Views of our little bit of country

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

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!

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



http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/

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

To a wonderful pet, Miss Kitty

10-98 to 3-18-09

Random Photos

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?

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!

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!