Beyond Dirt - My Creative Journey

It Was Free!

2012-01-08T11:08:00.000-08:00

Hubby needed to run into town this morning for a few things. Look what he saw on his way home!

We have a big dehydrator 2 miles down the road from us, and they had tossed out 2 big prune boxes. They would be perfect for a series of big compost piles that Hubby has been planning lately. All he needed was...... can you guess?? The wood! Anyway, fast forward 30 minutes, and we unloaded first one prune box.....

And then another!
Maybe, just maybe, the compost bins will be finished next weekend.

Early......For Me, At Least!

2012-01-03T21:06:00.000-08:00

One of the great things about working at a school is we get 2 weeks off for Christmas. It's a much needed rest, and everyone is happy to get the time off. But after the 2 weeks is up, I'm excited to get back to school. Back to the routine. To the classroom. But most of all, back to our kids. Anyway, this morning I was all atwitter thinking of the kids, and I got up bright and early to greet the day. This is what I saw out of the kitchen window after a half hour or so.

Pretty cool, huh? Normally, I'm not up this early. I've always figured if God wanted me to see the sunrise, He would have made them later in the day. So, if you are another person that doesn't normally get up before the crack of dawn, this is what it looks like!

An Average Saturday Morning Date

2011-11-26T22:45:00.000-08:00

This morning, Hubby and I went to the Farmer's Market. It's sort of a date thing with us. We go to the Farmer's Market most Saturday mornings, and then shopping at Winco. Everybody does that, right?? Ahh, true love. It pretty much goes like this: All of a sudden, there we were, alone in a 32,000 square foot building with 25 foot ceilings. Me, totally smitten by this gorgeous hunk of a man, as I was pushing the cart somewhere between the feminine hygiene isle and the 5 lb. bricks of 73% lean ground beef. Him, wielding the shopping list with such keen authority, no wasted motion as he made crucial decisions in mere nano seconds, not unlike a lion chasing his prey on the Serengeti.

Yep, folks. That's us. Each weekend. Anyway, as if that wasn't enough excitement, on our way back, we were looking at the birds in the rice fields. I love this time of year. The rice farmers around us flood the fields as soon as the rice is harvested to give the migrating birds a place to rest, eat and play a little poker when no one is looking. I thought you might like to see a few pictures I took. Here they are, just chillin'.

A few more in the air, but still taking a break.

I think their break is over! There they go!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T18:59:00.000-08:00

T urkey. The noble bird.
H ubby. He's my one and only. The love of my life.
A mazing. My life.
N ana. I miss her lots, and think of her often.
K ids. My adult children. I love them like crazy. Cuz they are!
S ister. She's pretty crazy sometimes, too!
G randparents. They're part of who we are.
I n-laws. Mine are pretty cool!
V isitors. Company at our table is the best!
I ndulge. Sometimes too much!
N ap. To settle the turkey and stuffing!
G obble gobble. Or maybe gastronomy?

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

My New Project

2011-11-06T13:01:00.000-08:00

I've been MIA for the past few months. I won't bore you with the details, but I think I'm ready to get back into the groove of things. You know, things like life. Things like work, which means sweet little kids as high as my hip. Things like after school projects! Which brings me to my newest, latest and greatest project. I've been working really hard, only occasionally needing the assistance of either my youngest son or my dear darling hubby. Not that my son isn't dear and darling, but I don't think he really wants to think of himself as that. Anyway, back to my project. My poor chickens were complaining about yet another wet winter in their old coop. They hate wet feet when it's cold and windy. I even heard rumblings of an egg strike if nothing was done! So, I agreed to make them a new coop. They requested a movable coop, so they can have fresh grass and dry feet. I went to work, and.......Ta Da! Here's what I came up with!

David and I had moved it around so hubby could hook onto the lawn tractor and drag it into the pasture.

Umm, yea. That took a little thought and a change of plans.

If we're anything, we're stubborn and persistent. If it doesn't work the first time, try a different approach!

Here it is, on its way down the driveway, ready to make the turn into our pasture. The perfect spot for chickens!

And here they are, in their new home. Ready for winter, ready for a fresh supply of grass, seeds, and bugs! Whew! Strike averted!

One of My Favorite Places

2011-09-09T00:00:00.000-07:00

I was looking through some pictures of mine, and I thought you might like to see, too! This is a family ranch, where we sometimes go on vacation. We camp, work, and putter. The guys hunt, and I cook. Oh, do I cook! The evenings are cool, and I have a real stove and oven. It's pretty cool. Anyway, last year, Michael and I went up for a long weekend. Michael is our oldest, and he and I had a few things to do. I took the camera, and shot a few pictures. This first one is on the road up to our camp. It's one of the fields next to a fallen down shed. It was made of hand hewn lumber. So cool.

This is the meadow that our camp looks out on. This is seriously cool. Prettiest place on earth. Just ask me. I'll tell you!!

And here's my boy! Kicking back in camp, after a hard day's work.

Back in the Saddle Again.......

2011-09-03T21:58:00.000-07:00

Yeah, he's back to driving!! Hmmm, I wonder how many miles per gallon this thing gets, and can he go to town and back??? Ha! Anyway, here is my hubby, after a bit of a forced, "relaxation." He decided the pasture was high enough, and it needed mowing.

We even took some of the clippings to my chickens that were moved to a new spot under the trees. They loved it!

A Bean Question

2011-08-19T21:20:00.001-07:00

I have a question. A bean question. Or, rather, a question about beans. I got home today after a lengthy (for me) absence from home. Can you guess what I did as soon as I got home? I ran (well, more like sauntered) out to my garden to look things over. Among other things, my green beans are producing. And I guess they've been producing for what looks like almost the entire time (3 weeks) I've been gone. There are beans of all maturity, but lots of older ones. Could I use just plain old green beans as dried beans? Could I pick the older ones, dry them, and cook them up later instead of throwing them into the compost heap? Would it be worth the work, or would I be better off to use them as compost, and try a true dried bean variety next season? I've never grown dried beans before, and now am at a total loss as to what to do with this multitude of old beans.

Thank you for any and all help you can give me. Oh, and I know that was more than one question, but I was sort of on a roll. Besides, it's been a long day, and maybe, I might kind of be suffering from the effects of 2 bowls of mint chocolate chip ice cream. I sort of didn't stop after the first one. True story.

Signed,
Just One Simple Human Bean

What's for Dinner Tonight?

2011-08-18T10:34:00.000-07:00

I've been visiting here at a hospital, and some of the patients have mentioned there's alot of turkey served at meal time. Turkey meat is healthy! It has less fat than beef. It's very versatile, and it tastes good! Hmmmm, but perhaps that's not the only reason???? Look what was crossing the road right in front of my car this morning! I stopped and waited while they walked on by. Whoever said beef is what's for dinner, hasn't spent much time here!

Ahhhh, friends!

2011-08-12T13:10:00.000-07:00

I have been out of town and staying with a friend for the past few days. I needed to leave for awhile this morning to do a few things, and she wanted to send me off with something to eat. You know, so I wouldn't have to even think about what to have, or where to go for a snack or lunch. I tried to tell her I was fine, and she didn't have to worry, but she wasn't having any part of that. What a sweetie! Check out what she packed for me. Oh, and she added in a bottle of water, a bottle of tea, 3 small ice packs, napkins, and silverware!

My (Very Organized) Sewing Basket

2011-07-09T20:08:00.000-07:00

Today, I put together a quick take-along project, and needed a few things I thought were in my sewing basket. After shuffling through the all the stuff I had squirreled away, I finally found what I was looking for. But before then? What a mess! Just look at it!

This is what I found........ the case I keep my rotary cutter and machine quilting stuff in. Not too bad, huh?? Those white quilting gloves were lost for about a month. Then my niece returned them. I had loaned them to her while she was finishing a quilt. I really like them. Good thing for me she's very honest!!

A cookbook. My sewing basket is the perfect place for a cookbook. I would hate to think it was on a shelf somewhere, mixed in with other cookbooks.

Needles and safety pins. That makes sense!

Uhhhhh, I don't even remember why this one is in my basket. It's a ratchet strap for cinching down things in the back of our truck. They're great for just about everything, but I can't see that they would be good for sewing.

And of course, the ever-present odds and ends in the bottom. There's an incredibly tiny pink knitted hat with a cute pom-pom, eye drops that have never been used, lots of thread, pens, pencils, fabric, a cardboard quilting template, and a paintbrush. Please tell me I'm not the only one that does this. Please???

My Guys

2011-07-07T21:20:00.000-07:00

I was looking back through some of my older pictures, and came across a bunch from a fishing trip we took a few years back. Here's one of our oldest. He was fly fishing.

We went to a lake, and Hubby got in one of the float tube thingies. These things are pretty cool. But, if you decide to get one, make sure you use sunblock on the tops of your feet. Just a thought!

Then Michael got his floaty thing out in the water. This one is a little different. In order to steer, you put these little fin things on your feet and kick, while going backwards. It's pretty funky until you get used to it.

This is David. He's our youngest. David and Dozer were down by a little creek, tossing rocks and sticks. They were both having a great time.

Dozer was after a stick that David threw for him. He's in heaven!

And he's waiting again! "Throw it! Throw it!" He could do this all day long. It's totally psycho!

This is one of my favorite pictures of all time. Dozer is after a stick, and absolutely flew into the water. Such fun to watch.

How To Dismount A Horse

2011-07-06T19:21:00.000-07:00

We have some friends that live right under the flight path of the local Air Force base. Each year during the air show, our friends put on a major soiree and invite all their friends and family. It's quite the big doin's! It's also lots of fun. Anyway, when we were waiting for the planes to show up, a few of the kids kept busy by riding the horses. I thought maybe you'd like to see how these folks can dismount. Pretty cool!!

First, Michelle showed the kids how it's done. See her daughter right behind her? "Don't worry Mom, I've got your back!"

Uhhh, Step 1: Sit sideways and hitch up your britches!

Then, you simply grab both the front and back of the saddle, lean over backwards, look at the ground, flip your feet over your head and...........

land on the ground!! Yeah, I was quite happy to just take pictures.

So then, Michelle had her first victim, um, I mean student. "Hop on up, my young padewan learner!"

"Uh, Mom, are you sure about this??"

"Don't worry, I've got your back.... " Scooch forward..... hang on........

And, lean back.......

Like, waaaay back!!

Look at the ground, girlfriend!!!

Feet up.......

Flip those feet!

and over!!!!

Dismount!! A perfect 10, wouldn't you say??

Then, not to be outdone by the girls.....

Look at that smile, folks! He's on top of the world.... well, ok, he's on top of a horse, but you know what I mean!

He knows what to do. Sit sideways, scooch forward, grab both sides........

"Uhhh, Mom? Hello? You there???"

Yeah, ok. Lean waaaaay back!

Hang on!! Legs up!! Look at the ground!!

And then??? Aggghhhh!! I ran out of space on my card. Can you believe it??? But he did a great dismount! It was awesome!

P.S. Thank you, Red, for being the most patient, awesomest horse ever! And, not to forget the human, too! Kylee spent the better part of her "off time" that day with many kids, giving many rides. To say nothing of saddling and then unsaddling more than one critter. She was so patient, and so considerate of each and every person she took out. I think she made the day for more than just the kids.

Redneck Algae Doohicky

2011-06-30T13:24:00.000-07:00

I thought you might like to see what I use to pick algae out of my little pond. Nothing fancy, but it sure does the trick. Cost me all of about $4, too! I probably could have made it for even less if I had gotten the brush at the dollar store, but I was at the hardware store, and didn't want to make another stop. I was being lazy. Anyway, here's the little gem at work:

Pretty sweet, huh?? I was able to pick up that clump of algae all at once, and go on about my business. Here's a closeup of the business end of the whole thing. Maybe you recognize it???

If you have a pond and are having a hard time grabbing the clumps of algae, these are easy to make. All you need is a NEW toilet brush with the extra little brush pokey-out thing, a few zip ties, and a stick/pole/handle. My handle was from a painting brush, probably 4-5 feet long. It could be an old broom, mop, or whatever you might have laying around that hasn't made it to the garbage yet. Zip tie the brush to the end of the handle, and away you go! Here's mine. Uh, maybe I should cut the zip ties?? Yea, I'll get right on that.

Speaking of ponds, I've got some flowers in mine!

And a few visitors at night! Guess I'd better put the new food somewhere else.

Look What Happened Today!

2011-06-28T20:12:00.000-07:00

Here in the Sacramento Valley, we don't usually get rain this late in June. Like, very rarely. And if we do, it usually isn't very much. Today, however, isn't like most late June days in the Sacramento Valley. Today, we got rain. And lots of it. So far, we've gotten well over 3/4 of an inch! And it's still raining. Will we make a whole inch??? Only time will tell.

Dozer didn't seem to mind at all. He kind of likes the rain. But my chickens are another story. My poor chickens were drenched. Yes, they had shelter they could have gotten under. Doesn't mean they took advantage of that! They looked like really big drowned rats. Yea, my chickens; they're not brain surgeons.

ACK!!

2011-06-26T08:46:00.001-07:00

Look what happened when I turned my back for a week in the garden! Holy smokes. These things were big enough to be considered a lethal weapon. There are five zucchini in my basket, and they weighed a total of 18 lbs! Yowzers.

Going Bald???

2011-06-08T18:18:00.000-07:00

Today, I'm in a funky mood. Just be forewarned. I'm not going to talk about gardening, or making cookies, or sewing. I'm not going to upload a cutesy picture of baby eggs from my baby hens, or what's going on outside. This is just.... funky.

I've been told the healthy adult loses about 100 hairs each day. That sounds like alot, especially when I see it all rolled up in a ball, ready to get thrown away. You know, I think I could make a coat for a rather large gerbil. Just from what I lose each day! This is what came out of my head in the last 24 hours. Can you believe it?

A Wet Weekend

2011-06-05T16:32:00.000-07:00

Here in the valley of Northern California, we don't usually get rain in June. Normally, this time of year, I would have been out in the garden all weekend, weeding, planting, pruning, harvesting, and whatever else I could find to keep myself busy and out of the house. But this weekend, it rained. And rained. And rained. My lettuce loved it, and my cabbage loved it, and actually, the zucchini doesn't seem to mind. But me? I wasn't overly fond of it. Not now, anyway. So instead, I baked, and quilted, and read a book. Ok, I watched tv, too. That's where I got my baking ideas. Look at what I made! Three different types of cookies! Chocolate chip, French Butter Cookies, and a Chocolate Swirl/French Butter Cookie. They're all pretty good, so now I'm sending them all to work with my hubby.

