Had enough yet!! He He ! Well these weren't in the photo share. I just liked them and thought I would share them too. And that is REALLY all of them!


 

One of the daylilies in my yard last summer.
This one was the last photo in our Focus Group Photo Share. He had titled it Kitty Kisses. There were a lot of AHHHHHH's for this one.

And that's all folks.  

This is a Hen and Chicks succulent plant, blooming.


Pretty fall colors.


Canadian Geese on the pond at Grossmans, at Stone Ridge.


Here's looking at you!! This is Minnie, a minature horse at Stone Ridge. She was watching me through the rails of the fence.


 

Discovered this one driving along, and had to stop.

The next one was taken from atop a stone outcropping at Natural Bridge State Park last year, when the Photo Club had an overnight field trip there.

The deer by the fence was taken at Stone Ridge one morning.

And the fawn in the grass is one I took when I was still at home. Dad had been bush hogging the field, when we saw a doe jump up and run into the woods. He stopped because he didn't want to run over a fawn. I thought she might have a baby out there, since it was in late May or early June. I went and bridled Windy and rode her out in the unmowed part of the field and this is what I saw, down in the tall grass. If I had been on foot I never would have seen it, but from horseback, there it was. It didn't move a whisker and Windy didn't know it was there. We left it alone and the next morning it was gone. She had moved it to a safer place.


 

I went out driving some of the county back roads one very early morning last fall and saw this one and liked the patterns.

The horses are Solomon and Katie, taken off of our front porch, early one morning last summer.

The pond is along a back road south of Spencer.

The power line is in our back pasture.


 

Here are three more of them. Sarah took this photo of the Luna Moth, when we had our Mother's Day picnic at the park where she works.

 

Ok Lois, you asked for it. I don't know how this will work, but here goes. This is three of them. The rest will follow.  

Such a beautiful morning! It was quite cold out and the grass in the pastures was all white with frost, but the sun coming over the trees had a wonderful warming color. It is orange as it comes over the hilltop, then the frost gradually melts away, and the air warms up nicely. I love early mornings. It starts the day out right! (Mind you, I didn't say I like getting out of a nice warm bed on a cold morning!) Once I'm up...we are good to go!!
I drove into town today. Took my camera with me, but didn't see anything worth stopping to photograph. I'm eagerly waiting until spring starts to show itself! I hope to get some nice photos then.

I have been working with Katie everyday. She has never had any basic training. A good solid foundation. She is 11 years old and is very green. I have worked with her every day but one, in the last week and a half. She is doing much better already. Today I rode her bareback for a while. We don't go far, neither of us is ready for long rides yet. We go down the back pasture, and out along our long drive way, then circle around and come back. Then we spend some time doing our groundwork exercises. She is so responsive and eager to please. Her very calm demeanor and effectionate, easy going personality are a big plus. You can't help but love her! And she gives back everything you give to her. She often stands with her head against my chest with her eyes shut. And she hugs by laying her big head on my shoulder and just relaxing, with her eyes shut! She would crawl in your lap if she could.

I'm working with Katie primarily so that any mistakes I make in the training process, I hope to get them figured out by the time I start with Maddie. She is turning 3 this spring, so will be ready for some groundwork too.

I have a Photography Club meeting tonight. We have several smaller groups under the umbrella of the Photo Club. Some people prefer macro photography (photographing anything in extreme closups), then we a have portraiture group, another one that likes night photography and several others. I am in one that is Landscape, Nature and Wildlife. Our focus group is having a Photo Share tonight. We each chose several of our best photos from last year, and one of the members has compiled them into a musical slide show that will be shown to the whole club tonight. He did a super job on the one from the year before. Everyone was amazed at his creativity. So we will see what he does this year! We have about 80 members that usually show up for our monthly meetings.

Not much going on in our neck of the woods. The syrup making is done for the year. Now comes the BIG job. Gathering up all the buckets, taps, hoses, cook pan, and assorted accessories and washing them. But I usually do it at the outside hydrant and I REALLY don't want to do it 38° weather! Brrrrrr!! So....I will wait a couple more days, since it is supposed to be 65°!

I saddled Katie and we went for a short ride today! I used to ride all the time and spend hours in the saddle. But since I married and moved up here the Bloomtown, I haven't ridden hardley at all.

So now...when I get on a horse, I'm not as comfortable as I used to be. There is more of a fear factor. And I don't like that. I would guess that if I do it more often, the uneasiness will lessen. Lets hope so!

I found this today, and it says it all:

Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intentions of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming...WOW...What a ride!

