Pioneer Woman at Heart

I am taking a week break from my blog.  It may be longer, but I will b e back. 

Dog beds in our h ouse are not just for dogs. Ha ha ha!  Tige r took over Jesse's bed.

I came home , after a long day of driving everywhere yesterday, to find this in my mail box.  My sister, w ho visits India often wi th her family, sent me these.  They are from India. Jesse's surgery didn't go completely well.  The vet found a hard and soft mass that was all the way to his bone .  T hey could not remove all of it , without risking damaging nerves etc.  The mass is b eing sent out to a lab, and will be checked for cancer.  We are praying that it was a result of a n embedded foreign body, but the vet could not tell for sure , and thus the lab work.    Jesse is not doing too well either.  Las t night h e could not open one eye, and could not wa lk on his left foot.  Today, his eyes are not bothering him, but he contin ues to favor his foot.  With today's rain, we have to wrap up hi s foot when he goes out side, and he's not too happy about that either. Three day s ago, only 4 eggs .  Two days ago 1 egg....

. . . planted peas late last night, rain is due tonight. . . . started yet anoth er new project .  This one is for my youngest daughter.  I'll post an update when it's fin ished.  . . . on my 3rd sk ein of yarn, croche ting my s hawl . . . . checked these books out from th e library.  When our egg production increases, I hope to share our reviews on some of these recipes.  I think I may even invest in buying the book on vegetables.  . . . put up an inexpensive net for badminton and volleyball net.  Fu ture p lans are to install 2 - 4 x 4's with eye screws in the future. . . . our 13 year-old earned two 1's as scores on her choir contest pieces. . . . Jesse (youngest dog) goes in for surgery today.  

Today I am thankful for: . . . for Hubby cooking me brea kfast on the weekends . . . for my washing m achine and clo thesline . . . for soft pillows . . . for our coffee maker that brews in 3 minutes . . . phon es . . . for fragrant candles my Mom gave us . . . good ol' fash ioned , to -the-mailbox, mail . . . the sun shining today and wa rmer weather . . . God's availability, always there, always listening . . . pens and pencils . . . for my 19 year -old daughter getting a job yesterday.  She's officially empl oyed. . . . for locating an a lpaca farm not too far from here.  You may hear more about this later. Today, the w eather is to be up in the 60's, so the washing machine is getting a workout.  So are my clotheslines.  The kids have not been counting eggs, so I may skip the egg count this year.  I have a few new tulips and hy ac inths to p lant today, and a dd yet a bit of more pink and pur ple to the gardens.  Bill s n...

I bake when I am stressed.  However, th ere is a leve l of stress, that I should remember to never a ttemp t baking .  I baked a batch of Walnut Co c o nut Cookies , but accidently doubled the butter. After I realized that, I realized I only had 3 eggs in th e house.  I sent my 16 year-old out for one from the coop, and luckily she brought one it. While she was out there, her younge st fema le goat (Pri m) came up be hind her.  S ome how she got out of the fence again.  Lucky for her she discovered it . ...back to the cookies.  I had preheated the ove n at 400°F, but read over the recipe for the u mp -teenth time, a nd realized that I needed the oven on 350°F.   W ith my mistake of doubling, and by the way was on ly baking to use up some homemade goat's milk ricotta (in place of sour cream in this recipe), I was able to double the amount of ric ot ta too. By the way , the last time I baked these cookies , I used sugar in place of honey....

" S now!? Are you kidding me?!" That was f irst thing out of m y mouth this morning. It's a small l a ye r is here and there, but seriously .  It's April 20th!  Look at all th at green from our recent rain too. . . .  obtained my fishing lice n se fo r this summer ( Hubby too) . . . . one of our last two red hens pass away. For some reason all of our red hens consistently became egg bound and died. This is why we chose to invest in barred ro cks this year.  We lost one to the great horn ed owl, but they seem to be larger a nd don't get egg bound or sick as much.  . . . made another batch of goat's milk ricotta cheese.  I p lan to make ri cotta pancakes, stuffed shells a n d even cookies.   Here i s the link to the recipe we use :  How to Make Ricotta Cheese with Goat's M i lk, Mother Earth News . . . added meat grinder a nd pressure cann er to the homesteading wish list.  I was iffy on buying either one, but I c...

(Jess with his sore paw last winter) Poor Jesse.  His paw is just not healing.  Sometime last fall he st epped on s omething (or something bit him, or something is still embedded i n his pa w) .  He was put on medication twice, but it's not healing and once again, I took him to th e vet. He's scheduled for surgery next week.

