Kids! You Gotta Love 'em

   Well, here it is, day 4 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge, and I actually had an idea about what to write about today. Kids. This thinking, which can be hazardous to my health and the health of others, started when our daughter, Alyssa, said that Micheal used crayon and drew out a hopscotch in the grout of their tiled floor. Micheal is 5, and it probably made perfect sense to him, because he could probably see a hopscotch with the tiles and grout. Needless to say, Alyssa was not happy.
   Anyway, we have 3 kids. Amy is 29, Daniel is 27, and Alyssa is 24. We also have 5 grandkids, with another possible 3 in the near future, through adoption and marriage.
   When Alyssa was about 3 and Daniel was about 5, and Amy was about 7, I let them go out and paint water color pictures on paper, on the front porch. I was sitting on the bench reading. Next thing I see is Alyssa painting tiny ants as they walked by. Even after squirting the concrete porch off right away, the paint stayed. We had nice colorful splotches for decorations.
   Another time, I walk into the kitchen and see Alyssa on her hands and knees, spitting great gobs of spit on the floor. The ants had moved in doors to the kitchen and Alyssa said Daniel told her if she spit on them, it would kill the ants, so that's what she was doing.
   When Daniel was about 5 or 6 years old, he was playing with a friend that lived across the street. Next thing I know, Daniel is home, crying, saying the mother sent him home and about that time I get a phone call from the mother saying Daniel had written the f word in the dust of her car. She hadn't gone out to see it yet, but that's what her son had told her. I was shocked. I didn't know Daniel knew that word, much less how to spell it. I got another phone call about 2 minutes later from the mother, laughing and apologizing and saying Daniel could go back over and play. On the side of her Blazer, written in big letters was the letter F and the word, word. I'm also surprised he could spell word. He wrote the F word alright. He and his friend did a fine job washing the Blazer as high as they could reach.
   When Daniel was about that same age, I'm walking down the hall, past his room and I hear "oh s**t". He'd picked up all this nice language at school and he'd been saying it a lot, so I told him to get in the bathroom. His dad had said if we caught him , he'd have to lick the bar of soap.
   I'm holding the bar of soap in my right hand and tell Daniel to lick it. (It was a dry bar of soap and it just had to be a quick swipe of the tongue.) Daniel looks up and me and says " I don't wanna lick the d***n bar of soap." I sung my left arm, ready to back hand him on his rear and I missed and hit the door frame. I broke my little finger, and as I'm holding it in my right hand I'm telling Daniel to "get out, get out now". He ran to his room. I never went to the Dr. for the broken little finger because I thought they'd get me for hitting my kid, even though I had missed him. Besides that, I'd go there and say what, "You see, Doc, it's like this. I was gonna hit my kid and I missed and hit the door frame instead?" So now my left little finger is a little crookeder than the right little finger. To this day, Daniel doesn't cuss in front of me. Of course, he lives in California and we live in Washington.
   I used to babysit the little girl next door. She was at our house so much, I called her my part time child. One day, I packed her and our kids up and went to the grocery store. When we were in the produce department, a woman drops a head of lettuce, and this little girl, who was 3 years old at the time, says clearly and loudly, "s**t happens". The woman looked shocked and I told her the little girl wasn't mine, I just babysat her. Right after this, the little girl points and says,"look, Mommy", to me. The woman glared at me and hurried away. The little girl thought Mommy was my name, because our kids called me that.
   Art Linkletter was right when he said kids say the darnedest things.

Another Bright Sunny Day. Not!

   Well, here it is, another bright sunny day, with a breeze. Note the sarcasm. It's been so long since it's been a bright sunny day. Even when we've had sun, it hasn't been without clouds and for a whole day. We even have snow in the forecast. Some spring, so far.
   I have notices wildflowers starting to pop out of the ground and then trees are starting to bud out. It figures, because we are suppose to be below freezing for a couple of nights this week.
   I do like watching the sheep behind us. Two brown sheep are pretty entertaining. For some reason, they jump straight into the air, like they have been goosed, and then they continue as if nothing happened. So far, there is still only one little lamb, and they have all stayed out of our yard. Chip isn't used to them so close, so it's his duty to bark at them all day when he sees movement.
   I used to raise angora goats, and I miss having goats around. I do admit, my poor old body isn't in any shape to care for them anymore, so I'll just enjoy the sheep behind us.
   The kids behind us have lost their play area since it's been taken over by farm animals. They are really interested in the stick house the kids made. I hope no animals fall in, since the kids dug a really deep hole under the stick house.
   I think after this last freeze, it will be time to put out the hummingbird feeders. We found a good spot for the bluebird house and Tim says he'll build me more. We've scoped out where we are going to enlarge the garden to.
   The pear and apple tree aren't doing very well. We are thinking the guy at the nursery told us wrong when he said they were the variety that didn't need other trees to cross pollinate with. We'll be getting more apple and pear trees. Tim also wants a couple apricots and plum trees. I think part of our tree's problem is the moles. Maybe, since the trees haven't done much, we will have to move our orchard. That is the royal "we". Someone needs to supervise, so it might as well be me.

