Card Club

Posted on April 18, 2015 by farm2011

I was right about missing some of the groceries that I needed for card club tonight. At first I was thinking that I only needed one or possibly two items, but my list soon grew and grew! I’m always worried that I won’t have enough food variety so I added a couple more things to my food list which in turn added to my grocery list. But with 10 lbs of butter – I shouldn’t have to buy any more of that!

And another thing that I didn’t have to add to the grocery list was the makings for potato salad. Daryl loves potato salad and I can not stand it! It’s not like I’ll eat just a little bit, nope.. I don’t like how it looks so it’s one food that I won’t make. So he wanted me to ask my Mom if she would make it for him. You know it was his birthday weekend and everything! She was more than willing to make it and when Daryl saw this huge bowl in the refrigerator, well his eyes just lit up!

I spent the day cooking for our guests tonight and I laughed when Daryl told the boys “Just stay out of Mom’s way today because she’s in the zone” and I think that he was right about that. I got everything done that I wanted and William even talked me out of making a couple more things that I just thought that I should make because I had all the ingredients so why not? Which after the fact was probably a good idea because I did have enough food after all.

I think the party went over well and we were worried that we would get bad weather that was brewing in the state tonight. With only some rain on the agenda for us, it only made it a little soggy running to the house to go to take a bathroom break. Hey, it’s much better than the hail that we were worried about!

Now that the day has come and gone and our refrigerator is full of leftovers for the week, it’s time to hit the hay and get ready for the next project that’s on my list. Humm, I wonder if the pan of bars are in the refrigerator outside in the Roadhouse or in our kitchen. I’m kinda hungry 🙂

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Happy Birthday Daryl!

Posted on April 17, 2015 by farm2011

Happy Birthday Daryl!! Whoo Hooo!!!

Today is Daryl’s birthday !!  Another year has gone by and it sure seems like we just celebrated his birthday not that long ago. I saw a TV show quite a few years ago that talked about time and our perception of how we feel about it as we get older. The show said that the chemicals in our brain literally changes as we age and how we feel about the amount of time in our day also changes in our brain. Well I’m just saying that my brain must be working overtime on making this chemical change because it sure seems like time is just flying by!

OK, so getting back to Daryl’s birthday. His birthday is on a Friday which is an awesome day to have a birthday isn’t it? But the unlucky part of his birthday is that he couldn’t really take a day off of work. And then after work he was going to work up some ground (I think that’s what he said). Sometimes if I’m busy I don’t pay as close as attention as I probably should! But I do know that he was out in the field after work but and that he was really late coming home. So with Card Club on Saturday night – he’ll have to celebrate his birthday then.

What a good looking group of guys!

What a good looking group of guys!

As for the boys – they were able to spend the weekend with us to help celebrate and it’s really cool to have them both here. With company coming tomorrow night, I decided that instead of a birthday cake that no one will eat except for the chickens, Daryl got a cheesecake instead. Seriously, a boxed cake or a homemade cheesecake… yea, not a bad substitution if you ask me.

And for me? Well I decided to take the day off to get ready for card club. After work last night I ran quick to the home store to get the rest of the bricks that I needed to finish off the landscaping project that I started,  and then I also needed the low prizes for our card club. I had really good intentions of also picking up some groceries, but it was already 9:00  pm and with the grocery list that I had and knowing that it would take at least another 2 hours for groceries and then an hour to drive home – well getting groceries tonight just wasn’t going to happen!

So for today I ended on taking a vacation day from work and my list to do was huge! I broke the day down into 1 hour increments and then assigned a job to each time zone to make sure that I would get everything done. One of the ‘big’ jobs was to get the groceries that I didn’t get last night. Now I’m kinda regretting not having this done, but I was right about taking 2 hours in the store because that’s how long it took. And to be honest, I think I might have scared a couple of the shoppers because I might have looked like a crazy women. I didn’t want to make eye contact with anyone and was focused on the job to get out of there in 2 hours. You know what? That kinda sounds like the next vacation day I should take some time off and relax don’t you think? OK, so I figured that I would have missed something that I should have bought but with the car full and 12 lbs of cream cheese and 10 lbs of butter for my cooking this afternoon in a bag somewhere – I knew that I’d have enough stuff to get me started. I snapped a quick picture of the car when I opened it up when I got home. The worst part is to get it unloaded don’t you think?20150417_152156_resized

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My Soap adventure continues

Posted on April 16, 2015 by farm2011

I really would like to see if I can make a go of this soap stuff. I think I like it because it’s so challenging and there are so many things to learn.

An example is what I learned this past week. I was working on a new type of soap that’s going to be called – Hanging with Ed,  and it involved putting the soap not only in a circle mold, but also adding a rope to it.

OK, here I go. First things first. What should it smell like? Well I was making it for guys and so it should smell like something a guy would like. I finally picked out  a fragrance called Spiced Mahogany. The reviews all said that it’s the BEST guy smell. So I thought I’d give it a shot.

