another use of fresh cream

Ok, I was desperate, It was looking like I was going to be throwing cream away again, very bad. Half a quart per gallon of milk is too much to waste. So after making 7-8 cups of alfredo sauce with last week's cream I determined not to get behind. I mean, I like coffee with cream a lot, but if I drank that much we'd have to call an ambulance. The new recipe I found was lemon posset (po'sit), pronounced with short vowels. I found that out from the Free Online Dictionary ( http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ ). Although, what I made last night and what the dictionary had for posset were pretty different, that's what happens when Americans get hold of something like this! It used 3 whole cups of cream for 5 servings, so of course, I 1 1/2 ed it. I think I could enjoy this now and then, it would be especially good with some raspberry sauce on top to cut the sour. It might make a good frozen dessert, we may try that with it. It would be sort of a cross between ice-cream and sherbet. mmm. I'll let ya know how it turns out.

click here for recipe

Oh, and posset was mentioned in a couple of Shakespeare's plays, I feel special now. uh huh. Apparently back then it was slightly sweeteded milk curdled with wine. Quite a bit different from the custard-y dessert I made last night.

* a little note*

the macaroon recipe down below has been corrected. It takes only egg white. very important.

Taco Bell taco sauce, from home. A BLOW to consumerism!

Ever feel like leaving consumerism all together? I sure do. All those brightly labeled bottles that tend to nickel and dime us to death. I felt this way the other day and thought, "Surely someone has figured out a recipe that tastes like the taco sauce from Taco Bell." So, I hopped on the great WWW once again onto recipe zaar, one of my favorite places. I mean, it is just way too hard to look up a recipe in all those cookbooks, ya know. They look nice on the shelf though. eh hem. I just like to try new things. Anyway, I found a recipe! I got no complaints either, it was close enough anyway. This is such good news! Death to consumerism! I think I'm on a roll. Here's the link directly to the print page for you all: http://recipezaar.com/recipe/print?id=60254 . On top of it, I used tomato juice, which you can buy a half gallon of for 99 cents most of the time. Wonderful! I came across a blog post called 30 days of nothing. This woman decided not to buy anything unnecessary for well, uh, thirty days....she needs this recipe. Happy taco making. Wonder what I'll find to make for -almost- free next? I'm going to look up toothpaste.

THE GOLDEN GOBLET, our latest read.....

So, we read The Golden Goblet, by Eloise Jarvis McGraw. Honestly, it started out very slow, like many books do. It took some perseverance to press on to the climax of the story. One of the characters was an evil half brother who really mistreated the main character. Their relationship was not one I would pick to exemplify, for this reason I wasn't crazy about the book. You kept getting the feeling that would rather be rid of each other, no matter how. downer. The book did, however, give a good glimpse into ancient Egyptian life. That's what real books are great for, helping you really FEEL the era of time. So, it was an OK book, but there are better ones for learning about ancient Egyptian life. The Cat of Bubastes is one such book, by G.A. Henty. And if you can get your hands on a recording of Jim Weiss's story telling version, I promise you'll really enjoy it!

new link and more free homeschooling>>>>>>>

While looking for some fresh and free worksheets to brush up on our human anatomy around here, I found this site: Homeschool Helper . It has some stuff that you might find useful. Note booking, lap booking, reports, record keeping, etc...... I'll put a permanent link over to the right. Here's one of the worksheets they had for labeling anatomy, isn't nice? Now, I'll probably find that I already have dozens to choose from once I start digging. Once we did a life (kid) sized body outline with all the organs inside. Yep, colored that stomach and stuff up real pretty and glued 'em on. (memories!) Another time we did a skeleton. (Or maybe we meant to, and didn't quite get it done......) Fun times. Anyway, check out the site, you might just spark a few ideas. Careful, you might really ignite some learning fire. oops!

good ol' George

Where do you think George is now? Rolling over in his grave, I'm pretty sure. Has been for a while! (Yes, you could say I was desparate for posting material.) But - if you don't agree, you MUST be sleeping, wake up!

big accomplishments

After months (or was it years) of planning, working and collecting materials- Sam has finally finished his canvas canoe. Yesterday was the big launch. All the kids tried it out on the water and nobody sunk. It is truly quite an accomplishment. Bravo to Sam! Go HERE to see video clips, what I was able to take before the camera's batteries died on us. It was a big day and a testament to what can come out of one boy's dreams. (Mothers: despise not small beginnings)Now, if I can just get him in the driver's seat.

