Dairy Daze

Christmas is sneaking up on me...

2009-12-15T12:51:00.001-08:00

This year it really has, anyway. Usually I have most of my gifts bought and wrapped by Turkey Day, but not this year.

This past Saturday the weather warmed up into the 40s and had you gone down K you perhaps would have seen our truck parked down between the heifer/bull lot and the dry cow lot. That would have been me.

Yes. My husband tends to forgo any non-productive types of work and one of those would be getting a Christmas tree. Therefore, it has become our Christmas tradition that I be the one to bring in the tree.

So to make a long story short; the fence-row up the road is now minus one slightly lopsided cedar tree. In keeping with tradition I took the dull, rusted, nearly useless handsaw and hacked it to death, then drug it up the road back to the truck.

Ellen and I decorated it that night. She was enchanted with the decorations; especially the banana, the peanut butter and jelly sandwich and the ice cream sundae. She also loves to jingle the snowman bells and play with the little angel kitties too.

So far there are only 2 gifts under the tree. But we are working on it.

It's Been a Week...

2009-12-07T12:25:00.002-08:00

What have I been up to on the dairy?

This morning we had a bit of a calf rodeo. These cows seem to come into season in clusters, like grapes. So I had about 5 calves to wean at once, (keeping in mind these are all the heifer calves, the bulls went down the road a a few days after their birth)and a hubby who is nursing a bum shoulder so we had to be original in our changing pens technique.

Usually we rope them, then push/pull/drag/shoo/gallop them from their bottle feeding pen to their tiny pasture out in the woods; hmmmm....a hundred yards or so. (I am terrible with distances) This time we decided to do this en masse. We opened the gate and carefully shooed them through. They went a few feet and stood nosing around a bit, sniffing unfamiliar things.

Then...BAM...the rodeo was on. They all five took off like rockets...flying past the gate they were supposed to go through. Hubby himself went galloping over to the 4-wheeler and chased them back towards me. Four of them went charging the OTHER way past the gate and took off across the barn yard several hundred yards the other way. One of them came mincing up behind me, looking around and wondering what was going on and where her pals were. I managed to get her through the gate and on down the road.

I turned and TWO of the other FOUR were charging back towards me, then they swerved and headed towards Ellen, who was sitting in her stroller laughing at the whole spectacle. Hubby vroomed around them and we got them headed the right direction and on through the gate.

We turned and there came the last two, straight for us. A bit of luck, that. Another vroom and a shoo and they were through as well. Hot diggity. Nothing like a good chase on a crisp morning to get your blood going. I didn't mention in this whole thing that I'd been running back and forth. But anyway.

*****

This past Sunday we had our annual church Thanksgiving/Christmas pot luck after AM service.

This is what I brought:

It is my take on the "Candy Bar Cake" recipe I got off the internet. The pastor's wife saw a slice of it on someones plate and commented that someone must have brought a bakery cake. I was flattered, but thought it funny. Can anything look LESS like a professional cake? It was all lopsided (I am not much good at positioning 3 layer cakes) and my decorations didn't make much sense. Those are mini M&Ms on top and rectangles of a 1.5 OZ Hershey bar on the sides. The frosting is yummy though, a cream cheese deal; 8oz cream cheese w/ 1/2 cup regular sugar, 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla...cream this really well, then fold in a tub of Cool Whip and chopped up candy bars...your choice of flavor. Delish!

Not for those dieting, but what cake is?

Those are the highlights of the past week.

My November 2009 Catalog List

2009-11-30T18:22:00.000-08:00

As promised at the beginning of this NaBloPoMo shindig, I have faithfully kept track of all of the mail order catalogs I received in the mail this past month.

We actually did order something from catalog number 2, "The Sportsman's Guide." That was a pair of insulated boots for me to use this winter while out doing chores.

However, I calculated that if I'd made a $10 order from each catalog, even the duplicates (supposing I'd forgotten to order something from the first one and needed to order again from the next) and then had tacked on a very conservative estimate of shipping and handling, say $5...I'd have spent a grand total of $570 dollars.

!Ay, carumba!

