Tuesday, December 18, 2012

I had a dream...

Last night I dreamt that it snowed and everything was white and beautiful. Well guess what, when I got up this morning there was white stuff all over the ground. It did snow and is still snowing. Mind you it is only a skiff of snow not the full bore 10 inches deep stuff in my dreams, but still snow. Everything is looking so beautiful. I really do like the snow, it is really getting me in the Christmas mood now. The trees are starting to turn white and it is starting to look like a wonderland.
I took a few pictures and wanted to share them with you. Maybe I will take more later if it snows enough to really change the scene. Hope you enjoy them.



 
As you can see, it was rather early this morning when I took them and was still kinda dark outside which turned out OK cause when the flash went off it caught the flakes as they were falling.
Merry Christmas everyone.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Tis The Season

Well Christmas is again upon us and everyone is out doing their last minute, whatever needs to be done, chores. I don't have the Christmas spirit this year like I usually do. The world is in such turmoil that it makes it very difficult to enjoy the season.
To me Christmas this year should be a time to look to our Lord and Savior for help and guidance in our lives and the years to follow, to thank God for what we have and ask him to help heal our nation. I have always believed in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and have always known that he is here with us always. I can't explain why I feel this way it has just always been.
People in our world try very hard to deny Christ and have been doing so for generations. Have you ever wondered why they haven't succeeded? I think because God said he would spread his word throughout the world and he has. What God says will happen, will happen. They will never succeed in stopping that no matter how hard they try.

Since the weather has gotten cold, wet and windy I have started to pick up my embroidery work again and have continued the picture that I started last winter. I have posted a picture of how far I have gotten in the Hobbies section of this blog if you are interested in seeing it. I am also going to start going through all of my Christmas Cd's that I have purchased over the years and start listening to each one to see if I want to keep it or not. Maybe this will help put me in the Christmas Spirit. I promised my mom and dad that I would bake some Pffeffernusse cookies and some chocolate chip cookies and send them some, so next week will be baking week. I really like the Pffeffernusse cookies, they are spicy and remind me of some cookies that I had when I was a small child. The recipe is in the recipe section of my blog if you would like to try them. I have a beautiful nativity scene that I put up every year and will be getting that out also. I usually put it on my piano in front of me to enjoy.
I have so much to be thankful for and love my family very much and wish each one a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and to all who look at this blog I would like to say the same.
May God be with each one today and always.

Monday, November 26, 2012

A LITTLE TARGET PRACTICE

Well Thanksgiving has come and gone. This year we had the company of our youngest son, Jon, his son Robert and Lady friend Tanya. I believe we all had a good time with lots to eat and much more to be thankful for.
 A couple of days we drove down the road and did a little target practice. I only took pictures the second day when it was only Jon, Robert, and myself along, I had forgotten the camera the first day when we had all gone. Anyway Robert is nominated as the bird getter for the family now. He, Robert, was really hitting the clay pigeons, much better than any of the rest of us.


We also went to my friend's property to use the range the city police use, and I forgot to take pictures shooting the .270. There, we shot two boxes of high powered rifle ammo. My rifle is finally starting to group well (it's pretty new and just getting worn in). Jon needed to do a little adjusting of his scope, but all in all everyone shot what they intended. Robert likes the .270's pretty good but prefers one with a good recoil pad.
The next day Robert and I went to the basement and I taught him to reload rifle and shotgun ammunition.

As an addition, after shooting a couple boxes of ammo through my 270, it's finally starting to group well. This being said I have started to work up a good loading for this rifle, Went to the store today and they didn't have the powder I needed. Oh well, Sooner or later....

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

RIDING DAY

Well the horses have been getting exercise lately. Our Neighbor Andrea, and Janice have been riding Flash and Dancer twice a week for a while now. This ride was the first after Dancer and Janice's wreck on Saturday.
Saturday was not pretty, Dancer was being a little (expletive) and ended up rearing up, loosing her balance and falling back over Janice. I was soooo very happy Janice was not injured, and also sooo very proud of Janice getting back on and then making Dancer obey and even go on the trail for a short ride.
Dancer was pretty fired up when Janice first mounted, but Janice said she settled down as soon as she was on the trail. Janice admitted later she was shacking inside with fear but was able to contain it. Wow, what a display of courage.
Andrea has been riding Flash lately, and states he is extremely sure footed on the trails. Although he is the most tender footed horse she has seen, and she was raised on a horse ranch.
When they returned from this ride all was well and they seemed to enjoy their ride. This was a decisive ride for Janice and Dancer, as anything else would have meant Dancer was to go by the wayside. It really would have been a shame as Janice really, really loves her, and Dancer has a very strong bond to Janice as well..
 