I was thinking of hanging this print in my kitchen, wanna come over?

Peter, The story of a deserter who became a forceful leader. by Ethel Barrett

Having just finished this book, I had to give a little shout out about it! I have several books by Ethel Barrett that I acquired over the years and we have some Christian books on tape with her as the narrator. After reading this one out loud to the kids I'm eager to get to the rest of the stack! Maybe it was just the subject matter, I've been contemplating the book of Acts lately? Whatever, it struck me as a good read and I think I will look to collect more books by this author. This is part of a whole series in which she writes about Bible heroes. I loved the way it made the happenings so real. ".......I'd love to see the faces of those chaps in the Sanhedrin when the Temple police tell ' em we're here, Peter thought, grinning. They'll be sent back here to nab us any minute now." This is, of course, referring to after they were freed from prison by the Lord. Ready for those exploits?? Honestly, the book really boosted my faith.

a good read aloud

Sometimes I wish I had all day to read aloud to the kids. But then I would probably lose my voice, huh? This is a great read aloud. All good stuff and true. It tells about a slave who had been destined to be a prince of his tribe in his native land. How much can I say without spoiling it? It turns out he ended up having a very good attitude and being a hard worker. He eventually got his freedom, not to mention buying the freedom of some other slaves he knew. And to top it off, he professed Christianity! I guess that's why this book was a library discard. hmm. Now, what shall our next read aloud be, I'll feel like a failure if we don't get through at least a dozen this year. We haven't read aloud near enough the past 3 years, I just got to get back on a roll. Any suggestions? I don't have any ONE particular theme this year. Just want to read the best.

I was considering The Golden Goblet.

fried ice-cream!

Has anyone every tried making fried ice-cream? We did. It was much easier then I expected. And I thought it would be a great company treat because you can do most of it ahead of time. Here's how: 1st) Make three inch balls of vanilla ice-cream and let them freeze up really solid in the freezer before the next step. I'm sure you could use another flavor, but I think vanilla is pretty original and goes well with the cinnamon. 2nd) beat egg whites and put them in a shallow dish and crush corn chips and put them in another shallow dish. Put cinnamon in the egg whites. You can put some in the corn flakes too, but I figure most of that must come off when you fry them. I also tossed some powdered sugar in with the egg whites. (I always modify a recipe as I go along) 3rd) Roll the ice-cream balls in the egg white mixture first and then the corn flakes, do this 2-4 times until the ice-cream is well coated. Freeze them again for a few hours. You want them very firm. Last) Heat up oil and fry them for 10-15 seconds. Serve with whip cream in a can ( so it looks professional you know) cherry, and chocolate syrup! of course, you can use what ever flavors that you like best. I used a small sauce pan with about 2 1/2 inches of oil and just did one at a time by rolling it around the whole time until it was evenly done. Yum. We will definitely to this again. Wanna come over?

busy times/catch-all post

Just a little country decoration (weeds)

The past couple of weeks have been pretty busy. We started school on a small scale. Still painting the neighbors house, though we have had several days of rain. We have done a little more minor work on the COUNTRY PLACE, you'll have to check that out. Have done a little canning and cooking of special things, in other words, homeschool home-ec. I'll let Abigail tell you about that. It is feeling very fall like here, fall like with rain, if that could be a description of the weather. But the sun is coming out today and should be nice for a whole week! Andy finally got his remote control airplane replaced. It took us a while to get around to taking it back, clear to the big city you know. We are lucky they even took it back! whew! Bryan is making progress on his wheels and coincidentally talks a lot about tires and trucks and anything remotely related ALL THE TIME. Sam is continually honing his blacksmithing skills and researching about new ways and products to use in that. We have had way too many birthdays in August. Speaking of birthdays, happy birthday to Diane P., I tried to text you this morning but you must not have texting. We still need to get together you know. Just name the day, I can be pretty flexible. *grin. I think* Well, that wraps it up for now. catch ya later people.

