Deer! Oh Dear!!

What have I been telling you?  The deer are out of control around our ranch!

There is one eating cow "cake" that dropped out of the feeder!  I took this picture out our sliding glass door on the deck.

Who is watching whom??  Not a bit scared.  Look at the baby looking under the pickup bed.

After I took these pictures a buck came and was sniffing around.  I guess he didn't want to jump on the pickup.  It was too dark to take his picture and when I went out to "shoo" him away, he just looked at me for at least a minute.  I am telling you, these animals have no fear of humans!  And besides that they LOVE anything that I plant, be it flowers or vegetables!  Grrrrr!!

Dogs, Books, Cooks, and Anything Else That Matters Today

I guess I don't need to blog anymore.  The title says it all!  Before I got out of bed I finished the book, Marley and Me and of course I cried.  What a book for dog lovers!  My daughter Cari loaned it to me.  John Grogan is the author and you can certainly tell he writes for a living as a newspaper columnist.  I laughed out loud, I anguished with them and rejoiced with them.  I knew what was going to happen in the end, but I kept reading! 

I probably will not be writing a book although I was editor of the high school paper.  Does that count?  What Mr. Grogan says in his interview in the back was that he writes in his journal every day and that is where he remembers events if he is writing about them later.  So, to be a good writer one needs to write every day.  I am a sporadic writer and I do lots of it in my head.  That is why I stopped what I was doing today to get some of those thoughts "out."

One other thing John Grogan said was "The internet is an amazingly powerful tool."  "It also is responsible for the biggest loss of productivity in the history of mankind."  I think that at times as I am "lurking" around on the computer.

If you have never bought one of these magazines, they are so worth reading.  I just do not have a subscription, so I buy one occasionally and the articles that caught my eye on the front were: "Rating Peanut Butters," "Secrets To Perfect Whole Wheat Bread," and "Dressing Up Steaks."  Is your mouth watering yet?  Cowboy likes perusing them too.  What I did read outloud to him was the editorial, PICKUP TRUCK RULES by Christopher Kimball.  It is very funny and you can buy your own copy or borrow mine!

Speaking of cooking, today I did the second batch of canned beef.  Yum, yum!

If you look closely, you can still see it bubbling in the jars.  It makes a quick meal when one is in a hurry and Cowboy likes that when I am gone.  Biscuits and hot meat, noodles and beef, hot beef sandwiches, anything that your heart desires.  We had a beef butchered at Ryan's Meat Processing and had them bag some of the stew meat in big packages for me to can.

I am trying to read through the Bible in one year and I got behind, so today was my catch up day.  While the canner was rocking I was reading...       I also got my Bible study lesson done.  It is making me dig in my Bible.  I have a Beth Moore I am going to finish this year also...   I am holding myself accountable so when you ask, I can say, "Yup!" "I am still reading and studying!"  It seems when June rolls around and branding starts, I put all my stuff on hold as we roll out of bed at 4 a.m., breakfast, dishes, cook, cook, cook, pack to pasture, feed the men, bring it home, clean up the mess, figure out who is coming for supper, start meal, bake for next day.  Then feed the men when they get in that night, do the dishes, fall into bed and that alarm is ringing AGAIN at 4 a.m. the next morning!  Thank goodness it is usually only four days.  If it rains, it might be five.  Of course, rain seems pretty far off right now!

One of the many blessings of today is that the sun is shining!  And there is blue sky!!

This is Tristin's tree skirt that she asked me to make for her.  I need to quilt it and put the ties on it.  I have been at a stop on quilting and sewing as I have been knitting.  I can't seem to do both!  Ha!  And naturally I seem to have a book going at all times too!  So I want you to see that I haven't been completely idle.

This pair of socks could be a blog all by itself.  Years ago I made mittens for the kids and I thought I needed to learn how to knit socks.  One uses four needles.  I felt pretty fumble fingered.  My teacher lives forty miles away and have you ever had directions explained over the phone when you are a visual learner?  The stitches kept falling off of my needles.  Cowboy asked me why was I doing that because it did not sound like much fun or relaxing!  Men can be so cute!  I sent the first sock home with the teacher to pick up my dropped stitches and I started the other sock with much better results.  I think I can see the end in sight!  I love the color and am hoping they will fit. 

Cookie Day Postscript!

This is what happens when one gets up there in years, or maybe it is just too many things going through my mind to get them all tamed into what I have going at this moment.  Old?  I can't possibly be old yet...

Last year at Cookie Day I had little gifts for the kids, nothing big, just little stuff for them to take home and lose.  And, I had made the aprons for the big girls.  This year I made two table runners out of some new Christmas colors that were not the traditional colors.  I thought that we could have a drawing of the big girls (Tristin wanted to be included with the "big" girls).  They had to be here to get a chance at the runners.  Here are the winners...

Meghan and Mary

They really liked the runner with the stripes in the border, but Mary drew first.  And being the kind person she is, Meghan decided she could part with hers and give it to Cari since it would go with the colors in Cari's house.  That is what I would call sisterly love.  Thanks you Meghan!

Here is a picture of the recipient, Cari with Angus telling something pretty important to him.  We all want someone to listen to us, don't we?

I think I have collected all my thoughts and have gotten everything down that I want to.  Of course there are so many pictures that aren't on here, but if you are ever this way stop in!  Hopefully by that time we (The Farmer's Wife and Cowboy's Sweetheart), will have a couple of Cookie Day books done.

Now I am wondering what I could possibly make for next year that would be small and doable...hummm.