Monday, October 1, 2012

Beautiful Evening



I was outside earlier this evening and looked out over the ocean and saw a beautiful sunset. I had to take some pic's to share. I am not a professional but I really like these photos. Hope you enjoy them as well.          


 
 
I gotta tell you, every time I see such beauty I am in aw at how wondrous a God we have that can create such a sight to behold.

Friday, September 21, 2012

YUMMMMM!

You take a bucket full of really ripe Tomatoes, one small Basil Plant, Leaves stripped, a bunch of Organic Carrots, ground up, a bunch of Organic Celery ground up, 5 Bell peppers fresh out of the greenhouse, 5 Pablano Peppers fresh out of the greenhouse, two large Organic Yellow Onions, one branch of fresh Oregano, leaves stripped, two tables spoons of Raw Honey, a handful of fresh Organic Garlic Cloves, half cup Lemon Juice, two and a half teaspoons of Black Pepper, one table spoon of Pickling Salt. one large Cucumber juiced. Clean and trim everything appropriately, cook down until everything is tender, then run it all through the Vita-Mix until smooth, then pressure can in quart jars at 10 pounds of pressure for thirty minutes. WOW, what GREAT VEGETABLE COCKTAIL
YEAH BUDDY! If you like Vegetable Juice Cocktail, this a just a little piece of heaven. This picture is before canning of course. Oh I forgot there was also three quarters teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper added as well.


Thursday, September 20, 2012

THANK THE GOOD LORD FOR OUR BLESSINGS

 
We went out and harvested the stuff in the greenhouse today, Tomatoes, Lemon Cucumbers, regular Slicing Cucumbers, Bell Peppers, Pablano Peppers.
 Wow, tomorrow we make Vegetable Juice Cocktail, and if we have time some stewed Tomatoes. The two buckets and basket in the foreground have nothing but Tomatoes, The yellow on the table in front of the rear bucket are the latest Lemon Cucumbers, The rear bucket is about half full of Bell and Pablano Peppers and the other half is Slicing Cukes. As you can see by the drying rack I have also been making cheese.
Oh I almost forgot, Janice and I picked one of the Honey Crisp Apples yesterday. Well it was time to see if they were ripe, they are not quite ready, but they are really YUMMY and still a little green. I'm thinking we need another tree of those.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

TIS THE SEASON TO GET BUSY

Well it is sure the season to get busy, I have been making cheese like a mad person. Janice has already canned several pints of green beans, and needs to do more. The apples on the trees are looking very good, and we even had a branch get too heavy and break, so those need to be juiced.
 The Honey Crisp Apples above should be ready to eat almost any day.
These Spartan apples should be ready in about a month or so, and the Liberty apples should be ready in about two weeks or so.
 
 This not to mention the tomatoes above, I think we will get juice and stewed tomatoes. I didn't picture the Yellow Cherry Tomatoes.
 
 We have been harvesting Lemon Cucumbers, and slicing Cucumbers for the entire summer at this point, The pickling Cucumbers are already pulled out.
All of this is not to mention all the Kohlrabi, Radishes, Squash, of which we have been giving away three varieties, oh yes and the Potatoes and the rest.
 The Pablaeo Peppers are doing well and we have harvested many Bell Peppers this season, we even have Figs on the trees, Life at this time is good here on the mountain.
 I truly wish I could say the same about the rest of the United States of America and the World.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Fall is coming ----

Got up this morning and it felt like fall is on the way. We had our first rain August 26 and it wet things down quite well. It is now 50 degrees outside and a slight breeze blowing. I am not quite ready for fall or winter yet as we really didn't have much of a summer here. I think we may have had about a week of 80 degree weather and that is about it. It usually stays around 60 to 70 degrees here during the summer months but this year not so much. My gardens have had a really hard time getting started and with the cool weather starting I hope they can finish growing.
We still have firewood to cut and split for the winter, need to finish filling the wood shed, and other projects that need tending to before the rains really start. God willing, we will be able to accomplish all that needs tending to.
My prayers go out to those in other parts of our great United States who have had extreme heat or hurricanes. Even though we have not had the extremes here on the Oregon Coast, life has been difficult for us as well. We don't get the heat needed to grow gardens or too much rain to have anything really grow or get pollinated to grow.
All in all we try our best to do what we can with the circumstances given us.
My trust is always in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to provide and protect us in all things and in all ways.
I pray all who read our blog will have a great day.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

A Days Harvest

Well today I decided to  harvest some of the produce in the garden so I can start preparing it for winter supply. We have been eating on the garden for a while but it has been starting to produce more than we can eat.