Ha!

I have them all saved up here on the computer table. Actually I got the last 4 of them today. I was going to take a pic, but it's too dark in here now. Here's the list:

November 2009 Catalog list

1. Back in the Saddle
2. The Sportsman’s Guide *
3. Figi’s
4. L.L. Bean
5. The Literary Guild
6. Duluth Trading Co.
7. Willow Ridge
8. Bronner’s
9. World Ark: Heifer International
10. Lang
11. Miles Kimball
12. National Geographic Holiday 2009 Catalog
13. Carol Wright Gifts
14. Betty’s Attic
15. Colorful Images
16. World Vision Gift Catalog
17. Old Pueblo Traders
18. Current
19. Terry’s Village
20. Holidays from Abbey Press
21. Victorian Trading Co.
22. Expressions
23. Figi’s
24. Potpourri
25. The Swiss Colony
26. Heifer International
27. Gooseberry Patch
28. Kruenpeeper Creek Gifts
29. Dr. Leonard’s
30. Metrostyle
31. Home Trends
32. Current
33. Young Explorers
34. Bits and Pieces
35. The Swiss Colony
36. National Geographic Holiday 2009 Catalog
37. L.L. Bean Christmas Favorites 2009
38. Southwest Indian Foundation Christmas 2009

Well, it's been great NaBloPoMo-ing with you all. I sure appreciate the new friends I have made and plan on keeping in touch throughout the coming year. But I am probably going to take a bit of a break from blogging. I have a couple of other projects in the wings and am going to concentrate on them.

Tah tah!

All the best!

Various things...

2009-11-29T18:32:00.000-08:00

Ellen was so taken with her new doll house yesterday that she insisted on sleeping with the little "kitchen," as she calls it. It's the little stove/oven piece. She had to take it with her down to show her Grandma and Aunt this evening.

****

Hubby and I were discussing, over our fresh bread from the bread machine tonight, how glad we were to be out of school. I am so glad I do not have to go through my adolescence and teen years and all yet again. Urgh! I watch what these kids go through now and I don't envy them at all.

****

On that note I recall when I was in Jr high and highschool some of the fads that were out. Neon colored clothes, leg warmers, Cabbage Patch Dolls, Michael Jackson music...ummm...what all else? I forget.

****

We were also discussing that spelunker who died a few days ago. He was only about 19or 20 I believe. He wedged himself into this teeny crack in a cave, upside down no less, and couldn't get out. They were unable to get him out, no matter what all they tried. So they are going to just seal up the cave with cement and leave him there. Lord, what a way to go. I have a horror of small spaces. I don't even like sitting in the middle of the pew at church. I don't know if that qualifies as claustophobia, I mean I don't panic or anything, but I just don't like feeling squeezed in. But anyway, what a terrible grief for the family.

****

Oops, got to head to bed.

Random Photo

2009-11-28T17:40:00.001-08:00

Once, the first year here, we babysat our inlaws kitten. As most kittens do she loved to climb, so I tucked her into my plant stand, and she was happy to sit and pose for a few shots.

She is part Siamese and is very vocal to prove it.

**********

Ellen got a veritible treasure trove of toys and whatnot today. A friend from church was cleaning out toys she'd had at her house and was very kind enough to bring them over to us.

Ellen's favorite is the new little doll house. It's a little platic job that folds in half and comes with all kinds of accessories; bed, tables, chairs, sofa, ottoman, fridge, stereo...etc, even a house plant. It's missing the mommy though. We will have to find a mommy to go along with the daddy and two kids and a dog.

There is also a 3 foot tall Winnie the Pooh jigsaw puzzle, along with several other puzzles. And one of those Buckaroo games, too. The one where you hang objects on a mule until he bucks them off.

Hubby, of course, had lots of fun making the mule buck. He found that if you hang an item on the tail and make it buck the item goes flying through the air over the mule's head. Ellen got a kick out of that!

After picking up all the puzzle pieces from off the floor twice, I put them all away for another year or two, until she is old enough to put them back in herself. I might keep out one of the more age appropriate puzzles, but no more. My nerves can't take it.

