Good Morning sky and moon...

 First Morning Light

After sunrise.

 

Banana Nut (Whole30)

The last few mornings we have had these beautiful skies!  Color and clouds, moon and frost.  It makes me so thankful for the simple beauty that God places right before my very eyes each day.

The banana picture is another of my new inventions for our Whole30 food.  I did it like the apple and nut recipe.  I put a teaspoon of coconut oil in the skillet, added walnuts and sauteed them for a minute or so and then added raw coconut and chopped bananas and sauteed another minute or so.  I didn't want the bananas to be mushy.  After it was done, I removed it from the heat and drizzled with a little vanilla extract and tossed.  I think rum extract would be good too.  Our little fruit/nut dessert was so good that I would serve it for dessert for guests!  I'm thinking peaches would be good like this too, don't you?

My painting obsession continues into the new year and I'm glad.  I've decided to continue an "art" journal, for lack of a better word.  I think I should call it an experiment journal instead.  The first pages I smeared some acrylic paint colors all over and then added some matte black acrylic too.  I wanted to use my white pen on top of it.  I decided to write down the Bible verses I've been reading and contemplating these past couple days.  I'm not much of a letter-er or calligrapher.  I wish I was, but at least it's legible.  I might have to try fiddling with that skill too.   I'm doing more embroidery right now too.  I'm participating in TAST (Take A Stitch Tuesday) where we learn a new embroidery stitch each Tuesday and practice it.  The first 20 weeks are outline stitches, so if that is all a person did, you would have a good foundation in embroidery.  I'll see how many weeks I follow through.  Winter is a good time for me to dive into creative ventures.  I want to keep going even when I get busier.  I just know that it's important for me to carve out  a little time each day to be creative.  It brings me much joy.

Do you have any creative things you are doing this winter? 

Whole30, a beginning...

Hey! It's the new year!  A new beginnings!  And it's time to kick-start with eating better.  Hubby and I are taking on the challenge of Whole30.  In a nutshell, you CAN eat meats, eggs, veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds, and good fats.  What you can't eat is sugar, grains (so no breads, pastas and etc.), legumes (including peanuts) and no dairy except for ghee or clarified butter and lastly, no alcohol or tobacco.  Really, it's not bad unless you are addicted to sugar.  I thought I was pretty good about being on the low end of sugar consumption, but I'm feeling the lack thereof.  Honestly, I feel pretty good overall, and I'm thankful that we are allowed fruit.  Fruit never tasted SO good!  We've been eating an orange a day and sometimes share an apple or a banana.  I know that the first week of something like this is hard, hard, hard.  You want what you should not have.  But we are strong, and we can do this!  Whole30 is not meant to be a lifetime eating plan, but rather a kick-start way to learn to choose better foods, to eat less processed foods and sugar, and to be more conscious of what you are eating on a day to day basis.  We plan to carry on with this plan longer than 30 days and may modify it a tiny, tiny bit.

One delicious idea that I came up with is a spin-off of my old recipe that I called, Fried Apples which had a bit of sugar and plenty of butter.  Here's what I'm doing now:

1 apple, chopped
handful of walnuts, chopped

1 t. butter
2 T. raw, unsweetened, shaved coconut (opt)
Cinnamon and nutmeg to your taste.

Melt butter in a non-stick skillet and add everything, including spices.  Saute until apples are tender. If you like your apples really soft, just put a lid on it after a few minutes and turn off the heat, letting apples steam-cook.   EAT!  Enjoy! because you will.

We shared this recipe and had it alongside our scrambled eggs for breakfast.  It was so sweet and warm and spicy.  I would like to do the same with bananas next.  Kind of a Bananas Foster minus the sugar and alcohol.  I would add vanilla extract to it though.  And I can imagine this recipe with frozen peaches too.

If anyone out there has a favorite recipe idea within these guidelines, please share.  And speaking of sharing a good recipe, I have one more for you.  It's called Egg Roll in a Bowl and it's really quick to make and very delicious.  I've made it many times before ever starting Whole30 and I like to add ground beef to mine as a variation.  This recipe calls for powdered ginger, but I like to grate fresh (frozen) ginger into my recipe.  A tip I learned a while ago is to peel raw ginger with the side of a spoon and then cut it into 1/4" discs.  I freeze them and take out a disc whenever I need it and use a microplane zester to grate it.  It's so fast and so much tastier than dried, but dried ginger will work fine too.  I also like to use the frozen ginger discs in tea and to flavor kombucha.

Here's to eating well in 2018!

Quiet, stay-at-home Christmas...