I love this song! By George Beverly Shea

It is cold and gray this morning. I don't know what to do with myself this morning, with no maple syrup cooking! The sap has started to look cloudy when it comes out of the trees, so that is a sign that it is time to quit. I think the warm weather that we had last week has something to do with it. Anyway...it was fun while it lasted! We made 30 pints of syrup. Some batches are better than others. The later in the season the darker the syrup, it seems. But I like the dark syrup it has more body and taste. There is something in the sap of the maple trees, that when you cook it down, it collects in the syrup. It is called 'sugar sand'. It really is only a collection of minerals and stuff like that. But it doesn't look very good in the jars. Large commercial sugaring companies have ways of filtering it out, but us 'backyard' sugaring companies have to try whatever works. So doing a lot of reading on the internet, I have followed recommended methods of removing it this way, I strain the boiling syrup through a piece of felt with a layer of flannel on top of it. That does a good job, but there is still a small amount in the jars. It doesn't effect the taste at all. I can live with that for my pancakes and waffles!

Lois, here is the recipe you were looking for. It is in one of the 'comments' on Ruths blog.
Ruth, no, it didn't come from a health cookbook. I just looked for one that didn't have a pound of powdered sugar, and lots of butter, and other stuff. Most of them made a huge pan full, and I looked for one that made a reasonable amount! All those leftovers just go to waist!

BANANA SPLIT CAKE
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, room temperature,
1 c. powdered sugar
5 tbsp. milk
1 1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs
1/4 c. butter, melted
2 bananas
1 sm. can crushed pineapple, drained
8 oz. Cool Whip

Mix graham cracker crumbs with butter and pat into 8 inch square dish for crust.
Cream cheese, powdered sugar and milk together. Spread over crust.
Slice bananas over cream cheese mixture.
Put drained pineapple over bananas.
Spread with Cool Whip. Refrigerate.
Serve in squares and put a maraschino cherry on each one.

This is something that we all need to keep in mind when things get sticky with another person. Not as easy as it sounds, but it would keep us from hurting someone, I'm sure. I loved this as soon as I read it:

The Nail
There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His Father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound is still there. " A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one. Friends are very rare jewels, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, they share words of praise and they always want to open their hearts to us."

Yesterday was my day to go town and run some errands. I took one of Ed's work boots to a shoe repair shop in downtown Bloomington, so they could sew the sole back on at the toe. It had been glued, but needed stitching. This same repair shop did other boot to this pair a couple of months ago, and did a very nice job. It turned out to be better than the original, which was only glued.

I went over to Bloomingfood's and bought a pound of flax seed which I grind as needed and add to my morning shake mix. I stopped at the post office and mailed a package, (after standing in line at least 20 minutes)! And it was 10:30 in the morning! There is ALWAYS a line to stand in, in this postoffice, no matter what time of the day!

Before I started to town to run my errands I made a stop at Horse Angels Rescue Farm. It is 4 miles from our house. It is run by a lady veternarian and her husband. I asked her if they needed any part time help. She said not right now, but in a couple of months. There is going to be a Dressage Trainer and her loyal following, coming to her barn in March.
The vet was in a hurry, she had appointments somewhere, and she told me to just go through the barn and look around. There were several horses inside. One is her personal horse, a cremello (a faded yellow color, but not palomino) quarter horse stallion, a 30 year old blind mare, a pony, a goat, and 3 or 4 other horses.
Outside were several others in all stages of rehab, from being rescued. There were two that obviously had Cushings Disease. The barn was a mess. She has a 120' x60' indoor arena. It would be a nice place if it was cleaned up. She said everything got away from her this winter.

I had written a resume, the evening before, so I gave her that, then she left. Later in the afternoon, she called me and asked me if I would be interested in helping her do surgery. Be her assistant. HUH? She wanted to know if the sight of blood makes me ill. I said I didn't think so, but that I had no medical training! Anyway, she said she would talk it over with her son, and call me back. So that is where it stand now.

Just thought I'd let you know, there are probably some changes in the works. Don't know to what extent yet...I'm trying to follow the 'still small voice' that guides our lives if we let Him.

Today was a nice day. We cooked syrup hard most of the day, but we took time out to go to Chili's for lunch. Yummy! We had two 5.00 coupons that would have expired on Tuesday, so we ate them up!

I canned 6 1/2 pints of syrup this evening.

A friend called and told me that she knew of a Rocky Mountain Horse breeding farm that had all its horses confiscated because they were starving and several had already died. She wanted to know if I could take any of them, to nurse them back to health. It would be my horse, I wouldn't have to give it back. We tried to get more information but didn't know enough about it to make a decision. She called me back this evening and said there were only 4 out of about 16 that could be adopted and 3 were stallions, 1 a filly. All were under 3 years old, and most likely weren't halter broke.
I told her I don't have the facilities to take an unhandled horse. She will get more information tomorrow and let me know.