At any rate, now I am going to weed out a bunch of Ellen's "old" toys and pass them on to someone else.

Cheers for now.

The Can't Leave Alone Bars recipe

2009-11-27T12:26:00.000-08:00

This is not what I was going to blog about today, but by popular demand here is this recipe. It's the kind of thing you can throw together fairly quickly using stuff you have in your pantry. Ellen, aged 2.75 years, loves to help measure and stir this, so it's a good one to make with kids as well.

If you are new here to this blog, pardon how boring everything else is. I have been blogging every day for 2 months straight now and am having trouble being interesting. If you want something interesting or something to laugh at go to one of the posts from the past at the right. I need to add a couple of my bull stories over there someday, those are fun too! Ha.

Without further ado:

Can't Leave Alone Bars
(From Vera's Family Favorites -an Amish cookbook)

1 yellow cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1/2 stick butter (or margarine)
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1-14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

Combine cake mix, eggs and oil; reserve 1/2 cup. Press remaining mixture into 9x3" pan and set aside.

In small saucepan over low to med heat, melt butter, chocolate chips and milk, stirring constantly. Pour over batter in pan.

Drop reserved batter in small dots over chocolate mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees until set; approximately 30-40 minutes.

This time I didn't have a yellow cake mix, so I used a white mix instead; you couldn't really tell the difference. You could probably vary the flavors by using a chocolate cake mix too, and/or differently flavored chocolate chips.

The first time I made these I baked them 40 minutes and it kind of scorched the edges. This time I stuck with the 30 minutes and they came out better, even though they didn't seem done at first.

Enjoy!

More Thankfulness

2009-11-26T17:49:00.000-08:00

I think I left off at number 10 last time.

11. Dessert. What would a good dinner be without one tacked on at the end?

12. Good books. I know I included that on my What Makes Me Smile list, but it qualifies for Thankfulness too.

13. Country living. Never easy, but fulfilling nonetheless.

14. A great church. We are all more like family and everyone is so supportive. There is no infighting and everyone loves to laugh together.

15. A full fridge and freezer. You can never rightfully claim poverty if you have these.

16. Running water. My mother-in-law tells stories of having to pack water from the creek; up hill, fighting chiggers and seed ticks and whatnot in summer. And let's not even talk about ice and snow in winter.

17. A cat. Sometimes she annoys me, but there's something cozy about a purring cat.

18. The postal service. I love getting mail.

19. Dry onion soup mix. (ha) It's a quick seasoning for lots of different things.

20. Knowing how to read and write. How limited life would be if I didn't have these skills.

My Pumpkin Pie Woes

2009-11-25T11:22:00.001-08:00

It's in the oven. It would seem that I have usually been asked to bring a pumpkin pie to the Thanksgiving holiday repast. And I do not have a very good record with my pumpkin pies. For some reason mine never are "set" within the recommended amount of time.

Once I brought a rather soggy one to my brother's Thanksgiving dinner. I ended up leaving it there since my SIL said she would do something with it. I strongly suspect it ended up going down the drain, but I dunno. Maybe she has more patience than I have, with regards to re-doing things.

On the opposite side of the coin; just a few years ago I was in charge of the pumpkin pie here to take to mother-in-law's Thanksgiving, and I made the mistake of thinking I'd just pop it in the oven an hour or so before time to go over there.

Bad idea.

Two hours later we were still waiting for the stupid thing to "set." I think I just finally took it and it turned out OK, but not great.

My MIL said that she never puts in the full amount of evap milk called for by the recipe. So the past few times I have attempted pumpkin pie I have done that; cut back on the evap milk. But it seems it STILL takes forever for it to set.

Anyway. After about a 70-75 minute baking period I just now took it out of the oven for tomorrow. I hope it's edible.

I always make this "Never Fails" pie crust recipe. I really, really am bad at pie crusts. Not at the making of the actual crust, but the rolling out and putting in the pie pan part. It's always nice and flaky and tastes great but it looks like a 5 year old did it. Though I must say, this one looks better than my usual. I guess I ought to make more pies, then my finesse with the crusts might improve.

