Shrimp Puffs

I told my friend Tami that I would post the recipe for these Shrimp Puffs (on the right side of the platter above) that I made for our Valentines gathering with the foodies. I'm finally able to check that off the list of things "to do".

I found the original recipe on epicurious.com, one of my favorite sites for recipe searches. It was from the November '04 issue of Gourmet magazine and they called them Mini Shrimp Cornets. I tweaked it a little bit and call them Shrimp Puffs....mostly because the process of fussing with them to turn them into cornets wasn't something I was remotely interested in doing. Here ya go Tam!

MINI SHRIMP PUFFS

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, I didn't bother with unsalted, used regular butter

1/4 c finely chopped onion

1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined, coarsly chopped...if they're too coarse it makes the puffs hard to fill so keep that in mind.

2 tablespoons med dry Sherry

1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon, I used 1/2 tablespoon dry tarragon because fresh was not available

1/2 teaspoon salt, I would cut this back next time..maybe even eliminate it.

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 17 1/4 ounce pkg. frozen puff pastry

all purpose flour for dusting

1 lg egg

1 tablespoon milk

parchment paper

Melt the butter in a skillet and saute the onion for a few minutes until opaque, do not brown. Transfer the cooked onion to a bowl to cool.

When onion is cool add chopped shrimp, Sherry, tarragon, salt and pepper - mix well.

On a lightly floured surface roll out the puff pastry to a 12 inch square. Cut the pastry into squares, I made them quite small because I wanted to make them into bite sized appetizers...the smaller they are the more challenging they are to make - next time I would cut them into 2 inch squares. I have made them larger and they're a lot easier to handle.

Working quickly so that the pastry doesn't dry out, put approx. 1 tsp (or more) of the onion/shrimp mixture in the middle of each square, fold the square over to make a triangle and press the edges closed. Try to get as much of the shrimp/onion mixture as you can into each puff so they're tasty...you don't want them to be skimpy! If you're concerned about the pastry drying out as you're filling them you can put a layer of plastic wrap over the pastry and top that with a damp towel. As you assemble the triangles, set the completed puffs on a cookie sheet that is covered with a layer of parchment paper. Whisk together the egg and milk to make an egg wash, gently brush the top of each triangle with the egg wash, this will give them a nice gold color when you bake them. I topped the egg washed puffs with a tiny bit of Italian Vignalta herbed salt, to kick up the flavor and make them look pretty. That's probably why they tasted overly salty to me, I would cut back the salt in the shrimp filling next time and still top them with the herbed salt.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes in a preheated oven at 400 degrees. With a spatula gently lift off the parchment paper to platter and serve warm.

Note: You can make these up to three days ahead and freeze them. Assemble the triangles omitting the egg wash, freeze them in a single layer, once frozen transfer them to a airtight container. Do not thaw before brushing with egg wash, bake as directed.

Really pretty and really pretty ugly

So there I am, on my back, with my camera taking a picture of this stunningly beautiful hellebore...and a car drives by. This little beauty is quite close to the road, the car slows wayyyyy down...an elderly couple is staring at me and this is what I imagine they are saying...."oh honey...it's just that goofy farmers wife...I hear she's odd". What - evah! Is this stunning or what????

The bummer about these lovelies is that they're always so shy, tilting their pretty little faces at the ground, so goofy-farmers-wife has to lay down to get the best shot.

Lest you think that everything is lovely around here I'm going to give you ugly...really ugly. This is the tiny woodland pond about three feet from where the delightful hellebores reside. It's full of winter leaves and gunk, cleaning this baby out is going to require a whole lot of farmgirl machisma (ya...that's a word...it means tuff-girl aint scared of dirty pond stink).

After that I can tackle this whole bunch of ugly. This happened last summer when I was working on the other side of the yard, and on the other side of the house, and probably on the other side of the mountains...yeah....there is a whole other project we're working on about four hours away...wheeeeee!

Anndddd....while I should be cleaning up all of this crazy mess....this little missy wants to be taken for a walk about every hour...minimum....if she had her way. Have leash will travel.

