It's Finally Spring!

We had a bit of  late winter with cold wind and rain.  The rain was wonderful but the cold was not so gratefully received by me.  I had to drag all the houseplants back in and the tomato and pepper plants that I had just hardened off for planting.  But it saved me from having to buy more because it froze two nights during that time.  I tried making asparagus soup out of the frozen stalks from the garden but I was not fond of it or maybe it was the psychological aspect of the limp spears that I had to work with. Now, Spring has truly arrived at last!  And now I'm getting rather tired of asparagus.  Tonight, I tried the unhealthy method of dipping the spears into flour, then beaten egg and then panko (Japanese bread crumbs), it was delicious as were the eggplant slices.  They had big, beautiful eggplant for $1.00 last week at City Market (King Soopers).  And it made us 4 meals, a few slices at a time.  I love Spring with all the yummy veggies and fruit coming into season somewhere in the world.  I, also love that my garden will be growing goodies for me to eat and  can for winter.  I have one jar of corn left and quite a few green beans left from last year and some tomatoes and spaghetti sauce.  Still have tons of jelly and pickles left so no more of pickles to can this year and I'll have to do a few jelly, I'm hoping for grape this year as have none of that.  It looks like no plums made it this year or peaches or apples at my grove.  However, the Nanking cherries will have some trees with fruit that survived the late freeze.  So far I have peas coming up and the tomatoes, peppers and cabbage and onions are planted.  I have to get the green beans and okra in, as well as squash and cucumbers planted.  Beets, too.
It's all hard work but rewarding.  Can't wait until the tomatoes get ripe!  I planted quite a few heirlooms this year, some that I have never tasted.  Planted 4 of my favorite Mr. Stripey, yellow with a rosy blush starting at the blossom end and growing outward through the tomato.  It's low acid and so juicy.  It makes lovely tomato juice, too.  Can't wait!
We had to kill one of our chickens tonight.  We'd been noticing her butt was always shitty (sorry couldn't think of a better word) but tonight a gross big shitty wad of flesh was hanging out of her anus and so we did her in.  Farming, what fun!  She went to the garbage, of course.
  I finally got the asparagus bed weeded out tonight.  Then after Pat went to bed, I finished the note card folio that I had started this am.  It turned out very cute if I do say so!  I now have all my planned acts of kindness gifts all done and will start mailing them Wednesday.    Time for"beddy bye." Goodnight.                                       

Good grief, it's May!

April came and went fast!  We had more winter during that time so it thwarted my Spring ambitions.  Pat and I with the help of a friend got the tiling started in the breakfast room behind the wood stove we are putting in and we have a lot more to go after we get the tile saw. 
The lambs are quite placid little sheep already except for Snow White which I call Grasshopper as she jumps up in the air all four feet off the ground.  She's getting a bit calmer but I still delight in her occasional forays into silly hood!
I have a new obsession!  I got into watching You Tube Artsy videos and found out it was like going to school  and you could learn all sorts of cool things and I found Kathy Orta Files and later many more.  So I became very excited about Kathy Orta Files and ordered her book.  As soon as I got it I started making the books that she had in her book.  4 in total and I completed them all and started making them all again and now I am just about all done with the projects for all the people on my Facebook planned acts of kindness.  I'm going to teach the first book to a class end of this month.  This weekend is National Scrapbooking Day celebration and I am going to play hooky and watch 3 special classes presented by Laura Dennison, Kathy Orta Files, and Kathryn Krieger.  I even bought myself some special  food treats like it is a sporting event!  I warned Pat about my plans; he's going boating with his friend Roger in their new co-owned motor boat Saturday.  So I'm having my own little "elk hunt", and we are having hotdogs Saturday night so I can stay up late and get up early to watch my "classes" with minimal work on the wife's part.
Lou, you mentioned wanting to know about the envelope punch board.  You can get it from Stampin' Up or We R Memory Keepers.  You can find tutorials on Pinterest and You Tube.  One of my favorites in Sam Donald's site Pootles on You Tube.  She's from the UK and a very good teacher. 
Well, it's heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to work I go.  Got to plant peas today and hit the greenhouse before all the good stuff is gone as the weather is starting a warm up now.  I hope it's the final warm up that means Spring rather than the abrupt reversal back into winter that we just went through.  Happy Spring to all.

Surprise!

Thursday evening, March 20th, Pat and I were walking to the barn to do evening chores, when Pat says " Blackface has a baby!"  Sure enough the sheep we didn't know was pregnant as she was 10 years old and didn't have hers with the others, has a tiny little white lamb.  She was a 10 lb. 9 oz. little girl.  I named her Snow White.   Black Face was just talking like crazy to the little lamb and is extremely attentive to her!  It's sweet.  But as always Black Face only tolerated one day in the barn and then she kicks like a mule on the walls and gate of the lambing pen so we will let her out.  We hated to let her out as we had a cold spell arrive and the lamb hasn't developed a good fat layer yet but we had to.  I noticed that mama snuggles her little one up close when they lay down outside so the lamb can stay warm.  She is still very verbal and protective of her lamb.  I can't wait until it is really truly Spring and warm every day! 

The Meadowlarks Are Back

Yesterday, I knew it was Spring for sure now; because the meadowlarks are back!  It is so lovely to hear them sing.  I think it affected us more than we knew.  Pat plowed the garden and when he was done I slipped off my flip flops and walked in the dirt and it was really pretty warm.  The nights are still dipping quite a bit below freezing, however; so no planting quite yet unless I try peas.  I got the front flower bed raked and trimmed down.  Next I will need to do the back flower bed where the tulips are coming up thick. 