Ed and I collected 25 gallons of sap yesterday evening and tonight we had 27 gallons more! I cooked non-stop all day, setting the kitchen timer so I wouldn't have any more Oooopsie's!!! It looks like we will be cooking all weekend just to catch up!

Here is a photo of our back pasture. The maple trees that we have tapped are on both sides of the open field. So...we carry the buckets! And it is a long way to the top, where I am standing to take this photo.

I've just went out and taken the syrup off of the stove to cool a bit before bringing it in the house. It is pretty well concentrated, so I think I will finish it on the kitchen stove tomorrow, while Ed starts cooking down some more out in the garage.

To do this right, we need a bigger evaporator. Then we could cook a lot of sap at one time and not have to spend so much time at it, but...we do with, what we got, right? (Terrible way to fracture the King's English)!

I took a curry comb and a hoof pick with me and went out and cleaned the mud off of the horses in between carrying buckets. They all three crowded around, 'do me! do me! my turn! hey, she cut in line! Well, they all had a turn, and thoroughly enjoyed the attention.

Yesterday was such a beautiful day! It warmed up enough that the trees started running again. I walked down the hill with two empty 4 gallon buckets and had to make three trips to get all the buckets on the trees emptied. One of them was running over!

It was so quiet down in the woods.The air was warm, and the sun was shining brightly. There was not a single sound of civilization! Only the wind, softly blowing in the tree tops, the birds were talking and singing. It was peaceful and relaxing.

I started the syrup boiling and kept it going hard all day. Since the raccoon has decided to visit the barn and steal catfood, we bring the unfinished syrup in the house for the night. We have had problems with the coons before. The previous owners did also. We have trapped several and taken them miles away and released them, but it hasn't made a dent in their population.
Last summer we had a momma and 4 babies up in the loft, and we would see them frequently. The babies weren't very afraid of us. We could come within 1o feet of them. They are very curious. But they are messy and leave piles of poop on the hay and anywhere else they happen to spend any time. Nasty!!

I made a big pan of fried cabbage for supper. I love that stuff. I could eat it three times a day. Ed's family never cooked it that way before and he didn't think he would like it, but was he surprised! He went back twice to get more! Also grilled pork chops, and made a cheesy broccoli cauliflower dish in the crockpot. Good!

Since the trees haven't started running at full capacity yet, I had another day to get caught up with some cleaning. I had a couple of cups of Herbal Concentrate Tea, so I had energy to spare today! I cleared off some counter space and put things away. (I'm too good at just setting it here for now, I'll put it away when I have more time). I diced up a 3 lb. bag of onions and put them in the freezer. I will put them in small freezer bags tomorrow. We use them in our breakfast eggs, in casseroles, and it is so handy to have them cut up and ready to use.

I made a pot of Bean Soup with ham in it, for supper. Sprinkle some diced raw onion on a bowl of bean soup, and with fresh hot cornbread, there 'ain't' no bettter eatin'.

I sorted out some magazines to make more space. Did some laundry. Labeled and stored the maple syrup that we made.
I sure hope the trees run enough, so that I can make at least one more batch!

Big Ooooopsie!!! Well we did it now! It was so cold on Saturday, late evening, that we decided to let the syrup concentrate further while we went in the warm house. Forgot to set the kitchen timer to go and check on it....and this is what we found when we finally did remember it. About 2 hours later! OOPS! IWe could have burned the barn and garage down! Yikes! We have been having trouble with a big ole raccoon in the barn, and that is what I suddenly remembered. We had thought maybe he would mess with our syrup since it was sweet. We hadn't left any out, to see whether he would or not, but there was always that possibility, I guess. Anyway, Ed went out to bring it in the house for the night, to finish it up the next day. Only....there wasn't any, only this poor pan, burnt to a crisp, and the remains of a few sweet ashes!!

Do I feel better for confessing our negligence? A great big NO!! It completely ruined the pan and wasted the gas! But...hindsite is always 20/20, so will just have to forget it and learn from it. (Still makes me upset to think about it though).

Oooopsie, I made a boo boo! this bird is not an American Restart. It is a Rufous-sided Towhee. Sorry!

Isn't he a peach? Ed started the stove and started cooking sap early this morning. He let me sleep in, while he did the feeding too. When I woke up and looked outside, was I surprised! I didn't expect to see snow! And so cold out too! It was 7°!

