Cold Seat!

I sure will be waiting impatiently for the warm, spring sunshine, to sit in, and soak up, in my chair every morning by the 'Coop'.

Snow!

Here is the first snow for my little chickens. They definatly did not like it! They wouldn't put their feet in it but everyone was having a big time eating it! Chickens are so funny, and they always make me laugh :)

I Cried :(((((

From this...

to this  :(((((((((

I was so excited to make this pie: The Million Dollar Apple Pie, had not had one in a LOOOOOOONG time, probably in middle school or high school!  I had the time, ingredients, and the notion to do it, all lined up at the same time, (that doesn't happen very often)!  Just baking along in my little kitchen just as happy as can be. Well the first clue, is the crust didn't quite look 'right' but didn't know for sure so I just shut the oven door and baked it a little bit longer, I guess I thought that if I shut the door it would somehow fix it. Well it didn't. You  can ask Sharon, I called her wailing on the phone, " My pie, my pie, my pie"!!!!!  Help me, what is the matter with it??????!!!!
So.....I don't know if I want to try it again or not, I was upset for 2 days over my apple pie SOUP!

Sandy Feet!

I went back in my archives to get this one but it is so cute I had to post it! A BIG difference now, oh how his mama liked his curls!

Tree Down

 

 

The neighbour  man had this HUGE tree cut down behind out house the other day. It was a forked tree with one fork his way and one fork our way. The tree service was going to charge the man $ 2,200 to have it cut and hauled away, Dustin heard the amount and thought that was highway robbery so he said he would cut it up if it be cheaper. Well the people only knocked $400 off the price, (swindlers if you ask me!) so that is how come we are playing in the wood chips. The tree was about 60 ft. tall because we measured to the first branch and it was 30 ft. That sure did punch a big hole in the shade behind the place. Maybe I will be able to grow flowers next year!

Pretty Lady!!!

Isn't this just a beautiful picture!!! Mama dear was up admiring Lois's flowers on a warm fall day and I just happened to be there to capture the moment. I was at the right place at the right time for sure!
 So glad to be able to call her  my mama!!

Good Memories!

I know this is a few months old but I thought I would post it anyway. This is taken at the old cabin that pre dates the one we stay in now. Pretty primitive , I am glad my boss decided to build a bigger one with running water!!

Morning Walk

I happened to be us real early one morning and grabbed my camera and went for a walk in the fog. It was very peaceful and quiet with all that fog muffling everything, or maybe it was nothing was stirring about yet. I enjoyed it though. The fog was so thick that when I was walking along the lake I couldn't see the edges and when the big blue herons would fly up out of the bushes by the waters edge it made me jump more than once! The fog was thick enough to turn my eyelashes and hair wet.
Sharon, do you remember going for our early morning horseback rides in the fog and coming back wet?

MY nest box!

Can't you just see that written all over her face?! This hen is the top her of the hen house for sure. She doesn't share very well but what can you do about it-nothing it's a chicken and they don't listen !! :)  Yesterday she was going along the row of nest boxes pecking the hens that were already in them chasing everyone out. For no reason too, just because she could I guess.
Now if I acted like that  my mama would have paddled me for sure!

Newlyweds

Here is one of the pictures from Sarah Beth and Jacob's wedding last Saturday. If you look closely you might see the goose bumps on her arms. It was around 50 degrees and a strong wind blowing makes me shiver to remember :)

EGGS !

I was so excited today when I went to take care of my chickens this morning, I found 6 eggs in the nest box!
I have been giving the neighbor lady some of the eggs also ( she was only getting 1 or 2 at a time because that is all I was getting ) and of the few I gave her she told me she had a double yoked one the other morning, how about that, and it was a pullet egg at that too! I like the little eggs because they are so cute :)  I finally had enough eggs to use my little egg basket for the first time.  Happy hens lay lots of eggs :)

Custard

Mama dear here is the custard recipe that I used over the week end. Don't know what happened with it, but the chickens sure did like it!

                     3 beaten eggs
                     1/4 c. sugar
                     pinch of salt
                     2c. of milk
                     1 tsp. of vanilla
                     Nutmeg

Beat eggs, add sugar, pinch of salt, and milk, mix all together.
Add vanilla. Add a sprinkle of grated nutmeg. Pour into sm. ramekins. Set all in a shallow pan with one inch of hot water. Bake in a 325 degree oven for 35-40 min.

Country!

    

Now that is about as country as it comes!  I was walking down the road with my camera the last time we went camping at

Magnet and it was early in the morning as the sun was coming up and this is what I passed and I couldn't help but stop and take a picture, it was so pretty.  The night be before in that same field there were so many lightning bugs that it was bright enough that I thought I could get a picture of them but it didn't turn out because I didn't have my tripod with we :((( and couldn't hold it still enough. I have never seen that many fire flies at one time in my life. Good 'ol Crawford Co. for you!

