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.
Monday, February 17, 2014
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Tomatoes in Winter
Monday, Pat and I had our first homegrown tomatoes. They were small but oh so good! You see, I grow them indoors. Each fall I chop off some good looking pieces of tomato plants and bring them indoors and root them in water. They root rapidly and with great enthusiasm. Then I plant them in big pots and grow them in my west window. I seem to have the best luck with Roma tomatoes, but I'll try anything once. They don't do much until the end of December and then something happens and they start to go nuts. I pollinate the blooms with a paintbrush or a Q-tip, pretending I am an indecisive bee. Going from one to the other and back again. Two of my plants are not happy and have just a couple of tomatoes on them and the leaves say, " excuse me but I am weary of growing!"
The Roma tomato though has 14 tomatoes on it so far and 2 are starting to turn. I wish I had a south window but alas I do not. These tomatoes keep our hearts happy until Spring and zucchini time. However, by the time the garden tomatoes are ready, we are ready to be tomato gluttons once again and marvel at the luxury of having plates full of red and yellow tomatoes and 2nd and 3rd helpings, if we desire. We laugh about our winter ecstasy of a tiny tomato cut into quarters so we get 4 bites out of a tomato that could be eaten in one bite. A bit of a good thing is better than none.
Speaking of zucchini, I found a really good fast recipe for zucchini fritters in an Amish cookbook that I only tweaked a little and Pat and I love it.
Cast Iron Skillet Zucchini Fritters
2 c. grated zucchini, skin and all
2 medium carrots, peeled and grated.
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 c. flour
salt to taste (about 1/2 teaspoon)
Cavendar's Greek seasoning to taste (about I teaspoon)
Mix all together and drop by spoonful, then flatten, into hot vegetable oil.
Brown until crisp on both sides.
Serve immediately.
It may seem strange to add all that flour but it soaks up the juice from the watery zucchini and makes a nice firm patty. Since I added way more onion (we love onions) and added the Cavendar's and cooked it in a cast iron skillet I renamed it.
The cookbook I found it in is:
Cooking with the Horse and Buggy People II
from the 207 women of Holmes County, Ohio
We have a lot of Mennonite people in the area and they have a small store where you can buy some things in bulk and others in small packages that they portion out the bulk into at the store. You can also buy a few cookbooks and other interesting things. I bought some pretty cookie sprinkles lately.
For those of you who don't like onions, do like I do with garlic, start out with a tiny bit and then work your way up to more. Onions are known to strengthen the nerve synapses so they can better carry messages to your brain. And garlic has great benefits regarding preventing colds and infections so....I am learning to use garlic.
Funny how if you grow up not eating certain foods you have to make yourself eat them and other foods, you love the first time you taste them. I adore all olives and some say that it is a genetic trait to prefer them. The first time I ate Mexican food I loved it, even though I'm a baby about too much heat. (What's not to like about pinto beans!) And the first time I ate Greek food, I knew I was really part Greek! But, durian fruit, who ever decided that it would be good to eat had no sense of smell or taste, in my book. And why would anyone ever think of eating an octopus! Did they catch one and just think it gross and threw it in the fire and then some brave soul say hey, it smells good, let me taste it? And then they all decided to taste it and pronounced it good? And currently chefs, are using squid ink in their cooking and people are eating it and smiling after a bite with black teeth and lips and tongue! Please! I think durian might be preferable! Anyway. Happy eating what ever you like! Spring is coming!
I think I am going to try more heirloom seeds this year. The best two catalogs I have found are Seeds of Change and Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. Both are good reading, too. I'm going to place my seed order in Feb. after my old age check comes in. They say you should actually order in January, but in January I'm not quite ready to garden yet. February though, I've had it with winter! Bring on Spring!
The Roma tomato though has 14 tomatoes on it so far and 2 are starting to turn. I wish I had a south window but alas I do not. These tomatoes keep our hearts happy until Spring and zucchini time. However, by the time the garden tomatoes are ready, we are ready to be tomato gluttons once again and marvel at the luxury of having plates full of red and yellow tomatoes and 2nd and 3rd helpings, if we desire. We laugh about our winter ecstasy of a tiny tomato cut into quarters so we get 4 bites out of a tomato that could be eaten in one bite. A bit of a good thing is better than none.
