Shenandoah Gateway Farm

Guest Blogger

2012-02-28T14:36:00.002-08:00

I am going to California to visit my mother. Lee is staying here to animal sit and to work on his GMC one ton truck that he is rebuilding. There is a possibility that he will add something here about the truck or the animals or work on this place in general.

There is also the possibility that I will not like what he writes. Like tractors sliding toward the "cliff" when no human is here to call 911. Or stupid pet tricks on the bed. But this is the risk you take when you give someone your password. This may be a cautionary tale for the rest of you!

Lee doesn't talk a lot, so this may be the only way I'll know what he is up to when I am gone. Can't wait.

Midnight Madness

2012-02-28T13:41:00.010-08:00

Organizing my craft room has made me want to get back into making greeting cards. I am not as good at making cards that I think up and need a lot of help in that regard. My black embossing ink pad had dried up, so I went to Michael's to buy more and to see if they had any books of ideas to make cards. I also hoped to see any items that might jump out and say, USE ME.

I found a few things I wanted and then came home and put them in their places! I LOVE doing that.

One of the new stamps I bought (hey! I know I have plenty, but they were 40% off!)was a pincushion with a few buttons. I thought this would be a good thing to have, what with my new interest in quilting. Then the brain that I can't shut off remembered I had seen a card with paper quilting blocks, so I thought I could put that in the middle. THEN I thought I could even tie it with yarn, like a quilt and give it as a Thank You card for Carolyn at the Old Trinity Schoolhouse Quilt Shop. WHEW! Say that three times fast! I had really enjoyed my class and learned a lot and she was VERY patient with me.

I would have to wait on the thank you, though. I was leaving for California in two days and the last class was the next morning. No time. So I wrote down my ideas on a piece of paper. Then I had a few more ideas and wrote THOSE down, knowing if I didn't they would run through my head and keep me from sleeping. I put the notes aside and went to bed.

About 1:00 I woke up. By 3:00 I gave up and went up to the craft room and started stamping. I embossed the cards and colored in the pincushion. The first one I used marking pens and the second one I used watercolor pencils. Then I took a small brush and wet it a tiny bit. I wiped it on my wrist to dry it a bit and then went over the pencil marks. This turns the lines into watercolor and you can spread it around the embossed area.

Next I had to remember the dimensions of one of the Flying Geese quilt blocks. I cut one piece of paper from my scrapbooking stash 2" X 4". Then I cut a different piece 2" X 2" and then cut that one on the diagonal so that I had 2 triangles. (Never once did I think that a person should not use and Exacto blade at 4 AM.) I glued these on the longer piece in a Flying Geese pattern and was pretty proud of myself! And by the way, gluing is way easier than sewing. But I don't think paper quilts will catch on.

I cut some batting slightly larger that the "quilt" block and then used some white yarn to tie knots in the quilt piece through the back of the card.

I was pretty happy with myself and wanted to blog about it right then and there. Then I realized that putting anything on the internet at 5 AM is probably not a good idea. I went to bed and read until I could get to sleep. Love the mini book lights!

Sausage, Leek, Zucchini Frittata

2012-02-28T13:00:00.009-08:00

I was reading a novel and the people in the book were at a posting house in England . I love historical novels. They were eating a egg, bacon, leek and cheese tart. That sounded good to me. I had some sausage, eggs and Swiss cheese, so I bought some leeks and went adventuring in the kitchen.

Sausage, Leek, Zucchini Frittata

1 "tube" of Jimmy Dean sausage, or Italian sausage, if you like.
2 Leeks
1 medium zucchini, quartered and sliced
2 Tablespoon flour
4 eggs
1 cup milk or half and half or combine them. I did.
1 1/2 to 2 cups grated Swiss cheese
salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan Cheese

Pre-heat the oven to 425.

When I went to get the sausage, I noticed that I had bought some MAPLE Jimmy Dean sausage. I must have had it in mind for something. I decided a little maple would be OK in this dish and if it was horrible, no one needed to know and we could go out to eat! If I didn't have the Maple sausage and was going to the store, I would use Italian sausage, but it was fine and I couldn't taste any maple.

Cook the sausage in a cast iron pan over medium, breaking up the sausage as it cooks.

Washing the leeks is important. They can be full of dirt. Cut off the top leafy green part and the root at the bottom. Then slice them lengthwise. Spread them apart under running water and make sure they are thoroughly rinsed. Lay them on the cutting board with the flat part down and slice little half circles. Add the leeks and the zucchini to the sausage and cook until they start to become translucent.

While the meat and veg are cooking, break 4 eggs into a medium bowl. Add one cup of milk or half and half. I used a combination. Then add the flour, s & P and whisk it all together.

Spread the cheese over the meat in the pan and then pour the egg mixture over everything. Stir everything together gently.

As the egg starts to set, use a spatula to push aside the cooked egg and allow the liquid egg to slide into the space. Do this gently until the eggs are starting to look set, then sprinkle on some Parmesan and put the pan in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

You can slide a clean knife in the middle to make sure it is set. It is set if it comes out mostly clean. Remove the pan from the oven and let it sit for 5 minutes. Slice and serve.

And yes, I DID serve them with the last of the strawberries. There are only two of us and we can't eat them all at one time!!! I also served it with a dieting woman's idea of a shandy. Half sugar free lemonade and half beer. Lee had the unadulterated other half. Not as good as a shandy, but once again, what I had!

Have you noticed that when you get old you let the pets rule the house? If I set the table, I have to make sure to sit down quickly or they might decide that I am no longer hungry and take it for themselves.

Train vs Dog

2012-02-26T07:51:00.004-08:00

This morning RJ and I went to the barn as usual. When I opened the back doors, he alerted on something and took off to the far edge of the farm. Way in the distance I could see a groundhog running along the property line. It is quite a distance and I was amazed that RJ could see or smell it.

Have you seen a groundhog in the wild? They are nothing like the one in the movie, Groundhog. He is a fat domesticated guy. Ours are sleek and beautiful, kind of like an otter. On the other hand they dig massive holes and are a danger to horses and can destroy a landscape. So I don't want any here, but I can't seem to shoot the wee beasties!

When RJ took off after the groundhog I was glad. I wanted RJ to scare it off so he would take his excavating skills elsewhere. I went about the business of feeding and scooping and didn't notice that RJ had not returned. I did notice that a train was coming.

There is a train track that runs alongside our property line. They run many times a day hauling coal and crushed rock and any number of other things. I have only seen a passenger train once. Usually they are long freight trains. Long, heavy unable to stop freight trains. And we have a happy-go-lucky, goofy kind of dog.

When I heard the train approaching I realized that RJ was down by the tracks and probably distracted by his newly sworn enemy. I instantly called for RJ to come. Then I was sorry. If he had chased the interloper across the tracks, he may turn and come back to me and cross at the wrong moment. He runs in front of the Mule all the time and trusts us to avoid him. Trains are bad at avoiding things on the tracks.

I had a few moments of intense worry. Then RJ came loping up to me just as the train passed below us. I don't know where he was when I called him, but he was safe now and there was no sign of a groundhog. A good morning.

RJ is a goofy kind of guy, but he is hell on wheels to any wee beastie on "his" farm. He has killed a number of small creatures. Today I saw a dead fox on one of the hills.

I have no idea what got to him. It could have been RJ. He certainly chases any animal he sees. On the other hand, we do have some rabies here in Botetourt County. He was rather badly decomposed so I can't try to play CSI and figure things out. I hope some other predator did do it, because I don't like the idea of a rabid animal running loose here. We have two city cats after all.

This is their idea of an exciting adventure outside. They need their big "brother" to keep all wild animals far from the house. That is his job.

Maybe if the word gets out to the wildlife around here I will be allowed to harvest our fruit crop this year. I object to having it stolen while I sleep. Get 'em RJ.

Pork With Lentils

2012-02-25T15:31:00.003-08:00

If you have never had lentils, you might look at them and think..I pass. They are sort of like anemic-looking split peas. However they are good for you and will take on the taste of the lovely things you put in them. This meal is nice enough for a weekend meal and quick enough for a weekday dinner.

Pork With Lentils

1 pork tenderloin..One feeds about 3 people so get what you need.
salt and pepper
1 cup dry lentils, rinsed
2 Tablespoon Blackberry Ginger Balsamic Vinegar (or red wine vinegar if you can't find it)
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 Tablespoons Tuscan Herb Olive Oil (or any good EVOO)
1 finely chopped celery rib
1 medium or 5 or 6 mini carrots, finely chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup toasted walnut pieces, chopped
2 Tablespoons cilantro

Put the walnuts on a tray and toast in a toaster oven for 10 minutes on 325. Let cool.

Turn the big oven to 425 and put a pot with 4 cups of water on to boil. Then rinse the lentils. While you wait for the water to boil, heat a cast iron pan with a few Tablespoons of EVOO and trim the tenderloin. You want to get rid of the silvery ligaments or tendons or whatever it is....get rid of it. Make sure to disinfect everything before you start chopping the veg. AND also use the other side of the cutting board. (A friendly reminder from your health department)

Sprinkle the pork with s&p and brown it in the cast iron pan. It will take about 3 minutes on each side. Then put it in the oven for about 15 to 20 minutes.

By this time the pot of water will start to boil. Add the lentils and remember to stir occasionally. Reduce the temperature under the pot to simmer and set the timer for 20 minutes. If they start to get soft before then, take them off and drain.

Chop up your carrots, celery, onion, walnut and cilantro. Put them in a large bowl. in a small bowl mix the vinegar, mustard and olive oil. Add a dash of s&p. (This is what I should do. I, however dumped everything in one bowl and mixed it up and it was just fine.) After you drain the lentils, add them to the vegetables and pour the dressing on top. Mix thoroughly.

By now, the pork should be done. Remove it and let it sit while you get everything ready. After you have let it rest for about 5 minutes, slice and serve! I like to serve it with a bit of horseradish.

Oh, yeah. I served it with strawberries... again. What can I say. Strawberries were on sale and I like them.

Balsamic Chicken Breasts and Roasted Vegetables

2012-02-24T15:59:00.005-08:00

One of my new favorite stores in Roanoke is Oliveto. They sell many types of Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar. They had a write up in a recent edition of the Roanoke Times. As part of the write up they had a few recipes. I played around with the recipes and here is what I came up with via Oliveto and the Roanoke Times!

Balsamic Chicken Breasts and Roasted Vegetables

1 small butternut squash
1 small sweet potato
3 red potatoes
1 large onion
15 or so small peeled carrots
4 Tablespoon Tuscan Herb Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons 18 year old Balsamic Vinegar
Italian Herbs about 1/4 teaspoon
salt and pepper

The Roasted Veg takes the longest, so start with them. Turn on the oven to 450 degrees, Peel the squash and the sweet potato and cut into cubes. Quarter the onion and dump out the carrots. I put them all in the roasting pan and poured the OO and the vinegar on top. Add the S&P and the herbs. Then stir them up and put them in the over for about 30 minutes. Stir half way through and then at about 25 minutes. If they are getting too dark, they are done. Remember the vinegar will add some color all by itself.

Then start the chicken

Chicken strips
salt and pepper
2 Tablespoon Tuscan Herb Olive Oil
Garlic
Italian Herbs
1 Tablespoon 18 year old Balsamic Vinegar

You could use chicken breasts, but we don't eat that much meat and the strips cook up very fast. After you put the veg in the oven, rinse and pat dry the chicken strips. I cut out the thick white tendon. Heat up a cast iron pan and add some OO. I used the Tuscan Herb again. Consistency! When the oil is hot, add the chicken that you have sprinkled with s&p and the herbs. Cook about 3 minutes on one side and then turn.. Add a teaspoon or so of chopped garlic or some whole cloves. Add the Vinegar and cook for 3 more minutes. When you plate the chicken make sure to get some of the garlic and vinegar with it. So good.

I served it with some corn bread, because I had some left over from another meal. Italian bread would be great with this. We had strawberries with some Cool Whip for dessert.

Hand Quilting

2012-02-24T13:03:00.003-08:00

I am practicing hand quilting. I have 2 small bits of muslin with some batting sandwiched in between. I have a plastic frame to keep the fabric tight. I have a few designs I drew, traced and scribbled on to use for my experiment. Here is what I have concluded.

I will be machine quilting.

Of course, next week is the machine quilting class. There is a good chance that I will conclude the following:

I will be sending out any future quilt tops to be quilted by someone else!

In the meantime I have been practicing hiding the knot. To do this you wrap the thread twice around the needle and pull it to the end. Do not wrap three times as then thread will have too big of a knot. Then you start the thread away from the line you are going to outline and come up on the line, pulling the knot into the middle of the sandwich.

There is a method to "stack" stitches by stabbing down through the fabric and rocking the needle up and down so that when you pull the thread through you should have 2 or 3 stitches with each pull.

This is a skill I don't have, so I need to work on it...a lot. And that is what I will do, maybe tomorrow...or the day after that...

Getting Organized

2012-02-24T12:45:00.005-08:00

When we moved here there was a long skinny room that served no purpose except to house the pull-down stairs for the attic. We added the cabinets and the counter top. I like to do scrap booking, rubber stamping and stained glass. I wanted to learn how to make quilts. So part of the counter tops are wood for when I need something heat resistant. And part are lowered with no cabinets for comfortable sewing. I also had a tall rolling cabinet that was overcrowded with crafty things. With Lee's help, I have been trying to get more organized

We put up a shelf and tried to figure what next? I looked on a lot of sites for ideas, like the container store and pinterest. I also Googled craft rooms. I liked the idea of cubes horizontally across the wall and different colored containers. But I also wanted them to be clear, so I could see in them and labeled so I didn't have to see in them!

This is a work in progress. I have been taking things out of drawers to put them in containers Some I will put in smaller organizers and place back and then label the drawers, but I like the idea that I can look on the wall and see what I have and what I need and where everything is!

I have one more shelf to buy and a few more clear containers and then I will be done...for now. I would like to put in a TV or radio to keep me company. I would like room for a friend to come work with me. But this is what I have and I am getting excited about it!

I Thought It Was Spring

2012-02-20T07:39:00.001-08:00

This was the first winter where we didn't have any snow. And now we can't say that any longer. It has been such a warm winter, we'd begun to think we wouldn't have any snow at all. We only had to lock the horses in the barn to keep warm about 7 or 8 days in total. The daffodils have come up and started to think about blooming. The fruit trees have contemplated blossoming.

The snow started early yesterday. At first it didn't stick. I guess it was too warm. After a few hours the snow began to come down in earnest. It began to build up on the grass first and then the trees. It didn't stick on the blacktop driveway until the sun went down.

Because neither of us have to go to work today, we could just enjoy the snow. Lee didn't have to get out and plow in the middle of the night to make sure it didn't get too deep for our tractor. I didn't have to go to the barn in the cold and dark to get to work on time. We were able to drive the 4 wheel drive mule down and back at the reasonable hour of 8:00.

Other than fixing soup for dinner, I did NOTHING of any significance. I read a little, wrote a little, sewed a little, called my mother and did none of the housework that I needed to get done. None of it. That is going to have to be done today, but I am glad to have had a day of quiet and nothingness. I wouldn't want that everyday, but it was a lovely break.

Here are some pictures so that you can see the kind of beauty we are blessed with here in Virginia. I like to step back and be grateful.

Even the fence around the vegetable garden becomes beautiful.

RJ loves rooting around in the snow, but doesn't like being called over to have his picture taken.

Southwestern Chicken Soup

2012-02-19T15:33:00.000-08:00

A snowy day is the perfect day to make soup. I like to do anything to make soup the easy way, so here is what I made today, and it was really good. And I'd tell you if it wasn't. Of course if it was really gross, I wouldn't put it here at all.

Southwestern Chicken Soup

Once again for vegetarian, leave out the meat and use vegetarian broth. It will still be delicious.

1 cup chopped up frozen chicken breast strips, thawed
small hunk of Kielbasa, chopped,just because I had some
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon garlic

I have to stop here and explain that we call garlic, raglic. It happened a long time ago after a trip to the Gilroy Garlic Festival. The girls and I were playing hangman, where you come up with a word and mark the number of letters and somone guesses letters until they figure out the word or get all their parts "hung" on a scaffolding. Tara had the letters _a_lic. She went through the whole alphabet trying to figure out what was missing and finally guessed raglic. Of course, she will never live this down. She especially loves garlic and wanted to go to the Garlic Festival. When Trista was a student at UCLA, she had taken Tara to the Stinking Rose, one of their favorite restaurants that serves garlic with every dish. And yet, we still call it Raglic. So put in a teaspoon or so of raglic!

EVOO
1/4 cup brown rice
1 Tablespoon wild rice
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
4 cups chicken broth
1 can each Black Beans and Corn, drained and rinsed
1/2 small can tomato paste I put the rest in a ziploc bag and freeze for the next time I make soup.

1/2 can green chilies I used the rest in some corn bread, the recipe is on this blog
1/2 cup shopped fresh tomatoes
2 Tablespoons cilantro
avocado
sour cream

I started with pre-cooked chicken breast strips from the freezer and a small hunk of Kielbasa from another recipe. Chop them up. Chop up the onion. Put the Olive Oil in a Dutch Oven and cook the onions until almost tender. Add the RAGLIC, rices and the spices. Cook until the aromas of the spices make you really hungry.

Add the meat, stir for a few minutes and then add the broth. Bring to a boil.

Next add the beans, the corn, the chilies and the tomato paste. Reduce the temperature to simmer and let cook for about 45 minutes.

Add the fresh tomatoes and the cilantro.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream and slices of avocado.

Hand Basting

2012-02-19T09:46:00.000-08:00

Here is what I have learned about hand basting for my quilt. I am not good at it and have no patience for it. I'd better stock up in those little quilter's safety pins.

I can't use a thimble and yet I hate getting little finger pokes over and over.

And most importantly of all, cats don't help. The loose thimbles

and the running and pulling and twisting threads

are just way too much fun.

And I decided it is snowing and the horses need to get in the barn before it gets too deep to drive there. That is my excuse and I am sticking with it.

Free Blueberries ,Like Free Heat

2012-02-17T09:48:00.000-08:00

Just like our free heat experiment ended up costing hundreds of dollars for a wood stove and then the stove pipes, our free blueberries may do the same.

Blueberries do well on a well drained slope and we have a slope near the water for the garden. It is behind our fenced in vegetable garden and beyond the "orchard". It's pretty steep, but Lee thought the tractor could work there. It is also at the edge of a steep hill, so there is not a large margin for error. Unfortunately us city folks have the capacity for exceeding that large margin.

First, Lee put the plow we bought from a neighbor on the tractor in place of the scraper. It is a good thing he bought a quick connect because they are forecasting snow for Sunday and we may need that to clear the drive! It makes it easier to change out implements for the 3-point hitch on the tractor.

Lee turned the new compost and then started bringing up buckets of the seasoned compost in the front loader.

I got the sulphur from the barn with a shovel and a rake and we thought we were in business.

While Lee did the tractor work, I spread the sulphur with the scientific method of flinging it off the shovel. I figured the plowing would distribute it throughout the soil for me!

Here comes the part that we did not anticipate and is probably making any REAL farmers laugh their nether parts off. It has been raining and the compost was wet and slick. We were working on a slope. Do you see where I am going? Every time Lee tried to just drive across the "blueberry patch" to be, he slid towards the edge of the hill...or maybe I should call it the cliff, so you can see the fear that I had. There is no amount of blueberries worth Lee rolling down the hill. Not even REALLY good berries and lots of them. Plus, the tractor was expensive!

Not only was the compost on top of the ground slick, and I mean boot sucking, face planting slick, but the grass under it was wet and slick, although Lee had been able to drive across it with no problem to dump the compost. So I got out there with a shovel and a rake and spread everything out. My hopes are that the slick compost will dry out and then we will try again. And if it rains, some of the compost will soak in the soil anyway! I just don't want it to wash over the "cliff" after all this work.

Hindsight being 20/20, we realized that we should have plowed up the patch first and them dumped in the compost. But we can't undo it, so we will wait and see if we can plow it after a few days of sun. Not this weekend with the potential snow, however. Worse case scenario, I will have to rent a rototiller and do it by hand. I don't want to do that, however. Working with heavy machinery on a slope is very hard work. And the area is pretty big. It's about 21 feet X 36 feet. I'd rather use horse power than people power. That's an idea. Hitch up the horses! If only...

Compost Can

2012-02-16T16:35:00.000-08:00

We have a huge compost pile. We have huge compost producers! But I finally decided to start composting the kitchen garbage. Not the paper, but the peelings and bits from cooking. I have always thrown them away or chopped them up in the garbage disposal, but from now on I will compost.

I started looking for a nice looking can to keep on the counter. I couldn't find one at the local Walmart, so I went online. There are quite a few, but they were expensive, so I just use a plastic container with a lid. I'd like to get a bigger one so that I could put in the rind from a cantaloupe , for example. Maybe I'll buy an expensive one in a month where I feel flush. But this month was spent traveling things are a bit tight.

I don't expect this new project to appreciably increase the amount or the efficacy of my compost, but I like the idea of returning the kitchen cuttings back into the soil to make new food for us.

Tortellini Cilantro Soup

2012-02-16T15:56:00.000-08:00

I have a recipe for Tortellini Basil Soup from Cooking Light. But I don't have basil. I usually grow my own, so I therefore have an aversion to paying a fortune for a few leaves. But it is still February and too cold for the garden. So I bought some cilantro and used it in the soup. I liked it. Basil adds a kind of licorice flavor and is delicious, but I really like cilantro and it worked in this dish.

Tortellini Cilantro Soup

4 cups chicken broth. Either 2 cans or one of the boxes of broth works fine
9 ounces of fresh or frozen tortellini. I couldn't find fresh last shopping trip
1 15 ounce can of white beans. I used navy but cannellini works great.
1 cup chopped and seeded tomatoes
2 Tablespoons of chopped cilantro
2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
Parmesan cheese
pepper

Bring the broth to a boil in a Dutch Oven over medium-high heat. You can substitute Vegetarian broth if you wish. Add the tortellini and cook for about 6 minutes. Frozen will take a bit longer. Don't' let it boil hard or the tortellini will come unwrapped!

While the tortellini is cooking, cut off the top and the bottom of the tomatoes. Then quarter them lengthwise. This makes it easy to cut out the white bit along the center and use your thumb to scrape out the seeds. Then slice the tomatoes lengthwise and cut crosswise for cubes of tomatoes. I used Romas as they are the cheapest and I think they go great in soups.