I also did some quilting on a UFO (unfinished object) that's been hanging around for a few years. Astrid has inspired me to do a little more quilting, and I was thinking of her when I was sewing, listening to the rain with the bedroom window open. Here's two of the quilt blocks I finished. Now I have a total of 8 blocks done, and 4 more to go. Wahoo! Then the sashing, and off to the quilter!

Harvest Monday - May 30

2011-05-29T22:04:00.000-07:00

Well! I'm back! Time flies, and I've just been living life, trying my best to take care of family, the yard, the critters, and doing my thing at work. It keeps me more than busy.
But, enough of that. This is a Harvest Monday post, and I'd like to show you my harvest for the week. The first picture..... green stuff. And lots of it! Mostly lettuce and peas. Actually, mostly lettuce. This is just a portion of what I picked, and a smaller portion of what's out there still. I think it's spring's version of zucchini!

And....... Ta Da! Potatoes! I've never grown potatoes before, and was not expecting any quite so soon. Half of my plants have died, and I thought they were supposed to go way longer into the summer, and flower first, although actually maybe they are and I just got lucky to get any. I'm not complaining either way. I didn't pick the blue ones, since the plants haven't turned brown yet, so I can look forward to more. These are the last of the cherries. We don't remember what kind they are, but they sure have been good. The brown eggs next to the cherries?? Those are from my young chickens! They started laying a few weeks ago, and their eggs are just so cute. They're about 2/3 the size of the green eggs from our old hens, but just as beautiful as they can be! I'm real excited to have them laying.

Totals for the week:
lettuce: 3.1 lbs
peas: 2 lbs
zucchini: .4 lbs
potatoes: 10.8 lbs
cherries: 2.75 lbs
cabbage: 3 lbs

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. Would you like to see more? Go to Daphne's place and check out all the things other folks are getting this week.

Ahhhh, Heaven!

2011-04-07T20:20:00.000-07:00

Dozer loves retrieving. It's what he lives for. Well, that and something in his food bowl. But retrieving is right up there. Lately it's been so wet outside that he's had to settle for bringing back his stuffed bear inside the house. Not the best, but better than nothing. This afternoon, I figured it had dried out enough to throw his bumper for him. He was so happy.

I think he's smiling!

And so it went.... I'd throw his bumper a bunch, then make him rest. Then I'd throw it some more, and make him rest again. He had a great time. Perfect timing, too! This is what the sky looked like after I'd been home about an hour! Shortly afterward, it started raining..... again.

Harvest Monday, February 28, 2011

2011-02-27T20:44:00.000-08:00

My edible harvest this week was..... nada. Bumpkiss. A big goose egg. Zip. But, I did get a non-edible harvest! This week my beer traps and I got ........ drum roll please..... 115 slugs. Yes, folks that was 115!
Would you like to see what sort of harvest other people are getting? Hop on over to Daphne's place. I'll bet they're getting something more than slugs over there!

Harvest Monday - February 21, 2011

2011-02-20T16:20:00.000-08:00

This is my first Harvest Monday of 2011! I'm looking forward to seeing all of the other Harvest Monday posts at Daphne's blog. She hosts a weekly post where we can link to our harvests each week. I enjoy seeing what other people are doing in their garden. It's great inspiration! Thanks, Daphne!

I cut myself some daffodils for the kitchen counter a few days ago, and they were so cheery during the rain this weekend! Nice smell, too.

Sunday I found ants in the chard, so after I sprayed them all with the hose, I decided a good trim was called for. I didn't stop with that, though. It was getting close to dinner, and the kale was looking good, so I cut some of that, too. Why stop there? I pinched off a few pieces of lettuce, and called it a day.

Lettuce-- .3 oz (ha!)
Kale --- 9.2 oz
Chard--13.1 oz

A Wierd Noise

2011-02-18T17:04:00.000-08:00

I was checking my email this morning, and I heard a very strange noise coming from around the computer desk. I looked underneath, and didn't see anything.

I kept working, and heard the noise again, so I investigated a little more. This is what I found:

See that little bit if fur? Tiger, our ancient kitty cat, has decided that her new favorite place to hang out is inside the computer desk, in the very back of an unused shelf thing! At least she won't get her tail stepped on from there.

It's Cold Here!

2011-02-16T16:49:00.001-08:00

It's been cold here this week. Well, really cold for me. Look what I came home to today! I was pretty surprised, since it was raining at work, but I hadn't seen anything else. So, since I knew it wouldn't last, I thought I'd better get back outside with the camera before it all melted. I can say it's pretty awesome, since I don't have to do any shoveling!

My New Slug Traps

2011-02-13T20:09:00.000-08:00

It's been beautiful weather lately, and the garden has been calling. So, each day after work, Dozer and I work in the garden until it's time for me to go in and start dinner. I've transplanted lettuce, broccoli, and cabbage. They're so cute! But then, the slugs thought so too. I didn't want to use snail and slug bait because I'd feel awful if Dozer got some without me knowing. So I tried ....... beer. Yes, beer.

I had a bunch of plastic bottles waiting to be recycled, so I cut them up, saving the tops and bottoms to bury in the garden. I put them in strategic locations, put about 3/8" of beer in each one, and waited overnight.

That next morning, I picked out 30 slugs from my 6 little beer traps. Wahoo! Today I added more traps, and loaded them up! Beer. It's my new best friend! Who knew it was good for more than just bread??

A True Story!

2011-01-30T20:39:00.000-08:00

I got an email from my friend Kathy. She lives about 5 miles from me, in the middle of an orchard. It can get pretty dark at her place at night, because, well, she lives out in the middle of an orchard! Anyway, I got this email from her. Just had to share it.

"Last night, my alarm system started sounding and woke me up. I just figured the wind may have blown the side garage door open, because I didn't lock it secure enough. That darned door has swollen and is hard to get in the lock just right. But that was not it. Called the alarm company, because resetting the alarm wouldn't work. They said they would send a tech out today.... great. Tried to get back to sleep, then the front driveway light sensor went off... called the Sheriff at this point... Two officers showed up and said there were two rabbits in my driveway... 5 minutes after they left, there was banging up on my roof. Called the Sheriff again. This time, I asked the officers to go check out my garage, so they had to come through the dark house, as I had all lights off, not wanting a possible bad guy to see me. They turned the corner............ drew their guns and............

almost shot John Wayne!!!! They grabbed their chest from near heart failure, as they thought he was real!! Nothing was found, and this morning a technician will be here to fix my alarms. Whew!

I sincerely hope those rabbits and raccoons enjoyed themselves!"

My Sewing Weekend....Part 2

2011-01-22T13:18:00.000-08:00

I'm back from my sewing weekend. We all had a great time..... once we got there. Want to hear the story??? Wellll, I left home late Friday afternoon, went to my sister's place, and loaded up all our stuff, which by the way, was tons! Then we drove to pick up my niece, Patricia, from school about an hour away. At her apartment, we talked a little, and then split. We walked out to the car, where we saw a really big, really wide, and very bad looking leak coming from under Linda's car. It was some sort of oil, and it was doing a really good job of leaking out quite fast, too! A few hours later, Linda and I were the relieved passengers with a very nice tow truck driver, headed back home.
Saturday morning, we loaded up my hubby's commute car, and started again. Hubby's car is much smaller than Linda's, so we had to ditch stuff. Lots of stuff. We were sad. We each left our backup sewing machine, and 3 tubs of sewing stuff. And still it all barely fit. But we were on our way! Here we are, loaded to the gills.

Good thing for Patricia she's not claustrophobic! We would've had to tie her on top if she was. That might have been a little chilly.

Linda had to hold a few things on her lap, we were so short on space. But she had Minnie Mouse to help her, so it was all ok.

The weather was absolutely beautiful. It was crystal clear, and we could see forever. We took a walk, and saw this really cool barge looking thing. I think it was for the neighbor who was replacing their dock.

Of course, we sewed. And we sewed. A few of us ripped, but don't worry, Linda, I'm not naming any names. We even finished a few things! Here's a purse Jerilyn made. And finished!

Here she is, working on a baby quilt.

Here's a purse I made. And finished! It's a little smaller than the pattern said to make, but that was due to my reading the instructions incorrectly. Still turned out cute, though.

Patricia started this snuggle quilt. It's made from silk shirts, believe it or not. She got pretty far, don't you think?

Here's a quilt Linda started. The fabric is called, "You Go, Girl!" It's all horsey. She loves horses. When we were little, she had it all figured out how she could keep a horse in the backyard. We didn't have a really big backyard, so unfortunately for Linda, she never got her horse in the backyard.

And here's another quilt she started from Girl Scout fabric. So cute! There's one with lots of cookies, all over!

All too soon, it was time to go home. We said our goodbyes, and started on our way. Coming out of the hills, this is what we saw! The fog was light enough to be easy to drive through, but heavy enough to be pretty. Come to find out, when we were having beautiful, sunny, warm weather, everybody back home was.... well..... not!

A Girls' Sewing Weekend!

2011-01-13T14:15:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I leave for our annual sewing weekend. A whole weekend spent sewing, talking, watching movies, and eating chocolate. My sister, niece, and I will be meeting one other woman at, "The Cabin," which isn't really a cabin. It's more like a house. A really nice house. It belongs to the family of my sister's college roommate. There, we will spend a long weekend not worrying about much of anything except when we should start fixing dinner, or which project to start on first. Since we'll be quite a long distance from any quilt store, we need to plan ahead and take any and all necessary items. Here's my pile of stuff. See the pink bag? That's my clothes. Most everything else is my sewing stuff. Good thing we're taking Linda's car. It's bigger than mine!

I was going to work on the binding on my Round Robin, but I still can't find the extra fabric, so I'm taking enough to finish a few UFO's, and also the stuff to start a purse. And I tossed in my knitting for good measure. And some magazines and books. They'll be nice for sitting next to the fire first thing in the morning, drinking tea in my jammies and slippers. I don't know what everybody else is bringing. I'll be sure to take pictures and show you after I get back. For now, would you like to see a few from last year? Here's what the back of Linda's car looked like after we got it all loaded.We had things stuffed all over, including under Patricia's feet!

Here's the back of Jerilyn's car. Her back seat was empty! What's up with that??

And this is what it looked like after we got it all in the house. The sewing stuff just sort of sprawls all over the place.

Well, I'd better get back to a few things I started to do around here. I'm leaving in just over 24 hours! I wonder if we'll have enough chocolate? Maybe I should make some brownies. Or fudge. Or both??

Organization........

2011-01-11T21:44:00.000-08:00

I really need to organize my sewing stuff. I know it's getting bad when I can't find things. I showed you my Round Robin quilt. It's been made.......it's been quilted.......and now, all it needs is the binding. I have my cutting mat, rotary cutter, and rulers ready. My machine is set up, I know where the walking foot is, and my sewing space is fairly open. I even have the time to put the binding on. I have the really comfy chair next to the really nice fire, and a new movie from Netflicks. You know what else I have? Shall I tell you? Ok, I have no clue where the binding fabric is! Yeah. Organization...... it's not one of my strong points.

Spring!

2011-01-09T20:38:00.001-08:00

And it's right outside my bedroom window! I think I might be getting Spring Fever.

Our Old Girl

2011-01-09T19:41:00.001-08:00

Here's Sierra. She's a sweetheart. When she was younger, she would chase anything that moved. Shadows, birds, reflections, dragonflies, and little red pointer lights. Sierra has given us almost 16 years of entertainment. For years, I would look out the window and watch her jump in the pasture when the dragonflies were swarming, or run after the shadows the birds made flitting back and forth from one tree to another. She still greets us when we come home, although now much slower to get up, of course. Sierra loved to run out front when somebody drove up. No, not necessarily to the car, although she was excited to see us. You see, on sunny days, the side mirror made a reflection that was just her height on the house. So, she would run up to the house, and wait until the driver opened the car door. She gave herself more than a couple scratches on her muzzle in her excitement to bite the reflection! So now, years later, here she is, much slower, older, and alot grayer, but still our sweetheart!

Coming Home

2011-01-05T20:22:00.000-08:00

It's been cold lately. Really cold. So cold, in fact, that I've had to go outside and start my car about 15 minutes before I intend on leaving for work. It's either that or pour cold water over my windshield to get the ice off. It's been so cold, we had the fire going all day long this past weekend.
Uhhh, do I hear laughing from some folks out there? Do I hear people calling me a pansy?? A sissy? Yes? Well, let me just say that we live in California. The very sunny part of California. The part of California that doesn't get much under freezing. We get snow only once every 20 to 30 years here where we live. And we had our inch 15 years ago. Even made a tiny little snowman! Schools closed. Nobody went anywhere. Total craziness. So anyway, when it's cold like this, I tend to want to be warm. Today, I came home expecting to have to build a fire in the wood stove, since, even though David is home from school, he doesn't appreciate being warm like I do. But guess what?? I walked through the door, and the house wasn't freezing! David had started a fire for me, and then kept it going all day. Awww, what a guy! And look! Sassy likes the fire, too! Thanks, David. We both appreciate it.

My Round Robin Quilt

2010-12-31T20:38:00.001-08:00

Every year, my sister, two of her college roommates, and I each meet up at a, "Cabin" on a lake and spend a long weekend sewing, eating chocolate, watching chick flicks, and talking. Oh, the talking! It's a great relaxing, fun girls weekend. We decided about 5 years ago to start a round robin quilt. We each made a middle, and then gave our middle to the next person. There were no rules, except to stay with the basic (very basic) color scheme. We spent the next year working on each others quilts and then revealed the final one when we met for the next year. I'm so glad we did it. This is mine. I really like how it turned out. It's about 60" square, and made with pumpkin flannel fabric. My sister machine embroidered Linus digging for The Great Pumpkin on the top half, and The Great Pumpkin on the bottom half. The front:

And I love putting back art on my quilts! This one is no different.

I still need to finish the binding. A great hand project for sitting next to the wood stove!

