Joan's Page

Birthday Dinner

2009-04-09T12:54:00.000-07:00

Our dinner was at Rudy's Hideaway. Steak and lobster. Yum!

My 50th Birthday Party!

2009-04-09T12:44:00.000-07:00

This is my year for the BIG 50. John reserved a shiny white Limo to go out in style. The driver did admit that our house was the furthest back he had ever driven! He even rolled out the red carpet for me to get into. I'm sure he had to shake out all the dirt once he got back to civilization! We left at 5PM and didn't get home till 3 AM!

Here it is in front of our house. Just looks out of place here!

Had balloons, champagne and everything waiting inside!

After we picked up Rob, Kathy, Julie and Dave, here is our group photo.

New Chicken Coop

2009-04-09T12:40:00.000-07:00

Finally completed the new chicken coop area for the Rhode Island Reds we ordered last September. Here is the new nestbox all ready to go.

Across from the nestboxes is the roosting area. We moved the chickens in finally that afternoon.

Birthday Party

2009-03-22T19:34:00.001-07:00

Here's our group family photo. My sister Debbie who lives in Las Vegas, had a get together with all of us. She made a great spaghetti dinner with birthday cake!

50 is the new 40!

Las Vegas Fun

2009-03-22T18:44:00.000-07:00

Talked my mother into getting her picture taken with us with the Chippendales. She said she wasn't going to do it but she did! We were such an unusual bunch, we had quite an audience watching us!

Char, my mom and I in Binion's Casino and their Million Dollar photo shoot. Hmmm, my mother was more at ease in this photo shoot!

Was on the strip for a short trip, here is the Eiffel Tower all lit up.

This hotel (can't remember which one featured a huge aquarium in the back. There is also a slide tunnel that goes directly inside the aquarium.

VIVA LAS VEGAS!!

2009-03-22T18:21:00.000-07:00

March 9-11th, I went to Las Vegas to celebrate my big "50" coming up in April. My mom, sister and Angie and James were there also. Angie also celebrated her BD too. Won't tell you her age, she might not like that! Stayed at the Four Queens Casino and Hotel. One of the original hotels still there but we had a nice clean room. If you look above, you can see where our window was. Right below us was the great Fremont Experience. Thought that it might keep us awake at night. Char, my sister is the only night owl in the group but us "daytime" people needed to sleep at night! Luckily, the noise didn't bother us at all. The LED night show went on every hour on the hour but from above the roof, you couldn't see the lights.

Part of the LED show underneath the metal roof.

Underneath the round metal roof is where the LED show is played. This was the view from our hotel room.

The Four Queens Hotel.

When It Snows......

2009-02-19T09:27:00.000-08:00

After we got home from the hospital from John's knee surgery, it started to snow. Then I get the flu. We had a few trees fall over from the snow including the one below on top of the chicken pen. Luckily it is still balancing on the roof of the coop. Hopefully it'll stay there until it can be chainsawed! In the meantime, the chickens have a new view. We also had a metal storage shed roof collapse. When it snows, it snows!

New Knee

2009-02-19T09:24:00.001-08:00

Thinking about getting a total knee replacement? Here's John's knee couple days after surgery. He was walking the day of surgery and he was able to go home the day after surgery.

Recycling Parts

2009-02-19T09:22:00.000-08:00

You make stuff out of all your junk laying around. Looks like we put this to good use!

New Hay Feeder

2009-02-16T16:33:00.000-08:00

Elbows off the table! And don't feed the dog!

Finally got the goats hay feeder put together. We can now feed them from outside their fence and not be fighting the goats getting to their barn when feeding time comes.

New Perfume

2008-11-17T11:40:00.000-08:00

Well, I went and got a "buck rag" and tied it around Heather's neck. This will get the girls into season for which we've been waiting for a little while. This is supposed to trick them into coming into season. This rag had been hanging around a smelly buck for awhile. It smells AWFUL to everybody else except goats. Poppy and Flower really thought Heather was cute and smelled WONDERFUL with her new collar. Even the dogs caught a wiff of it! Thankfully, they're not rolling in it!

Oh Honey, I love you!!

Doubleshift

2008-11-17T11:37:00.000-08:00

Either the "milk" tastes better on the other side or Annie didn't care! Pixie is feeding her own pups and Annie's!

Goat Pictures

2008-11-02T14:58:00.000-08:00

Haven't taken any goat pictures in awhile. Here Truck is telling Heather a secret!

Flower and Poppy waiting at the fence.

