Vintage Wheat Grinder/Bread Machine

My husband and I went to a preparedness fair in Idaho Falls yesterday morning at 8:30am with our daughter and her husband.  It was quite the production!  The entire gym floor was covered with booths showing different ways to prepare for emergencies plus they had 3-4 different classes (Just Add Water - Warmth & Shelter - Health During an Emergency - Alternative Grains - Gardening in Idaho - Meals on a Shoestring - One for the Money - and Square-Foot Gardening) going every hour that you could attend.  Each couple was given a preparedness book that was 1/2" thick and loaded with information containing anything from recipes, preparedness, gardening, etc, etc, etc.  The fair went till 1pm. 

After leaving the fair, we all went out to lunch and then my husband and I drove to Ucon to purchase a StoveTec, similar to a rocket stove.  With this stove, beside using twigs, pine cones, weeds, etc, you can also use briquettes.  Pretty nice little emergency stove.  I found this picture on the Internet.  Ours looks just like this except it is a newer model that is lined with steel and has a steel covering over the brick on the door.

After we purchased the Stovetec, for the fun of it, we went to an antique store.  At the preparedness fair, my husband was talking with a person about old wheat grinders and you'll never guess what was at the antique store.  Yep, you guessed it, a vintage hand-crank wheat grinder.  The stones in it were in great shape and it grinds wheat perfectly.  Sorry about the 2nd picture being so blurry.  I was trying to get a picture of the wheat flour as it came out of the machine without getting my husbands arm in the picture while he was cranking on the handle.

We also purchased a vintage Double H Breadmaster bread making machine.  We haven't tried it out yet but I found a site on the Internet where a lady talks about one she purchased at an estate sale.  She also had all the instruction on her site that told how to work the machine and it also had some bread recipes.

All-in-all, I'd say we had a pretty good day.  Oh my goodness, I almost forgot to mention the strawberries we bought on a street corner.  I couldn't help myself....I purchased an entire flat.  They are huge a very sweet.  I ground them up and put them in the freezer to use for ice cream topping or to make freezer jam.  Mmmm-m-m-m-m Deelish!

Photo Treasures

My friend and I went out to lunch this afternoon.  She needed to go to the bank after eating so while she was in the bank, I started snapping pictures.  It was a very windy, misty day.

The flag was standing straight out, whipping wildly.

 

After taking my friend home, I decided to go back to town to get some gas if the prices had been lowered................not.  What was I thinking?  Could be because Arco's gas prices have been 10 cents lower than Mackay's for a week now and I was hoping that our prices had changed, too.  While riding around, I noticed a few more older buildings that I had seen before but didn't pay much attention to them.  I decided to take pictures of them today and thought to myself, one of these days, I'm just going to head up and down each street in Mackay to see what photo treasures I can find.  A wedding/family photographer would have a hay-day in our little valley since the now popular thing to do is to take pictures in and around old structures.

 

Colorful Smoke Signal

Tonight for Young Women's, we went to the church and made Bath Fizzies.  They seemed pretty simple to make by the instructions I got off of the Internet.  It said to use silicone molds or ice cube trays to make your shapes with.  We didn't have any molds so we used plastic ice cube tray which didn't work, so the girls ended up molding them with their hands.  Even though they didn't quite turn out as expected, it seemed like the girls enjoyed making them.  After we were through cleaning up, we went outside to watch one of the young women throw her discus.  While we were all standing outside, a rainbow started for form.  I love rainbows!  In this first picture, the rainbow was right over a low mountain, giving the appearance of a colorful smoke signal.

 This rainbow was HUGE, spanning across the entire sky.  These next pictures are of the other side of the rainbow - Ha!  Before it started to fade, it actually made a double rainbow - Beautiful.  Somewhere over the rainbow.........................................

 

Above, Upon, and Below the Mackay Reservoir

I went for a ride above the reservoir today after church.  Just a ways from the reservoir, I noticed the Battle Ground Cemetery sign along the highway.  I'd forgotten about the old cemetery so I decided to take the dirt road and see what it was like.

I only drove about 1/8 to 1/4 mile before coming to the cemetery.  My first thought was...I don't see any headstones so I got out of the car to take a closer look.