We're Ready For The Garden, But The Weather Isn't

   Friday, Tim and I bought a peach tree and 3 cherry trees and great gobs of seeds. We probably have way too many pea and green bean seeds, but since the deer really liked peas and green beans last year, we figured we should buy more than we need. Besides, I can always can and freeze them, if we get any to harvest.
   Yesterday, Mother Nature let us know that it wasn't time to plant yet. We knew this already, since Mother's Day or after is when we usually have the last frost. Yesterday, we had rain, snow and pea size gropel. I'm sure I've probably spelled gropel wrong, but I couldn't find any place that listed it as a word, but I also must admit, I didn't look too hard. Gropel is soft hail. We learned this from the weather forecaster on the local news.

   Tim was out working in the yard when this storm rolled in. It may have been soft hail, but he said it still hurt as it pelted down on his head.
   Now of yesterday's several storms lasted long and it cleared up briefly before the next phase rolled in.
   I like watching the storms come rolling in over the hill we can see out the back/side windows, and I'm getting to be a pretty good judge as to when they will hit us.
   Behind us, the sheep are lambing. There is a really cute black sheep that could come and live over here. The guard llamas are trying to convince the horses next door to come to the fence and be friends.

   I have finally been able to go outside again, and because I can go outside again, Chip can go for walks again. He gets so excited about seeing me gather up the trash to take out because he knows he gets to go to. Unfortunately, the 2 dogs across the street still look like they'll come flying over the fence to attack us as we get closer to the street. They do have electric horse ribbon across the top of the fence, so maybe they are smart enough to not try.
   I have finished the booties for the christening set, but I still can't find a bonnet pattern I like. Crocheting isn't as much fun if I'm getting paid to do it, but it's extra money.

Carrot-Walnut Bread

   Many, many years ago, I cut a recipe for Carrot-Walnut Bread out of some newspaper. I have no idea when, but I think it was from The Enterprise when we lived in Simi Valley, CA. We moved from there in 1987, and I know I've been making this bread longer than that.
   The recipes calls for cooking this bread in the microwave, which is nice. The recipe is old enough to have microwaves without turn tables in them, because you have to rotate the bread.
   The bread oozed over the tops of my glass bread pans and made a nice mess in the microwave. I've since cooked it in the oven. One day, I think I'm going to add pineapple to the recipe and have sort of carrot cake bread.
   This is about the only way I could get the kids to eat carrots. As usual, I put more in than the recipe calls for. You can find the recipe on my recipe page. I hope you enjoy it.

April Fools Day

   Here it is April Fools Day. As kids, we thought it was really funny to switch the lids on the salt and pepper shakers. It would have been good if the bottoms of the shakers weren't clear. I don't remember doing too much else. We were an unimaginative bunch, but we also knew the pranks wouldn't really go over well.
   Our kids tried the switching of the salt and pepper shaker lids, but we always had clear shakers. I don't remember them doing much, either.
   Mother Nature is still fooling us with the promise of warmer, dryer weather, but soon changes her mind. It's been so long since I've seen any real sunshine, I'm not sure what it looks like any more. March was the 3rd rainiest March since the early 1900's. I like rain, but it's getting old. I'd like to go outside and not slip, slide and sink in mud. Green is finally popping through the ground. Yesterday, I saw a few buttercups popping up. There is hope.
   I think for fun and excitement this weekend, we will go and buy seeds for this years vegetable garden. The seeds are 50% off at one store and the seeds we got there last year grew well.
   I am finally finished with the new Christening afghan and 1 bootie. The other bootie will go quick. Now, if I could only find a bonnet pattern I like.
   I talked myself out of buying summer clothes. I have material and patterns already, I should just make them. What's a few more projects?
   I haven't but any recipes up here for a while, so I guess I'll do that, too. I think I will put a recipe for Carrot bread up. That's a project for tomorrow.
   I have been reading  a lot lately. I really like my Nook Color, but it would be nice if it wasn't quite as heavy as it is. Sometime this month, an app will be out to turn it into a tablet type thing like the iPad, only much cheaper. I'm assuming the app is free, but if it isn't, I'll get it anyway. Just what I need, more ways to waste time.
  