Shaggy Heather!

Peek a boo!

Sheila's Pastime

2008-11-02T14:56:00.000-08:00

If you don't find Sheila tossing her ball or pine cone, you'll find her in the goat barn eating berries.

Dog Tracks

2008-11-02T14:55:00.001-08:00

Couldn't find any mountain lion tracks or anything exciting. You'll have to settle for these dog tracks!

Growing Rhode Island Reds

2008-11-02T14:53:00.001-08:00

Those cute little chicks that arrived at 7 AM at the post office back in September are really growing up. Our "free" chicken stands out in the crowd!

Rain!!

2008-11-02T14:49:00.001-08:00

We finally received some decent rain. California really needs it. It rained yesterday and all through the night. A whopping 3.25 inches. Plenty of mud puddles around our place.

Halloween Food

2008-10-26T17:18:00.001-07:00

It's Halloween time! Went to my GCDG meeting this afternoon and the pot luck food theme of course of Halloween related. This is my "Chilled Lung" salad. It won 4th place. All it is is jello (any red kind) and mixed with cream cheese. John hates it. Refuses to even look at it! Actually, it's a great low carb food!

I had fun with this one. This is BBQ'd Bat Wings! Just take chicken wings and your favorite BBQ sauce. All you have to do is put BLACK food coloring in the sauce. I never knew there was black food coloring until I saw it at the store. Looks real to me!

Sleeping Pot

2008-10-22T13:14:00.000-07:00

I had received this great tub for my birthday last April filled with neat flowers and such. Watching it all summer, kept noticing some plants disappearing. Now I know why!! Here is Queen Sophie taking her afternoon nap!

Not a Care in the World!

2008-10-17T13:20:00.000-07:00

I don't care about Obama, McCain or the falling economy. Just let me sleep!

New Kids on the Block

2008-10-17T13:08:00.001-07:00

Here are Annie's puppies. 3 boys and 1 girl

Pixie's puppies - 1 girl, 1 boy. Boy is a longcoat. For more information on them, visit Net-Puppy!

And You Thought Your Day Was Bad?!

2008-09-25T08:53:00.000-07:00

I took my camera to the garden to catch this picture of the typical female Praying Mantis that acted as the "Black Widow". Yep, she enticed the male to come visit and well, you can see what happened.
But then before I knew it, ANOTHER praying mantis was watching her and POUNCED on her. First she (I think it's a she) ate her partner and then..........
the rest of her meal. Is Nature cruel or what?!

Let Sleeping Chicks Lie

2008-09-20T15:11:00.000-07:00

The chicks now have quite a few feathers. Still a heat light on at night. See the "surprise" chick (one that looks different). We're still waiting to see what kind it is........ No doubt, it's a rooster....... Why else would they give you a SURPRISE chick?!

Back Home

2008-09-20T15:05:00.000-07:00

Couldn't stay too long camping as we had to get back to our 2 girls who are due to whelp. Do they look pregnant?! Here is Pixie..... hmmm, maybe only one.
Annie looks a little more pregnant!
And of course, had to get back to this too!!! More canning!

Camping at Lake Pardee

2008-09-20T14:50:00.000-07:00

Went on our 2 day camping trip at Lake Pardee which is about 40 some miles away from us. Not too far but close enough if something happened, we could "run" home. Here is our campsite. Rob and Kath's campsite is behind us!
Can't camp without your dogs...... thank goodness for fencing! Normally Dolly (fawn) doesn't go camping but she had a 7 week old puppy we couldn't leave behind. All the dogs were so good. They're all good camping buddies! We brought Spanky (JRT), Mouse Dolly w/puppy and Pup.
Of course, Lake Pardee is known for it's fishing............. we're off to a fishing site! Did we catch anything?????? Nnnnooooooo!
Poor Spanky, all pooped out riding in the boat!
Here is a seagull trying to catch shad that were jumping out of the water, it was so interesting to watch!

Garden Rascal

2008-09-07T08:01:00.001-07:00

Here's this handsome buck that keeps jumping into my garden by our house when the big dogs aren't around. So far, the strawberries, beans, tomatoes and horseradish!

Dolly's New Puppy

2008-09-07T07:56:00.001-07:00

Here's Dolly's new baby. He's now around 6 weeks old. Real cutie! He's more independent than her last puppy. Already using the potty pad. Good puppy!

The Chicks Have Arrived!