 
 
Isn't this a beautiful sight?? Now for "What do I do with it"? time. I am going to make zucchini bread with the zucchini and freeze it, it is so nice to have fresh zucchini bread in the middle of winter to munch on. The tomatoes I will make stewed tomatoes, I have made tomato soup with our fresh tomatoes as well and that is really good, especially if you like tomato soup. I am going to dry the peppers and the yellow squash, I really like them in the soups that I make in the winter time. Carrots and radishes are for dinner tonight, the cheese will be waxed and put in the refrigerator to be aged. Last but not least the cucumbers, I am going to try drying some of them for chips to munch on and would like to try a cold cucumber soup to see what it is like. I haven't had it before and what a better time than now to try it. The Lord has truly blessed us today, as usual. He is so good.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

SPLIT LABOR

Today Janice and I split our labor efforts. Janice worked extremely hard and split four to five wheelbarrow loads of fire wood, and stacked it, for the winter. I did not get pictures of her efforts, sorry!
I on the other hand, I worked all day on another double batch of cheese. This was the second for this year.
I am sure the efforts of the both of us today, will be appreciated this winter.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Two more projects

Our youngest son, who is on vacation from school right now, came down last week to help us do some of the projects we wanted to get done before this winter hit. So we got started with two of the projects on our list
.
RETAINING WALL
Don and Jon got the holes dug in a day and got the first post in.



Then the three of us got the rest of the posts in. What a job. The 6X6's were 12 feet long and a real bugger to get set.


 I think we did a pretty good job of it though.
They look pretty straight to me.
It took us a couple of days getting this done because Jon had to remove the facial board from off the roof of the shop before we could get started. Don and I are planning on finishing out the roof all the way to the beams to make a covered storage for hay behind the shop.


Then on to the second project, which we had started last year already.

PADDOCK

Jon got on the tractor and got down to the paddock where he and Don hauled out some large logs. There were 3 large pieces about the size in the photo shown above. Then Jon started to rake the whole paddock down while Don and I picked up the rock and debris from when we had this area logged and cleared of the roots.


In the picture at the bottom is an area that had a big dip in it and Don and Jon got it raked around to fill in the dip. It is really looking good.


Now all we have to do is section off the horse stalls with some electric net fencing and then plant the whole paddock with seed for pasture. Then water, water, water. Hope it comes up quick so the rains this year won't wash what we have done away.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Peepers Two

I got a couple of good pictures of the babies the other day. I am trying not to disturb the nest too much because I don't want to take the chance of having mom fly away and abandoning the babies.





I can't help it, every time I look at these pictures they make me smile.
I hope they brighten your day as well.


Monday, August 13, 2012

Little Peepers

Miss Robin has hatched her eggs and we now have 3 little babies. They are so cute. Momma is busily feeding and taking care of them. I happened to get a shot of them while momma was out on a food run. Hope you enjoy them.


You can't tell from the picture but there are three of them in the nest.
I will try to take pictures periodically as they grow so you too can see how beautiful God is.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Finished

We finally got the buck pen finished. We finished it last night and got the guys separated from the girls.


The little guys are eating some of the hay we put in this morning.


Although they aren't so little any more.


Needless to say Grizzly wasn't very happy when we took him away from the girls, but it needed to be done  because he is starting to get stinky and that is a sign of breeding season to begin.


This little guy is looking for his momma. He was a mommas boy in the worst way. Wouldn't leave her side.


They are all still wondering what the heck happened. They are all crying to beat the band. We had to apologize to the neighbors for all the racket that they have been putting on.


All should be well in a couple of days when all realize that this is the way it is.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

New Neighbor

The other day Don noticed a bird nest in the Yellow Delicious apple tree just outside our patio.
We can see the top of the tree from the deck.
I looked in side the nest last week and noticed a blue egg.
I looked again in the nest the day before yesterday a Robin sitting in the nest.


So I took a few pictures of her this morning. What a beautiful sight to see. She looks so content. I did take to many pictures and she flew off so I quite.

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

TODAY'S LIGHT DUTY

Today was light duty as my knees were still sore from the last several days of harder work. Thus it was past time to thin Apples, some much bigger than a quarter. After a while I started to think this bag is getting pretty full and I had only planned on putting them in the compost  pile. After getting a third of a feed sack of Green Apples, I decided this would be a huge waste.
So after coming into the house when done, I searched the Internet and found several uses for the green apples. These include making Green Apple Pectin, and the one I really like, Apple, Honey, Lemon Jelly (see below).

Honey Lemon Apple Jam

12 cups chopped apples
2 cups lemons juice (I used a combination of freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice and bottled)
2 cups honey
3 cups sugar
1 envelope of liquid pectin (can be omitted if you use a few firm, green apples)
zest of three lemons

Prepare your canning pot, as well as seven pint jars, lids and rings.