Home to Stay

This sweet girl has been gone an hour and I miss her already. She's only a mile away at the vet getting spayed. I've diligently looked for her owners for a week and haven't turned up a single clue. As far as I'm concerned if they're not lookin' for her they don't deserve her. I've had long conversations with the folks from animal control and they've told me that I've done everything the right way, taken all the logical steps. There is still a tiny part of me that feels like I should be trying harder, I haven't placed an ad with her photo...I guess it's because I'm afraid that the lazy bum who she lived with before me might see it and out of guilt they would come forward and claim her. I would then fight for her, and it could get ugly..I could say things to them about irresponsible pet owners, why hadn't they contacted the shelters, why weren't there any notices on any of the local bulletin boards or at the vet clinics, why hadn't they posted notices on any of the free internet sites...that is so easy to do.
Call me a crazy pet lady, that's ok...I can take it. I don't have children so I have time to look out for critters. I'm not gone at work 60 hours a week like I used to be, sometimes only home for 48 hours on the weekend, and even then I was often stuck at my desk filling out paperwork and expense reports. I've thought about the possibility of this puppy belonging to someone who keeps the kind of crazy work schedule that I used to keep, but I don't accept that as an excuse not to place a call to the vet clinics or the shelters to report her missing...nope...not gonna cut it.
So, she's mine...all mine. Well, not exactly...she's extremely fond of The Husband, in fact .... I think she likes him more than she likes me. That makes me smile, because the last foster dog didn't like him much ...and that really hurt his feelings.
Tonight she will spend the night at the clinic, just to make sure that she doesn't have any reactions to the meds from her surgery. Tomorrow morning I can pick her up at 9, I'll be there at 9 sharp...to take her here...to her forever home.

Art Schmart

Last week when I was in Seattle I paid a little visit to one of my favorite garden stores. It's trendy and a bit swanky, lots of garden goo-gaws and the like. I love these concrete leaves, I've even made of few of them myself. It's really easy, just mix up some portland cement with sand and water, grab a rhubarb or hosta leaf ...arrange the upside-down leaf on a pile of sand so that it keeps its natural shape and start gooping on the mud. Let the concrete cure a few days in the shade, peel off the leaf and Ta Daaaaa...garden art! The one shown above is....wait for it.....$189.00...he he ha ha. Okay...this one is painted, maybe that's why it's worth so much more than I could ever imagine paying. I have all of these paint colors in my paint stash, I could go get mine out of the yard and paint it up for ya....

Or I could go find one of the hosta leaves that I made like the one above, I think it might be buried under a pile of winter leaves over in the shade garden.

This leaf below one of many that I've made...hey.... for 189 bucks I could goop some paint on it for ya...heck...I'd even deliver it! Art shmart, I've always thought these "stone leaves" are cool...but come onnnnn people....that's a lot of dough. Guess I've been livin' in the boonies too long to understand how anyone could pay that much money for some sand, portland and leftover paint.

Who's the Village?

Yesterday I read a really good post written by Diane, I loved the title of her post.

"Everyday Kindness: I am the Village"