2008-09-07T07:52:00.000-07:00

I got a call last thursday at 6:55 A.M. from our local Post Office stating that our chicks were in. I was amazed that they called that early. Maybe they were afraid they'd have them too long! I did pick them up but not until 3 hrs. later. I was still in my bathrobe, letting the dogs out when they called! Plus I had a couple other runs that I had to do. I did get them with a lot of strange faces looking at me while I carried this "peeping" box out to my car!

Brought them home and they were greeted by all these faces!

They're all settled in and enjoying their new home! Oh..... they're Rhode Island Reds.

Garden Pics

2008-08-23T08:25:00.000-07:00

Here's some pictures of our garden. So far, so good!
Cantelope
Watermelon
Butternut Squash

Tomatoes and corn!

Been busy!

2008-08-23T08:11:00.000-07:00

Still busy canning salsa! Here's another batch getting ready to go!
Yesterday, picked 100+ ears of corn for the freezer. They were so sweet, creamy, you could eat them right off the plant, which we did on some!

Deer

2008-08-23T08:09:00.000-07:00

Caught this one young buck taking a stroll at the edge of our garden! We do have a container of water out we keep out for wild animals to drink out. The deer (usually our reguler 5-6 of them) take advantage of it every morning. Beats the long walk to the lake behind us!

Puppy Update

2008-08-23T08:07:00.000-07:00

Here's Dolly's puppy, now 3 weeks old!

Doggie Dunk Swin Suit Contest!

2008-08-17T21:05:00.001-07:00

Another win for little Miss Tedi...1st place in the Doggy Dunk Swim Suit competition at Gallagher swimming pool...supposed to be 400 dogs and 750 people there but only 10 or so wore swim suits (how tacky...all those nudie dogs) She looked pretty cute in her itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini...but the hat (and she kept it on) was the "stunning" part of her outfit...and she DID NOT look like a rat in a swim suit Kelly! Char won all kinds of good dog prizes, a Humane Society bag, a picture frame with dog pawprints on it, and a really nice purple sweatshirt for me....lots of people thought she was so cute and several people took her picture!!! They had a really fun time...mom/Grandma, Norene and Missy, Sharon, Trey and their dogs were there too....they let the people swim WITH the dogs...in K.C. last year it was dogs only swim.

Remington Dog Show

2008-08-14T21:00:00.000-07:00

We're off!!! To a stylish dog show being held at the Remington Heights Retirement. My sister, Char works there and of course had to enter her 2 chihuahuas (mother and daughter) in the costume contest. They were all DECKED out in PINK including Char! Guess what?! They won 1st place. Char dressed up too to match Tedi and Snippy. She carried Tedi in a shiny pink purse decorated with big flowers and a flowered scarf. The girls wore their new pink dresses with matching scarves that I bought when I was there visiting. There were 24 dogs in the show and some really cute costumes...but Char was the only adult that dressed up. She and Tedi/Snippy won a gift certificate to a Doggy Spa. She also got some expensive dog food, dog toys, etc.

This next picture was taken on the way home...Tedi fell asleep standing up in her car seat, Char stopped the car..turned on the light, rummaged in her purse for her camera and she NEVER woke up...she's not a party girl, too tiring..ha!!

Outdoor Cannin'

2008-08-10T16:10:00.000-07:00

Here's the pressure canner outside doing my 6 pints of beets. Much easier to do it outside!

It's Salsa Time!

2008-08-10T16:09:00.001-07:00

The tomatoes are slowly coming in. One quart at a time. Enough to make great homemade salsa!

Dolly's baby

2008-08-10T16:07:00.000-07:00

Dolly had one puppy on July 27th. Here HE is at 2 weeks of age!

Plum Jam

2008-08-05T16:16:00.001-07:00

Plums finally ripened last Sunday. Didn't have a motherload of plums but was able to do a few jars of jam. Sugar free of course!

Foodsavin'

2008-08-05T16:10:00.000-07:00

I finally received my foodsaver back. My one I got for Christmas had conked out and I received my new replacement one. I was busy foodsavin' my grains. I found out through "surfin" the web that you can reuse your old peanut butter, jam type jars and foodsave goodies in them. Place the filled jar, tighten lid and place inside a foodsaver canister. Vacuum the canister with the jar inside. When it's done vaccuuming, release the vacuum button on top and that is when the jar inside gets vacuumed! Neato!

Mini-Lawn

2008-07-28T08:02:00.000-07:00

I had to laugh once I got to my mom's apartment. On her balcony deck was this tiny, tiny bowl with grass. Thought she was growing a tiny backyard..... no...... it's for her cat, Missy to munch on!
Missy Olivia!

