R.I.P. Aurora

 

Aurora was named after the colors of her coat.  She was so pretty.  She was a great hunter.  She was so friendly.  We will miss her so much.  She came with the house when we moved here 13 years ago.  The last people who lived here left her here.  We fed her daily, but she hunted mouse and rabbits.  She loved my husband, and spent many hours in his arms.

Dehydrated Chives ~ Scrap Lapghan ~ Going Paperless with Coffee Brewing

 

I did something different this year.  I dehydrated my chives vs. freeze them.  I had a bit of trouble though.  I thought  dicing them up first would help dehydrate faster.  My dehydrator fan sort of blew them forward, but they did dry.

I dug out this unfinished lapghan.  I took a completed one over to Mom's house.  It will keep her legs warm in her transport chair, however she loves it so much she wants another one for the house while she rests in her recliner.  I'll be working on this at the craft show.

Why I have not thought of doing this, is beyond my mind.  I noticed that the paper filters at the store were pretty low, and I checked Amazon for a reusable one.  I bought one that said it would fit my coffee maker.

We finally cut the last of a tree down and starting cutting it to move to the splitter.  It's finally time to fire up that wood stove soon.

Grounded ~ Barn Cat ~ Craft Show Prep and more

I 've been grounded.  Our November adventure has been postponed until next year.  We simply have too much to get done, and my husband hasn't had a day off in literally weeks.  He's exhausted, and more exhausted knowing what we need to get done.  I'll just have something to look forward to next year.

Sadly, we have not seen our barn cat Aurora in 4 days now.  I'll do another attempt to call for her, and look around, but there is not a day she does not come to the door to eat.  I know she is old, but she still had spunk.  We are all worried.

I dug out all my handiwork, and am making sure items are packaged and priced.  My bedroom looks like a hurricane went through it, ha ha!  I told my husband, it'll all disappear soon, and hopefully in the way of a lot of sales.

Made another apple crisp.  My daughter ate the last of the last one for breakfast, and I heard about it for days from my husband.  He's happy.

Getting Caught Up. . . .

 I got a small amount of garden swiss chard blanched and froze.

Blanched 2 heads of cauliflower and froze them.

Blanched 2# of carrots and froze those too.

Tried to catch up with laundry and washed kitchen towels.

Did final touches on the ornaments, earrings and one necklace.

Trying to keep up . . .

It's been sort of an overwhelming schedule.  I thought Mom having a visiting nurse would take the edge off us taking her to appointments, but that's not the case.  She still has appointments 2-3 times a week that require transport service, and she refuses to use the free transport service for seniors that is in her town.

Yesterday I tag teamed with Daughter K.  Took Mom to the wound clinic and then took her shopping.  She refuses to use the electric carts (she's very stubborn), so it takes two of us to take her shopping.  One pushes her in a transport chair and one pushes the shopping cart.  Then we take her home and unload her purchases and put them away.  It was an hour and a half at the wound clinic, and I kid you not, 1 1/2 hours walking around Meijer.  I could tell she was thrilled to get out to shop, but we were exhausted.  I think we rounded the entire store three times, ha ha!

Before that we have other stops she wants to do, and then it's pitch dark out when we return home.

Thankfully, Mom is signed back up with meals on wheels. The weather is changing.  It will become very difficult to deliver meals when I live a 50 minute round trip from her home.  The meals are also prepared for her health requirements.

These days require crock pot meals (all-in-one), and I'm trying to do my best taking care of things at home.  My husband hasn't had a day off in long time, and I also bake his breakfast and pack his daily food for work.

Also, my chickens are lucky to get 1-2 hours of daylight.  I don't have anyone to put them in before it gets dark out.  We have day light savings time, and it's dark very early anymore.

Meanwhile I left freshly picked swiss chard in the refrigerator, so I'm praying it is still good to blanch and freeze today.  

Oh, update on my Mom.  It is confirmed that her one leg has sickle cell skin cancer and it must be removed quickly.  This type of cancer spreads quickly.  Thank you for your prayers, good thoughts and good mojo.

Beautiful Sunrise and other ramblings

Beautiful sunrise and a morning visitor.

We decided to put the trail camera out to know get proof of exactly what was tearing up the yard.  Mainly, to put my thoughts to rest on entering the barn (ha ha ha!), and not find any surprises (although we have a solar barn light that deters visitors at night).  Absolutely no activity.  I think they or he/she moved on.  I'll set the camera one more night and double check.

I finally got my new fitbit watch to sync with my insurance program.  It was not a fun job.  Now I know why my Mom doesn't like technology and changes.  The watch they sent me could only be set up via a mobile device.  Sigh.  I could not sync it to my computer until I downloaded the fitbit app to my phone, signed in, and set up the device.

My husband helped me do that, and yes, it will still track steps if it's in my pocket.  I am not wearing that thing on my wrist so they can monitor my heart and sleep and whatnot.  They get steps and that's it.  I'll remove the wrist band and just stick it in my pocket or sock.  The things we are required to do just to keep our insurance at the price it is, is ridiculous.

Daughter K helped me muck the coop and we rigged a piece of twine and hook to hold the water unit up off the blocks they were on.  Oh I do not like the coop we have, but am thankful for a safe place for them.  My husband works too much to get a new one built.  Sigh.

We woke up to a very foggy morning.

Tuesday Tidbits

Breakfast for the next few days - crock pot steel cut oats with apples, raisins, walnuts, and cinnamon. I cut the recipe in half.  I'm sort of getting used to cooking for 3 people now.

I took advantage of the beautiful weather, so I headed out to muck the coop.  Didn't happen.  This chicken herself, saw that the skunks did a lot of yard damage near the barn I get my straw from.  I was too chicken to go in the barn.  I messaged my husband (who got a chuckle out of this), and asked if he'd check out the barn tonight after work.  I know skunks generally sleep in dens during the day, but I saw one out during the day last week (up the road).  I didn't want any surprises in the barn.  Sigh.

Update on a crock pot meal I recently made.  Didn't really follow a recipe, but tried cooking bone-in chicken thighs a different way.

I sliced up some red skin potatoes and tossed them with 2 Tbsp. olive oil and 2 Tbsp. melted butter,5 cloves of minced garlic, parsley and thyme.  I put that in the bottom of the crock pot, pan seared the chicken for about 3 minutes each side and put the thighs on top of the potatoes.  I cooked it for 10 hours on low, and the chicken literally fell off the bone it was so tender.  I grated parmesan cheese and added that to the potatoes.

I, even though I told myself not to, printed off a salad recipe to try.  If I get to the store and get it made, and share if it's worthy.  It looked good anyway.

If you didn't read my post yesterday, I added photos of some ornaments and earrings I was working on for the upcoming craft show.  Meanwhile I continue to crochet dish scrubbies.  I finished a set of boot cuffs yesterday too.