joined this year. We went to the Indy Zoo and White River Gardens. We had a lot of fun hopefully some nice photos.

Something was very interesting down on the ground, and for this giraffe, it looks like a lot of effort to see was down there!

This is a beautiful lady, very regal looking and so relaxed

The bald eagle had been injured and just the day before we visited the zoo, they had removed his bandages on his wing. He was still getting used to the crowds.

A boxing match between the Kangaroos. They soon walked away and started grazing, or I should say 'hopped away'.

A very fascinating character indeed, this walrus! He would make faces at the kids who were up at the glass, inches from his face! Then he would put his head up for air and make a whistling noise, sounding like 'wooo wooo, then come back and watch the kids and make more funny faces.

Some little men in black.

Another odd creature!

Sharks!

And more sharks. You can pet these if you want to. They are about 2 1/2 feet long.

I would love to go back and see the zoo again, when I can spend as long as I wish viewing the different habitats.

In Remembrance

2009-03-19T07:16:00.003-04:00

To a wonderful pet, Miss Kitty

10-98 to 3-18-09

Random Photos

2009-03-08T21:50:00.006-04:00

Here is a photo of the quilt that I started working on in January. It took me a couple of weeks to figure out the cutting instructions. Then I worked on cutting out the pieces for a couple more weeks. Sewing the pieces together has been a piece of cake! When it comes to the actual quilting of it, now that might be a different story! I am doing this quilt by hand, no machine stitches at all.

I have found a bit more evidence that spring is just around the corner. My hyacinths are coming up,

and my rhubarb is showing a bit of pink, trying to push through the cold ground.

And the thyme managed to survive being buried under several inches of snow.

A few more tulips are growing pretty fast. These need moved, as they get run over by the lawnmower.

Sam wants someone to come and play with him. We had to put our Chow down, in February a year ago, due to stomach cancer. Ever since then, Sam has been showing a terrible fear of thunder. When she was with him, he would just go into his dog house, but now he will not stay in his yard. He will dig out under the fence, if there is even a prediction of a thunderstorm! It seems like he can hear the thunder 500 miles a way! He must sense a change in the weather, as he consistantly gets out. He has always been an outside dog, but now he says 'no way'! We can't keep him in the house, as he is too big and the house is too small!

Playful kitty, chasing the ball around and around!

Pretty Miss Katie! Love that mare, she is so effectionate, and just loves to be around people.

The wind is blowing like a gale outside! This windmill or whatever it is called was really going yesterday! It just flew, all day long! It is on a post in my flower garden and I can see it from my kitchen window. I like watching it go with the wind.

A fresh loaf of bread, baking in the oven. It smelled so good!

And tasted even better! I only make bread about once or twice a week, because if I did that every day, um, you wouldn't recognize me any more!

So how is spring coming at your house?

2009-03-05T07:43:00.002-05:00

I used to make Potato Soup a lot when I was still at home, and this is an updated version of that one.

Cheesy Potato Sausage Soup

5 or 6 medium potatoes, peeled, cut into about 3/4 inch chunks (I used white potatoes)

water to cover

1/2 cup of half and half (I just happened to have this in the fridge. Usually I use evaporated milk)

1 cup of milk or enough to make as thin as you like it

2 ounces of a stick of breakfast sausage ( I cut off a chunk about 2 inches long) or to taste

1/2 cup diced onion

1/4 pound of Velveeta cheese

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Cook potatoes, with water to cover until fork tender but not mushy. Meanwhile, cook sausage, mashing with a fork to break it up into little bits. Add onions and cook until soft.

Using a potato masher, mash a portion of the potatoes, maybe 1/3 of them (this will thicken the soup) and gently breaking up the remaining larger pieces.

Add the milks, cheese, salt and pepper, stirring gently until the cheese melts, then add the sausage and onions. If necessary reheat. Serve with fresh bread, right out of the oven!!

I like to add plenty of pepper to mine.

Progress!

2009-03-01T20:35:00.005-05:00

We finally got a 'rountuit' and got some more done in this back bedroom. We hauled all these chunks of concrete out and dumped them in a sinkhole. Then I

swept all the small bits of concrete and the dirt that came out of the hole, back into the hole and leveled it off as best as I could. E ran a water hose in through a window and started mixing the concrete mix in the wheel barrow. When he had it like he wanted it, he dumped it in the hole.

I leveled it off and pushed it into the holes and cracks and smoothed the top of it. Then we discovered that we didn't have enough to fill the hole! So...E will bring 3 more bags tomorrow, when he gets home from work. Hey, I might get to find the living room, someday! Right now it is nowhere to be found, as it has a little path from the kitchen to the bathroom and the rest of the room is wall to wall with 'stuff' from this room!

I made another loaf of bread today. This was the bowl of batter that I pulled from the fridge. I had already made two loaves from it, and this was just enough to make the last one. I floured my hands so it wouldn't stick to them and pulled the dough from the bowl.

I shaped it into a ball, without kneading it, tucking the loose ends underneath, then I plopped it onto my cookie sheet that had been dusted with cornmeal. While doing all this,

I had turned my oven on, just for about 1 to 2 minutes, then turned it off. This is just enough heat to warm the insides of the oven and my pizza stone, to

100 degrees. Then I set my cookie sheet with the bread on it, inside the oven and let it raise for about 1 hour. Yes, my pizza stone is well used! After it has raised, I flour the top of the dough, slash it with a serrated knife and slide it onto the stone and

then wait for it to cool! That is the hard part, as warm bread doesn't slice very well. One night for supper, we ate a whole loaf, just out of the oven, and nothing else and that was our supper!

Since I used up the last dough in the bowl, it was time to start a new batch. This one is called European Peasant Bread. It is a whole grain, country style bread of rural France and Italy. It has whole wheat, rye flour and unbleached white flour in it. Haven't baked it yet, but it sounds good.

This is what it looked like just after I mixed it.

After an hour it had risen and was nearly filling the bowl. After another hour it had risen to the top of the bowl and was ready to put in the fridge, for up to two weeks. Making a loaf of bread anytime your little heart desires! It is supposed to be even better toward the end of the two week period, but mine never lasts long enough to find out it that is true!

And to go with that wonderful fresh baked loaf? A pot of freshly made Cheesy Potato Sausage Soup!

Another Hint of Spring?

2009-02-23T20:29:00.004-05:00

I found something else peeking out of the cold, wet ground! My elephant garlic is about 4 inches high! Trying to grow right through the snow. That stuff must be pretty hardy!

Today when I got home from workat 3:50 PM, I got the bowl of bread dough from the fridge and pulled off a grapefruit sized ball of dough. I tucked the ragged ends underneath it and plopped it on a cornmeal dusted flat cookie sheet. I let it raise 1 hour, then baked it at 450 degrees for 30 minutes and we had fresh bread with our Chicken Noodle Soup that I made yesterday. It was just tooooo tasty! And sooooo easy! There is one little trick though. The first 10 to 15 minutes after you put it in the oven, you cover it with a metal bowl or an aluminum lasagna pan, to trap the steam. Then you remove it and let it bake. Yummo!

Spring is Coming!

2009-02-22T20:19:00.004-05:00

I think Spring is teasing me! Here is one of my tulips that is poking its head out to see if it is OK to come out yet. There were two or three of these showing above the leaves a couple of days ago. Then last night and today, it snowed, AGAIN!! I want to get my hands in the flower gardens and get dirty! Hmph! Winter just won't give up yet!

The dining room is open! The feathered friends just need to wait their turn at the table. Sometimes there are 20 to 30 American Goldfinches all trying to eat at the same time so of course there are some minor arguments too. I have two feeder for these little birds and they are always waiting in line for their turn. They are lots of fun to watch.

When the ground is covered with snow, the number of Starlings that we have quadruples! They empty the birdfeeders in no time. They also eat the chickens' food and by the time we get home from work, the chickens are very hungry. We have put the chickens' feeders inside the chicken house but the starlings go in and out the little door for the chickens and eat it anyway! And they poop on everything, even the horses backs if they spend any time under the tree. Nasty birds!

Isn't this a lovely color? I think this is such a beautiful bluejay! I'm sure God loves color too with all the color there is in the birds.

I found an intriguing site on the internet through another blog I read. The writer is a lady in Australia. Here it is

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/Artisan-Bread-In-Five-Minutes-A-Day.aspx

This site has several recipes and also gives the how-to. It is so easy to do!

I printed out these pages and made my first batch of bread dough. I baked a loaf the next day and almost ate the whole thing! It was so good. This bread has a crispy crust, and a moist and yeasty inside. I have already made my second batch. I like them so much, that yesterday, E and I went to Barnes and Noble and purchased the book. I used a gift card that we have had for over a year. The book has recipes to make sweet breads, rolls, and all kinds of different bread recipes, using this same stored dough formula. I love that I can make fresh bread even AFTER I get home from work! Try it and tell me how you like it!

2009-02-02T06:50:00.004-05:00

We have a bathroom drain that actually drains now! E got all the pipes replaced and now we just need to figure out how to repair that huge hole in the floor! I can't wait to get everything that was in this room, back in there, so I can find the livingroom! I am planning to sort out some more of the 'stuff' and donate it, so I won't have to put so much back in there. I think I inherited some of the 'save everything' genes from my grandmother, but that makes for a lot of clutter and 'stuff' that we don't need to have in this tiny house. Makes keeping the house neat pretty difficult. So I am going to be ruthless when it comes to keeping all this 'stuff'!! We had a relaxing weekend. I slept a bit later than usual. We read books, sat in front of the computer awhile, worked on my quilt, did the laundry and some house cleaning. I tried a new recipe called Crockpot Enchiladas. I loved them, even though I think I would not cook them quite so long next time. E said they weren't too bad, but he doesn't like anything with a lot of tomatoey sauces. These were rich and saucy. Yum!