2008-07-28T07:55:00.000-07:00

An albino Croc.
In the Lied Jungle which is the word's largest Indoor Rainforest http://www.omahazoo.com/exhibits/index.asp?page=exhibits/jungle.htm (my favorite of the zoo), this fish is around 7 ft. long. It's huge! Of course, a gorilla.
Omaha's own, Meerkat Manor! These guys are cute!
Another resident of the Lied Jungle, tapirs.

Trip to the Henry Doorly Zoo

2008-07-27T17:08:00.000-07:00

As always when I'm back home, I need to see the Henry Doorly Zoo. Every year, it gets bigger and bigger. Check out their website and see for yourself. http://www.omahazoo.com/ Here is the Desert Dome..... world's largest indoor walk-through desert.
New addition called the Berniece Grewcock Butterfly and Insect Pavilion. Full of 100s of exotic butterflies. Evidently this is how butterflies drink.
Wow! What a breakfast! I really liked this..... they're hatching cocoons! One has already hatched. Is that the correct term? I think I have raised birds too long!
This is a Red River Hog. I think one of the prettiest hogs I've ever seen!

Tank's New Job

2008-07-26T15:15:00.000-07:00

Tank showed such a great interest in the goats that John decided to let him do his thing and take care of them. He LOVES his goats! He's never far from them when he's in the pen watching them. We can sleep much better at night knowing he's in with the goats at night.
Just checkin', you ok?
I'm right behind you!
Of course, there is still time to get my stick! Now maybe "Lucy", his once a year date will think more of him now that he has a "job"! Goat herding counts, doesn't it?!

Orphan Kitty

2008-07-26T15:12:00.001-07:00

Gosh, forgot about this baby kitty. While I was staying at my friend's Debbie's house for the High School reunion, she was handfeeding a tiny kitty who somehow had lost it's mother. Poor thing! It was so cute!

2008-07-26T15:08:00.000-07:00

Gee, being gone for 2 weeks really made the garden grow!! Here are the beets.
and corn........
tomatoes (5-6 ft. tall) and butternut squash. Stuff is really coming in!

Midwest Views

2008-07-26T15:03:00.000-07:00

Was traveling back from Sioux Falls, SD through Iowa. Being in California for so long, it's wonderful to see everything so green! Plus all the cornfields! Amazing!

Class Reunion

2008-07-26T15:00:00.000-07:00

It's been 30 years since high school in Lennox, SD. Had the opportunity to attend my 30 year reunion. Really, 30 years?! Where did the time go? Here's our group photo of the ones that were there.

Retirement Home Visiting

2008-07-17T13:58:00.001-07:00

Snippy had her first visit at Remington Heights (assisted and independent living retirement home) where Char works. Everybody loved her and unlike her (Snippy) daughter, Tedi, Snippy seemed to like it too! Here she is visiting one of the residents who was thoroughly enjoying her!

Busy Beaver

2008-07-13T05:39:00.000-07:00

We caught sight of this busy beaver gathering grass when we were checking out the camping sites while driving around in Louisville, NE.

Mother & Daughter

2008-07-13T05:29:00.001-07:00

Miss Snippy finally arrived in Omaha to live with my sister who has Snippy's daughter. Here's "mother and daughter" waiting for their treat. Tedi (daughter in background) is doing better than predicted. She seems to be "interested" in her mother,(Snippy) at times but at the same time, will keep a leery watchful eye out on her. We catch them sniffing each other when they think the other one is not watching. Tedi has a few "growling & lip issues (not with just Snippy but about 3,213 other things)but I have faith they'll be the best of friends after I leave. Tedi would make a great new "Nunu" for the Dog Whisperer. She's had some"lessons" that we've been working on which she hates but there is progress! Now, if my sister can keep it up after I leave?!

How Green It Is!

2008-07-13T05:26:00.001-07:00

Had to throw this picture in. I'm in Omaha now on "vacation" visiting family and friends. My sister, mother and I took a drive to visit all their favorite camping spots. As driving along, it was so neat to see everything soooo green, so unlike California right now!

New "Kids"

2008-07-07T19:51:00.001-07:00

Picked up some new "kids" today. Was only going to get 2, but ended up with 3. They're half Saanans. The 2 shorthaired ones are twins, the other from a different line. They arrived in the back of our Pathfinder in a HUGE dog crate and the air conditioning going full blast!