Speaking of zucchini, I found a really good fast recipe for zucchini fritters in an Amish cookbook that I only tweaked a little and Pat and I love it.
Cast Iron Skillet Zucchini Fritters
2 c. grated zucchini, skin and all
2 medium carrots, peeled and grated.
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 c. flour
salt to taste (about 1/2 teaspoon)
Cavendar's Greek seasoning to taste (about I teaspoon)
Mix all together and drop by spoonful, then flatten, into hot vegetable oil.
Brown until crisp on both sides.
Serve immediately.
It may seem strange to add all that flour but it soaks up the juice from the watery zucchini and makes a nice firm patty. Since I added way more onion (we love onions) and added the Cavendar's and cooked it in a cast iron skillet I renamed it.
The cookbook I found it in is:
Cooking with the Horse and Buggy People II
from the 207 women of Holmes County, Ohio
We have a lot of Mennonite people in the area and they have a small store where you can buy some things in bulk and others in small packages that they portion out the bulk into at the store. You can also buy a few cookbooks and other interesting things. I bought some pretty cookie sprinkles lately.
For those of you who don't like onions, do like I do with garlic, start out with a tiny bit and then work your way up to more. Onions are known to strengthen the nerve synapses so they can better carry messages to your brain. And garlic has great benefits regarding preventing colds and infections so....I am learning to use garlic.
Funny how if you grow up not eating certain foods you have to make yourself eat them and other foods, you love the first time you taste them. I adore all olives and some say that it is a genetic trait to prefer them. The first time I ate Mexican food I loved it, even though I'm a baby about too much heat. (What's not to like about pinto beans!) And the first time I ate Greek food, I knew I was really part Greek! But, durian fruit, who ever decided that it would be good to eat had no sense of smell or taste, in my book. And why would anyone ever think of eating an octopus! Did they catch one and just think it gross and threw it in the fire and then some brave soul say hey, it smells good, let me taste it? And then they all decided to taste it and pronounced it good? And currently chefs, are using squid ink in their cooking and people are eating it and smiling after a bite with black teeth and lips and tongue! Please! I think durian might be preferable! Anyway. Happy eating what ever you like! Spring is coming!
I think I am going to try more heirloom seeds this year. The best two catalogs I have found are Seeds of Change and Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. Both are good reading, too. I'm going to place my seed order in Feb. after my old age check comes in. They say you should actually order in January, but in January I'm not quite ready to garden yet. February though, I've had it with winter! Bring on Spring!
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
The last lambs
Mon the 27th of January, I got home from my job and found Brownie barely dilated but with 2 little hooves and a nose protruding. So I raced to the house and changed into farm clothes (which means I look like the little match girl or worse). I get back to the barn yard and tried to get a gloved hand into the sheep so I can help her and the dog runs over and the sheep jumps up and insists she must have her lambs in that very spot outside but not with a dog. So I run the dog to the house and lock her in. I call my father-in-law to see if he could hold the sheep down while I assist her but he is leaving for an appointment. It's been a half hour now at least with the sheep in this condition and the lamb in same. So as I run back to the barn, I tell God He has to help me because He is all I've got. Well, God was enough. Just as I got to the gate, the sheep stood up and splatted out the lamb. Little arms and legs everywhere (oops, no arms just legs!). I thanked God! Then the ram decided I and the sheep needed attention so I had to lure the ram into the feeder area and lock him in and then grab the lamb and race hunched over with it so the mother could see him and follow to the barn. I get the mother and baby into the stall and start drying the baby off as he is shivering. Used up my barn towel supply so I run to the house to get more. When I get back to the barn, Brownie has had another lamb, a little girl. The little boy is brown and named Mr. Miracle and the little girl is white and is named Cream. Both are doing well. It's like Siberia outside but the lambs dance about like it's July. I notice they keep track of Mom real well. That life giving warm milk is the key to their survival.
Yesterday, Joan (Marty's niece) called us to let us know our neighbor, Charles Marty, died. It will seem so strange without him around anymore. But we are glad he could go. The end of life when you get old is no fun and the last breath is welcome. I guess the government owns the place now. Something about when his wife died and needed a nursing home he got to keep the land and house until his death and then the government got it. Marty (he went by his last name) was quite a character and he decided to give the government some fun when he died so he hauled a lot of junk onto the property. I've never seen so much trash. Pallets to make the city folks that make all that stuff out of pallets green with envy, if they weren't so rotted now. Wire hangers to hang a million tail pipes up in the inner city. Stuff like that. I try not to look too closely when I have to go over there! He has bunches of mink cages lining his driveway on both sides and its a good length of driveway! Well, his hauling is over and now someone else will be doing it in reverse.