Burn Pile Potatoes

2010-12-30T17:21:00.000-08:00

We burned today. It was the perfect day for burning...... cold, clear, no wind, and it's been raining like crazy. Time to take advantage of this beautiful weather! We grabbed the torch, the pitchforks, and the long garden hose. Just in case it got away from us. Even though we were walking in mud puddles. Kinda like wearing suspenders and a belt at the same time. Anyway, we burned a few piles of branches, leaves, and old yucky wood. We always end up with the most wonderful coals, and it would be so very sad to just leave them without doing anything with them. Aren't they gorgeous? Just perfect.

I know, we could do the whole smore's thing, but it was too cold. We could go the hot dog route, but I don't really like hot dogs, and besides, I didn't have any. Probably because I don't really like them. Go figure, huh?? My all time favorite thing to do with coals after a day of burning is potatoes. But not just any old potato. I add lots of goodies to them. Want to see how I do it?? They're really easy, and a nice variation.

For each potato you'll need: large square of heavy duty foil, a medium to large potato, 2 slices bacon, 2 slices onion, 4-6 cloves garlic, salt and pepper.

Wash and slice potatoes into quarters. You should end up with 4 slices. Place them on the foil.

Cut each slice of bacon into 3-4 pieces. Put them between each piece of potato, and on the outside edges.

Using 2 slices of onion, put about 1/2 of a slice with each bacon piece.

Chop up the garlic, sprinkle it around, and then add salt and pepper.

Now, I always twist the foil around so that the first way I wrap these brings the pieces all together. Just telling you what works for me, not that the foil police will come inspect these. Here's a little peek of my first one. Oh, it's going to be so yummy!

Then it goes outside and into the fire, with seams facing up. I take my shovel and dig/scoop out a little hole in the coals. I might mention, these coals aren't the orange'ish ones. They're more black/gray, but still the intense heat that will warm you up real nice on a chilly day. If you put them into coals that are orange, get ready for some crispy fried potatoes. I've tried it. And take my word for it, they're not good. So, here are your potatoes, all snug in their bed, and then scoop more coals on top. Cover them up good. Don't leave any part of them uncovered.

I always go inside and set the timer for 40 minutes. It's very useful to have a set of b-b-que tongs and a metal pan, or something to put the (really hot) potatoes in. I used a 9x13 pan. When digging up the foil pouches, be very careful. Today I used the back of a metal rake, but a shovel works too. I've used the pitchfork that we use when burning, and that doesn't work. That day I was too lazy to go get the shovel. Anyway, very gently, scoop out the pouches, and then pick them up with the tongs and sort of shake them to get off the coals. You can let them sit for maybe 10-15 minutes if you want, but you don't have to. Here they are, in all their glory! Enjoy!

Puppy Love

2010-11-27T13:40:00.000-08:00

This is Dozer. He's just about the happiest dog I know. I take that back. He IS the happiest dog I know. Dozer is in love with life. He loves everything. He loves..... us, his breakfast, his dinner, his bed, car rides, playing fetch.....and his toys. Oh, how he loves his toys. Here's one. It's a seat belt from an old car. It's pretty tough. I gave this to him a few weeks ago, and look at what good shape it's in!

I'm still amazed it hasn't been loved to death. Sort of like his stuffed animals. Dozer's current stuffed animal is a little orange fuzzy bear. Well, it used to be fuzzy. Now it's caked with dried slobber. And it's kind of a brownish/orange color now. With no face. And minus half of a leg. But Dozer still really, really likes it.

Yeah, it's true love. Puppy style.

After all, doesn't love make the world go 'round? Even Puppy Love.

Just Normal, Thanksgiving Conversations

2010-11-25T16:25:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving! I thought to be different, I'd give a sort of, "Fly On The Wall" perspective on some of the things said before, during, and after our feast. Do other folks do this kind of thing, or is it just us???

My father-in-law, talking about answering a complaint before he retired, whether or not to spray for mosquitoes. "Well, Ma'am, I won't be spraying. I've checked for mosquitoes, and you don't have any."
"Oh?? Well then would you tell me what these things are that keep biting me?"
"Those are midges, Ma'am, not mosquitoes."
"Aagh! They're flying, and bugging me. That makes them mosquitoes!"
Fast forward an hour, sitting at the dinner table. A little moth was flying just above my mother-in-law's plate. I bring it to her attention.
"Nedra, there's a mosquito flying in your plate!"
My father-in-law looks at it, then tells Nedra, "That's not a mosquito, that's a moth."
"No, it's flying and bugging me, that makes it a mosquito!"

"A short pencil is better than a good memory"
"What does that mean?"
"A good memory still isn't as good as just writing it down right then."
"Not necessarily, I know there are people with photographic memories! And if they memorize it, then they don't have to worry about anything happening to a piece of paper. What if they forget where they put it? Or somebody throws it away. Or the dog eats it. Or their house could burn down!"
.....fast forward, again!
"Hey Mom, I'm going to let the dogs in"
"That's fine, but you might want to pick up your dessert plate from the rocking chair." (To keep the puppy with a good nose out of trouble.)
"Oh, come on Mom, what's the worst that could happen?"
"The puppy could jump up onto the chair, knock the plate down, breaking it in the process, then he'd step onto the broken glass, cut a main artery in his paws, and bleed to death before we got to the emergency vet. And then, we'd turn around, go home, but before we got there, get into an accident, and die."

Who needs any other entertainment?

Duck Carts.....

2010-11-20T23:52:00.000-08:00

I was looking through some of my old pictures lately, and ran across a few that I would share. These were taken a few years ago. My two boys were trying out a duck cart before hunting season opened. These carts are made to carry heavy or bulky things along a trail in the outdoors.

But this particular afternoon, it wasn't hauling anything in the outdoors. It was in our driveway. Empty. And sad. And forlorn. Maybe even lonely!

Ahhh, but not for long! My kids, being the ingenious people that they are, were re-purposing this cart into an afternoon of fun. I love boys! They're so full of life. And imagination! Just think of what they can do with some spare time, a duck cart, and a nice, big, empty driveway!

Boys are made for having fun. Unfortunately, duck carts aren't.

Onions, Owies, and Old Recipes

2010-11-18T22:12:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, after work, I planted 3 bags of onion sets. One bag each of white onions, red, and one bag of yellow. We went into the garden, just me, the dog, and three bags of onions. Things were progressing nicely until I got over halfway through the last bag, and then I straightened up, only to have a sharp pain in my lower back. I finished the onions, and went inside, figuring it would go away soon enough. Ha! Not so! Since then, I've been hobbling around, not really able to straighten up, moving like a total freadazoid, and probably making weird noises. But, it's not all bad! There's a silver lining to this little cloud. Today, in an effort to help my back feel better, I've been spending a boatload of time in my recliner, shelling out walnuts. I've cracked out 7 lbs of meat! Wow! Ok, when I put it in writing, 7 lbs. doesn't really sound like alot, but it's taken me a long time, so I'm still going to be excited for myself. Anyway, you want to know something? As I'm cracking these things, I keep thinking about my mom's candied walnuts she used to make. They had this dark almost hard candy coating, and she would cook them on the stove, then pour it all onto a cookie sheet to cool, then break them apart. Funny that I haven't thought of that in years. I wonder if I can find her recipe?

I "Heart" Big Trucks!

2010-11-12T09:58:00.000-08:00

I got a phone call Wednesday night from our oldest son, Michael. It was well after dark, and he didn't have school the next day, so I wasn't surprised to find he'd decided to go hunting the next day. Here's the gist of our conversation:

"Hi Mom, guess what? I just killed a deer!"
"When? Where? I didn't know you went hunting today."
"Like, not even 5 minutes ago, right here South of town, and I wasn't hunting. I was driving!"
"What??"
"I wasn't hunting! I hit it with the truck! "

Oh, let me tell you, anybody with children knows the feeling I had when my son told me that he'd hit a full grown deer, broadside. But the only thing that happened, well, aside from him killing the deer, was a caved in bumper and a busted headlight.

New headlight - $20. Friends helping pull bumper back out - $0. Nothing wrong with my son - priceless.

The Geekdom

2010-11-06T13:22:00.000-07:00

I know we live outside of a small town, and we have animals, and cut our own firewood, and everything else that goes along with that. But in all reality, my guys are geeks. My family lives for the computer, and the information it gives us. We love fast internet searches for a quirky recipe, or the odd tidbit of information. To say nothing about my hubby actually making a living with his knowledge using a computer. Of course, my youngest son is no different. No, he doesn't make a living using a computer, although at 19, that would be nice! What I'm saying is, David is a total geek. To prove my point? I just got a text from him, (he's at Walmart.) "Holy crap! I just found a 16g flash drive!" Ahhh, I can see it now, the newest, biggest, most beautiful flash drive, as a centerfold in PC magazine!

Checking My Trap, (The Short Story!)

2010-11-04T20:42:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to catch raccoons for a year.
They've eaten three dozen of my chickens.
It makes me sad.
Very sad.
We put up a hot wire, and added smaller wire around the whole chicken yard, but it still wasn't good enough.
I bought a trap.
The only thing I ever caught was our cats.
Our cats aren't smart. I caught each of them many times.
This is my tripped trap I found on my way out yesterday morning.
I thought it was one of our cats. Again.

And look what I found under the cardboard!

Finally, after a year of trying, off and on, I caught a raccoon!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T22:06:00.000-07:00

Guess what? The internet has worked most of the day! Crazyness! I thought I would take this time to wish everyone a safe and Happy Halloween. David and I went to my dad's house to help him give out candy to all the little trick-or-treaters that he had. He lives in town, and always has lots more than us. Tonight he had....... are you ready?? Tonight my dad had....... nine trick-or-treaters. Are you laughing? Yes, I know, but that's nine more than we had tonight. I know this because my hubby stayed home on the off chance that someone would lose their way in the darkness, perhaps following the raccoons, and come upon our house. Not that we've ever given out any Halloween candy before. Ever. In 23 years. Secretly, I think he just wanted to stay home and watch the game. And eat Halloween candy that he bought just in case we had a little goblin knocking on the door.

Soon, But Not Yet!

2010-10-07T20:49:00.000-07:00

We live outside of a small town. Just a couple miles. Not far, but far enough. Unfortunately, our internet connection is currently quite fickle, due to us being too far from town, among other things. The whole, "no internet" thing has been getting old, so we had DigitalPath come out to see if we could get a connection from them. A very nice guy climbed our t.v. tower in the hopes we could get decent reception up that high. Just look at him up there. What a guy! Much braver than I am. Nice looking antennae, huh? It also doubles as a roost for the Great Horned Owls that live by us.

Uh, that's way too high for this girl!!

On a side note, I found out that trees weren't the only things my kids climbed around here. Which really surprised me, since neither one was real big on climbing things. Who knows, maybe that's why? Pretty funny now! Anyway, you know what we found out? We can get reception! At least, after we take out a few trees that are in the way.

This one needs to come out, too.

And this one.

And these.
So until we cut down a bunch of trees, we're still dealing with our fickle internet.

I'm Going To Be A Grandma!!!

2010-09-05T16:03:00.000-07:00

My oldest son, Michael, is going to be getting a puppy next weekend. He's a black lab, and his name is Hank. Here he is, six weeks ago, when he was one week old. I might be biased, but he's pretty darned cute, don't you think?

Here he is with all his brothers and sisters. He's the cute little black one with the big belly, laying down. See him?

Lawn Boy!

2010-09-05T11:40:00.000-07:00

I have a lawn boy. He usually mows once every few weeks. Here he is, mowing in front of the newest hill.

He finished the front of the hill, now he's moved on to the backside of the new hill. Oh, he's pretty fast!

Looks like the hill and the rest of the North side is done, and now he's going to the South side of our not-yet-finished cross fence. That's what will keep my goats in the front part of the property. Uh, that is, when I get goats. They're imaginary now.

He's gotten pretty good, so now it doesn't take him that long, usually less than an hour. Unless he spends lots of time under the deck, untangling what he ran over! I guess that's what he gets paid the big bucks for.

Birch Seeds

2010-09-03T18:27:00.000-07:00

Here are my birch trees. Beautiful, aren't they?

This is the first thing I see when I look out my kitchen window, or walk out my kitchen door.

Years ago, we started out with three, but now, thanks to Mother Nature, we have five. And we've transplanted another 5. We've also dug up, pulled up, sprayed, burned and stomped on a multitude of others besides these. Don't get me wrong, I love my birch trees. But the reason we have more now, is simply this:

This pile is made up of a quadzillion birch tree seeds. Yes, I counted them. I had nothing else to do, so I counted them, and came up with a quadzillion seeds. I'm quite good at math, so you can trust me on that number. Anyway, it's that time of year when my birch trees start dropping their seeds. The pile of a quadzillion seeds that I swept up today is what has fallen in three days, right outside my kitchen door. That wouldn't be so bad, except we track them into the house. They tend to stick onto the bottom of shoes. So every few days, we track about a trillion of these things into the house.

Even the cat brings them in. I haven't yet figured out how to keep the seeds out. Until I do, I will keep sweeping every few days. Mother Nature is working overtime. Anybody want some birch seeds?

Winner, Winner!

2010-08-24T20:43:00.000-07:00

It's time to pick a winner for my Blog's Birthday present. I wrote 3 names on 3 different pieces of paper, and drew one out of a hat. Well, actually, it was a mixing bowl. Annie's Granny! Congrats! With the small number of comments, I'd like to send all my "commenters" another birthday present. Please send me an email ( lkauffma at jps dot net ) with your snail mail address, and I will get them out to you. Thanks for playing!

Harvest Monday, August 23, 2010

2010-08-22T15:54:00.000-07:00

It's Harvest Monday again! Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. Thanks, Daphne, for putting this on.

Oh, what a week! The big producer this week has been the apples. I've made applesauce, and then more applesauce. I turned my back for a few minutes, and burned applesauce while it was reheating on the outside stove! That was when I decided to make tomato juice. I also picked enough zucchini to either make some more relish, or try out another few recipes. It will need to wait for a few days until I can do it after work, since school is starting, and duty calls. I still have basil that needs to be picked and made into pesto. It was on my list of things to do Sunday, but the day wasn't long enough! I got my first "real" cantaloupe. It was good with Sunday morning breakfast, and the chickens enjoyed the seeds and the rind. My cucumbers are still producing at a steady rate, and we enjoy them with almost every dinner. My beans, planted way too late, have finally flowered. The aphids discovered them, and I found myself waging war on them one morning with the soapy water in the, "No-Clog Feeder!" I checked on the status this morning, and it has done the trick, so far! Hopefully they'll stay away.

