SEMI Father's Day

This Friday, our youngest son, Cade, is picking up our daughter, Chelsey, at the Spokane airport, and then, they are driving HOME!!!  We are VERY excited!  We, also, got to thinking.... Maybe we should just postpone Father's Day for a week, and celebrate with the kids!  Actually, I was the one who thought of it- but it makes sense, right?  Holidays are SO much better with the kids around.  While Bruce agreed this was a fine idea- he wasn't quite ready to totally ignore the REAL Father's Day either.  It was Chelsey who dubbed the day "SEMI Father's Day", and I agreed to make whatever Bruce wanted for dinner.

What Bruce wanted was his Mom's special Soy Sauce chicken- chicken marinated for hours in a homemade teriyaki sauce. It truly is delicious!

I made a loaf of my French bread to go with the chicken, and steamed some organic corn.

The only thing "pickable" in the garden right now, is spinach, but BOY! is it ever delicious!  So, I made a fabulous spinach salad with hard boiled eggs (from our chickens, of course), and bacon.

You toss it with a simple oil and vinegar dressing.  It was especially good!  Add a little wine, and we had an exceptional dinner!

Bruce heard from all three kids.  They made sure he knew how special and loved he is- AND they all stressed that today was not really HIS Father's Day!  Gifts are on the way!

For dessert, Bruce opted for Hot Fudge Pudding cake! It was a perfect way to wrap up this meal.  We have to find a way to top this dinner this coming Saturday... when Bruce celebrates HIS Father's Day. I guess he's special enough to warrant two holidays!  He is one of the very best Fathers ever.

Memorial day

While Memorial day was a BIT chilly- it wasn't all that bad. And it stayed fairly dry throughout the day- which meant several things.  I was able to plant the big planters on the patio, Bruce was able to finish planting the garden AND we ate dinner outside for the first time this year!

We barbequed (of course, we barbequed! it was Memorial Day!!) beautiful, meaty spare ribs.

and had macaroni salad (a Sterling Summer staple), fresh bread, and cantaloupe.  For dessert, there was ice cream!  

It was good! and fun, albeit a bit lonely.  But we were able to project forward to later this Summer, when we have the same meal, with all the kids home!

The Great Bunny Escape

I wasn't even really awake yet.
Bruce, very calmly,  very quietly, says, 'the bunnies are out'.
So, at first, it didn't even register. 'What?' 
Over his shoulder, Bruce says, 'The bunnies are out. They are hopping all over the yard'.
and then, he walked out of the bedroom.  You might assume that he was walking outside, to make an attempt to catch the bunnies.  I assumed that.  He wasn't.

I jumped out of bed, threw on a robe, dodged the Shelties, and went running outside. 
There they were.
The bunnies were out of their enclosure feasting on new grass, clover and dandelions.  They weren't particularly happy to see me... and they didn't care one bit about the container of old, stale, dried bunny pellets, either.

They hopped deeper into the shrubbery.

You'll notice I took the time to run back into the house for my camera.  Truthfully, they looked so sweet, and happy, I thought I'd let them have a little fun for awhile.  Plus, I was waiting for Bruce to show up, so we could herd them back into their enclosure together.

Bruce didn't know I was waiting.

Bruce was inside, watching sports. :(

Normally, and by that, I reveal that these two rabbits have escaped before- like just 3 days prior... *sighs*   NORMALLY, I can chase them a bit, and they eventually run back into their pen by themselves.

and that IS what happened with Abra.  But Cadabra was less co-operative this time.  And therein lay the dilemma.  I couldn't leave the pen door open, because Abra would escape again... but, I couldn't chase Cadabra in, because the cage door was closed.

Add to this, that Cadabra FINALLY, unfortunately, realized that while it's easy for little bunnies to hop under shrubbery, it's not so easy for big humans to do so.  He settled down under some particularly prickly bushes, and waited.

and waited...

and waited.  As the time ticked by, my back started to ache, my knee started to throb, and I marveled at how I could ever consider this devious, small, fluffy demon a sweet creature of God.  Finally, he made a break for it- apparently even devils make mistakes. To make a long story shorter, I finally caught him.  