 

 There was a monument just inside the gate stating how Jesse McCaleb was killed by Indians near this spot in 1878 and later the following pioneers were buried here, and it lists all those who were buried there along with Jesse McCaleb.

I walked through the cemetery, only finding 3 or 4 stone markers with sticks tied together to resemble crosses where some of those people had been buried.

After leaving the cemetery, I headed up the road and turned off at the fish hatchery road.  It is starting to green up along the roads and the sky was a gorgeous blue. 

I would have gone further but just as I turned a corner, I saw that I was going to come head-on with some men herding cattle so I turned around and headed back towards home.

I went out across the reservoir dam to get a picture to show you how much water there is.  As you can see in these next two pictures, the reservoir is really full.

I went below the dam to see if there was any water coming out of the pipes but there was hardly any.

But, there was quite a bit of water coming from the overflow/spillway.

On my way back to the highway, I noticed these sagebrush that were actually pretty tall.

Upon closer observation, I noticed that the sagebrush had these little nodules on them.  I don't know if they are little nests for some type of bug, or what....interesting, though.

Hide and Seek

Friday, I went with a group of six ladies, including myself, to the Idaho Falls Temple.  We left at 11am, stopped off at a gas station to fill up with gas and to take a little break before doing a session at the temple.  This is where I snapped the following picture.  I think it is the cutest picture, ever.  These two ladies went into the gas station while the driver filled up with gas.  After filling the vehicle with gas, we decided to move closer to the building so when the two ladies came out, they wouldn't have so far to walk.  Just look at their faces when they came out the door and noticed that we weren't where they thought we were, priceless.  

I wasn't going to post anything about this day because I didn't really take any photos except this one and a few of us all in the vehicle but I had to post if for nothing else than to show this picture...I love it!  After we got to the temple, we (my daughter also met us there) ate lunch in the temple cafeteria and then went and did our session.  It was a wonderful, fulfilling day.  We stopped off at Reeds Dairy before heading home so we could all tank up on some delicious ice cream.  After all, it's a 90 minute drive back home so of course, ice cream helps pass the time.

Kindergarten Peas - See How They Grow

A week ago Thursday, we let the Kindergartners plant peas.  The children were so excited and they got all the rows surprisingly straight.  When the little plants started to grow, another bout of excitement erupted in the classroom.  Ya gotta love Kindergartners!  The top picture of peas were planted on Thursday, April 12th and the next picture, April 14th.  Just look at the difference that only two days make in the size of the plants.  They are actually growing right before our eyes - amazing!  The last picture shows them both together so you can see the comparison.  Every day, the little Kinders come in all excited to see how much their little pea plants have grown.  Fun!  Yesterday we planted flowers....and in the future, who knows....the World!

Easter Deer

Last evening I was looking out our dining room window watching the deer when this little fella started jumping all over the place.  My husband said it looks like something was bugging him in his left ear or something......I'm going for the something. - Ha!  Whatever it was, it was pretty fun watching him do his thing.  If I had taken this a week earlier, I would say it was an Easter Deer the way he kept hopping around.

Frozen In Time

I was going through some of my pictures today when I came across our crab apple tree, as you might say.......frozen-in-time.  By mistake, early last spring, we'd left the sprinklers on all night and when we got up in the morning, to our surprise, our crab apple tree was covered in ice.  Every branch, flower, blossom, bud, and leaf was totally encased.  I thought for sure we had killed our little tree but as the sun continued to shine and all the ice had melted, there stood our tree just as beautiful as ever.

Friday the 13th - My Lucky Day

My sister called this morning and asked me if I was going to be careful today with it being Friday the 13th.  With confidence, I stated...no way, today is my day.  Then I proceeded to remind her that even though it was a different month, it was a beautiful day in June, Friday the 13th, almost 32 years ago that I got married...........my LuCkY dAy!  Oh, and get this.....the person who performed our marriage ceremony....his name was Seth L. Blood.  A fitting name for a marriage on Friday the 13th, ya think! 
As I was looking over a few blogs this morning, I've been seeing many blogs talking about and showing pictures of tulips.  Even though I can't grow tulips because of the deer thinking I've planted a candy patch for them, I want to share with you a few pictures of some tulips and the beautiful flowers that I took a few years back around the Idaho Falls Temple grounds.  The Temple Grounds have some of the most beautiful garden beds you will ever see.