While I read her post a lot of thoughts ran through my head. I thought about how thankful I am that I grew up in a community where people really cared about each other. Sure, there were naughty kids that everybody got tired of...but there were also a lot of second and third chances granted. I thought about the last few weeks, and the rescue dogs that have come to visit, and then gone on to other caring homes. I've been joking for weeks that "it takes a village to raise a puppy".
Last night my "village" theory was put to the test, again. We had gone to bed late, it was midnight, The Husband was barely asleep and I was reading but ready to turn off the light. I heard a womans voice, mind you....we live in a place where you don't hear voices from neighbors. I heard her say "yeah, there is a light on upstairs". Then I heard pounding on my front door and the puppy downstairs barking and growling for all she was worth. I went down and put a leash on my little guardian, she's only been here three days and I didn't know how she would treat unknown strangers standing at the door at midnight. I opened the door to a young couple and the first thing that hit me was a blast of alcohol. The young lady looked okay, she had the look of somebody who's been partying for several hours. The young man looked scary. He had long scraggly hair, gangster jeans hanging off his skinny frame, a backwards ball cap...I was immediately wary. They had a flat tire and their jack didn't work, they wanted to know if we had a jack they could borrow. I said "honey???" The Husband grabbed a coat and went to the tool shed to get a jack . I held the dog back and acted like she might bite them, while puppy licked their fingers. I didn't have a chance to tell my hubby of my concerns for his safety, nice guy that he is. Before I could express my concerns to him he was walking down the driveway with the young couple, jack in hand...into the darkness and down the road. I was a wreck. I sat in the dining room, in the dark...alone and worried. My husband was on a dark country road helping a stranger change a flat tire. I've watched too many scary movies, and I have a very active imagination. While I was proud that my husband was helping a stranger, I was also thinking about all of the dreadful things that could happen. I won't tell you about my rediculous thought process, but I did think about my martial arts training so many moons ago. If they were thugs and they konked my husband on the head and came back to the house to rob us blind (hey...that $200.00 TV and $99.00 CD player? worth at least 20 bucks in a pawn shop!)...should I hit them with a lamp or should I summon my karate skills and chop-chop my way to safety, or maybe I should just hide in the attic with my cel phone whispering to the 911 operator.
Cut to end of story.
The Husband came back to the house safe and sound. While he was washing his hands, grinning... he told me that they were just the nicest kids, although he said he could cop a buzz from the booze fumes. He was smiling and feeling all happy about doing a good deed. He told me that the young man was profusely thanking him for helping out, asking what he could do to repay him. The Husband just told them that the next time they see someone alongside the road who needs help he'd like them to stop and repay the favor, pay it forward.
He's such a nice guy that way. While his wife stays in the house and cowers in the dark, praying for his safe return.
So, Diane...my husband has the whole "Village" thing down...I guess I need to work on it some more. I have thought about the fact that they smelled of booze, should they have been driving? They didn't appear to be drunk but ayyyee....what if their driving was impaired and we were the ones to put them on the road again. This whole village thing can get complicated.

Appetizers for Foodie Friends

Last weekend we were invited to share Valentines dinner at the home of one of our foodie friends. Karen, our hostess, asked if I would be willing to make hors d'oeuvres. You betcha! Appetizers or hors d'oeuvres are at the top of the list when it comes to my favorite things to make, making appies for "The Foodies" is the best of all. I can try new things on this gang, they're easy to please and open to trying new things. I used to test run my new recipes, lately I've been brave and thrown the test-run idea out the window.

I made two appies, I hadn't made either of them before. I figured at least one of them would be good. If not...there was always the main course and dessert.... you never starve when you dine with this crowd.

My friend Tami has more photos of the dinner on her blog, she mentioned that she would like it if I posted the recipes, here ya go Tam!

PANCETTA CRISPS

sliced pancetta

Boursin cheese

asian pear

fresh thyme


I found the original recipe on epicurious.com. It called for specially sliced pancetta, a bit thicker than the pancetta you find packaged pre-sliced. The odds of finding that here in farm country are ...uh...zeroooo. I went to four stores and finally settled on the only pancetta I could find, packaged and pre-sliced. It's very thin but I just used a butter knife to tease the slices apart, make sure the pancetta is cold when you do this, if it's warm it will tear and stretch. The recipe says to bake the pancetta flat on parchment but I eased the slices into my mini muffin cups and baked them for 12-14 minutes at 400 degrees. The recipe said your oven would be smoky, that didn't happen to me. I put them in the mini muffin tins because I thought they would be easier to eat if the pancetta was shaped like little cups/tarts. Sometimes I like appetizers that are one easy bite, especially if you're standing around having cocktails.

So, the pancetta cups are ready. The original recipe calls for them to be filled with goat cheese, since The Husband isn't too fond of goat cheese I used Boursin. I had to be really careful when I was putting the Boursin into the pancetta cups, they're quite fragile and break easily. At this point I put the cheesy cups into the fridge. Right before I left for the party I sliced little wedges of asian pear and popped the point into the cheese. The original recipe calls for fresh thyme to decorate the top of these tidbits...sure....fresh thyme in rural farm country in Feb, um..that's not going to happen in the stores around here....and the thyme in my garden is leafless twigs right now. I just used some coarsly ground black pepper, I don't know if you would need to do that because the Boursin is quite flavorful as it is. I left the peel on the pear for color, I thought it would add contrast to the cheese and the pancetta.