E surprised me by cleaning the horses' stalls and rebedding them! I always do the cleaning while he takes care of the chickens. When I came outside to clean stalls, they were already done!! He is such a sweetie!!

This little black kitty will follow me absolutely anywhere. He is a pest! But he purrs so loudly when I pick him up and he licks my nose, and just loves every second of his share of my time. The snow was a problem for him as he couldn't walk on top of it, he kept breaking through, but he didn't care if he could climb up my legs! OUCH!Solomon got a 'boo boo' on his face. I don't know what happened. I suspect that Katie, who is standing next to him, probably made a mad face at him and he smacked his face on the hay feeder that is in their run-in shed. He used to be the Absolute Boss Man, but Katie and her daughter Maddie, have taken over and Katie runs him off from the gate, the water tank and just because she can! It is hard for me to believe that he will be 20 years old in May of this year! I helped him come into this world, and it just seems like yesterday! He is as healthy as can be, but has some arthritis in his right rear stifle that makes him have a bit of a hop when he is moving faster than a walk.

This is my sleeping garden. It is warm and cosy under its blanket of snow. I can hardly wait to get my hands in some warm garden soil! Some years the daffodils are coming up in mid January, but I think they are hiding this year!

My father in law gave me 4 grape vines that he dug up from his garden. He was tired of messing with them. I think they are about 4 or 5 years old. They are sitting in the garage in big buckets. I don't know if they will survive their winter storage or not. I hope so. I wish we had planted an apple tree or two when we first moved here twelve and half years ago. We would most likely be harvesting apples now. But...hindsight is wonderful isn't it!

Lets hope for an early spring!

2009-01-20T20:58:00.009-05:00

What does Solomon see? He was on high alert for thirty minutes! He was snorting and blowing, raising and lowering his head, trying to see 'it' better! And he is not a spooky horse, by any means! I walked out and stood beside him, but couldn't see a thing. He was so intent on watching, that he ignored me! And the other two were ignoring whatever it was, completely! About an hour later, I did see 3 deer, but they were on the backside of the hill, not where he could see them. Besides that, he sees deer all the time, as E has a deer feeder right near their dry lot. There are usually 2 to 5 deer out there every evening. The horses ignore them completely!

Next step in the 'drain pipe saga'. E rented a concrete saw on Sunday and made a couple of cuts the width of the room floor. The dust was awful and even with the door shut, permeated the whole house. Since neither of us has ever had to do anything like this before, we didn't expect so much dust! but too late now!

After several good whacks with the sledge hammer, we had a hole in the floor!

Now, where is that drain pipe? It was awfully wet under there!

Gotta make the hole bigger! Oh what a mess of mud and broken concrete, all over this bedroom floor. (we suspect that some one in the distant past, has enclosed a back porch to create this bedroom). There were channels all over underneath the concrete where we assume the water had been leaking for a long long time!

The pipe ended above a drain, such as you would find in a garage floor! The drain was completely filled with mud! There was absolutely no place for the water to go! E used a plumbers snake to ream out the drain, after digging out as much mud as he could get. Then he had me turn on the water to the bathtub,

and yea, it drained out, through the drain! But we are going to replace that iffy drain with all new PVC pipe, that won't clog with mud. What a horrible mess, and it stinks too! Time to get on with the next step. It has turned out to be a much bigger problem than we anticipated!

I took this from my kitchen window last Friday morning, just at daybreak. It was -14 below. There is a huge cave called Boone Cave, just over the line of trees in the background. There is also an opening to the cave in this sinkhole on our next door neighbors property. When it is cold outside, the fog just boils out of this opening and coats the trees around it in frost and ice. It is quite pretty. Boone cave goes right under our farm. It has been explored for about 3 miles inside. No, I'm not brave enough to go in side, just to see what is there!

Winter Ramblings

2009-01-10T13:36:00.008-05:00

First snow of this winter and they couldn't wait to go outside an play in the snow! They had new snow shovels and were so excited but with about 1/4 inch of snow the shovels didn't work very well. It was quite cold and after half an hour they were ready to go back inside. We will just have to wait until we get some more snow! They had new snow boots and everything! They were disappointed, but I'm sure we will get at least a few inches of snow before April!

The horses are having lunch. Most days I am not home during the day to give them an extra bit of hay, but they sure enjoy it when I can do that! The building and the mess in the background belong to a neighbor. This sits right along our driveway, so have to see this daily but at least in the summer there are leaves on the trees to at least screen it from the house. They are making bio-diesel from used cooking oil that is collected from area restauants. Quite an oder in hot weater!

Last Saturday, E thought we should start spreading the manure pile on the hay field. We have an old antique manure spreader that is ground driven, meaning it unloads the manure with a chain that is turned as the wheels on the spreader are moving. It doesn't attach to the PTO of the tractor. Also it is small so doesn't hold very much. I used it years ago, pulled by a lawn tractor and it worked perfectly and was just the right size for that time. Now it could be a bigger size and the job wouldn't take as long. But it is better than using a shovel and a trailer, and I've done it that way too!

Never A Dull Moment!

2009-01-02T20:56:00.008-05:00

We discovered a BIG problem yesterday! We have been having problems with the drain in the shower for the last year, but it wasn't tooooo big of a problem! The fix was the biggest problem because whoever did the building on this house, made a mess of it! The drain from the shower is encased in the concrete that is the floor of our small second bedroom. It was carpeted so we never had a reason to mess with the floor, until the shower developed a problem. We did know that there was concrete under the carpet, though. Yesterday, New Years Day, since we were both home, we decided to tackle it. Carried most everything out and piled it in the only place left to put it, in the living room. E cut the carpet and found a tile floor underneath the carpet. He pulled them up and underneath was a layer of particle board that was sopping wet and had been for a long time! We had no idea because the carpet was never even damp! I walked around in there in my socks often. After the shock, he started to shovel it out the window into the wheelbarrow. Then, he thought maybe we should check with our homeowners insurance. So we stopped where we were and closed the door in it! So where is the water coming from? We have no idea! As far as we know there are no leaks in the bathroom. As the drain is set into the concrete under this back bedroom, we can't get to it yet. There is no way to gain access to this drain without breaking up the floor in this bedroom! Until we hear from the insurance adjuster, we are stuck! and that won't be until next week at the earliest! What a trip! We havent' been able to reach the guy that usually delivers our sawdust for bedding the horses' stalls. We have tried for 3 weeks, left messages with no results. We were down to two wheel barrow loads and finally had to find someone else. We contacted him by email on Tuesday and today he brought a trailer with 12 yards of sawdust and dumped it on a tarp, right at the barn door. E has adapted an old grain elevator that takes the sawdust up into our sawdust stall and fills it. We just fill the hopper at the bottom! Woo hoo! It is so much easier and faster too! Love it! Dumping the load on the tarp. This was nice clean sawdust. I'm sure the horses will enjoy their beds.

E had to get up in the trailer and start shoveling as the trailer wouldn't go high enough to dump it all out.

Half way done, but we had to meet my in-laws for lunch at the Chambers Smorgasbord Restaurant in town. Good excuse to stop shoveling, right?

We had a nice lunch, and we came home and finished putting it in the barn. It should last us for a long time. Maybe months. It feels so nice to have dry bedding in the sawdust stall, and plenty of baled hay in the hayloft.

I don't make New Year resolutions as I think they are just made to be broken. But I am going to attempt to ride my horses this summer. It isn't much fun to have to ride alone all the time. Maddie will be 6 years old in May 2009 and I have just managed to get her under saddle last summer. She only had 3 or 4 rides under saddle for 15 or 20 minutes at a time. I am not comfortable taking her out alone and there is no one to ride with around here. Do I hear any volunteers? She needs to be ridden and given a job!

This is our 'mole' dog! She heard something underground, and she tip toed around here, under the bird feeder, for quite a long time. It was comical to watch her as she was literally 'tip toeing' back and forth! She stood in this position, listening, for a while. She eventually gave up and walked away. But sometimes she does dig one up. Last summer she unearthed several of them!

So anyway, this is what we have been up to lately.

2008-12-27T16:02:00.002-05:00

I spent my day in the kitchen. I baked Amish Sugar Cookies, Oatmeal Scotchies (for E) and a cherry pie. I absolutely love this pie pan! It does such wonderful things for the crust on any pie I have baked in it! Being cast iron, it is heavy, but that is most likely why it crisps them so well.

Oatmeal Scotchies are E's all-time favorite cooky! I wanted to add some chopped nuts, maybe some golden raisins too. But he says "why mess with perfection?" Since I made them sepecially for him, I restrained myself!

E went to his workplace this morning to hang a couple of fluorescent light fixtures. I rarely have a weekend day to myself, so I made the most of this one! It was so windy outside, but so warm at 69 degrees! Love this short sleeve weather!!

2008-12-25T21:41:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas!

What a beautiful day today was! Sun shining! Crisp and clear! 35 degrees! After a rainy yesterday, it was so nice!

I have had the last two weeks off because my little guys have been in Texas visiting their mother. I actually enjoyed cleaning the horses' stalls early in the day, and giving them an extra slice of hay for lunch. Something I can't do when I am at work all day. When it was 25 degrees and freezing rain was falling, they were glad to go in their stalls during the middle of the day!

I baked Amish Sugar Cookies, which E ate most of! I gave the horse shoer a sackful of them when he was finished with trimming the horses feet last Friday. And the satellite guy was here to trouble shoot our satelite dish, and I gave him a sackful also. Told them Merry Christmas and their both their faces lit up with anticipation! Glad I could make their work day a bit brighter!

Today we went and spent the day with the grandboys and ate a wonderful lunch. It was a lovely day.