Bonfires and Sled Dogs

I am wondering if anyone is reading this.  We really do live for the comments.  But that is beside the point right now.  I am going to finish my story of "Cookie Day" and the weekend in general. 

After the cookies were divided up, it was time to load up with chain saws, mittens, coats, caps, and pile in the pickups.  I bought marshmallows, but Cowboy told me there wasn't any way to roast them as the wood would all burn, so I left them home...mistake number one!

 Before we got the "folks" loaded up, the kids had to have some fun in the snow with a calf sled that Mary and Wayland brought over.  They had a lots of fun going off the hill.

First tree for Wayland and Bill to cut...

Oops!  Mistake #2 or not.  The tree fell the wrong way.  Do you see why I was on the backside of the pickup??  There were plenty of dead trees.  They just went to another one.

It hung up in one of the other trees.  We did go back and get it later.  Well, not me, but I supervised!

TIMBER!!

Wayland had cut this piece of wood and BJ brought it over so Angus could get warm by the fire.  Children never really sit still, look at his hands.

It even has a backrest.  Perfect!  But Angus asked me where the marshmallows were...I was sad!!  I should have listened to the little girl inside of me and brought the marshmallows!

A blazing fire...pickups loaded with wood for Grandma Margaret...together...what fun.  We weren't even really cold.

What is more blessed that having grandies come and pile on your bed first thing in the morning!  Mary decided that she would like to be included in the sleepover so Wayland went home to take care of pets and chores.  Jennifer blew up the bed for the kids downstairs and Jen was on the couch to make sure ALL were safe.  Mary woke up really early as did we, but we thought everyone was sleeping.  We should have made early coffee!

I don't have pictures of the funniest happening of the day.  BJ finally told the kids to go outside and hook that husky (which was Tristin's dog, Trey) up to the sled.  Tristin did and the brave princess Maggie was the first to take a ride.  We are all in the living room looking out the picture and Whew! did that dog take off and Tristin did not put a lead on him so she could control him.  He flew.  Maggie was brave! Poor Angus was tailing up the girls and falling in the snow.  Even Tristin fell trying to catch the sled! Trey went to one hay stack and then another hay stack and then through the cattle guard (thankfully it wasn't a barbed wire fence).  By then we told Mary to jump in her car with a leash and she and Tristin better get that dog stopped!  It was hilarious to watch since no one got hurt and they all got rides.  I think that dog could have gone all day.  I told Tristin she ought to invest in an harness for that him.

Many days after the fact, I found some green frosting stuck to something.  Imagine that?!

Belated Cookie Day

I have had a couple of people ask me when I was going to post about Cookie Day that happened in December.  It has gotten so late, I did not know whether to or not. 

The long story is I bought a new computer from a suggestion by the Farmer's Wife (and she has since mentioned that "it really was a good idea, but...").  I bought it the end of October, 2010.  The "thing" crashed three times--first time viruses, second time new hard drive put in, third time I called the company direct (thanks to the Farmer's Wife who said go straight to the top!) and they sent me a new machine with a different antivirus installed.  That is the only thing we could come up with that could be wrong.  So far so good and that has been at least two weeks or more.  I was beginning to wonder if we would get our tax information sent to the accountant as all of it is in this machine.  Cowboy suggested I could do it on paper, long hand.  Fill in the blanks as to what I told him! Oh, it wasn't that bad.  I just told him I had done that and I didn't need the experience.

Cookie Day was fun and BJ was actually able to be here also as well as Meghan.

Here are the grandies that got to be here with their aprons, Tristin, Maggie, Angus, Kamryn, and Liv.  Angus called his "my cowboy thing".  He liked to wear it and they all had fun.

The Farmer's Wife was the one who had the idea for the aprons two years ago.  I insisted that she bring her material and I would make her apron.  She had two sets, so I made two and Khyrsten got one, but since Khyrsten didn't come Cari got to wear it as she forgot hers.  Look at the sacks of food on the floor behind Mary.  There was so much food to eat!

Cari... You go girl!

Do you think anyone could pick out their coat or boots??

Grandma Dutton--some multigenerational pictures.  Fun!

Granddad and Cari...

The "big" girls ( I don't dare say older do I, so what would you say?) were having just as much fun as the "little" ones.

BRING ON THE FROSTING!  Angus-Kamryn-Maggie-Liv-Tristin

There was precise work going on and lots of creativity.

We never get too old to decorate cookies...

This is serious...

Don't you just love the green lips?  Kissable!!

Wayland taking a turn...

This is the creation that Angus made for his Daddy.  Pretty special work for a four-year-old!

Jennifer is our candy making girl.  This is the second year for her caramels and they just get better every year!!  She is going to keep do this recipe.  I am the one coming up with new recipes for sugar cookies or the caramels.

Meghan, Maggie, Grammy Karen...

Cowboy PopPop is sure looking at something...

It must be important!  The kids love their Cowboy PopPop.

Tristin and Mary...

Jennifer helping Liv...

Some of the handiwork.  Beautiful!!

Pretty fancy work, wouldn't you say?

BJ did not do any decorating, he did take home the finished goods to Marsha, Baylee, and Kelli.  Yum!

The cookies are "divyed" and the aprons removed.  Whew!  What a fun day. Mary took 180 pictures and I took 87, so you see why I put so many on the blog.  There were so many pictures to choose from and of course they were all good ones!


Naturally there has to be a "rest of story" for the remainder of that weekend.  But that will be for another blog.  Stay tuned!