They'll be eating our brush that has gotten really overgrown. Then breed them this fall, babies in the spring along with milking! Goat milk, cheese, yum yum!

Aren't they cute?!
Snippy and Sophie checking them out! All the dogs were just fascinated with them.

Family Photo

2008-07-05T08:54:00.000-07:00

Got the family gang together. Miss Snippy just retired from her last litter and is moving to Omaha. I hear she's even going to visit a retirement Center! (for real!). We brought Miss Snippy to Rob and Kath's July 4th BBQ where they have Baby Winston and Elliot (Snippy's boys). We brought Lil' Sugar too for the family reunion!

From left to right- Elliot, Sugar, Winston and Snippy!
Brother and Sister playing!

Another Hangin' Out!

2008-07-05T08:51:00.000-07:00

Caught this alligator lizard hanging out in our plum tree!

Hovering Bee

2008-07-04T08:33:00.000-07:00

On the way up to the garden, caught sight of several of these bees just hovering above your head. The didn't move anywhere, just hovered there for a few minutes before flying off. Don't know if they were trying to warm up or get ready for a swarm?

Hanging Out!

2008-07-04T08:23:00.001-07:00

Nothing like hanging out under the parrot t-stand to catch the morning sun rays!

How Does Our Garden Grow

2008-07-04T08:18:00.000-07:00

The garden is finally kicking in. We found out through trial and error, the overhead sprinking system just wasn't working out for us so we switched most of the plants to individual drip irrigating. The earwigs are a problem and we couldn't use 7 dust for bug control unless we used the drip system. Here are some of the pepper plants.
Corn, unless you already knew that!
Tomatoes

Mouse's Toothache

2008-06-22T09:32:00.000-07:00

Poor Mouse developed an infected canine tooth a couple of days ago. Poor little guy, he hardly has much of a muzzle but now really didn't when it all swelled up! Took him into the vet for antibiotics and the next day got it extracted. Poor little guy only has 5 teeth left! He can't afford to lose anymore!

Baby Robins

2008-06-22T09:29:00.000-07:00

We have a fruitless mulberry tree in front of our house and every year robins love to build a nest in it. For some reason, not the same nest either. There is 3 nests in it now, 2 are empty from the past 2 years and this new one has 3 occupants!

Wanting to Get In!

2008-06-15T09:08:00.001-07:00

On our way home from fishing, noticed this beautiful buck (with velvet still on his rack) on the outside of our garden looking in!

Fishing in the Mountains

2008-06-15T08:43:00.000-07:00

Time to go fishing again. Off we went to meet Rob and Kathy to Caples Lake up in the mountains. We arrived there at 8:00 AM but talk about whitecaps on the water. Not fun to fish or manage a boat in that. So we headed down 700 ft. elevation to another lake called Silver Lake. The lake is located 7200 ft. elevation and owned by the EID Water District. The water was much calmer but the darn thing didn't have a dock in the launching area for your boat. It was an experience launching our boats. But we made it. It was more exciting trying to get your boat out!

The mountains still had some snow on them. I was wearing a coat for awhile when the wind picked up a little. Of course, we didn't think about sunburn. The air was so thin but it wasn't hot, you just didn't think about it. Yes, we got sunburned that day!

Here is the water runoff going into the lake. I saw and actually took a picture of a Bald Eagle but it was quite a ways away and hard to see on the picture. It landed in a tall tree. Awsome sight.

Finally, this is what we came up for. After a whole year last year of not catching one single fish, we were able to get these. Only caught half our limit but hey, it's a start. We used flashers and worms and top lined. These averaged between 10-12 inches. Don't ask who caught 4 and who caught one! Better luck next time!

Horseradish

2008-05-28T11:05:00.000-07:00

This is my horseradish growing in the garden. The leaves are actually about 3 to 3 1/2 feet tall. They're also quite invasive and I had to dig some up that were growing on the other side of the raised bed and I needed to plant some basil there. So I dug it up.....

These are the roots of the horseradish. I hosed off the dirt on the roots and cut the leaves off and then peeled off the outside skin and blemishes. They're quite a hard root.

After you peeled them and then dice or grate the horseradish, you put them in a food processor along with some vinegar, sugar and salt and then puree it and store it in jars. It will keep 4-6 weeks in your fridge or you can also freeze it for longer storage. Be careful and NOT breathe the fumes that come out of the processor...... really cleans & opens your sinuses! We had to open the windows, run the overhead stove fan while I was making this!