Well, hope everyone has a great Turkey Day tomorrow.

2009-11-24T11:29:00.000-08:00

It is a cool and blustery day here. It misted a bit on me when I did chores this morning, but otherwise has been dry. Glad I did laundry yesterday. This whole November has been really mild overall. I don't think we have had but maybe one or two days where it froze at night.

We got another little bull calf a few days ago. He's already gone. His mother isn't much of a producer. Hubby says we are going to put on the milk meters and measure how much each one is giving and then cull the bottom producers. We usually do this in the fall. No sense in feeding a bummer cow all winter if she's not producing enough to pay for herself.

My Tuesday Thankful List

6) Great in-laws. It is common to be snarky about one's in-laws, but I got really blessed in that department. No complaints here. They are always supportive and fun to be with.

7) A good husband. Maybe both of these, #6 and #7 ought to be included in #1, along with family. But it is worth mentioning separately. Hubby and I have never had a fight, and we don't argue. We do have disagreements, but there's no sense in having a knockdown-dragout fight over anything. I think we are both too laidback to worry about such things. We laugh at much the same things as well. Humor is always a good quality to have in your spouse.

8) Living in a country where I am free to worship as I please. Even though things are getting dicier on this issue, as of yet I am not persecuted for being a Christian and am free to speak my own opinion on the subject wherever I please.

9) My computer. Well, if you are reading this on YOUR computer maybe you understand what I am saying.

10) Books. My other entertainment, probably runs neck and neck with my computer. How would I manage on those nasty days where I can't get out to do anything and it's too dangerous to plug in the computer? Not to mention I do lots of traveling and vicarious living through books.

A Week of Thanks

2009-11-23T18:10:00.000-08:00

All month good, lovely and high-minded folks over on Facebook have been posting what they are thankful for, one thing per day for the whole month of November. They have made me look really bad. So, this whole week I am going to try and think up my 30 things to be Thankful for and post them throughout the week.

1. (This one is a BIGGIE!) I am officially KITTEN-FREE! Yay! Yay! Whoopee! One of hubby's cousins from up the road came and took both of them. They need mousers. I DO miss the little boogers, but I am thankful to be free of litterbox odors...etc. So far Ellen isn't too disturbed by their absence. She asks where they are occasionally and I tell her they have a new home and she accepts it.

2. The usual, of course; family, friends, blog friends, Facebook friends, my kid...etc. I love you all!

3. Good health. That probably falls under number 2 above, but it deserves special mention.

4. Aged 41 and still no cavities YAY!

5. Electricity. Rather a prosaic thing to be thankful for. But after the power outage of the winter ice storm of '07, I realize what it is to not have it for an extended period of time.

Blog or Bust

2009-11-22T14:55:00.000-08:00

OK. We are coming down to the final days here of NaBloPoMo. It keeps getting harder and harder to come up with something to write about. Things happen, but it's hard to force myself to sit down and write about them.

Gun deer season closes this Tues, I believe. Then bow season opens again. We have folks beating a path to our door to bow hunt out in our field just down the road. We are letting another guy hunt over there too. He's pretty optimistic; said he'll give us some meat.

*******

No one seems to be taking me up on a free kitten or two. I think I am going to be stuck with them. I don't want them, no matter how cute they are. The only trouble is that there is a mile long list of free kitties in the newspaper every week. Hubby says way back when he was a kid there weren't as many available.

He also said back then no one had ever heard of cat or dog food. They were lucky to get table scraps, and beyond that they were expected to catch their own food.

*******

Ellen is starting to worry me. She is starting to ask questions like: "Where did that truck come from?" "Where did that tree come from?" "Where did those cows come from?"

Some day we are going to be in the store and she's going to point and ask; "Where did that baby come from?" Ha!

I usually tell her that the whatever-it-is she asks about came from the store, or from home or from a seed or whatever is simplest. No need to get technical about it. Not at this age.

At her Parents as Teachers little evaluation last week she impressed the teacher because she can draw circles. Kelly said that they don't expect them to be able to do that until they are 4 years old.