I am w orking on crocheted turtle bookmarks This tur tle one, was eye -spied by my 11 year-old, who loves turtles.  Guess who got this one?  Y up.  She got it.  I was too tired to a rgu e with her. I thought they would be fun for kids to shop for , on "Kid's Day " at t he Farmer's M arket.  They are so cute, adults may even want to buy one.   I am still working on more idea s.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Hubby and I walked through a thr i ft store last week. Although prices there were higher than I woul d like, I brought home . . . . . . a cookbook for grilling fish

Today I am thankful for:  ~ Organic bath salts for sor e muscles  ~ warming, organic coffee ~for the library, and it's free a ccess to books ~for God's Promises ~for hugs from my kids ~for the milk our goat's produce ~for the wr ens singing outside ~for radio stations that contin ue to play uplif ting, and inspirational music ~for sof t cozy slippers ~for the pink carnations, and pink and whi te daisies on my kitchen windowsill    

T he holi stic professional I speak with, explained to me o nce , that she does not use manufactured too thpast e.  She said it is too toxic .   I too, started making my own tooth past e, but w anted to share this article about it , for those interested:  Is Your Toothpaste Making you Stupid? And for a long time now, I have had my doubts about some of the vaccine's t hat are pushed on us.  Here is an article on the update:  Vacc ine Leg is lative . . . And why I buy o rganic (anything, not just rice), or grow/raise it myself :  Lead lev els in ri ce. . .  Just sharing for those intere sted .

. . . sta rted my crocheted shawl, and love this pattern I received from another farmgirl.  It looks like the one from Little House on the Prairie.  I had trouble deciding on color, so I may make a second one in a red.  I will p ost a photo when it is completed.

This mont h's used book giveaway is The Cat Who Went Bananas , by Lilian Jackson Braun.  This is a used paperback that I purchased a t the all-island garage sale days last fall. Simply be the first to post that you want it, and it's yours . Fun Trivia I learned from this book: Mul ligatwany i s a soup, and it is mentioned in a Dr. Suess book. Skuunk water is basically a local mineral water found in Moose County . Indefatigable means:  "persist ing tire lessly" Ailurphobe means:  "a person who hates or fears cats" *definitions are from on -line dictionar ies        

 . . . installed our very first rain barrel (USA mad e).  We plan to inst all more , but want to check out more options on sty les (and m aking them oursel ves).  This one holds 55 gallons and will be close to the garden for watering it.  I also have a recipe to make this water drinkable, if ever it was needed in a n emergency.  I have been doing some research on rain barrel ca re, and recently read that you should paint your barrel a darker color, in order to keep the sun f rom affect i ng the water inside.  This one can be hooked to another barre l, and we do plan to consider making our own.  Ou r goal is to install 2 (possibly 3-4 ) more in t he next few years.  Here is a link to information if you are consid ering in stalling a rain barrel:  The Redeemed Gardener:  Mai ntaining a Healthy Rain Barrel. . . . made a batch of homemade goat's milk r icotta cheese.  I used it to bake Lasagna Ruffles and some coo kies. . . ....

After a long day working at cleaning out flower beds ( more to clean yet) , I went inside to clean up.  I glanced out the window and saw something in the yard . A t first I though t the hawks killed one of our chickens and it was just lay ing there, by th e ditch that runs off the creek.   T hen it moved.  Check out all that mud on it's back. B y golly, this guy (or g al) ha d a shell of a bout 12 inches or longer.  Yes terday was an interesting day for me.  I saw two ha w ks, two low flying geese, and this tur tle.  I al so hea rd wrens si nging.     

I n the recent box my Aunt sent me, there w ere a few more items to share.  ... a loom for No-Nee dle Knitting.  The inst ructions she sent me are the origina l pages from a 1978 Wom an's Circle Magazine.  How coo l is t hat? ...and she sen t me some vintage stencils for decorating fabric a nd such.

If you have been a f ollower on my blog, you may remember our Camping Funny Post . Well this time, this i s what happened this past weekend. Yikes!  Look at pic ture #1 and then at # 2.  See any thing odd? We left to do some fishing a nd when we go t back, the awning was completely blown on top of the camper.   Hu bby I took the younger two girls camping, and once again , the weather man was wrong.  In stead of warm, sunny 60's, we had cold, cloudy, and very windy weather.  We fought the weather every day, until Sunday.  Cooking over the fire was a bit of a chall enge.  I am glad we could borrow the camp er, as it had electric heaters that we did have to use.   It was that cold Friday night. Either way, and although we did not catch any fish ( had a few tugs), we still ha d a good time.  Festivities were car ds, glo w-in-the dark Frisbee , and journaling.  The girls spent quite a bit of time writing stories and jo...