It has turned out to be a quiet, stay-at-home, cozy Christmas for Hubby and I.  The whole lot of us (kids and grands and us) came down with the Christmas Crud (stomach virus) this past week and even before that, so we all opted to stay at our homes and just take it easy, recover, and not have our traditional Christmas Feast on the day.

As it always is here on the ranch, the winter feeding chores must be done no matter whose birthday it is or which holiday celebration is happening.  The Sons managed feeding the calves and thawing out the frozen water tanks.  After our morning coffee and a little breakfast, Hubby and I went to feed the cows and sheep.  It was -6 degrees F when we left so the livestock were very happy to see us pull up.  I thought the black cows' faces looked so cute with their whiskers all frosty white.  The sheep came on the run and were absolutely crazy for the salt blocks that were alongside the water tank.  It's funny, they know where the salt is, but they don't think about going to it unless they go down for a drink, and they don't drink much when there is snow on the ground.

I always think fondly of livestock on Christmas Morning, wondering about the animals that might have been in the same barn as Jesus was.  How strange to have people lingering so long and not going in to the house.  I wonder if Joseph might have had to feed some hay to cows or sheep or mules that morning while Mary suckled a warm baby Jesus, tucked in close beside her -- full and content. 

For our Christmas Dinner, I made a simple roast beef with potatoes, onions, and carrots all in the same pot.  The gravy that comes from that combination is the best!  As we enjoyed our salad and dinner, I popped a cherry pie in the oven.  I like to make mine with a mix of frozen sweet and tart cherries.  Hubby says it's his favorite pie.  Here it is, hot out of the oven.  We'll let it cool and have it for afternoon coffee along with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side.  Oh!  speaking of ice cream, do you ever put a small spoon of ice cream in your coffee?  It's a nice treat once in a while.

It's been a quiet day for us, the first Christmas we've spent "just the two of us".  We've enjoyed it, but it's different from the rowdy houseful of kids and grandkids that we are used to for holidays.  We will all celebrate together very soon though.

I hope you're enjoying this day when we remember the Reason for the Season -- Jesus!
Merry Christmas, friends!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's been a busy Day of Preparation here.

The buns and pies are baked,

The cranberries are dipped in chocolate,

Potatoes are mashed and waiting for their oven-bake,

Cheese ball is chilling,

and the Ham and Turkey and Dressing are waiting in the wings for the big day.

The rest of the fixin's are coming with the guests.

Wishing you a great Thanksgiving! 

We have so much to be thankful for....

like teeth to eat Thanksgiving Dinner, 

and being together!
God bless your day.

Whipped honey...

Do you remember Sue Bee Spun Honey from back in the day -- the milky, smooth honey that you could actually spread on your bread with a knife?  A year or so ago, I was reminiscing about that lovely honey and wondering if I could make a similar product at home with the raw honey I bought from our local bee keeper.  The answer:  Yes!  I found easy-to-follow instructions from Bite my cake and have been making it ever since.

Basically, you start  with raw honey that is crystallized and thick.  Mine looks something like the picture below.  It's fairly yellow and has flecks of bee stuff in it -- wings, legs, pollen, and other goodies that bees carry into the hives.  I take my gallon of raw honey and gently melt the outer edges in a bowl of just-boiled water.  When it has softened up a little and there's some liquified honey around the edges of the container, that's when I pour the whole thing into my stand mixer.  When you pour it from your container into your mixing bowl, you will notice that the majority of the honey is still crystallized.  With whip attachments on, start the mixer and whip that honey for quite some time -- between 15-20 minutes.  The honey will magically turn from yellow to a creamy white.  It's a molecular thing that happens between the crystals and the liquid honey that gives it the spreadable consistency and milky color.

I pour my whipped honey into smaller jars.  Either jelly jars or wide-mouth pint jars work best.  You want to be able to get into the jars easily with a table knife or spoon.  As the honey cools from the whipping process, it will firm up more and become a glorious honey-butter of sorts.  Store your whipped honey in a fairly cool cupboard and it will set up beautifully.

 Whipped honey is so easy to use in comparison to runny-honey.  You can spoon out just a little bit or a lot without all the drippy mess, and you can spread it on bread or toast just as efficiently as you can spread peanut butter.  We absolutely LOVE it.

Today Peach and Toodles were here while their parents went grocery shopping in town with baby brother in tow.  Peach asked if we could have tea and scones after lunch, and that sounded perfectly lovely to me.  I made a pot of Citron Oolong and we had biscuits and honey.  Deeeee-lish!

 

The shearers were supposed to come tomorrow to shear the sheep, but we had a couple inches of snow overnight and more snow during the day today so the sheep are wet with snowy wool.  We'll have to wait and see if they melt off tomorrow and dry out enough to shear on Saturday.  We're just about 10 days away from having baby lambs!  Stay tuned.