Just a Hint

As I was driving down the road two days ago, heading towards home, I noticed just a hint of the moon, mid-way in the sky.  I watched it all the way down the road and recognized the beauty of it, pulling off the side of the road at my driveway to take this photo.  I compared it to different aspects and events of my life.............sometimes, it's the "Just a Hint" of things brought into my life that add such beauty and meaning.

 

Easter Surprises

Monday, upon arriving at school, what a surprise it was to see little, balloon bunnies hanging on every door.  We have a new person, just hired last week, that comes in to freshen up our rooms.  I say freshen up, because she doesn't just clean our rooms, she goes the extra mile.  These are the little surprises she left everyone.  Oh, and did I mention how talented this lady is.  I've known her for quite a few years and I'll tell you, talent should be her middle name.....she does it all.

That evening (Monday night), a wonderful lady who used to be on my visiting teaching beat called and asked if I would stop by her house in the morning on my way to the school.  I told her I would be early and she stated that she was always up early and to stop by anyways.  When I knocked on her door, she opened up the door and had the cutest little Easter basket for me.  She is another lady of talent........I love this crocheted basket.  I told my husband how nice it was and I think it is the first Easter basket I have had since being married.  Love it.  She also filled it with candy, which my husband loves.

When I got to work, the cutest little girl came up to me to show off her new do.  I couldn't believe it.  Isn't this about the cutest thing, ever.  I've never quite seen a hair style like this before.  I looked at it several times during the day.......and to top it off, she's a red-head.  I'm a little bit partial to red-heads, being most of my family has red hair.  This little girl is also special to me in other ways.  It was her uncle Gordon who was the previous Kinder teacher that I payed tribute to in the following blog.  What a great family!

My April Fools Joke

Last night before retiring to bed I thought, ha, tomorrow is April Fools Day and I don't have a single person that will play a trick on me.  Both our girls are out of the home and my husband just doesn't do that kind of thing, much.  After eating breakfast and before the LDS General Conference came on television, I thought I would venture out for a walk.  From inside the house, it looked like a pretty nice day and when I stepped out onto the back porch, I wasn't disappointed.  There was a big, fat robin sitting on the grass right out the door but wasn't interested in getting it's picture taken and promptly flew away.  There were little birds all over the place singing at the top of their lungs.  What a beautiful April day, so I thought.  It wasn't until I got a ways from our home that I noticed how cold it really was and how much the wind was blowing - burr-r-r-r-r!  I thought, well, if I keep walking it should get warmer - NOT!  There was my April Fools joke......the look of a nice warm day, that really wasn't.  Here's all the proof I need to show you that first appearances can sometimes be deceiving.  Just outside my back door seemed beautiful, but once I started walking, no matter which way I turned, the wind was blowing and the hills and mountains were covered with snow.

All the trees are still barren with not a trace of a bud.  I must have been disturbing a nesting area because a pair of these big, black birds kept flying all around me.  You can see one of them flying above the tree in the first photo.  There was also a pair of hawks circling me but I wasn't able to get a picture of them. 

All the area around me looked so dreary and drab.  The only exciting thing of color was the orange tones in the fence post.  But, I guess when you look at the picture enough, you can even see the beauty here, too, and not just in the fence posts.

This is one place I don't mind not seeing signs of spring.  This place is not too far from our back door.  It's what I call the "Mosquito Pond".  This area fills up pretty good with sub water and along with that comes those pesky, little blood suckers.  Still trying to figure that one out - why, oh why, or what purpose do those little creatures have for even existing.

And for no other reason than I thought it was pretty did I take this next picture.  I never thought I would say that sage brush was pretty but looking at the hues of blue, yellow, and green in this picture made me happy.  Putting my happy on - aha!

I haven't seen too many deer on the lawn lately but by the looks of the path I took today, I'd say they're not too far off.