Oh, clafouti! (cla-foo-TEE)

cranberry walnut clafouti

Well actually, clafouti is something you eat. It's pretty good too. It's a baked custard like thing with fresh fruit in it and served with 'crem-fresh' on top. It has a French spelling, but for the sake of us dumb Americans, I'll just put it that way. And that is really just and even mix of sour cream and heavy cream. I added a little sugar too. Anyway, in my quest to find recipes that use a lot of cream, I happened upon it on the great www. (Great?) We get fresh farm milk each week and I can end up with 2 1/2 to 3 quarts sometimes! Homemade butter just sits in the fridge unless someone is really in the mood for it and noodles with white sauce once a week just doesn't go over very well here! So, I thought I would tell you about clafouti in case you have never been introduced to it before. We do like to try new things around here. So here is a link to a recipe. CLAFOUTI Ours was blueberry. I didn't want to take a picture of it half eaten and all condensated on after a night in the fridge. So the picture is from the net too. There are lots of variations. yum. I think we'll try the cranberry walnut next, it sounds good and I have all the ingredients already. Bryan doesn't always like my fancy food tryouts. Don't get me wrong, he almost always has no problem eating them but he said, "Clafouti? Couldn't we just call it Steve?"

happy birthday to me

Monday the tenth was my birthday and my mother came over with cake. Not one cake, but two. We ate cake until I felt like rolling around. It is nice to be thought of though. She enjoyed baking them I think. Boston Cream "Pie" and a chocolate bundt cake that had root beer in it, though I could not taste it. So, I'm a year older- 3_. Other than that, a lot of painting and scraping has been going on around here this week. This cookbook here was one of my gifts. There will never be a shortage of CAKE!

another new learning tool for you.....

Way down in the lower right I have added a search box from "The Free Dictionary". It's free page content. I plugged in "puffin bird" and had it search "periodicals" and up pops 200 articles having something to do with puffin birds or at least mentioning them. Now, let me tell ya, when I was in school I did a report on puffin birds, an assigned report that is. When I went to my small local library I found one book about puffin birds and the encyclopedia. This resulted in a very small and boring report, much smaller than the assigned amount of words! So, I came across this and it looks like it could be a handy tool for school. I put it way down at the end of the right margin here.

ready to use writing prompts book at my fingertips

Remember the free writing prompts pages I told you I found online? I have now put them together in a book (three ring binder, one of my best ways to keep organized). They are together and ready to use. Now, when will we be starting school? who knows. hmmm. Should be around September first or so. I emptied out one of many dozen binders that was full of stuff that I really did not need anymore. I threw them away, yay! Really making progress here, throwing old stuff away, bringing the new stuff that I need to use this year. this is very good. So anyway, at least to amuse someone, here is a picture of my writing prompts collection so far. There is lots more room in this big 3 inch binder to add more, which I plan to do. Again these were taken from a website for teachers and there is a link in the right margin here to go to the site. Click on "writing prompts" in my LINKS TO EDUCATION list.

Sam starts a blog

Sam has set up a blog today. He has been very busy developing his metal working skills, so I'm sure you'll see a lot of knives. It's called The Life of Sam the Smithy. click and go

bringing yesterday's classics to today's children.....

More goodies! More FREE goodies, that is. Tons and tons of meaningful classic literature to study history with. I found this a couple of years ago and thought I lost it, only to see that I actually did save it to the favorites tonight! There's more there than I ever noticed before! It just seems to go on and on. Oh, here I am rambling on and you don't know what I'm talking about. I'm talking about a collection of classic works of literature for children posted online and available to you, FREE. I mean, a BIG collection. It's called The Baldwin Online Children's Literature Project. As you can see, I'm still searching for free online resources to educate. Is anyone appreciating this? I really think I could just put all my books in a box this year, maybe I will. (actually, I wish I was, I'd really love to be moving) The above photo is "The Siege of Tyre". It's one of the chapters in Alexandar the Great by Jacob Abbott. free and online. remember those two words: free and online.

coconut macaroons

These are about the easiest cookies you can make, well besides the refrigerated packages from the grocery store, but let's not talk about those. Here's the recipe:

2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 large egg white
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt

mix those ingredients together and then stir in 3 1/2 cups of sweetened flaked coconut. drop the dough by scant tablespoonfuls onto the sheets. Parchment is highly recommended for this recipe. trust me. Bake at 325 for 20-25 minutes and let cool to set up before removing from pan. The last couple of times I have made these I have made them flat instead of the traditional mounded type, then drizzle melted chocolate on top. These are so great! all crunchy and sugary around the outer edge. Oooooo, I think I'll go have one. Enjoy. so so easy.