This week's pictures... just one of the many loads of apples I brought in!

Sunday's canning - 7 quarts each of applesauce and tomato juice, cooling outside by the canner.

This week's total: 127.025 lbs.

Tomatoes: 33.4 lbs.
Squash: 8 lbs.
Peppers 1.125 lbs.
Herbs: .125 lbs.
Cucumbers: 6.375 lbs.
Apples: 73.625 lbs.
Melon: 2.375 lbs.
Gourds: 2 lbs.

My Blog's Birthday!

2010-08-22T15:22:00.000-07:00

My blog had a birthday! No, I didn't have a party, or bake a cake, and we didn't sing, "Happy Birthday," but I have a present, of sorts. I decided I would give away a really cool book. A book about.......are you ready? A book about ...... gardening! Are you surprised? No? Ok. Anyway, it's a Country Living book called Country Gardens, Old-Fashioned Flowers, Modern Techniques, Timeless Beauty. Here's a picture of the cover:

And here's a sneak peak at the contents!

A garden around a miniature working train. How cool is that??

I'd love a garden shed like this one.

A beautiful country kitchen, covered in roses!

So, here's the scoop. All you have to do is leave a comment. You don't have to be a follower, although I really like followers! You don't have to blog about it, or send any emails, or anything like that. All you have to do is comment. Then, on Tuesday evening, I'll pick the winner. Oh, and just so we're all on the same page (hah!!) this is NOT like winning something on Ebay. The winner is..... well..... winning it! Have fun, and Happy Birthday to my blog!

Death and Destruction

2010-08-18T12:07:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling very brutal right now, sitting here in front of the computer, eating my bowl of Life cereal for lunch. This morning, I spent about 3-4 hours in the garden. I pulled weeds. Ripped them right up by their roots. Poor things. They were just trying to survive. Hopefully, I put an end to that. Then I sprayed the beans with soapy water. I noticed last night that they have aphids. And, they were being helped along by the ants. Hah! Hopefully, I put an end to most of them. Then I checked on my squash blossoms. ACK! Cucumber beetles! Right inside my squash blossoms, looking very innocent-like. I squished them. That for sure put an end to them! Then I went looking for more. Death and destruction, garden style. Gotta love it!

No Zucchini Brownies!

2010-08-17T21:30:00.000-07:00

Anybody that knows my cooking style, knows that I very seldom follow a recipe precisely as written. Given that fact, along with:

1. I want to give goodies away tomorrow
2. I wanted them to somehow come from my garden
3. My zucchini isn't producing worth squat
4. My apples are ripe, if I pick selectively
5. I wanted something fairly easy

I came up with ....Ta Da...... Brownies! Made from a Chocolate Zucchini Cake recipe. With no zucchini. And, it's not a cake. But, just the same, they turned out really good. And, they have chocolate! So, it's pretty hard to mess them up. Here they are. Beautiful, aren't they? The only thng that could make them better would be some vanilla ice cream. I'll get right on that.

Grandma K's Chocolate Zucchini Cake

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup cocoa
1 1/2 tsp soda
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla
6 Tbsp butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 cups shredded zucchini
1/2 cup milk

Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside. With mixer, mix butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time. Stir in with spoon, vanilla and zucchini alternately with dry ingredients and milk. Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until done. Can use a bundt pan, but also 2 8" bread pans. Drizzle with powdered sugar glaze.

My changes for today:

*substituted peeled, grated apples for zucchini
*left out the milk. I didn't have any, and the apples were juicy, and I was hoping nobody would notice
*baked it in a half sheet pan (my main cookie sheet) for 28-30 minutes
*substituted the following fudge frosting for the powdered sugar glaze

Melt 1 cube butter, 1/3 cup buttermilk, 1/2 cup cocoa and boil - add 1 lb powdered sugar and 1 tsp vanilla. *This will look pretty bad before all the powdered sugar is mixed in, but it will turn out fine. Mix and spread over hot cake.

Harvest Monday, August 16 2010

2010-08-16T12:46:00.000-07:00

It's Harvest Monday! Hop on over to Daphne's place and see what everybody has harvested for the past week.

My tomatoes slowed down a little this week, although I still gave lots away. I didn’t can any tomatoes this week, although I tried the Zucchini Relish that The Frugal Gardener makes. What a great use for those zucchini that I somehow miss on the vines! I ended up with 6 pints of relish, plus a little smidgeon I put in a small container in the frig. I tried it with a pepper jack cheese sandwich, and it was very good. I’m sure the next time I make this recipe, it won’t take me near as long as this first one did!

I’m enjoying the first of my cucumbers this week. It’s so nice to walk outside and grab a few to go with the tomatoes I slice for dinner. I even took some in a salad I made for a potluck on Friday. This week was also the very beginning of our apples. I can see the applesauce coming already! And I’m running out of pint jars! Geoff bought more while he was in town, so I wouldn’t have to make a special trip when I start making the stuff. Michael (our oldest) really likes applesauce, so I think I’ll can a bunch in quarts to send home with him. The quarts are much faster, and I have tons of them in the garage just waiting to be filled. I selectively picked a basketful of Fuji’s to make a cranberry apple pie, and have a few on the counter for some tart eating. Of course, we have to be a little careful, checking for a few bugs, but it’s not really a big problem.

The total for this week is: 44.125 pounds

Tomatoes; 22.625 lbs

Squash; 5.5 lbs

Peppers; .5 lbs

Herbs; .625 lbs

Chard; 4.375 lbs

Cucumbers; 4.5 lbs

Apples! 6.75 lbs

Harvest Monday, August 9

2010-08-09T14:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm here at my dad's, using his computer and internet connection. (Thanks, Dad!) Ours is down. Won't upload pics, and I can't access my email. Ugh! We have an appointment to get it fixed the end of next week. Wahoo! But, you didn't really want to know all that, right? Right. So, on with the harvest for the past week. Want to see more harvests? Check out Daphne's Harvest Monday. Thanks, Daphne, for hosting this. I really enjoy looking at what other folks are up to.

I got my first cucumber! Only one, but more are coming. It was really good with cut up tomatoes with dinner that night. I didn't even think to get a picture of it before I hauled it inside for dinner. Aside from my first cucumber of the year, this week was all about the tomatoes. Boy, did we have tomatoes. Good thing I'm off work for a few more weeks, because I was able to can a boatload of tomato things. I canned 6 quarts of tomato juice yesterday. Here's the before:

And here's the after! I just love looking at my filled jars!

10 quarts of chunky pasta sauce (new recipe.) This brings my total pasta sauce up to 19 quarts. That ought to be enough for the year!

And enchilada sauce! Ok, it started out as salsa, but then I was multi-tasking, and trying out two new recipes, and not really following either one, and talking on the phone, and it didn't really want to be salsa anyway, but enchilada sauce instead. So I canned the second batch in quarts instead of pints. Here it is in my pantry, just waiting for the middle of winter for me to come home from work and have some for dinner. I can just hear them saying, "Pick me! Pick me!" Aren't they pretty? I think I might look for some new, more modern shelf paper for my pantry, though! What do you think?

Oh, and the sunflowers are all starting to flower! I was able to pick 2 bouquets to bring inside this week. I have a volunteer in with the tomatoes in one of my beds, and I picked a few from that plant, along with some in a new area not planted before.

I'm happy to report that my chard is coming back from the dead. I messed up on the watering, and I thought it was being watered automatically, only to find that it was, in fact, trying it's darnedest to live on nothing! I revamped my drip system in that bed (long story, even longer bed!) and my chard can now live happily ever after. The End!

Total this week: 67.25 lbs
tomatoes 54 lbs
squash 9.25 lbs
chard 3.25 lbs
cucumber .75 lbs

Harvest Monday, August 2

2010-08-01T20:54:00.000-07:00

It's Harvest Monday at Daphne's place! Another week has gone by, and I've picked the veggies, and watered, and pulled weeds, and enjoyed my garden every day. I love this time of year. This week the tomatoes have been the stars of the garden. They've produced enough for me to have tomatoes with every dinner, sometimes just cut up and eaten as is, and sometimes mixed with cucumbers and rice vinegar with a little salt and pepper. There were also enough tomatoes to try out a new chunky garden pasta sauce and can 9 quarts of that. I had just a little extra, and turned it into a quickie dinner with biscuits, pasta sauce, and cheese.

Pics for the week: Saturday morning, I was talking to my aunt on the phone picking grape tomatoes ... multi tasking! Here they are with just a few of the full sized Tye Dye tomatoes and a Steak Sandwich, along with the ever present zucchini.

Here's a few of the quart jars of pasta sauce I made. Pretty, aren't they??

I made a quick batch of salsa to have with dinner tonight. It was yummy!

And here's Dozer's Harvest. He's pretending he doesn't see it, because, even though he was snagged red handed, he was still trying to act all innocent-like. Can you tell he's looking at it out of the corner of his eye? Once I figured out it was a walnut and not a tomato, I told him, "Bon appetit!" That's his cue to eat whatever is in front of him. The tomatoes he picked were earlier in the week, and I was not able to get pictures of them.

Totals for the week:

Tomatoes............... 46 lbs
Squash ................. 7 lbs
Basil...................... 1 lbs
Peppers ................. 5 lbs
Chard ................... 2 lbs
Kale ..................... 1 lbs

Harvest Monday, July 26

2010-07-26T09:46:00.000-07:00

It's Harvest Monday again! I've had a pretty busy week, and not all of it was in the garden. But, since this is a harvest Monday post, I'll just stick to the garden stuff. The tomatoes have decided it's time to produce. I've been able to give away quite a few, in addition to canning some. There's more out on the vines that need to be picked now, so I'll can more later, when I stay home for a few days! There have been a steady stream of squash, but not so much that I am sick of them. I concocted a new squash recipe that we inhaled. I'm still working on the instructions for that one, so I'll expand on that in another post. Here's just a few of the things I picked:

The last of the plums came off the tree this week. They're so yummy, but we didn't have many on the tree to begin with, so I was sorry to see them go. I was able to can a few more batches.

This week's total was 23.99 lbs., bringing the month's total to just over 90 lbs. Woohoo!

Plums: 4 lbs
Tomatoes: 12.75 lbs
Squash: 3.75 lbs
Basil: 1.5 lbs
Chard: .75 lbs
Kale: 1.12 lbs
3 radishes: .12 lbs

Would you like to see what other gardeners are harvesting in their gardens? Go to Daphne's Dandelions and join in on the fun. Thanks, Daphne, for hosting this. I really enjoy it!

Sunday Ribs with Kale and Tomatoes

2010-07-25T22:15:00.000-07:00

Dinner tonight was slow cooked ribs. They were really, really, good. Geoff put a dry rub on them after he marinaded them for a few hours. Then he barbecued them for an hour or so. Oh, they were good. Then I realized I'd better fix something to go with them, because, while ribs are tasty, they need some sort of veggie. So I cut up some tomatoes, and made..... kale chips. Ever had them? Actually, an hour before we ate them, I'd never even heard of them. My father-in-law told me about them, so I ran out (actually, I walked rather slowly) to the garden and picked myself a handful of kale and got to work.

Kale Chips

1 pound kale, rinsed, dried, cut from stem
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon barbecue seasoning

In bowl, gently mix kale with oil and bbq seasoning. Put on parchment lined cookie sheet, bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes. Check after about 10 minutes, every 5 minutes thereafter. You want the kale to be crispy but not a burned crispy.

*I think next time I'll put a wire rack sprayed with Pam on top of the cookie sheet, and put the kale on that. The parchment got wet from the oil and the moisture from the kale.

The Jolly Green Giant and........ Aliens!

2010-07-24T15:10:00.000-07:00

Big things happened here while I was gone. Unbeknown to me, it seems that The Jolly Green Giant has an onion patch next door. My neighbor brought these to me yesterday. Look at the size of these things! I weighed the one on the right, and it was over 2 lbs! Now I'm thinking of something special to do with these. Maybe Bloomin' Onions?? About 5 or 6 batches of lasagna?

And, as if a giant next door isn't enough, I think aliens landed in my garden while I was gone. A little hard to believe, I know, but I have proof. They seem to have left some sort of dry, fuzzy, fungussy sort of thing. It's growing in most of my beds.

And it's also growing in the walkways that have chips on them.

What's up with this?? Whatever it is, I don't like it, and when I find it, I pull it up, very, very carefully. Then it turns my fingers a dark brownish color. Ewww! I want the aliens to come take it all back.

Harvest Monday, July 17

2010-07-17T22:22:00.000-07:00

I'm putting this one up early because I'm going to be away from my garden, and computer, for a few days. I'm leaving. I'm leaving town. Actually, I'm leaving the whole state! My oldest son and I are going to visit relatives, and cut trees, and stack brush, and wander around the most beautiful country ever. I'll take pictures for you. Anyway, here's the lowdown on my harvest this week:

Plums! I picked more plums than we could eat. They are great canned, and my favorite way to eat them is cold over applesauce. I only had time for two batches, but hopefully I can get more done after I come back.

Basil..... boy, did I pick the basil! Lots and lots of basil. I made a double batch of pesto, and put it in the freezer. If it keeps producing like this, I will need to get one of those 55 gallon drum of olive oil from Sam's!

And tomatoes. This was the week for tomatoes. We had tomatoes just washed and cut up, we had tomatoes in sandwiches, we had tomatoes in omelets, and then I canned tomatoes. Please pretend there's a nice picture of jars of tomatoes on the counter. I thought I took a picture of them, but I guess I didn't. So now it's late, and I'm getting up early, and I don't want to take a picture. Please understand!

Week's total:

Plums, 13 lbs
Tomatoes, 24.75 lbs
Squash, 2 lbs
Basil, 2 lbs.
Peppers, 2 oz.

Canning Plums

2010-07-14T22:32:00.000-07:00

I have some new followers! Welcome and thanks for reading my blog! Annie's Granny, Frugal Gardener, Manda, and Vrtlaricaana.