Grillin' chile...

 This was a first time experience for me -- grilling Hatch Green Chile.  I've heard about Hatch Chiles, but never had experienced eating them or preparing them.  Bountiful Baskets had Hatch Chiles on sale by the box, so I bought one and decided to roast and freeze them.  I grilled a few the night before, and we had them on burgers..  O man!  Give me a Bacon-Chile Cheeseburger any day!

 This was my morning work station.  I washed up the chiles first and then put them back in their box with a towel underneath and one over the top to keep the flies away.  I set up my ipod dock, turned on the James Taylor tunes, poured some lemony ice water and enjoyed my two hour chile-roasting in the hot sunshine.  (Getting my vitamin D you know!)

There's nothing like the aroma of chile roasting on the grill.  I turned them until the majority of the skins were blistered and a little charred.  Then they went into bowls.  I noticed something funny as I was roasting.  The flies buzzed all around the fresh chiles that I had covered up in the box, but they didn't go anywhere near the chile that was roasted and uncovered in the bowl. I wonder if it's the release of the capsaicin?

After all the chile was roasted, I seeded them and peeled most of them.  I figured if I didn't get all the peels off, I could do it after they were frozen and thawed for use.  There are plenty of little seeds in each chile so it was very time consuming work and I didn't really think about putting on gloves during this process.  (mistake)  I didn't have any burning until I was all done and was cleaning up.  The burning sensation didn't last too long.  I dipped my hands in milk, cold water, and put lemon juice on them.  All seemed to make the burning go away, then it would come back again.  Now my hot hands are much better, and I'm glad.  Perhaps medium-hot chiles aren't as stout as extra-hot might be?  Now I have about 20 pint bags of Hatch Green Chile all neatly tucked into my freezer at the ready for All Things Mexican.  Tomorrow I'm making enchiladas for the crew who will be here to pregnancy test 200 heifers.  I figure if I cook ahead, it won't matter when they decide to come in for supper.  You can bet that I'll have a nice Mont-Mex chile sauce ready to pour on the enchiladas.  Yum!

Bountiful baskets & other tidbits...

 Tomorrow is pick-up day for Bountiful Baskets all over the USA.  This will be my second basket and I'm so excited to see what's inside.  OnlyDaughter will be our pick-up girl and on Easter Sunday she will deliver to NextDoorDaughter and me here at the ranch. We are still figuring out how much produce the three of us can smartly use over a week's time until the next basket must be ordered and picked up.  The first basket was very good.  I got this sweet little Living Lettuce in my portion. See it's roots below?  It was delicious and reminded me of my own summer lettuce because I always plant Buttercrunch.  I have never bought a head of lettuce with roots this way, have you? 

Along with the head of lettuce, we received several big, beautiful russet potatoes, lots of onions, a big bunch of asparagus, a head each of broccoli and cauliflower and for fruits we received bananas, tangelos, and grapefruit.  All very delicious.  If you've never tried Bountiful Baskets, you should.  It's a food co-op which buys fruits and vegetables and a few other things and distributes it amongst its contributing members.  A regular basket comes with whatever is in season -- half fruit and half veg.  If you want to, for a little extra money, you can add in breads, granola, extra veggies or select in-season fruits in bulk.  It's really a good buy too.  The standard basket is $15 (add on $1.50 service fee charge and a first-time charge of $3).  We were most pleased with the quality and the amount of produce we found in our baskets and we are excited to carry on this spring and through the year.  I'm thinking it will be nice to have fresh produce when the garden is not producing and when the garden is at full-production, we can opt not to get a basket.  If you'd like to check out Bountiful Baskets for your area, click HERE.  One more thing --BB has a blog so if you get a fruit or veggie that you've never used before, you can go there and find some good recipes and ideas on how to cook it or eat it.
.............................................................

In other news around home, Hubs and I got our vitamin D3 levels tested.  It was really kind of nifty.  We bought two kits online from The Vitamin D Council, filled out the questionnaires, and did the blood tests ourselves.  We sent the tests back to the lab and received our results in an email notice in just a couple days.  Our D levels were at the edge of the optimal range (50-80 ng/ml).  I was actually a 46 so I am boosting my D3 intake through additional supplements, and I'm working harder at getting some natural D by sitting in the sun on warmish days.  Our sun right now is ok, but still fairly weak in strength so I don't feel like I'm getting a "good dose" of D yet.  The good thing is that it only takes about 15-20 minutes of sitting in the sun with a tank top and shorts for the body to produce 10,000 IUs of D3. 