The end product...... Looks pretty darn good!

Cicada

2008-05-28T11:03:00.001-07:00

Discovered this Cicada bug on my horseradish leaf. I was surprised there were Cicadas here in CA. Are they? This little guy was half the size of the ones I've seen in Atlanta, GA. Anybody know?

Watch That Ball!

2008-05-28T10:55:00.000-07:00

This is Sheila's (Queensland Heeler) disgusting tennis ball. I know we have about 100 of them laying around the property as she doesn't keep good tabs on her balls.

This is also Sheila's normal postion when you go outside and she gives the ball to you. She will play ball 26 hours a day (if there was such a thing!). She throws the ball near you and then transfixes herself to the ball until you either kick it or throw it! If you throw it, she's your friend for life! If you ignore her and the ball, she'll position the ball on the top of your foot, in your car or wherever you're at. You've got no choice but to throw it!

New Baby Guineas

2008-05-25T15:53:00.000-07:00

Here is the Guinea Hen nest when I checked it this morning and found out several babies had hatched. The ones that didn't were clear when I candled them later. 12 babies hatched but it was not very warm outside and we had a rain most of the day yesterday. One baby was dead and I had found 3 cheeping and huddled together and no mom was in sight.

Here is the mom finally after I found her. She had some other babies but they were cold too. She generally is a good mom but the weather was against her and the babies.

I scooped up all the babies. 3 were VERY cold and not moving but with warmth from the woodstove, they came around. So now we have 11 in all and they're doing good!

After we warmed them up for awhile, we took them back outside to a pen, captured Mom and another adult and put them all together. So far, so good.......

Let's Dress Up!

2008-05-24T15:15:00.000-07:00

Gol' darn it, why do we have to wear these things?!

The Gardening Has Started!

2008-05-24T15:09:00.000-07:00

We were finally able to plant some plants into the garden. We've had a weird spring where it would be nice and warm and then the next weekend it would be cold. We grabbed the chance and planted the tomatoes and peppers. Then we did a few seeds but we still have some more to go!

Rock-a-Bye Baby

2008-05-24T14:50:00.000-07:00

Rock-a-Bye Sugar! One tired baby!

Dreaming.........

2008-05-24T11:23:00.000-07:00

Aaaaahhhhhh...... 352 more days before she comes back again!

Tank's Date

2008-05-13T07:56:00.000-07:00

Tank had his "once a year" date with a HOT Dane from Orangevale. Once a year my family comes visit and once a year, Tank and Lucy get together for a play date. Lucy is still quite "active" whereas Tank had settled down a little over the last year. Hmmm, maybe due to his size, can't keep up with Lucy! At least Lucy doesn't slobber/drool like Tank does. My nephew Kelly was the chauffeur here for this sitting. He is also holding baby Sugar who was stuck in a dress for the occassion. She looks so small compared to these two!

Granola Recipe

2008-04-27T08:14:00.001-07:00

Made some great granola mix the other day. Was tired of buying the store bought stuff that's so expensive! Being the great person I am, I'm sharing the recipe!

Granola Mix
10 cups old fashioned oatmeal
1 cup wheat germ
½ lb. Shredded coconut
2 cups raw sunflower seeds
1 cup sesame seeds
3 cups chopped almonds or other nuts
1 ½ cups brown sugar firmly packed
1 ½ cups water
1 ½ cups vegetable oil
½ cup honey
½ cup molasses
1 ½ tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
3 tsp vanilla
Raisons or other dried fruit
Preheat oven to 300 F. In large bowl combine oats, wheat germ, coconut, sunflower & sesame seeds & nuts. Blend well. In a large saucepan, combine brown sugar, water, oil, honey, molasses, salt, cinnamon and vanilla. Heat until sugar is dissolved, but do not boil. Pour over dry ingredients and stir until well-coated. Spread into five 13”x9” baking pans or cookie sheets with sides. Bake 20-30 minute, stirring occasionally. Bake 15 minutes longer for crunchier texture. Cool. Add raisins or other dried fruit, if desired. Put in airtight containers. Store in cool, dry place. Will keep for 6 months. Makes 20 cups.

Granola Peanut Butter Bars
1 1/2 c. light corn syrup
9 c. granola with raisins
2 c. peanut butter
Butter baking pan 9x13. Heat corn syrup to boiling in 5 quart pan. Boil one minute only. Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter until well blended. Stir in granola. Transfer quickly to pan and distribute evenly using damp spatula. Press very hard filling up corners and edges. Cover and cool 1 hour. Cut into bars. This recipe goes a long way and can easily be taken on trips. Store in covered container.