She also is still using her left hand 99% of the time. Once in awhile she will use her right hand, but she will switch it over in a minute or less.

OK. That's enough for this session.

Something for Saturday

2009-11-21T07:41:00.000-08:00

Behind me Ellen is reading her "meek" books. "Meek" is her term for "music." She can say music, but meek is what she calls it.

Anyway. At the dollar store a long time ago I got 4 of those little CD books, with the lyrics included. She gets lots of milage out of these. She has most of the songs memorized and can get the books and sit and sing from them. It is hilarious to hear her little falsetto chanting "Camptown Races" or "Oh, Suzanna." There are about 10-12 songs on each CD so she has quite a list to go through. And she HAS to sing each book. But some songs she skips, for whatever reason.

****

C from Random Thoughts and Musings from the Island wanted to know the Biblical reason to why my husband thinks it's my job to help him out with the gift giving ideas at holiday times. He says the Bible says the wife is supposed to be the "help mate" to the husband. Therefore I have to help him with everything. It doesn't say in there that HE HAS TO HELP ME! Ha.

He was pretty pleased with himself; just laughed and laughed.

But last week the pastor preached about how, though it says in the Bible where the wife is supposed to submit to her husband, further down it says that the husband is supposed to love his wife as he loves himself. BUT he thought it was interesting that nowhere in the Bible does it exhort the wife to love her husband. HA!

What are these?

2009-11-20T15:58:00.001-08:00

Over the past few years, since hubby has been getting certain catalogs and magazines related to this subject, these thingamabobs have interested me. Don't know why; they are just weird to look at.

Then I think about how they are actually used: underground. The beating they take, and how their invention changed an industry. Well. Maybe it didn't change an industry, but in some places of the world they can make the difference between living and dying, so they can certainly be used to help change lives.

Used to be you'd use a shovel, a bucket, a long rope and a LOT of sweat to accomplish what one of these can help with; coupled with the right technology.

Yep. They are water well drill bits. They use them to drill through solid rock.

Hubby gets several different water well drilling magazines. One story in there really impressed me. Over in Africa clean water is a critical thing. There are well drilling companies that donate well drill rigs and time and money to go over there and drill wells in some areas.

Once the well is drilled the pumping mechanism is actually hooked up to a child's "round-about," or as we call them here, "merry-go-round." So instead of buckets, ropes or whatever, the children who are sent for water play on the merry-go-round to pump their water.

I liked that idea, and the kids in the pictures seemed pleased with the arrangement.

What are these?

2009-11-20T15:58:00.000-08:00

Thirteen for Thursday #4

2009-11-19T11:37:00.000-08:00

Hmmmm....

Hmmm....

I didn't ask my husband for help today, so I am at a loss. Here instead are 13 things that I COULD write 13 things about if I were to actually apply myself.

1. Pet peeves. (I am not feeling very peevey today. Besides the biggest one of them may get me kicked out of church if I were to list it. Ha!)

2) Things to be thankful for. (I was going to wait until next week to do that one.)

3) Good smells on a dairy. (I have done that one before.)

4) Movies I have liked. (I am not much of a movie watcher, really, so it might be hard.)

5) Books I love. (It'd be easier to list books I DON'T love, as it's a much shorter list.)

6) On that same note, maybe a list of authors I like. (Hey, that's a good one! Maybe I'll do that next week.)

7) Favorite foods to actually cook! (Argh, that reminds me, I need to think of something to fix for supper tonight.)

8) Things I would like to do in my lifetime. (As in: a bucket list)

9) Foods I DON'T like. (gelatin, of any brand, is number one there.)

10) Things I'd never expected to encounter when I was married. (Like; why is it MY chore to think of gifts to give people for Christmas? Hubby has a Biblical answer for this one!)

11) Places I'd like to visit someday.

12) People I'd like to meet.

13) Subjects I ought to teach the teens on Wednesday nights. (That'd be good to refer back to.