I have another new bottle baby.  The little fella's mom was a c-section and I guess the experience did her in.  She didn't want anything to do with her calf and after days of trying to get her to take him, we turned her out and started bottle feeding him.  So now I have Bette and Bobby.  I've been noticing that once in a while Bette is sucking one of the mama cows in the pen.  Now I see Bobby has picked up on the idea.  It amazes me that the cows will let them nurse.  Mainly, they rob milk when the cows are at the hay rack eating.  Smart li'l bummies.

 

God sent a sweet gift to me early this morning.  I was sound asleep in my comfy bed with my window slightly cracked open when all of the sudden I heard -- whether in a dream or real, I wasn't sure -- robin-song.  I stirred and awoke, and sure enough, there was real robin-song coming from the window by my bed.  I just lay there awhile enjoying the long awaited song, smiling and thanking God for His simple gifts.  Later on that morning I saw my First  Robin of Spring.

I've been tidying up the house a little bit each day in expectation of our Easter guests.  All the kids and their families, fiance', cousin, and friends along with grandparents will be joining us on Easter Sunday for dinner.  Everybody brings a little something to add to the traditional ham dinner so it is always a day of faith, food, family and fun.  Too bad it is supposed to snow.  We'll hunt Easter eggs in the house and be grateful for the moisture.  I wish you a joyful day of preparation and a Happy Easter.

Sunday dessert -- Chouquettes...

I am really on a roll now, aren't I?  When I'm not mucking pens at the lambing barn, it's food, food, food that I'm thinking about.  Perhaps I'm hungry?

After chores today, I came home and fiddled around on Pinterest a while and found this adorable British chef who has a show on BBC called Little Paris Kitchen, Cooking with Rachel Khoo.  She also has a book by the same name now published in the USA!   It will be promptly put into my Wish List.  For now, I'm watching a few of Rachel's videos, and one that caught my eye in particular was for Chouquettes (pronounced:  shoo kets').  To me, these are little cream puffs without the cream, but in France, chouquettes!  They are sweet and baked crisp with crystal sugar and -- if you like -- chocolate chips, sprinkled on top.  These were/are our Sunday dessert treat.  Crispy sweetness!

Chouquettes
About 25 Puffs

From The Sweet Life in Paris (Broadway Books)
Shaping the mounds of dough is easiest to do with a pastry bag, although you can use two spoons or a spring-loaded ice cream scoop.

1 cup (250ml) water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
6 tablespoons (90g) unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
1 cup (135g) flour
4 large eggs, at room temperature
Glaze: 1 egg yolk, mixed with 1 teaspoon milk
Crystal sugar (Coarse sugar is available here and in specialty baking shops)

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees (220 C.) Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
2. Heat the water, salt, sugar, and butter in a small saucepan, stirring, until the butter is melted. Remove from heat and dump all the flour in at once. Stir rapidly until the mixture is smooth and pulls away from the sides of the pan.
3. Allow dough to cool for two minutes, then briskly beat in the eggs, one at a time, until smooth and shiny.
4. Using two spoons, scoop up a mound of dough with one spoon roughly the size of a whole walnut, and scrape it off with the other spoon onto the baking sheet.
5. Place the mounds evenly-spaced apart on the baking sheet. Brush the top of each mound with some of the egg glaze then press coarse sugar crystals over the top and sides of each mound. Use a lot. Once the puffs expand rise, you’ll appreciate the extra effort (and sugar.)
6. Bake the cream puffs for 35 minutes, or until puffed and well-browned.
(If you want to make them crispier, you can poke a hole in the side with a knife after you take them out of the oven to let the steam escape.)
The cream puffs are best eaten the same day they’re made. Once cooled, they can be frozen in a zip-top freezer bag for up to one month. Defrost at room temperature, then warm briefly on a baking sheet in a moderate oven, until crisp.

Rancher Chopped Salad...

 I promised you a recipe inspired by my trip to Arizona and by a chopped salad my friend and I had at Cowboy Ciao.  Well, here it is.  What I especially loved about the Stetson Chopped Salad we ate in Scottsdale was the presentation -- layers of ingredients, and my favorite taste on the plate was the dried corn.  As soon as I got home, I looked up dried sweet corn for sale on Amazon.  Sure you can buy it, but it'll cost you half the ranch for a 16 oz. bag so I knew I had to figure out something different.  I Googled "roasting or drying corn kernels" and came up with many ideas.  The simplest one was to roast the corn in a skillet  which I tried tonight, and there were a couple other ways to dry-roast corn in the oven here and here.   I tried the second oven-roasting recipe using a cookie sheet, olive oil, frozen (or fresh) corn, and salt and it turned out beautifully.  Whatever you do, don't skip the corn.