Rinse and drain the beans. No, I didn't drain them in the can. I just put them there for the picture! Add them with the tomatoes to the soup. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 more minutes. Remove from heat and add the cilantro, vinegar and salt.

Ladle into soup bowls and top with fresh grated Parmesan, or the green canister kind if that is what you have. Sprinkle with fresh ground black pepper.

Oh, No. Was THAT The Easy Part?

2012-02-16T15:24:00.000-08:00

So today I finished the top. Woo Hoo! It may not be perfect, but it is done and that is cause for celebration. It is also cause for trepidation. Now I have to learn how to put it all together. We have been given practice pieces to figure out the whole quilting thing. We will need to add the middle and the back. Then stitch them together.

The mere fact that there are people who are online advertising that they do the finish work or at least the top stitching makes me nervous. If it is that big of a deal that people get to this point and then give up, is frankly intimidating. But I am tougher than that, she says while struggling into her big girl panties! Don't panic until you are supposed to panic, is what I say.

Today I put the final borders on. Three sides went on easy and just as advertised. The second side gave me fits. I think my machine pulls the bottom along and leaves the top behind or something! After picking out parts of the seam and trying to make it work, I finally undid the whole thing, re pinned it and then TURNED it over and sewed from the other side and it went just fine. But then I sewed on the same side that gave me fits for the last two sides and no problem. My only conclusion is operator error and machine error. A very bad combination.

Adding the border to the two vertical sides was easy. Just measure the top and then cut the border to fit it. I wanted to just start sewing and then cut off what was left over. I was told that this was wrong and to just follow the instructions. It seems that we want to keep the top square, so that works for me.

Fold the cut border in half and place a pin. Then find the center of your piece and place a pin. Place the border facing the top and line up the two pins. Then pin the ends together. You should be able to then place pins in between the existing pins and have it come out perfect. And, other than where noted, it did!

The other side were longer than the fabric and had to be pieced. Lay the one length across on the table face up and then add the second piece close to the end face down at a 90 degree angle.

Mark on the diagonal from corner to corner and stitch on the line. Before you cut make sure the piece is going to look like a continuous border.

Then cut 1/4 inch from the stitch line and iron. You can now measure and cut to fit using the same technique as above. Pretty cool!

Vegetables When The Vegetarian Is Not Here

2012-02-15T15:28:00.000-08:00

Lee spent a long time scraping one of our hills using the scraping blade behind the tractor. The rain had made deep crevices and he had to drag the scraper over them many times to smooth them out. Then he started the burn pile that had been building up. I spent the morning working on the quilt. At dinner time he did not want soup. I guess it seemed too hot after such a hard day. So I made some zucchini and a salad. I try not to be boring, so here is how I made it.

Zucchini with Polska Kielbasa

1/2 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
Persian Lime Olive Oil
1/2 Polska Kielbasa, I used Turkey. It's lower in fat.
1 Tablespoon crumbled Feta cheese
1 Tablespoon chopped cilantro. You could use basil, but I had cilantro, so...

Oliveto in Roanoke has the Persian Lime Olive Oil or you can use whatever flavor you have. But the Persian Lime is very good. It gives a wonderful flavor to the zucchini and makes it different from the usual. Saute the onions for a few minutes and then add the garlic. Garlic can get bitter if over cooked so don't put it in early.

Now here is where I get weird. I peel the Kielbasa. I know you can eat the skin, but I don't know what it is, so I take it off. You do what pleases you. Afterwards it looks like a naked mole rat, but I do it anyway. (DON'T look up naked mole rat. You will be sorry. See? I warned you.)

Add the zucchini and Kielbasa and cook for just a few minutes. I don't like soggy zucchini.

Here is my hint for chopping cilantro. Tear off a small bunch. Rinse under running water and then shake off the excess. Pat dry in a paper towel and then finely chop.

Add the feta and the chopped cilantro at the end and serve.

For the salad I used a mix of baby lettuces and romaine blend. I added chopped carrots, celery, avocado, apple and used a raspberry vinaigrette. Finish it off with a whole wheat roll that we dipped in Tuscan Herb Olive Oil from Oliveto with a small splash of 18 year old Balsamic Vinegar. A nice meal.

L:ight At The End Of The Tunnel

2012-02-15T12:23:00.000-08:00

I wish I could say I am getting better at this quilting thing. I am afraid I am just getting less concerned with getting it right and more concerned with getting it done! I managed to get the quilt blocks put together and start on the inner border in class. Our 3 hour class. Where I spend way too much time taking out stitches and not enough time putting in stitches.

Doris took my comment about viewing it from a cantering horse and not finding the errors in construction and raised the bar to viewing the work from a GALLOPING horse. Does this make Doris less self-critical? Or does it mean I can't see worth a damn whether I am on the back of a horse or bent over and squinting at my sewing machine? Try leaning way back and squinting. Doesn't it look pretty good?

No matter! Here is what I did today. And may I point out that I didn't take out any stitches or say any curse words during the work on this quilt... today. A fact of which I am proud. ( Notice that that sentence does not end in a preposition. I hope this is a fact of which my editor daughter is proud!)

I finished putting on the inner border. No cutting was necessary due to the perfection in my sewing. Or it could have been a random act of kindness performed by the sewing fairies.

Then I decided how to lay out the Flying Geese borders. There were many choices of patterns and directions to choose. I did the top going one way and the bottom going the other with the same layout of color choices. I hope you can see it.

I had to sew them one at a time. There may be a magical way to assemble them, but it worked and they all fit, so I am not complaining. I am getting a wee bit proud, although there is no reason for the pride. It's just there. Or, I am just glad to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Unless that is a train wreck heading my way!

Tomorrow I will add the last border pieces. And they will have to be pieced to make them fit. No sewing fairies there. Then we learn how to assemble the quilt with the back and the middle and do the actual quilting. I must mentally prepare myself for a lack of skill in this area. OHHMMMM...OHHMMM... not working so good.

Of course, it is entirely possible that I WILL be good. I am good at needlepoint and crewel. So I guess that means I need to count on hand finishing the quilt. I DO have a long flight coming up. I'll keep you posted.

Sugar Cookies

2012-02-13T16:11:00.000-08:00

It is Valentine's Day and I wanted to make Lee some decorated cookies. I frantically checked the drawers and cupboards and realized I must have left all my shape cutters behind when we moved. Granted most of them had been used to cut out home made play dough and still had hardened bits of it stuck in hard to reach places. So no heart shapes. I may try using a circle cutter and trying to make a heart out of it. Or maybe icing a heart shape on a round cookie.

I am writing this while the dough chills. It needs to chill at least an hour before rolling it out. I hope to decorate them, but it is late and I may wait until I get home from my quilting class tomorrow. On the other hand, I may NEED to be taken out to dinner and I have to get these ready for Lee. So here is the recipe...

Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter, softened ( I used the microwave, this house is COLD)
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups flour

Put the softened butter in a mixing bowl. Add the sugar and cream it together. Add the egg and vanilla and continue mixing.

Add the baking soda, powder and salt.
Keep mixing. Then add the flour 1 cup at a time.

Dump the mixture on a sheet of cling wrap and wrap tightly. Chill the dough for at least one hour or overnight. (Go write your blog and continue this later!)

OK. Now roll out the dough and cut the shapes you want. I used a circle cutter and a pastry cutter to make a rough heart and then softened the edges with my fingers.

Remember they will spread out when they bake. Place on ungreased cookie sheets, or use Silpats like I do. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Leave them alone on the rack for two minutes to set up. Cool on a wire rack. Then place in an air tight container.

The next day I made some Royal Icing.

Royal Icing

2 cups confectioner's sugar
1 1/2 Tablespoons meringue powder ( I get it from any store that carries Wilton)
!/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup warm water
food coloring I used rose food coloring gel from Wilton. What can I say? I took some classes and have a lot of stuff from Wilton.

Put the sugar and the meringue powder in a mixer. Turn on slow and drizzle in the water mixed with the vanilla or any flavoring you like. It could be cherry to match the pink icing. After it is all moist, turn up to medium or high and mix for 5 to 7 minutes. This is important. It will not get the right consistency if you don't do it the full amount of time. Scrape down the sides once in a while. It should become very glossy and form peaks. Then mix in the food coloring.

Load a pastry bag fitted with a small round tip and pipe a line around the edge of the cookie. I also made some with patterns. As you can see, I need practice with freehand drawing, but it is the thought that counts, right, Dear? Then I added a few teaspoons of water and mixed it in with the rest of the frosting. I kept adding it until it was a much softer and more spreadable consistency. I dropped a large spoon full onto the middle of the cookie and spread it out to the now hardened outlines. The theory being that the lines would keep the icing in place. And it worked pretty good with some minor fixes with fingers and toothpicks. Now, of course I have some pink fingers. But the cookies turned out pretty good. And they tasted good, which is important, too!

Ohio !#@! Star

2012-02-11T12:46:00.000-08:00

I have decided that I may not be cut out for quilting. I am good at a lot of things. I can repair drywall, I can tile, I can help frame a house. But those things have a lower level of tolerances. If there is a small gap, you can fill it with grout or cover it with some wood trim. But with quilting, if you are 1/8 inch off you did a bad, terrible, horrible job.

And the hardest so far for me was the Ohio (expletive deleted, thank you Mr. Nixon) Star. In this block the points have to line up on the center square and if you are off by a fraction, it shows.

After ripping out seams THREE TIMES, I finally decided to start over! I re-cut the center and re-sewed the Four Triangle Squares and put the whole thing together again. It is only marginally better, but I decided it was good enough for me! You can see the problems up close, but on a horse going at a fast canter, it looks GREAT!

I love the whole concept of making all the Four Triangle Squares at one time. In this case I cut (4) 5 1/2 inch squares from the background and the border fabric. I placed the squares of fabric with the right sides together. Then draw a line from one corner to the opposite corner, like with the Flying Geese, and then sew a 1/4 from the center up and down on the diagonal. Cut between the lines and iron towards the dark fabric. Then place the right sides together again with the opposite colors facing each other. Pin and check to make sure they line up in the center. Once again draw the lines on the diagonal and sew up and back, then cut apart. Press the seams open and then you should have a perfect square that meets in the middle with perfect points. Then trim to size, in my case 4 1/2 inches.

Lay out the square with the Four Triangle Squares pointing towards the center and then with plain background squares in the four corners. After sewing the three vertical squares into strips, the hard part is making the points just touch the edges of the center piece. THIS is where I had the trouble.

I pinned it as we were taught by putting a pin through the point on one square and lining it up with the point underneath. This, in theory would then hold it while you finish pinning the piece. Somehow I was off each time. It sometimes seems that my sewing machine pushes the top fabric away from the bottom. But they are pinned and I don't see how that works. But that is what I do, so I must be doing something wrong and I don't know how to fix it.

I learned this week in class that the ironing I have been doing is sub-standard. Not that I have aspirations as a perfect ironer, but if all the seams are not perfectly flat and going the right way, you will have difficulty. Especially if you sew the imperfectly ironed pieces together and are then stuck with redoing them or keeping them as they are. Once again, I am going with the view from the back of a fast horse and thinking they are not THAT bad. My current theory is that all this re-cutting and re-sewing and re-ironing is going to impress my poor, weak brain so that the NEXT time I make a quilt, I will be SOOOO much better...or is it SEW much better??? At any rate, that is my goal and most fervent hope.

So far the Ohio Star is the hardest one for me. I am hoping that my technical skills will have improved before I ever attempt it in another quilt. Or maybe, I will never do another one, but this practice will make me better at the quilts I WILL do in the future. I would love to make some for our new B&B. On the other hand, the idea of having a guest ruin a quilt that took so much time and effort is rather upsetting. Gonna have to rethink that...

After all that I then had to make some more Flying Geese for the border. But those went fast and I like them! I like things that go the way they are supposed to! Maybe I need to go bake something.

Fruit Trees and Pumpkin Muffins

2012-02-09T12:56:00.000-08:00

We bought two fruit trees this week. They were to replace the other trees we had bought and planted that died. I got money from our girls for replacement trees for Christmas and spent it on a plum tree and an apricot tree. When the millennium comes we should be OK. Wait, that already happened. Ok, in a few years we should have fruit.

My sister-in-law once asked me if I knew when the best time to plant a fruit tree. Her answer, 10 years ago. Ok, so I have to wait.

First I went to the compost pile and filled the back of the mule. It turns out the horses ARE good for something! They are able to process hay and expensive grain into the perfect compost for gardens. Our soil on the top of the hill is rocky and REALLY hard to dig. Fortunately, we had previously planted trees and used a lot of compost in the old holes so digging went a lot faster than before. I was able to use a shovel and did not have to resort to the metal bar we use to break up rocks.

This time we used two stakes for the trees. The top of our last apricot tree snapped off in high wind. So we don't want to have that happen, again. I have no idea what happened to the plum tree. It just died.

So now we have 2 peaches, 2 Granny Smith apples, 1 pear, 1 Gala apple, 2 cherries and a plum and apricot. We also have acres of wild blackberries and a plan for planting a small garden of blueberries. We have to prepare the soil first. The last ones we planted didn't do well because they like a very acidic soil and ours was not. Once we figure the best way to do that we will work on the soil. My PLAN is to work in a BIG bunch of our "processed hay" and then some peat moss for the acidity. Then do a soil test. Then plant the blueberries.

But first I have to finish the quilt and then go visit my mother in California and then deal with the architect for the B&B and then trim the drive, oh, and I really need to dust this place... Sheesh!

After planting the trees and some bulbs (they TOLD me it wasn't too late to do that) we had Norma and Shirley over for tea. These are two lovely ladies that are sisters and live in Buchanan. They feed our cats and let out RJ when we can't and this year they agreed to take care of the horses. Lee and I haven't been on a vacation together in years except for a day here or there, because it is hard to find someone to deal with all the animals. So we boarded the dog and had Norma and Shirley do the horses and cats. They did a great job and we had them up to tell us all their stories and to give them a tea party for all their hard work. It doesn't hurt that when we start the B&B they can then recommend us...or not!

I made lemon poppy seed scones with lemon curd, pumpkin muffins and a fruit cup. Here is the recipe for the muffins.

Pumpkin Muffins

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg, I use a micro plane so I guessed on the measurement
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 eggs, slightly beaten
3/4 cup pumpkin puree, I used about 1/2 of a can and froze the rest for future use.
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup of chopped walnuts

Pre-heat the oven to 400. Dump the dry ingredients into a mixer. Mix on slow. You don't want a cloud of flour in your face. Beat the eggs slightly in a bowl and add to the mix. Then add the milk and pumpkin. While it was mixing on low I drizzled in the melted butter. I was afraid it was still hot from the microwave and I didn't want to have scrambled egg in the bowl! As soon as it looks like all the wet ingredients are incorporated, add the chopped nuts if desired. Don't over mix.

Spray a muffin pan with Pam. I have a large ice cream scoop that I use for muffins. It makes a nice rounded top and is the perfect size for filling one muffin "dent".

Unfortunately I didn't get the sizes exact and had to borrow a bit of muffin from each overly large "scoop" to make the 12th muffin! I like to over fill the muffins so that I get a large crown. The BEST part!

Next mix about 1/4 cup of white sugar with 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Mix well and then sprinkle on top of the muffins. Bake for 18 minutes.

Fruit Cup

1/2 cantaloupe
10 strawberries
Splenda
1 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
Cool Whip
Optional cherry

The fruit cup was easy and good. I cut up a cantaloupe in small cubes and placed in the bottom of a ramekin. I made four at a time, so actually four ramekins. Slice some strawberries and put in a bowl. Sprinkle a bit of Splenda on them and toss gently. The divide among the ramekins.

Place the blueberries in a small saucepan. Cover with Splenda and heat until it cooks down to a sauce. Stir occasionally. When it cools, put a dollop on top of the strawberries. Place a large spoonful of Cool Whip on top of the blueberries. I happened to have some cherries in the fridge and put one on top, just because. If I had had some mint, I would have put a sprig of mint on top. Pretty!

Horse For Sale

2012-02-09T12:51:00.000-08:00

We went to Southern States to buy some fruit trees. While there I mentioned that we would be selling our horses and asked if they knew anyone looking to buy. Steve told us that he knew a woman that lived out a ways in the country with two horses. The other day she went to feed them and discovered someone had left another two horses, tied in the pasture with hers.

I was astonished that someone would do such a thing. Lee said, "What is their address, again?"

Souper Bowl Beef and Barley

2012-02-06T06:30:00.000-08:00

While sewing and writing and waiting for the Super Bowl to start, I threw some things in a pot to make some soup, my play on Souper Bowl. It turned out to be wonderful rather than OK. The problem is that I didn't take any pictures, so now I have to recreate it! Forgive the cans of broth that I dug out of the recycle bin!

After our trip to England, I had to restock the refrigerator. I found two cans of beef broth in the pantry and decided to make some soup I bought a bit of beef and some veggies and here is what I made.

I bought 1/2 to 3/4 pound of STEW MEAT and cut it into small squares. I sprinkled it with a few tablespoons of FLOUR with a bit of Salt and Pepperand stirred to coat them. I sauteed the meat in a pot with a bit of OLIVE OIL. When they were browned, just a few minutes, I added a cup or two of BURGUNDY. This my go-to wine for all beef recipe possibilities. Not my drinking favorite!

I didn't measure anything because I wasn't planning on putting this recipe in my blog. (Take note, in future write everything down.) Then I added the 2 cans of BEEF BROTH, turned the pan to simmer and went back to the craft room for an hour or so.

I came down and added 1/3 cup of BARLEY and went back up for 40 minutes or so. It was thickening up a bit and then I remembered the flour for the meat. If it got too thick I was considering adding a bit of water, but it was fine.

Next I cut up about 10 little CARROTS, 1 cup or so of ONIONS, 1 stalk of CELERY and 1/2 cup or so of frozen PEAS. I added these to the pot and brought the temperature up to medium. I went to the pantry to see what else to add and remembered I hadn't used any garlic! Oh, no! GARLIC SALT went in the pot along with a teaspoon or so of ITALIAN HERBS.

I cooked everything for about 10 more minutes, until the veggies were starting to soften and the barley was done. I added a TOMATO, stirred it a bit and cut up some sourdough bread for dipping. (OK. You caught me out. LEE cut up the bread and I set the table.)

Yum. Easy Peasy and soooo good. This is a keeper.

More Quilt Squares

2012-02-05T13:48:00.000-08:00

I barely figured out the 4 Patch/9 Patch for my quilt. Now I am working on the Flying Geese Star. Flying Geese are basically a pattern with a large triangle of one color surrounded by two small triangles of another color. We learned a technique to make it faster and easier...ostensibly. Even though Doris and I get right to work, we never seem to finish a square while in the class. This means we have to go home and try to remember how we are supposed to do it! Even with pictures and notes and a book, it isn't easy. Hey, if it was EASY, ANYBODY could do it! At least, that is what I keep telling myself.

You cut a 7 1/4 inch square of the main fabric. Then cut (4) 3 7/8 inch squares of the background fabric. Mark all the small squares with a diagonal line from corner to corner and then mark a line 1/4 inch on either side of the first line.

Place the large square facing up and then lay a small square facing down in one corner, aligning the edges. Do the same thing in the opposite corner so that they overlap in the middle.

Pin in place and then stitch on the two outside lines. This is where it gets tricky. I can barely see the lines due to the color of the fabric and the multiple floaters in my eyes that make close work a struggle. Once you cut the two apart on the middle line, there is no going back. Suffice it to say that I had to do one over and it's still not as good as I would like.

After cutting on the diagonal line, you press it open and then place the another small square in the only other unoccupied corner with the line pointing towards the gap between the sewn triangles. Once again sew on either side of the diagonal line and then cut them apart on the line. Do this for the remaining piece. You will now have four Flying Geese.

To make these into a star you will need (4) 3 7/8 squares of the background color and one square 6 1/2 inches square of the main color. We learned how to do a fussy cut. Basically you lay out the fabric and pick the part you want to be centered and then cut it out. This leaves weird holes in the fabric, but most patterns should allow for this. If not I'll be buying more fabric!

I sewed the top and the bottom geese to the center and then assembled the sides. Then I stitched the sides to the center, ironing the seams each time.

So this is what I ended up with. I hope Someone can make it magically become a scoosh bigger because it isn't QUITE 12 1/2 inches square. But at this point, I am not doing it over. I figure there has to be a trick to making it fit or no one would get past their first quilt. RIGHT????

Pretty Cool, But Not Too Hot

2012-02-05T13:30:00.000-08:00

Lee got the wood stove installed in the shop and it looks great. I have put off writing about it because I wanted him to have a fire in it for the picture. So, today was cold enough to light a fire and Lee called me when it was ready.

It didn't throw off a lot of heat, but he had a rather small fire. He wasn't going to stay out there long because he had to watch the Super Bowl. Now that starts at 6:00 on the East Coast, but you HAVE to watch the shows that tell you about the game and then you have to watch the game. Of course after that are the shows that tell you about the game you just watched. Thank Goodness for the Puppy Bowl! (I just found out those puppies are available for adoption...hmmm.... Somebody STOP me.) Anyway, so I am making soup. Soup for the Super Bowl!

Check out the good job Lee did on the chimney. I think it is cool even if it isn't all that hot.

4 Patch/ 9 Patch Quilt

2012-02-02T13:20:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted anything here for a week because I was out of the country. I didn't post that I was leaving because I didn't want to advertise that our house was empty. Please come rob us!

So our daughter is married and we are back from London. We got in last night. I took a sleeping aid and slept as much as possible to try to get back on this time zone. And then I had to do my "homework" for my quilting class. I need 5 squares of the 4 Patch/9 Patch pattern by tomorrow. Good thing I got two done before we left. I must admit that by the time I was working on the last one I was MUCH less critical of my work than the first one! At one point I ripped out a seam for the second time and I was worried about how the fabric would hold up from all the abuse. Last Time, I told myself! I don't know if it was any better than the first two times, but it WAS the Last Time!

Basically, for the 4 Patch you want 5 small 4 1/2 inch squares using 2 pieces of one color and two of another. You alternate with a 4 1/2 inch plain square.

One thing I love about taking classes is all the techniques you learn for making things easier on yourself. Sure you could cut out all the squares and then sew them, but if you make long strips and sew them together and cut 2 1/2 inch slices you are half way there.