Ed cooked sap all day long. We got quite a bit done too. Finally, about 7:30 this evening, we decided it was too cold, and we will finish tomorrow. He turned everything off and we brought the unfinished syrup in the house and set it in the laundry room. Several buckets of sap are also sitting in the laundry room (it is unheated) so they don't freeze solid outside in the garage.
It is supposed to be 2° tonight! Yikes!

The farrier was supposed to come and trim the horses tomorrow, but we called her and put it off a couple of weeks. It is too cold to stand out in the barn and hold the horses while she trims their feet. It usually takes her at least 2 1/2 hours. She is as slow as molasses! And she likes to talk, but can't talk and work at the same time. Good thing she doesn't charge by the hour!

Here is a photo of what we woke up to this morning, and a picture of our fuel source for the cooking pan. This is a 250 gallon tank. We have made syrup with it for 3 years, only filling it once, three years ago. Ed bought it at a farm dispersal auction several years ago.

Boy, was I surprised this afternoon when the phone rang and a familiar voice said that she was coming back from a run to Terra Haute and she could come and visit! She parked her big truck up at the firestation and I went up and picked her up in my truck and we fixed supper together. We used to do that...years ago! Then we all grew up and have our own families and we don't get the chance to do that anymore. So it was nice to have her in our kitchen, chatting and working on supper.

We grilled chicken, made baked potatoes, (actully we microwaved them) and a green salad. With good company, what more could you want?

I also canned another 4 pints of maple syrup this afternoon. So that was my day.

Hey Ya'll
I'm at Sharons house tonight for supper. Ya'll come up I'll share my chicken and baked potatoe and salad.
I had a run to Terre Haute and discovered that I was only a hop skip and a jump from Sharon, so here I am. Greg isn't home tonight, he went to a church function over night so I was all alone, didn't have any reason to rush on home to an empty house. Besides I needed some family time, also heard she was making maple syrup, so I'll have to sneak a jar into my purse, before I go. Rachel

We had a major wind and rain storm last night! I have been staying up late and cooking sap, but tonight I turned the stove off about 9:00 PM and called it quits. I didn't want to be out there with the stove on if a tree fell or whatever, happened. Our house is surrounded by huge maples, some that aren't so healthy. I didn't think it would be good to be using the stove in such a storm.

I cooked sap all day and yesterday canned the first batch. It made 4 1/2 pints. And there is nearly that much ready to can today. And the stove out in the garage has been going at top speed all day. I just hope that there isn't 25 gallons more waiting to be collected, at least not until I get caught up with the 40 or so sitting in the garage!

It is much colder today, 35°, but the trees are running on the sunny side of the trunks.

I started the sap cooking this morning, even before I fed the horses. It takes the pan quite a little while get up to a rolling boil. While that was heating up, I took two 4 gallon buckets, and walked down the hill to the woods. I had to make 3 trips carrying both buckets full of sap, back up the hill to the garage. (our woods are at the bottom of the hill, our house, barn and garage are at the top of the hill!) Anyway, by the time I got all the buckets that were on the trees emptied, I had 27 gallons of sap. This was in addition to yesterdays 25. I cooked sap at a rolling boil all day. When Ed got home, we went down and emptied them all again and we had 15 more gallons!! Lucky for me, the weather changed and they slowed down some today. The stove can only do so much, you know!

Here are todays pictures. The full ones hanging on the trees were last nights run. And here is a photo of my cooking pan and stove. I fill the pan 3/4 full of sap and bring it to a rolling boil. I have a 3 ppound coffee can with two small holes punched in the bottom. I keep refilling that can with fresh sap all day long. It runs out into the cooker pan at a rate that will not stop the rolling boil. It took me awhile to figure out how to regulate the flow of fresh sap, so as to not stop my syrup from boiling. Gradually as the syrup boils, it concentrates into a sweeter and sweeter syrup. As long as I allow fresh sap to run into it, it will continue to boil off the water that is in the sap.

It generally takes about 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. When the syrup is finally nearing the correct temperature, which is 7 degrees above the the boiling point of water, I bring it in the house where I can watch it closer, and finish it.

It is a lot of work, but oh, the end result is worth it all! I can understand why it is such an expensive product.

Wow, the trees are running like crazy today! When I did the morning feeding the trees were not doing anything, but this afternoon, these pictured buckets were full, and one of the trees down in the woods has a 4 gallon bucket on it, and it had been running over for some time! We emptied all the buckets tonight when Ed got home and we ended up with 25 gallons of sap!! and that is just today since it warmed up! Will they run all night? I don't know, they have sometimes in the past, when conditions are right. I hope not. It will take me all day to cook 25 gallons because I only have one stove to cook on. Last year we borrowed a friends deep frying turkey cooker, but we don't have it this year. So we will just have to do what we can do!