The plums are ripe on our plum tree, and although there's not near as much as in the past, there's still more than we can eat fresh. So, I'm canning them, to have later in the year. On top of our applesauce. Sort of turns into plumsauce. Sort of. It's really good. Anyway, this is what I've figured out over the past few years. I started out with about 12 pounds of fruit, and ended up with 14 pints, and a few plums leftover. Oh, by the way, I think these are Santa Rosa plums. I'm pretty sure, but not positive. They're really tasty!

My plums cut in half real easy, so that's what I do first. (after I wash them) Cut them in 1/4's, cutting the pit out.

This might seem like lots of work, considering how small the plums are, but it really isn't bad. Pretty soon, you get this:

Oh, don't let that last picture fool you. I'm doing a cold pack, so I won't be cooking them. This pot was just the handiest thing I had in the kitchen at the time. Anyway, I want to show you a trick I learned from my friend Cindy. Instead of making a syrup, pour sugar directly into the jar. I'm using a light to medium syrup, so I put in 1/4 cup sugar, in the bottom of each jar. You could certainly put in less. Or more! Depending on how sweet or tart your plums are, and if you like to sweeten things up or not.

Pour a small amount of hot water into each jar. Stir to dissolve. *In this picture, I am pouring hot water from my tea pot. It doesn't have to be boiling water, although it certainly can be. The water can be hot tap water, which will dissolve the sugar just fine. Just FYI, it doesn't work if you skip putting the hot water in right now. It also doesn't work if you don't stir it around to dissolve the sugar. Even though you will be boiling everything later. I know, it seems like it would, but it doesn't. I know someone who has tried that. But that's all I'm saying!

Fill each jar with plums, leaving about 1/2" of space on the top. If there's a little too much liquid, just tip the jar over the sink to get some out. I filled some of my jars too much. Be sure to pack the plums in pretty tight, they tend to get smaller when they are in the canner.

Here they are, ready to be wiped clean,and their lids and rings put on.

Ahhh, the greatest thing since sliced bread! I usually can everything outside, on my big crab cooker thingy. It's attached to a 5 gallon propane tank, and let me tell you, that thing gets hot fast! Sounds like a freight train. I put the jars in, fill it with the garden hose, and then light it up. It's a beautiful thing!!

Let it come to a boil, and then turn it down. Plums need 20 minutes for pints, so I set my trusty timer, and came back out to turn it off. I usually let it set in the water for a few minutes, but you don't have to. Here they are out of the water, ready to be taken out.

Ta Da! Here they are, rinsed and rings off, ready for their labels. I tried to print them out before I took this picture, but the printer wasn't working right. So there you have it. Pretty simple, huh? Most of the times I can, all of the jars seal. For some reason, this first batch had 2 out of the 7 didn't. But the second batch all sealed. Now there are 12 waiting labels, and 2 in the frig. Hopefully I'll do a few more batches before the weekend gets here!

Grilled French Bread with Garlic Parsley Butter

2010-07-11T16:08:00.000-07:00

Geoff wanted to barbecue a few tri tips today. He also decided to grill some french bread, and who was I to complain?? Course, we can't have just plain french bread, so he made up this butter to spread over the bread before he grilled it. We just happened to have some garlic and onion from the garden. He whipped that in the food processor and stirred it into the butter.

I have the flat leafed parsley growing in the herb section of my garden, and he chopped up a few handfuls of that to add in. He didn't want it as fine as the food processor would do, so he chopped it with the knife. This is a pretty fine chop, because he wanted lots of little pieces, not really any big ones.

Next step: toss it into the garlic/onion/butter mix, and stir it all up together.

He tasted it, decided it needed some salt and pepper, tasted it again, and declared it done. Then I tasted it. Not because I wanted to tell him what to do, but because with that much garlic, it's best that everybody is smelling the same! Oh, just look at this, my friends! Is that not a little bowl full of love? We will definitely not have to worry about vampires now. This stuff has some punch, folks!

Grilled French Bread with Garlic Parsley Butter

1 loaf French bread, cut in half lengthwise
8 Tbsp. (1 stick) butter, room temperature
2 garlic bulbs, minced
1 small onion, minced
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley leaves
salt and pepper to taste

Mix garlic, onion, parsley and butter in a bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Spread butter on bread. Let sit 10 minutes. Put on grill at medium to low heat. Watch closely. Turn at 2-3 minutes, grill another 2-3 minutes.

Harvest Monday, July 12th

2010-07-11T14:46:00.000-07:00

It's Harvest Monday again! Thanks, Daphne for putting this thing on. This was a pretty hot week, so the tomatoes are going strong. I've got three varieties that have started producing; 4th of July (early), Big Mama (paste/roma type) and Red Lightning. The 4th of July plants have really started to turn, and I got quite a few of those. I've gotten about a half dozen of the Big Mamas, and I've picked 5-6 of the Red Lightnings. That last one I am hoping will be a nice one for great eating and interesting looks. So far, there's no big monster ones, but who knows, maybe they'll get bigger as the summer progresses. Here's a close up of the Red Lightning:

The summer squash have started producing. I've given a few away, although I don't feel inundated by squash yet. I planted four sets of 3-4 plants each, so the possibility is definitely there! I figure when that is getting close, I'm going to try stuffed, batter fried blossoms. I'll keep you updated on that. Anyway, here's a picture of some of the stuff I picked Sunday. I hadn't picked in a few days, and it's only a portion of the tomatoes.

This week I'll be canning some tomatoes and plums. Have you ever canned plums? They're awesome over applesauce. Oh, I have started keeping track of how much I'm getting! Here's the week's totals:

Plums .................8 lbs
Summer squash ..4 lbs 15 oz
Peppers ....................12 oz
Tomatoes .......... 10 lb 7 oz

Chocolate Frosty

2010-07-10T21:53:00.000-07:00

Like most people, we have been really hot here lately. No matter what we are doing, we get hot and sweaty. I've made a few frozen treats that go perfect with hot weather, when we sit under the ceiling fan and do a whole lot of nothing. Chocolate Frosty is one of them. It seriously hits the spot. And let me tell you folks, this stuff is easy to make. Trust me. You'll love it. Oh, and you don't have to tell anybody it's so easy. It'll be our secret.

Chocolate Frosty

1/2 gallon chocolate milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 small tub Cool Whip, thawed (8 oz.)

Whisk together chocolate milk and condensed milk until well mixed. Add in Cool Whip and stir until well mixed. Divide into 2 1 gallon zipper bags, and freeze for 4-6 hours. Take out of freezer and "moosh" bags until frosty is smooth instead of stiff. Pop it back into the freezer and let it freeze solid. Enjoy!

Voices, Heat, and Plain Jane, Homemade Lemonade

2010-07-08T19:25:00.000-07:00

First of all, thank you, Robin, for following my blog! Welcome aboard.

I went to see my dad this afternoon. He had a doctor appointment, again, and my sister and I went with him. Yeah, we had loads of fun, then went to the pharmacy. When were leaving the pharmacy, I heard this little voice. Funny thing was, my sister heard it too! You know what it said? ............. Yogurt! Amazing that we both heard it, because the frozen yogurt place was a good two blocks away. My dad, who was waiting in the car for us, was all too happy to go with us, even though he hadn't heard the voices. Lucky he was with us, huh?? Anyway, we had frozen yogurt, went back to my dad's place, got him all comfy cozy, then we left to go home. Unfortunately for me, my car doesn't have air conditioning. It's really hot today, and by the time I got home, I was very hot, very sweaty, and very red in the face. I think a normal woman would quite possibly have died. Good thing I'm not normal! Know what revived me? The ceiling fan and my Plain Jane, Homemade Lemonade! It's amazing stuff. Try it. It's easy, tart, and it has some oomph to it. I suppose if you don't want lemonade with oomph, or are a little bit squeamish when it comes to lemon, you could back off of the juice, but really, I think it's just perfect.

Plain Jane, Homemade Lemonade

1 cup lemon juice
4 cups water, divided
1 cup sugar

Heat 1 cup of water. Stir in sugar to dissolve. Add lemon juice and the remaining 3 cups water. Stir all together. Pour over ice and enjoy.

Harvest Monday, July 5th

2010-07-05T09:44:00.000-07:00

It's Harvest Monday at Daphne's place! This week I picked:
summer squash, tomatoes, basil, and ........ my first mild salsa peppers! Wahoo! (Happy dance!)

My glads are coming on nicely. I picked a bouquet this morning to bring into the kitchen next to the sink. These are the only glads I picked this week. I like to leave lots in the flower bed, because it's right outside the bedroom window, and when I get up every morning, I look outside and the first thing I see are flowers!

The hydrangeas are plugging along. Such a funny little flower. They're beautiful in their own special way. I can totally relate to them. These will go on the dining room table.

This is a stump. Well, actually, it's a log. From one of our eucalyptus trees we cut down on Friday. That would count for Harvest Monday, wouldn't it? We went to a potluck yesterday at a friend's house, and this is what we brought. Honest and true! Fits nicely in the fancy-schmancy car, don't you think?

And we also brought a big plate of these frosted zucchini bars. (We're not total hicks!)

Grandma's chocolate zucchini cake came along for the ride, too. I forgot to take a picture of it before, so this is the after picture. It was really good.

And last but certainly not least, Dozer would like to add his piece to this Harvest Monday post. He hadn't been allowed to roam around in the garden all week, until today. While my back was turned, he made his own personal harvest. He was a little bummed when I didn't let him finish it, but I think he's gotten over it now.

Our Weekend Eats---And More!!

2010-07-03T20:17:00.000-07:00

Welcome thyme2garden and debiclegg! Thanks for joining my blog!

We sometimes have marathon cooking weekends. It's nice to have some chow put away for those nights I just don't feel like cooking. During the summer, there seems to be more of those than any other time of year. I get sidetracked outside, or visiting friends, or busy looking at the inside of my eyelids, or some other equally important activity. So, this weekend, hubby smoked meat. Boy, did he ever! He started the weekend with a turkey. Leftover from Thanksgiving, when turkey is cheap. (cheep?)

And then two full pork loins. I have discovered one of the fastest, simplest, yummiest dinners on earth. It involves a slice of smoked pork loin. And cheese. And a roll. And a barbecue. But I digress. That's a whole other post.

Here's two pork shoulders, beginning their yummy journey.

Those two pork shoulders will magically turn into pulled pork, after about 9 hours of smoking. Oh, I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful this stuff is!

Here's last night's dinner of smoked turkey, green beans with bacon, and tomatoes from the garden. It was yummy!

And tonight's dinner? Pulled pork, more green beans with pesto, tomatoes and cucumbers.

Yeah, we're eating pretty good. I'm getting full all over again!

Sunshine, Summer, and Memories

2010-06-30T11:42:00.000-07:00

Sunflowers are bright and cheerful. They bring to mind running barefoot in the sunshine on warm days. A cold glass of lemonade under the shade of a big tree, enjoying what summer has to give. Last year, the brother of a good friend of ours grew sunflowers for the first time. Acres and acres of sunflowers. Just before they flowered, he passed away after a tough battle with cancer. Now when I see a field of sunflowers smiling at me, not only do I think of sunshine and summer, but also of a hardworking young farmer, sending love to his family through bright yellow sunflowers.

My First Harvest Monday!

2010-06-28T21:45:00.000-07:00

I wanted to take part in Daphne's Harvest Monday. This is some of what I got from the yard this week: basil, zucchini, scalloped squash, grape tomatoes, my first Fourth of July tomato, and.... drum roll please... lemon verbena! We bought a little plant a few weeks ago at the farmer's market, and now it's big enough to cut a little from. Oh, and I got a dozen eggs. That counts, right??

I got enough glads to make 2 bouquets for the house, and give some to my neighbor for her birthday.

This is my first year for growing onions. I pulled them all out and started drying them. All the pictures I'd seen of onions drying were in the sun, so that's where I put mine. Then we started thinking, and I went onto the internet, and found that we should have them in the shade. We lost a few, but not bad.

My Version of Weed Control

2010-06-26T14:22:00.000-07:00

I'd like to share with you my current method of weed control in my garden. It's fairly simple and straight forward, and a whole lot faster and longer lasting than any other method I've used in the past. These pictures are all in the walkways, but I use this method inside the beds before I fill them up, too. It's the same principle, you're putting a thick layer on top of the weeds, to stop the growth. Sort of like the old way of putting down black plastic, but with cardboard instead. And as a bonus, it will decompose and won't be a mess in 5 years like plastic. This will stay pretty much the same for the whole gardening season. I will need to pick a few stragglers, mostly along the edges, but other than that, I'm set!

My before picture. I almost didn't show you this! It looks pretty bad.

The first thing to do is get out the weedwacker and go to town with it! When I've had a big area, I use the lawn mower, but with these pictures, I used my trusty little weedwacker. The next step is to get yourself a boatload of cardboard and lay that on top of the weedbed. It's easiest if you sprinkle it with the hose at this point, just to sort of let the cardboard relax a little. You could also use newspapers, probably 5 layers or so, but cardboard is just so much easier. And I figure, if I can do anything to shorten my work load, I'm all for that. Then toss some chips on, and you're good to go!

This next picture is what it looks like, all finished. Nice, huh?

Where do I get all these chips you ask??? We have a bunch of eucalyptus trees, and they drop leaves and junk all year. This makes great stuff to put in the garden. These two gents have so kindly offered to help me out! They chip everything up so that when I go barefoot, the sticks won't hurt my tootsies. Isn't that sweet???

Busy, Busy!

2010-06-24T14:31:00.000-07:00

Today started out early. Well, 6:00 is early for me. Hubby woke me up when he left for work, and he'd already been up for well over an hour. Anyway, I headed out to the garden, since it was supposed to be another hot day today. David helped me for a few hours, when he begged me to go inside to work. "Mom, you know how much I love helping you in your garden, but there are so many things for me to do inside! Why don't you let me go and do the stuff you hate to do, just because I love ya so much?" How could I say no? Besides, between the two of us in just a few short (cool-ish) hours, we were able to accomplish so much. Let me show you!

This is the before picture of my pea and onion bed. They were both done and just taking up room.

This is what it looks like now, weeded and fertilized! It's ready for beans to be planted this evening. I forgot to soak the seeds last night, so I popped them in a bowl this morning.