After you sew the square together and determine if you mad a halfway decent square, you line them all up and try to get the most aesthetically pleasing layout

Next class we will be learning how to cut for specific parts of the fabric. That will be fun as there are some beautiful designs on some of my fabrics that I would like to make sure to highlight.

Ironing is very important when quilting. You iron the seams to one side or open after each seam you sew. You press the seam towards the darkest fabric so it won't show through from the front. I found myself quoting (misquoting?) Darth Vader for some reason. "Go to the dark side, Luke!" Over and over. I definitely need a radio or a TV in my craft room.

The pattern we are learning has several different patterns within it. This way, by the time we have finished it we will have a few designs with which we will (presumably) feel comfortable. The sad thing is I have already picked my next two classes for quilts I want to make and I haven't even finished this one yet!

Tea Cozy

2012-01-22T09:29:00.000-08:00

I decided I wanted a tea cozy. This is a quilted cover that goes over a full pot of tea to keep it from cooling off too quickly. You want the second cup of tea to be as warm and the first! I looked online for a pattern, but didn't find what I wanted. So, I decided to try to figure it out on my own. This is what I came up with.

First I talked my friend Rose into going with me to the fabric store. She has been taking quilting classes for a while and I wanted her input. Plus, it's always more fun with a friend. I decided to get some quilted fabric. But even that was not thick enough, so I decided to double it, with a stiffener in between. I didn't want it to sag over the teapot, but to stand up over it.

There were some nice fabrics, but I picked one with chickens. My mother loves chickens and we always had a few. Plus, she is the one that used to have tea parties with me after school. So this is for Mom. Except that she can't have it. It's mine.

I got out a few teapots and some of the advertising inserts from the Sunday paper for the pattern. I figured those wouldn't transfer ink to the fabric. I measured height and circumference and came up with a size of 10 X 16 inches. I marked it on the paper, drew an arc and then folded the paper over so it would be symmetrical.

After I cut out the pattern I tested it on the teapot and then took it to my craft room. I cut two pieces for the out side and two for the inside. The inside had a pretty daisy pattern that I wanted to keep.

The outside had stripes of chickens so I placed a long quilting pin on top of the stripes on the outside of the first piece I cut and then turned it over to cut the next one. In this way I hoped to line up the stripes with the quilting pins. You may not be able to see the pins as the heads are yellow. It worked pretty good for an amateur. I didn't worry about the inside as it looked like random daisies and won't show much. I also cut two pieces of a fabric inner facing that has glue on one side so that when you iron it, it sticks to the inside of the fabric and gives it some support.

Next it was time to assemble. My first thought was to place the wrong sides together, stitch the seam, then turn and restitch. This gives the inside a finished look and a little ridge of stiffness on the outside. But this project was getting VERY thick and I wasn't sure the machine could handle all that, so I assembled it as follows. One inside piece facing down, inner facing, then outside piece facing up. Next the second outside piece facing down, the inner facing and the inside piece facing up. This way the two chicken sides were facing each other and the two daisy sides were on the outside.

Now I wanted a little handle to lift it off and on, so I used some quilting binding that I stitched to stay together. This had to be placed with the loop in between the two right sides and the tail end hanging out the top. I pinned everything together and started stitching.

I won't bore you with the stops and starts. Suffice it to say that I finished the seam and then turned it right side out. (There was one small part where the stitching didn't catch. So I restitched it.)

To finish it off, I used more of the binding to cover the bottom edge. I could have turned it under and stitched it, but I liked the yellow border. So, I pinned that to the bottom and stitched it on. It was hard to catch the outside and the inside over the two seams, but I was able to go back and do some top stitching. I used a zig-zag stitch.

So now I have a tea cozy that I like. It is not something that I think I can sell at craft shows or anything, but it was a fun project to get me ready for my quilting class next week and it serves a function. Plus it is CHICKENS and kind of cute!

Explosive Eighteen

2012-01-21T09:59:00.000-08:00

I recently checked out Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich from the library. I was reading it while Lee was driving. I had been giggling at some of the things Stephanie Plum was doing and decided Lee should have the pleasure of hearing what it was that struck my funny bone. So I read him a couple of paragraphs.

If you read this series, you will know that Stephanie's Grandmother LOVES to go to funerals. She always causes a problem and this time was no exception.

'It was close to nine o'clock when Grandma found her way to the cookie table. She ate three cookies, wrapped four more in a napkin, put them in her purse, and she was ready to head for home.
"It got better after you left, " she said. "Melvin Shupe came through the line and cut the cheese right when he got up to the casket. He said he was sorry, but the widow made a big fuss over it. And then the funeral director came with air freshener, and when he sprayed it around, Louisa Belman got an asthma attack and they had to cart her out the back door to get some air. Earl Krizinski was sitting behind me, and he said he saw Louisa's underpants when they picked her up, and he said he got a stiffy."
"Louisa Belman is ninety-three years old."
"Well, I guess to Earl, underpants are underpants." '

Lee didn't laugh. He sat there driving for a minute and then said, "That is why I hate going to funerals."

And that is why he strikes MY funny bone.

Peanut Butter -Vegetable Chicken Soup

2012-01-20T15:21:00.000-08:00

Years ago a friend gave me a wonderful cookbook, Jane Brody's Good Food Book. It is my go-to book for wonderful, healthy soups and breads. This is one of our favorite soups. Don't be put off by the peanut butter. It makes it creamy and with a wonderful peanutty taste. One of the best things is you can put in any variety of vegetables and it is still good. So it is a little bit different every time. And, with the peanut butter, it is a little bit the same. When our daughter Tara is here we make a vegetarian version and it is equally good. Just substitute Vegetable Broth for the Chicken Broth and leave out the chicken! Easy!

Peanut Butter-Vegetable Chicken Soup

8 cups chicken broth
2 cups cooked chicken
1 cup peeled and diced potatoes
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced zucchini
1 cup broccoli or cauliflower flowerettes
1 cup tomatoes, fresh or canned, chopped
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup green pepper, if you insist, I don't like green pepper and leave them out!
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 cup peanut butter
1 Tablespoon fresh parsley or 1 tsp dried
salt and pepper to taste

In a large stock pot combine the broth, chicken, if using, potatoes and carrots. I like the mini carrots, so be careful when chopping. I also use the precooked frozen chicken strips, or I get a large 1 - 2 inch slice from the deli. Bring the soup to a boil and cook over medium heat until the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes

While this is cooking, chop the rest of the vegetables. This is where you can get creative. Sometimes I add BOTH broccoli and cauliflower. If the zucchini is big, I add all of it because I leave out the green pepper. I usually use fresh tomatoes, but if I used a can and it was more than 1 cup, I would use the whole thing. Have fun and use up what you have. Then simmer for 8 minutes

Add the peanut butter. It seems like a lot but it melts in the soup and isn't overwhelming. I like to use the chunky kind because I like to find the little bits every once in awhile. But smooth is good, too. Add the parsley and the salt and pepper and stir until you don't find any more lumps of peanut butter. Simmer for a few more minutes.

I served it with a bit of whole wheat harvest bread with olive oil for dipping. We had strawberries for dessert.

Oliveto in Roanoke

2012-01-18T14:18:00.000-08:00

I wrote previously about finding some wonderful olive oil while visiting in California. I quickly used up one of the bottles, even with trying to avoid high carbohydrate foods. Because it is flavored I used it for dipping and wanted to find some recipes to use with this wonderful oil. I am going to California soon and planned to buy more and hope it didn't break in my suitcase.

While driving in Roanoke today I saw a sign on a storefront. It was called Oliveto, Artisan Oils and Vinegars. I pointed it out to Lee and he kindly drove in so I could see what it was about.

The showroom was spotless and had many different flavors of oil and vinegar. Even better, there were lists of pairings of oil and vinegar and recipe cards scattered around near the different oils with suggestions. You could taste whatever you wanted and the prices were reasonable.

If you have only had olive oil from the supermarket, you really need to try some. You might not want to use it for everyday sauteing, although it would add some wonderful flavor. But you definitely should have some in your home. I am thinking of getting some for hostess gifts.

We ended up with the Tuscan Herb Olive Oil and the Blackberry Ginger Vinegar. I can't wait to try them. And now that's one less thing I have to do on my trip!

Barnes and Noble Disappoints

2012-01-17T16:18:00.000-08:00

I got a Nook Color last February. I love it. I love it so much that I used to take it to work with me at the library and make people see what it could do. I probably convinced 30 people to buy the Nook Color over the Kindle or any other e-reader. I buy a book now and again, but mostly I use the Nook for Internet use at the other end of the house from the computer and I check out books for trips. I read a LOT and it is nice to carry a lot of books on trips with just one slim e-reader . The games are fun, too.

A few weeks ago one of my daughters mentioned wanting to read Hunger Games. It had been reduced in price last time I was browsing the Steals and Deals section of the Barnes and Noble site. I thought it would be fun to buy for my daughters to read over Christmas and maybe I would get to it one day. When I went back to the site, the price had gone up and so I thought I just would check it out from the library sometime.

Last week I went to Barnes and Noble. THIS time I remembered to bring my Nook. Lots of times I forget and I know that I am supposed to get an occasional good deal when in the store if you bring the Nook. So I powered it up and was glancing through it. I decided to look again at the Hunger Games. To my surprise, it was back to the lower price. Now we're not talking a lot of money here. The low price was something like $4.69 and the high price was $7.49. Not a huge difference, but I was going to see the girls again in a few weeks, so I decided to buy it, right there in the store.

The next day when I checked my email, there was one from Barnes and Noble and they had charged me the higher price. I immediately contacted them and mentioned the different price I had seen in the store. They said I was wrong and there would be no correction.

Now I understand why they cannot "return" an ebook. Obviously a person could copy it to another location and so there is no "returning" of a book. What I don't understand is why a customer service department wouldn't make it right.

I used to work for FedEx, back in the days when it was Federal Express. At one point I worked in customer service. We prided ourselves on fixing whatever the problem was the customer had. I remember one time Lee and I went to the LAX station after it had closed on a Saturday. He was the manager at the time. The package had not been sent for Saturday service and was not to be delivered until Monday, but the customer had called and was desperate. We looked through thousands of pounds of freight to find the package and then drove about a 50 mile round trip to deliver it to the customer who needed it that day. We did what it took to make the customer happy if it was at all possible. That is the mind set of a company that wants to be known as the best at what they do.

It is not the less than three dollar difference. It is the fact that I no longer trust Barnes and Noble. Did I see it wrong? Maybe, but I remember looking closely at it because I was surprised. Did it pull up a previous search somehow? I don't see how, but maybe. Would it hurt Barnes and Noble to credit me the small amount to keep a customer happy? One that convinced others to buy this e-reader? No. I don't think it would.

It is only a small amount of money lost but a huge amount of trust. How can I prove what the price was when I clicked the button to purchase something? I used a gift card so I can't dispute it with my credit card company. Will it happen again? If so, THEN what do I do?

A Good Mole Is A Dead Mole

2012-01-17T15:59:00.000-08:00

That is a statement to live by. At least when you have horses. Moles dig holes and horses can step in holes and then you have a ruined horse.

I was down at the barn today and saw RJ rolling about happily in the grass. He squirmed around with his tongue hanging out. And then I saw him sniffing intently and rolling some more. Now if you have a dog, you know what this means. I don't mean a prissy little house dog. Or one that lives on a concrete patio a few minutes a day. I mean a run around the farm, chase a deer or maybe a skunk kind of dog. An RJ kind of dog.

So I went over to take a look at what disgusting thing he had found. Fortunately it wasn't animal parts. Unfortunately it was a dead animal, albeit all in one piece. Fortunately it was completely dead and I didn't have to do any of the dispatching myself. It was also very wet. I assumed this was from the attentions of the aforementioned dog.

I contemplated leaving it where it was and hoping it would disappear by morning. We have a lot of buzzards around here. I thought about burying it in the compost pile. But I USE the compost pile for the garden. So I decided to put it in an old feed bag and throw it out in the trash. The dump is a good place for dead animals.

Just a reminder. If you come to my house and the dog runs up and tries to kiss you, and he will, Do. Not Let Him. I can't stress this enough. This means YOU, Aunt Suzy. Dog's mouths are not cleaner than human mouths and you would know this is true if you ever helped me to clean stalls in the morning. RJ helps, if you know what I mean.

My First Quilt

2012-01-17T15:31:00.000-08:00

Quilts are big in the south. I suppose they are popular elsewhere, but here they are huge. My first hint was the very large section in the library stacks devoted to quilts. And the magazines. I grew up with quilts from my mother's family and I love all that they represent.

So I decided to learn to make a quilt. Now I learn better by doing and I prefer to have someone show me how to do something, rather than try to figure it out from a book. So I knew I would need to take a class. There is the cutest, old wooden building on the top of a hill in Troutville. It is the Old Trinity Schoolhouse Quilt Shop. It used to be...wait for it....a schoolhouse and now it is a....quilt shop! They have bolt after bolt of fabrics to make quilts and they give classes. I recently took a wool applique class there with my friend Doris and I convinced her to take a quilt class with me.

Doris has made a number of quilts already, but she was willing to take a beginners class on the assumption that you can always learn something new. I hope she does as I am afraid my ignorance will hold her back. It turns out, we are the only two in the class, so we should get all the individual attention we need!

The first day was devoted to leaning about the different types of quilts and to pick out the fabric for our quilt project. Doris already had hers, so she kindly helped me with mine. I'll write about the class and how I'm doing as I go and then show you the finished quilt. depending on how hard it is and how well it turns out, I will do more. I like the fiber arts and hope this is something I can learn. Not too sure about the machine I have. I'm also not willing to buy a new one until I see if this is something I will continue.

The first thing I have to do is wash the fabric so that any shrinking or bleeding of colors will be done before it is finished and needs cleaning. Then I have to iron it and buy the proper foot for my machine. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Oh, I also have to keep the cats off it. Right. Like that'll happen.

It's not like they are curious or want to get in the plastic bags...

Leftover Turkey

2012-01-15T15:31:00.000-08:00

I wanted to do something with the left over turkey. Once again I need to keep away from carbohydrates as much as possible. I wondered if I could make a turkey melt, sort of like a tuna melt, but without the bread? Here is what we had.

First I made a salad.

1/2 cup sliced strawberries
1 stalk celery, divided use
1 thick slice onion, divided use
Romaine Blend, Bag o' Salad (my term!)
chopped pecans
Light Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing

Slice the strawberries and sprinkle with your favorite no calorie sweetener. I used Splenda. This was mostly important because it is winter and the strawberries are not the best right now. But I buy them year round and "dose them up" when needed.

Slice half the celery and put it in one bowl. Finely chop the other half and put it in another bowl. Coarsely chop half of the onion and put it in the first bowl and finely chop the rest and put it in the second bowl. Add the pecans and the strawberries and mix in a little dressing. Set aside.

Breadless Turkey Melt

1 1/2 to 2 cups finely chopped Turkey
3 Tablespoons Mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon celery, finely chopped (Oh, so THIS is where it goes!)
1 Tablespoon onion. finely chopped (This, too!)
2 teaspoons pickle relish, but use a fork to drain them a bit
1/2 teaspoon mustard (a small squirt)
salt and pepper to taste
1 egg (I should have used one and now I'm telling YOU to use one!)
1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

Mix together everything except the cheese. I didn't use an egg and so my patties didn't hold together too well. So use an egg!

Put a small amount of oil in a large fry pan and use medium heat. Form 4 patties out of the mixture and fry until brown.

Turn over carefully. Place the grated cheese on top of each turkey patty. When these are brown and the cheese is melty, remove to a plate and serve warm with the salad. If you have left over pineapple, (OOH! I do. I have leftover pineapple!) use that. It always goes good with strawberries!

A Low Carb Experiment

2012-01-14T15:02:00.001-08:00

We still have lots of blueberries from this summer. They make great toppings for crepes, pancakes and any baked goods, actually. But I had one left over pie crust from making a quiche and I wanted to try a pie.

So I did.

Low Carb Blueberry Pie

Don't ask me how low carb. I have no idea.

6 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1 cup Splenda
1 Tablespoon corn starch
1 Tablespoon water
1 teaspoon lemon, optional
1 pie crust, room temperature

Pre-heat oven to 350.
I had no idea how many blueberries I would need. I though my self very clever to fill a pie plate up with water and measure it in a large measuring cup. Then I doubled that as I knew it would cook down. It measured out at 2 cups. So I used 5cups of blueberries. It was enough, but not perfect, so I added one more cup for YOU to use on my list of ingredients. So try 6 cups. I used 1 cup of Spelenda. My friend Dreama recommends Stevia, so I was going to try it, but went with the Splenda this time. Next time I will try the Stevia.

Heat the berries in a large saucepan with the 1 cup of sweetener. While you are waiting for it to boil, carefully unroll the pie crust and place it in a pie dish.

Cut off the excess. You can also use the frozen pie crusts.

Stir the blueberries and when they are boiling gently, mix the corn starch in a small bowl with the water and add to the mixture. Boil for one minute while stirring, until thickened. I didn't add the lemon, but afterwards, thought it would have been a good addition. So do so if you wish.

Scrape the blueberries into the pie crust and bake for 30 minutes. Let cool. Serve with Cool Whip. Or low carb ice cream. Enjoy!

The pie was OK and low on carbs. It was NOT, however the best pie I ever ate. It had a slight aftertaste. That is why I thought the addition of lemon would be good. There was a slight "skin" on the surface of the pie. You couldn't taste it and there was no mouth feel of skin. I guess that was because of no top crust. I am curious to see how Stevia will change the flavor. I'll let you know.

I made the pie because I had the crust, but also because I was cooking a turkey breast. Surely turkey breast calls for a dessert! I am in "training" for a wedding, (daughter, in England, SOON)so I am watching the food intake. So we had turkey and a salad. Now salads can get boring, but this one was pretty good. Romaine blend, feta cheese, sunflower seeds and tomatoes with a small amount of Ranch dressing.

The best part (naturally the most carbohydrates!) was the pineapple. After living in the South Pacific for many years, I love pineapple. This was a particularly sweet one. And in Virginia of all places! Of course, there are no better pineapples than those in Tonga. You can even eat the cores. One day I'll give you the recipe for Inu Meleni that we learned from Ngalu'afe Tupou with pineapples and watermelon.

Did you notice I put the dessert first? You can tell where my mind is. I'll keep working on the pie. I hope it will be better next time. I TOLD you it was an experiment!

"Winterizing" The Garden

2012-01-10T09:07:00.000-08:00

I know that you are supposed to trim back your garden for winter. Knowing and doing are the problem! So, this morning it was on my list to go cut back the plants. I was also going to spray the Round Up. This is my version of weeding. The garden is too big and when I let the weeds go to this extent, I just can't face hand weeding! So I spray and then weed that which doesn't die or those plants too close to a "good" plant to risk spraying!

Right after breakfast I went out with the best intentions. The Round Up container said to spray on a warm sunny day. It was 24 degrees when I got up this morning! It was sunny but only in the low 40s, now, so I put aside the Round Up for later in the afternoon.

It was time to spray the peach trees for peach leaf curl. This is terrible peach disease that manifests itself in curled up leaves and not many peaches. A few years ago it killed a young peach tree. I had never seen it kill a tree before, so I try to spray in the winter like I'm supposed to. We have looked at many stores to find the fungicide to mix and put in our sprayer, but have had to settle for the kind premixed in a spray bottle. It takes a lot of finger squeezing and a wet finger to try to coat our two trees. They are getting tall, so I have to spray up in the air and hope the whole tree is saturated.

Then I got out the Black and Decker trimmer. We use this a lot and have two batteries to switch them out and keep going. I also got the loppers for the branches too big for the trimmer.

In addition to the regular winter trimming, I have to trim where the bushes have started to encroach on the garden "art". I love little garden art pieces to place around and surprise you. I would love to have a huge garden with benches and large sculptures and a maze, but I settle for a few pieces here and there. I don't have any garden gnomes, but I am open for just about anything else.

After I trimmed a few of the larger bushes, I noticed that the warm winter really has them confused. Some of them are already starting to bud out. I hope this does not bode ill for our fruit crop this year. I am hoping for quite a few apples and want to make blackberry jam for the first time in three years. It is sure to freeze again and that can destroy a crop.

An hour later my arms are aching and I have no more grip in my hands. When did I get so old and weak? I used to be able to work for hours and now I want to go in and fix a cup of tea. Fortunately Lee came out and pulled out the plants I couldn't get out. Then he raked up the cuttings and took them to start a new burn pile. Neverending.

I tried to get the battery out to recharge it. No can do. I will have to get Lee to do that, too. I used to be adamant about being able to do everything myself. I blame Women's Lib for this attitude. Now I want Lee to do the heavy, hard or unpleasant things. And I am glad he is willing and able to help me! Where is that tea?

Three Bean Chili and Cornbread

2012-01-06T12:12:00.000-08:00

Chili is an American favorite and each region and even each family has a different way of making it. I know I've got to have beans and some people think beans ruins it. I don't like it too hot and spicy and some people like to burn off their taste buds and burn all the way through. I prefer mine with chunks of meat and I like beef but you can find everything from ground beef to ratttlesnake and alligator.

Now that I live in Virginia, I can't always find the variety of chilis I find in every market in California, without making a trip in to Roanoke for a specialty grocery store. So here is one of my favorite recipes using that which is easily found and also that which I remembered to buy when I was at the store and decided to make some chili.

Three Bean Chili

1- 1 1/2 pounds of eye of round or top sirloin
1 Tablespoon ground cumin
2 scant Tablespoons chili powder
1 Tablespoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground oregano
1/4 teaspoon cayenne or red pepper
1-2 onions chopped
1 4 oz can diced green chilis or jalapenos, drained or fresh to taste, divided use
2 Tablespoons garlic chopped or minced
12 oz dark beer (didn't have any dark, used wheat beer)
1 can 14.5 oz diced tomatoes
(I would have used 2 and skipped the tomato sauce but that is what I had!) so...
1 can 15 oz tomato sauce
1 Tablespoon semi-sweet chocolate, grated (about 1/4 of a square)
2 bay leaves
1 14.5 oz beef broth
1 15 oz. can kidney bean
1 15 oz. can black beans
1 15 oz. can white beans
2 Tablespoons lime juice
1/4 cup chopped cilantro if desired

garnish with sour cream, chopped scallions or grated cheese as desired

If you have a Le Creuset pot, this is a good time to use it. I was too cheap and got the same type of pot by Martha Stewart on sale and it works great so that is what I use for stews and soups.