We are going to put a wood stove in the breakfast nook area to help heat the house this next winter.  so we had to move Pat's albino deer and case out to the shop for storage and we got that done yesterday, too.  Then, that evening we did the elastrator thing on all the little boy lambs.  Pat grabs them and I sit in a folding chair and hold them so Pat can put the elastrator band on their testicles, as all of them had dropped their testicles into their scrotums now.  They were all very good while I held them and it was amazing how big they had gotten since they had been born!  We must have done a good job as none of them laid down and acted in pain when we got done.  That always makes me feel better.  Because I hate to see my babies in pain! 

Now, it's Sabbath and I don't have any functions at church today; so, I am going to play hooky and let my sinuses drain and hack up the drainage when it makes me cough instead of taking cough suppressant and wishing I could curl up in the pew and sleep.  It seems to be Spring allergies already!  Now, for a little nap after breakfast!

Butternut Squash Rolls

Makes about 2 dozen.
375 degrees F. for 20-25 min.

1 pkg. dry yeast
1 cup warm milk and 1/4 c warm water (110-115)
3 T. softened butter
2 t. salt
1/2 c. sugar
1 c. mashed cooked butternut squash
5-5 1/2 c. flour, divided

In mixing bowl dissolve yeast in water and milk with sugar and let yeast work about 2 minutes, if yeast doesn't make foamy isles then throw away and get fresh yeast.  Now add rest of ingredients and 3 c. of flour.  Beat until smooth.  Add remaining flour as needed to make a soft dough.  Turn out on floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic.  Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top also.  Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.  Punch dough down and form into rolls on a greased pan and cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 min.  Then bake. 

These have a lovely color with the flecks of squash throughout.  So now you know what to do with extra butternut squash.  I package 1 c. of cooked squash and zip lock bag it in freezer and when I'm ready to make rolls, I nuke a bag until it is warm and then add it to the dough. 
 

First week of retirement over

Well, last week was my first week of retirement.  No other jobs than home, supposedly!  I was very good and assigned myself tasks for each day and marked them off as I did them.  Then Thursday I gave in and had a bit of fun learning how to make cool things with my newest toy, an envelope punch board.  Mine is from Stampin'Up (SU).  We Are Memory Keepers has one, too.  They work the same but WAMK has a blue punch button and scorer.  They not only make envelopes in whatever size you need but they make cute boxes and gift bags and other cutesy things.  I've been watching tutorials on You Tube and learning lots.  I wish I was getting commission on all the ones I've told people about who ordered them!  I've been with Close to My Heart (CTMH) for 6 1/2 years and I'm kind of wishing I was with SU.  Have been attending some classes for SU in Grand Junction with a friend and I really like the emphasis on tools that they are into.  I think CTMH is falling behind.  They, CTMH, is into the Cricut (an electronic cutting machine) but I really like the new thin metal dies to use with the BigShot.   This probably looks like Greek to someone who doesn't do all this stuff but you should learn, it is FUN!    Take classes, and if you don't like the teacher, find a new one.  Everybody has different ideas of what and how they are taught.  I've also found as a teacher that some students are not easy to teach and you may have to help them find someone else, put in a different class or teach them on a one to one basis or tell them goodbye.   As a student, I don't care as long as I get to learn new stuff.
 So, I have the grapes pruned, the asparagus bed cleaned and most of the weeds in garden in a big pile to burn.  I am once again re-arranging my craft room.  Will I ever figure out the right way to set it up so it will function at it's best?  I am trying to set up a beading area, plus a stamping, paper area to work with all my various tools and then there is polymer clay and good grief, I need a barn.  I have the counted cross stitch in the bedroom and the knitting and crochet in both the living room and bedroom.  Then there are the books and magazines I can't part with.  My obsession with cookbooks, is getting out of control, but I even like to read them, too, from cover to cover.
Today I had a class with a lady who is sweet and 82 but poor memory.  I'm relieved when it is over. 
Well, I'll bake buns tomorrow for hamburgers for supper.  Think I'll make the butternut squash ones.  Need to make cookies, too.   
 

God's promises are for us today

We are having many problems with Pat's dad.  He's becoming quite delusional and paranoid.  The reason, we moved him over here was Pat's love for his dad and that he was becoming more and more in need of help and we worried that in his declining years he would have no one.  In the process of all this we found he was depressed and somewhat mentally ill.  But it has reached the place where we can not be around him as he has a long list of litanies about all the things we do or don't do and more and more of it is not true.  It hurts Pat horribly.  Pat's dad is instead now fond of his son-in-law who's wife is dead and is now openly in a relationship with the woman who he was cheating with while his wife was alive.   The wife was dad's daughter!  Pat had another episode with his dad yesterday.  This morning, I was reading my Bible chapter for the day.  II Chronicles 20:12 says "We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on You."  God informed the king who prayed this that the battle was not his and he was not to be discouraged or afraid,  that the battle was God's.  I thought that this verse and story was so how we should handle this situation.  Then I thought there was probably some of you who could use this verse in your lives, also.  Hence the new post.  Read the whole chapter to see it in context and to find out what God did.  May God touch you today as you read His word.