a great book series

I've had my mind on school a lot lately as I get ready for the upcoming year. I thought it would be great to tell you about some of my favorite books. These are sold at Bluestocking Press and here is the website for further investigation. http://www.bluestockingpress.com/uncle-eric-books.htm These are books about economics, justice and politics and world wars and how they still effect us today. I personally have not read all of them from cover to cover, but two of our older boys have read some or all and they have had a positive mind shaping effect. Just know that they are not politically correct. They are what some would call 'opinion based', especially the books on wars. Of course, we all know that what shows up on the news and what comes out after the fact are very different when it comes to what is happening and has happened in the world. What Ever Happened to Penny Candy was the first one in this series that we bought to read. I knew right away that these would be "must reads" for our boys at least. This particular book explains economics in a very understandable way in what is called apostolic format, meaning question and answer format between two parties. In the case of these books it is an uncle talking to his nephew, thus the name: Uncle Eric Books. In my home schooling endeavors I'm pretty selective about what I bring in as part of the curriculum and personally I don't really like cleaving to typical curriculum alone. I think it can be quite limiting, in fact. I like to think I select reading material that produces strong thinkers. The ideas in these books run parallel with the thinking of the founding fathers of this country, if that's worth anything to you, I personally think that there is much value in that, though not flawless. I highly recommend these books. Most, if not all at this point, have study guides that go with them. These have questions to go with the chapters as you read through the book and suggests additional books and movies (discretion advised) about the topic.

painting for the neighbor

Right now Sam and I are painting the neighbor's house. I am very tired and very sore! But we are making money, so that is good. I think it's good for any kid to be part of a LOOOONG project like this. (It's really all de'ja'vue because we just did this on our own house just last summer!) It's good to work and make money! Of course, money isn't everything. We are ready to paint a large portion of our first side, a good milestone. The neighbor seems pleased and might just let us paint the whole thing! Oh man. Am I up for that? There's no pressure, just a neighbor that's glad we are here and available and she does not want us to move away at all or anytime soon. We are using an extension ladder and scaffolding, which I am really glad we have. On an extension ladder it seems like you have to strain every muscle to keep your balance while you shake around scraping and painting. The scaffold is better, you can relax. I have bruises on my legs from leaning onto a ladder for so long, owie. We are taking a break for the weekend and then back to work on Monday. work work work. So, that's where we are spending a lot of our time these days and will be for another month or so. Well, I'll have to go now, I'm making Saturday morning brunch, which is going to end up being right at lunch time, and I have a cake to make for tomorrow.

love these old ads

Don't these old ads just remind you of your grandma? They do me for some reason I haven't quite figured out yet. I have a whole collection of them in the computer and I like old stuff like this to hang on the wall. Old cookbook covers and stuff like that.....it's so nostalgic, urr, uh, something.

printing money

Get tired of endlessly counting out money for practice with your young munchkins? Print some custom made worksheets HERE at The Teachers Corner.net. Lovin' this site!

writing prompts

You know those books (those $30 books) that give a picture and a writing prompt? I've been on a search of free home schooling lessons and stuff. And man, have I been hitting the jackpot. I found some great free writing prompts just like in those books at TheTeachersCorner.net. The other link below is the direct page link to the daily writing prompts. I am very excited about it. Many of the pics/prompts are very research provoking. So, I printed off the lesson pages for August and September and I will put them in a binder to keep them together and organized. I am definitely a binder person. Did I mention how excited I was? So now off to get more ink and paper......well luckily I did happen to have a huge stock of that, not always the case. I love to buy new books but I just get tired of being disappointed after spending twenty or thirty dollars on a new book! I am very impressed with what I found today. This means the 2 or 3 writing prompt books that are on my list of things to buy will not be necessary at least for now! Yay! Check it out and you are welcome in advance! I'm sure the site even has more to offer, I only looked at one little part!

http://www.theteacherscorner.net/daily-writing-prompts/index.htm

Home School "must have"

http://www.spellingcity.com/

I have found a home school mom's life saver. The link here is to a spelling website, a FREE to use one. If you register you can put your own program's list in and it will save them! It will create for you games and worksheets to choose from, using your list. Many of the worksheets are printable. And it will make a handwriting worksheet for you in print, D'nealian, or cursive in three different sizes. I am so looking forward to using this to the max this year. It's gonna be my best year ever! (I always say that) So check it out, register, get those kids curled up on the couch with a laptop........it's too great to describe, go see it for youself. and FREE.