Yesterday, Joan (Marty's niece) called us to let us know our neighbor, Charles Marty, died. It will seem so strange without him around anymore. But we are glad he could go. The end of life when you get old is no fun and the last breath is welcome. I guess the government owns the place now. Something about when his wife died and needed a nursing home he got to keep the land and house until his death and then the government got it. Marty (he went by his last name) was quite a character and he decided to give the government some fun when he died so he hauled a lot of junk onto the property. I've never seen so much trash. Pallets to make the city folks that make all that stuff out of pallets green with envy, if they weren't so rotted now. Wire hangers to hang a million tail pipes up in the inner city. Stuff like that. I try not to look too closely when I have to go over there! He has bunches of mink cages lining his driveway on both sides and its a good length of driveway! Well, his hauling is over and now someone else will be doing it in reverse.
Monday, January 27, 2014
Monday, Monday, once again
January 27th: Friday night our Suffolk sheep had 2 lambs, a boy and a girl. Since it was my brother Paul's birthday I named the boy Paul and the girl Bev. Then yesterday Rosie had babies. I found one laying on the ground half frozen and the other had just been born. I grabbed the frozen lamb and put in barn and then grabbed newborn and got mama Rosie to follow me. After they were in a stall I grabbed frozen one and raced to the house and wrapped it in a big flannel sheet. A swaddled lamb! I raced back to barn and fixed up mama and a little boy. Then to the shop to get bottles and milk replacer and diapers. Then back to house. The little girl was very, very cold yet and her face appeared deformed. Her upper jaw wasn't as long as the lower jaw and her nose area wasn't well developed but she was so close to death that her lower jaw jutted out very pronounced so I wondered if once she relaxed and got warm if she would appear better. So I made some formula and dribbled a bit in her mouth which she swallowed little of. I ended up just holding her on my chest as I half reclined in my chair and talking to her and petting her and I got a bit of eye response and later a few noises, no true baa. After about an hour of holding, she died and as her face relaxed, you could tell that she was definitely deformed and would not have been able to nurse or eat normally so it was good that she could go. I named her Petunia. I saved her so Pat could see her when he got home from ice fishing. The little boy hasn't been named yet. He is a little frail acting. One more very pregnant ewe, Brownie, left to have babies yet. If Black face is pregnant, we can't tell so we rather suspect she is past her breeding life. She is 10.
Saturday afternoon, we went and saw our neighbor, Charles Marty, which everyone just calls Marty, at St. Mary's hospital in Grand Junction. His niece said his heart was working at about 20% and his kidneys were failing. We wanted to say goodbye, so to speak, while he was still alive. He woke up and talked a bit to us but he was coughing a lot due to congestive heart failure. He told us they were practicing on him so they could help someone else down the road! Which is sort of the way it goes, isn't it! I peeked at his urine bag and saw the urine was black. Not a good sign! So we hope Marty can go soon and without much more fiddling. But the niece told us yesterday they were going to check out his lungs and see if he had blood clots there. No rest for the dying.
Well, in a brighter note, God goes through everything with us. So we can rest in His arms when we get tired. Take care and have a peaceful day as Jesus walks with you as surely as He walked with the disciples on those dusty roads of Galilee. He'll wash your feet, too.
Saturday afternoon, we went and saw our neighbor, Charles Marty, which everyone just calls Marty, at St. Mary's hospital in Grand Junction. His niece said his heart was working at about 20% and his kidneys were failing. We wanted to say goodbye, so to speak, while he was still alive. He woke up and talked a bit to us but he was coughing a lot due to congestive heart failure. He told us they were practicing on him so they could help someone else down the road! Which is sort of the way it goes, isn't it! I peeked at his urine bag and saw the urine was black. Not a good sign! So we hope Marty can go soon and without much more fiddling. But the niece told us yesterday they were going to check out his lungs and see if he had blood clots there. No rest for the dying.