2008-12-07T11:32:00.002-05:00

My birds were having a hissy fit this morning! It was 9 degrees and they wanted breakfast, but someone was sitting on their dining room table! He wouldn't scare away by clapping your hands so E finally threw a boot at him and he ran under the porch and finally left the birds alone. He is one of our cats, one of the two kittens that showed up last July 4th, with their momma. He is a pest, getting under your feet, in the way as you try to walk! but if he gets my birds, I don't know what I will do with him!

I stopped in the local St. Marks Mission store one day this week and bought a bread machine cookbook for 25 cents. I made a Potato Bread recipe that was perfect! It was well worth the quarter I paid for the book and there are at least a dozen more that I want to try too!
Here is the Potato Bread recipe:
2/3 cup potato water
2 1/2 tablespoons of margarine or butter (no need to melt butter or margarine first)
1/2 egg (use either one yolk, one egg white, or two tablespoons of egg substitute)
1/3 cup mashed potatoes
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups bread flour ( had to add about 2 tablespoons extra, once it started kneading as it was too sticky. Flours are different, humidity makes a difference too).
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast

Boil 1-2 peeled potatoes. Save water to use in bread. Mash potatoes without butter or milk and cool to lukewarm.

Put in bread machine pan according to your machines specifications. Mine requires the liquids first, with flour, then yeast last.

We had the grandsons last weekend. We picked them up from on our way home from our Thanksgiving Day dinner at Lebanon with E's dad and assorted family members. The boys are 8 and 4 years old in October. Since we don't have an extra bedroom, one slept on the couch and the other one on the cot in the living room. They stayed an extra night so they could both have a turn sleeping on the cot! E had that week off from work, so he was here with them when I had to work on Friday. He made them waffles for breakfast which they loved. I had to work on Friday so I brought my little guys (3 year old twin boys) home to spend the day at our house. We made M&M cookies, while the 8 year old helped E take care of the animals, get the eggs and split some firewood with the log splitter. Try making scratch cookies with lots of little hands all wanting to help! They all got to stir and put in ingredients, and of course eat raw dough and M&M's! They had a ball! On Saturday we took them to Wonder Lab in Bloomtown. They didn't want to leave, but we had to meet their Mom, who met us half way and picked them up.
It sure was a whole new experience to have little ones in our house. It was noisy but fun, when it is usually so quiet here. We will surely have them again! Their Mom says 'you can have them any time!'

2008-11-24T21:02:00.002-05:00

A few days ago, I found a recipe where someone said they 'canned' butter. Strange thing to do, I thought. So I did a bit more research and found a couple more recipes to 'can' butter! It supposedly will keep for 3 years, without losing quality. Any butter on sale will work. So I had to try it. Since our local grocery store had butter on sale this last week, I purchased some, with the intention of trying this. So as yesterday was a cold, overcast, icky day I got out my pots and my pint jars and canned some butter! It looks pretty. Tastes like butter. I'll let you know how it performs. Supposedly, it retains its spreadability. I'll post a photo, when I have time to take one.

Ed has this week off to go hunting, but the weather didn't cooperate today. It rained a good bit. So what did he do? After taking a nap in the recliner, he went outside and dug up our water hydrant that we use to water the horses, when they are in their stalls. It is right outside the back door of the barn. It has been problematic for a few years now. It will freeze during the winter, usually during the worst weather. We have dug it up before, and thought we fixed it. It would not drain out all the water in the pipe, then would freeze. Frustrating as it would behave sometimes. So today, Ed dug it all up and replaced the hydrant. And hey, it has a lot more water presure now. No standing there waiting and waiting to fill a bucket! and do you what else???? My washing machine works now too! and all we did was replace that hydrant out in the yard by the barn!! The wash machine didn't have enough cold water running into it to fill the tub unless you had all day. The water would just trickle in. It would take 30 minutes for the tub to fill with a cold rinse water! (We used a hose attached to the cold water faucet in the nearby bathroom to fill the tub for a rinse). It has been like this for a few months. We checked this and that, and the hoses, and the filters, and nothing helped. Now, after replacing that hydrant, I threw a load of clothes in the wash machine and turned it on, never dreaming any thing had changed! And it had a full flow of cold water! Ed says it has NOTHING WHATEVER to do with replacing that hydrant, but...it is so weird to have it working now! He will never convince me until he shows me how it could never have made a differense!

2008-11-22T20:20:00.004-05:00

I didn't fall off of the end of the earth! I'm still here, somewhere. Lets see if I can bring this out of date blog, back to the present.

My dear hubby presented me with an early anniversary present a couple of weeks ago. (our anniversary is tomorrow). He gave me a cast iron pie dish! I didn't even know there was such a thing! Since cherry pie is his very favorite pie, I made him one in it. I used a recipe from Mary, his step Mom. He has always like her pie best, so I asked her for her recipe. My first pie in this unusual pie dish turned out perfect! Cast iron holds the heat much better than other kinds that I was a little concerned about how to bake in it. The crust was nicely browned even in the bottom of the pie. I will use it again soon and try a pumpkin pie. Here is a photo of the first pie.

It is hard to imagine that Solomon will be 20 years old in the spring! He looks good. I haven't ridden him for several years, except for about 15 or twenty minutes last summer. He has arthritis in his right stifle joint and has a little hitch in his gait if he is moving faster than a walk. One evening last week when we were putting the horses in for their evening feeding, I noticed that Solomon had a wet mouth, kind of foamy around his lips. I looked at his mouth but didn't see anything. I put him in his stall and he started to eat his supper, but he would hold his head at funny angles and stick out his tongue. He stopped eating and walked over to the door and stood there. This was out of character for him as he is a pig when it comes to food. I asked Ed if he would get the halogin flashlight, which he did. I grabbed his tongue and pulled it out of his mouth to the side and Ed shone the light in his mouth and he had a piece triangular piece of wood stuck between his upper molars! Since his tongue was pulled out to the side, he couldn't bite me, so I stuck my hand in his mouth and knocked it loose and it fell out! What a relief for him! He went right back to eating and enjoying his supper! Whew! Glad that was a easy fix!

I was given several overripe bananas a couple of days ago, so this morning I made a Banana Nut Cake with Caramel Frosting. For someone that doesn't like the taste of ripe bananas it was pretty good. Better than that, it was very tasty! I was quite surprised! It was moist and just sweet enough and I can't stop eating it! Ed wasn't sure he would like a banana cake, he wanted me to make a Banana Nut Bread, and since I had a few more of the bananas left, I made one of those too. I added a cup of dried cranberries to the dough along with the nuts and it was tasty too. Ed loved it with the dried fruit in it.

A couple of weeks ago I made an Old Fashioned Fruit Cake from a recipe book that my Mom has that was published in the 1940's. It makes a 10 pound cake, and takes 16 cups of fruit, but it is so good! I don't make it every year, but when I do, it makes enough for our family holiday meals and some goes into the freezer for the next year. It keeps very well. It is dense and fruity. Nothing like the ones you buy in the grocery store. It is best made before the holidays so it has time to mellow. So yummy!

The fall leaves here in central Indiana were just beautiful this year. I took my camera and went on a couple of picture taking drives. Here are a couple of photos that I took before all the leaves fell off.

2008-09-14T21:13:00.006-04:00

That Hurricane Ike was something else! And we just got the leftovers! From the high winds that we had, gusting to 55 miles and hour, I would not want to be anywhere near a real live one! Sure do feel for all those people down there in its path!

We pretty much stayed in today. I did some laundry, vacuuming, made a chocolate cake, (it was Ed's birthday today), rice krispy treats with carmels and cashews in it. These were for adults, and were pretty tasty! But now my mouth is sore from the crunch of it. Ouch!

I put some sliced apples in the dehydrater to. We like dried apples and eat them like candy. That is why I don't make them very often. But it is apple season, so I should put some in the freezer, right?

Last weekend I canned several pints, but couldn't get my butt in gear today. It was such a lazy, laid back day today. Had the house windows open, until the wind got so strong it was blowing everything off of the desk and table, so had to close those just to preserve housekeeping!

Here is a photo of Maddie, checking out the pile of old hay that Ed was burning. She was so curious! What is that stuff! He had to run her off a couple of times!

Here she is getting tooo close! The other two came to look then went on about their business, but she had to get right there and see what was going on.

I noticed the kittens batting at something near the woodpile and went to check it out and this is what they were playing with! It was shaking its tail and striking at them! It is about the thickness of a pencil and is about 8 inches long! I got it into a bucket and took it up into the neighbors hayfield and let it go. I've never seen a snake like this one before. Have no idea what kind it is. Anyone else know? I don't like snakes, of any size, they give me the 'willies'!!

Nuttin New

2008-09-06T17:39:00.004-04:00

Since there is nothing much going on in our neck of the woods, here are some random thoughts and a photo or two.

I have been busy making spaghetti sauce, chili sauce, and apple butter. I have made two batches of apple butter and that should do us for about 5 years! Well, not really, but it should last us a while! I like to have lots of pints of spaghetti sauce and chili sauce on hand, but we didn't grow any red tomatoes this year, so have had to buy them. Therefore, I shan't make as much as I'd like to. But NEXT YEAR, I would like to have lots of our own RED tomatoes!

I did have one nasty mishap! Last weekend we hauled a load of firewood home and as I was about to help Ed unload it, I fell off of the back of the trailer. I took a step and thought there was enough of the trailer to step onto. There wasn't! I scraped my arm as I went down, and twisted my knee as I hit the ground. It made me cry it hurt so bad, but I'm back to my usual self now, with no permanent harm done, Praise the Lord!

