Me, Myself and I

I am not a photo person.  Very rarely am I in front of a camera.  I mean, hardly ever.  I’ve been trying to be better about this and I’ve even posted a few pictures of myself on my last few blogs.  My family is always complaining that I’m never in any pictures.  Back in July, I let my daughter take a picture of me at Fall Creek, sitting on a log and then she went and posted it on her blog…………ugh!  Ok, so I really am going to try to get better at this picture thingy.  Today I took some “Selfies”…..one before makeup and two after makeup.  You wish…..you are not going to see the before picture, but I am willing to post the after pictures.  They are pretty close in likeness but in the bottom one, I am actually smiling a little more.  I hope my children and sisters read this blog and appreciate the difficulty it took to post it.  Close-ups, even………….

Dehydrating Carrots

On Saturday, hubby and I went to work peeling, slicing, and dehydrating carrots.  My husband pulled and peeled the carrots and I washed, cut off tops, sliced and loaded the dehydrating machine.  I have a Moulinex “Kitchen Works” ultimate food slicing/grinding machine that I received many years ago (before marriage) from hosting a Tupperware party at my parents home.  It sure makes my slicing task much easier.  This machine is so wonderful that I actually purchased another one on E-Bay last year….just to have on hand.

Loading trays of carrots….

Starting to load dehydrator…………….

When all trays were loaded and ready for the dehydrating process, we had a total of twelve trays.

We set the timer for 3 hours and the temperature at 150 degrees.  After three hours, the carrots were not quite dry so we set the dehydrator to run for another hour.  After the four hour drying process, we ended up with tiny, shriveled carrots………just right for adding to soups, stews, and casseroles.  A perfect solution for those cold winter days soon to be upon us.

Grandbabies…Little Angels From Heaven

On September 20th, my daughter, her husband and their precious little boy came to our home for a week-end visit.  Grandbabies….who would have known until experiencing for yourself what joy they bring to your heart.  Yes indeed….little angels straight from Heaven.

This is a picture of my daughter and her husband.  You can’t see their little boy in this picture, but he is there, just starting his journey, approximately one month old in the womb.

A few weeks previous to their visit, my husband and I went out to our quonset hut and got out the old stroller that my daughter had as a baby, given as a gift by her great-grandmother.  After sitting there for many years, lets just say it was a LITTLE DIRTY!  I scrubbed and sanitized the stroller, took it apart and cleaned the little seat and our 32 year stroller was ready to go for our baby grandson. 

Our plans were to take the stroller to the Mackay BBQ so we wouldn’t need to pack our baby boy around the entire time.  He loves the outdoors.  That morning, a few hours before the BBQ, my daughter and I went to a few yard sales and it was there that I decided we needed something to hook to the stroller to carry diapers, baby bottle,  baby stuff, wallet, camera, etc.  I thought why not buy a pair of jeans, cut off the legs and sew across the bottom to make a bag and use straps made from the legs to make handles to tie to the stroller.  It worked like a charm…..problem solved.  We also took it with us when we went for a walk down our lane behind our home.

 

Oh, and yes, there is a feather sticking out behind our sleepy boys head…..compliments of my husband.

I looked for over two hours today going through packages, photo stacks and boxes trying to find a photo of my oldest daughter in her stroller but was unable to do so.  I know I have one, somewhere.  I’m really thinking that I need to get organized and get all my photos scanned and put on disks. 

I did, however, find a picture of her younger sister in the same stroller approximately 28 years ago, back when things were built to last.

This stroller has had a lot of miles put on it and it’s still going strong.

Stove-Tec Weiner Roast

After the Mackay BBQ, on September 20th, later in the evening, our family had a wiener roast over our deluxe Stove Tec rocket stove.  We usually roast marshmallows too, making S’mores on fudge stripe cookies.  We have used this stove many times this summer.  It’s kind of a tradition that whenever we have family or company, we sit around the Stove Tec roasting hot dogs and marshmallows.  It makes for an easy meal and good conversation.  The nice thing about it is we can have the Stove Tec near the house because unlike a bon-fire, there are no sparks and not much smoke.  It’s all about making memories, good memories!  Taking photos was an after thought so I don’t have any pictures of us roasting hot dogs…………just the after effects of empty plates, used utensils, food and an almost burned out fire. 

I purchased two of these solar light lanterns off of Ebay earlier in the year and put them on my hanging pole at the beginning of this summer.  I hung them out the back door, next to where we do our roasting.  I think they are so unique and pretty.  Besides the soft amber glow, you can flip a switch underneath and they will change colors from blue, purple, white, green and red.  I’ve since tried to get more but haven’t been able to find any and I’ve searched all over the internet.  Maybe I need to make a trip to Utah and BORROW back the ones I gave to my sisters for Christmas presents……………Ha!