I liked this recipe, the gang seemed to like them too. My brother-in-law (who is one of my un-official testers) thinks that they would be better they could be served warm, it's a good idea...but I don't know how the heck to do that. You can tell this man doesn't spend a lot of time in the kitchen making fussy little appetizers.

So, below is the photo of the appetizer tray. The Pancetta Crisps are on the left, sorry...the photo isn't the best. I also made Shrimp Puffs, I'm hoping to post that recipe next week. I liked those too, ok...I like almost anything. Guess that's why my jeans are so darn snug.

I Love Wrong

The weather folks said it was going to rain most of this week, and they were wrong. It has been absolutely beautiful all week long. I've been getting a lot done in the yard and it feels great to get a head start on all of the spring garden chores. These screamin' yellow zonkers at the base of one of my rose bushes tell the story. Sun! Wahooo!

Thursday evening the girls in my family took mom for a birthday dinner out at Birch Bay. The sunset view as I drove along the beach was absolutely stunning, I wasn't the only one who pulled over to snap a photo. Spazzy me didn't think to stop to snap a shot until I saw somebody else do it...duhhh. Guess I have more work to do on that new years resolution of "Focus", although...when I really think about it...sometimes I don't want to see my world through a lens, nothin' "wrong" with that.

Speaking of wrong. We were naughty. We ordered this molten chocolate cake for dessert after moms birthday dinner....oh.....myyyyyy. It was so good there are no words. Hey..at least we shared....one dessert and four spoons.

She's "The One"

We've been on a rescue mission. When our much loved dog Tippy got hit in the road and passed away, we decided to get another dog right away. Even though we were incredibly heartbroken, we knew we would get a shelter dog and the theory was ... a dog removed from a shelter and put into our loving home makes room for another dog in the shelter system.
The first dog we fostered was Kita, he was big and loveable and wild. When he came here he wasn't house trained, but he was easy for me to train...he had some "issues" as most shelter dogs do but he seemed to be fitting in around here. Then he discovered cows, he discovered that if he chased the cows it was more fun than any tennis ball or fetch game he had ever played. He had to go to another home where there weren't cows to chase.
Next! Kahlo....a cute young pit/boxer rescue dog. His story was pretty sad, he had been rescued very young, he was skinny and found in a crate with his sister. Not housebroken, and a lot harder for me to train. He loved hanging out with me although he was incredibly nervous, he liked spending time with me and The Husband, but when I wasn't around and he was alone with The Husband the poor little puppy was a wreck. Poor Kahlo has serious "man issues". We're guessing that a man in his past was abusive to him and it's going to take a skilled trainer to help him get over it, neither of us feels like we have the right skills to help him find his way. Yesterday I took him to stay with some wonderful people, they have two very well trained dogs for Kahlo to play with. I think that they can help him get over his fears so he can grow up to be a nice guy. When I left their home yesterday I was positively giddy, it's the most wonderful place for him...better than I could have imagined.
Sometimes things happen for a reason. I learned so much from those two foster dogs, they even helped me work through my overwhelming sadness over losing Tippy. Last night we picked up this little girl pup. Of course she's a rescue dog too, but she's not from the shelter system. A friend of ours was taking his dogs for a walk last weekend and she ran out to join them. Our friend tried to find out where she lived...to no avail. He has been taking care of her but she's been a bit naughty and yesterday she ran into the road and got hit by a car...fortunately she wasn't hurt. Our friend called us because he couldn't care for her any longer...his neighbors are mad at him...his wife is mad at him....this naughty girl needs somebody who can teach her how to behave....and she needs pretty close supervision. Last night she slept in our kitchen in a crate like an angel, so far no "accidents" in the house. I've called all the local vet offices and the local shelters to see if anyone is looking for her. Today I'm taking her to be scanned to see if she has a microchip implant to locate her owners. She's been "lost" for almost a week, if her owners come forward... I hope they have a good excuse why it took so long to make work of finding her....because in a few more days I think that she will be mine.
We're probably going to name her Bergie ...that's the nickname of our friend who found her.
Happy endings and new beginnings for all of us.

A Dear and a Deere

The Husband was a dear and helped me out in the garden. It was time to bring in the heavy equipment...I love it when that happens. He drove the tactor over to help me eliminate a shrub that was growing in the wrong place.