The recipe that I concocted goes something like this:
 
Rancher Chopped Salad

Ground beef, browned with salt, pepper, chili powder
Black beans, drained
Avocado, chopped
Red or orange sweet peppers, chopped
Roasted or dried sweet corn
Leaf Lettuce or Romaine, chopped
Your favorite Salsa and Spicy Dressing on the side or over the top.
Tortilla chips or homemade tortilla chips

Cook enough beef and chop enough of the above ingredients to serve the number of people you are feeding.  You could layer this salad on a large platter like I did or on individual plates.  The idea is to make it look beautiful before you toss it all together with the salsa and dressing to eat it.

Spicy Dressing:

One part plain yogurt
One part sour cream or mayonnaise (or combination of the two)
Sprinkle cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper to your taste.
Whisk together and pour over salad.

For the chips, I took two multi-grain tortillas, sprayed them with pan spray and salted them.  Then I put them in a 350* oven for 8 minutes or so until they were golden.

 

 Here it is on my plate, all jumbled together with dressing poured on top!  Ummm!

The chopped salad at the restaurant was not a spicy dish.  It did include Scandinavian smoked salmon for the meat part.  I could see my Rancher Chopped Salad made with a good pan-fried Talapia or Cod for a fish taco style salad.  You could even substitute shredded cabbage for the greens.  I am definitely going to do that some night.  I hope you try this salad or make up your own version of it.  Just don't forget the roasted corn!  It's the very best part!

Back home on the range...

 From the Valley of the Sun to Home on the Range...

The weather was perfect, the golf was good, the company was lovely, warm, and inviting, and a good time was had by all.  Hubs took in a couple rounds of golf with J, and we watched our son play tournament college golf for two days.  We walked a mostly-green golf course under sunny skies, caught some rays, and took home sun tans. It was great!

 

Our son took 7th place in a field of 54 competitors and was just 4 strokes behind the first place golfer.  He was not thrilled with his rounds, but he is back to work practicing for up-coming tournaments.  For me, it was just good to watch him play and to give and get hugs.

We enjoyed good visits with our friends, conversing late into the evening and eating delicious foods and desserts made by my foodie-friend, K.  She also treated me to a fun thrift store outing along with lunch at a fine restaurant called Cowboy Ciao in Scottsdale.  We shared both signature dishes that are featured in the link -- Stetson Chopped Salad and Exotic Mushroom Pan Fry.  Unforgettable.  Stay tuned for recipe ideas that I have in my head, inspired by Cowboy Ciao.

We had perfect weather for driving home.  We flew down and drove back with our CarpenterSon's new-used Chevy truck from AZ to SD.  The truck drove like a dream, the road conditions were perfect, and it was an interesting first-time drive for us making our way through Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota and finally home to Montana.  I knew that New Mexico and Colorado had drought this past year and even before that, but I had no idea how bad it was.  There was no grass, I mean NO grass in the pastures where we drove.  I thought we had had a drought this past year (we did), but we look like lush paradise in comparison to NM and southern CO.  We saw very few cattle out there and those few we did see were being fed hay or were in feedlots.  

I almost forgot one more favorite eatery recommended by K -- the Range Cafe in Bernalillo, NM.  Can you see the cows sitting on the awning?  We enjoyed a delicious lunch here.  If you're ever driving through Albuquerque on your way north, be sure to stop by for some good eats!

 

Back home on the range, there was a set of twins that were born on February 7th.  This mother ewe actually started out with triplets, but the one was small and sickly and died shortly after birth.  Since Friday, we've had two more sets of twins.  The weather has changed from mild to cold and windy.  Today's high is 24* with winds gusting to 40 mph and occasional snow.  Needless to say, the ewes are locked in the  lot near the barn where they can go in and out and where we can keep a close watch on them.

It was a great little get-away for us, and we feel blessed and re-energized, but as always, there's no place like home and sleeping in your own comfy bed. 

Start where you are...

(Source) 
"Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." ~ Arthur Ashe
 (Don't you love this quote?  I'm writing it down.)

It's the fourth day of the new year.  I know this because I've got the calendar from the butcher shop covering up my beautiful 2012 Marjolein Bastin calendar.  The new calendar I ordered from Amazon is not here yet, so I'm improvising.  For now, the pages are blank minus a couple grandma days.  I rather like the feeling of blank space.  It's freeing, refreshing, and full of possibilities.

I'm not a resolution person.  I'm not a theme person or one who chooses a word for the year.  I wish I was, but that's just not me, really.  I do have some thoughts about what I'd like to do in the year to come.  I read the Susan Branch post, The Care and Feeding of Dreams, and I realize that I like her approach to living life fully whether that means treating yourself to the occasional bubble bath & book, breakfast in bed, daily walks, or by setting Big Dream Goals like writing a book, one little page at a time.   As a fifty year-old lady with grown children and four grandchildren, it has become easy to leave dreams behind and focus mainly on "the here and now."  For me, the here and now is very important, but having a few dreams to feed keeps the soul awake and energized and gives me something creative to look forward to.