What's that? Where's the onions??? Here's some of them, drying in the next row, with the squash.

The, "before picture" of the OLD cabbage bed. A few days ago, I dug up and tossed out the old cabbages, but it still needed lots more help.

Here it is now, with cardboard down, weeded, fertilized, mulched, and posts put in for the new cucumbers. I'm really late with my cukes and beans this year, and I'm hoping I haven't waited too long. These will get planted tonight, too. If it's not too hot, I'll go find some fencing and put that up after the seeds are in.

Oh, hey, do you remember that about half of my raised beds are new this year? It's helped out alot with keeping the weeds down in the beds. Yesterday, I took my trusty weedwacker to the weeds between the beds, and then put down cardboard and chips from our eucalyptus. Check this out!

And last, but certainly not least, here's what I'm going to be picking tonight. I hope they taste good. It's a new variety I'm trying called 4th of July.

Homemade Ice Cream!

2010-06-22T17:50:00.000-07:00

It's officially summer. I've made four (4) batches of ice cream. Well, actually, David and I have made 4 batches. He's great for watching over the ice cream while it's working. I make up the ice cream, and give it to him in the canister with the dasher inside and the lid on top. He's in charge of the rest; putting in the ice and salt, then helping it along when it doesn't want to go around.

We make it in the laundry room in my laundry sink. So much better than making it outside, with a hand crank freezer, with somebody sitting, and somebody cranking. When the kids were little, if I wanted ice cream, I would have to crank and sit at the same time. It was usually when hubby was at work, and unless you've got over about a hundred pounds to put on top, it moves all over. My little guys were no where near that much, and I was....... well, let's just say I was a little over that. Anyway, I have an electric one now, and I make ice cream like there's no tomorrow. Ummm, yeah. We also tend to inhale it like there's no tomorrow. I was a little slow in getting a picture of the finished product.

Want the recipe?

Vanilla Ice Cream
(makes 4 qts.)

1 cup fake eggs - eggbeaters or store brand
2 cups sugar
2 cans evaporated milk
6 cups fat free 1/2 and 1/2 (oxy-moron!)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons vanilla

Stir together fake eggs and sugar until combined. Add in the rest of ingredients and mix well. Pour into canister and freeze in ice cream freezer.

Chocolate Ice Cream
(makes 4 qts.)

1 cup fake eggs - eggbeaters or store brand
1 1/2cups sugar
2 cans evaporated milk
4 cups fat free 1/2 and 1/2
1/2 to 3/4 of a 24 oz. bottle chocolate syrup ( I just start squeezing!)
chocolate milk to fill line

Stir together fake eggs and sugar until combined. Add in the rest of ingredients, except the chocolate milk, and mix well. Pour into canister. Find fill line on canister, about 2" below top. Pour chocolate milk up to fill line. Freeze in ice cream freezer.

Barbequed Steak and Zucchini

2010-06-14T11:32:00.000-07:00

My last day of school was Friday. Life is good. Then Geoff went to the grocery store after work and found some steak on special. So, he bought it to barbecue for dinner over the weekend. What a guy! You know what's even better? He's been doing the barbecuing! I didn't think life could get much sweeter than that, and then we went to the Farmer's Market on Saturday and found the nicest looking zucchini. Barbecued steak and zucchini, AND it's summer vacation? My world is just about perfect! Here's a glimpse: steak marinading in a bbq base- (enough for leftovers tonight!)

Zucchini marinading in a beer/olive oil, herb base-

Tools of the trade-these are "must haves" -- Little tongs, big tongs, really big platter, oil for seasoning the grate, and a glass of wine.

Nice grill marks, dude!

Just F.Y.I..........

2010-06-08T17:16:00.000-07:00

Like most folks, I carry a cell phone with me. Except today. And yesterday. You see, on Sunday, my cell phone decided it was going to give up working. Geoff ordered another for me, and it's on its way, but for now, I am out of commission. Unless I use the house phone. Or my email. Or I could drive to someone's house. Or someone could drive here. Or walk. Or ride a bike. But, please don't suggest I use David's phone, because I already did, and I busted that one, too. Maybe it got too hot the day I didn't have pants with pockets, and I stored it in my bra. Wait, that didn't sound right. I had pants. They had no pockets. Anyway, now Geoff has to order another one to replace David's, after he ordered another one to replace mine. So for the next few days, if anyone needs me, they will need to use our house phone. Or email. Or a car. Or a bike. Or a homing pigeon. Wait, scratch that. We don't have any homing pigeons.

The "To Do" List Is Longer Than The "Done" List!

2010-06-03T20:35:00.000-07:00

We've been pretty busy around here, and I'm happy to say that we have some things finished. Wahoo! But, I can't get too excited, because we have more (lots more) to do. Not that we have to do any of it, mind you. We just want to. Would you like to see some of the things on my list??? Yes?? Ok. I'm told we should always start with the positive, so here's some of the things that we have accomplished. Now we can just sit back sipping our iced tea enjoying life in the fast lane.

My tomatoes. For now, they don't need anything except to be watered. The beds have been made, filled, planted, and the supports are in. Or up. However you like to look at it.

My peas. I am picking my peas about every other day to stay ahead of them. I consider this a "done" sort of thing, even though they need some attention, because they are giving back more than I am putting into them right now. And besides, I'm writing this, so that means I can make the rules! Or so I tell myself. Anyway, here are my little peas.

This is in our backyard. It used to be lawn, but we have evolved to a more civilized state. (ha!) Now, we have raised plantings, and decomposed granite that we walk on. This is one of the raised beds. It has lavender and milkweed. Yes, milkweed. It's a variety native to California, and absolutely beautiful. The seeds pop out of puffballs that look like elongated cotton balls. Very cool.

So now, here are the "to-do's". See all those apples on the ground? That's only a minor portion of what needs to be with them. We have 4 apple trees, and one of them has decided to bear like never before. Since we have a college student living at home, one of the things he has so graciously volunteered to do is thin the trees. What a guy!

This pile of dirt is where we used to have a burn pile. We aren't burning there now, and it has just sat there waiting for us to move the ashes and leftover metal. We decided it would be much easier to pile dirt on top and cover it with flowers. It's got a few more loads of dirt coming.

My swiss chard. I don't know what's gotten into them, but they're all bolting. Yes, all of them. I need to cut them all down to the base, and let them start over. I have alot of chard. Just a little job that will take me a few hours some morning. Just not today. Or tomorrow.

Thank You, Veterans

2010-06-03T17:00:00.000-07:00

We went camping on Memorial Weekend. My dad is getting on in years, and I drove him up in the cushy car. It was a nice drive, and we enjoyed each others company. On our way out of town, we stopped by the cemetery. It was beautiful. There were flags on each grave, and large flags lining the roads in and out of the cemetery. There's something about our flag that really gets to me. Then to see so many, well, it's just a sight to see. The symbol of our country, and all who have fought to keep us free.

My Relay For Life Weekend

2010-05-16T17:08:00.000-07:00

Whew! I've been busy supporting our local American Cancer Society's Relay For Life event. I'm a, "co-team captain" for the team we have at work, and this weekend was the culmination of the better part of a year's worth of work. It was awesome. Our local color guards did a great job. I could tell they were well practiced. Nice job, boys!

Here we are, getting the whole thing started with the survivor lap!

Relay For Life is such a great cause. I don't know of anyone who hasn't been touched by cancer in one form or another. What better way to spend a weekend than by going out and walking to raise money? So we walked, and we walked, and we walked. And we cheered!

Relay For Life isn't known for: five star campsites.

Relay For Life isn't known for: five star sleeping accommodations.

Relay For Life is known for: celebrating the survivors of cancer.
Relay For Life is known for: remembering our loved ones who have lost the battle with cancer.
Relay For Life is known for: bringing much needed funds to the fight against cancer.
But most of all, Relay For Life is known for:

My Kind Of Campaign Ad!

2010-05-13T16:06:00.000-07:00

2 Advertising signs - $100
8 Bungee cords - $10
1 stock trailer - $0
Redneck advertising in almond orchard next to busy highway - Priceless!

Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix

2010-05-10T20:44:00.000-07:00

It was warm not very long ago. Now it's not, and I was cold today. After work, I started a fire in our wood stove when I got home. Tonight, I wanted something warm and toasty, sort of snuggly-ish, and I decided on hot chocolate. I like drinking hot chocolate in the winter, but didn't want to have to keep going to the store for the mix. Call it laziness, or me being a tightwad, but I started experimenting. After a few tries, I concocted this final, perfect recipe out of 3 different ones. Here it is, in all its glory. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Homemade Hot Chocolate

3 cups Nesquick
3 cups powdered milk
3/4 - 1 cup sugar, depending on how sweet you like it
1/2 cup cocoa (like the dry Hershey's cocoa)
1/2 cup powdered creamer

Mix in a large bowl to combine all ingredients. Blend well. Store tightly in a covered container. To serve: combine 1/4 to 1/3 cup of mix into 3/4 cup boiling water.

Mother's Day and Yard Pictures

2010-05-08T21:52:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day! We started a tradition with our kids on Mother's Day morning... maybe 10 or 15 years ago. We pack a picnic lunch, cold drinks, the fishing poles, sometimes the lawn chairs or floaty things, and away we go to have a quiet time with the family. After we come home, we work in the yard, or just kick back and enjoy the day. This Mother's Day will be a little too chilly to go fishing, so we are going rock hunting. But don't worry, no rocks will be harmed in the making of this trip!!

I thought I would show you some pictures of the yard that Hubby took this morning. This one is looking towards the garage, up the creek.

Same thing, only farther away.

Other direction, with his back to the garage.

Looking out to what used to be our pasture, and now is an extension of our yard.

"The Hill." This is out by the ditch. We had new leach lines put in years ago, and our backhoe driver had to dig up about 20-30 eucalyptus stumps. We told him to just pile them all up, and we would take care of them later. Hubby cut as much wood off that he could, and then we burned the rest of the pile. Then we burned them again. And then we burned them again. After that, we still had a huge pile of burned stumps that we didn't know what to do with. So, we piled up dirt, clippings, and prunings on top of it, then planted flowers, and Viola! "The Hill!" It's quite pretty now, especially considering how ugly it was for so long. It's not done yet, though. It will get a solar powered water feature, more trees, and who knows what else!! But not this year. Or next year. I'll have to get back to you on that.

The Learning Curve!

2010-05-02T14:46:00.000-07:00

Did you know that when you are typing the title on a post and you press, "Enter" it automatically publishes the post??? It's something I learned last night. Then I tried to finish the post, but things started happening, and I wasn't able to get back to it, and I'm sure you can guess the rest. Anyway, the post now has something on it, and life is grand. Meanwhile, outside, it's sunny and warm, with winds that will keep me from getting too hot, so I'm off to work in the yard. With some ice water. And my dog. And my drip hoses. But not necessarily in that order. Thank you for your patience.

Things Are Hopping!

2010-05-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

Gardening is pretty simple, really. This.......

Plus this.......

And some of these.......

Add up to this!

I have lots of new raised beds. I helped put them up by holding the sides while hubby pounded them in the ground. It's just one of the many services I provide. I've hauled dirt, compost, and manure, and last night, I finished filling in the beds. This is a list of things I have planted: zucchini, yellow straight neck squash, scalloped squash mix, 4 different kinds of peppers, 6 different kinds of tomatoes, honeydew, cantaloupe, watermelon and small, funky gourds. I still need to plant the cucumbers and beans, and more garlic. But now, I have some leftover tomato and squash plants. If I listen to my husband, I will take the plants to school and give them away. I don't always listen to my husband, though! Besides, I have people that will take the extra. Yes, that's right, I have friends! And, my eldest just told me I should let some of the zucchini get big, because they taste really good with pasta sauce, cheese, and shrimp, all wrapped up and barbecued. So maybe 4 zucchini plants isn't enough!

Anyway, I've been very busy taking care of my garden, putting in new stuff. We are waiting on an order to come for drip emitters to finish the first phase of the watering. Second phase will be to dig PVC pipe to each bed, put risers and a hose bib on, then a timer on each. That should be done within a month or so. Third phase will be to connect to electricity and put all of the garden on timers, without batteries! Oh, my goodness, but that won't be done for awhile. As in, maybe 5 years or more.

I'm counting down the days until the end of school so I can stay home and work here. 29 days to go! Wahoo!

Fast and Easy Chicken

2010-04-16T16:53:00.000-07:00

I've made chicken this way lots this past year, and I thought I'd show you how I spend just a few minutes in the kitchen, and then end up with a great main dish. I call it, "Fast and Easy" because, well, it's fast and easy. Not due to the chicken being of loose morals. Not that any chicken really cares about that. We have chickens, and believe me, the only morals they have are loose. But enough of that. I get my trusty hand pruners and go out to my rosemary plant, and whack off 2 or 3 pieces of rosemary.

This is the beginning of the season, and you can tell by the somewhat overgrown nature of our plant that I haven't been doing much cooking recently with rosemary. That will change as the nice weather continues. In fact, we had used so much last year, that hubby planted two more bushes. Yippy! So, wash the sprigs off really well, and let them dry a little. Wash the chicken, take out all the innards, and then salt and pepper it. Put the chicken in a roasting pan, and then poke the rosemary in the cavity. Bake, covered, for about 1 1/2 hour, at 350. Depending on how big the chicken is, it might not take that long.

This is the chicken ready to go into the oven. Unfortunately, after it was done, I hesitated for a matter of moments, and there was nothing left but a carcass. Sorry. But it was awesome.

Is It Even Possible?

2010-04-03T08:13:00.000-07:00

I love to garden. And not just that, but I love to cook. They sort of go hand in hand. Because of that, we have a ritual here on the weekends. Either on Saturday or Sunday, I will make some sort of scramble with whatever is in the garden. I'll throw in some cheese, a few eggs, and then make some toast. If we have fruit, I'll put that on the side of the plate also. That's all great, right? It's healthy, filling, and it's something I'm good at. But here's the kicker. I've been cooking for a long time......for lots of big eaters. I learned to cook 30 years ago for a family of 5, and for the last almost 20 years, I've been cooking for boys. Boys eat alot. So what I'm trying to get at, is I haven't cooked for only one or two people for ..... ever! The breakfasts I cook now on the weekends are usually just for hubby and I, since David is normally doing his own thing. So now, I really don't want to relearn how to cook. I'm comfortable and, well, maybe a little lazy. Maybe. Oh, I've tried to scale down, just this one meal for now. But look at this. This is my breakfast after I've worked on it for about 10 minutes!