Dumb Joke

2009-11-18T15:15:00.000-08:00

We took a long drive to look at some equipment over in Lockwood today and didn't get back until about 15 minutes before it was time to fix supper. I have about 15 minutes until I have to do chores, after which I have to head off to church. Well, I guess I don't have to go, but I want to go just to get away from Ellen. (She's currently driving me nuts.) By the time I get back from church I am not going to want to get on the computer.

Soooooo.....

All of this has left little time to cogitate on what to blog about.

Therefore; the following is your daily blog offering:

A pirate walks into a bar wearing a paper towel on his head. He sits down at the bar and orders some rum.

The bartender asks: "Why are you wearing a paper towel?"

"Arrrrg," says the pirate. "I've got a bounty on me head."

Heh heh heh.

That also came along with the cow jokes from yesterday.

Tickle Me Tuesday #3 (I think)

2009-11-17T12:03:00.000-08:00

Here are some more tidbits sent from a friend in OR. I think these came from The Oregonian, the daily newspaper up there.

Cow Humor

Why does a milking stool have only 3 legs?
Because the cow has the udder.

What are the spots on black and white cows?
Holstains

What kind of milk comes from a forgetful cow?
Milk of Amnesia

Where do cows go when they want a night out?
To the MOO-vies.

What was the bull doing in the pasture with his eyes closed?
Bull-dozin'

How does a farmer count a herd of cows?
With a COWculator.

Why don't cows have any money?
Because farmers milk them dry.

Where do the Russians get their milk?
From Mos-COWS.

What's a cow's favorite musical note?
Beef-flat

What do cows wear in Hawaii?
Moo-moos

What do you call a cow that has just had a calf?
Decalfenated

Go ahead and yuk it up...then have a glass of milk. Or a bowl of ice cream.

******

We had a decalfenated cow this morning. A new little heifer calf came into the world on a cold, rainy night. Poor thing. Hubby had to get them, and put the calf into a shed ASAP.

Marriage Proposals

2009-11-16T17:58:00.000-08:00

A few months ago I foolishly joined some pen-pal website, put my email address in it. Of course I immediately began getting junk mail, tons of junk mail. I tried to go back and delete it but there was no way to delete the profile. I emailed the owner and asked for my profile to be deleted, but dunno if they ever did or not. I even forget the site now, it has been so long.

The major traffic from it dried up a bit, but I think that's only because my name was pushed on down the list by new idjits who signed up.

And now I get at least one or two emails a week, sometimes less, sometimes more, from people saying they have seen my profile. Some of them say they saw my profile on "DreamBook." Well, this was NOT the site I joined. I went to this DreamBook site and a flag came up saying it was not safe, so I was unable to peruse it to find my supposed profile.

Anyway. Most of these emails I get from there are marriage proposals. Some of them are short and sweet, some of them are sprinkled with promises of large amounts of cash from a dead relative, and some of them are just...well...here's an example. You tell me what you think.

Hi Friend,
With love and passion i wish to say compliment of the great season and best wishes in all you do this day. How are you and the environment over there? I'm pleased to meet you.My names is Aviss Kair from Canada.I live and work in my country with the Global Welfare and Child Development (GWCD) here in Canada .I'm a single lady of 24 years of age, single looking forward to my better subordinate in mere future.I wish to associate with you in all areas of life. I've never be married cos due to lack of trust and betray which i had in the past.It will be wonderful if you will be part of me to be my partner, co-passion and It will be nice for me if you can as well join and be a part in this my trip. I need a man that's good looking in-ward not minding race or ethnicity,your sincerity i care for, your honesty i cherish,your passion i search for, be my better half.Let's associate together in divinity, co-operate world, mutual relationship, be part of me and i be part of you, in all i do I'll have you in mind cos you are in me.I've travelled far and wide, mixed with different races in the co-operate world, i do understand that the plight of human is to direct and re-direct the low and the needy. I open my arms wide to associate with you receive you and believe you will give me your sincerity as well. Let make the world and the union a worth living and experiencing. I wish to be with you and relate together for the good of each other.I will get back to you after your mail for more detail about me.You are welcome to my world. if you can as well join and be a part in this my trip the Global Welfare and Child Development (GWCD) here in Canada.
Our Regards

Aviss

Heh heh heh.