Let's see how long they'll stay inside this time!

Crabby Princess!

Remember awhile ago, when I posted a link to a friend's business called Crabby Princess?  Well, last night, I received MY items, and I have to rave about them a bit.  For one thing, the logo is just the cutest thing ever.  Honestly, what woman can't relate? 

Secondly, the quality is top notch.

Thirdly, my husband said, 'Wow! you look really good in that hat!'  (read that line again! my HUSBAND noticed I was wearing a hat, and thought I looked good in it!)

and last, but not least- they have items for children as well as adults.  IF I had any grandchildren,

(clears throat and looks pointedly at my slowpoke children)

my grand daughter and I would wear matching hats!

Anyway- if you haven't checked out the link, do so now. It's on the right hand side of this blog- under the Follow By Email.

Indignity

Our two Shelties are very ferocious. 

Although, Selkie is only about 14 1/2-15 inches tall

and her brother, Piper is only 17 inches tall

nevertheless, they can growl, bark and lunge at living room windows with the best. 

It is a fact that they are SO good at THROWING themselves against the sliding glass doors while barking manically- that they are a bit puzzled...

Make that INSULTED!

by the behavior of our deer

who just stand there, staring (and occasionally stick out their tongues!)

DISGRACEFUL!

:)

Changing things up

Since the purpose of this blog is to compare the average American lifestyle with our style of living in rural Montana, I thought I'd give you a glimpse of what I tend to do with recipes.  Here's the original recipe.

Spicy Applesauce Muffins

2 cups flour

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

1/8 tsp. ground cloves

1/8 tsp. ginger

3/4 cup applesauce

1/2 cup milk

1 large egg

2 Tblsp. oil

3/4 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 400. Spray muffin tins (18) with non-stick cooking spray, or use paper liners. 

Mix ingredients together. Spoon into muffin tins. Bake 20 min.

 NOW

when I make these muffins... it goes a bit like this:

I use a combination of organic white flour, and organic wheat flour, grown and processed in Montana. I have to scoop it out of 50 lbs. sacks that I keep in the pantry.

I grate my own nutmeg because it smells so HEAVENLY! and it's so fresh!

I use the chunky applesauce that I made last Fall and canned. The apples were picked from my neighbors' orchard. It's thick, and spiced, and WONDERFUL, if I do say so myself!

We are using Almond milk lately- it keeps longer, and has less cholesterol. BUT if I didn't happen to have any in the refrigerator (which happens a lot) I mix up some powdered milk, and use that. It's just too far to drive to the grocery store here.  If I don't have the ingredients, I make do with a creative change or two.

I use two egg whites from the eggs I gathered from the hens this morning. Fresh, LARGE eggs from chickens who do not realize how good a life they lucked into.

Instead of raisins, I added craisins, because I love cranberries, but I throw in a handful or two of chopped nuts, too.

However you want to make these muffins, they are delicious! Not too sweet, packed with wholesome ingredients, they make a wonderful addition to your breakfast, or dinner. Enjoy!

Funny story

I've got to share a funny story at my expense, because it illustrates what my life out here is like. 

 I had come downstairs to get a cup of coffee before returning to my office upstairs when I noticed a shape by our front door.  Our door is the kind with beveled leaded glass in it, and sidelights- so, you can see that something is there, but the image is a bit distorted.  

We have a fawn, who is so audacious, he comes right up on the front porch.  So, when I saw a shape outside the front door, I immediately assumed it was the fawn- and yet... it didn't quite look like a deer shape, which is why I stood there trying to reconcile what I was seeing!  NEVER once did it occur to me that it was a PERSON! LOL! 

When my brain FINALLY engaged, I realized it was the FedEx man waiting for me to open the door and receive my package.  We both laughed (he's a super nice guy) when he explained how he saw me walk into the foyer, and stare at the door for a full minute, before I finally let him in. It's so unusual to have someone drive all the way out here, it makes much more sense to have an animal show up on the front porch than a person! :)