Slice the meat in a 1/2 inch dice. If the meat is thin enough just make long strips and then cut it crosswise. I always trim every bit off fat off that I can. If you cut away a lot of the meat you may want to buy a bit more so you have enough for the recipe. If you put the fat on the tray your meat came on, you can just pick it up and dispose of it when you are finished cutting. Remember to clean your knife and use a different cutting board for the onions.

Brown it in batches in a bit of oil, about 3 minutes. Set it aside to drain on a plate lined with paper towels. If you brown it all at once the top bits steam instead of brown and who wants steamed meat?

While it is browning I measure out the spices (cumin, chili powder, paprika, oregano and cayenne) into a small bowl. Some chili powder is stronger than others. Plus I don't like really hot food so when I measure it out I sometimes panic and make small adjustments in the amount. That is why I put in 2 scant Tablespoons. I didn't quite fill the spoon. Crazy, right??

Chop up the onions. It should be a couple of cups depending on the size of the onions. If you like green peppers, put them in. I don't, so I didn't.

Then put the spices into the now empty cook pot. Stir them around until you can really smell the spices. Then add a bit more oil and the onions. Saute until the onions soften and turn nice and brown from the spices. Open a small can of diced green chilis and chop them even more to make them very fine. Add half of them them to the onions, saving the rest for later. Then add 2 Tablespoons of chopped or minced garlic. If you have the time to crush your own, that's fine, too! Add them to the dish.

Stir and cook a few more minutes and add the beer. No you can't save some for yourself. You have to go get another one. But don't worry. You've already chopped everything that needs chopping and the rest is pretty safe to do while having a beer. Clean up, open the cans of tomato, grate the chocolate and put the spice bottles away while the mixture simmers about 10 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, chocolate and bay leaves and beef broth or 2 cups water if you don't have any. Bring to a simmer and cover for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Drain and rinse the beans and add to the pot. Stir them and cover. Go feed the horses. Well, that's what I did. Then make the corn bread. Recipe below.

Remove the bay leaves and discard them. Chop 1/4 cup of cilantro and add, if you wish. Add the lime juice. Salt and Pepper to taste. Serve with the garnishes you like.

Cornbread

Jiffy corn muffin mix
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup fresh or canned corn
1/2 cup grated cheese
reserved green chilis
3 Tablespoons butter, divided use

Blend all the ingredients, except the butter. Use as much or as little green chilis as you like. I like about 1 Tablespoon. Don't over stir. Lumps are OK. Let the mixture rest while you put a small cast iron pan (I used a #5) in the 400 degree oven with one Tablespoon butter to melt. If you have a bigger pan, double the recipe. Or use a 8X8 pan sprayed with Pam. Melt the remaining butter in a small dish in the microwave.

Remove the cast iron pan from the oven. Gently scrape the batter into the cast iron pan and pour the melted butter on top. Return it to the oven for 20 to 25 minutes. If you double the recipe it will take longer!

Lee came in from working outside and I told him I was blogging dinner. He said, "I thought you would blog about my fire." I hadn't even thought about it. Usually I look around and see if we are doing anything interesting. If we are, I take my camera and try to remember to take pictures and to think about what I am doing rather than mindlessly work.

Sometimes I have no pictures and it didn't turn out to be interesting, so I have nothing to write. Today I wanted to add a recipe, so I didn't even think to see what Lee was doing. He came in covered with soot and scratches from burning the brush he has cut over the last month. That and the flames shooting skyward would have been a pretty good story. Too bad I missed it. Next time, for sure. Cutting brush is a never ending activity around here, replete with danger. Blood, chainsaws, locust thorns, fire and the possibility of disaster! Can you imagine it?

New Gadget

2012-01-05T11:54:00.000-08:00

I just added a new gadget to my blog. It counts the number of page views I have. I LOVE checking my stats. It is fun to see that people from all over the world have found my blog. I have lived in many places and traveled extensively it makes me feel connected to others. Even people I don't know and will never meet.

So if you pop onto my site from anywhere in the world, please leave a comment! I love comments and I will write back to you if you allow that.

I wish I knew if my thoughts about living in the country and what it takes to learn while doing or if my recipes were the most popular. So tell me what you like and I'll try to do more of it.

I have cut way back on recipes (dieting!), but I'll try to do more. I'll sacrifice my body for my art. Don't try to stop me. It is the least I can do.

Back To Work

2012-01-05T10:52:00.001-08:00

Well, it was a lovely holiday, but it is time to get back to work. The last two days the temperature never got out of the 20s and that is darn cold. The best thing about that is it is too cold to work and it is not in the teens. I can't find gloves warm enough to keep my fingers from burning when it gets that low.

This winter is the first that we have not had any snow. And it is January already. We had a slight dusting, but nothing more than that. The last few years have been so cold that it had my Aunt Suzy threatening violence to the next person who mentioned global warming to her. So this is a little unusual. I hope it doesn't mean we will have a real doozy (that's a real word, I looked it up. Wait a minute. I was lying....OK, now I looked it up. Yep. Real word.) of a storm in store for us. Maybe it will just be a mild winter.

It was in the middle 30s when we got up, so that was warm. The sun is out and it isn't too windy. Time to try out our new weedeater. We found it at a garage sale for only $5. It had a broken part and Lee fixed it. It is lightweight and on wheels and I hoped to use it on the slopes on either side of the driveway. The other weedeater hangs off my shoulder and gets very heavy.

I like keeping the sides of the drive cut back and after spending all the time and effort to clear them, it pays to keep them up each winter. There are a few volunteer pine trees coming in. They should get big and drop lots of pine needles and make my job much easier.

If you want a review of the equipment, I've got to say that I remain unimpressed. When the slope is steep it runs out of gas heading up or down. So I tried to run it sideways and that made the footing tricky. It didn't like anything bigger than my pinky and I would have to replace the string fairly often. On the plus side, it was easy to replace the string and worked pretty good on areas that were not too steep. I think it will best be used around the posts in the field and the barn. We can't get the mower in there and once again the other weedeater gets heavy.

All in all I worked an hour or so and had to use the machete for the medium size stuff and the loppers for the big stuff.

We learned about machetes when we lived in Tonga. They use them a lot there and we got used to them. Well, we also saw them in old Tarzan movies! They work great until your hands get too tired to hold them firmly and then they are dangerous! When you whack away at the blackberries, the canes sometimes whip around and grab your face. This is unpleasant and I recommend you avoid it. It helps to chop the tops off the long canes and then go for the base. I still got some good slices in my face. The ones on the lips hurt the worst. So don't do that.

Then Lee wanted to take the old mower that currently doesn't work to the graveyard. It's not REALLY a graveyard. It's the place on the top of one of our hills where we store things we just know we are going to use later. Really. One great advantage is that it is mostly rock and shale and vegetation doesn't grow well here. That way it won't grow up around the stuff and hide it so that we forget it is there. Plus, it isn't in our front yard so that people could drive by and think we are starting a junkyard. Or we're hoarders. You can't throw anything away that you might use. Just don't put it in the house. Or where people can see it.

We store old lumber and metal siding. It is also a good place to put the tractor equipment that is not in use. For example, we have the scraper on the back of the tractor to scrape the dirt road when it rains or plow the drive when it snows. When spring comes we will switch back to the bush hog for mowing. All the other places we put these things ended up all overgrown with grass and didn't look tidy. Can't have that.

So we towed the mower to the graveyard. I am tired because I have gotten out of the habit of a lot of physical work. Maybe tomorrow I will make chili. That will make me productive, but give my arms a rest. Gotta start slow;).

Leftover Creativity

2012-01-02T08:16:00.000-08:00

We love it when people come to visit. So the two girls spending Christmas with us was great. The only downside is the constant eating. Now in a perfect world constant eating would be a good thing. In the world where I live, stomach distress and weight gain happens when constant eating occurs! So when guests leave we try to get back on track before the fat globules attach roots and decide to stay. The bad part of this is the leftovers from all the meals that must be eaten first. So last night while I was on the phone with my cousin in Orange County (Hi Chacho!), the girls had an inspiration.

We had eaten tortilla soup, tacos and roasted vegetable. Thus we had corn tortillas, cheese and a lot of roasted vegetables (onions, red potatoes, carrots, garlic and butternut squash, which we call Gubbernut for some long forgotten slip of the tongue). So here is what we had. And the title I just made up.

Vegetarian Deconstructed Enchilada

Leftover roasted Veg.
grated cheese, a mix of what you have in the fridge, we used some cheddar and some jack and Havarti

chopped onions 1/2 cup divided use
cilantro

enchilada sauce of your choice or use what we did.
oil
15 oz. can of tomato sauce
2 Tablespoon Chili powder
2 Tablespoon chopped onion
2 Tablespoon flour
2 teaspoon cumin
chopped garlic (which we had used up so we went with garlic powder and garlic salt)
salt to taste and pepper
water to thin

The great thing about this is you can use what you've got in the fridge. Tara is a vegetarian, so we didn't have any meat meals and so no meat leftovers, but this would be good with chicken, too.

First we made our own version of enchilada sauce. It was kind of thick, but you can thin it with water to the consistency you like. You can also change the spices to suit your tastes. Here is what we did.

Heat some vegetable oil in a large fry pan. Add 2 Tbl onion and the spices. Saute until the onion is soft. Add the flour and cook a minute or so. Add the tomato sauce. After mixing well, thin it to taste.

We only had 6 tortillas left so we couldn't roll them up and so we made things in layers, tearing the tortillas to fit the 8X8 pan we used. I liked the way it turned out and it lowered the carbs, so I may do it this way no matter how many tortillas I had available.

I poured a bit of oil in another fry pan. While it was heating I chopped all the leftover veg much smaller, sort of a hash dice.

Then I added this to the oil and heated it. When it was warm through, we mashed it a bit to make sure you got a mix in each bite. The we started layering.

Put a small amount of the sauce in the casserole dish and then dip each tortilla in the sauce and tear to fit. This is not an exact science, so don't stress about covering everything on each layer. Then add half the vegetables and a layer of cheese and some chopped onions. Repeat once more and then top with a last layer of dipped tortillas. If there is any sauce leftover pour that on top and cover everything with cheese.

Bake for 20 or 30 minutes at 350 until everything is warm and bubbly. Serve with avocado, tomato and cilantro or not. We had some and so used it.

The rest of the avo and tomato went into the salad we had with the enchiladas. It was an experiment, so we weren't sure what we were making, but it was good! The carrots and the butternut (gubbernut!) added a sweetness, so the onions were nice to offset that. Some chicken sauteed with a little cumin and chili powder would have been good also, but we like to go vegetarian quite a bit and always do so when Tara is here. Try it and let me know if you liked it.

Knitting Fool

2011-12-28T07:30:00.000-08:00

Over the years I have done a lot of fiber arts. I love knitting, crochet, needlepoint and crewel. I have made numerous afghans but all for others. I made them for family members for Christmas. This year I decided to make one for us to keep.

Then our older daughter said she wanted one. We spent quite a bit of time trying to find the right yarn. There is no point in making an afghan and using crummy yarn. They take hundreds of hours and why end up with a substandard product? We ended up with some beautiful yarn from the Yarn Explosion in Roanoke.

Halfway through the project I realized that if I made one for one of the kids, I would have to make one for ALL of the kids!

At the time, I was still working at the library, so that limited the time I could knit. I took it to work and got about 30 minutes in on my lunch hour and then I would knit each evening for a few hours and on the weekends. It took about 4 months and roughly 260 hours. So when people say i should make these and sell them, I wonder who would be willing to pay thousands of dollars for a hand knit afghan? However, this was a labor of love!

I finished Trista's afghan in October and then thought to get started on Tara's. Her birthday is in March and I thought I could easily finish by then. I left the library at the end of October and was making a lot of progress on the second afghan and then decided to work every day and get them both done for Christmas. Our son and his wife were not going to make it home for Christmas and it was going to be just the two girls with us. I really wanted to give them both an afghan.

Talk about stress! I finished on December 20, just a few days before they were to get here! But now they have them and I can blog about the project and I won't spoil the surprise!

I have the pattern from years ago. I made the same pattern for my sister back in the 80's. I learned a trick to keep you on track. Most patterns have a set number of rows and then the pattern repeats itself. I write each row on a 3X5 card. When I finish a row, I remove the clip holding the cards together and move it to the back, so when I pick up my piece I always know where I am.

Each afghan is made with three panels. The panels are then sewn together with large needles. I saved yarn at the end and beginning of each new ball of yarn, making sure to finish on the start of a new row. Rather than hiding the ends in the rows as I worked, I used them to sew the panels together when I was finished.

Both afghans were made using the same pattern. I like it because it has a lot of interesting stitches. There are seed stitches and cables so it is fun and challenging.

Trista's is sort of a greenish khaki.

Tara's is almost teal.

I loved making them and hope they love getting them. Travis may have to wait awhile for his. Not so interested in starting another project any time soon. Ours will have to wait QUITE a while!

Baked Apple Cinnamon French Toast

2011-12-26T08:23:00.000-08:00

Whenever we have company I spend a lot of time trying to come up with new and delicious recipes. When it is our kids I try to mix this in with old favorites or variations on a theme. I have made the croissant Bread Pudding recipe from Ina Garten, but I wanted to make a few changes. Tara wanted croissant French toast and Trista had a few comments about that, but here is the compromise I came up with. By the way, there will be no more fancy breakfast. Too fat and too full.

4 Croissants
1 cup or more chopped up apple, I used a VERY large Granny Smith. (I bought 2 to use, but one disappeared from the fridge)
8 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk (I mixed it up with half and half and 2 percent, about half of each)
3/4 cup Splenda brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon maple flavoring
butter
maple syrup or whatever you have in the cupboard

Pre-heat oven to 400.

First I put a large chunk of butter in a glass dish and heated it in the microwave for 20 seconds or until melted. Pour this in a 9X13 dish and spread it around. Chop up the apples and place in a large bowl. Add the cinnamon and brown sugar. I used the kind with Splenda. If you have the regular brown sugar double the amount to 1 1/2cups. Mix well.

Cut the croissants in half lengthwise and place the bottom half in the dish. I broke off pieces where they overlapped and put those pieces where there was no bread. Distribute the apples over the bread and then add the top pieces of the croissants, fitting them where necessary to cover all the apple pieces.

Using the now empty bowl, add the eggs and the milk. Mix well and add the vanilla and the maple flavoring. Carefully pour this over the bread and apples.

Place the dish inside a larger pan. I used a roaster. Then add hot water about half way up. Don't over fill and spill the water inside the bread pan. Carefully place the pan in the oven.

I set the timer for 45 minutes. You may want to check it then. Use a clean knife and insert it in the middle of the dish. If it comes out mostly clean, you are done!

While I waited for it to cool, I put another hunk of butter in a ceramic gravy bowl. Heat it in the microwave until it is melted. Add the maple syrup and heat about 15 seconds longer until warm. Cut and serve the Baked French Toast with the syrup poured over the top. Yum. And it covers all the breakfasty food groups. Eggs, bread and fruit. All in one pan!

I made another recipe compromise for which I have no pictures and they really are not needed. We wanted a green bean casserole for dinner Christmas night. But not the cream of mushroom kind. However French fried onions are definitely needed.

I put butter and olive oil in a large fry pan. Add about 1/4 cup of slivers or slices of almonds and about 1/2 cup of onions. Saute. Add the frozen green beans of your choice. Saute until all is mixed well. Dump everything in a casserole dish and sprinkle with the French fried onions. Bake for 20 minutes or so in a 350 degree oven. Delicious and easy. Maybe our new tradition.

Shacklegate Update

2011-12-20T08:16:00.000-08:00

I just received this update about Shacklegate from my Aunt Suzy. It is slightly different from the way Mom tells it, but it's probably like playing telephone. The more times a story is told little things get changed and Mom's memory is a little shaky these days. So let's go with Suzy's version.

"Becca, loved the painting but our grandfather built the log house – my mother’s father. My Daddy probably didn’t know how to hold a hammer as he was a city boy, but my Mother did. My grandfather also built the brick house across the street from the log house where my grandparents and my mother lived after they moved to Ashland from Huntington, WVA. My grandfather helped run the brick factory that his brother owned in Huntington . The house they lived in there is still standing and is still beautiful. Just thought I’d let you know.

Luvs, Suzy"

It is cool to think my Great Grandfather actually built this house. Even better than thinking my Grandfather just hired a builder. When it came for sale a few years ago I had a the idea of buying the house and moving it to our property to use as a B&B. I even bought a lottery ticket so that I could afford it. I didn't win the lottery and now the house is owned by someone else so maybe it was meant to stay in Ashland.

Maybe I'll go buy another ticket and if I win I'll STILL buy the house and move it here. Based on past lottery buying experience no one needs to worry about how to move the house any time soon.

Oh, Dear

2011-12-19T14:18:00.000-08:00

I have hired a trainer to help me with the horses. We recently took them on a trail ride. The trails were covered with leaves and it was difficult to see what the footing would be like. There were a lot of rocks on the trail and they were narrow with a steep fall off. A little scary. Scary for me. The horses did great. There was a little hesitancy going through the two large rocks on either side of the trail at the beginning, but after that they did great.

The weird part was at the end. At the edge of the parking lot, I could see a part of a deer head with the antlers attached. I went over to see, thinking it was a road kill that someone had moved off the road. I even considered taking an antler as that is a favorite dog treat of RJ's. No, we don't kill deer for that, but antlers are shed every year and RJ has found and loved them in the past.

When I got closer the smell was bad and I could see multiple carcasses in varying stages of decomposition. I saw everything from some neck bones to the entire front of a deer. The only parts missing were the tenderloins and the haunches. There was a bag of intestines. There was even a decomposing bear head and a skinless body. Yuck.

So I guess there are some hunters that only want a few parts of the animals they hunt. Maybe just a pelt or a small portion of meat. Then they can't be bothered to dispose of that which they don't want properly. Perhaps they want to leave the rest for scavengers, but I wouldn't think it a good idea to attract large carnivores to a place where people hike or ride horses.

I am not a hunter, so maybe those of you that are can tell me the way this is supposed to work. Should you bury a carcass? Or is leaving it in a pile of others the proper thing to do?

Shacklegate

2011-12-17T08:54:00.000-08:00

When my mother was young her father built a log house for the family. Her mother loved all things old fashioned and had always wanted to live in one. So my mother and her 3 brothers and one sister grew up in a log house. One day my mother told me that Grandmama had named her house Shacklegate and that if you wrote that name on the letter it would be delivered. So I wrote her a letter with the only address as follows
Saja Montague
Shacklegate
Ashland, Kentucky

There were no zip codes then. It took a few extra days, I can imagine asking around for an old-timer who knew my grandmother, but it got delivered.

Now my mother lives in a beautiful assisted living community. She has all her needs taken care of and she doesn't want anything, so gift giving is a real challenge. Outside each resident's door is a small shelf where you may display any art work or picture. Mom currently has a vase with some fake flowers. On a recent visit I noticed that one woman had named her home. This reminded me of Mom's story.

I asked Mom if she wanted to have a plaque outside her door and name her place. She liked the idea, but couldn't come up with a name. I reminded her of Grandmama's name for her house and she then decided to name her place Shacklegate.

My artistic talent is non-existent, so I wondered how I would get something for Mom. One of the best thing about working in the Fincastle Library was the many friends I made there. The Kattenbrakers were some of my favorites and Dreama is a marvelous artist who frequently donates art for the various fundraisers for the library. ( You can see her work at her web site www.dreamakatt.com) I approached her with the idea and she was excited about the project. I have a stained glass I made of the house for my parents and my cousin Phillip was kind enough to go by the old house in Ashland and send me a current photo. My father had written several genealogies so they were also provided to Dreama to work her magic.

Dreama sent me an email this week and said that she was done. You can't imagine how thrilled I am with her finished product. It is so wonderful and I am excited to be sending it to my mother. My sister and two brothers will all be giving this perfect gift for my mother. I hope we do what all kids want to do for their mother for Christmas. I hope we make her cry.

Free Heat....eventually

2011-12-09T08:55:00.000-08:00

It was 27 degrees when I went to the barn this morning. The tank heater was working great so I didn't have to chop ice. That's a wonderful thing. The horse "apples" in the turnouts were frozen to the ground. After a few minutes of scraping I gave up and decided to finish that part of the daily routine at a warmer time. There was frost everywhere so we have started feeding hay in the mornings in addition to the evenings. This adds a bit of time to the barn work, but I bought some new gloves, so it's not as bad as it could be!

Lee has found that working in the shop when it is this cold is impossible. Cold weather and bare hands on metal is not conducive to a pleasant day. So we have been looking for a wood stove and today we bought one. The stove weighs about 300 pounds, so the man we bought it from loaded it in the a long pipe attached to his tractor front loader. Sort of a jury rigged fork lift. I love the ingenuity of the local farmers! Lee then backed the truck into the shop and we used the engine hoist to get it out and on the ground. Boy, that thing sure comes in handy. Lee said it was worth buying even if you didn't use it for engines! It sure makes moves moving heavy items around the shop easy.

The stove has a bit of rust, so we think we will paint it. A bit of cleaning will help! Then we have to figure out the location of the chimney and then buy and install all the sections. It is a TALL roof to accommodate lifting up trucks to work under them. We may need to consult a contractor or do it ourselves and hope for the best. And THEN we will get "free" heat.

Plague of Worms

2011-11-29T08:01:00.000-08:00

Last night was a windy mess. It was the kind of day when I wish to have a wind turbine to generate free electricity. Because it has been reasonably warm I didn't close the barn doors. When the wind started howling and the rain began blowing sideways and shaking the house I woke up and worried about it. I tend to worry about things I cannot change on a general basis. Ok, I could have gone down to the barn at 3:30 in the morning when the wind was threatening to blow the house off the hill, but I didn't want to.

So this morning I was apprehensive as to what I would find when I got to the barn. I slept in (8:00) as I had been awake during the night for a few hours listening to the wind and worrying. I wish I had taken my camera as the whole front part of the barn was covered in worms. Not tens of worms, but hundreds of worms. A plague of worms, if you will.