Evil Eye

Sorry folks I know this is a little scary, but this is the true 
'evil eye' and it was on the porch the other  night when I got home from work. I stuck the camera out the door and snapped a picture. Looks like something off TV !

Don't tell nobody....

...but I think he likes them! This one turned out to be a rooster in our bunch of HENS. He gets chased by our other big rooster quite a bit, and when they get to go out of the coop to roam around he always stays by himself-at least he isn't a dumb bird. He stays well out of the other roosters way.  He calls and calls the little hens but nobody pays any attention to him... bless his little chicken heart. 
 Dustin likes to rattle his cage, so to speak, and this time he got within  arms reach and got  nabbed! 

Easter Eggs

This is a couple of eggs from the Arucana (sp?) breed of chickens, aka, Easter Eggers. This particular eggs actually come from my bossed hens. I have 6 of the same kind of  hens, but mine are still to young to lay yet. I should have some little blue eggs in a few months though.
 Now if we could find a chicken to lay pink and purple eggs we would be all set for the Easter holiday and wouldn't have to bother dying the eggs.

Roanoke, North Carolina

Roanoke island was a real pretty place, we watched an
outdoor play about the lost colony that had you on the
edge of your seat, it was very interesting. It is intriguing
to wonder what ever happened to all those people.
I would have loved to look around on that boat, but it
was not allowed.

Seaweed

I found this on a early morning walk on the beach, seaweed and
other stuff would wash up on the sand from the nights high tide. I thought it was an interesting photo.

Cat Nap

This is a typical day in the life of the shop cat Missy!

That is a file basket that is up on top of the cabinet .

I think she might get up there to get  away from all

the office traffic.  She was a little bedraggled kitten

that wondered over here from the feed store across

the road. Pam being the animal softy that she is let

her in the office and she  never left. Now she is the

topic of just about everyone that comes in the front

door! 

Sunrise!

How will this beach do for relaxing and melting away all the stressful things in your life?  5:30 A.M. sunrise on the Outer Banks of North Carolina beach.  It's hard to beat an early morning walk on the beach as the sun comes up...

Carefree!

Ahh, the carefree days of being a kid. I remember those well!

Out numbered!

This is  what happens when you say the wrong thing in a woman's kitchen!
I bet he didn't do that again! Wonder what he said...

The Lodge

Here is the  new restaurant that my boss and his wife are about to open. This is the bar that they got from an old 1940's hotel that was torn down in northern Indiana. It sure looks like it was made for that space! They had a practice run lunch today for everyone in the shop so I came in a couple hours early to eat lunch with everybody. I had a hamburger and it was on a buttery croissant bun, it was really good and the cole slaw tasted like it came out of our kitchen too. The boss mainly wanted a place you could get a nice salad, (which is non existent in this town) so he made sure this place had a nice big salad bar. I'm anxious to try it out. Opening day is May 1. 

Ginseng!!

  Sharon here is a photo of ginseng that i got off of Google. I think that is what you might have. Don't mow it off with the lawn mower and it might spread.

Daddy Dear!

  We don't have very many pictures of him so when I found this one I had to share with everyone!

Great Grandson!

How is this for a smile! The date was 2004, and I don't know how old Aiden is here but I think this is a great picture. I think this is the first time we here in the lower 48 saw Aiden since he was born. 

Mother Dear,
how about a new post? I know there is something to write about at home. Any new recipes you have been trying? I think Dad told me  you had a baking marathon the other day, sounds like fun! How about your new  peonies, have they started to bloom yet? :-) 
                                                     

                                                       From: Your little girl.

SPRING!

Ahhh, the most wonderful sounds of spring-when you hear the first clear, haunting, night song of the Whip-or-Will. The one thing I miss about home, down by the creek at night, is sitting on the bridge, the moon glistening off the water listening to the song of the night birds.  A foreign thing for sure here in the dry feilds of corn and beans...

Pie!

Sharon dear, I would love to have the microwave Shoo-Fly-Pie recipe you put on the blog. I don't like to heat up the kitchen for one little thing, and it looked scrumptious!

America the beautiful!

Never get tired of country scenes, I an blessed to pass this one every day on the way to work.