Oh, and I had another messy mishap too! Last Saturday, as I was busy in the kitchen I decided to do a load of laundry at the same time. But the washing machine has a bit of a problem. When the cold water is supposed to run into the machine, it just trickles in and can take 30 minutes to fill up! So Ed hooked up a water hose to the nearby bathroom bathtub faucet. I put the hose end into the washmachine and went back to the kitchen, intending to come back in a few minutes. But I got busy with my tomatoes and FORGOT!!! All of a sudden I remembered it and by that time it was tooooooooooo late! There was an inch of water on the floor! I turned it off and frantically scooped up three, five gallon buckes full and dumped them outside. Then called Ed to come and help me clean up the mess. He used the wet/dry vac, (which I had not thought to use). We had to take everything out of the room and put it on the porch to dry out. We couldn't move the freezer so just used towels to dry underneath. What a mess! But we finally got it all dried out and back together again. Sure won't do that again!

We had a large maple tree taken down a few weeks ago. It was between the house and the barn, so if it fell, it would likely hit one or the other. It had a large hole in one side of it that has been there for as long as we have lived here. Probably for many, many years.

Does it have holes or what? After it came down, we found out how rotten it really was! The whole tree was full of holes! Now we have a huge gap where the sky shines down on us!!

My Grandmother Bread just came out of the oven, come and have a piece with me!

Here is a photo I took of a funny looking little man! I think he is kind of cute!

Ordinary Stuff!

2008-08-17T13:58:00.011-04:00

Here are some ordinary photos of my ordinary life. At the moment there is nothing going on to blog about, so you get to see some photos of our outing last Sunday to the Derby Dinner Playhouse for my Moms birthday surprise. We all had a wonderful visit and it was worth every penny, just to have everyone there and to sit and enjoy our buffet lunch, and to talk and just to be together.

These photos were taken at Leavenworth Indiana, at a bend in the Ohio River. That is Kentucky on the far side of the river.

My baby sister, Sarah. It is hard to imagine her, all grown up! Cute cousins and their Auntie Sarah!

Who ARE these people???

Two pretty young ladies, Ruth and lovely daughter, Sarah Beth.

This photo is my contribution to the Olympics 'Chinese' theme. It is a small concrete garden piece, made up of three seperate pieces. It is in one of the gardens where I work, taking care of my little boys. It has an oriental look to it. There are hostas, and large limestone rocks all around it. Pretty, I think.

Here is another surprise that I found in the woods. Paw paws! There were lots of the shrubs growing in the area where we were cutting. They were all green and not ripe yet. It has been many, many years since I tasted one, so I don't remember what they taste like. I have seen recipes for using them. Maybe I will go back to get some, when they are ripe, just to taste them. If all the wild animals don't eat them first!

I hate these things, Cockleburrs, but I thought it had an interesting flower and the green burrs were rather pretty. But do they ever stick to the horses manes and tails and the dogs fur, if you let them grow and mature! Eeeek, they are nasty. I left this one alone as it was in the woods and on someone elses property.

Ed and I went to cut fire wood yesterday and when he was busy cutting, I was walking around with my camera and found this guy. He was so well camouflaged that he was hard to see! I also was sitting on a chunk of wood that had been cut last summer when something moving at my feet caught my eye. There was a toad, and how in the world did a toad survive, on this dry, logged over, hillside? There was not water, ANYWHERE near the place! There were lots of butterflies but I couldn't get any closer to them than about 10 feet, so I gave up on getting their photos.

Ed planted several Dewberry plants a couple of years ago. I have never seen such big berries! One berry is a mouthful! But when he fertilizes his garden in the spring, he puts some on these too. They taste good, but not quite the same as a blackberry. We have picked about a gallon and I froze them to make some jelly or a cobbler with, later.

2008-07-27T17:53:00.013-04:00

Yummo! I just made another pizza and we ate the whole thing! Shame on me! If you were here, I could share it with you, instead of eating it all! So come and get some!

Today we went to Helmsburg to an antique store/ junk store, but it was closed. So we drove closer to Columbus and visited a big flea market. We had been there before but it has been four or five years ago. We each found a couple of items and I found a perfect little cooking pot, that I wanted but I didn't want to pay 14.00 dollars for it! So E said he would buy it for my birthday. Sounds good to me, so now I have a wonderful addition to my cookware. Oh, and I found a nice cookbook too. Don't tell E, since I already have too many cookbooks. S if you come up here soon, I will give you a bunch of them, if you want them. There are all kinds of different cookbooks.

It is time for getting in the firewood for the winter. Saturday a week ago was the first time we have been to cut wood. We went to the same place as last year. It was so hot and muggy on that day!! I thought I would melt! Here is a photo of our first time in the woods for this year.

Here we backed the tractor down into a ditch to get it as close to the tree as we could get. We attached the chain to the tractor and the tree and after E cut off the smaller limbs, he puuuullllled that tree right up out of there and up onto the flat at the top of the hill. We have just been laying them out up there on the hilltop, to cut into stove lengths later, after we get these tree tops all trimmed and easily accessable. Here is the tree just before he started up the hill with it.

I usually drive the tractor and haul the logs up the hill to the log yard. I have to get off the tractor and (set the brake, of course) and unhitch the chain and go back to where ever E is cutting the limbs off of the next one. Then he attaches the chain and off I go again, to the log yard. If it is in an area that I don't feel safe, or is an especially big log, then E will do it. But it saves time for me to do it, when I can. I will be glad when we are done for this winter!

Life at Stone Ridge has its ups and downs. Last Monday, when the manager arrived at work, he found one of the recipient mares dead in her stall. She had a three month old filly, still nursing. Enrique, who does the weekend feeding, says she was fine at 9:30 PM when he did the barn check. But we are all suspicious. He has had sick horses at the farm before, and says, Oh, she be alright. She be alright. He is supposed to call the manager, but rarely does. This time it was too late. We will never know what really happened. It was a big job to get her out of her stall, as she was bloated and stiff at 7:30 AM, when she was found. Had to remove her with the tractor. (How else do you get a 1000 lb horse, that is dead and stiff out of her stall?) It wasn't a very good day for anyone. She was our favorite one of the recipients. Her filly is doing ok, but when we bring in the other recipients and their babies, at 4:00PM, she starts calling, looking for her mother, I guess. Otherwise, she is a calm, quiet little girl. Here she is, photo taken later this past week. She is a very pretty filly, and they are pinning a lot of show hopes on this little girl. This photo doesn't do her justice at all. She is so feminine, and petite. She gets turned out with another already weaned filly so she won't be too lonely.

Then, on Friday, when we came to work, the manager says, did you see the cow???? Huh? Cow? This is an Arabian Horse Farm! No, really, did you see the cow? It is in a stall in the lower barn! We could not believe our eyes! There was no cow when we left on Thursday, but there stood a cow, in one of the horses' stalls!

Well, it turns out that Mr. and Mrs. G went to the County Fair the evening before, and there was a little girl, bawling her eyes out in the cattle barn. She had raised this pretty steer for 4-H and couldn't stand the idea that it was to be sold for slaughter. Mrs. G couldn't let that happen to the little girl, so they bought the young Jersey steer, and had him delivered to the barn with out telling any of us. So there stood Bucket, when we arrived on Friday morning. His name came about

because he was an orphan and was raised on a bucket!! He is very gentle and easy to handle. But very lonely, as he doesn't have any bovine friends at the horse farm. He loves to be scratched and groomed. He has lots of different sounds. When he hears us come into the barn, he talks and moos, and when he sees you are leaving, he sounds so lonely. He stands in his stall and stares at the window, but it is up too high for him to see out of. Monday we are supposed to turn him out for part of the day. I hope it makes him happy. Here is what we saw when we came in on Frday!

I have been riding Maddie! Do you think she is old enough? At 5 years old? Well, I would think so. I have always ridden my other young horses at age 3, but somehow, Maddie sort of got put aside, while other things got done. And as she isn't getting any younger, I put the saddle on her about 2 weeks ago and with E's help, I rode her! He led her around with me on her, then walked in front and she followed him, then I rode her on her own, and she has done a good job. She has not put a foot wrong, at least so far. I need S. to come and ride with me now, and get Maddie used to the trails. She is so bored with her life in the dry lot. She has developed an annoying habit to entertain her self. She plays in the water tank, and sticks her tongue in and out of the water, rapidly, making weird sucking noises. She isn't drinking, just playing in the water. It really irritates E. But she has nothing to do all day, day after day, after day. So she entertains herself. Here is a photo that E took of us this evening.

Here are some random shots of some of the babies at the horse farm and some of the other residents. Enjoy!

2008-07-13T14:11:00.013-04:00

I have been at Stone Ridge for three weeks now and it has gotten easier. I have callouses on my hands again, and the rest of me has toughened up too. It is still hard work, but I can keep up now, at least.

Enrique had a mishap with the riding lawn mower. It was a zero turn mower, that they had begged for, for years. They have had it for the three years that I have been gone, but on Friday he was mowing around the large pond and got too close and drowned it in the pond. He went in too, up to his armpits. They had to drag it out with the tractor. It is completely out of commission and we don't know if it is totaled or not, until it is taken to a repair shop for an estimate. OOOPS!! Mrs. G was away at the time at her mothers funeral, so she doesn't know yet. I'm just glad it wasn't me!