After doing the usual clean up in the stalls and letting the horses out, I had to sweep the wee little beasties out the door. Sadly most of them were on exposed concrete and had mostly dried to a not quite crispy yet not fully functional mess. I tried not to make it worse, but really, I wasn't going to pick up each one and carefully place them in the dirt. They had been blown in about 15 feet into the barn and 10 feet on either side of the doors.

When sweeping them out of the tack and feed room portion of the barn I noticed that most of the mouse traps had been sprung when the wind had flipped them over. I have a preference in mouse traps. I like the ones that kill them dead and have a large piece of faux cheese as the trigger. Setting them is tricky, but I wear gloves. This makes it harder to do yet less painful when it snaps ME.

One of the traps held a dead mouse and so I dumped him in the trash and reset the trap. Sure, you can dump the whole thing and not touch anything, but, once again, I wear gloves and I am cheap. They cost about 50 cents each! I must admit that when I haven't found the dead mouse until a few days have passed and it is a disgusting mess, I do toss the trap with the mouse. Not THAT cheap.

As I was sweeping mostly dead worms and disposing of a very dead mousie I was thinking of my breakfast up at the house just waiting for me. Yes, an Atkins bar is breakfast if that is all you eat in the morning! Is there something wrong with me that I am not grossed out by gross things? Or is it good that I am turning into a country girl and not squeamish about silly things? All I know is, I won't be butchering a hog anytime soon. Not quite there yet.

Claire

2011-11-27T09:50:00.000-08:00

I got up today with the intention of riding. I have about given up on Libby. So now I am going to concentrate on Claire and look to sell Libby. So I put on my riding jeans. Those are the jeans that about 4 inches too long. That way when I am in the saddle they don't ride up and expose my boots. Lee Riders. Fashion statement.

Then Lee comes in from cutting firewood and tells me it is getting colder and windy. Well, poo (insert scatological comment of choice here). So I went out with the electric trimmer to start on the garden for the winter trimming. I used up the battery and then realized it wasn't that cold or windy. Of course, I was working on the leeward side of the house, but I had it in my mind to ride so I finished up and changed boots and went to the barn.

I have ridden Claire quite a few times, but never on my own with no one around and with Libby screaming like a 2 year old being dropped at preschool for the first time. Assuming 2 year olds run and buck and fart and generally make a big fat scene! We started off slow with lots of turns, working our way towards the far side of the pasture. At this point Libby kicks it into high gear (you mean all that other WASN'T high gear?) and I start easing Claire back to the barn. Naturally the wind also picks up and Claire starts to speed up. I slow her down and she starts to buck. I was afraid of this. I am too old to fall off a horse. Fortunately for me I have been bucked by meaner horses than Claire, who usually is a sweetie. So I was able to pull her head up. She wasn't really serious about getting me off. Then I was able to think clearly enough to use one rein to pull her head sideways and up and get her stopped.

My heart was pounding at this point and I wanted to jump off and quit. If I did that it would almost be as bad as letting her dump me and then quitting. (Bad behavior means I get to go back with my very best bud, Libby? Let's buck!) So I forced myself to lower my hands, sit deep and walk a lot of patterns until we were both settled. Of course, I kept the barn between me and the wind and the crazy nut in the pasture! Then I stopped on a high note and put Claire away.

I know horses are herd animals and love to be together, but I think I will go down to one animal. That way she will have to attach to me and maybe even RJ. I think that will make for a calmer ride.

Cauliflower Leek Puree

2011-11-24T13:10:00.000-08:00

Lee and I had our Thanksgiving meal more than a week ago. Travis and Vanessa were unable to come, but our girls came and so we had it early. It is jarring when in a grocery store and they are still touting Thanksgiving and shoving turkeys at us. Wasn't that last week??? The good part is that Christmas music doesn't seem all THAT early....

So, while it is Thanksgiving, we didn't want or need a huge carb laden meal. So we decided...wait, that sounds like we had a meeting and figured all this out...I decided to have a turkey breast and use the Cauliflower-Leek Puree recipe from the Atkins web site. It looks rather bland and cauliflower is not my favorite, but Lee likes it and I shouldn't be having potatoes any time soon. So that is what we had with the small edition of peas because it was such a bland white bread appearing meal. Well, there was that whole grain roll with which we indulged.

On the subject of peas, our daughter, Trista tells us that there is a "sauce" called pea wet. It seems that when you prepare Mushy Peas, an English treat, well, food item, there is a greenish foam on top. This is then scooped off and ladled over chips (the English version of french fries). Chips with pea wet sounds disgusting, but never having eaten them, I can't speak from experience. Try it yourself and report back.

Cauliflower-Leek Puree
original recipe from Atkins.com

3 cup cauliflower, separated into florets
1 leek, white and green part
1 tsp salt, divided
3 Tbl butter
3 Tbl heavy cream
1/8 tsp nutmeg

You will get almost 6 cups from one cauliflower, so I made the whole thing. The leeks I bought came in a package of three, so I used all the white parts from the three and a bit of the green.

Cook them in a large pot of lightly salted boiling water for 15 minutes, until very tender.

Drain and return to the pan to remove excess moisture. The recipe call for a food processor to be used to puree this in batches with the butter and cream. I have a hand blender and that is far superior. Just add the butter and salt to the pan and puree until smooth. Then add salt and pepper and a dash of nutmeg. I like to put a dollop of butter on the top to look , well, buttery.

In keeping with a low carb meal, I sliced some strawberries and sprinkled some Splenda on them. Stir and set aside. When ready to serve add a dollop of Cool Whip or a spritz of whipped cream. It looks decadent, yet it isn't!

Quiche

2011-11-24T07:19:00.000-08:00

In anticipation of pigging out over the next few days, I made a quiche and a salad for a light dinner. I used the recipe from Rich Donnis. He was a very good friend of ours from our old stomping grounds, Granite Bay, CA. His father was a chef and he grew up making wonderful food and he and his wife Mary were wonderful hosts. We went on a trip to Tahoe together and they made this wonderful quiche and generously provided the recipe for us.

Quiche

9" pastry shell
8 slices bacon, diced
1/2 lb swiss cheese, shredded
1 TBL flour
1/2 tsp salt
dash nutmeg
3 eggs beaten
1 3/4 cup milk

I tend to use shortcuts when available, so here is what I did. I bought a frozen pie shell. Use one and save the other for a future date. Bake for 7 minutes in a 350 oven. I use pie weights that I place on a bit of foil to keep them clean and so they don't sink into the crust. When removing the pie shell lower the heat to 325.

While the crust is cooking I microwave some pre-cooked bacon. I cook as many pieces as will crowd their way onto a plate ( 10 or 12, they're thin) and then turn them out onto a paper towel. Blot. Then whisk the other ingredients except the cheese and the nutmeg. It tends to fall to the bottom of the bowl.

Using the paper towel, crush the bacon and dump...I mean place, it in the empty pie shell. Save the paper towel to wipe the plate used for cooking. It can then be placed in the dishwasher. Add a 6 oz package of shredded swiss. Sure, you can buy a block and then shred it, but I am talking easy here.

Add the egg mixture and then using a microplane, grate a bit of nutmeg over the top. OK. Here is when I am inconsistent. I like the fresh stuff better and I have a microplane, so that is what I do. You can sprinkle it from the spice container. I doubt it will make a difference.

Bake at 325 for 35 to 40 minutes. You can slide a knife in the center and if it comes out clean, but damp, you are ready. Let stand for 10 to 15 minutes before cutting.

Major Wood

2011-11-23T10:18:00.000-08:00

Two things happened to get Lee and me in the woods, today. First, it is getting colder and Lee has been looking into something to keep the shop a bit warmer in the winter. Not warm, just not freezing. Last year he got a heater that attached to the propane tank we use for the grill and it was not enough. Now he is considering a wood burning stove. After all we have wood to burn up in the woods...get it???

So, last night found us driving to Vinton after dark to look at a stove we found on Craig's List. It wasn't until we were partway there that Lee said that he hoped we weren't heading to our doom. (Cue scary music) Perhaps we were being lured there to be murdered and robbed as has been done in the past. The house was old and had narrow hallways and the stove we came to look at was in the basement. The dark, scary, under lit basement. The dank ...OK, you get the idea.

Suffice it to say, the stove was too small for our needs and we left, all in one piece. In fact the owner was the youth pastor at his church. I called Tara on the way home and we decided I would clue her in next time we go on a "dangerous" excursion. What if we were killed and there was no one to feed the animals? And when did things get reversed and we have to check in with our kids? I thought that was WAY down the road!

The second thing that happened was the loss of some big trees. I mean really big. Oak tree from Daniel Boone days big. (OK. I am a child of TV in the 60's. I have no other reference point for way back when in some vague place close to here.) It seems to be the neighbor's tree, but it has fallen into our "yard". When you have around 60 acres, yard is not the right word, but work with me on this. We have about 10 to 15 acres of woods up to the ridge line and the neighbor behind us has about the same down the back side our the hill behind our house. He runs cows and sometimes a tree will fall and take out the barbed wire between our two properties. Then we get bovine visitors. RJ LOOOVES bovine visitors. Or maybe the right word is hates them. At any rate he runs and barks at them. If they run home, this is very fun. If they stand there staring at him he has no clue what to do. Except more running and barking. All of these things are fun for RJ.

So now a HUGE tree is blocking our trail to the top of the ridge and it has knocked down the barbed wire. We don't have cows here, yet, so maybe he has sold them or moved them to another pasture. Or maybe it is just a matter of time, but we have to do something about it.

Lee and I went up to cut enough to at least allow us up the trail. This is no small undertaking...remember that whole big tree thing? Lee used the chain saw and I used the loppers and the machete to get the smaller branches off. These we moved to the side of the trail to be dealt with another time. The trail is maybe 5 feet wide and we cleared it and loaded the wood worth burning into the truck. The plan was to cut them into lengths at a future date. We loaded until we were too tired to heave the logs up any higher. We barely made a dent in the tree.

Enter Roy Gross. On my last visit to the library, Jackie told me that Roy had cut up a tree for her. She didn't have to deal with a dead tree and Roy got some free wood for his fireplace. So now I have placed a call to Super Roy. (Faster than a speeding delivery truck more powerful than our too small chainsaw.) He will be coming in a few days to see what he can do. I hope he has a big chain saw and then we can cut the tree into lengths that the tractor can pull down the hill. We don't want to chew up the road or have the trunk slide down the hill and take the tractor (and Lee) with it!

It might not be possible, but I want to try and use part of the trunk to make a bench. I have seen them where a wedge, one quarter of the circumference is removed and then legs or saved portions of branches are used to fashion a bench. I don't know if I'm capable of fashioning one that is comfortable or at least usable, but I think it would be fun to try. I have some wood carving tools I would like to use and surely there is enough wood to sand out any errors, or chainsaw any errors, and try again! I'll let you know.

After 4 years of living here, I have finally worn out my leather gloves. I thought I could keep using them, but the middle finger is worn through and every time I threw a log on the truck it scraped my finger. So out with the old and in with the new. As for the title of this piece, I will have you know that that is the comment Lee made when he saw how much work this little project was going to be. So all of you shaking your heads and commenting on my lack of decorum, shame on you :-)!

Mug Rugs

2011-11-07T13:44:00.000-08:00

Even though I no longer work at the library, I don't want to lose the friends I have made there. Doris is a crafter and former co-worker and we both wanted to take a class at the Trinity School House Quilt Shop. They were not offering quilt classes until next year, so last Saturday we took a wool felt applique class to make mug rugs. I have done some applique, but it sounded like fun and I'm glad I went.

Now what, you might ask, is a mug rug. Well, it seems that they are something along the lines of a coaster for hot drinks, you know, those in mugs. The pattern book we purchased for the class had a lot of rustic type patterns for different seasons and themes, but our kits for the class were for the snowman. It had these little fingers all around the out side of the circle and then we were to cut out rounds of red felt to attach to the fingers. It makes for a rather unwieldy mug rug, but that was the pattern.

I learned some tricks to make applique go faster and easier. If you trace the pattern onto freezer paper, you can iron it to the felt and it will stay in place while you cut out the pattern. You can even peel it off and reuse it a few times. We also learned about Steam A Seam (SAS). You trace and cut out the pattern on the SAS and then remove the backing and steam it onto the fabric. After cutting out the pattern, you remove the remaining paper and it leaves a thin layer of glue that doesn't become permanent until you steam in onto the fabric. You don't have to pin it to the fabric and then stitch it in place. It goes a lot faster and doesn't move around and is very cool. Because of the rustic nature of the pattern, I didn't have to worry about perfect even stitches and that was very freeing and made the project go a lot faster.

After a morning of camaraderie and lots of tracing and cutting we all came away with a partially completed snowman and an extra kit to make another at home. I wasn't fond of the fingers all around so I left them off and had extra red and black felt. Enough to make two more rugs. I didn't quite have enough cream colored felt for another face, so I covered the gap with a red scarf. Then I had to do some hats in red and I changed the stick nose for a carrot and added a pipe. I was thinking about adding a black hatband, but I ran out of oomph.

Plus, once the rugs are in use, you can't see the face anyway. I could just cut up black felt and be done with it. Of course, where's the fun in that!

So I put them all together and they are kind of cute. If I was a better artist or had some cute patterns, I might make some more. That is, if I heard from various children that they were dying to have a mug rug of their very own. And they told me the theme they wanted. I DO want to try making a tea cozy.

Here's the thing about black felt, though. People with white cats should not use it. For any reason. And that's all I'll say about that.

Nashville Night in Buchanan

2011-11-06T07:52:00.000-08:00

One of the really cool things about living in or near a small town is the community spirit. Most weeks there is a fund raiser of some sort. We've gone to meals to fund missions and bake and yard sales to help out families with medical problems. Last night it was a fund raiser to help the Food Pantry. There are a lot of people in Botetourt that live paycheck to paycheck and an unexpected expense that can mean a little belt tightening to us may mean no food on the table for them. The Food Pantry fills a real need here and helps a lot of families.

So when our neighbor, Rose called and told us about a fundraiser we thought it was a good idea. We love the historic Buchanan Theater and there was to be a concert there called Nashville Night in Buchanan. Now I love country music and thought it might be a pleasant evening with friends for a good cause. It turned out to be so much more than that.

There were four young men up on the small stage with guitars and stools. (Well, one man complained of being 35 and creaky. Seriously? Suck it up buddy. You are in the prime and it goes downhill from here!) It was not a polished performance with light shows and pyrotechnics. It was four hot young songwriters from Nashville that had come here with a friend from Buchanan, Matt Ramsey. (Hometown boy makes good and comes back to help the local Food Pantry.) They were relaxed and easy to listen to and when they forgot a lyric they laughed and hummed and kept on going. Matt Ramsey pointed out that if you remember all the words to all the songs you wrote, you weren't writing enough songs! They had all collaborated in different combinations with each other on songs and went down the line picking a favorite they had written. They told funny or touching or just plain interesting stories on the songs and what they were thinking when they were written. Quite a few of them were currently being produced with top performers and it was fun to get a sneak peak of some wonderful new songs. It was so good.

The four young men were Matt Ramsey, Trevor Rosen, Matt Jenkins and Josh Osborne. Remember those names. I am the type of listener that likes to read the liner notes on an album. OK. THAT ages me. Are they still called albums? Nonetheless, I like to see who wrote the song or who played what instrument. Now I will have some more names to look for.

After hearing of their writing retreats and some of the collaboration that goes on in the Nashville music scene, I think that following these young men would be a better reality show than that of the Kardashians. Let's hear about some talented people making good decisions for a change. Could a show about the positive work? I don't know, but I sure would like to see someone try that. Wish I knew Ryan Seacrest.

Apple Butter

2011-10-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

Our daughter Trista was supposed to come for a visit. She lives in England and we rarely see her so we had a fun-filled month of activities jam-packed into three days. We were going to go apple picking at a local apple farm and then make stuff with the fresh picked apples. I had enough plans for many people over many days, but we would manage to fit it all in to 3 days!!!

So of course, Trista got sick and had to cancel her flight. In the meantime, her sister Tara had traded days with a co-worker and had plans to come and enjoy the visit with Trista. So Lee, Tara and I had all the fun ourselves in a frenzy of enjoyment and gluttony.

After a morning spent picking apples in a mostly picked over orchard, we came home and tried to peel and core them with my handy dandy machine that I got in California and had used many times for pies and cakes and mostly for peeled apple slices for the day care kids I watched. When I pulled it out, one of the three prongs that hold the apples in place was broken and when I tried to use it with just the two and a half left, one more broke off. How did the metal get weaker over time? Perhaps one broke in our move and then the other two were unable to stand the strain. At any rate Tara and I had to peel and slice the apples by hand. Not a terrible ordeal, but it took longer than I had anticipated.

I used two or three recipes on crock pot apple butter and here is what we used.

Crock Pot Apple Butter

10 cups finely chopped apples
2 1/2 cups sugar I used a mix of granulated and brown
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

I mixed everything in the crock pot and turned to high for one hour and then low for the rest of the night. In the morning I tried to whisk it smooth, but then had to use the food mill to make it smooth enough.

We then canned the apple butter and it made 4 cups.
I absolutely couldn't let Tara leave with out trying my latest favorite appetizer.

White Chocolate, Brie and Marmalade Phyllo Cups.

It's easy peasy and so delicious.

First you can buy the phyllo cups and then chop up a bit of brie. Place 5 or 6 white chocolate chips in the bottom of the cups. Then a small portion of brie. Top it with a bit of orange marmalade and bake it in a 350 oven for 7 or 8 minutes.

Eating it is a timing issue. You want it warm enough to have the brie all melty and gooey and yet not so hot as to burn the roof of your mouth. The crispness of the phyllo adds just the right bite. I may have to try them with brie and caramelized onions and maybe some sweet hot mustard! I hate being on a low carb diet!

The Glebe, Rena and Genealogy

2011-09-18T08:01:00.000-07:00

Rena is a co-worker of mine at the Fincastle Library. She loves, loves, loves genealogy. I think she likes dead people because they can no longer disappoint you. She helps people from all over the United States find members of their family from long ago. She also helps people trying to get into the DAR even though she thinks it's silly to brag about something over which you have no control or responsibility.

That being said, she also loves to go to various groups and teach them how to do the research they need to flesh out (or leaf out) their family trees! For the last month or so she has been going to our local senior living gem, The Glebe. It is a large complex similar to the San Clemente Villas where my mother is living. They have libraries, restaurants and a multitude of activities for the residents. Rena has been giving classes in genealogy research to a group and the culmination was a visit to the Genealogy Room in the Fincastle Library.

Now, I don't know how Rena does this. She has several groups a year in to tour and use our resources. She always manages to have a nice buffet table of delicious food and a modicum of decor to match. One thing you have to know about Rena is that she does not cook. Not ever. Except microwave coffee...blecch. It is something about which she is most vocal. So while Rena sits in her blue throne at the front desk of the library she has her minions do the work. And by minions, I include Paige who is the HEAD LIBRARIAN. Paige and I bake, Doris and Cathy organize and decorate and Rena gets the kudos. (Insert surprised and amazed face here!)

So The Glebe crowd loved the food and thanked Rena as they all filtered out.

As I was the scone baker, I was very pleased to hear the conversation between a husband and wife as they left the library. She was either much younger or just in better shape than he was. I got stuck behind him in our hallway as he stopped many times to breathe heavily and rest. She kept urging him on because the bus from The Glebe had come to pick them up. As he walking slowly out the door, I heard him complain, "But I want another scone." I wish I had thought fast enough to grab one and take it to him. Next time we should include doggie bags.

2011-09-11T09:59:00.000-07:00

I spent the last week in California to visit my mother. It was great to go back and see her, but I can't say I miss California any more. I tried all the restaurants that aren't in Virginia and that I miss. The food was great, but not as great as I had built it up in my mind. The traffic was crazy right from the get go. I got in around 11 AM on a Thursday and already all lanes (6?) were busy. Not packed and at a standstill like they would be later in the day, but still busy. There was concrete everywhere you looked and all night I could hear people talking and laughing outside the window. What a great relief to return to our beautiful green valley and the peace and quiet of our hilltop home.

I stayed with my friend Marcy in Laguna Niguel. She has hosted me so many times and won't take any money for it, so I try to do something nice for her each visit. This time she was working at the Orange International Food Fair in the city of Orange. It is a big event with around 450,000 people over the three days and she needed help. Instead she got me!

We demonstrated the hair clips that she sells and sold quite a few. Women are thrilled to find a non-plastic hair clip that is pretty, strong and easy, so that part was fun. You can check out her website at lillarose.biz\marcy The non-fun parts involved the heat, the intense noise from the various bands, although they had a lot of good bands and the port-a-potties we were expected to use. Portable potties in the sun after 10 hours of people drinking beer? Oh, I think not. We took turns buying food we didn't have time to eat just to go into a restaurant and use their bathrooms! We met one lady who was with the Elks Lodge nearby and she kindly let us use their bathrooms. GO ELKS!

It seems their is an unspoken law of street vendors. They give a discount to other street vendors. So we were able to get some fabulous olive oils and balsamic vinegars at a nice price. When my bags went through security at John Wayne airport they must have been concerned with the amount of liquids I had in my suitcase as they opened them after X-rays! I got them home safe and they will make some nice meals for us. I will have to go back to the store in Irvine when I next visit my mother. The store is 41 Olive or www.41olive.com They have a lot of wonderful oils and vinegars. I bought loved all I tasted and ended up with the Tuscan Herb Olive Oil and Persian Lime Olive Oil with the 18 year old Balsamic Vinegar. You can really taste the herbs and the lime and the vinegar is dark and sweet and wonderful. It was the centerpiece of my first dinner back and we may have more like this soon!

Mom is happy at the Villas and it was fun to see her again. One of the reasons I am quitting the library is to have more time to go see her. I don't know how many more years she will have and I want to see her as much as I can. I can't convince her to move here, so I have to step up the visits there.

I hope I can convince Marcy to visit here. I may have to find a festival of some sort to get her to come. I am not sure she will want or need my help, but I may go along just for the backstage look into the life of a street vendor!

New Digs

2011-08-21T09:35:00.000-07:00

I think (knock wood) that we are done with the Invasion Of The Scratches. It is also know as dew poisoning and hoof rot so you would imagine an oozing pus-ridden mass of sores. That I would be able to diagnose with a glance. It really just looks like scratches. A few scabs or a small bloody spot. If you found it on your own foot, you would wash it and forget it.