 

Hearty Little Fall Flowers

Ok, here it is, the end of September and I thought that basically all my flowers had died after a hard freeze we had a few weeks ago.  Yesterday, as I was out walking around our yard, I noticed a few flowers that have chosen to stand proudly.  I was quite shocked at the first blooms I noticed.  It is a picture of our Bridal Wreath bushes.  I couldn’t believe it when I spotted a cluster of white flowers blooming as pretty as ever.  Bridal Wreath Bushes DO NOT BLOOM in September.  I have only seen my Bridal Wreaths bloom in Spring……not in the Fall when leaves are changing colors.  Strange.

The next flower is my one and only Columbine flower.  All the others that line the front of our home have long ago bloomed and gone.  This one stands alone…..so big and pretty, you’d think it was Spring/Summer.

Now this little flower decided to plant itself here.  I have a few of these Viola (Johnny Jump-Ups) flowers planted in a barrel around the other side of our home, not even close to where this little plant decided to take root.  This one is also much prettier than the ones in my barrel that are almost gone, too.

You can really feel the changes in the air with the coming of Fall.  Even though Fall is one of my most favorite times of the year, I did enjoy these little flowers bringing a bit of Springtime joy into my life.

Halloween Tag - Twix or Treat

While searching blogs yesterday, I came across the cutest blog at “My Computer Is My Canvas” for a free “Twix or Treat” tag that you can attach to a bag of Twix candy bars or even a single candy bar.  There was one big problem in using this tag.  I needed to have a Facebook account in order to get it.  I don’t do the Facebook thing, so I decided to use the idea and come up with one of my own.  If you belong to Facebook, you can go HERE to get your free “Twix or Treat” tag.  Below is the one I made for my use.  Since all the graphics were free graphics that I obtained from Google Images, I would definitely share my design but I do not know how to get the designs I make in Microsoft Office Word to work on my blog.  I made six to a page……..

I just tried to copy the larger picture above (right click on picture – copy) and paste (right click on picture – paste) it on a blank word page/document and it worked.  You are welcome to use it for your “Little Goblins” this Halloween.  It would also be fun to use for Visiting Teaching, Young Womens, Friends, Etc.  To make them really show up nice, print them on glossy photo paper.

Pumpkin Oat Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Oh my, my, my, my, my!  I’m not sure where I got this recipe (I’m sure it was off one of the many blogs I follow) but it is definitely a KEEPER!  I love pumpkin…….pumpkin anything.  When I came across this recipe, I knew I had to give it a try.  I’m here to tell you this is one of the best pancake recipes I have ever tried (right up there with my “Brown Sugar Oatmeal Pancakes”).  My first bite was one of…….this is not a pancake…..this is a delicious pumpkin bread made into a pancake form.  I thinned the batter a little more than the recipe called for and they came off the griddle perfect.

In other food blogs, they have the perfect set-up and most pictures look like they came out of a magazine.  I thought, I can do this, I can photo a pancake with a pat of butter on top with syrup being drizzled over the top.  I’m thinking these other photographers must have someone else pouring the syrup while they take the picture.  For my picture, it was just me, myself, and I.  It was not easy getting a photo of the syrup coming out of the bottle, while holding the camera and trying to get a focused shot.  Not quite like I had envisioned, but I did get one.

And of course, I am including the recipe…………..

I went on line and looked and looked for the original recipe and I finally found it HERE.  EnJoY!

Moose and Mackay Free BBQ

What an enjoyable weekend.  My daughter, her husband, and our little grandson came for a weekend visit.  Early Saturday morning, my husband attempted to go out and change his wheel lines.  As it so happened, at that time, it was not to be.  It took approximately 3 hours before he could go out to change his water.  We had moose…….…everywhere.  They were in the fields and corrals.  There were mammas, babies, and bulls.  With those three combinations in play, you don’t even attempt to change water.  At first, it started out with moose watching from a distance.

Within minutes, the moose were quite close so the binoculars came down.

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After the moose moved over to the corrals, we stopped watching.  You can see the baby moose peeking through the fence.  So awkwardly cute.

After finally getting the wheel lines changed and getting ourselves ready, we headed up to the Mackay Free BBQ.  On the eve of the BBQ, tons of flavored roasts are put in a big brick oven to cook.  Below is a picture of the brick oven used.  You can read about the history of the BBQ HERE. 

The BBQ happens every year and is one of the town highlights.  People come from all over just to get a free BBQ sandwich, free entertainment and to associate with others.  Besides the free sandwiches, you can also purchase all kinds of foods and desserts from booths run by school students.  All this, while you sit and listen to free entertainment.  It really is a fun time for everyone.