I didn't even bother bursting this gal's bubble by emailing her back and saying; "Sorry darling, can't share your passion. I am an old married woman with a kid already." Hopefully Aviss will find someone to share her passion with.

Any takers to associate in divinity? Let me know, I'll forward her email address to you.

Yay for Deer Sausage!

2009-11-15T14:41:00.000-08:00

Gun hunting season opened this weekend (not a couple weeks ago as I'd assumed...I think that was bow season that opened).

Anyway. The guy we let hunt on our property got an 8 point buck yesterday morning. On opening day. He was pretty proud. He's going to bring us some deer sausage. He may come back and try for a doe, he has a doe tag too. He's been bow hunting off and on the past couple of weeks, but didn't get anything.

There were tons of shots going off yesterday. Some of them sounded like if all the bullets hit the deer there wouldn't be much meat left when the carcass hit the ground.

We saw so many hunter orange drivers going back and forth all day yesterday. I guess there are several deer camps around here. That whole deal just cracks me up. Especially what we saw go by.

Hubby, Ellen and I were all outside when this Army-looking truck and trailer goes by, all camoflaged with green and brown paint blotches. The driver honked and both driver and passenger waved enthusiastically at us as they went by.

We waved back, but hubby said; "I think some of them just get carried away. How many deer do they expect to get to have to haul them in that big of a trailer?"

Oh, well. Let them have their fun I suppose. Only thing is that I try and stay inside as much as possible and keep Ellen inside. There have already been too many incidents of stay bullet injuries and such. It's kind of scary.

On this same subject. Gun season in California was a few weeks earlier than here I believe. I guess my nephew went out and got his buck, brought it back to the meat plant (where he works)to be processed, along with the pork meat that they mix with the deer meat for sausage.

They grind it...then at the other end he looks at it and says, "What's all this blue stuff in it?"

Ummm...someone had left their rubber gloves on the meat processor and they got ground into his meat.

Forty pounds of meat. Down the drain.

He was just a tad upset.

For want of anything else...

2009-11-14T07:14:00.000-08:00

Here's a poem. I have been meaning to get a pic of that mini calf we had a few days ago, but haven't been out here with the camera. I need to get her picture anyway. Well, maybe for tomorrow.

***

Anyway. Robert Frost is one of my favorite poets. He has quite the collection of poems. Here is one that seems appropriate to the season.

In Hardwood Groves

The same leaves over and over again!
They fall from giving shade above
To make one texture of faded brown
And fit the earth like a leather glove.

Before the leaves can mount again
To fill the trees with another shade,
They must go down past things coming up.
They must go down into the dark decayed.

They must be pierced by flowers and put
Beneath the feet of dancing flowers.
However it is in some other world
I know that this is way in ours.

Random Photo

2009-11-13T11:46:00.000-08:00

Here, out of my photo files, is a picture of Ellen sitting on her quilt.

This quilt was made for her by one of my overseas pen-pals, who mailed it to her for Ellen's first birthday. I treasure this quilt and pray it will be one that Ellen will treasure also.

This pen-pal is Victoria, from the Ukraine. She and I became pals way back when it was all still the USSR over there. We do not keep in touch much, and mostly by email now, but we are still friends nonetheless. She is quite the seamstress and does really beautiful work.

I treasure all of my friends and pen-friends, but this was one the most touching gifts we have ever received in the mail.

Thirteen for Thursday 3

2009-11-12T12:36:00.000-08:00

For this Thursday's list I hadn't had anything planned ahead of time. I mentioned to my husband at lunch that I needed to find 13 things to list. He suggested 13 things that make me smile.

And he listed off the first four...

Delightfully helpful man!

Thirteen Things That Make Me Smile

1) The honking of geese on their way north in spring.

2) Seeing the little radishes sprouting in spring.

(ummm...can you tell he's not looking forward to winter?)

3) A kid's laughter

4) Watching kittens playing.

5) A walk by the creek.

6) Finding a dollar bill in a jacket I haven't worn since last winter.

7) Watching Ellen "steering" the 4-wheeler when she's riding on it with her daddy.