Well, in a brighter note, God goes through everything with us. So we can rest in His arms when we get tired. Take care and have a peaceful day as Jesus walks with you as surely as He walked with the disciples on those dusty roads of Galilee. He'll wash your feet, too.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
The first lambs
7:45AM 1-14-14
Pat called me from the barn this morning, I said, "do we have babies?" He said," I see one so far." So I quick bundled up and went to the barn. Little Girl had 2 babies sometime last night. They were both nice and dry. The little boy is the biggest and has white markings amid the chocolate; including a bull's eye around one eye! Hence his name will be Bull's Eye. The little girl is a tiny thing and solid chocolate as far as I can tell now. Both appear to be little hair sheep so I suspect that Cocoa Puff snuck one in before we moved him in the ram pen. I will name the little girl, Midge (short for midget). Pat and I will weigh the babies and put a tag in their ear and notch the boy ear tonight, as he had to hurry off to work. We found it's a lot easier to find the boys when their ears are notched.
Last night when I was doing chores, a huge hawk flew into the willow trees by the chicken yard. So today I'll weave some baling twine across the top of the chicken yard as Pat says they don't like to go where their wings could get caught. The chickens are confined to the pen for at least 1 week and maybe two. We had a hen, last late summer, make her nest in the barn to set on. And we left her and she raised her babies there and they called it home. It was a dreadful mistake on our part. The chickens roosted up in the rafters and did Vitamin S all over the barn and everything in the barn. So, Sunday morning Pat eliminated 4 roosters and 1 hen that didn't cooperate. Then Sunday evening, we clipped all the chickens wings on one side so they couldn't fly out of the chicken yard and got the 2 hens from the barn and put them in with the other chickens. Now they have to learn this is their home and here is where they lay their eggs. One rooster escaped, but he is a bantam and has been roosting in the willow trees all winter long. One night in December, it rained and froze and then snowed and we thought surely he would go to the barn with the other chickens but no, he's a tough bird. Well, I'd better get with it. Have to bake bread and make cookies today.
Pat called me from the barn this morning, I said, "do we have babies?" He said," I see one so far." So I quick bundled up and went to the barn. Little Girl had 2 babies sometime last night. They were both nice and dry. The little boy is the biggest and has white markings amid the chocolate; including a bull's eye around one eye! Hence his name will be Bull's Eye. The little girl is a tiny thing and solid chocolate as far as I can tell now. Both appear to be little hair sheep so I suspect that Cocoa Puff snuck one in before we moved him in the ram pen. I will name the little girl, Midge (short for midget). Pat and I will weigh the babies and put a tag in their ear and notch the boy ear tonight, as he had to hurry off to work. We found it's a lot easier to find the boys when their ears are notched.
Last night when I was doing chores, a huge hawk flew into the willow trees by the chicken yard. So today I'll weave some baling twine across the top of the chicken yard as Pat says they don't like to go where their wings could get caught. The chickens are confined to the pen for at least 1 week and maybe two. We had a hen, last late summer, make her nest in the barn to set on. And we left her and she raised her babies there and they called it home. It was a dreadful mistake on our part. The chickens roosted up in the rafters and did Vitamin S all over the barn and everything in the barn. So, Sunday morning Pat eliminated 4 roosters and 1 hen that didn't cooperate. Then Sunday evening, we clipped all the chickens wings on one side so they couldn't fly out of the chicken yard and got the 2 hens from the barn and put them in with the other chickens. Now they have to learn this is their home and here is where they lay their eggs. One rooster escaped, but he is a bantam and has been roosting in the willow trees all winter long. One night in December, it rained and froze and then snowed and we thought surely he would go to the barn with the other chickens but no, he's a tough bird. Well, I'd better get with it. Have to bake bread and make cookies today.
Sunday, January 12, 2014
A New Year
It has been almost a year since I posted last. I'm ashamed. But last year was interesting. We had, probably, our last annual lamb roast. We continue to downgrade our sheep population as we are getting old and with Pat working full time plus extra, making hay is difficult to find time for. Plus we have had little snow pack on the Grand Mesa the last couple of years, so the irrigation water supply was greatly decreased. Which means no water to grow hay.