I haven't officially written down any of my projects or any of my dreams either, but I'm thinking about lots of things.  Since October, Hubby and I have been eating better and we've both dropped quite a bit of weight.  We feel good and more ambitious and fit, even though we both have 50 year- old ranch-worn bodies that will never look like they once did at 30 years old.  Still, we are planning to press on with a lifestyle of healthy eating.  I've been researching Clean Eating which includes, in a nutshell, eating a variety of whole foods and eliminating most processed foods.  This is mainly what we've evolved into.  If you are what you eat, then we've gone from Mr. Pop & Candy and Mrs. Chip & Dip and transformed into Mr. Steak & Salad and Mrs.Veggie Omlet.  Food tastes better to us now, and our tastes in food have changed dramatically.  I'm looking at sourdough recipes and experimenting with those.  The summer garden will be fun as always.  I'm anticipating new ways to feed the dream of healthy bodies with new whole food recipes this year.  Check out these "clean" Budget Recipes.

Our newest grandbaby, Ruth., is such a good one!  She's nursing and pooping and sleeping just like newborns are supposed to do, and she's such a pretty lil thing.  I was at her house yesterday, and I got to talk to her and tell her how wonderful she is.  She was wide-eyed and alert as she tried to focus on her granny's voice and face.  Her big sister and I had lots of fun looking at the new Eye Spy book and singing songs before nap time.  The neighbor grandgirls spent the night with us a couple days ago and even though they were just recovering from a nasty cold/flu bug, we had a good time dancing to Elizabeth Mitchell songs and  singing Car Car, You are My Sunshine, and Little Sack of Sugar.  What I love about having my grandchildren nearby is that one of my biggest dreams of being a Grandma has come true, and the best part is that we are so close.  I feed the Grandma Dream often and much.

(Source)

I want to make a baby quilt for Ruth, and so I'm looking around for just the right quilt pattern with lots of color and interest for her.  Miss Bee had her baby quilt out when I was there and we had such fun pointing out all the butterflies, bees, circles and flowers that make up her own bright blankie.  I saw the niftiest idea for an Eye Spy Quilt where you fussy-cut some of the blocks or pieces to include images like dogs, bunnies, flowers and such things that would catch the eye.  I like that.

Because I really love to embroider, I'm planning to always have a project going, even if it is just tea towels.  This Christmas it was nice to have a stash of handmade tea towels at-the-ready to give as gifts, and I want to continue keeping a stash for gift-giving anytime.  I always feel like I give a little piece of myself when I give a handmade embroidery.  The time and joy I put into it is part of the gift.  Oh, that reminds me of the funniest little sew-on labels that I thought would be fun to sew on handmade gifts.  The one I especially like says:  THIS TOOK FOREVER.  How's that for funny and true?

Blogging will stay on my list of things I want to do.  I enjoy having a journal of my days, and I like having a place to share ideas and things that I like to do....like ranching.  We will be moving into Lambing Season very soon.  February 10th or so will be the starting date for new lambs to arrive, but before that we will get the sheep sheared and the shed set up for the big event.  It is the Kick-Off Event for the year because right after that, there are heifers to calve and then the cows, and the year is on a big roll because there's no stopping the rest of the events that follow.  That's the thing I love about ranching -- there's always something new coming up.  It's mostly the same stuff, but it's never dull.  There is a steady rhythm to it and yet there is anticipation and excitement.

I think I need to find a pretty notebook so that I can start writing down a few thoughts and ideas, some dreams and projects, and maybe add some encouraging words and pictures.  It's good place for me to start -- having a spot to at least write things down and begin.  I hope your year is beginning well, young as it is.

Thank a chicken...

Because they are beautiful, 

Because the are delicious,

Because they are natural and nutritious.

Who can deny their health?

Protein, vitamins, minerals -- wealth!

 

Do yourself a favor

And eat an egg today.

Thank a farmer,

Thank a chicken

For all the eggs she lays.

For nutritional info: The incredible edible egg

Fall leaves bring joy...

 

What is it about fall leaves?

The colored confetti falling from the sky, the earthy smell,

the crunch, raking into piles, cool days.

 When I was a girl, my dad and I used to rake piles of leaves and then burn them in the back alley.  It was a graveled road type of back alley.  I loved the smell of the burning leaves and Dad's pipe.  

You can't do that nowadays.  