This buddleja is a volunteer, it's in a bad spot because it's too close to the walkway into the lawn. Some folks say that they should be eliminated completely and declared an invasive species around here, I'm still undecided. My brother-in-law wants one of these in his yard so we did it the easy way, wrapped a chain around the trunk....annndddd....

Ta Daaa....popped it right out of the ground with the bucket of the tractor. I love digging out shrubs this way, especially when I have a helper. Now I need to think of something to plant here that won't reach into the walkway. The brother-in-law is going to take this monster over to his place and pop it into his yard...recycling!

Now for some inspiration. I was in Seattle yesterday with mom and my sister. We picked up my niece after she got out of classes at the University and we all went out for moms birthday lunch...it was so much fun. After lunch we went to one of my favorite garden stores and ooohhh'd and aaahhhh'd over all of the pretty stuff. Boy do I ever have the itch to "make pretty".

We all went crazy over this recycled glass light fixture, price tag? brace yourself...$875.00!!!!!!

Is that a crack-up or what? I think it would be fun to have one of these in the party barn or hanging from a branch out in the garden. All I need is some wire and some broken glass....hmmm.

Six Quirky Things

My fellow blogger Bobbie at http://bobbie-almostthere.blogspot.com/ tagged me for a meme a while back. I didn't have the foggiest idea how to do it, I tried a couple of times but kept getting interrupted. Tonight I decided to have another whack at it.

Guess we start out by giving you the rules we're playing by, so here goes:Link to the person who tagged you.

1. Post the rules on your blog.

2. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.

3. Tag six random people at the end of your post, by linking to their blogs.

4. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on theirwebsite.

5. Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

Six Shelly quirks? Oh my...there are so many...how do I choose.

1. I can't tolerate litterbugs. It makes me crazy. I've been known to be confrontational when I catch someone in the act, I know...not such a good idea to do this to total strangers. My blood boils when I find cigarette butts on my property from hay truck drivers and the like. I want to take those butts and dump them in their lunch bag.
2. I love starting projects, I love new ideas, the design phase ( I loooove graph paper), assembling supplies for said project, digging in and when I get about halfway, I fizzle...and it doesn't bother me a bit...it makes everybody else (except my dear husband) crazy, which I find quite amusing.
3. I've gone from a girl who drove highways with nary a care (and put on a LOT of miles for work and fun) to a woman who detests highways. My chest gets tight just thinking about a long drive on a multi lane road. It's not the driving I mind, it's the aggressive nature of the people I share the road with. Give me a back road and I'm a happy camper.
4. I'm 48 and I try to dress appropriately for a woman my age. I lose all respect for women my age who dress like hookers....I don't care how intelligent they are or how much money they have. I don't care to see aging cleavage when I go out for lunch, besides...most cleavage at our age looks more like butt crack (oops..sorry), it's gross. If they are taking their fashion tips from "Desperate Housewives" then they need to think about that when some creepy guy hits on them, it's because they look DESPERATE! And when they complain to me that some guy said something inappropriate to them I will NOT blame the guy for being creepy. Creepy guys say creepy things to women who are dressed like hoochies.
5. I use a lot of slang, in my everyday language and in my writing. Sometimes I think I should knock it off. In my own little freaky world I am allowed to speak however I want but when I hear someone on television say "these ones" I get crazy....it makes me want to call the network and tell them to hire someone who can use the english language properly.
6. I'm frugal, crazy frugal. It's a game for me. I hate making major purchases, it gives me anxiety. I never used to be this way, I'm at a place in my life where money worries have moved to the back burner, but I'm more conservative than I've ever been in my life. This is the girl who used to have quite a few credit cards and carried a balance on too many of them. It took me a long time to learn that "stuff" doesn't buy happiness and having a "cushion" stashed away feels a lot better than a closet full of stylish clothes or a snazzy car.

I give up...I'm still link challenged and I feel like an idiot. Hey, can I blame it on blogger....say it's not working correctly? I guess I can't tag six people...but at least I got the six (I could do sixty) quirks down on the screen. Yay!

Blogger Friends...Near and Far

When I first started blogging a longtime friend of mine said "don't get so caught up in your blog world that you abandon your real friends". I smirked a bit, because this whole crazy blog thing started because one of my real friends had been blogging and encouraged me to start one of my own. I had been reading her blog for a while and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a great way for me to stay caught up with all of her projects, her family...she has teenage boys that I have known since they were babies.