Combine the chopped apples and lemon juice in a large, heavy-bottomed pot (an enameled Dutch oven works well here) and cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until the apples have broken down. When you’ve got a nice, chunky applesauce, add the honey and sugar and stir to incorporate.

Bring the fruit to a boil and cook for at least five minutes at a roll (watch out though, it will bubble and depending on the size of your pot, can get a little splashy). Add pectin and boil for a few minutes more, to active the pectin. When it seems nice and jammy, turn off the heat and stir in the lemon zest.

Fill jars, wipe rims (this jam is sticky, so you may need to add a bit of white vinegar to your towel, to help ensure a clean rim), apply lids and screw on bands. Process in a boiling water canner for ten minutes (if you are above 1,000 feet in altitude, adjust your processing time accordingly).

Monday, July 30, 2012

Making Progress

Over the last couple of days we have been able to get a lot more done on the fenced area for Grizzly.


We got over half way done. I think it is starting to look really good.


We filled in an area between the two trees, below, with rocks and dirt and filled it in to accommodate the new fenced area. This area was a drop off from the stump in front of the trees down the hill. Don and I moved a fallen tree into the area before we fill it in today with rocks and dirt. We have been working on filling in this area ever since we moved in here.


The fenced curved around the trees is really good. We did it this way so Don could still get in behind the barn with the tractor.


Now all we have left to do is one more full stock panel and a part of anoher one. About another four feet to the corner post.


The corner post is going to be on the right side of the picture below and then we will put in another regular post at the corner of the barn to the left of the picture below. We have a 12 foot gate to install in this area. Then we will be done with the fenced area. After that a feeder for Grizzly and his buddy and we will be done. Woo Hoo.

Friday, July 27, 2012

A Good Start

Well we got a good start on the fence to divide the part of the pasture we are setting up for Grizzly, our buck goat and a buddy for him.


Below you can see that we started from the back fence line. We put a treated post in right next to a steel post already in and went from there. We are using stock panels for the fence line for more durability. Grizzly's daddy weighed about 250 pounds and we expect Grizzly to get at least that big, so we needed something a little more sturdy to keep him separated from the doe's, in other words, no breeding unless we say it is OK.


In this picture you can see how far we still have to go.
We would like to go to the back corner of the barn and put in a gate at that point.


We are about half way done. It shouldn't take us too long to finish the fence. With the post hole auger on the tractor it goes fairly quickly.


This is one of many projects we are needing to get done this year and I am so glad we got this far today. Hope the second half goes just a quickly.


Tuesday, July 24, 2012

TIME TO GET READY

Well it's finally summer, I hope, and time to get ready for winter again. Janice and I went out and split firewood today. We completed about two full rows in the wood shed, a good start. That makes almost half the wood shed.

AT LEAST STARTED

Well we finally at least got started on the fence that will separate Grizzly and his wether friend from the girls so we can regulate the breeding season. Yesterday we got four posts set and ready for livestock panels. The problem now is that the panels won't be delivered until Friday. I suppose I should be satisfied with that, even though I have waited for a month already for this guy to deliver these panels, course I was only splitting a load and paying half the delivery charge ($40.00) Which should cover the entire cost, but that's just my thoughts.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

A SAD END

Well tomorrow marks the end of the visits by four of our grandchildren. The one we didn't get for the visit was Kaitlyn. Anyway we really enjoyed the visit. While Cassie and Tasha were here we spent time on the computer, rode the horses, drove the tractor, rode the quad, and just played with the animals. Although they didn't get to dig any dirt.

While Bobby and Madison were here, we had Both kids on Flash, bare back, although Madison slide off going up the steep driveway. They both said they enjoyed the rides.
We spent a lot of time playing computer games, and both the kids rode the quad a lot. Both of the kids were helpful with doing the chores (and playing with the baby goats).

While here we let the kids drive the tractor, after some safety instruction.
 Bobby went first, this was when they were going to scoop dirt and dump it back on the pile.
 Bobby took a good scoop and did well with the entire operation.
Bobby wasn't too sure about raising the bucket to the top.
 You really can't see the excitement on their faces when dumping the dirt.
 Madison was second, but also very enthusiastic.
 Madison also got good scoops, as can be seen by the swing of the auger on the back of the tractor.
When lifting this scoop, she had the bucket a little back and almost got a little dirty, dirt came over the back just a little. 
 All in all they both did a good job and were really excited digging and dumping.
After the digging I let them drive around to the front of the house and back to the back. They didn't want to get off when they were done.