Dad had a "magic spell" he used to say when he did his disappearing tricks for us.  

It reminds me of fall.

Hocus pokus

Jiminy okus

tin cans in the back alley

Poof!

(I wonder where the "tin cans in the back alley" part came from?)

 

The Littles love to rake up piles of leaves and jump in,

  

or throw them in the air and let them fall again.

Look at the moss roses.  They're getting their second wind!

For the record:

We pregnancy tested 342 head of cows today and weaning the calves.

Two Sons came home to help out.
We are expecting 5 sets of twins out of the cows.

It's 84 degrees.

I've been in the kitchen fixing the lunch which is:

 Roast Beef & Gravy

Baked garden potatoes

Garden carrots and Tomatoes

Grape Salad

Homemade buns

Pumpkin Something for dessert (like pie)

Happy Fall!

Cloudy day = Donut day...

 The Littlest Billy Goat's Gruff has returned home today for a weekend visit before he drives away to Tucson to go back to college.  I decided that since it's drizzly, cloudy, and even a wee bit rainy here, it's a perfect day for a Donut Day!
Raised, glazed donuts.

 My donuts aren't traditional.  

They're puffy, long donuts. 

 Easy to cut, easy to turn, easy to eat.  

I wouldn't want to make it difficult you know.

 Afternoon Tea and Donut!

The End.

Hot dog!

Did you ever go to a Pamida store?  No?  Well, Pamida is the small town folks' Walmart -- minus a lot of stuff -- but one thing you can find at Pamida are these hot dog flavored chips.  I had never heard of them until I saw them made on the Food Network a couple days ago.  When I saw them selling in my Pamida, I just had to give them a try.  And whatdayathink?  Good!  They really do taste like a hot dog with ketchup and mustard. 

Tonight, guess what's for supper?  Bratwurst and hot dog chips!  I never met a chip I didn't like.  It's Americana.

I need a housewife...

We were up early this morning and got our barn chores done -- checking the lambs and the ewes and feeding the bum lambs. The two revived lambs were thriving and seemed healthy enough.  One went back to his mother and she was glad to welcome him back.  The other is living with the rest of the bum lambs and is doing well.  I came in to warm up with a cup of coffee while T. went to feed with the tractor.  I spent a little time reading my Bible, but what I really wanted to do this morning was to sing.  Sing hymns.  In days gone by, I sang a hymn or two every morning with my kids.  It was such a sweet time and I am thankful for those memories and songs.  Today I turned the pages of my hymnal to A Mighty Fortress is Our God (a family favorite), It is Well With My Soul, and What a Friend We have in Jesus.  It just felt good to sing this morning.

It was a very full day today.  More triplets were born, and more bum lambs were added to the pens as we turned out the triplet-moms with only two lambs each.  Now the bummies number 16 and counting.  I'm mixing up a gallon of powdered lamb milk for each feeding, five times a day.  Thankfully, I have help feeding them.  It's a lot easier to double-team the babies as any mother knows.

I took a quick trip to town with Hubs.  We had to get a trichinosis test for a bull who will be traveling to CA soon, and then we picked up supplies -- 50 pounds of lamb milk, more nipples, chicken feed, and a few groceries.  I took a half an hour and went to The Bakery (my fabric store) with G. and Betsy to check out the possibilities for kitchen/dining room curtain fabrics.  And found!  I'm anxious to get sewing.....soon.

Prairie Paisley by Moda

An hour and a half later and we were back in the truck and on the road to home, and back to our sheep and cows.  I helped the guys get the heifers in to give them a booster vaccination which will help prevent scours from happening in their baby calves when they are born.  While they were vaccinating, I spent an hour resting (ahhhh) and sipping a cup of coffee and then went back up to the lambing barn.

I told Hubby that I need a housewife -- someone to fix us a hot supper each night, someone to tidy up the house and keep us in clean socks and underwear.  She could fix us a delicious snack once in awhile and make the house smell lovely with a lavender-scented mopped floor.  Oh, and wouldn't it be nice if the curtains were sewed-up and hanging prettily at sparkling clean windows?  If I only had a housewife.

Even so....I managed to fix us a nice supper in a half an hour.  Chicken-friend steaks with mushroom gravy, baked sweet potatoes, and roasted asparagus.  Oh boy, did it taste good!  It was worth the wait.  Hubs said, "Take a picture of this meal," so I did. 

The weatherman is calling for a possible snowstorm starting tomorrow and continuing through Tuesday.  It has been cold enough here each day without a snowstorm, but we'll deal with that if and when it comes.  One day at a time; do the next thing.  That's my mantra. Since the housewife didn't show up, I guess I'll go fold the laundry.

Toast!