Friday a week ago, Ed and I were standing in the kitchen looking out the window and saw a cat creep up under the bird feeder, stalking a bird. I walked out onto the front porch and she came right over to me. I started to pet her and she was so skinny that there was nothing under the fur but bones. I went into the house and got her a bowl of cat food and she ate and ate. She was the most skinny cat I've ever seen. She was around all day, eating and wanting to be petted. While we were doing chores, she disappeared. About 20 minutes later she reappeared in the yard, along side the garden fence. And she had brought a little black kitten back with her! The kitten was skittish and we couldn't get near it. The mamma cat sat out in the yard a little while and then she and the kitten were gone again, back into the woods along the drive way. It seemed like she brought it out just for us to see her baby. The next morning the kitten was asleep in the hay in the dog house that is on the front porch. After work when we went to do our feeding she and her baby were in the garage. Ed was standing nearby, waiting for me to finish what I was doing at the time, when he said"we have another one"! And there were two babies with her! Both of them black and very skittish, most especially the second one. She moved them to the tall grass, weeds, and brush that is behind the barn, for a couple of days, bringing them into the barn to play and eat, then taking them back at dark. After a couple more days, she took them under the house, bringing them out and letting the eat and play, while we were out and about. Now they are on the front porch most of the time. She hides them during the day when no one is home. One of them is friendly and approachable now, but the other one doesn't seem well. It is very skittish, but it doesn't play much, and just sits or sleeps. I just might take it to the vet, if I can catch it, as the vet is open late on Tuesdays, I think. Here are some photos of them.

Here is a photo of a nest of barn swallows at the horse farm. They were just a coupleof days from leaving the nest. There are about 24 nests of these birds scattered around various places in the barn. This one is right in the center of the stall, above the stall light fixture. Aren't they cute?

Here is the flower garden that I made last summer. Some one had put down plastic bags, then a 6 inch layer of dirt and on top of the dirt were this large limestone rocks. Some of them were as large as my fist. I dug all of that out, dug down and turned the hard yellow clay and put old rotten horse manure and rotted shredded leaves in it and dug all of that in. Then I planted it with garden phlox, purple, pink and one called Bright Eyes. Several different hostas, and purple coneflower. Also yarrow, (a pink one), a yellow lily, columbines, a few gladiola bulbs, and a few other things that I can't remember. These were all 'found' plants. At the home where I worked with my little boys, some previous owner had made a large perennial garden. Then when I went to take care of my boys at Grandmas house, I was told I could have what I wanted of the plants. So this is what it looked like when I started.

This was (above) last fall, just after planting it. And this one(below) was taken yesterday.

This is the planting of hostas, that I had planted earlier this year that I wrote about before, that the dog got into and tore it all up and dug out all of the plants and some of them were in sad shape, shredded and broken. I took this photo yesterday and they are slowly growing back to their former beauty. It will probably be next year before they get as large as they were before that fiasco, but at least they are alive. These came from the same place as my other flowers in the above photo.
Any one hungry for homemade pizza? It sure was tasty! Had sausage, pepperoni, ham, mushrooms, green peppers, onions and mozzarella cheese on it. I made the dough too, but would use a different recipe next time. There was too much of the crust. Yummo!

2008-06-29T15:43:00.005-04:00

Ok, I survived the first week, working back at the horse farm! I would come home 5:15 so tired I could barely put one foot in front of the other! It seems so much harder this time, than before. For the last two and a half years, I really haven't done this much physical work, and I'm paying for it! I have been using the weedeater for hours, it seems like, grooming horses, cleaning stalls, cleaning the barn, dumping and cleaning water buckets and refilling them. Helping bring the horses into the barn in the afternoon.

There are five mares and their foals, three of which haven't been handled hardly at all and are as wild as a deer! I've been working with them sometimes, just getting them so they will trust me a bit, and can be touched and rubbed.

Here is a picture of the mares and babies. These are all recipient mares. The babies are embryo transfer babies. One mare is a nurse mare, because the birth mare tried to kill her baby and the vet and attendant. The nurse mare was brought in from Kentucky and she and the baby bonded and she is doing a fine job of raising her Arabian filly, even though she is a Quarter Horse mare.

Not much has changed around there. Enrique is still there, and they have a new manager since September last year. I like him, he is easy to get along with.

Here is a photo of an unusual bird to find in our yard. I went out to put the horses fly masks on and when I rounded the corner, this is what I saw! It is a Peahen, we think. Or maybe a juvenile Peacock? Anyway, she was visiting our chickens. A little while later, she flew up on top of the horses run-in shed and the dog spotted her up there. That scared her and she took off flying and landed in the neighbors still uncut hayfield. The dog couldn't get to her and she didn't come back. Our only neighbor that has a peacock says it wasn't hers, but if it came back she would like to have it. But we haven't seen it since.

Last Sunday we had a good visit with the family and got to see David, Danielle, and Isaiah for the last time before they move to one of the Carolina's. I didn't know until we had left that they were leaving in two weeks or I would have taken more photos, and for sure a group photo. But I didn't know that.

Here is a photo of another cute couple, my baby sister and her husband. Aren't they cute?

2008-06-19T10:44:00.008-04:00

Surprised you again, didn't I??!

Yesterday, Ed came home early so we could go and get a load of hay. Spotty thundershowers were predicted, so we wanted to get going. We got two loads, each one with 110 bales of hay on it. The farmer and his two helpers, put it on their hay wagon straight out of the hay baler, then Ed and I transfer it too our trailer to haul it home. It is hot, dirty, and scratchy, but hey, the horses have to eat, and they said thanks for all the hard work! Now we just have to get 400 more bales. Hopefully, 200 of those will be our own hay, waiting to be cut and baled. I really do dread all that work, as it is too much for just the two of us, but you do what you have to do.

Here is the scene of the crime:

And we have arrived at home at the barn and are about to unload and stack it in the loft. There are 90 bales on the trailer and 20 on the truck. I unload the trailer while Ed is in the loft, catching the bales as they come off of the elevator and stacks them. After loading and unloading 220 bales of hay last night, I was pooped! Did something to my finger because now I can't hardly use it. Hurts like 60!!

Here are some photos I shot of the farmers cows, while waiting for the baler to 'do its thing' on these windrows of hay. Do cows have personality? I wouldn't know, never having had much to do with cattle, but these girls look entirely different and number 23 was very interested in what I was doing. She came the closest and stayed the longest, watching me, so very curious.

And guess who was hiding behind all the 'girls'? This big boy!! I'm glad I was on the other side of the fence!

2008-06-18T07:35:00.003-04:00

I found a very interesting bread recipe a couple of months ago and yesterday I decided to try it out. It is simple to do and tastes wonderful. It makes two large loaves. Here is the link to her recipe: http://suzannemcminn.com/blog/2007/12/19/grandmother-bread/. And no, it is not supposed to have any fat or oil in it! I was kind of skeptical about that, but the bread was perfect. She writes an interesting blog, and I have been reading it for months now. Ed likes this bread and also said it makes good toast. (He compares everything to what is purchased in the store, so for him to praise something homemade is a BIG step up!

My little boys are in Missouri for the next 7 weeks, with their mother and their maternal grandparents. On Monday, I'm going to Stone Ridge for a talk with Mrs. G, and a temporary job for the summer. From what I have heard through the grapevine, things haven't been all that wonderful over there. Things like an employee mistreating the horses, etc. That one is now gone. She told me they have five new foals, and several other young ones, so I am guessing my day will be full. I'm not looking forward to the drive over there or the long work day,(6:30-5:00) but it is a job.

Enrique called me here at home yesterday to confirm that I was coming back. He didn't believe it! He is collecting and freezing the bumper crop of mulberries and wants me to make mulberry jelly again. I told him I would if I could have some for myself too. I think a couple of years ago, when he froze them, he had about 14 gallons of berries!!! I made 4 cases of jelly from them, in pints. Of all the jellies and jams that I have made, I think the mulberry is the most popular. It just can't be beat, on a toasted, buttered Enlish Muffin!

Do you want to try another wonderful recipe? Ed does not like rhubarb, but he loved this, and it was soooo goood!! Here is the link to the best rhubarb recipe that I have ever eaten!
http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/05/crumbling-crisp-convictions/
Enjoy and tell me how YOU liked it!!

2008-06-17T11:23:00.010-04:00

I thought an update might be in order, before someone starts yelling again! Here are a few random photos, now that I have my camera back

This is a wildflower called Dutchmen's Britches. We went for a walk back in the woods and came across lots of these growing along the path.

We have finally dried out enough to get in our garden without standing in the mud. Everything is growing well so far. We want to cut our hay, but the ground underneath the growing grass is still squishy! It needs cut but we just wait...and hope it doesn't rain anymore for a few days.

It seems that the gnats are much worse this year than last. If you try to work in the garden, or just go outside for anything, they are buzzing you, getting in your eyes, hair, walking on you! Yuck! Here is a photo of the horses that I took this morning. Notice all those gnats? I covered the horses with flyspray, but it only seems to work a short time, then they are after them again. Do you see all those insects buzzing around their heads? EEEEK!
We have a family of wrens nesting on the front porch. She built her nest in an old tin can that was laying on its side on a shelf. Here she is with a caterpillar, ready to hop up on the shelf. They are fun to watch, very busy little birds. They also have a beautiful song, that the male sings frequently, through out the day.

Here is the Hamburger Bun recipe that you wanted, Mom.

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

3 teaspoons instant yeast (I used 1 pkg. of Rapid Rise yeast and added it to my dry ingredients)

1/2 teaspoon dried onion flakes or 1 teaspoon of onion powder, optional (I didn't use either)

1 teaspoon of salt ( I used 3/4 teaspoon)

2 tablespoons of melted butter

1 egg

1 cup of warm water

In a mixing bowl, place flour, sugar, yeast, (onion powder if using) and salt; mix well. Add egg and melted butter. Add water and mix and mix dough until well combined. Turn dough out onto a well floured surface and knead for 10 to 15 minutes or until smooth and elastic, (dough should still be quite soft.) Place dough into a greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and sed aside until doubled in size. (mine took 35 to 40 minutes)
Divide dough into 8 or 10 pieces. Shape into rounds, and place on greased baking pan and let rise for 30 to 40 minutes. Bake in 375 degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden. These were sooooo good!
Here is Elliot. I think this photo that I took this morning, shows his sassy personality! He is terrified of anyone other than Ed and myself, but he is a playful, sassy, friendly little cat. He is also a good mouser.