This fall, I decided to quit several of my part time jobs so I could concentrate on growing more of our own food and canning much more. Last summer I canned spaghetti sauce and it is so great to be able to open a quart of homemade sauce and it saves on the budget. So this coming summer, I am also going to make pizza sauce as I have a great dough recipe now and I adore pizza. I found a good site for ordering cheap books, Alibris! I ordered, Food For 50 , which will probably be an adequate size recipe for me to can new things. Plus I ordered, What Can I Bring Cookbook by Ann Bryn and Vegetable Love by Barbara Kafka. I love Kafka's cookbooks, they are fun to read as well as good recipes. And the cookbook by Ann Bryn is really good. I have tried 3 of the recipes so far and they are keepers. The savory cheesecake was good and impressive. The spinach balls are a great appetizer which you can freeze and cook in 12 min when you get to where you are going. The lemon cheesecake with gingersnap crust was good. She also tells you the best way to transport your finished dish to the potluck or party to keep it beautiful and safe to eat. I am doing a church vegetarian cookbook and it has really forced me to find good food recipes to fill in the gaps. It has also gotten me excited about cooking again. I had gotten bad about convenience food and thought it saved time but actually if you have a good recipe and the food is in your pantry you can make it from scratch just as fast and the taste is far better. So, it proves you CAN teach an old dog new tricks.
Apparently, our removal of the rams from the ewes was not soon enough and now we are going to have lambs in winter! We only have 5 ewes and 2 of them will be having their last lambs due to age. It is so sad to grow so close to them and then have to get rid of them. We've had them since 2004! Now I just hope the babies live and their mothers love them all. I really don't want a lamb to raise by bottle this year! I've found that the lambs don't survive well unless I throw them in bed with me and diaper them and truly become their mother. The lambs however think that they are supposed to eat paper if they hang out with me and poo-poo (or vitamin S, as Pat calls it) if they hang out with the dog. So I have learned to let them go to live with the other sheep much sooner than they are ready to go just so they will learn to eat grass. Then I have to run out with supplemental bottles several times a day. Boy, those little lambs come running when they see me coming with a bottle, baaing all the way! Does a mother's heart good!
So, I will try to keep you informed of this year better than I did last year! Love, me
This fall, I decided to quit several of my part time jobs so I could concentrate on growing more of our own food and canning much more. Last summer I canned spaghetti sauce and it is so great to be able to open a quart of homemade sauce and it saves on the budget. So this coming summer, I am also going to make pizza sauce as I have a great dough recipe now and I adore pizza. I found a good site for ordering cheap books, Alibris! I ordered, Food For 50 , which will probably be an adequate size recipe for me to can new things. Plus I ordered, What Can I Bring Cookbook by Ann Bryn and Vegetable Love by Barbara Kafka. I love Kafka's cookbooks, they are fun to read as well as good recipes. And the cookbook by Ann Bryn is really good. I have tried 3 of the recipes so far and they are keepers. The savory cheesecake was good and impressive. The spinach balls are a great appetizer which you can freeze and cook in 12 min when you get to where you are going. The lemon cheesecake with gingersnap crust was good. She also tells you the best way to transport your finished dish to the potluck or party to keep it beautiful and safe to eat. I am doing a church vegetarian cookbook and it has really forced me to find good food recipes to fill in the gaps. It has also gotten me excited about cooking again. I had gotten bad about convenience food and thought it saved time but actually if you have a good recipe and the food is in your pantry you can make it from scratch just as fast and the taste is far better. So, it proves you CAN teach an old dog new tricks.
Apparently, our removal of the rams from the ewes was not soon enough and now we are going to have lambs in winter! We only have 5 ewes and 2 of them will be having their last lambs due to age. It is so sad to grow so close to them and then have to get rid of them. We've had them since 2004! Now I just hope the babies live and their mothers love them all. I really don't want a lamb to raise by bottle this year! I've found that the lambs don't survive well unless I throw them in bed with me and diaper them and truly become their mother. The lambs however think that they are supposed to eat paper if they hang out with me and poo-poo (or vitamin S, as Pat calls it) if they hang out with the dog. So I have learned to let them go to live with the other sheep much sooner than they are ready to go just so they will learn to eat grass. Then I have to run out with supplemental bottles several times a day. Boy, those little lambs come running when they see me coming with a bottle, baaing all the way! Does a mother's heart good!
So, I will try to keep you informed of this year better than I did last year! Love, me
Monday, January 30, 2012
Groan, so many things to keep up with
I just wrote about Kindle and Pixel of Ink on facebook and that about does it for me but I do have a couple of things to blog about so I will try to get it together tomorrow to post a new blog.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)