Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Tooth Cake
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Be Humble
"I like flaws and feel more comfortable around people who have them. I myself am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions."
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Opening Day - Dove Season
Monday, August 23, 2010
Boys and Babies
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Summer Visitors
Monday, June 28, 2010
49th Annual Peach Jamboree
Connor road on the Boy Scout float in the parade. He also entered the peach pie contest. He didn't win a ribbon, but his pies were gorgeous for an eight year old who did the work himself - down to the homemade crust!
Both boys participated in the Mutton Busting at the rodeo. It was their first experience with the sport. Logan had the 4th high score out of the 25 kids (of all ages) that he road against. Connor also ran is heart out in the calf scramble.
I entered peach preserves and won with the family peach preserve recipe. I can't really take credit for the win since it's a family recipe that was handed down from my great-grandmother.
It is so wonderful to live in a small community!
Friday, June 18, 2010
The Mighty Hunter
War. It's War at my house. Armadillos and Scorpions are on my hit list. I am not a mighty hunter. My weapon of choice is to holler for my husband or boys and let them do the killing. I'm admittedly scared of bugs with stingers and pinchers, don't particularly care for snakes, and have a strong distaste for anything that digs in my yard or tries to kill my chickens. My guys have been gone the past few days so the killing has fallen on my shoulders. This morning I looked out my kitchen window to find a cute little armadillo digging up my yard. I saw red, got the .22 and went hunting. Happy Friday!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Just Plum Good
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Mowing The Yard
Monday, April 26, 2010
The Amazing Wedge
1 Wedge Iceberg Lettuce
Chopped Granny Smith Apple
Sun Dried Tomato Slices
Chopped Candied Pecans
Crumbled Bacon Pieces
Crumbled Gorgonzola Cheese
Garlic Ranch Dressing*
Plate the iceberg wedge. Drizzle on the ranch and top with the remaining ingredients. That's all folks! Just dig in and get ready for your tongue and tummy to tango!
*I use homemade ranch dressing. Here is a great link for a ranch dressing recipe. Roasted garlic can be substituted for fresh garlic if you want a sweeter mellow taste. The fresh garlic gives the dressing a nice bite that I happen to love and works beautifully with this salad.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Little One
Presents...............
Hot dog roast in the backyard followed by a pinata....
A friendly round of birthday spankings................
And the finale - Logan requested a Chocolate Cherry Candy Covered Cake .........
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Bluebonnet Blues
You can imagine my excitement when about a month ago I found young bluebonnet plants popping up on the hill in my backyard. Surely I can get a decent picture of my boys in these flowers now that I don't have to go further than my backyard. So this morning I grabbed me camera determined to get some candid shots before the flowers disappear. Please note here that being the mom of two boys I am out numbered three to one in the male to female ration in my house. And while my darling husband humors me, boys just don't want to sit in a bunch of stink'n flowers and pose for their mother to take pictures - no mater what you say. And once again I find myself with the bluebonnet blues.
Just for fun throw in a dog who wants to play fetch in the bluebonnets,
then add a few nosey chickens.....................
Thursday, March 4, 2010
The Sweetest Thing
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Winter Wonder
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Hauling Logs
He then loaded the wagon with wood and tried to peddle it to the fire ring in our backyard. The weight of the logs kept tipping the wagon down and his make shift pin would pop loose. So he resorted to carrying the logs.
About that time, big brothers walks out to inspect the situation.
Logan looks at him and says, "Connor I've got a job for you. Take this log and go stack it over there. Then come back for another one!"
I instantly thought, Aggie Bonfire... oh thank goodness they couldn't find an ax!
Sunday, February 28, 2010
February
My dad, Opa, had a pacemaker/defibrillator implant procedure preformed on the 18th. His checkup went great and he's on the mend! James and I are so glad to be close by so we can help out.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
The Sock Monster
"The Sock Monster" came tearing down the hall and around the corner into my room like Kevin Bacon busting a move in Footloose. He is wearing a pair of my toe socks that have been MIA for a while. I wish I would have gotten the picture of him a few minutes later when he came through like a blur in the same outfit plus his brothers batting helmet. He really didn't want to give up the rainbow toe socks. This will be a fun photo to pull out around his high school graduation!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Rest Time
Friday, January 22, 2010
We call it Supper in the Country!
I love to cook and spend more time in my kitchen than any other room in our home. So, I wanted to share what's for supper at my house this fine Friday evening. My friend Jenny shared a phenomenal chicken enchilada recipe we me last month. My husband had these beauties at her house in College Station and would not stop raving about it. I think the thing I miss absolutely most about living in College Station is being around the corner from my wonderful friend Jenny. Her kitchen is one of my favorite places on earth.
Jenny's Three Cheese Chicken Enchiladas
3 T olive oil
1 lg onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed
4 cups chopped cooked chicken
2 (14.5 oz) cans mex-style stewed tomatoes
1 (4.5 oz) can chopped green chilies, drained
1/2 t salt
4 oz goat cheese (about a cup)
2-4 T chopped cilantro
24 flour or corn tortillas
2 C half and half
1 t chicken bouillon granules
1/2 C salsa Verde
2 C shredded Monterrey Jack
2 C shredded cheddar
Heat oil in a Dutch oven or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic: saute until tender. Stir in chicken, tomato, chili and salt. Bring mixture to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally for 15 mi. Stir in goat cheese and cilantro.