We should be starting to get pullet eggs near the middle or end of September, then there will be all the fresh eggs that your little heart desires. At the moment we don't have enough eggs for ourselves and all the people that want them. Our neighbor lady has been buying all of our eggs that she can get her hands on, as 17 of her hens were murdered by a neighborhood dog. I have two people that buy eggs regularly, besides her. So there aren't enough to go around. When these new ones start laying, we will have about 33 layers. (At the moment, we have 13 hens.)Neighbor lady says she can sell any eggs we won't need! We will see what developes.

Hanging begonia on my front porch. Isn't it beautiful?

What a Week!

2008-06-08T15:22:00.002-04:00

Whew! We had some nasty storms, beginning on Wednesday as I arrived home from work. I jumped out of the truck and ran and got the horses into the barn and into their stalls, when the sky opened, with thunder and lightening for background music! I stayed in the barn until it let up a bit, then dashed for the house. But the storm only intensified when I was inside. We had 3 inches of rain in short time and 60 mph winds! Then at 4:25 the power went off...and didn't come back on...the next morning...it was still off...and that night it was still off, and the next morning it was still off! What? And the temperature was 88 - 90 degrees! Finally, at almost the exact minute to 48 hours, the electric came back on, at 4:30 on Friday! We had the fridge and the two freezers hooked up to the generator. When we wanted a shower, we would unplug the freezer and fridge and plug in the pump to the well. And do the same to fill the horses' water tank. Oh, how I appreciate running water and electric lights! so many little things that we don't think even think about, such as brushing your teeth, doing a load of laundry...it all takes water, that we take for granted.

On Friday, just as Ed arrived home, we had another nasty storm that dumped 4 1/2 inches of rain again! All told, we had over 9 inches of rain, in a couple of days! Electricity went off again a couple of times during this storm, but came back on and stayed on.

The uncut hay took a beating, and lots of it is laying down flat, instead of standing up. We are hoping it will stand back up and everything will dry out long enough to get it cut and baled.

We went to the grocery store this morning, but forgot to get Hamburger Buns. I had plans to grill some Venison Burgers for lunch. Since we forgot to get them, I decided to make some. I had a recipe for Hamburger Buns that I have had for 3 or 4 years. I dug it out and whipped them up and popped them in the oven, and oh, yum, were they good! They only raised for 40 minutes and then raised on the baking pan for 20. They baked for 15 minutes. They were soft and light, and just so good.

We have decided NOT to send Maddie to some one else to get her started to ride. I will do it myself. Why pay someone else to do what I can do? And I wasn't for sure that I liked some of their training methods. Since she is our baby, I will do it my way, that way I won't have to undo someone elses work. She couldn't call me and tell me that she didn't like what they were doing to her, so we will keep her home and do it ourselves.

I put the saddle on her last weekend and worked her in it and walked her around and she didn't care about it at all. She paid it no attention at all, so I'm sure that she will not be a problem to ride.

Baby sister came up yesterday and spent the day. We sorted through the photos of the wedding that she photographed a couple of weeks ago. We did some tweaking, cropping, color adjusting and put them on a CD for her client. They really looked nice and she was pleased with the end result.

2008-06-01T22:41:00.002-04:00

Last summer at someones yardsale, we met a man that is one of our close neighbors, but we didn't know him, or that he was a neighbor. We spoke about horses, and he invited me to come and visit his wife and talk to her as both he and his wife train horses for people. But with one thing and another, I never did it. Yesterday as we came home from town, with nothing pressing to do, Ed and I stopped at their place. It is just one county road over from where we live. We asked about their training methods, feeding practices, as everyone does things differently than the next person. Checked out the barn, and the other horses that were there.

Ed and I have been discussing getting help with getting Maddie started under saddle. I don't bounce like I used to, and don't want to get hurt, so this is why we were seriously checking them out. We were there for an hour, talking with them.

Today, they came over to our house to check out Maddie and see what they thought. (Said she was a good looking horse.) They invited me to come and ride with them also. So this afternoon, I saddled Katie and rode back on the trails on the Nature Conservancy that is behind our property to meet them. That is where they also ride, teaching young horses to be 'trail smart'. We rode for an hour, and Katie was really sweating, as this was only the second time she has been ridden this year! Me bad! She (and I found out me too, are so 'out of shape'!)

We have decided to take Maddie over to them for a short time to get her under saddle. I have done a lot of work with her already, just have not rode her. One day this week, we will load her up and take her over there, along with her own hay, that she is used to. They live close enough, that I could ride her back home when it is time to bring her home. I have been invited to stop in as often as I wish to see her or see them work with her. Which I will do. As often as everyday, most likely.

I have been working on my flower garden and also have added a long row of Hostas to the front of the house along the front porch. They were large well grown plants, and I had mulched it and it looked so nice! I tied Sam (yellow Lab) to the back of the truck that was parked nearby and came in the house. Came back out about 45 minutes later and that &#*@&^%#* dog, had dug them all out, tore them up and dug holes all through the bed that I had them planted in, which was about 15 feet long! I could have easily killed him with a hoe! (Not really, but I sure felt like it). It wasn't his fault. I should not have tied him with in reach, but he has never done anything like that before, so had no reason to expect such devastation!

Anyway, I gathered up the pieces and replanted them. It doesn't look nearly as nice as before but they are all growing, albeit, slowly.

I can't take photos, because a certain someone, has borrowed my camera, (boy, do I feel naked without it!) therefore you will just have to imagine what it looked like that day when I walked out on the porch! It still maked me angry!

I'm sure there are other things I was going to write about, but they have left me. It is nearly 11:30, and my brain says, Enough for now. Will catch up another time.

2008-04-14T21:15:00.008-04:00

It has been a while since I have been on here. Life hasn't been much fun lately.

We had a thunder storm during the day last Thursday and when I got home from work at 4:30, our Yellow Lab, Sam, had dug out from under the gate of the back yard and was not to be found. He is utterly terrified of thunder, but has never dug out before. Usually he just gets really jumpy and stays in his dog house. No sign of him on Friday either. He got out one other time a few months ago, but came back on his own. On Saturday morning when we left to do some shopping in town, we put up two signs, one was a mile from our house and the other was about a half mile the other direction. We arrived home about 4:30 PM and there was a message on the anwering machine from a lady that said she had picked up a large male Lab on Thursday afternoon as she was coming home from work. She said he appeared to be pretty scared. (He is a very gentle, mellow dog.) Someone stopped to help her lift him into her truck and she took him home with her, keeping him in her garage. She took him with her to work the next day as she has two dogs of her own and couldn't keep him. (She works at a vet clinic in the next county.) After work on Friday she took him to the Humane Society. It was after they had closed for the week end that we found out about all of this. Ed stopped in at the Humane Society today, after work and it was our Sam! After posting bail for him, they let him have him. He was glad to be home and we were sure glad to have him back!

A couple of weeks before this incident we had to put our Chow, Penny to sleep. She just stopped eating, and would drool constantly. She wanted to eat, but if fed a teaspoon of broth, (at the vets recommendation) she would almost immediatly throw up. We tried everything the vet suggested, and were giving her meds from the vet. But she couldn't keep anything down, yet she was mostly bright eyed and was eager to be petted and loved on. I took her to the vets on Wednesday and we did what the vet suggested to treat her. But it wasn't working. She couldn't even keep water down. I took her back to vet on Friday morning and she rehydrated her and gave her more meds, for nausea, antibiotics, and I don't remember what else, also additional examinations. I took her home and we followed vets advice. I took her back on Monday and she had lost 5 pounds. I left her for the vet to try whatever she thought was best. But nothing was working. On Thurday morning I went back and we put her to sleep. The vet suspected stomach cancer, but wasn't sure. Enough of her blood work came back normal to puzzle the vet. I gave the vet permission to do an exam after her death, and she called me at home to tell me that Penny had advanced stomach cancer. It came on her rather suddenly. A month before this she was her usual happy, eager self. She was only 8 years old.

During all this going on with Penny, I went to the local clinic to have a mole checked out and they refered me to a dermatologist in Bloomtown. After a biopsy, I had a Basil Cell Carcinoma removed from my head. It was in the hairline, at the top of my forehead. It stood up from my scalp and I would hit it with a hairbrush or whatever and it would bleed. One of the little boys I take care of bumped it and made it bleed, so I just thought it was time to get it checked out. So now it has been removed. The Dr. said she got it all, even the roots, and it shouldn't come back. I am happy about that, to be sure! Thank you, Lord!

We purchased some railroad ties to use around my garden, and I can hardly wait for some warm weather so I can scratch up the garden! I want to try Lasagna Gardening. We have lots of stuff to add to the ground to make a rich planting bed. But it is way too wet to do anything with! I have onions to plant!! among other things!

Here are a couple of photos of our new babies. They will be a week old on Friday.

Here are a couple of Sam and Penny.

This one of Sam was taken several years ago, he is 12 years old now.

And here is the second of the quilt squares that I had made for the quilt raffle for the horse rescue in Maryland.

The horses had their feet trimmed for the third time by the new Barefoot Trimmer and I'm liking his work more all the time. Their feet will take some time to get 'right' again, but there is already improvement. he is prompt, and gets done in a reasonable amount of time. The last guy would take 3-5 hours to trim three horses!! EEEK!!

Well, I'm all talked out now, so this will have to do for those of you that are yelling that I need to update, so here it is!