8) Getting a good book in the mail.

9) Listening to some of the tales my husband tells about the locals.

10) Getting a good email from a friend.

11) Listening to the kids at church practice for their Christmas play.

12) Seeing a friend I haven't seen in a long time.

13) Ending this list.

It's harder than you'd think.

Whatever Wednesday

2009-11-11T11:45:00.000-08:00

The past couple of months I have mostly been making fun of other people, so I guess I ought to poke fun at myself a bit.

In Sunday's post, (or was it Monday's, or Saturday's? I forget. Who cares?) I talked about ideas city people have when they come to the country. Heh. I forgot to throw in my personal example.

I came here with the fond idea of having a compost pile. You know, all the kitchen waste rotted down into good compost for the garden. Hmmmm...that didn't even last one night. Remember the wildlife I mentioned before? Yeah, well it didn't take long for them to all show up en masse; 'coons, 'possums and skunks, oh, my! Not to mention stray cats and what all else. Since I don't want to hassle with getting a compost bin, I just make sure I toss my kitchen scraps a long way from the house now and let 'em duke it out to get it.

Now, I should have added yesterday's event to yesterday's post, but I ran out of time. Here goes...

Generally I am not squeamish about bugs. I can handle them, pretty much, as long as I know that they are relatively harmless. But these babies...they just creep me out:

Walking sticks. According to Wikipedia there are some 3,000 species of them, and they make good pets. PETS? Urgh!

I don't know why they creep me out, but they do, however harmless they might be. (So do those nasty granddaddy longlegs, but that's for a different post. Maybe I just don't like long-legged critters) Anyway. Yesterday I was doing some busy-work outside, while Ellen watched Dora the Explorer-which keeps her out of my way when I am going in and out of the house.

I come back inside and am in the kitchen when I see something moving out of the corner of my eye. It's something on my shoulder.

GAAAAAHHHH, it's a walking stick going across my back!!!!!

EEEWWWW! EEEEEWWWWW!! EEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!

I reach over and try to flick it off. But these hideous critters have 6 long legs, on looooog bodies. Trying to flick one off is a joke, especially when you can barely reach it. As soon as one set of feet are detached, they just put them back down while you are trying to flick off the other set.

Far be it from me to actually TOUCH the THING with my fingers and pluck it off.

So, after a bit of a dance around the kitchen, accompanied by a bit of squawking, I peel off my shirt and pray no one comes to the door or the front window. Ha Ha Ha!

Then I get the broom and dustpan and get it out of the house.

There, now you can laugh at me!

Tickle Me Tuesday 2

2009-11-10T11:35:00.000-08:00

A friend sent me a clipping called "Desserts Gone Wrong." They are from a different blog called "Cake Wrecks." Please click on the link to go there and get a few good laughs.

Here's two examples:

A good lesson: always go in to the store to order your cake and WRITE DOWN what you want the cake to say. Otherwise they might mess up the spelling, or take you literally.

Ha Ha!

Produce in November

2009-11-09T12:29:00.001-08:00

For the most part my garden is kaput. I have yet to clear all the vines and weeds and whatnot from the beds, but fresh produce is just a memory...almost.

This is a picture of a couple of our winter radishes. They are called "China Rose" and are an Asian variety. As you can see, they get huge. That is a quarter there next to them. You'd think that they'd be woody or dry and pithy but they are actually really good; crisp and juicy and very radish-y. Hubby likes radishes more than I do. But it's something to grow and something to put on the table for him.

Somewhere I have read that you can cook radishes much like you'd cook any other root vegetable, but I haven't, as yet, got up the courage or wherewithal to give it a try. And hubby hasn't been clamoring for mashed radishes or some such, so I think perhaps I will just leave it alone.

Today I assisted hubby with another culvert transport. He now has a couple of driveway grading projects lined up. It will keep him busy for a week or two, depending on how it goes. One driveway is super long and in horrible condition, so it may take longer than one might think. Another driveway is actually just a road going down to the river on a kind of resort place not too far from here. The people have only lived there a couple of months, it will be interesting to see what they do with it.