I try to start with a smaller amount of veggies. I'm only using 2 eggs each, and just a smidgen of cheese, but the whole thing seems to grow when I turn my back. What gives? Should I be trying harder? Is it really possible to cook a small amount? Should I learn to eat leftover "garden scramble?" Maybe the dogs should get a weekend treat? I'm still mulling over the whole thing.

Beer Bread

2010-03-31T19:41:00.001-07:00

It was cold today. I came home and built a fire. Tonight's dinner just called for something warm and homey. Actually, it started at school. Tomorrow is the last day before school gets out for Spring/Easter break, so we cleaned out the frig and made a big lunch with all the goodies we had on hand. Aside from working with Severely Handicapped kids on a daily basis, that's one of the greatest things we've got going in our class. We have a full kitchen, and we often have yummy things to eat for the staff and kids. Well, anyway, I brought home leftovers for dinner, made a quick salad, and threw together this bread. Voila! Dinner! I just love quickie things like this. Especially when I have other, more pressing things to be doing. Like warming my chair (next to the wood stove) while knitting. This beer bread recipe is probably the easiest, most awesomest recipe I have. Here it is. Let me know if you try it!

Beer Bread

3 cups self rising flour
3 Tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 12 oz. can beer

Stir everything together in a bowl. Grease a 9"x5" loaf pan. Pour bread dough into pan. Place in a cold oven, turn oven on to 350, bake for 40-45 minutes. Take out of the pan and let cool for a few minutes before slicing. I have an electric knife, and I'm able to cut it while it's still hot without tearing it up. Either way, it's really good!

Where Did Spring Go?

2010-03-31T16:56:00.000-07:00

I was getting settled in my computer chair, thinking of all the things I have been doing, getting my thoughts together to post about them, and my hands were freezing! Not that freezing hands are anything new for me, actually, they are pretty much constantly cold. But this afternoon, they were freezing! So I built a fire.

And now, while I'm waiting to get warm, would you like to know what I did this weekend? I took Hubby's commute car (even though it was a little dirty) and headed out of town for the day. My plan was to go to the Farmer's Market, my very favorite knitting/yarn shop, and next maybe next find a pair of jeans, and then grocery shopping. Farmer's Market.....too many people, no parking, so I ditched that one. I decided that with my garden producing, I didn't really need anything all that bad. Besides, that made more time I could spend at the yarn shop! I bought two very pretty, very girly, very purple, very "socky" yarns. They're way cool, and I am excited to get my first pair of socks done so I can start on these. I just hope they fit! Uhhh, anyway, then I was headed to Target, and guess what I saw?????

Oh, my! Who doesn't love firefighters? AND.....I had a dirty car! AND......they were having it in the Target parking lot! It was meant to be! So I pulled in, and dropped my car off, and off I went! Of course, I came back to a very clean car, but they were pretty busy, so I just waited a bit, you know, so I wouldn't interupt anything. Like this.......

Or this.......

That got me to thinking. What is it about firefighters? And do they know how cute they are???

A Little Of This, A Little Of That

2010-03-24T16:53:00.001-07:00

Spring has sprung, at least for now, and I've been spending boatloads of time in the garden. I was excited to see my peas had popped up about a week ago.

They got a few days on them, and then started looking quite unlike peas. I decided it must have been some of my kitchen scraps I had put in the garden bed. This weekend they looked more like potatoes, and so I transplanted them to a better spot. I'm happy to report, though, that my peas have come up nicely, and are awaiting the trellis system to climb on. I made two of these last summer from some of the many tree branches we have on our property. I need to cut some more to make at least two additional supports for my peas, and later some little shorties for the cucumbers. I won't need any extra for the beans, I will be planting them where the peas are now and they can use the same trellis. To make these, all I do is cut a bunch of straight branches about one inch in diameter and six feet long. I use baling twine to tie the uprights to the bottom branch, and then weave the horizontals in, starting at the bottom. It's easy, free, and they hold together great over the winter for the next season.

My niece Patricia is home on spring break. I went to a quilt show with her and my sister over the weekend, and then she helped me with some knitting. I used to be the one to help her with knitting, (back in the day) but she is much better than me now. Anyway, on our way home, we stopped by the stable where she rides, and I was fortunate enough to score some free horse manure. Yeah. I know. I'm still excited. And even better than a load of manure? It's composted, and I can get as many loads as I want! And it's not even my birthday!!

New Raised Beds and a Coldframe

2010-03-07T14:06:00.000-08:00

Whew! Were we ever busy this weekend! It started bright and early Saturday morning, when David and I went to the Farmer's Market. We took our hippy basket and reusable bags, and filled them up with all manner of home grown stuff. We got kale, a bag of different lettuces, fennel (!), and pok choy, and gosh, tons more. We were back home by 9, when shortly after that hubby came driving in with a load of wood and other stuff for the newest beds. After a quick breakfast, we were out in the garden. For starters, I wanted to replace my chard bed. It was so overgrown with bermuda, there was no possible way to save it with any other method. I dug up the chard and iris at the ends, and put them in the shade on feed sacks. We built the bed, and hubby hammered it in the ground. I layed down cardboard on the bottom to keep the bermuda roots from growing up to the surface, and then we proceeded to fill them up with the mix I had gotten last week. This picture is what's left of 1 1/2 yards I bought Saturday before the dirt place closed for the weekend. I think it's the third load I've bought this spring. Good thing we have a teenager in the house, bless his heart! I'd hate to unload this!

Anyway, after the bed was made and filled, I put the chard and iris back in. Oh, they were so much happier, not having to share their home with all those weeds! Here they are, in their new digs!

But, don't you know, they didn't all fit! So, I put the extra iris at each end of the first bed we made a few weeks ago, and I just heeled in the extra chard until I can find someone willing to give them a good home. Anybody have room in their garden for some really good chard? Anybody? Hello?

And, because that wasn't enough for one day, hubby started working on my coldframe/raised bed. Pretty cool, huh? We've never used a coldframe before, so this is a learning process, but I'm excited at the thought of getting my starts out of the kitchen and living room. Right now, we are keeping the wood stove going for my little seeds that haven't come up yet. It's too cold for them outside, and very soon, after they start popping up through the soil, there will not be enough light for them inside. Hopefully, this will do the trick.

Here's the cold frame after one lid is on. This afternoon, after leaving the lid down for about an hour or so, it was 117 degrees inside, and 103 outside, just on the soil in the sun. I was a little surprised to find it so hot outside on the soil, because it's chilly enough in the shade for a light jacket. Each morning, I will need to be faithful about going to the garden, because on a day like today, if I forget to prop the lid open, by the time I get home from work, the starts will be fried for sure!

Getting My Hands Dirty!

2010-03-03T21:21:00.000-08:00

It was rainy and cold today. I got off work a little early, and wanted to spend a little extra time in the garden, since it had stopped raining. By the time I had finished feeding and watering the chickens and rabbits, I was cold. I don't like working in the garden when I'm cold. But I still wanted to work outside. Fickle, huh?? Anyway, I've been meaning to plant some of the seeds I got in the mail, and hadn't done it. So, I got a tub of potting mix, a bunch of my leftover six packs, and went inside where it was warm. Look what I ended up with!! Anybody going to be needing peppers or tomatoes? I might have one or two extra!

Chicken, Veggie and Barley Soup (or so I thought!)

2010-02-25T19:33:00.000-08:00

I don't always know what we are having for dinner when I start to fix it. Sounds weird when I put that in so many words, but that's just the way I cook. Sort of by the seat of my pants. I wing it. Lots. So tonight, when I started dinner, I had no idea what we were having. I figured some kind of soup. That much I knew. I had a few veggies on the counter, and some thawed out chicken with stock. By the time I got done chopping veggies, I decided to toss in some barley to give it some substance. It was coming right along, and I went to the pantry to get the barley. Hmmmm, not there. I checked the freezer. Yeah, not there either. I checked the other freezer. Nope. Then I checked the other freezer. Nada. I went back to the pantry, and got out the flour for dumplings. Ahhh, chicken and dumplings! What could be better? I love cooking!

Valentine's Day Chocolate Cake

2010-02-14T20:46:00.000-08:00

I've wanted to make this cake for 2 weeks. Well, actually, I take that back. I've wanted to make this cake for 2 years. See, 2 years ago, I tried to make a flour-less chocolate cake, and it flopped. I didn't try it again, and just sort of forgot about it. Then, 2 weeks ago, a friend at work was talking about a flour-less chocolate cake recipe she had. To make a long story short, (sort of!) she gave me the recipe, and I made it yesterday and today. I'll show you what I did!

First off, I searched for 62% Scharffen Berger Chocolate. The recipe I got was a Scharffen Berger recipe, so I figured I might as well go all the way. Normally, I don't follow a recipe to the letter, but I figured I would need all the help I could get, so, I bought what the recipe called for. I'd never even heard of Scharffen Berger. I'm more of a Hershey's girl, or maybe Guittard, if it's on sale.

I broke the chocolate into chunks, and put it into a double boiler along with the butter. Oh, how can a person go wrong with chocolate and butter?

Want to know something? It must be really good chocolate. Does this look like what is left of almost $20?

After the chocolate and butter have melted, stir them until they are all mixed together. You don't want to boil them, just get it nice and warm, so the two can mingle and dance together. After all, it's Valentine's Day!

Break 3 eggs into a different bowl, and add the sugar.

Stir them together well. I just used a hand whisk. You don't have to get lots of air into it, just mixed together.

Let the chocolate mixture cool enough to pour into the eggs and sugar. If you put something really hot into eggs, it will cook the eggs, (or so I've been told) and we don't want that. Not today. Probably not tomorrow either. Ummm, let's see, when the chocolate isn't too hot, pour it into the eggs and sugar, and stir it up.

Here it goes!

This is what it looks like after it's all mixed up. Looks yummy, huh? I wouldn't know. I'm just saying....I think it looks yummy.

This cooks in a round 9" cake pan. That would be a single pan. Very skinny. In the pan, at least. Not on my hips. Anyway, get a round pan. Butter the bottom and sides, and line it with parchment paper. NOT waxed paper!

Pour the chocolate batter into the pan and spread it out. Lick the spatula. Yummy!

Then it goes into a bigger pan. I tried to use a 9x13 pan, but it just sat on top. So, I used this other pan I have. I just got it a month or two ago, at a thrift store. It was perfect!

Then...and I didn't take a picture of this one......boil some water. I used the water in the double boiler, and then added a little more. Pour it into the big pan, so the cake sits in water. The water should reach about halfway up the side of the cake pan. Cover the whole thing with foil.

Then, ever so gently, carry it to the oven, and put it in the middle. Set the timer, and bake it. Go play on the computer, or watch tv, or knit. Or read. Or go outside. But not for too long.

When the timer dings, take it out of the oven. Please be very careful lifting the foil to uncover the cake. Take the cake out of the pan of water to cool. I let it cool over night and finished it the next day. I suppose you could just put it in the frig, if you didn't want to wait.

This is what it looked like the next day. The sides pulled away a little as it cooled. The spot in the middle is from where it was touching the foil as it was baking, but that will be on the bottom, so it's ok.

I had things to do, places to go, and people to annoy on Valentine's Day morning and early afternoon, so I waited until late afternoon to make it pretty. I put it on a cake plate, and made a ganache to top it off. I'm really starting to fall in love with ganache. It's so versatile. And rich! And easy. But don't tell anybody, because it looks pretty impressive.

Here's the recipe!
Chocolate Orbit Cake (serves 12 to 14)
9.7 ounces Scharffen Berger 62% cacao semisweet chocolate
7 ounces butter (2 sticks minus 1 tablespoon)
5 eggs
1 cup sugar

Position the oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350. Butter a 9x2 inch round cake pan, and line the inside with a round of parchment paper.
Simmer water in bottom of double boiler. Cut butter and chocolate into small pieces into top of a double boiler. Whisk occasionally until melted.
Whisk together the eggs and sugar in another bowl. Thoroughly whisk in the melted chocolate. Pour the chocolate batter into the cake pan. Place it in a larger baking pan, and pour in warm water to reach halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the cake appears to have set and when you touch the center, your finger comes away clean.
Remove the cake from the water bath and cool completely before serving, plain or with gently whipped cream. This cake can be refrigerated for several days.

Well! This is quite funny! I had to put my reading glasses on to read the recipe, because it's late, and my eyes are tired, and this is a long post, and, and, and. Anyway, I had to put on my glasses, and you know what??? I just realized the recipe is folded right at the spot where it says 5 eggs, and when I made this yesterday, I thought it said 3 eggs! So I made this recipe with 3 eggs, instead of 5! But it turned out anyway. Does that mean I have to make it again, only with 5 eggs? Maybe next Valentine's Day.

Sour Cream Enchiladas

2010-02-06T19:32:00.000-08:00

I was going to make pizza for dinner tonight. I even told Hubby that was what he could expect for dinner when he came home from work. Yes, I know it's Saturday, and he doesn't normally work on Saturdays. But there's lots going on, and lots of folks are working really hard, so, long story short, he was at work today. And know what I found out later? He's had pizza for lunch for the last two days! Not that he would have minded, or said anything, but I thought that was funny. Anyway, I was on the phone with him while he was on his way home, and he mentioned White Enchiladas, and how much he liked them. They are so easy, and I had everything (almost) to make them. Oh, it was meant to be, sort of kizmet, you know? So I switched gears and tossed them together, then popped them in the oven. Want to know how I do it??? Today's your lucky day! Read on, my friend!

I pulled out cooked chicken from the freezer. Since I was in a bit of a hurry, I thawed it a little in the microwave, then chopped it and finished it in my cast iron skillet. Oh, yum! You could certainly use one of those precooked roasted chickens available in the stores, but this is what I had on hand today.

In a big bowl, stir together cream of mushroom soup, sour cream, chopped olives, and cheese. Lots and lots of cheese! Normally I would put in a can of mild green chilies, but I didn't have any. Instead, I used some pepper jack cheese that I had in the frig. Stir it all together, then add in the chicken.