Preheat oven to 350. Spoon approx 1/4 C of chicken mixture down each tortilla. Roll and place seam down in 2 lightly greased 13x9 dishes.
Combine half-and-half and bouillon in a large saucepan over low heat; cook until granules dissolve. Stir in salsa and pour evenly over tortillas.
Bake, covered, for 10 min. Uncover and bake 10 min. Sprinkle with cheeses and bake about 5 min. or until cheese melts.
(If you're not into goat cheese I think you could sub cream cheese or a fresh milk mexican cheese with success!)
For dessert we are having PW Tres Leche Cake. Oh my! Our family was blessed to spend four and a half years living in the Texas Valley. My little one was born there and to date will eat chips and salsa over anything else. Tres Leche Cake is on my husbands top 5 best desserts out there list, right beside grapefruit pie another Valley delight. Over the past three years I have tried to find a recipe to duplicate the cakes we would have in South Texas without success. I made some so terrible the dog wouldn't even touch it. But this recipe is outstanding and makes a truly wonderful cake. Save the left over milk mixture from the recipe and pour a bit on you saucer before plating your piece. You'll thank me. I think you should make this cake to go with the enchiladas as soon as you possibly can!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Saturday Morning
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
1st Of Many
This past weekend Connor had his first stock show experience as an exhibitor at the Gillespie County 4-H & FFA Stock Show. He showed two pens of broilers and did great. We received the chicks in November and for the past eight weeks he has been feeding, watering, and cleaning their pen daily. His pen of hens placed 18th out of over 100 pens of birds. Excellent for a first timer!
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Milk Cow 101
Then there is today......
A few side notes: We haven't had a milk cow on our farm since I was a girl - a good twenty years. That should date me and my milking facility for you. The calf was weaned a little over two weeks ago. In farm terms, at two weeks if you put the calf back with the cow, she's not really weaned. The cart is still before the horse here at my house and that fence isn't quite finished yet. Last night the calf jumped the partition in the lot and is now in with the cow. So, no milk for me. But on the upside this gives me a few days to let Ellie get settled in and used to her new place before my husband returns and the milking schedule starts.
Okay, jump to 8a.m this morning. I went down to the lot to introduce Ellie to her new milking area. Lets call my cow lot and milk shed vintage since it's popular to call old things that are falling apart vintage. And is just sounds fancier than shack or ruins. I think there is something truly beautiful about old barns. But, beautiful and functional don't always go hand in hand.
I was able to separate the cow and calf easily and get Ellie in the milking stanchion. My milk stanchion is just a very old wood feed trough attached to the wall of the very old barn with a front section the cow sticks her her head through that latches around her neck while she eats and is milked. This handy device is supposed to keep the cow from leaving the area until you are done milking. Note here please that I'm not actually milking, just feeding the cow where she will be milked.
The second I have the cow in the milking area the calf goes nuts. She is running around the lot balling and making all kinds of commotion. This isn't really helpful but going on in the background all the same. My new love, Ellie, quickly devoured her food and decided she didn't really care for the new scenery and wanted back with her newly reunited calf. Commence the dancing cow who is throwing a temper fit and trying to remove her wooden necklace. She was almost successful at removing my grandfathers milking stanchion from the wall of my vintage milk shed. Lets just say it was raining wood and my life passed before my eyes a few times.
Now friends, livestock are like children. Allowed to throw a fit and have their way, they will continue to repeat the undesirable behavior. So I got out of the way and let her have her fit all the while praying that she wouldn't pull the whole barn down her first morning here. When she finally stood still, I released her. I surveyed the damage and headed for the house to get a much needed cup of coffee.
After a cup of coffee and sharing my morning events with my loving husband and best friend I think I'm going to need something more that coffee. I do not have a facility that in its present state will hold my new milk cow. But rather I have a beautiful vintage milk shed that is leaning a little more after the morning activities than it was yesterday.
I purchased a milk cow not a range cow. Milk cow implies the act of milking which yields fresh wonderful milk and cream for my kitchen. So, I will be reenacting scenes from Old Yeller sooner than I'd like. I know it's a movie about a boy and his dog. But there is a scene in the movie where a very unhappy cow is tied to a POST to be milked. The character Travis says, "holder her Yeller" and the dog walks into the pen and the cow stands perfectly still to be milked. Well there isn't a lop eared yeller dog to come to my rescue. Flash to me, milk pail in hand, staring down a very unhappy milk cow tied to a post.....................
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Fence Posts
Buy a milk cow - check.
Board milk cow at best friends house because we have to fix-up sixty year old fences and gates surrounding thirty year old cow lot and milking shed - check......
Today my wonderful husband and I broke ground on the first of many fence posts to come during our life on the farm! If you're not familiar with the Texas Hill Country, the dirt grows rocks here. So, hand digging post holes goes something like this.
Step 1: Dig down six to ten inches. Hit rock.
Step 2: Use a rock bar to chip rock up. Remove rock from hole and continue to dig post hole.
Step 3: Repeat steps 1 and 2 until you reach necessary depth to set post.
Step 4: Set the post. This step may present a problem. If you have removed more rocks that dirt from the post hole one must go and find enough usable soil to tamp the post in.