Now when making the normal soap there wasn’t too many surprises which is good. But I did have a dilemma. I wanted to make a two colored soap (not like the whole new mold and string thing wasn’t enough!). And the other color I wanted to add to the soap was a brownish color. I knew that I didn’t have a ‘brown’ color in my every growing soap stash, so I thought why can’t I color it with cocoa powder? That’s brown right? Well before I made the leap of faith, I Googled it quick and Shazam!! You can add cocoa powder to soap. OK, now I’m back in business. So I mixed up my two colors and all of a sudden they are setting up faster than I was hoping that they would.

Here is where the whole learning curve thing comes in. Different oils react differently with different fragrances. Then throw in some cocoa powder and you’ve got a party!

I decided to stay calm and see how this whole thing was going to work out. Everything was going pretty good and then I really wasn’t sure what happened at first. All I knew is that something in my little world changed. And then I found out what happened. The top of my inexpensive soap dispenser (50 cent ketchup bottle) blew it’s lid. And when I say blew – yea.. blew!  As I was looking around the counter top I was pretty grateful for the covering that I always lay down first. DSCN9739And now I know why on the soap blogs they wear an apron. Seriously up until now I thought it was just a way to promote their soap company. Well not anymore!

I did eventually get everything put into the mold and had tons of soap left over. So I ended up just making some hand bars of this batch also. DSCN9743

When they came out of the mold they actually didn’t look too bad for my first time. DSCN9740

Now all I have to do is to find my apron for the next batch!!

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Mystery Photo 4-15-15

Posted on April 15, 2015 by farm2011

Ready? Here is the clue for this weeks Mystery Photo Challenge. Can you guess what it is?

DSCN9752

 

Posted in Wednesday's Challenge Photo | 3 Comments

4-8-15 Mystery Photo Results

Posted on April 15, 2015 by farm2011

Awesome job Gene! I made this one pretty hard to figure out and you were spot on with the guess of the potato fork.

Here was the clueIMG_2784

And here was the whole photo. It is a potato fork for the garden!IMG_2785

Posted in Wednesday's Challenge Photo | Comments Off on 4-8-15 Mystery Photo Results

This weeks easy recipes

Posted on April 14, 2015 by farm2011

Here is the first easy recipe for the week.

William’s Tortillas

3 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1 c. warm water
Ingredients that you'll need

Ingredients that you’ll need

Recipe can be halved
(I found that adding a little extra oil helps the tortillas roll out easier and thinner)
Whisk all dry ingredients in a bowl and then add water and oil. Work mixture into a ball and place on floured counter. DSCN9731Knead for about a minute. cut into 16 pieces and roll into small balls. Cover for 10 min. Get large skillet or pan hot .
Roll balls into tortillas. It helps to lightly flour the rolling surface  before you roll out the tortillas. (Here is where I kinda cheated. I started to use the rolling pin but I quickly switched over to my pasta attachment on my mixer)DSCN9732
Cook tortillas until you start to see bubbles pop up on the top side and flip. You only want a little browning on the tortillas like what you see from store brand. My tortillas were more rectangle than round – but hey they taste pretty good!

It doesn't take long to get these lightly browned

It doesn’t take long to get these lightly browned

Cool and store in a ziploc bag in the fridge with a paper towel to absorb moisture. If you don’t plan to use them in a week put them in the freezer otherwise they will spoil.
RECIPE # 2
Hard boiled eggs.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add your uncooked eggs into the muffin tin and place in the oven for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes take out and put in cold water bath. DSCN9738
That’s it!
* There are two things to watch out for. First thing is that I left my eggs in a little longer than 30 minutes and the whites got burnt a little bit. So you’ll want to watch out for that.
The second thing is that if you think this might be a good way to use some cracked eggs that you get from your chickens – let me just say that it’s not. The eggs will cook and then kinda spew out of the egg shells all over your pan. A very good idea just not a very good turnout!
Posted in In the kitchen | Comments Off on This weeks easy recipes

The farm animals don’t know what’s hit them

Posted on April 13, 2015 by farm2011

Well it ‘s Monday and with both Daryl and I gone during the day Kyle has been looking for things to do. He’s been home for about a day and a half and is already pretty antsy.

So the first thing he starts to work on is the calf pen in the barn. Now this calf pen wasn’t the worst that it has ever been – but also it wasn’t the best either! So he just shoveled it out into the cow yard and so later Daryl can load it up and bring it out into the field. And how does the pen look? Well now it’s looking pretty darn good! DSCN9745No Ears is pregnant again and if she needs to be in the barn for some reason with her calf, well she’s going to have a pretty nice and clean pen to hang out in.