Give us this day our daily bread.....

Do you eat bread every day?  I think I do most days.  This is a sample of our daily bread, fresh baked.  Saturday was bread-baking day and Peach and I played Betty Crocker and Suzie Homemaker together while Toodles took her morning nap.  It was so much fun (for me) to have another baking helper at the counter as I did years ago when my children rolled and patted and formed their own little bread loaves and put them into child-sized pans while I made the big loaves.

I've been making our daily bread for three decades now and I have a hard time bringing myself to buy bread from the store.  For me, it's more about being able to make different kinds of bread, it's about freshness and the smell of homemade bread in the oven.  Since I can make bread and I know how cost efficient and healthy it is to make homemade, I just do it.  I like to do it, and that makes a big difference too.  

Quite some time ago, I did the math on the cost of making bread at home, and I came up with 30 cents a loaf.  It could be a little more these days, but not much more. Ah ha!  I found one baker here that says she makes her bread for 75 cents per loaf, but if you buy your supplies in bulk like I do, I think you can further reduce that price. My kids used to beg for "town bread" back when they were littles and now they prefer homemade breads.  Third-Born son even started baking his own bread after he left home when his sister-in-law gave him her bread machine.  I was so proud of him!  Only Daughter bakes bread now and then for her family and so does my daughter-in-law.  I think it's a good skill to have and to practice because we all know.... practice makes perfect loaves.

I love to eat just plain old bread & butter, especially when it's warm from the oven, but I go in spurts with my choice of  spreads.  Most mornings I have a stack piece of toast with my eggs or yogurt or oatmeal, and I love to make what I call a "dessert toast" at the end of breakfast.  Right now Honey and I are in a grape jelly trend.  A hunter gave us several jars of his own homemade this fall and I'm telling you, it's the best grape jelly I've ever had!  Before the grape jelly came to us, we were on a raw honey kick, and I'm figuring we will be going back to that soon since the jelly is nearly all ate up.  I love raw honey on bread or toast or straight off the spoon.  When I was growing up at home, we had toast with peanut butter nearly every single morning with breakfast.  I still love it -- the toast almost burnt  (but not entirely) with a thick spread of creamy Jif Peanut Butter melting on top.  I craved peanut butter toast when I was pregnant.  Sometimes I get hooked on cinnamon and sugar toast.  I have a glass cheese shaker with cinnamon & sugar all mixed up so it's handy for sprinkling on toast.  All I know is that I love it all.  Love toast!  Do you?

Your First Loaf at the Fresh Loaf 
Pauline's Wheat Bread (very similar to my everyday loaf)

of cookies and donuts...

 It really IS fall!  It seems all I think about these days are those heavy-carb comfort foods like  potatoes and gravy, pumpkin pie, chocolate chip cookies and homemade donuts.  Perhaps I'm instinctively  preparing for a long, hard winter.  I sure wouldn't want to get caught in a cold snap with my weight energy down and sapped.  I could blame attribute my baking frenzy on weekend guests, I suppose. ThirdChild came home on Friday to help us pour concrete and then stayed the night to help with today's project which was to revamp an old cake/grain bin into a storage shed for the OldestChild and his family.  The Grandfolks came out for this project since Grandpa Schu is good with electricity and has awesome carpentry skills.

Friday I baked the chocolate chips cookies in anticipation of visitors and squirreled away several dozen in the freezer for pop-in company or for the days when I really need a good cookie to eat alongside my afternoon coffee.

Today, while Grandma was here, she thought it would be a good idea to fry up some cake donuts -- a family recipe that has been passed down from generation to generation.  Notice the names on the card:  Linda, Velma, and Hilda.  Can you guess their nationality?  If you said Norwegian, you be right!  Uffda!  I asked Linda if she noticed that all these women had "a" at the end of their names?   Apparently not until today.

I mostly watched the process and kept the Don Williams music playing while Grandma did all the work -- mixing, cutting and frying.  I did set out all the ingredients like a good assistant should.  While Grandma worked,  I whacked up a pumpkin pie for dessert after supper.  We make a pretty good cooker team.

After all the donuts were fried and sugared, we made a thermos of coffee to take to the guys next door.  We brought a big plate of fresh, warm donuts and were they ever happy.  Uffda mega! (translation:  big uffda) 

Guess what we'll be having for First Breakfast tomorrow with our coffee?  Mmmm.  Mmmm. Mmmm.

 

 

I just couldn't resist one more picture of Fluff and his biggest fan, Peach!  She can carry him any ol' way she wants and he doesn't care a flip.  Gotta love that kind of cat. I hope you're loading up on plenty of carbs this fall.  If not, just follow me home and I'll fatten feed you properly!