I've Been Falling Down On The Job

   Yup, I've been falling down on the job of posting things on here. The only excuse I have is I've been sick. I'm really tired of it, too. It's been 2 weeks now. I went to the Dr. last Friday and she said it was just a virus and if it continued into this week, go back and get some antibiotics. Well, I'm still sick, but I'm not going back to get antibiotics. I'm one of those weird people who are allergic to many, many antibiotics, so me on them is a last resort. Besides that, who wants to go to the Dr. when they don't feel good? I am feeling better anyway. Unfortunately, I shared with Tim and he isn't feeling better. Ah, the joys of married life.
   So, since I've been lazier than usual, I've had plenty of time for the endless crocheting and staring out the window. The other day, Rufus, a dog who lives behind us, came through the yard carrying a back deer leg. I hope it wasn't from one of our 3 usual visiting deer. Rufus was so happy with his leg.
   The robins are out and about finding worms. Our metal pecker is back and pecking at the vents on the roof. Today, I've noticed the bluebirds are coming back. Tim made me a bluebird house, but it's not outside yet.
   Today, I have to start playing catch up and do what I haven't done because I was sick. Just what I wanted to do. I'm sure this weekend, I'll be back to baking and life will be pretty much back to normal. Normal is so boring here, but I suppose boring is good.

Mud Season



Our front yard

    One of the seasons we have up here is mud season, and we're in that season now. The snow has pretty much melted and we have been having rain just about every day. We also made it up to 60 degrees yesterday. People were out in shorts. Spring is definitely on the way.
   We've also had some pretty strong winds along with the rain. A couple of our trees have snapped because of the wind. We are seriously thinking about cutting down a tree at the end of our house. If it should fall, depending on the direction, we could have it in our living room, and we'd rather not have it there.
   Jake and Chip go out and sniff the air. I wonder what catches their interest? Jake is not impressed at all with mud season. He hates his feet getting yet and icky. We need to plant more grass this year to help control the mud and give Jake a bigger area to walk.
   Chip, on the other hand, isn't fazed by mud. He tromps through anything and doesn't seem to mind. Of course, once he's in the house again, he has to jump on something before I wipe his feet off. The last thing Chip jumped on after his excursion out was the Christening afghan I was working on. I was using #10 thread. Anyway, the Christening afghan is no longer. Besides getting little muddy Chip prints all over it, Chip got tangled in it. I had a lot of hours into that afghan.  Good thing I like Chip. Chip is also getting a haircut because the mud really stays in his curly poodle leg hair. I figure by the time I finish clipping him, it will be time to clip what I have already finished. On day, I have to get some electric dog clippers instead of the Scaredy Cuts I use now, only because they will be much quicker.
   The mud is slippery and you sink and slide in it when you walk in it. Tim is really going to have a fun time fixing the driveway when the mud dries. Good thing he has his tractor. The driveway is such a mess. We have a 4x4 truck and it has trouble going up and down the driveway. One day, when we win that elusive lottery that we seldom play, we'll get gravel for the driveway, among many other things.
   If all this isn't bad enough, Saturday I came down with a cold or something. I was just sick not too long ago. What's with this? I break bones, I don't get sick. I would be happy with out the broken bones or being sick, though. I guess I'll just have to sit around and crochet a new Christening afghan and read.

I Made Butter Yesterday

   I made butter yesterday. It was pretty easy to do. I would never have thought of doing it, if I didn't see how in an Organic Gardening magazine I got last year. Making butter is cheaper than buying butter.
   I used a quart of heavy whipping cream and my handy, dandy Kitchen Aid mixer. I poured the cream in the mixer bowl and turned it on medium  until the cream started to thicken, then I turned it on high. I stopped the mixer a few times and scraped the bowl. It took about 10 minutes before the cream/butter looked like fine scrambled eggs. I never would have guessed the white cream would turn, well, butter yellow. I always thought some coloring was added. I learn something everyday.
   Next, I poured out the buttermilk and got exactly 2 cups and 1 pound of butter. I rinsed the butter under the faucet using cold water, and our tap water is very cold. Then I put about 1/2 a cup of ice water in the bowl and squished the butter on the side of the bowl and poured off that water. I did this until the water ran clear. I used my hands, (yest, they were clean), to do this, since the butter was already hard.
   I have been looking for a butter bell to keep the butter in since butter turns into a brick, but since I don't have one, I looked on the internet to see how to make spreadable butter. A lot of the recipes called for oil and water mixed in. I didn't want to add water, so I just added Canola oil until it was the consistency I wanted. I mixed it up with the mixer and put the spreadable butter in a covered Rubbermaid container. I figure the butter is a tad bit healthier adding Canola oil to it. I would have used Olive Oil if I had any. I also didn't salt the butter.
   I made a loaf of bread with 1 cup of the homemade buttermilk. The other cup will go towards baking, too. I know, I could drink it. I wonder how chocolate butter milk is? I think I'll pass.
   Last night for supper we had homemade bread made with homemade buttermilk and homemade butter, homegrown corn, mashed potatoes made from homegrown potatoes, homemade gravy for our store bought eye of round roast. It was a very good meal. We had ice cream for dessert. It wasn't homemade, but I'm going to work on that. It's leftovers tonight. Hmm, I wonder why I'm not loosing any weight?
   I haven't decided if I'm going to make butter from now on for everything, like baking and such, or just for the non-baking uses.
   Between the baking, butter making, gardening, spinning, sewing, crocheting, wanna-be weaving, natural dyeing, canning, and all the other household chores I do, I should be busy. I used to be called Betty Crocker, now, I think it should be Polly Pioneer.
  