2008-02-24T20:16:00.003-05:00

Our local paper had an article on Hypertufa. I had never heard of it before. There would be a class in town at the Hilltop Gardens on how to make your own hypertufa planters. It looked so interesting that I emailed them that I would like to attend. A couple of days later I received an answer that the class was full. Another one would be scheduled. That one was yesterday. It was lots of fun. We were given the recipe to go home and make our own. We each made one while at the class and since they have to cure a week before they can be taken out of the forms, I won't be able to bring it home until next Saturday. Here is a link if you would like more information about these intesting planters.http://www.squidoo.com/Learn-Hypertufa-Garden-Art

The instructor said they needed 12 people to enroll to be able teach the class and they had 90 people register! They had to put on several classes to accomodate everyone.

I love gardening and flowers. Can't hardly wait until it warms up outside. Did I mention that I hate winter? Ick! I want to get my hands in the dirt again!

My new Barefoot Trimmer is coming again Tuesday afternoon. His first time was January 14. I'm anxious to hear if he thinks Solomons feet have improved since his last visit. I think they have. Solomon is going to be 19 this spring. He is 16 hands, and has big feet and a huge head! He is a registered Tennessee Walker, flaxen maned, red roan. He has always even as a very young horse, grown a thick, long coat in the winter, more than any of my other horses. His legs are so hairy, you would think he was a draft! I helped bring him into this world and he will always be my baby. He used to be my primary riding horse, but he has arthritis in his right stifle joint, from an old surgery when he was a 2 year old, so he is mostly a pasture pet. I can ride him on level ground for short periods, but that is all. He will always have a home with me.

2008-02-22T07:24:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, we had some really nasty weather here. We already had about an inch of snow, but during the day yesterday it started to snow a little, soon turned to sleet with some rain. Temperature was 19 degrees. I usually work from 8:00 to 3:30. I always worry about our three horses when the weather is bad and I'm at work. Their lot is seperate from the barn, across the driveway.

The horses have a large run in shed at the north end of their lot, and their heated water tank is at the south end of the lot. When the ground is frozen they don't want to walk all the way down through those frozen hoofprints to drink. They will once a day, but don't drink as often as they should. And what is the shed for? To keep them out of the weather if they so choose. But if the weather is nasty, they almost always stand outside in what ever weather we are having. We have a hay feeder in the shed and they will eat their hay, even take naps laying down in the shed. But let the weather turn ugly and they stand outside!

After putting them inside, and giving them a slice of hay, Katie gave me a warm, whiskery kiss. Made it all worth it. Frozen fingers, heavy winter clothes, cold feet, the whole winter thing. Have I mentioned that I hate winter?

When I arrived home they were outside, had icicles hanging on their whiskers, manes, everywhere. They looked at me with hope and anticipation to "get us out of here!" Of course I did, but that is the reason we built the shed, right?

Sawdust and Woodpeckers

2008-02-19T20:51:00.004-05:00

I love to feed the birds and watch their antics at the feeder. Here is a photo that I took Sunday morning. Last winter there were four of these Pileated Woodpeckers feeding. Usually I only see one at a time. This was a surprise. Her is more information about these large birds:

http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/pileatedwoodpecker.htm

My horses will sleep well for the next 6 to 8 weeks or so. This afternoon, after work, we had a load of sawdust delivered. It is clean, bright and beautiful and smells good too.

My husband is quite ingenious. After shoveling the sawdust one too many times from the back of a pickup truck, he remembered using a grain elevator on the farm where he grew up. He found a used one for about 60.00 and set it up in our barn doorway. He had previously fully enclosed one of our stalls, except for a small section above the doorway, for the top of the elevator.

We had the sawdust dumped from the truck right on a huge tarp, right next to the elevator. We shoveled it into the hopper and the job was done in no time and bedding is ready to use. I feel so much better now, knowing it is there.

2008-02-17T21:25:00.004-05:00

I was pleasantly surprised to receive an award from Victoria at http://victoriacummings.blogspot.com/ . This award came from Diane at Mind Sieve dwmindsieve.blogspot.com . You can go to her site and pick up your award also. She asks that it be passed on to 10 of your favorite blogs. Here are a few that I enjoy reading. I don't have 10 to pass it on to, but I'll do my best. I am not a computer whiz as it took me most of the day to figure out how to do this! I really do need some computer classes!!

1. http://theseanproject.blogspot.com/

2. http://adventuresinpetsitting.blogspot.com/

3. http://adventuresinpetsitting.blogspot.com/

4. http://naturalhorsejourney.typepad.com/a_natural_horse_journey/

Here is one of my quilt blocks that will eventually be made into a quilt and be raffled off for the Days End Horse Rescue in Maryland. Here is the link if anyone wants to check it out. http://www.defhr.org/ I have my other one half done. It is very different from this one.

Maddie hates to be out in the rain. Since it was 60 degrees today, I left them outside. It rained off and on all day, but the wind was gusting to 50 miles an hour at times. She was getting irritated. She would sling her head in a circle, round and round. It sure looks like it would make her dizzy, but she does it often. She does it when she is impatient to come in for her supper too, or if she thinks the weather is just too icky for her delicate self. She doesn't like mud either, although that is all we have around here right now. Solomon is very stoic, he just takes whatever comes and doesn't bat an eye. When it comes to getting shots he acts as though he never feels them, he doesn't flinch or move a muscle. Poor Maddie starts to tense as soon as the vet walks up to her. She is such a princess. It will be fun this summer. She will be 5 in May, and I still haven't ridden her yet, but this is her summer to become a trail horse!

Meditation

2008-02-15T21:35:00.002-05:00

Cleaning horse stalls. Is this an icky job for you? Do you like doing it? Maybe I'm the odd duck, because I like cleaning stalls. Turning chaos into neatness. This is my quiet time, time to reflect on the happenings of the day, on the horses, on life in general. Sifting out the crud and laying a new bed down. Sorting my thoughts and pondering problems. When I worked on the Arabian Horse Farm, we had 2 barns, total of 27 stalls. I liked doing it then and I still do, even though now I only have 3 to do. Since I'm not paid to do it anymore, my three are enough. The horses enjoy them and our young cats like playing in it too.

I'm really getting so tired of cold and mud. I want to ride, but I hate being cold with a passion! And all the mud makes it so sloppy everywhere. If I were to ride ( I don't have an arena) it leaves deep hoof marks and pockets in the ground. We live on a hill, so it is either up or down hill to ride to anywhere, and when it is so soft everywhere, it really tears up the ground. So I don't until it dries up somewhat. But I'm itching to get back in the saddle!

On another note, had a wonderful visit with Mom, and two sisters. They came up to visit Moms dentist and get her dentures adjusted. We went out to lunch at Panera Bread and visited a couple of other shops. I had my little boys with me and they were very good boys. Being 2 1/2 years old, you expect them to be a bit unruly, but they were so good. No, they weren't sick either!

2008-02-09T20:49:00.000-05:00

Having had a metabolically challenged horse, I am being extra careful with the remaining three. I never ever want to go through that again. So...one of the best things I can do for their well being is to feed them a balanced diet. They are on dry lot only and that makes it extra important to get their nutrition the best that it can be. We buy our hay in summer and usually get 600 bales to last us until the next season of hay is cut. We have purchased our hay from the same farmer for the last 4 or 5 years. It is a mixed grass. We have bought it for 2.50 a bale until this last summer. We had such a drought that there wasn't any hay to buy. Hay was brought in last summer for 8.00 to 10.00 a bale for small squares of grass hay. I've recently seen it in our local paper for 5.00 to 8.00. Our farmer sold us his for 3.00 and we feel blessed to have gotten it. It was mid October when we got the bulk of it as the weather was not very cooperative. Ok, back to the balanced diet. I sent cored hay samples to a Forage lab and had a sugar, starch and mineral analysis done, so that I would know if there were deficiencies of any minerals in the hay. Once I received that, I could then balance the hay properly. I had some help to interpret the analysis, then purchased the needed minerals and add them to each horses' supper.

Horses were designed to eat forage, not sweet molasses and other sugars. It is especially important to a horse with Insulin Resistance. Sugar is a death sentence, as in developing laminitis. It is a devastating disease and very painful for the horse. Having been through this with my Rocky Mountain gelding I am doing everything in my power to avoid it with Solomon, Katie and Maddie. Even though I don't think they are IR, I want to give them a solid, balanced diet.

Do they like this new diet? (I have only been doing this since January 3, this year). I suppose the minerals taste funny. Katie picks at hers but it is almost always gone by morning. The other two eat it with no problems. The trick now is to find something that she thinks is yummy to mask the flavor a bit. I expect to see a difference in their coats when they shed out in the spring. I did this for the Rocky and it made a visable difference in his coat and in his general well being.

Is this a lot of work? Not really. Is it expensive? Not really. It could be, depending on what the hay was missing or an excess that would need to be balanced out. Since the horses are not where they can range far and wide to feed themselves, it is up to me to give them a balanced and complete diet, right? I think so. I will do my best to keep you three healthy.

2008-02-09T10:59:00.000-05:00

Apple Spice Cake

1 stick of margarine (I used butter as it is what I had on hand)
1/2 cup solid shortening
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, beaten
2 cups flour
2 Teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 Teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 Teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 Teaspoon baking soda
1 Teaspoon salt
5 cups peeled, cored and chopped apples
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup seedless raisins

Prheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a Bundt pan. ( I think a 13 x 9 inch would work well also).
Cream together the margarine (or butter), shortening and sugar.
Add in eggs and mix until fluffy.
Mix in flour, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, baking soda and salt.
The batter will be very creamy.
Fold in apple chunks, pecans and raisins.
Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 40 minutes. (I had to bake mine for 60 minutes in a Bundt pan, but a 13 x 9 would likely bake about 40 minutes).
Bake until a toothpick comes out clean.
Remove from pan (if using a Bundt pan) and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Frosting

5 Tablespoons butter
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a small pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Stir in brown sugar and salt.
Cook, stirring until the sugar melts.
Add the milk, bring to a boil, and pour into a mixing bowl.
Cool for 10 minutes.
Stir in confectioners sugar and vanilla.
Beat well. ( I wanted a soft frosting so I added enough more milk to make it 'pourable' over the Bundt cake). Add more confectioners sugar or milk to make is as thick or thin as you like.