My rooster Clyde, is not very happy with me right now. This weekend we added on a smaller adjoining run to the original run and coop. This was to make room for the 14 new babies that are big enough to be on their own now, but not big enough to be with the grown ones yet.
I guess that ruffled his feathers the wrong way when we took all his running around room away. I can almost hear what he would be saying if he could talk, 'why do THEY get all the room' ?!!  Now, when I go in to feed him he comes running and hammers my shoes like a wood pecker! He must be grumbling under his breath  because he just squawks and carries on something fierce. I would have thought, that the nice box we made him would have made up for some of the inconvenience, but I guess not. Who knows what goes on in that little bird brain!

LIttle Nest

This was a new one on  me. At work there is a secluded little courtyard that has a large pear tree growing there. I noticed the other day a red cardinal flying around the tree so I stopped and watched a few minutes and saw she had made a nest. I went upstairs on the little balcony which overlooks the courtyard and right there from my birds-eye-view :)  was her nest. I have never seen Northern Carnal eggs before, to say the least I was very happy. A person just never knows in the morning, what that day will bring about, this one was a good day for me!

New Recipe

I have had nothing but good compliments from this recipe, like the name sake (Oatmeal Cream Pie)
just better!

Compost Bin

I have wanted one of these for a long time now, and my honey was very sweet this week end  to build me one. 24 hours after filling it up, it was steaming this morning in the cool morning air.
Now I just need the garden to put in on :-)

Happy Birds!

My little feathered friends and me.

How Time Flies!

This was the first week in March, you could fit two of them in your hand. Weighed about the same as a postage stamp!

Last week in March and it takes two hands to pick one up now.

The Goodness of God!

 Here is a Golden Nugget for the day.
 It would do us all good to reflect on how good God is to us.  The foundation of our relationship with God is knowing how good God is to us.     Ps. 65:11  says,  "You (Lord) crown the year with a bountiful harvest; even the hard pathways overflow with abundance"...
The  only thing that limits God's goodness to us is our receiving that goodness.  He is our loving Father that wants to bless us.
James 1:17 says, "Every good gift and every perfect (free, large, full) gift is from above; it comes down from the Father"...
The Hebrew meaning of the word 'goodness' is:  Good in the widest scene of the word.
Ps. 31:19 says,  "How abundant are the good things that you (Lord) have stored up for those who fear (reverence) you, that you bestow  in the sight of all, on those who take refuge in you". 
Take these words, God's words and put them to work in you life! 

Bird in Hand!

Here is an update on the little babies. Very social now ( they get played with every day ) and always looking for hand out.
They don't even know a stranger either Sarah Beth came to visit, and they were happy to jump right in her hand too. They are quite vocal now and are making different little chicken noises that they never made before, and can be quite mean to each other too, like little kids you put together you always have a bully, right? They are 3 weeks now and I think they growing visible from when I leave, to when I get home at night!

Busy Bee!

This is what I walk past everyday on the way in the door at work!  So today I brought my camera with me, and this little bee was happy to pose for me. It was such a beautiful day, one reason I'm glad that I work a different shift than everybody else. Always before I would get up  and go to work in the dark and in the winter months always come home in the dark-that is a little hard on a persons out look on life. This way I am very happy to be able to take in all the things I  missed for a lot of years!  So now I'm just happy ALL the time : )))))

Bluebells, Bluebells, Bluebells!

My long week of impatiently waiting for the weekend finally arrived, and oh so worth the wait! The lovely wooded path was even more beautiful that I expected and wonderfully refreshing to walk along.  The bluebells ( or correctly called, forget-me-nots ) were EVERYWHERE and a camera does not do the scene justice!
Here is a little of what my camera did capture. Woodlands and wild flowers in spring does a heart good!

Breath of Spring!

Now this is the way to do your work! The best air freshener ever!

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Dinkies!

Friday night entertainment. This is a huge auction that is out in the middle of Amish country.

Storm Cloud!

The sun was shining bright when I got to work today, 30 minutes later this is what I saw!

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Bluebells!

I don't think you can get any more springtime than the lovely bluebell! One of my favorite flowers, and I can't wait till they start blooming at home down behind the house on the little path between the two fields. It is a sight to behold, with a carpet of blue almost the length of the little field. That is were this picture came from. I make it a point to walk over and check it every Sunday in the spring when I go home to see Mom and Dad! I even call and ask if they started to bloom in the middle of the week  too.  The only thing that would make the bluebell better, is if it smelled as pretty at it looked!

Spring!!

Oh spring time hurry up! The wild flowers that grow out behind our place is wonderful to see, and is a carpet  of color before all the weeds take over. Every other point out by us is moved like a golf course and no flowers ever grow there that I can see. I'm glad I'm the ' keeper of the gate ' so to speak at this part of the lake anyway! They can keep their lawn mowers and weed killer !
Won't they like me when I start to spread chicken coop droppings out there :)

Country road!

Driving around the morning we had ask that snow, just wish a house and buggy had been going down the road!