To cut down calories in the actual granola mix recipe, I used splenda brown sugar blend. I also baked the granola longer in the oven as it wasn't "drying out" like I wanted it too. It could be I had too much mix in my cookie sheets. So I just kept on a baking and a stirring......

After I cut the bars, I wrapped them individually in saran wrap and then froze them. They're easy to grab out of the freezer.

Enjoy!

A Different Kind of "Charlotte"

2008-04-27T07:56:00.000-07:00

Not your typical "Charlotte" spider. A Black Widow Spider. Found her dead at the end of our porch steps. Evidently she "checked out" early! She was pretty good size as you can tell. Believe it or not, I've seen bigger ones!

Springtime Flowers

2008-04-19T19:12:00.001-07:00

My clematis is really blooming this year. This bloom here is about the size of a small softball.

The azeleas are coming out too. These are huge flowers as well!

Clean Pond!

2008-04-16T20:07:00.000-07:00

Here's the clean pond now. No frog eggs. Plants are just starting to grow through from their winter nap. Looks bare now. Fish are going back in tomorrow. Won't have to clean until fall!

Frog Eggs

2008-04-16T19:59:00.001-07:00

I got ambitious today and said "today is the day to clean the pond." Twice a year the pond needs to be cleaned out, get rid of the algae and so on. This year, I did try some safe chemicals to clean the hair algae that occurred over the winter. But...... to be on the safe side, I took out my fish while I did that. Well it killed the algae but it still needed to be scraped out. Today was halfway decent out weatherwise so for the next hour and a half with my bottom sticking in the air and the dogs watching me with amusement, the pond got a thorough cleaning. What I noticed though, was while the fish were out, the little tree frogs said it was a safe place to lay their eggs. Being a past bird breeder, you just can't throw away eggs, no matter what it is! So I scooped them out and put them in a white bucket. Tomorrow the fish will be able to go back into their pond and I'll put the eggs in the barrel. They hatched last year, no doubt they'll do it again! Next generation of frogs!

NAP!

2008-04-13T12:30:00.001-07:00

I said................ "I'M TAKING A NAP!"

Life is Good!

2008-04-13T12:28:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh....... life is good when you're an old chihuahua and you have your own couch!

Baby Vegetables

2008-04-13T12:25:00.001-07:00

Here are the veggies that I have started (plus some flowers on the bottom one). They're mostly tomatoes and 4 different kinds of peppers. I plan on making lots of salsa! These plants here are 6 1/2 weeks old. They were started from seeds and under artificial lighting. We're on our way!

Spring is here!

2008-04-13T12:20:00.000-07:00

Spring is really hitting here in the Motherlode. Above is a "baby" almond. It's about the size of a large pea.

The apple trees are really blooming now.

All of our 4+ plums bloomed first. Looks like a good crop if it doesn't freeze!

Let's Plant!

2008-04-03T08:10:00.000-07:00

We're trying a new planting technique with our potatoes this year. Since they like acidic soil, they advised laying them on top of pine needles and then cover them up. Hmmm, middle of the woods, we have plenty of those! Took 2 old tractor tires, one for red, one for yukon gold.

Volcano, California

2008-03-26T08:20:00.000-07:00

On our way back home from Daffodil Hill, we drove through the teenie tiny town of Volcano. Very old town with a lot of old original buildings which you can see in this link. I read too that is has ghosts too. http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/ca/volcano.html What caught our eye was this cute 150 year old Catholic church!

2008-03-26T08:06:00.000-07:00

I'm sure this old tree had seen better days! There was a 2x4 imbedded in it!

The cute little cabin was a replica of the old historic cabins.

Inside of the cabin.

Daffodil Hill

2008-03-26T07:57:00.001-07:00

They had several cute old looking buildings and even some little pens with chickens, doves and stuff the little kids.
There were several different kinds of daffodils. No clue what they are!

I really liked the salmon colored ones.

They not only had daffodils but a few other kinds of flowers too.

Took a trip Tuesday to Daffodil Hill. For more history on Daffodil Hill, you can click: http://www.amadorcountychamber.com/Daffodil%20Hill.htm It is located a little over an hour from Placerville and the small 4 acre farm is covered in daffodils for about a month from middle of March to the middle of April. The day was perfect. I heard that it is absoloutly packed on weekends. Since we went on a tuesday, wasn't too bad!