I took this to work with me and was told it was 'to die for'!

2008-02-06T21:06:00.000-05:00

Katie, the Mom

Solomon

Maddie, the daughter

I found this "Horse Quirks" on another horse lovers blog and thought I would list some of my horses' strange quirks too. There are lots of things the three of them come up with but here are my six:

1. Maddie has this weird thing she does with her tongue that just drives my husband crazy! she sticks her tongue in and out rapidly and makes slurpy noises. And she especially like to do it if she can find a puddle or even in the water tank.

2. Katie has this cute habit of holding up her right front leg, folded at the knee, while she is waiting for me to put her supper in her feeder.

3. Solomon is a licker. He will lick my hand for a long time. It is almost like a kiss, so glad to see you again!

4. Katie will lay her head on your shoulder and shut her eyes. A horse hug?

5. Solomon will eat anything as a treat! If he hears a crinkle of paper or a wrapper, he will come from anywhere as long as he is within hearing distance to see what you have brought for him! The mares are a bit more picky.

6. Maddie plays in her water so often at night that she has to have the bucket locked to the stall wall. She will kick it and throw it around and bang it back and forth. The more noise the better!

2008-01-26T13:13:00.000-05:00

So why do I have such a hard time 'updating' my blog? Is my life so outrageously boring? Sometimes I just sit here and wonder what to write and why am I doing this. I enjoy 'writing'. Used to write letters of up to 6 or more pages, to friends and family. Somehow this has sort of fallen by the wayside. Don't really know why but...

Anyway, here are a few things that have occupied my attention lately. Last Saturday we had an appointment at the vets, to take Penny, our female, 6 or 7 year old, black, chow dog, and Taco our 12 1/2 year old male barn cat, for a visit. Penny has allergies so bad that she scratched non stop, and she was losing her hair. She looked and smelled awful. The vet gave her a steriod shot and on Tuesday she will start her Prednison pills. We have tried baths, changing her food, nothing has helped. This is the last resort. Allergy testing is too expensive, about 260.00 the vet said. Not an option.

Taco has had some kind of cancer on his nose for about 5 years. (Can't remember what the vet called it). It didn't bother him until lately. It had recently started to eat into his nose and bleed. He was not a happy cat anymore. So we helped him to cross the Rainbow Bridge. Now he is playing and laying in the sun to his hearts content.

I have come to the conclusion that the farrier that we have been using for the last year and a half was not doing my horses any good. Solomons feet seemed to just get worse and worse. The shape of them was changing and not in a good way. So I went online to some Barefoot trimming sites and found a new farrier. He came last Monday, and trimmed all three of the horses. He did say it will take about 3 months to get Solomons feet back to where they should be. He knew the previous trimmer and wasn't impressed with his work at all. This new guy is accredited and graduated from a Naturel Barefoot Trimmers school in Georgia. For those of you that don't know, a Barefoot Trimmer is one who is trained to trim horses like the feet of the wild mustangs in the west. It is the most natural way for the horses' feet. Shoes are a necessary evil for certain situations but barefoot is the best if possible.

Caught a 24 hour stomach bug somewhere. Thursday I felt fine until I got home from work. I was chilling, and couldn't get warm. Took a hot shower and went to bed. Couldn't eat, didn't want to eat. Food was revolting to even think about! I feel better now, but still haven't eaten much of anything. Just not hungry.

I have been a member of an online discussion board for several years. This is on my favorite horse trainers website. Someone on there suggested that we make a quilt and raffle it off to benefit a Horse Rescue located in Maryland. Here is a link to view the rescue:

http://www.defhr.org/ One of the women that works at this rescue is also a membe of the list. She related the story of a pretty dramatic rescue of about 70 horses that weren't being fed or cared for. Those of us that wanted to, are now making quilt blocks to be sent to another list member that is Florida. She will put all the blocks together and make it into a quilt. We can design our block in anyway that we want to. I have one of mine almost done. When it is finished I will post a photo of it. I've never done anything like this before and loved the idea of people from all over the country doing this. Isn't the internet a neat thing?

A New Start

2008-01-01T20:14:00.000-05:00

I think it is high time I updated, even though I don't have anything to blog about. In October I purchased a new (used) Digital SLR. It takes a good bit of studing the manual to figure out how to use it to its full potential. I spent quite a long time today, trying to learn how to turn on some of its features, but still haven't figured it out. But I will!!! But it takes nice photos.

Here are some of the photos from the clan, gathering at Rachels' house in Etown, Ky. for our family Christmas.

Getting ready to eat!

Some of the desserts on the side table. Good eatin', Gregory!

All the girls! and the littlest musician!!Here are some photos of Elliot that I took yesterday. He seems to think that we put the birdseed out to make it easier for him to catch his dinner! (He hasn't even come close to catching anything, and yes we really do feed him well and he doesn't 'need' to catch his next meal!) He spends a lot of time here, even though this is the farthest I've seen him climb the post.

2007-12-08T21:29:00.000-05:00

It is a rainy cold evening in December. Is this what is meant by 'a long winter evening'? Remember all the 'stuff' that we were saving to do on a 'long winter everning'? That we didn't have time for right at that moment? Well, now that it is here, I don't remember what I was going to do, with all this 'time' on my hands!! Oh well, there is a never ending list of things that need done. So much for those long talked about and anticipated 'long winter evenings'!! I'm ready for April and warm weather.

Here is a photo of my Orange Christmas cactus. Charlotte gave me 4 or 5 pieces of one of hers, last Christmas and this is what it has become. They are all planted in this one pot. It sat out on the porch until I was afraid it would get frost bitten, then I brought it inside. It is sitting in our unheated laundry room and it gets COLD in there! So far it hasn't seemed to bother it.

I made the Cushaw Pie recipe and it is surely a keeper! E loved it! It doesn't seem to be as intensly flavored as a pumpkin pie and it also has a tiny hint of lemon it. It is just so good that you can't stop eating it. Now, if I just knew where to get my hands on another Cushaw Squash! I had enough of this one to put some in the freezer for a couple of future pies. I also saved some seeds from it and we will plant them next summer and see what we get. Are Cushaws a hybrid? I don't know.

Gotta end all this suspence over the new kittens name! I had the most votes for Gypsy, but E will only call her Nuisance! He isn't particularly fond of cats and he especially doesn't care for a cat that likes to rub on you or be all over you. And Gypsy is just a puddle of love when you pick her up! She just melts, and purrs so loud. He thinks cats should be skittish and do their job of catching mice, but leave him alone. I like a cat that enjoys hugs and cuddling. And Gypsy is on little cute 'love bug'!

Here is the recipe for the Amish Sugar Cookies. If you make them let me know how you liked them. I think they are just the best sugar cookies I have ever eaten!

Amish Sugar Cookies

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
4 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla

Beat first four ingredients well, then add eggs. Mix well. Add
dry ingredients and vanilla. Drop small ball of dough on lightly
greased cookie sheet. Sprinkle with sugar. Flatten dough with
bottom of a glass. Bake 375 degrees for 10 - 12 minutes. Makes
about 5 dozen cookies.

Here is a photo of my little guys, wearing their Santa hats. It is very hard to get them to hold still or sit or stand together, long enough to get them both in the same picture! They are 28 months old now.

2007-12-01T21:44:00.000-05:00

Ok, Ruth, here they are. I think S must have taken this one. I didn't but it is a very nice picture of Grandpa and grandaughter. Some of the 'girls'.
Mumsie

Chief Cook! and a good one!

E and I had a busy day today. He dug up one of the water hydrants and tried to find out why it is freezing up. It is 3 feet in the ground so shouldn't freeze. But somehow it isn't draining the water back out of the faucet. It is the one nearest the barn, that we draw all the horses water from when they are in for the night. It is a real pain when it is frozen and doesn't work!! I'll let you know how it works out.

One day this week, I was in the local Burger King with the boys and their grandmother. A gentleman that was standing in line, asked if anyone knew where he could get a cushaw squash. Said he had purchased one before Thanksgiving Day at our local grocery store a few weeks back and wanted another one. But now they didn't have any. He tried their supplier also and couldn't get any there. He was from another town and couldn't find one anywhere. He said the local grocery store had some recipe sheets with the squashes that he had picked up also. He said it was just like the pies his mother used to make. (This man was about 60 years old). I asked him if he would share the recipe and he took my name and address. Yesterday, I was totally surprised to get the recipe in the mail from him! Today I cooked the cushaw squash that I had gotten from the same local grocery store, and tomorrow I will bake it into a pie. He said they make bettter pies than pumpkin! So...we will see if he is right! I looked online for cushaw and found that some else said the same thing about them!

I was too busy baking a 16 pound turkey, making mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potato casserole, green beans and corn, (combined in one dish), and rolls to bake pies today. Since we are always gone to my folks or his folks for the holidays, I never get to fix our own meal. So today, I just did it. I cut up the left over turkey into 2 cup portions and froze it in baggies. Now we can make a chicken pot pie any time we want to, or anything else with it.

I also finally got my tulip bulbs planted in my new flower bed. Late this summer I dug a new flower bed along the east side of the house. I have iris, phlox, hostas, salvias, (perrenials) in it. Also two butterfly bushes are at the corner of the house. It should be pretty next summer.

Can't wait to try this pie! I'll let you know what I think of it! I made a new cookie recipe the other night and froze most of the cookies. It was an Amish Sugar Cookie, but was unlike any sugar cookie I had ever eaten before. I don't like most of them. This one was so light and delicate and tender and just sooo good! Maybe I will publish that one too. Maybe. I'll have to think about this a bit!