And just for FUNS, there was even a black fairy, floating around the park throwing candy in the air for all the children.

Lambs Ear/Common Mullein

On the first of September, my daughter, her baby, my husband, and I went for a walk out back, down our lane.  We noticed these plants along the bottom part of the lane and my husband thought they were “lambs ear”.  I picked one of the leaves and poured water on it to see what would happen.  The water ran off the leaf and never did soak in.  I took a picture of one in bloom and some stalks of other plants that had matured and dried.

Today I got on the internet to look up this plant and was totally amazed at what this plant is/does.  It looks like lambs ear but is actually a common mullein.  It is said to have been called “cowboy toilet paper”…(I’m guessing because of it’s long, soft, strong leaves) – “witches candle”, because a torch can be made by dipping the dried flower stocks in tallow (a hard fatty substance made from rendered animal fat, used in making candles and soap), and lighting them on fire.  According to some of the sites, this plant has many other names, too.  It claims to also have many medicinal uses: expectorant, anti-inflammatory, relieves coughing, loosens mucus, relieves ear aches, helps eliminate toxins, promotes wound healing and others, that were listed on the internet.  You can find out oodles of information on this plant just by doing a Google search.  I typed in Mullein Plant and a long, long list of sites came up.  Here, here, and here are just three of the sites I looked at.  A very interesting plant, indeed.

Kenmore Stackable Washer and Dryer Set

I wrote about my Kenmore Stackable Washer and Dryer back in October of 2012. 

A few months ago, my very loved washer flooded my washing area, totally.  I had a neighbor come and look at it and he tried to fix it but the washer wanted no part of it.  I have been going to the laundry mat for a few months so it was time to call in the professionals.  He came to our home yesterday and gave me the BAD NEWS.  My Kenmore washing unit was in bad shape and it would cost around $500 to get it fixed.  I asked him, in his professional opinion, what would he do…………..fix it or buy new.  He stated that where it is as old as it is, more things could go wrong and he suggested getting new.  Oh my, he broke my heart.  The way things are made now (definitely not built to last), I know I will never, ever be able to purchase a machine as good as this one has been.  In the past, we have purchased Kenmore products because of their dependability (my microwave also lasted between 20-25 years).  Now, upon reading reviews and best star ratings, Kenmore is not even mentioned and the reviews I did read, they had some pretty bad ones.  The stackable machine that had the best ratings and reviews was the GE.  Well, here goes to making up my 1st, 2nd, and 3rd mind as to which unit would work the best for me……………..

Homemade Fly Strips

It seems like the past few weeks our home is being targeted with annoying fly’s.  I found a place on the net that had a homemade recipe for making your own fly paper strips.  It stated to use equal amounts of honey, sugar and water to make a mixture for dipping brown paper bag, strips.  I followed the recipe exactly…except for one thing.  I did not have honey so I substituted Karo syrup.  After cutting bag strips, punching holes, attaching strings, cooking mixture and making my fly strips…they were ready to hang for some dripping and setting-up-time.  Where – oh – where to hang the strips.  Finally I thought to put newspaper on the floor by the stove and tape my fly strips to the oven handle to drip and eventually thicken up.

It was time to hang my fly strips.  I hung one in each of our dining room windows and one over the dining room table.

They look so much better than hanging regular fly strips.  After hanging for quite some time, I hadn’t noticed a single fly landing on the strips.  But wait…..the fly’s did come and they were all over the strips…………but nothing was happening.  I had just made a non-stick park/playground for my little fly’s.  Not a single fly was sticking to the fly strips.  It was really tacky, but not the kind of tack needed to catch fly’s.  I finally took them down, went to town and bought regular non-attractive fly strip, which ARE doing what they were made to do.  Some day, I will try again to make the fly strips but I will get some honey as the recipe called for.  Whether honey will do the trick as opposed to using the Karo syrup…………..Hope So!

Moose Swap For Fawns

After a lot of hollering, waving arms, and clapping hands, I think we finally convinced the moose that our yard was not the place to be.  It got to the point they were causing too much damage so every time we saw them near our place, we would scare them off.  A few nights ago, we had three young fawn come on the yard.  they were so cute and they don’t seem to cause any damage.  At least if they do or have, we haven’t noticed it after seeing what moose can do.  These little ones were fun to watch.

At one point, they moved to another part of the lawn and they were standing so close together, it almost looked like it could have been a two-headed fawn.  So I thought it would be fun to take one of the photos and see if I could make it look like a two-headed fawn.  I don’t have a technical program (Picasa 3) to make it look real but I had fun doing it.

They started to leave but before going, they turned around for one more look.  My husband was pounding on something in the garage and these little ones were pretty curious as to what was making all that noise.