So, with a lot of encouragement from my pal I got going with my own blog. It's a great exercise for me, as I age I feel like I'm getting complacent...this keeps me focused on what's happening here on the farm and in the world around me. I'm looking closer at my cooking, gardening, home projects....it's a motivator. I'm taking more photos than ever before and working to get better at it.

Of course, as with any other project we learn from others. I started checking out other bloggers, what they were writing, what they were taking photos of. I started to find some favorite blogs and got brave enough to leave a comment or two ...lo and behold..they commented on my blog as well, I was so excited. One of my commenters is Lisa, I don't remember if I commented on her blog first or if she commented on mine. I check Lisas blog often, we have a lot of the same interests, I think of her as one of my blogger-buddies. I love to see her photo on my comment roll and see what she has to say about my posts, she's always positive, she's often funny...just what I look for in a friend. I check Lisa's blog often to see what's new in her world.

Sunday morning I checked Lisa's blog and there was a picture of her husband...under his photo Lisa had noted his birthdate, and Saturdays date. He had passed away. I gasped, I was so very sad for my new friend...my heart went out to her. In a post yesterday Lisa said that she will be shutting down her blog very soon. Her husband helped her make her blog happen, without him her blog can't really exist. Yesterday while I was out working in the yard, I thought about all of the posts that I had been looking forward to sharing with Lisa, who is also a passionate gardener. I was hoping to learn from her about butterfly gardening, now when I see butterflies in the garden I will always think of her, and her boys...moving ahead ...without their much loved husband and father.

I will miss you Lisa, thank you for being a bright spot for me in blog-land...
My heart aches for you.

Pretty Little Things

I'm so happy about this little close-up. Sure wish I knew how I did it, this digital newbie fumbling is very good for me.


Garden chores always overwhelm me, to the point where I don't pay attention to the beauty of the smallest details in the garden. In the past I may have cast a passing glance at the details of this snowdrop...but yesterday I got down close and focused. I don't know that I ever really saw the green imprint on this petal , it looks like it has been stamped with a silhouette of one of my favorite flowers..the bleeding heart. Huh, I wonder what else is out here.

Git-'er-done in the sun

Today was stunning, sunny and no wind...wahooo. I went outside this afternoon and took a good hard look at what the winter has done to my yard. In a word. Yikes.
What the heck, dig in girly. I threw down some drop cloths and got out the hedge trimmer.
Ta-Da! The best thing of all is clean-up is slick when I throw down these old sheets to catch the trimmings. The better than best thing is The Husband took it all away in a wheelbarrow.


One project down....check!

Did a little cruising around with the camera. I've never found a good home for these angels, I plunked them at the base of this tree and that's where they've been for a few years.

The light was really good today for close-ups. I'm learning how to use this little digital camera, kinda fun. I took a break from garden clean-up and had fun checking out what's comin' up.
The daylillys are always really eager, it looks like the slugs are pretty eager too...nibbling..grrr.

Love the contrast of the new rhubarb growth, red buds and bright green leaves.

This pretty little snowdrop looks great with a backdrop of euonymous...happy garden combo!

This little mustard leaf in the sun, so pretty. I'm not really sure of the variety, it was in a mixed greens seed packet and I let them go to seed once... now they come up all over the place in my raised beds. They're super-spicy which I don't care for but I like to see them in pretty little rows in the raised beds first thing in the spring....when everything is muddy and weathered these guys put on a good show.

The best part of the day was that I had a helper! The Husband came home from work early and got busy cleaning up some of the perennial beds...thanks honey!
This guy thought he was helping too...ya...right. He spent a fair amount of time running and jumping and sassing me, he did chomp on a few weeds and attempted to do a little digging out in the veggie garden....not really the kind of digging that I needed at the time.

Fabulous Foodie Friends

I love it, I have foodie friends.
Last night we went to a Valentines dinner party at the home of our friends Mark and Karen, Fred and Tami ("the lady in the stone house" blog ) were guests as well. Over the years the six of us have shared some fabulous meals, but it's not just about the food. I feel incredibly blessed to have such "real", kind, compassionate, funny, creative women in my life ( ok..the guys are really cool too). The photo above is of the dining table, Karen is a master at creating the most amazing tablescapes.
The food? In a word, yum..but that's another post.