Well, guess what I found! I made this this morning and it couldn't be easier and tasts soooo goood!

Crustless Shoo-fly Pie

3/4 cup boiling water
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg, lightly beaten

3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1. Preheat oven to 4oo°F. Spray a 10 inch pie pan with non-stick vegetable cooking spray and set aside.
2. Combine boiling water and baking soda and stir until completely dissolved. Add molasses. Gradually stir water and molasses mixture into beaten egg and mix well.
3. In another bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt. Using a pastry blender or fork, add oil, mixing until consistancy of coarse meal. Place alternate layers of liquid mixture and dry mixture in the prepared pan, ending with the dry mixture as the top layer.
4. Bake on a baking sheet in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 300° and continue baking 20 more minures or until firm. Cool on a wire rack until room temperature. Store covered in the refrigerator.

My notes:I used a glass deepdish 9 inch pie pan and it didn't run over. It was perfect! I also baked this in my toaster oven at 400° for 20 minutes, then 300° for 10 minutes. Could have baked 5 minutes more, but it was done enough for me. This is not a dry pie.

Are you tired of my bird photos yet? Well, this is a new one for me! It is a male American Redstart . I think he was hungry too. He sure was grabbing the spilled seed that was on the ground.

No the trees didn't run today. It was too windy and cold. Didn't get over 32° today. But I expect them to tomorrow! It should be 44°, or so. There were 4 deer at the deer feeder about 10:00 this morning, but they didn't stay long. Something spooked them after about 5 minutes.

I was vacuuming the bedroom carpet and just happened to turn my head in time to see three red horses, go racing past the window, running toward the neighbors yard. I grabbed a sweatshirt and raced outside to see them running circles in their yard!! I flew out to the barn and grabbed a halter and a bucket with some grain, and hurried next door. I didn't run....as badly as I wanted to, so that I wouldn't spook them even more! (This was about 4:00 PM this afternoon). Katie let me walk up to her because she wanted what I had in the bucket. I haltered her and headed back to our barn and threw her in a stall. I expected Solomon and Maddie to follow her, but.......no........they were having way tooooo much fun!! Especially Maddie, she had her tail up over her back, and was whistling through her nose and having a ball! I caught Solomon and then Maddie decided she didn't want to be the only one over there so came running back and flew into the barn, as I was leading Solomon inside. Whew! It scares 5 years off of me when they get out and take off! We have a long 1/4 mile driveway, but the highway is full of big log trucks, and lots of fast traffic. And if they got out there, it wouldn't be nice! We don't want to go there. After I got them in the barn, I discovered that I, me, myself, and yours truly had left the gate open this morning, and they didn't discover it until 4:00PM!! Won't do that again! Whew, what an afternoon!  

Here are the latest visitors to our Bird Diner. Plus a couple of others that I took last night also. The moon was so pretty, framed by the trees.
Ed is loading the furnace for the night. I was experimenting with some night shots, to see what the camera could do.

Click each photo to see a larger version.

Brrr, what a cold weekend! Ed and I talked about making maple syrup this year and had just about decided not to because the price of propane was so high. I told him I think we will be sorry if we don't. Since we want to eventually move to a flatter piece of property, suppose it doesn't have any maple trees? We have quite a few here, so we should take advantage of it, right? There is still enough gas in the tank to maybe get us through this season. We decided to go ahead and do it.

We hauled a lot of the buckets and other supplies out of the storage space in the barn loft. I washed buckets and tubing and various other stuff, in the bathtub. Later we hauled a load of it down the hill in a little trailer and tapped some of the trees and hooked up the tubing. They aren't running yet, though. These are some of our best trees, known as 'sap cows'. They almost run nonstop when they start. Some of them will fill a 5 gallon bucket in about 12 hours. We have two taps in some of those trees.

So now we wait for the weather to co-operate. We need days above freezing, such as 40° or above and nights below freezing, preferably in the 20°'s. It was so cold down in the woods this afternoon, but it was so quiet and peaceful. You could even hear the snow falling. Big beautiful fluffy flakes. I think it is supposed to warm up to 55 °by Thursday, so I guess you know where I'll be, hauling 5 gallon buckets of sap up the hill to the garage. Ed set up the stove and everything is ready to go.

It is a lot of work, and I'm always glad when it is over, but oh, it tastes sooooo gooood on a hot buttery waffle. Or in a cup of hot tea!