"Chee-Wah-Wah" Bowl

2008-03-24T08:05:00.001-07:00

Well, they have the "Sugar Bowl, Gater Bowl, Orange Bowl......" Let's have a "Chee-Wah-Wah" Bowl!

Group Photo

2008-03-24T08:03:00.001-07:00

Group photo of the group here! Missing one, where is she? Seems like she found a comfortable spot!

Pipe Repair

2008-03-24T08:01:00.001-07:00

Had to repair a sprinkler pipe in the backyard. Of course John had his faithful assistant Pup at his side!

Worm Hunting

2008-03-14T08:26:00.000-07:00

It had rained overnight/yesterday so we decided to try our hand at worm hunting. As you know it looks like a recession around these parts here. Wheat is going up and most certainly GAS. Last I checked was $3.55 for regular. We also use Diesel and that is now topping over $4.00 a gallon! Anyway we heard that worms were good to eat and they're just crawling all over here. Thought we could use more protein anyway..... and it's FREE!
Here's our bucket of worms. Must have 50 or so...... we'll try them in our scrambled eggs..... No seriously.... No really, couldn't eat the stuff..... bad enough you have to put them on a hook for fishing..... that's what we really got them for..... Looks like we have a great start on the worms for our spring/summer fishing trips.

Blooming Almond Trees

2008-03-10T10:29:00.000-07:00

Looks like spring is a'coming. One of our almond trees has really bloomed. We didn't get many last year due to a frost. Let's hope it's better this year!

Free Guinea Hens

2008-03-10T10:26:00.000-07:00

The guinea hens were driving us crazy from their enclosure we had them in over the winter. The weather has been really nice so we turned them loose. I was hoping they would cut down their noise but it hasn't one bit!

Hijacked Garbage Can

2008-03-09T08:19:00.000-07:00

John and I had gone to town and on our way to town, we took our garbage can to drop it off at the "community" drop off place which is 2 miles down the road. No curbside pickup here in the boonies. We got busy talking and realized we forgot to drop off the can! It was too late to turn around and go back since we had to get to the place we were going so the can went for a lovely ride all around town for a few hours. Now we're afraid the can had so much FUN riding around town that he'll do it on his own. We're keeping a safe eye on him just to be sure!

Where's Winston?

2008-02-27T09:22:00.001-08:00

Winston's in there somewhere!

Teen Heidi

2008-02-27T09:20:00.001-08:00

Heidi is now approaching 6 months in age. She's starting to lose her puppy fur, getting gangly legs and looks downright scraggly!

Going Green

2008-02-27T09:15:00.000-08:00

We're slowly "going green". We finally broke down and bought SEVERAL of these fluorescent bulbs to replace ALL our old bulbs. Found out you had to buy the 60 watt ones in order to fit into some of our ceiling lights. My lights aren't as bright as they used to be in the kitchen from what I'm used to but maybe my cooking will be better?!

Water Heater

2008-02-27T09:10:00.000-08:00

Our water heater went kapoot and was leaking water for we're not sure how many days. We only happen to discover it in the spare bedroom when the carpet we noticed was wet when we were actually starting a different project. Off to Home Depot to get a new water heater. We tore the carpet back & the pad up in the spare bedroom and have 2 box fans going to dry it out.

This time we're prepared. John made a handy tray with a drain plug that will drain UNDER the house if it happens again!

Dolly's Puppy

2008-02-20T08:11:00.001-08:00

This is Dolly's and Spike's little girl. She was a Groundhog baby. Here is is at 17 days old!

24 Days Old!

2008-02-19T14:45:00.001-08:00

The puppies are now 24 days old...... perfect for dressing up!!

Girl #1
Girl #2 Girl #3 (my favorite!)
and of course Baby Winston!

Snowpile

2008-02-11T16:04:00.000-08:00

This is what is left of our snow. About the size of a digging shovel. Can't wait for it to melt!

Spring cleaning

2008-02-11T15:57:00.000-08:00

Spent 2 hours today cleaning all the pine needles and leaves out of my pond area. There was 1 million PLUS pine needles in everything!

14 Days Old!

2008-02-08T11:27:00.000-08:00

Here we are! Fourteen days old today! And we can see!

Crunch, Crunch!

2008-02-06T13:43:00.001-08:00

We still have ice on our driveway even after the weather has warmed up to the upper 40s the last 3 days. Just that it's still in the shade and the sun is too low to melt it...... maybe by this weekend we won't have to skate on it!