Spoon about....... this much in each tortilla. This part is very precise.

Roll them up and put them in a greased 9x13 pan. I usually put in 8 or 10. This is what it will look like. Oh, you won't use all the stuff for the middle. The rest will be on top.

This is about how much will be left for the top.

Spread the last of the sour cream mixture on the top, cover it, and pop it in the oven! Let it bake for maybe, oh, say, a half hour, then uncover it, and bake it for another 15 minutes or so. This is what mine looked like.

Dish it up, and be prepared for your family to tell you how wonderful and talented you are. Just as they are getting a second helping!

Want the whole recipe?

Sour Cream Enchiladas

2 cans cream of mushroom soup
16 oz. sour cream
1 6 oz. can olives, chopped
1 lb cheese, grated - I used a combination of sharp cheddar, mozzerella, and pepper jack
about 2 cups cooked chicken, chopped
8-10 tortillas

Heat oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 pan and lid, or foil. Stir together soup, sour cream, olives, cheese and chicken. Spoon about 1/4 to 1/3 cup mixture onto tortilla. Roll up and place in pan. Repeat with remaining tortillas, saving some sour cream mixture for top. Spread remaining mixture evenly on top, cover, and put in oven for 30-45 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes.

A Sunday Project

2010-01-31T20:15:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about making one of these for awhile. I just hadn't gotten around to it. It's almost done. All I need to do is put a pair of hinges on the top. Do you know what it is??? Let me show you what it looks like inside, as if the top were open with the hinges.....that I don't have yet! Of course, there's nothing inside. That will come later. Do you know what it is yet????

This picture will give you a feeling of size. Not that I really know the size of it, you know, like in inches or anything like that, but behind it is Dozer, nosing around. He's my sidekick. My buddy. My shadow. Anyway, here's the box. I've put in some shredded paper. Normally, I would put in either wood shavings, or straw, but the straw I have is wet, and the shavings I have are the mulch stuff for pathways, and I thought that wouldn't be as nice as the shredded paper. If it ends up all over, I'll take it out and put in the shaving/mulch. Well? Have you guessed yet?

Ok, I'll give you a really big hint. Look at this next picture!

This little greenish thing in the middle is a glass egg. Now do you know what it is??? If you guessed a nest box for my chickens, you are right!!! Tomorrow, on my way home, I'll pick up a package of piano hinges, and zip them on. Then I can raise the lid to get the eggs or clean it out, but the hens will be happy to have a little hidey hole to lay their eggs in. They love hidey holes. Pretty cool, huh?

The Most Wonderful Cake Ever

2010-01-28T20:24:00.000-08:00

My mom used to make angel food cakes. They were a little piece of heaven on a plate, light as a feather, and so, so good. She would make them from scratch, just like everything else that came out of her kitchen. Right before she passed away, she talked me through what she did. I am grateful that I thought to ask, and she was able to help me. Now each time I make an angel food cake, I always think of her. It makes me feel good, sort of like she's still here, standing with me in the kitchen and we're making it together.
This past Tuesday was my oldest son's birthday. I made two cakes, one to cut into after dinner, and a whole one for him to take home.

Anybody that's made this cake knows that it takes bunches of egg whites! Since it's winter, and my chickens are taking a break from laying eggs, I needed to get store bought eggs. That's why they're white. I look at this picture, and think of all the chickens that grunted for me to make this cake!

Here it is, in all its glory, ready to go into the oven.

I always go quickly from the oven to hanging upside down. It's what my mom taught me, and it never failed her, so that's the way I do it.

Here's a piece, all ready to be eaten! Beautiful, huh? Thanks, Mom.

Angel Food Cake
1 1/2 cups egg whites (12 extra large)
1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup sifted softasilk cake flour
1 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond flavoring

Heat oven to 375. Measure into large mixing bowl the egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt. Beat with electric mixer until foamy, gradually add granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time. Beat until meringue holds stiff peaks. Fold in flavoring. Sift flour-sugar mixture gradually over meringue. Fold in gently just until mixture disappears. Push batter into ungreased 10" tube pan. Gently cut through batter with knife. Bake 30-35 minutes until top springs back when lightly toughed. Invert on funnel. Hang upside down until cold.

Ganache-ish Frosting

2010-01-24T14:45:00.000-08:00

When I made David's birthday cake yesterday, I decided to make a new, special frosting for him. He loves chocolate, and I made a plain, 2 layer chocolate cake. My sister gave me the recipe for a smooth chocolate frosting, and I decided to make that to put in between the layers, and on the top. I like seeing the frosting start to fall over the top of the cake, so I didn't frost the sides.

See, it's not a true ganache. Sort of a cross between a frosting and a ganache. It was great, and tasted even better with ice cream! This is David's piece. I prefer mint ice cream.

Want the recipe?

Linda's Chocolate Icing

1 cup sugar
5 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup whole milk
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Heat first 3 ingredients over medium high heat, stir until boiling, 3-4 minutes. Continue stirring until sugar dissolves, about 1 minute. Take the pan off the heat, stir in chocolate chips, keep stirring until smooth. Makes 1 1/2 cups icing.

Solving The World's Problems

2010-01-23T20:14:00.000-08:00

It's David's birthday today. It's also my dad's birthday today. Nice of them to share, huh? So for the occasion, I made a really good chocolate cake. Hubby stopped by the store and got some ice cream to go with it. Uhhh, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning.
It was a dark and stormy night, and,,, ooops! Wrong story.
I was in the kitchen making this really great chocolate birthday cake, and I got the hiccups. Really bad. All through mixing and stirring, I kept hiccuping! I popped it into the oven, and decided to make sure the ice cream was good enough to go with a birthday cake. Mint chocolate chip. It's the best. Especially in one of my brown Marcrest bowls. Anyway, I sat down to the computer, eating my mint chocolate chip ice cream, checking emails, blogs, and playing some minesweeper. The dinger on the oven dings, I take the cake out, start the frosting on the stove, and frost the cake. Hubby walks into the kitchen, and notices........No More Hiccups! It was the mint ice cream. It had to be. What else could it have been??? Mint ice cream solves the world's problems, one bowl at a time.

Back From My Weekend!

2010-01-19T20:45:00.001-08:00

Oh, my! Where should I start? Everybody should be able to have a girly, three day weekend. It's good for the soul. We had a great time! We sewed, we ate, we took a field trip to a quilt store and a yarn shop, we ate, we watched movies and stayed up too late, and we ate! All with the beautiful view from a house on the lake. We brought enough stuff to keep us busy for weeks. This is what we packed.... this is Jerilyn's stuff. She's a great packer. Most of her stuff is in the very back, and only a few things in the back seat. Hi Jerilyn! Nice quilt!

This is Linda's car. The six sewing machines we brought are hidden behind these pillows, quilts, tubs, and a few clothes bags. In the back seat we stuffed more tubs and clothes bags. On the way home, we had enough room to stop at the store and get 5 gallons of bottled water. The dorm has terrible water, so Patricia stocked up while she had the chance!

Doesn't really look exciting here in the car, does it? Check this out! This is our cutting station. Well, this is our big cutting station. Our small cutting station is in the kitchen. I didn't think to get a picture of that.

More really important stuff! That's the back of Linda's head. She's ignoring me. Sisters sometimes do that!

Everybody brought their own stash of thread. Here's a few that Joanne brought.

Here's a few from Linda's stash, organized in a zipper case.

More of Linda's. She has this thread organized in two hot wheels carrying cases. She's looking for another case just like these, but hasn't found one yet.

Know of anybody that takes their own iron and ironing board on a three day weekend??? (Yeah, we're raising our hands!) Oh, funny story! Jerilyn has this incredible iron that holds about a gallon of water. We only have to fill it twice during the whole weekend of sewing. She brought the part that holds the water, but forgot to bring the iron! Luckily, we were able to use the iron they have there.

Oh, my, would you look at this?? Perfect sewing weather. It rained and rained and rained.

We got so much done. Here's Jerilyn, Linda, and Patricia sitting at the table sewing.

And here's Joanne sewing at the couch. This is her first quilt, and she has done it all by hand. She is almost finished with it, and has done a wonderful job.

Linda makes smocked baby rompers. She smocks them by hand. As in, each stitch, one at a time! This is one that she had started a long time ago. Aren't they cute?

Ahhh, here's Patricia. She worked on a reversible quilt. It had two fronts, so when she gets tired of one side, she can turn it over, and it's just as pretty on the other side.

Here's the first side with borders, and all sewn together. I think this is the third quilt she has done. She was able to sew both tops (one front and one back) with all borders, ready to go to the quilter to be machine quilted. It will probably be ready the next time she comes home!
Monday was the day to pack up our stuff. We were lucky enough to get a few breaks in between rain storms, and so got our stuff stuffed into the cars without getting drenched! Such luck!

Girly Weekend!

2010-01-15T13:24:00.001-08:00

I am taking advantage of the three day weekend to go on a girly retreat. We are sewing, eating chocolate, and staying in our jammie pants all day. I am going with my sister and niece to meet two friends at a "cabin" on a lake. It's not really a cabin, but a very nice house. As we speak (ok, as I type) I am at my Dad's house, waiting for my sister to get off work. Of course, I forgot to pack my camera, but I will see if Linda has hers available so I can show you what we accomplished, and some pictures of the lake and stuff. I'm making Saturday night's dinner. I packed stuff for beef and barley soup, with rosemary rolls. They're yummy!

I'm Feeling Spoiled

2010-01-11T20:29:00.000-08:00

A little over a year ago, I had my thyroid removed. I had my thyroid removed, and then I quit taking my thyroid replacement medication for about 6 weeks, because the docs said I needed to get the hormone levels whacked to get rid of the rest of it. Have you ever had whacked thyroid levels?? The couch and I became really, really good friends. So this year, when my doc told me she wanted my levels to get all wonky again, I was excited when she told me ....get this.... I could have 2 shots instead of going off my thyroid meds for 6 weeks. Believe me, I was a happy girl! So the first one was today, the second one is tomorrow, then on Friday I will have a bloodtest, and that will be that! Easy peasy, lemon squeezy! And guess what?? I used the Valet service. Today I gave my keys to the nice young man, and walked away. And tomorrow I will do the same. Where I am going, the parking is a few blocks away, so there's complimentary valet service. How cool is that??? I also decided to take these 2 days off, and play on the way home. Today I went to the biggest thrift store imaginable, and bought a little trampoline for the classroom. The kids will love it. I can't wait to show it to them.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T18:25:00.001-08:00

I hope everyone had a nice, relaxing New Year's Day today. We did. The day started out with a whole lot of nothing going on!

We had a multitude of furry creatures inside all day. They would get booted out of one spot, to take up residence in another. They weren't particular where they were, so long as it was inside where it was warm.

There wasn't much of anything on the schedule for today, just kicking back and doing lots of relaxing. I always take down the tree the first day of the year, and I had help, so it didn't really take that long. David helped me get the stuff off the tree, and he and his dad got the tubs down from the attic to put everything back into. I washed the tree skirt for my kitchen tree, folded it, and put it in its appropriate tub. David decided to take a nap, so Hubby waited until he made his appearance to go back up to the attic. All the stuff was up, and Hubby was on his way to the ladder, when I heard a big crash. David came out to say that we now had a new hole in the bedroom ceiling!

Uhh, I guess this is what happens when a number ten slips off the joist! Well, we had been talking about painting! Now we can patch first, then paint. Tomorrow's list of things to do? Start moving the stuff on this side of the room, and emptying the bookcase. Looks like it's time for a new project.

Starting Out The New Year Right!

2009-12-31T15:59:00.000-08:00

I went to Lowe's today, and took the truck. It's my favorite store, and it just seemed like the thing to do. Besides, I wanted to get some steer manure, and it's a much nicer ride home when I don't have funky manure smells inside the car to distract me. I was completely out of the stuff, and believe me, that's just not a good place to be. I planted my winter garden sometime in October, so it's been in the ground long enough to put on some nice growth. This bed looks great, thanks to the 20 bags of steer manure I put in! It just seemed like a good idea at the time!

Now compare it to the same kind of plants, put in at the very same time. These are in a different bed, without the addition of 20 bags of steer manure. Oh, I sound like a project at an elementary school science fair! I should get a blue ribbon! (At our elementary school, there's no letter grade, just credit for doing it, and a blue, red, or white ribbon.) Ahh, but I digress. Here's my sad little garden bed that didn't get the steer manure. That's Dozer, there on the right, helping me.

So what did I do today?? I went to Lowe's to get steer manure. But not just a few bags. Or even just 20 bags. I got a whole pallet! That's 75 bags, according to my friends at Lowe's. Then I drove home, taking the turns very.....slowly.

I was greeted by my slave, uh, I mean child. He was so happy! "75 bags of manure?" He asked. "Is that all? Why not more, Mom? I'll get right on that!"

And he jumped right up there, with a big smile, and started tossing them down. See the look on his face? He's totally bummed that there's not more.

"We" got out the ol' 2 wheeled wheelbarrow, and started making the loads from the truck to the garden, where they got stacked up nice and neat. David let his dad help just a little, because he's nice like that.

Here's a picture of his dad heaving one on the pile. Yea, they had fun. Sort of a father/son bonding thing. They both thanked me when they were done.

Ahhh, what a great feeling to know that I have a small mountain of this stuff, right in the garden, at my fingertips. It's a great way to start out the year!

Our Mail Lady

2009-12-30T08:19:00.000-08:00

Our mail lady is really sweet. Not only is she really sweet, but she is about 65 years old. I'm just guessing, it's not like we discuss how old we are or anything like that, but she's not young. Anyway, our mailbox is not at our house. It's down the road a ways, and we just stop on our way home, or walk down there on weekends. When we get something too big to fit in the mailbox, she brings it to the house and either gives it to us, or leaves it on the porch. Yesterday afternoon, David, our youngest, walked down to the mailbox. He did this because he spends his days thinking of ways to make our lives as easy as possible. He was also waiting for a package he had ordered. He came back with the mail and one of those tan papers that says there's something the mail lady couldn't deliver, and I can pick it up at the post office. But we were here! What gives? She didn't drive in! What am I, some normal, regular person on some normal, regular route?? I read the note. It says, "Very heavy! Bring a man :)"