Weird Winter

   This winter is weird. We moved up here from Lancaster, CA, in the Mojave desert. We lived there for about 18 years and we only had snow a handful of times. This year, they have had snow a few times. Snow when we lived there would have been nice. It doesn't stick around long there, but still, it's a break from brown.

   We have had over 60 inches so far this winter, but it doesn't seem like that much because it has melted and snowed again. Several times. I haven't been keeping track of the snow fall amounts too much this year, like I have past winters. It's snowing now and we are suppose to have more snow for the next couple of weeks. I thought that groundhog said we weren't having 6 more weeks of winter. I know, it's only February. A week ago, or so, we made it up to 52. I saw kids in shorts and barefooted playing outside. That is about shorts weather up here.

   Last week was so cold, the dogs froze when they went out. I put socks on Chip's feet so his poor little feet would be a little warmer. Both Jake and Chip don't like what is called champagne snow, the fine powdery snow that is good for skiers. They like the fluffy, big, wet flakes, which also seem warmer. Putting socks on Chip reminded me of putting socks an babies, except by the time I thought I had socks on all 4 of Chip's feet, he managed to have 2 of them off. They did make a difference, though. Jake's foot with the 3 toes is the only one that seemed to bother him. We really do need to find the do boots. Jake has a pair and the other pair is way too big for either dog, since we bought them for Dixie, who weighed 150 pounds.

   We are trying to decide how much bigger to make the garden and what to plant. Doing that. just makes us wish it was May or June already. The rule of thumb up here, is, you plant after Mother's Day. Sometimes, that is still too early.

   Today, I'm working on the Christening afghan, washing clothes and making french bread to go with our spaghetti, and watching the snow fall. Life sure is rough.

What's With The Weird Real Feel Weather?

   I have noticed on the Accuweather thing I put on my blog, that sometimes it has the real feel as being warmer than the actual temperature. I can honestly tell you, I don't agree with it. If it's 29 outside and it says the real feel is 34, to me, it really feels like 29 and sometimes colder. I live here, I should know how the temperature really feels.
   Right now, as I write this, it says the temperature is 20 with a real feel of -3. Yes, the wind makes it feel at least -3, if not colder. I'm sure the blowing snow in the wind as it hits your face is much colder. That's why my face isn't out in it. Now, if I could only convince the dogs to go out quicker, it would be really nice, since we don't have a fenced in section for them and we hang out the door waiting for them. We don't want Jake and Chip to be predator food.
   Hanging out the open door lets in some real feel cold air, too. What? The thermometer says it's 68 in here? I don't think so. It really feels like 63. We never have the door open long enough for the inside temperature to drop that much. It just really feels like it.
   In the summer, should we feel cooler if the real feel is 89 when it's really 92? To me, 89 or 92, is still hot.Or if the temperature and real feel are the same, are we supposed to feel hotter or colder?
   I'll tell you how the weather really works. If my mother is cold you have to put on a sweater or coat. That's just how it is and always has been. Luckily, if she's hot, we don't have to take any clothes off. That would be a truly scary sight. I guess some mothers have real feel settings built in. As a kid, we'd leave the house with our coats on and take them off as soon as we were far enough away from the house so she wouldn't see us, and if we froze, we sure weren't going to admit it.
   So, what does all this prove? If you really want to know what the real feel temperature is, go outside. If you're hit with a blast of cold, icy wind, it's cold, and if you're hit with a blast of hot air, it's hot.
   In case no one guessed, this is not to be taken seriously. I do know about why real feel temps feel different than actual temps.