When I first saw it on Claire, I was unconcerned. Then it got much worse and spread to Libby. Big concern. Every morning for weeks I had to scrub legs. It never got better until Lee stepped in. He found a web site that I had not. It had a lot more information and was very helpful. I have no idea what it was, but here is what it said and what we did.

It is contagious. Don't share brushes. OK. Too late for that. But it is a good idea and I should get more brushes and have a tack box for each horse. Put that on my list.

Clip the feet and legs so that the bacteria is more easily scrubbed off. We did that. It also said to scrub off the scabs to get rid of the bacteria under them and we did this....mostly. Some scabs were quite stubborn. And I didn't want to be digging at their feet too much. It seemed to be painful and I did the best I could.

It also said to clip the pasture low to get rid of any high grasses. Lee mowed the whole field and the outside perimeter, then used the weed eater under the fence line to have it all clipped. Mowing also breaks up the manure so that if it ever rains again in my lifetime, it can break down more easily.

We scrubbed and scrubbed twice a day. When it looked like we had a handle on it we started using Desitin (actually the Dollar General brand) to dry the sores up and to coat the foot above the hoof line. I didn't have time to wait for the feet to dry from the scrubbing. I had to get to work. So, I would scrub and clean stall and buckets and then put the horses back in their stall. Lee would go down an hour or so later and goop up their legs and let them out. By this time the dew was off the grass and that may have helped also.

So this morning was the last scrub day. I clipped them again yesterday and gooped them up. Then this morning I scrubbed all the scabs off and gave them one more dose of Betadine. I hope we are DONE!

Lee put the rails and gates up all by himself on the new turnouts. Is there any question as to why he is my mother's favorite son-in-law?? (In fact this has become a family joke and all my aunts are now required to call him their favorite son-in-law, too. The fact is, my mother has only one son-in-law.) I had some minor surgery and have been too sore to help, so he went and did it all alone while I was at work! See why he is my favorite husband?(Once again, the one and only, but still.....)

We have been planning on and working on these turnouts for quite some time. It is just serendipity that they are done at a time when moving the horses to a different stall might also help with their recuperation. If there was also bacteria in their old stalls and turnouts, then they will no longer be there to be reinfected.

We scrubbed the new stalls and moved the salt blocks and put in fresh shavings. New Digs! I have no idea if they like the new digs or not. We waited around and all they wanted to do was eat dinner. If I didn't know better, I might think they were male. "Just feed me and I don't care what you do with the place."

Next week is soon enough to disinfect the old stalls. We swept and hosed them out. Have the Lysol. Just don't have the energy. Gotta save something for next weekend! Of course there is a fund raiser for the Eagle Rock Library at the Blue Ridge Winery next weekend. I have to reserve some energy for that. We love going to the local wineries for a meal and some music. This vist has the added benefit of supporting the Eagle Rock Library. It is the newest of the Botetourt libraries and still has a lot of shelves to fill up. They have an active Friends group and I will go to support them. We'll share a bottle of wine, have a meal and not think about horse hooves at all.

Books I Want

2011-08-16T08:39:00.000-07:00

I think there should be a BOOKS I WANT link for all libraries. It could be a place for people to request a book they want that the library system does not have. Or it could be a place to request an author that they have heard about. Then other patrons could vote on the choice. Or maybe you have a book in a series and you want to be sure the library orders the next one. Put in a vote!

Another cool thing to have would be the option to transfer the names requesting a title to the hold list before anyone else. This would encourage people to vote and let the libraries know how many copies they might need in the system. Not every library need purchase a not too popular book. Every library would know to order if the book was extremely popular.

Libraries should have a review function for books. The Roanoke Valley Libraries has a method of reviewing (0 to 5 stars) for the ebooks or audiobooks but no place for the bookbooks. (A bookbook seems to be the old fashioned paper books we all know and love.) You should be able to tell others that the author that you have always loved has written a stinker this time and not to bother.

There is a suggestion box/email option, but maybe I don't want a long conversation with a faceless library email. I just want to make my request and move on. One request gets you a place to tell others of your new find or to discover that you are a newcomer to this great author and to jump on the bandwagon. And then you are on the list! I can't wait for the call. My book is IN!!!!

Ridge Rifle and Roy

2011-08-06T11:39:00.000-07:00

My cousin Saja is visiting from Memphis. She brought her two girls and her mom, Suzy and our Aunt Donna came to visit, too. It's a small scale family reunion! In addition to Mule driving and horse riding and pedicuring (is that a word?) we took them shooting!

I am a library assistant in Fincastle and Roy Gross is the library courier. He makes sure the books get to the libraries that need them and then get to the right library when they are returned! There are a lot of libraries in our consortium and Roy is a busy man. So it was extra special when he heard the girls were coming and he offered to take them shooting at his shooting club, Ridge Rifle Association. You can see their website at ridgerifle.com They do a lot of community service and they are a responsible and active shooting club. There are rolling hills and different areas for shooting at different ranges. It is a wonderful club. Roy is the range officer and he took good care of Evan and Addison.

First Roy spent quite a bit of time ensuring the girls knew about safety and the rules of the range. He set them up at targets and let each girl shoot.

Aunt Suzy has a pistol for personal protection and she shot her gun and both she and Aunt Donna got a turn with the hand guns. The girls were taught to load the clips for the pistols and also to load the rifles. Roy had rifle stands to help them aim and they were quite good at it! At the end of the lesson they each got to take home the target that they had shot.

The girls and Suzy had a great time.

Donna even shot and she had had no intention of doing so. I hope my cousin Roland is good to her now that she is a dangerous woman! I think Saja might have shot a bit. It's hard to know what is happening when you have the ear protection on! I think she mostly enjoyed the fact that the girls were having fun. Next time she comes she should have hair again and I'll have to arm wrestle her to get my turn. For now she just enjoyed her girls and her family having a fun day together.

And, NO, Monty, she does NOT look like Howie Mandel.

A Budding Carpenter

2011-08-02T18:26:00.000-07:00

The library has a Summer Reading program every week during the summer. Jackie, the children's librarian for Botetourt County spends a lot of time all year picking programs that everyone will enjoy that can be obtained for a small budget. She does a great job. Lots of kids and their parents come through the doors in Fincastle every Wednesday. It is so crowded that the staff has to park across the street to have enough parking spaces.

Last Wednesday my new cousins came in also. Joe Desai had a shoe box in his hands and he wanted to show me what was inside. He had made a miniature replica of our Kawasaki Mule!. He even had the roll bars and the dump bed! The wheels turned and everything. Karlyn, his mom, told me that his grandfather had helped him. He had done a fine job and was justifiably proud of his work. I predict big things ahead for that kid!

I wish I had had more time to talk to him and have him tell me about the project. Wednesdays is our busy days and I couldn't spend the time I wanted to. Maybe he'll bring it back on a quieter day!

Green Tomato Cake and Scratches

2011-08-02T13:56:00.000-07:00

I am on vacation this week, but have been busier than ever. My cousin, Saja is visiting from Memphis with her two daughters. They are lots of fun and love driving the mule and visiting the horses. I have a trainer come and ride and he gave them a lesson on Monday.

Claire developed scratches last week. I thought it was an injury and was putting Furazone ointment on them. It turns out it is some kind of bacteria that gets into the skin just above the hoof from wet pastures. It is also known as hoof rot and other lovely sounding names. It has been so unbelievably hot that wet pastures is hard to imagine. Nonetheless, Claire got it and then it spread to cellulitis and her whole right front leg was swollen. The vet came and gave her medicine for the cellulitis. The swelling is almost gone, but now Libby has scratches.

Basically the treatment is scrubbing with Betadine scrub and then rinsing and putting on Betadine solution. You would think they would have permanently orange legs, but it fades in about an hour. Claire is mostly healed and Libby is getting better, but I hope it is gone before I have to go back to work next week. It is time consuming and I don't want to have to do it before and after work. I will if I have to, but I don't want to.

I have been busy, but decided to make some Green Tomato Cake. I like fried green tomatoes and I like to make Banana Nut Bread and it looked like an interesting mix of the two. I got the recipe from Cultivate magazine and played around with it a bit. It called for raisins and I don't like them. It called for 2 cups granulated sugar and I did 1 cup granulated and 1 cup light brown sugar. I would have done dark brown sugar , but the light brown was open and almost gone....you know how it is. Anyway, here it is.

Green Tomato Cake

2 cups chopped green tomatoes
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Place the chopped tomatoes in a bowl and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon salt. Let stand 10 minutes. Place in a colander, rinse with cold water and drain. Dump them out on a few paper towels and pat dry.

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a bread loaf pan with Pam.

Blend one stick of butter and sugar together. Add the eggs and beat until smooth.

Add the nuts and raisins or Craisins if you want to. I didn't. I dumped 1 cup of flour and then all the spices and mixed and then added the second cup and mixed. Add the tomatoes and stir them in. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 60minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the cake's center comes out clean.

I made a critical error. The recipe called for a 9 X 13 pan, but I wanted to make it more like a bread. I kept checking every five minutes from the 40 minutes for the original recipe in the larger pan. I took it out too soon even though the toothpick came out clean. I must have put it in the wrong spot, or it could be that the crust was so crispy the it cleaned the tootpick for me on the way out. Whatever the reason, it was underdone and I had to put it back in the pan for more cooking. Even with all this, the cake came out moist and so good. So try it but if you use a loaf pan, check the tooth pick very carefully. Or use a 9 X 13 pan and cook for 40 to 45 minutes.

Blueberries!

2011-07-17T15:59:00.000-07:00

Blueberries are Lee's favorite fruit. We have tried to grow them, unsuccessfully. I think the location and soil has a lot to do with it, but nonetheless, no bluebs. So when the Roanoke Times had an article about pick-your-own blueberries, well, we were in!

The first farm we went to was Woodall Blueberries in New Castle. It is a LOOOONG drive from Buchanan, about 1 hour. We left early expecting heat. It was so cold, in the sixties, and overcast that I got Reynauds in my fingers. We left after picking a little more than 1 gallon. They charge $10.00 per gallon and gave us the extra at no charge. They were pretty picked over, but we got all we wanted in about 1 and 1/2 hours.

Next we drove to 3 Birds Berry Farm in Blacksburg. They had a lot more berries in cultivation, including raspberries and blackberries. Unfortunately we didn't read the part about closing, only the part about when they open, so we didn't have time to do much in the way of picking. Plus it was a Saturday and they explained that earlier in the week is better. By Friday they get pretty picked out and after a day to ripen with no pickers on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were best.

We managed to get 1 1/2 gallons of blueberries quite quickly and then we left as they were closing. So, no other berries, but we will know better next year. They charge $20.00 a gallon, which is why we went to Woodalls first. But the had a much larger operation and three different berries, so we will hit them earlier and mid-week next year.

I have no idea what caused it to be cold and overcast and rainish, but it made for rather nice picking weather. Early in the day my fingers got very cold, but by the time we got to 3 Birds it was perfect. I am glad I brought tennies instead of my usual weekend footwear preference of flip-flops!. I can imagine that it would have been less pleasant on a hot buggy day. I guess we will find out next year.

I followed the advice at the farms and picked over the berries and then froze them in Ziploc bags with the air sucked out. I will wash them when I use them and try to get any frozen spideys and things off before I cook them. I'm having company in a few weeks. I plan on blueberry pies and crepes and pancakes and muffins, and maybe a cobbler or two. YUM. I have a freezer full and I'm not afraid to use them!

More Turnouts

2011-07-10T13:04:00.000-07:00

When we built the barn and the pastures for the horses I was not working at the library. When I was called and informed that I had gotten the job at the library, Lee and I were in the middle of building two turnouts for the two stalls we were going to use for our horses. If we got any boarders we would then build the additional turnouts. Part of this reasoning was because of the amount of work and a lot was because the wood was really expensive.

It looks like we won't be getting any boarders any time soon and I want to move Libby and Claire to other stalls so we can wash the ones they are in. I also hope by rotating stall and turnouts, they will hold grass that much longer. In reality I know they won't, but I think that Claire might keep a bit of grass. Libby will pace hers away in a matter of days.

So Lee went and picked up the posts and we started digging holes. We have an auger that works off the three point hitch on the tractor. We can lift it and lower it and spin it, but there is no downward pressure. This makes it hard to use on compact soil and dirt, but hope springs eternal, so we marked the corners and started digging.

This sounds way faster than it is. You have to run a string to keep things straight. We also had to work off the existing turnout and try to keep every thing square. We decided to build one big turnout for the last two stalls on each side. This would give the horses more room and also be fewer posts and post holes! This was a big part of the decision! We placed a post next to the barn where the division would be so that we could run a hot wire or some other temporary divider should we need to at some future time. It would also mean fewer post to "plant" should we get boarders.

When the barn was built, the contractor had to scrape the field flat. This meant a lot of the nice soft topsoil was removed and spread around and the rest is very compact. It is sort of clay like and very red. We wondered if this was the result of Civil War battles done on this site, but we know that is not so. Makes for a chilling story, though.

Right away we had problems with the post-hole digger. We came up with a process where Lee would run it for a minute or so. Then he would lift it out and drive forward a few feet. I would use the heavy bar to loosen the soil or break up rocks and he would back the tractor back up again. This required Lee to be twisted half way around and look over his shoulder for hours. Every once in a while he would stop the tractor and come back to chop away at the hole with the clamshell, manual post hole digger. Then back to the tractor and more twisting. He is very sore at this point.

We were making progress, but it was very slow. It took about 45 minutes to an hour for each hole and that was a lot of heavy work in high humidity and heat for us. RJ was exhausted just watching us!

We took a break about 1:00 to go get the gates I wanted to install. I liked the idea for many reasons. One was, if there was a fire, we had an alternate exit from the barn. Also, there are times when I just want to put a horse in or get them out and I am in the pasture. Fewer steps ...always a plus!

We were tired and wanted to go the the Fincastle Winery for the program they were putting on. That is a story for another time, but the Botetourt wineries have been having music and food and wine tastings on the weekends and we are rotating around and trying them all. So we quit early on Saturday.

Early Sunday we started in again. The second hole we started to dig was going to be the side where the hinges for the gate would be. Then we hit rock. We started breaking it with the breaking bar, but soon realized that it was too big and too deep for us to make any sort of headway. The inside half of the hole was soil, though. After much back breaking work, we decided the only thing to do was to dig the hole back a few inches and then place a second post and bolt it to the first. We used a LOT of concrete and decided to put the latch on this side and the hinge on the other side, as it will have a lighter load that way. It is currently sitting on top of the rock with support from the other post and I don't think it will go anywhere. It does look stupid, though.

We hit rock in the next hole. This was starting to get frustrating! We were hot and sweaty and drinking water like crazy. I could feel my skin burning even though I had slathered on sunscreen. Sweat kept dripping off my nose and my sleeves were wet from wiping off my face. Worse than that I was developing a major case of hat hair! OK, I wasn't too concerned about the hair. There was no way I would be seen until a bath and a blow dry had taken place, so barring a trip to the emergency room, it wasn't an issue. I was jealous of Lee's new hair cut (buzz), though. Periodically he would go over to the hose, remove his hat and run the water all over his face and head. Within minutes he was back to sweating, but it was cool for awhile.

By 1:00 I was again the proud owner of noodles for arms and legs. Lee was sore, but I was just weak. Farmers used to say that they worked from "can see to can't see". This meant they worked from dawn to dusk. Lee and I work from can do to can't do. When we run out of steam we are done. Sometimes we go back in the evenings when it is cooler and we have rested. I don't know if I can today. I told Lee we can do a hole or two each evening after work. Maybe we won't have the same problem with rocks that we had on the first side. It was a lot easier when we built the pastures and the perimeter fencing. These were places that had not been scraped and compacted by heavy equipment. I don't hold out much hope for improved conditions. I'll keep you posted. Get it????

Hummingbird Cake

2011-06-19T09:30:00.000-07:00

It is Father's Day and there are no kids, so it falls to me to treat Lee. Unlike me he hates eating in bed!!! What's up with THAT!

While reading a book I have since forgotten, the author talked about a Hummingbird Cake. I had never heard of one. I Googled it and found a recipe from
Southern Living. The article said that it was their most requested recipe, so here it is.

Hummingbird Cake

3 cups all purpose flour.
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3 large eggs, beaten
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 (8 oz.) can crushed pineapple, undrained
1 cup chopped pecans
2 cups chopped bananas

Preheat oven to 350. Spray Pam in 3 9-inch round cake pans.

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl.

Add eggs and oil. Don't beat, just until moistened.

Stir in vanilla, pineapple, pecans and bananas.

Pour into 3 prepared pans. I used a 1 cup measure to try to keep the layers even.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes and then turn out onto wire racks. Cool completely.

Meanwhile, make the frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter ( one stick)
1 16 oz package powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Beat butter and cream cheese in Kitchenaid until smooth. gradually add powdered sugar...do it slowly or you will be wearing the sugar and so will your kitchen. When it is light and fluffy, add in the vanilla

Spread the frosting between each layer and on top and on the sides of the cake. Sprinkle with the chopped pecans.

Store in the refrigerator.

Banana Carrot Walnut Bread with Pineapple Cream Cheese

2011-06-19T08:51:00.000-07:00

Our newspaper, The Roanoke Times, recently printed three different banana bread recipes reprinted from Maida Heatter's Cakes. I decided to take one and play with it a little. Here is what I came up with.

1 cup raisins or Craisins
1 cup grated carrots
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup oatmeal ( I added this for fun and because I like oatmeal and to increase the healthy aspect)
1 TBL unsweetened cocoa ( This makes it dark, but it is hard to taste the chocolate)
1 tsp each baking soda and cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup brown sugar (I used Splenda brown sugar baking mix)
3/4 cup vegetable oil ( I used 1/2 cup, and added more banana for moistness)
2 large bananas (1 cup)
1 cup chopped walnuts (my addition...gotta have the nuts!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a loaf pan with Pam.

In a medium bowl mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
Using my Kitchenaid mixer, I beat the eggs to mix. Beat in the sugar and oil. Coarsely chop bananas and add to the egg mixture along with Craisins and carrots. On low speed, add the dry mixture 1 cup at a time, scrapping the bowl as needed. Add the chopped walnuts. Turn mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes and then turn it onto a cooling rack.

When completely cool, slice and spread with pineapple cream cheese. Our store was out, so I made some with whipped cream cheese and drained crushed pineapple.

It's Haying Time Again

2011-06-19T08:37:00.000-07:00

The grass is high and the weather is hot, so it is time to hay our fields again. If we had the equipment and expertise I would like to do it ourselves. As we don't, we have an excellent resource in Aubrey Crouch. He is very fair in the shares and makes sure we get enough hay for all our horses for the year. In return he gets half the first cutting and all of the second cutting for his cows.

We have been spraying for weeds which increases the value of our hay and next year we are planning to fertilize the fields. We have to research the best kind for our sprayer. Plus been having problems with the sprayer, so we have been putting it off.

A Knitting Fool

2011-05-22T08:26:00.000-07:00

I have a tendency to be obsessive/compulsive. So now that I have the knitting bug I am going crazy. I promised my daughter Trista, in England, that I would make her an afghan. We hadn't decided on a yarn, so I have involved myself in baby knitting. After I made the booties for Rupinder, I started on an afghan for her. I worked on it EVERY day and here it is.

After I had started on the afghan I made a startling and fun discovery. It seems that one of my favorite patrons in the library is a cousin. My great grandmother and her great-great grandmother were sisters! How fun is that? She is about 15 months pregnant...OK, let's call it due, and now I am going to start on some booties for her. I was going to use the same yarn I used for Rupinder, but Lee took me to the best yarn store in Roanoke to shop Trista's afghan, so I bought some great yarn there for booties and I will try a different pattern for this new pair. I found it in the same book as I had checked out last time, but they looked a little more complicated.

However, this time I am psyched up and ready for the challenge. I had to order the yarn for Trista while we were both on the internet and viewing the same page. It will take a little while to get here, so that leaves me time to finish...and even START...the booties. The afghan pattern for Trista is WAY more complicated and beautiful, but I made one years ago for my sister Robin, so I know I can do it. I'll keep you informed of my progress.

Mother's Day

2011-05-08T15:18:00.000-07:00

It's Mother's Day today and for the first time in 31 years there are no children to help me celebrate. They are all elsewhere. Fortunately Lee is here so I got my breakfast in bed! The kids all got me a Magnolia tree to plant in the front yard. I have been wanting one for years, so this is great.

Yesterday Lee and I went on an outing to buy some yarn for a new project. I am planning to knit an afghan for Trista in England, but we are still looking for the perfect yarn. So in the meantime i decided to knit something for Rupinder. She is getting very pregnant and I wanted to knit a baby something. I settled on a baby blanket and some booties. I had to get two different weights of yarn and the colors don't quite match, but they are close. We don't know if the baby is a boy or a girl so I went with a light green for each.

I finished the booties today and started on the blanket. You can get a lot done with small projects and large amounts spent lazing around the house. It's my day and I'll veg if I want to.

I used a book from the library called Simple Knits For Cherished Babies by Erika Knight. She has a very cute pattern the is knit with lots of additions and subtractions in the knitting until the whole booty is knit like a tangram.

First you knit the back up

Then knit the sole to the top.

Add some organza ribbon to tie it on and something pretty to dress it up.

How cute.

(I am aware that these look a different color in each picture. I tried to fix it and this is the best I could do. In my next life I will take a course in Photoshop. I have to decided to blame it on the different times of day when I took the pictures with different ambient light and leave it at that.)

Tara said I could knit them to sell! I don't think I could sell these for $50 a pair and it took me about 5 hours to make them. Granted I haven't knitted in years so it took awhile to get back in the swing of things, but still. At any rate, I am getting some knitting practice before I have to make booties for my own grand kids, should I ever have any. I hope Rupinder likes them.

Sunflower Peeps Cake

2011-04-24T11:55:00.000-07:00

I found a recipe, or rather I should say a list of instructions, to make a Peeps cake. There are so many fun things to do with Peeps. Even if you don't like them, you have to buy them at Easter, if no other time. It's sort of a tradition!

Our daughter Tara was coming for the holiday, mostly to pick up the wee little dog we were pet sitting/terrorizing and return him to his rightful owners, my brother Roland and his wife Jane. Nikki is a Bishon Frise and RJ is fond of following, herding, chasing, licking, sniffing and all around annoying him. Our very large and surprisingly aggressive fluff ball of a cat mostly glared at him and sat, Sumo-like in the doorway of any room Nikki wandered into, and intimidated him into the corner. We spend the last week rescuing poor Nikki from all his animal cousins!