Some days I want one of these....

I hate to admit it, but there are days when I pine for a long driveway with a gate at the entrance. A man in a gate house who takes calling cards is probably a little over the top I suppose. This isn't every day mind you, just the days when I have a list as long as my arm and high hopes of checking a lot of chores off that list. Some days it's blissfully quiet around here, of course those are the days when I'm in the mood for guests, the house is tidy, I've put myself together...no grease spots on the T-shirt, there are cookies that I could offer a guest to take with their tea ( that aren't even stale!), and I don't have dirt smears on my forehead. Nobody ever comes over on those days.
My sister and I were talking about this one day, she admits she has the same peeve. We really don't want to be this way, but we are. We just have a lot of things we want to get done and when anybody throws a wrench into our plan we get a little cranky...and then we feel bad.

Hey...at least I admit it.

A Valentines Visit

This is my new friend Hazel, she's holding her friend Kahlo. Hazel and her family rescued Kahlo and his sister, the pups were really skinny when they found them.

Kahlo is doing a lot better, he's put on some weight. Hazel's family found a home for Kahlo's sister and now we're going to see how Kahlo likes living here at the farm. Our other dog Tippy came to live with us when he was 6 years old, we've never had a little puppy before so I'm sure that Kahlo has a lot of things to teach us. Ohhh boyyyy.

Hazel, I really like your heart ring. I promise to take very good care of Kahlo.

Have a great weekend!

Dept. of Fish & Game

Hey buddy, you got a fishin' license? We call this guy Dirty Harry the Heron, he thinks our fish pond is just for him. I used to have 352 fish, I think we're down to about 50 thanks to this greedy goose. There is a net on the pond now but that doesn't always stop him. I stood on the front porch and took his picture...didn't phase the silly bird. Then he decided to take a cruise around the lawn, perhaps to aid in the digestion of his lunch.

Stopped to scratch an itch, completely ignoring me.

I finally scared him away and what does the doofus do? He stands in the road! I don't like him eating my fish but I don't want to be responsible for him getting hit by a car.

Ok....there ya go, saunter down into the ditch, catch yourself a nice tasty trout. I think you really like trout a lot better than Koi or goldfish. Remember that.

From Where I Stand

I was doing a little blog cruising last night and I stumbled upon a blog that was doing a meme ( okay...dummy here still hasn't figured out how to do that ), the meme was called "the view from my kitchen window". What a great topic, especially if you've been reading or commenting back and forth with said bloggers. So, I'm posting the view from my kitchen window even though I'm meme challenged in a really huuuge way, I think I need Jerrie for another tutorial. J? ;D
When I moved to the farm this view was a pile of dirt with a few rhodies, that first summer I lived with it but by the next spring I drove the tractor out there and leveled the space with the scraping blade, I planted the hedge and put in a little lawn. Several years later I got tired of the sickly lawn and laid these pavers.
It 's a great space in the spring, protected from the wind... it's a lovely spot for a cup of coffee in the morning or a glass of wine at the end of the day. I planted it so that the view would be pleasing all year 'round from my kitchen window, since I don't have a dishwasher!
So, what's the view from your window?

*bloggers note: hey kids, news flash...I once again stumbled upon the blog that originated this idea, since I'm still an idiot about links and don't know how to direct you to her site here is the address. It's really fun to check out all the kitchen window views from all over the world.

lulusbay.blogspot.com

Sound of February

I was sitting on the couch this afternoon taking care of some e-mails when I heard the the eagles chattering. I always hear them at this time of the year and they are usually perched in the trees that I can see from my living room window. I grabbed the camera and took the photo that you see below.
There were two eagles up in the tree. Hoping to get a better shot I ran out the front door and made a loop around the garage, but first I took a shot of the sun setting behind the silo...cool colors, huh? By the time I made it around to the back yard the eagles were gone, bummer.

I stood in the back yard hoping for a fly-by, no such luck. I did get this really great shot of the moon, I love seeing the moon in a blue sky.....it makes me happy.