Next on Kyle’s list was to start to work on the chicken coop. This area hasn’t been cleaned for quite a few years and it did really need a good scooping and sweeping out. And when I got home I couldn’t believe how good a job Kyle did. The floor is all cleaned out and swept along with new bedding for the chicken’s. Yup, I’m sure they’re thinking that this is a pretty good gig going on. DSCN9748He pitched the manure into the spreaderDSCN9744but with it being so loose Daryl scooped up the other manure from the cow yard that Kyle threw out earlier and put it on top. Otherwise, the stuff from the chicken coop would just be a cloud following Daryl as he drove down the road. It would be kinda funny, well unless you were the one following him!

What I needed to get done today is to make my ‘Food List’ for card club Saturday night. We’re having it at our house and I’m sure hoping that the weather will be hold out for it. Our card club has been together I think for 27 or so years. Isn’t that crazy!! And honestly it’s pretty cool too. I mean how often do you hear about the same group of friends getting together for that many years to just hang out and eat. Oh yea, we also play some cards once in awhile 🙂  For my list I’ve got around 20 things that I’d like to make so I sure hope I have a good couple of working nights to get it all done!! I think if I can keep my head organized and plenty of Diet Coke in the house – well I might just have a chance.

 

 

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Life is good!

Posted on April 12, 2015 by farm2011

Both boys were home today. Yup, it’s a great day!!IMG_2802

Posted in Family | Comments Off on Life is good!

Heading to Wisconsin

Posted on April 11, 2015 by farm2011

Some of my girl friends and I have been talking about visiting a winery in Wisconsin and with one of those friends celebrating a birthday this weekend, well it was perfect timing to head out on a road trip!

We were going to Trempealeau Wisc. to the Elmaro Vineyard. Now if you’re thinking to yourself that you’ve heard of Trempealeau before, well that could be true. It’s been known to hit the news for having the ‘World Famous Walnut Burger’. Now I’m not sure if there are any other restaurants that serve walnut burgers – but hey if you’re going to do it you should be the best right?

So like I said, today’s goal is to visit the Winery and check it out. When we pulled into the parking lot we noticed that there was so many cars there that the lot was completely full! Our first instincts was to think that someone was having a wedding and we were sure hoping that this wasn’t what was going on. I mean we’d still go to the winery 🙂 but we had to be a little bit more stealth about it. And sometimes, well sometimes that’s not so easy!

Elmaro Vineyard

Elmaro Vineyard

What we found out was that we all had the same idea on this gorgeous day! No wedding, but a lot of people enjoying the musicians playing on the patio while having a glass of wine. So we grabbed a glass of wine and found a seat for ourselves.

Next on the agenda was to check into our hotel. IMG_2801We are pretty far away from home, and the hotel charges were $47 a night – so that’s a no brainer! I think the only way to describe the rooms was that it definitely seemed like we were in the old days and it was some type of boarding house. The rooms were all lined up on both sides of the halls with only a bed and a dresser in each room.IMG_2790 We all shared the bath room and that was the most tricky part of the whole deal. But we all survived and I loved everything about the hotel! We even got a good laugh at the phone in the hallway. Now I’m not sure if it worked or not – but it added more character to the already charming hotel.IMG_2800

We had a chance to check out the Lock and Dam No 7 which was literally in the same neighborhood of the hotel. It was only a quick walk to it and I think it was perfect timing because a set of barges was just pulling into the lock.IMG_2796 IMG_2795So here’s a little history on No 7. It was built in 1936 and more than 15 million tons of cargo is estimated to pass through the lock each year and more than 13,000 recreational crafts also use the lock annually. This lock provides the lift needed for canoes to towboats. Yup, pretty darn cool if you ask me.

After a good supper (no walnut burgers this time) and enjoying the band at the hotel, we headed upstairs to hit the hay for the night. With only the sound of the many, and I mean many,  trains going through the town,  we sure seemed to fall asleep easier than I thought we would.

What a good weekend for a Birthday !

 

 

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Who told the chickens?

Posted on April 10, 2015 by farm2011

As you know from previous posts, that our chickens haven’t been pulling their weight lately. No big surprise because we’ve had a lot of these chickens for quite some time now and well in the chicken world – they are pretty old!

So after a couple of months of not getting too many eggs and also having some of the chickens not making the winter – I decided to order some new little baby ones.

I found a Hatchery close by that was very reasonable. Now to be honest because I was caught up in the moment, well I’m not sure just how many I did actually order. But no big deal – a chicken on the farm is… well just a chicken on the farm. They don’t take up too much space and once you have a couple, who cares if you add a few more to the group right?

Well, yea.. until now. Our farm chickens must have got wind that I placed an order for some more layers and they really kicked the production into high gear!

Check out the last couple of days production. See what I mean?

Eggs, Eggs, and more Eggs!

Eggs, Eggs, and more Eggs!

And to top it off, I have Duff sitting on some eggs in the corner! Won’t she be surprised if those eggs hatch because the eggs she’s sitting on are NOT hers!! IMG_2787

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