So Tara was coming for a visit over a holiday, so naturally we had to organize activities. Tara organized a trip to the Buchanan Historic Movie Theater. It is a restored theater and kind of fun. They really need to have FRESH popcorn, candy and soda, but the price was right! My contribution to the event was a Sunflower Peeps Cake.

The idea is to make a yellow layer cake and frost it with chocolate frosting.

Then place concentric rings of chocolate chips in the center of the cake leaving a one inch ring blank.

The Peeps are slightly pulled apart to curve them in the shape of the cake and placed on the outer ring of frosting.

It takes about 2 full double boxes of Peeps, or about 19 of them. You may need to buy an extra box for snacking while frosting.

Tara and I have taken several Wilton cake decorating classes so this wasn't a real challenge. I think it would have been better to make our own chocolate buttercream frosting. But I have been eating a very low carb diet since January (25 pounds and counting) and while I was going to have one piece, I knew I would be sending the remainder home with Tara to eat or give away. No point in tempting myself beyond my ability to endure!

What Happened To Our New Driveway??

2011-04-17T12:17:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons we got the whole, entire 1/3 of a mile driveway paved, even though it was very expensive, was because Lee would have to go out every time it rained and resurface the driveway. He would also have to try and scrape it in snow storms, but those are few and far between.

It rains a lot! If I remember correctly, 33 inches a year is the average. That is about 3 inches a month, every month. For a girl from Southern California that is crazy wet! Of course, that is what makes Virginia so green and beautiful! And not brown and dry like it gets every summer in Southern California. Summer, better known as Fire Season. This is followed by Landslide Season. We also experience Earthquake Season to help round out the year.

My cousin Saja told me she was sending rain and wind my way from her home in Memphis. I know she loves me so I am hard pressed to understand why she would do such a thing. She is currently going through chemotherapy so the only thing I can think is that she knew Virginia was behind on rainfall for the year and she wanted to help. Or she is demented ( better living through chemistry )and wants me to suffer, too :)

Nonetheless, we had wind that shook the house and then we lost power and then the rain fell. It had been falling for quite some time and then it came in buckets. We have been trying to get the contractor who built the road to come back since October. We had some hard rain then and it was beginning to undercut the side of the drive. We wanted him to come and repair it before it got worse. We called again last month as it was getting worse. I think the grading on the sides of the drive, where it was a pretty steep and narrow canyon was causing the water to flow under the drive rather than away from it. Now that the driveway is ruined he says he will come on Monday. Oh, goody.

The driveway and the street in front of our road was covered with about 1 foot of the mud that was washed from the sides of the driveway and from under the asphalt. Lee had to get the tractor and start scraping it off the road and off one side of the drive so we could get out. I had to use to shovel to get what he couldn't. I love hauling mud and rocks by shovel in the pouring rain.

We also had to clear a lot of debris from the stream that flows under our bridge. Huge logs were across the culverts that went under the bridge. More and more branches were washed down and blocked some of the holes. I was worried one of us would fall in and get lodged under the bridge and drown. Just thinking of that gives me asthma (that is what my mother always used to say she got when she watched Lloyd Bridges on Sea Hunt!). We need to get a grappling hook to throw in the stream with a long rope so we don't have to bend over try to grab things. We used the rake until it broke. I tried to use the shovel, but the water was going so fast it would almost pull it out of my hands.

So now it is clear enough to drive out. The roadbed is buckling and if you get too far on one side or the other, I worry that it will break off and the car will rollover. Can you tell that I am a worrier? Well, I am. So, there.

So now I am in the upstairs office writing my blog. Lee is out resurfacing the back drive, as that is all he can do. I have a beautiful view across the valley on a sunny and cool day with quite a breeze going and I am trying to feel grateful. According to that great Oracle, Oprah, Gratitude is an attitude. It is quite a challenge when my cousin is fighting cancer and it is the first anniversary of my sister's death. But I am working on that. It may take a while.

Is It Riding Time?

2011-04-10T08:32:00.000-07:00

Working at the library has many benefits. One thing I like is the many interesting people I meet. A man came in to get a library card. He is new to the area. It turns out he is a horse trainer. My ears pricked up, or they would have if they could have.

Obviously a person who works in a small county library is not making beaucoup bucks but we came to an accommodation on price and he will do some riding for me. There is no point in having horses I don't/can't ride. The less they are ridden the more worried I am about riding and letting other people ride. I don't want any one to get hurt, me included!

It has been too wet to get out and ride the last week or so. But I need to get some stuff ready. I need to shed out the horses, give them a bath and spend some time on the tails! I need to clean up the tack. It gets VERY dusty and until I get a wall between the rest of the barn and the tack room, it will continue to be a huge problem.

Lee got me a new bridle for Christmas 2 years ago, but I haven't used it yet. It is an English bridle which is a bit problematic as I ride Western. But that isn't a huge issue. I'm not showing or anything, so who cares, really. The main problem was I could not find my Neatsfoot oil. Any time you get new tack you need to soften and protect the new leather with some oil. It is also something you need to do periodically to keep it in good shape. You have to be careful on a saddle because you don't want to stain your bum or slip slide all over, but it still needs to be done. So I had some oil. I brought it up to the house to work on the bridle and then didn't. And then Lee organized the garage and neither one of us can find it. So I did nothing. I would be a procrastinator, but that takes too much forethought!

Nonetheless, I bought more oil and got to work. The biggest problem with bridles are the many pieces. You have to take everything apart that is possible, to get the oil on every speck of leather. Then you need to remember which part goes where and faces what way.

I got the bridle together without too much trouble and then the bit got twisted around and I put the left hand rein facing the wrong way. Naturally I couldn't get it apart, so I had to use the fall back option, "Lee! Can you help me for a minute?" That's one of the reasons women get married isn't it? So there is someone stronger than we are to fix the things we can't!

So that was fixed and now it is ready to go. I will take the used oily rags to the barn to wipe down the other tack when we feed tonight. I hope to remember to throw them away when we are done. Oily rags and barns don't mix. We had a neighbor years ago who left oily rags in his garage. It caught fire and you could hear the explosions of his paint cans and chainsaws, etc. for quite sometime. Fortunately, we lived close to the fire station and he only lost the garage. But that is a lesson that sticks with you!

Mom

2011-04-03T10:38:00.000-07:00

I haven't written in awhile. It seems when you get out of the habit of writing, it is hard to get back in! I went to visit my mother in California and never wrote again!

Mom lives in San Clemente in assisted living. She has lost a lot of weight and can no longer walk or dress herself. But she is sharp as a tack most days. She still remembers poems from back when she was in school. After a day or two of catching up, we run out of things to tell each other. This time she recited poems to entertain me. She is really good at it and her memory is phenomenal. She uses lots of facial expressions and gets a scary voice in the scary places. I want to buy a Flip camera next visit and record her. Until then, here are the three poems she told me.

The first one I can recite also. I was told it so many times as a child I assumed it was about me. After all, I had curly hair, too. The first part of the poem seems to be from the short poem by Longfellow. I don't know where the rest came from.

There was a girl who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good she was very, very good
But when she was bad she was horrid.

She stood upon her head in her little trundle bed
With no one near for to hinder.
She yelled and she bawled and she screamed and she squalled
And she kicked her little heels against the winder.

Her mother heard the noise and thought it was the boys
Playing in the empty attic.
She hurried up the stairs and caught her unawares
And spanked her most emphatic!

The next one I also heard as a child but can never seem to remember. Now I have it written down so I won't forget.

Betty At The Party

"When I was at the party,"
Said Betty, aged just four,
"A little girl fell off her chair
right down upon the floor;
And all the other little girls
Began to laugh, but me -
I didn't laugh a single bit,"
Said Betty seriously.

"Why not?" her mother asked her,
Full of delight to find
That Betty, bless her little heart,
had been so sweetly kind.
"Why didn't you laugh my darling,
Or don't you like to tell?"
"I didn't laugh," said Betty
"'Cause it was me that fell."

The last one is her most dramatic. She scrunches up her face and speaks in a low scary voice. I remember being scared as a child, but I am a big girl, now!

The Little Orphan Annie
by James Whitcomb Riley

Little Orphan Annie's come to my house to stay.
To wash the cups and saucers up and brush the crumbs away.
To shoo the chickens from the porch and dust the hearth and sweep,
And make the fire and bake the bread and earn her board and keep.
While all us other children, when the supper things is done,
we sit around the kitchen fire and has the mostest fun,
A listening to the witch tales that Annie tells about
and the goblins will get ya if ya don't watch out!

Once there was little boy who wouldn't say his prayers,
And when he went to bed at night away up stairs,
His mammy heard him holler and his daddy heard him bawl,
And when they turned his covers down, he wasn't there at all!
They searched him in the the attic room and cubby hole and press
And even up the chimney flue and everywheres, I guess,
But all they ever found of him was just his pants and round-abouts
And the goblins will get ya if ya don't watch out!

Once there was a little girl who always laughed and grinned
And made fun of everyone, of all her blood and kin,
And once when there was company and old folks was there,
She mocked them and she shocked them and said she didn't care.
And just as she turned on her heels to go and run and hide,
There was two great big black things a standing by her side.
They snatched her through the ceiling fore she knew what she's about,
And the goblins will get you if you don't watch out!

When the night is dark and scary, and the moon is full
And the creatures are a flying and the wind goes Whooooooooooo,
You better mind your parents and your teachers fond and dear,
And cherish them that loves ya, and dry the orphan's tears
and help the poor and needy ones that cluster all about,
Or the goblins will get YOU if you don't WATCH OUT!!!!

Brad Paisley Concert II

2011-02-19T12:03:00.000-08:00

If you read the write up on the concert in the Roanoke Times, you will know that it was a big hit. Especially because all the musicians showed up and it was not necessary for me to pinch-hit. It was the kind of concert that set the bar pretty high for all future concert going.

I am embarrassed to admit that I did use the ear plugs. Hey, the guys up on stage had them. so why not those in the audience! In fact that could be part of the junk, I mean souvenirs, they sell...Paisley ear plugs. I pulled them out occasionally to verify, yep, too loud. How Old Ladyish is that??? I did pull them out when he used his acoustic guitar, so is that OK? I also left them off for the whole encore. Come on you have to be surrounded by all that sound for at least part of the time. The trick is to know how long you can get the whole experience without losing any part of your hearing.

I won't give you a play by play, just know that Jerrod Niemann was good, Darius Rucker was great and Brad Paisley was glorious. Lee said it looked like his mom never had to remind him to practice his music when he was a kid! He also switched out guitars for just about every song. One roadie just for guitar wrangler!

One thing I like about Paisley's music is that it is funny, clever, witty and touching, sometimes all in the same song. Rucker also included a few of his most touching songs and I don't know why he isn't headlining his own shows, but was glad to see him. One thing I noticed was that there was not a lot of Black people there. I wonder what is inherently white about country music these days. It is not racist as far as this white person can tell. Any ideas?

So all in all a great evening. We parked early and walked to the Hotel Roanoke for dinner. It gave us lots of time to move around before sitting for a looong time, have a great meal and still have a great parking space for getting out of the Civic Center. The only down side of the whole evening was on the way out. I stepped off the curb and my ankle just gave out. Down I went. Nothing really injured but sooo embarrassing. Good thing I don't know any of those people! I know there was a lot of drinking going on, based on the sticky footing and puddles of beer, but I didn't have any. I was suffering from old lady ankles, hips and eyesight. And that is not something I can get over in the morning, like a hangover, damn it all.

It doesn't look like I will be able to use these ear plugs again. They fell victim to the animals that inhabit the house and control our every move. A kitty soccer game knocked them to the ground and the dog picked up the fumble and tried to eat the evidence.

Brad Paisley Concert

2011-02-17T10:23:00.000-08:00

Lee and I are going the Brad Paisley concert tomorrow. He bought me the tickets for Christmas. I am taking off early from work so I don't have to rush and we can have dinner in town. By town, mean Roanoke, not, Buchanan. Ordinarily I hoard my vacation days like a miser. I go see Mom twice a year, so that uses up most of it. The rest of the days I use for when the kids are in town.

So I am going to leave work early and make an event of it!

When I was younger and played guitar a lot, I used to fantasize about being at a concert and one of the guitar players would get sick. I knew all the songs! I could fill in! Sort of like a pilot that has to fly the jet home and save the day...only less critical and more fun

In reality, I think Brad Paisley can handle things all by himself and I don't have to worry that I might "crash" the concert.

I can just sit back and enjoy. That is, if I remember the ear plugs. The last concert left me with ringing in my ears for hours. I'm going prepared this time!

Midlife

2011-02-16T10:37:00.000-08:00

I am so excited. We bought a Nookcolor. I am using it now so this will be short as the keyboard is not conducive to lots of typing. Because of this lovely gift, I can't get mad at him for his comment this morning.

We were discussing my new diet and weight loss. I had lost 10 pounds and have a BUNCH to go. He mentioned he wanted to lose 8. I was understandably upset with the disparity in midlife issues for men and women. I gain a bunch of weight and can't sleep and my memory is shot. Men buy a convertible Corvette and date 20 year olds.

"Have you seen 20 year old boys, " I asked ? How is that a fair trade off, I wondered. Lee had a perfect comeback for which I have no response.

"Have you seen the new Corvettes?" he asked.

Book Review and eReaders

2011-02-06T13:49:00.000-08:00

Oh, my gosh, oh, my gosh! Scott Sigler commented on my blog. I would respond to him but I can't. So here is my response. I love the fact that he commented on my blog. I am glad he didn't critique it for glaring errors. Even better, he is coming out with a new book in the series, Pandemic. It is not for some time, though, so it gives you time to read the first two and build some anticipation. I sent both books via Amazon to my brother Roland for his birthday. He works for the Department of Energy and has a long commute by train into DC. He was also on the trip to Tonga and read The Puppet Masters quite a few times, so I know he will love it.

This series screams out to be made into movies. If someone hasn't optioned it, maybe they should. When I win the lottery (my fall back financial goal for retirement) I will do it myself. I took some screen writing in college! My English major daughter Trista (UCLA summa cum laude)who then went to England for her Master's could do the editing. Okay, this series screams out for a movie or two done by professionals. And I'll leave it at that. Except for the fact that it is written in such a way that I can see how it would be adapted to the screen very easily, hopefully WAY better than The Puppet Masters was!

While we spent 2 hours today clearing more rusty oil barrels and wires out of the gully..the Super Bowl starts late on this coast...most of this weekend has been spent researching eReaders. Every time I go somewhere on a plane I have to take a book a day and a couple extra. This is in case I get stuck in an airport or I don't like one or two I brought. In addition, it was just decided by the consortium of libraries in Roanoke and Botetourt counties that they will purchase ebooks that can be downloaded to just about every eReader except Kindle. Now that I can get free books I am getting excited about an eReader.

I read about a book a day. I get a lot from the library, but I buy a lot, also. Because I read in such volume buying new does not make sense. I spend $30 to $50 a month on used paperback books. I like to buy them because I read everywhere. I read while doing dishes and vacuuming. I read while taking a bath. (Is it bad that I read when I iron? I do it when I shift the item being ironed to a different spot or change garments. I know, the kids always tell me that I can do any job more quickly if I am not reading, but the fact is I like reading more than these other jobs and have a hard time putting down the book to get to it ...just one more chapter..) I read while Lee drives. I don't read while I drive, though. I like a small paperback to fit in my purse so I can read whenever the opportunity occurs. I like the books small and portable and cheap in case I ruin them in the water!

Now that I can get free books, an eReader makes sense. I will still buy a lot of paperbacks and get hardbacks from the library, but for travel I love the idea of an eReader. I also like the idea that I can keep up with email and my blog when out in California. I checked and found that my old library in California has ebooks, so I can fill up out there, also. Or even grab one from Barnes and Noble via the Internet.

My dilemma was, do I get an eReader or an iPad. The iPad was larger and therefore heavier, but way more versatile. On the other hand, I can't get interested in games or a lot of the options, so I can take or leave that. I went to Best Buy and tried out all the available options and spent a lot of time Googling (is that a verb, like FedEx a package or Xerox a page?)to find out what other people think. I heard that iPad will have built in camera in the next generation. I love that idea. Then it will be easy to Skype with Trista in England, Tara in Northern Virginia and Travis and Vanessa in New Orleans. So I will wait until then and get one next year or so. In the meantime I will get a Nookcolor based on the reviews and my needs. But I will NOT be using this for the books I read in the tub!

Here is what I really want. I should probably tell Barnes and Noble so they can get cracking on it. If libraries can lend you an ebook and have it magically disappear in two weeks, and I don't want to keep a book I download from Barnes and Noble, why can't they offer a service kind of like Net Flix? The books I only want to read I pay $2 or $3 for and the disappear in two weeks. If I need more time I "rent" them for more money. I want the author to be paid for his work. I want the publisher to be paid, but if I don't get the printed paper and I can't lend or resell the book then why should I pay more than the cost of a paperback? It is cheaper for the publisher, who gets the lion's share of the book cost.

When this happens I will buy tons more books online, kind of like watching a pay-per-view movie. Watch it once and then it goes away. This does not mean I won't buy books to keep. I still do that even though I work in a library and spend more than enough at used bookstores. Books are also a favorite gift to give and to receive. But I would use it way more if I could do so at a reduced rate for a one time read and I expect it will happen when all libraries offer free ebooks and the bookstores have to compete.

Is Spring Around The Corner?

2011-02-02T09:39:00.000-08:00

It is Groundhog Day. First I have to say Happy Anniversary to Travis and Vanessa!

This weather all over the east is overcast and gloomy. So naturally, that great prognosticating Punxsutawney Phil has predicted and early sPring...okay, that is all the alliteration I can provide!

I am inclined to believe him. This morning at the barn, while ankle deep in mud and other noxious substances, I heard geese! I looked up and there were two sets of three geese flying in formation and honking merrily.

Yeah!!

An Infectious and Contagious Book Review

2011-01-30T08:57:00.000-08:00

Lee and I spent yesterday afternoon clearing even more brush out of the same gully. You really don't need any pictures. The more we cleared the more we uncovered, but we got tired and quit "to fight another day" or however the quote goes. I do have a Bartlett's Quotations, but it is in another room...a cold room... so this will have to do. I will post some pictures when we get the whole thing cleared. Just to see what there is. We found a bunch more barrels and some tires and who knows what's under that?

It has been warm and the snow is melting fast which makes the ground muddy and slippery and we all got covered, including RJ. He had to have a half bath. I washed his feet and underneath so that he could come in the house!

I don't usually write book reviews on this blog, but I read such a great book I wanted to write about it. I see a lot of books come across my desk. Frequently one catches my eye and I read the back to see if I should take it home or shelve it. When Rena catches me at it, she says, "You can't read every book that you check in!" And I reply, "Why not?" Running gag.

This one particular book stopped me because of one of the quotes on the back from the reviewer, Bookreporter.com, "...continues the work that Robert A. Heinlein left undone..." When I was 13 my parents took me and all of the kids still living at home to the Kingdom of Tonga, in the South Pacific for my father's sabbatical. We would be gone for a year and had to be able to carry a suitcase and one carry-on. We are a family of readers, so I knew I had to have a few books, along with whatever clothes I would need for A YEAR! The good thing was that it would be warm and bathing suits and shorts and T-shirts would suffice for the most part. (Once we got to Tonga we realized I had to have a skirt for school and a vala for going in to town, but that is a whole different subject.)

The dilemma was, which books do I take? Obviously books are heavier than clothes and I needed to take a toothbrush and other items of personal grooming, so I had to pick and choose wisely. I took four books and carried them the whole year. My favorite was The Puppet Masters by Robert Heinlein. I read and re-read that book so many times I almost became the book as in Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. (What do you mean you never read that! Well, hurry up and read it and then come back.)

So when Bookreporter.com referenced Robert Heinlein and I read the review, I knew what they were talking about and had to read Contagious by Scott Sigler. A short few chapters in I realized that this was a sequel to his first book in the series, Infectious. I hate that! I like to get the first one and go all the way through without taking a breath! If I know a book is a sequel I go to KDL.org and find all the books in order and start at the beginning. It was too late now. The book took off on a tear and never let up. As soon as I go to work the next morning I ordered the first in the series and then I read it out of sequence.

Both Contagious and Infected were good stand alone books, but because I had read them out of order I knew what had happened to the characters later on and this made Infected not as good as Contagious for me. You have to read them in order.

The premise of the two books is that there is an infectious agent that has a cluster in and near Michigan. The people infected have a bite or series of bites that itch outrageously. The bites rapidly become bigger and the bigger they get the more paranoid and delusional the victims become. If graphic violence and gruesome autopsy details turn your stomach then these books are not for you. Even though I have read a lot of books these scenes are very intense and I wanted to put the book down for a bit. But then I couldn't and I had to dive back in. The books are not short, but you can't put them down long enough to catch your breath, so start on a weekend!

The violence escalates to the point that the CDC, Homeland Security, the CIA and even the president are involved. Because they don't know if this is a manufactured agent from terrorists or even something from outer space they strive to keep this contagion secret from the public even though various characters want to scream it out so everyone will go to the hospital as soon as the symptoms occur. But if everyone with an itchy bite or rash goes to the hospital and shot anyone coming close to them with a red spot chaos would reign!

Each book covers only a few days so the pace is fast and furious. They have to figure out what it is, where it is coming from and stop it before the whole area erupts into violence all while keeping the secrecy from the local police and the press. They end up blaming SARS and the flesh eating bacteria to explain the HazMat suits at the crime scenes that they take away from the local officials.

I went on Amazon to see if there was a book number 3 out there. He has a new book, but on a different subject. The end of Contagious left it wide open for another book and I hope Mr. Sigler writes one.

Lessons Learned

2011-01-23T10:46:00.000-08:00

We started out the day with a reasonable goal. There is an old stove that we found in a gully and we had been putting off getting it out. Then we would go clear under and around the OTHER bridge.

We loaded up the Mule with a pair of long handled clippers and a hand saw and went down the hill. Travis had given us a winch for Christmas a few years ago and we thought we could pull it out with that. I started clearing the brush at the top of the gully and Lee climbed down it to see the best way to get it up.

One of the things we discovered when we first started clearing this property is that vines will cover and choke anything in their path. Naturally there were vines aplenty and we had to hack at them to clear our way down the hill. In front of the stove was a good deal of wire. This has also been a problem from the beginning. We have found barbed wire and fence wire every place we intend to clear.

This is something I will never understand. The dumping of wire, cans, bottles and even old appliances on your own property. It's not that expensive to take it to the dump. Or at least put it all in one spot. Not strewn across your land.

Lee hooked the winch wire around some of the fencing and I started the winch. We were able to get some of the barbed wire up, but there was a lot of junk that we couldn't see until we got down in the gully and started clearing brush and vines. The fencing had been down there so long that a quite large tree had grown up through one of the holes. There were two cedar trees on the lip of the gully that were going to interfere, so we went back to the house for reinforcements.

This time we came back with the tractor, wire cutters and a chain saw. We cut down the two trees and could see the mess a lot better. The tractor chains pulled up a lot of downed trees. Some of them had burned areas. I wondered if they had been hit by lightning or if this was a burn pile of some sort. In addition to the stove, there were quite a few empty, rusting barrels. I hope they were put down there empty. How can people not worry about destroying the ground water when we depend upon a well?

When we attached to chain to the stove it came up in pieces. Good thing it wasn't a valuable one we wanted to restore! We keep hoping to find something of value in all these dump piles. Lee especially is hoping for a car or engine! The more barrels we brought up the more we uncovered.

After about 4 hours we quit for the day. We didn't even get to the other bridge! We were both tired and besides, there are a couple of football games Lee wants to catch!I expect Lee will move the trees to our burn pile and make a pile of metal for a dump run when we finish. There are still some loose rolls of rusty barbed wire, fence posts with rusty and mangled fencing and a few more barrels. In order to get to the rest of the junk, we will have to cut more trees.

I used to hate to have to cut a tree down. But the trees on our gullies are so crowded and covered in vines and blackberries and brush, that they are choking. It feels kind of good to free a few trees and imagine them taking a deep breath for the first time.

There are a lot of places we intend to clear. We might even plant some thornless blackberries! It would be a full time job for both of us to get it all done. But with us both working, it will just have to wait. So we do what we can when we can and slowly the Shenandoah Gateway Farm is shaping up! I have this vision of what I want it to be, but I have to have patience. Plus Lee and I are too old to work all day every day! When we first got here we worked so hard every day that we both had tingling and numb arms and hands in the morning.

So here are the lessons learned:

Have patience. It will still be there tomorrow;

Any job you undertake is ALWAYS more complicated and difficult than you had thought, or as Lee frequently says, "Nothing is ever easy."

When dragging a very heavy and long tractor chain with a hook at each end, hold both hooks in your hands. The dragging one will catch and be a big fat pain.

Maintenance

2011-01-15T11:17:00.000-08:00

Today was a maintenance day. I have a lovely four day weekend due to Lee/Jackson Day on Friday and Martin Luther King Day on Monday. An interesting mix of Civil War and Civil Rights that you get in the South! So I can do household errands and cleaning and still get to the maintenance issues that have been on my list for so long. And hopefully some lazy, slug time.

We have a very large concrete bridge with large culverts that form the entrance to our driveway. Various storms before Christmas brought quite a bit of debris down the stream that goes under the bridge. (I have heard it called Looney's Creek, which fits in nicely with our place which is frequently a Looney Bin, to quote our New Zealand/Irish friend Lynette Poupard.) We have been wanting to clear the debris so that we don't have any bridge wash over issues when the spring rains come, but it has just been too darn cold!

RJ always wants to come on any expedition around the yard. We almost always take him. However he can't be trusted near the road so he was relegated to guarding the truck!

The weather report called for temperatures in the 40s this morning. A lovely warm day. Lee and I went down to the bridge with the Mule, the truck and a rake. We soon discovered we had a way more tangled mess than we could handle alone. The large branches,smaller branches, leaves and trash had formed a amazing macrame that became like the game of Pick-Up Sticks. Everything you grabbed was woven in among other things and glued together with composting leaves that had dried to some kind of plaster. You either had a grip on something so heavy and convoluted that you couldn't move it, or one small stick came out. Very discouraging.

We kept at it until we had a large pile and then filled the truck. Lee thought we could go faster if he got the tractor and used the front loader to hang over the bridge. Then we could load the bucket and dump it directly into the truck for the second load. So that's what we did. When it dries out we will burn it.

A lot of rocks had been pushed into a pile in front of the culverts so we moved some of those to the side. This freed up the flow under the bridge. When I bent over and peered into the culverts I could see that rocks had been rolled into them by the force of the water. We left them there in the hope that the next big storm will wash them on through to the other side.

My father had a fascination with rocks. Whenever we were in the car on some trip or other, my dad would spy a particularly wonderful specimen at the side of the road. He would stop the car and make some of us kids get out and put the rock in the trunk. These rocks ended up lining our driveway and every path in our very large yard. Many, many rocks. I believe there was and is a law about taking rocks from public land. I assume there is a statute of limitations. I hope so at any rate.

So, while Lee and I were moving these rocks you will understand that I examined them and noticed the particularly interesting ones. Ones I thought Dad would have liked and thought about what he would have done with them. We have a driveway that is 1/3 of a mile long. I am glad Lee doesn't have Dad's penchant for lining walks and driveways. We have a lot of rocks, but that is a very long driveway.

2011-01-09T11:45:00.000-08:00

It is cold. Very cold. It was 17 last night but with the windchill I think it was around 100 below. Or something like that.

At any rate it is MUCH warmer this morning. 32 degrees. When we lived in California 32 degrees would have meant breaking out the ski clothes and driving the kids to school. WAYYY too cold to wait for the bus! Now I consider it a nice and mostly warm day! Perspective.

Looking outside it is sort of grayish. The sun is out and the sky is blue, but the trees are naked and even the evergreens look sort of gray. The fields are mostly beige and the snow is all gone. At least when the snow first falls it is bright and covers up all the gray. There are spots of snow in parking lots where the sheer volume prevents it from melting. It is not pretty, though, just gray and dirty.

Well, now I am depressing ME! So I went outside to do at least one thing on my list. I had a problem with peach leaf curl last year on one of our trees. It infected the whole tree and all the leaves fell off. I am afraid it died, although I have never had it effect a tree to that degree. So, I had to get out and spray.

I should have sprayed around Thanksgiving. The way an arborist explained it, was to spray at Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentine's Day. That was an easy to remember way to know the time of the year. Unfortunately I didn't do it then. I did it today and I'll try to do it in February and we'll see how it goes. The tree that had the horrible case of "curl" looks like a goner, though. I learned not to count out trees, so I will wait until spring before I give up on it. We also had a tree that the wind snapped off the top, an apricot tree. I will also wait until spring to see if that one can recover. It was staked, but it still snapped off. At any rate they got a dose, too.

I think some of our trees are big enough to have a crop large enough to actually have some decent fruit. If so, this will be the first year. I may have to replant the two that look like they won't make it, but I am excited about making jam with fruit that doesn't bite you when picking. I loved the blackberry jam, but it was a pain, and I mean that literally, to pick. A gentleman from the Botetourt Farmers came in to the library last week and told me I needed to fertilize the blackberries to increase the yield and the size of the berries. I really should, but that may have to wait until I am home full time again.

I would like to plant some cultivated berries to eliminate the thorns. That would be another thing that may have to wait. Lee got his automobile lift this week and when he gets it installed, I may not be able to count on him for much farm work. He may get armpit deep in a car and not some up for air until summer!

Split Pea Soup

2010-12-27T16:31:00.000-08:00

Split pea soup at Christmas time has become a tradition in our family. Actually anything we do once and like becomes a tradition. My sister had a friend named Art and he brought a Honeybaked Ham to my parents house for a meal. Instant heaven. Once you eat the delicious sweet ham, you can't just throw away the bone! You have to make soup. A Honeybaked ham bone makes the world's best soup.

One complication of this tradition is that Tara is a vegetarian. We can't have a meal that exists solely of soup and bread as she will be reduced to eating only bread and that isn't nice. On the other hand I don't want to have to make two different meals...that isn't nice. So I make a ham based soup and a veggie based soup at the same time in two different pans. Here is how that works. Now, you have to understand that I don't rely on a recipe, so I make it slightly different each time. Here is how I made it this year.

Split Pea Soup....with and without ham!

Chicken broth..whatever you have on hand. I use what I have and water if needed or just water.
Vegetable broth....two cans
2 bags split peas
onion
carrots
celery if you have some.
chopped garlic
Salt
Pepper
A wee bit of olive oil, or skip the saute step and dump the veggies in the pot.

I chopped up the left over onion from the night before. It was a big one so it make about 1 1/2 cups. Then I chopped up about 15 or 20 mini carrots and a couple of celery sticks. I have never used celery and thought it would be nice.

Pour a couple of tablespoons of EVOO in a large stock pot and a medium sized saucepan. I put about 1/4 of the chopped veggies in the small pan and the rest in the large pan reserving the garlic. Garlic will turn bitter pretty quick, so I sauteed the veggies a few minutes over medium and then added the garlic. I have also just dumped them in the pan without oil and I don't notice a real difference in taste.

After the garlic cooked for about a minute...OK, let's be honest here. I don't time it. After I dumped in the garlic I dumped the ham bone in the big pot.

I added one and one half of the split peas and then added the chicken stock (I had one can) and poured in about 3 cups of water. I didn't wait or time anything. This is a EASY recipe!!

Then I added the last of the split peas to the smaller pan and pored in the 2 cans of vegetable stock. I turned up the heat to medium high on both pans. While I was waiting for the pans to boil, I cleaned up the kitchen and then after they boiled I turned down the pans and went in to rest. WHEW!

OK. In reality I came in and stirred every 30 minutes or so and had to turn down the heat a bit and once I had to add water to the ham based version as it was getting too thick, but basically I had 2 hours of nothin'. Hey! It's Christmas! I had a lot of recuperating to do! The hardest part is remembering which is the spoon I stir the ham based soup with and which is for the veggie version.

After 2 hours or three, who's counting? I took out the ham bone. Now I don't like to eat meat with fat or gristle, so I painstakingly cut off the parts I don't like and returned the chopped up bits to the soup. I might even add an extra slice or two of the ham all chopped up as I like a lot of ham in my soup. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Guess what? You are done, now! You can keep it warm on the stove while you make some sort of interesting bread. We just toasted some we had leftover from another meal. This is the meal I make after all the fancy holiday meals and it is really EASY. And it is DELICIOUS!

When our kids were little, Split Pea Soup was hard to say (you say it three times fast!) One of the kids, who shall be nameless, not to protect their privacy or anything, but because I can't remember, called it Spit Sea Poop. I must admit that we still call it that. There is a chance that you will also call it that, because the tongue finds that easier for some reason. Just don't slip up and call it that in a restaurant. But if you do, please let me know!

2010-12-19T12:37:00.000-08:00

It snowed last week and as I look out our second floor office window, I can still see snow everywhere I look. It's starting to get thin, now, so I expect it won't be there in a day or two. I have been putting the hay in the run-in shed that Lee built and I am happy to see the horses in there from time to time. Lee finished it just in time.

I plan on rotating pastures in January. Then Libby and Claire will have to get used to going in the OTHER shed! At least I know that whether it is cold or hot, they can always find shelter if they need it. It is particularly important when I am at work and there is a weather change. I used to feel terrible if it suddenly came up storming and there was no way to get them to shelter.

Right now they have had blankets on since Wednesday. It is supposed to be 45 degrees on Tuesday, so maybe they can get them off then. I don't like to keep the blankets on too long in case they develop an area that is rubbed raw and I can't see it.

Lee got a post card in the mail the other day. A man had aerial pictures of our house and was selling them. What a cool idea. These were before Lee finished the second run-in shed, but you can see the materials in the field. Now you can see what a great place we have. Won't it make a wonderful B&B?

Thanksgiving

2010-12-11T16:35:00.000-08:00

I haven't written for some time. Between Thanksgiving and getting ready for Christmas, it seems like I have had no free time. In reality I have had quite a bit of free time, but I have chosen to spend it being a slug and reading and watching trashy television. Tara has gotten me hooked on 16 and Pregnant and we are enjoying the guilty pleasure of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills!!! Throw in a bunch of reading while petting kitties that miss me while I am at work and you can see that I have had no time . Really. None at all.

In the meantime, Lee has finished the run-in shed in the other pasture in time for the winter. I don't know whether the horses appreciate it, but I certainly do. He also has built a doggy prison in the basement. He walled off a portion of the basement that includes the dog door to the fenced-in garden area off the basement. Now the dog can stay warm in the basement or go out side and bark and sniff and do other doggy things. Unfortunately he can also climb up the gate and hop over it. We have been working on preventing his escapes, but every time we drive up he is waiting for us in the driveway with a sappy grin on his face. I don't care if he is out as long as he sticks around, but we worry he will run down the drive and get hit or lost, so we keep "improving" his prison.

We had a great Thanksgiving. My brother Roland and his wife Jane and her brother Mark came from Alexandria. Tara has been living with them while looking for work and she came also. My Aunt Suzy from North Carolina came and brought her daughter Saja, who also happens to be my cousin Saja. Saja brought her husband Beau and also her two daughters, Evan and Addison. They are intrepid mule drivers and horse visitors, so they were barely seen and hardly heard. They did show up to eat, however!

The Fincastle Library has had a lovely volunteer for some time now. Her name is Rupinder and she and her husband have come from New Zealand, and before that, India, to live here. Her husband Parminder works for a New Zealand manufacturing company in Buchanan and because Rupinder doesn't know many people in the area and she can't work yet, she has been volunteering EVERY DAY.

One day I was telling her that we would be closed for the holiday so that she should not come. I tried to explain the concept of the Thanksgiving holiday to her and ended up inviting Rupinder and her husband to come and join us. I told her it was about families getting together, but also about welcoming others! They were able to come and we had a great time. Rupinder is a good cook and she brought many Indian dishes for us all to enjoy. They are vegetarian and so is Tara so we had lots of dishes for them to try also.

And so that is how we came to recreate the original Thanksgiving. We Pilgrims to Virginia served our food and the Indian neighbors brought their food and we had a great meal in fellowship and Thanksgiving for all our blessings. A perfect day.

Beignets with Blueberry sauce

2010-11-14T09:25:00.000-08:00

There is not much new happening at the farm. Lee finished the second run-in shed. He used the best of the bridge boards and the left over metal from the other outbuildings, so we saved a lot of money. Now the horses have a warm and dry place to go in each pasture, should they need it. This picture is a bit fuzzy. I took it from the upstairs office so I could get both sheds in one picture. There is a screen on the window, so there you have it....

I went for a visit to see Mom in California. It was nice to have a visit when everyone I was going to see was well and happy. It is still hectic, but worth the visit.

Due to a dearth of farm news, I have a wonderful recipe. We ran out of beignet mix and still wanted some. They have quite a few without any yeast, but this one sounded best. It was from Cooking.com with a few moderations and was delish. Don't leave out the blueberry sauce. Just because they don't do it that way at the Cafe Du Monde is no reason to leave it out. Try it and you may never have beignets without it!

Beignets with Blueberry Sauce

SAUCE

1 package frozen blueberries
1 cup sugar

BEIGNETS

1 cup warm milk
1 package dry yeast
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) of butter
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups all purpose flour, plus extra for kneading

Oil or shortening for deep frying, I used canola
Powdered sugar

Place the frozen blueberries in a medium sauce pan. Add the sugar. Cook over low heat. Stir frequently. I like to let it cook down to thicken it.

Combine the milk, yeast and sugar in a large bowl. Let it stand until the yeast dissolves and starts to bubble; about 5 minutes. Mix in the salt, eggs and melted butter.

Add the 3 cups of flour to form a sticky dough.

Dump the dough out onto a well floured surface. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, adding flour as necessary.

Lightly oil the original bowl and plop the dough back in. Roll it around a few times to coat it and cover it and let it rise until doubled, about 40 minutes. Don't forget to stir the blueberries!

Heat the oil in a deep fryer or wok or heavy dutch oven to 325. Use a thermometer. I used a dutch oven and had to keep adjusting the temperature. Don't put the dough in when it is too cool. You will get greasy beignets. Don't forget to stir the blueberries!

While the oil is heating, put the dough on a floured surface. Punch it down and let it stand covered for 15 minutes. Sprinkle the dough with flour and roll it out into a 12 X 12 square. Using a pizza cutter ( or a knife) cut the dough into 4 strips and then cut those into 6 pieces each. You can trim the edges if you wish, but I didn't. Don't forget to stir the blueberries!

Layer three large paper towels to soak up the oil and start frying. Work in batches. Remember to keep an eye on the thermometer. When you add new dough it will lower the temperature. Don't let it get too hot, either. Fry the dough until golden brown, about 1 1/2 minutes on each side. Use a slotted metal spoon to turn them and then to transfer to the paper towels. Arrange 3 beignets on a plate and simply drown them in powdered sugar from a sifter or a metal strainer. I put the blueberry sauce in a gravy boat and let guests add their own, but you can drizzle them with sauce and circle the plates with it.

These are to be eaten with your fingers, so have a lot of napkins out and prepare to vacuum!

RJ's Big Adventure

2010-10-24T14:36:00.000-07:00

Monday morning at ^:00 it was still as dark as the middle of the night. The only light was from the headlights on the mule. RJ ranged behind, beside and in front of me. He has no respect for the mule and darts in front of it, so you have to keep as eye on him when he comes along side. RJ bolted in front of me. I slammed on the brakes, skidding slightly on the loose gravel, narrowly missing him. He ran toward the big walnut trees. I continued to the barn.

When I got there I turned on the lights and music and went to get Libby. She is the lead mare so I get her out first. Then I got a whiff of skunk. I looked around the barn for the source. RJ was walking in the door with his head down and his tail between his legs. I now know the source of the stench.

I quickly put Libby and Claire in the pasture and clean the stall, frantically trying to see how to get the dog clean. We are shorthanded at the library and Lee is doing an early morning bus run. I remember using tomato juice on our dogs from childhood, but they were outside dogs and surely there is something better.

RJ, in the meantime was working desperately to remove the smell. He was rolling in the wet grass and rubbing his neck and face by pushing himself along the grass with his hind legs. When that proved fruitless, he rolled in the dirt in the turnouts. I was worried that he would roll in the horse urine, but in reality it couldn't get worse. And who knows? The acid might help! If it does, I hope it doesn't become a popular cure. Can you imagine men across the country taking car of dogs in this fashion? Yeah, me, too.

Next RJ rolled around and around in Claire's stall. The floor had a lot of shavings in it. I was impressed. Was it smart thinking or was he just desperate? It didn't work, but by this time he was a mess. Muddy and covered in shavings and stinking to high heaven.

When I got to the house, poor RJ was fed outside and locked out. While I fixed my break, I fired up the laptop and searched for the "recipe" for removing skunk stench.

Here it is. It's simple and you can remember it.

1 quart 3% Hydrogen Peroxide, make sure it isn't expired. It has been sitting there for years.

1/4 cup baking soda, you know the stuff in the yellow box.

2 teaspoons of liquid soap

Mix it all in an open bucket. Don't plan on saving it. A closed container may explode.

Use rubber gloves and work it into the coat. Don't get it in the eyes. It will sting. Then let it sit 5 minutes. If you have any left over, pour it down the sink.

I left Lee a message on his cell. He couldn't answer and I knew that, but I wanted him to know to stop on the way home. Then I tied the poor dog in the garage and went to work. I knew Lee would be home in the next hour or so, but I still felt bad for the sad little boy.

One part of message included an offer to come home at lunch when more people would be at the library. Honest. Nonetheless, my wonderful husband managed to buy the Hydrogen Peroxide and get the job done. He even gave RJ a regular bath after to make him smell good. It didn't completely work, but it was WAY better. The first night when we closed the door to our room to keep him confined, It was pretty bad. I had to open the bedroom window and keep the ceiling fan on low all night. I keep thinking we will wash him again, but it has just been too darn cold. Maybe it will wear off. Eventually. That's the plan at any rate.

Coconut Macaroons

2010-10-17T09:34:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite recipes. It calls for egg whites, but I hate to throw away the yolks, so I like to make it when I make creme brulee, which calls for egg yolks! Last week I made some croissant bread pudding and it called for a lot of egg yolks ,so I saved the whites and here they are. I had 8 and the recipe calls for 4 so I doubled it. I will put in the original recipe for you, but if the quantities look large, that is why! This recipe is from the Epicurious web site.

Coconut Macaroons

4 large egg white
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour

In a heavy sauce pan stir together all the ingredients. You may want to sift the flour. I don't always and it works fine. It looks like too much in the way of dry ingredients, but the egg yolks are gooey enough to mix in well.

Cook the mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly for 5 minutes. I leave it for short periods of time, like to put the ingredients back in the pantry, but don't leave it longer than a few seconds. Then turn it up to medium high and this time I mean it when I say stir constantly, for 3 to 5 minutes. The mixture will thicken and pull away from the sides. DO NOT OVERCOOK.

Transfer to a bowl and cool slightly. Then cover completely with plastic wrap and chill for one hour or so until it is just cold.

Preheat oven to 300. Drop by heaping teaspoons (or use a cookie scoop) onto buttered baking sheets. My preference is to use Silpats. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the are pale golden brown. Transfer to a rack to cool.

Fall Colors

2010-10-17T09:12:00.000-07:00

This is probably the best weekend for the fall color viewing from our front and back porches. Quite a few trees are dropping their leaves before all of the trees have changed. I think this is probably because we have had such a dry summer and the trees are stressed.

We have porch swings with wonderful cushions, thanks to my great kids. So sitting and viewing is big fun. It's great to sit out there and watch the cat hunt or just hang around. The dog likes to fetch the ball...if by fetch you included not always bringing it back to you.

We let the horses out in the yard today, versus being put inside generous pastures. I like to let them roam around when we can be here and keep an eye on them. The whole 60 acres is not fenced, but it has so many rolling hills and trees it is impossible for them to know that, so they stick around the barn. They do take occasional forays up the hill, but that is the fun part!

The back porch has the advantage of being screened, although we really don't get much in the way of biting bugs. Now stink bugs...we are getting tons of them, but so is everyone else! The view from the back porch allows us the illusion that we are the only people for miles around. Pretty cool. it's hard to imagine a more beautiful place to live.