I'll be adding a link button in the right margin.

a chair for mother (me)

Plain, blue, smelly and dirty. But it was $3 and just my size. So I took it home and tackled it almost right away. I bought the fabric a long time ago (also cheap) in hopes of making something nice out of it someday.

Here we are just getting started with the stripping off of the old fabric. There was a skirt on this chair but I decided not to use it later.

The chair is all stripped down here. That part was no problem. I reused most of the tack stripping and used the blue pieces as an exact pattern for the new pieces putting them back on in the opposite order I took them off. I actually wrote them down as I removed them from the chair. Hint: a very good idea.


Some of the springs were sprung. So I had to repair that mess first, then on to the fun part, or so I thought that day. I am not practiced at this, so every phase was just like pulling teeth. I don't really have a lot of in-between pictures I guess.



I really stalled out when it came time to do the cushion so I was really feeling like a champion when I got past that.

Here is the completed chair, well almost; there is some hand stitching on the back that you can't see. I'm pretty pleased with it and it's just my size. My feet don't dangle just above the floor or anything like that. I was thinking that I probably won't undertake anymore furniture recovering anytime soon though! I really had to drag myself through it.

pretty!

cherry orange marmalade

ok, so the jars are a little 'dusty' from the hot water bath, but I got a little 'post-eager'

really neat!

On June 12th, Saychev Peak on Matua Island erupted, hurling ash and steam into the air. Luckily, NASA's International Space Station was watching. This stunning image, from the Earth Observatory, reveals some rare details about this eruption.
In this image, you can see the volcanic plume extending into the sky. But you can also see the atmospheric shock wave from the eruption, which pushed the clouds back into a ring in the sky. Also visible is a smooth, fluffy white cloud on top of the rapidly rising ash column. This is likely a result of rapidly rising water vapor condensing on top of the plume.
A detail of the image also reveals what is known as the pyroclastic flow. This is a mixture of super hot gas and ash that can travel at up to 130 miles per hour. It's similar to the kind of rapidly moving pyroclastic surge that supposedly wiped out Pompeii so quickly, killing everyone in its path. It's a beautiful image, dense with interesting quirks that demonstrate just how powerful, dangerous and complex volcanoes are.

NEW BLOGS!!!!!

Andy and Abi have their own blogs for the summer. Click on their name to go to their blogs.

did you know there was a "cloud appreciation society" ?

These are not your typical clouds, they have names you've probably never heard; such as Asperatus clouds. Some of them, at least. Jes thought I better be posting something on here.

Abi makes a basket

Aunt "Bon Bon" is so good about sitting down with the kids and doing something, this time it was making a basket. Abi is so engrossed while daddy is also really engrossed talking on the phone with his hands, as if the guy on the other end can see that......

Andy draws again!

a walk in the park with cousin Kayla

SOME INTERESTING PICTURES

This is called Battleship Island, off the coast of Japan. Never had heard of it. But at one time it was one of the most densely populated placed in the world. It was a little coal mining world of its own and when that industry went bust, everyone just left. It stands empty today, it is illegal to visit the island today and apparently Japan doesn't really want anyone to know about it.

The pattern created in a Swedish forest by logging tracks and trees downed by Hurricane Gudrun. Had you ever heard of a hurricane on Sweden? me neither.

I have to tell you, this really had me rolling. While it is a little exaggerated, it is true that the word 'like' is way overused these days.....ya know like what I mean?

CANOE 2

A few days ago I did some more work on my canoe. As you can see from the pictures all I need to do is paint the wood and put on the canvas and paint it. Then I will be done.

"the sleepwalker"

Click HERE to read an exciting TRUE story about a real sleepwalker.

yummy

This is a must have pumpkin bread recipe that taste more like gingerbread. Check it out!

DISASTER IN PARADISE

mom: Andy, go put this dessert in the freezer.

Andy: (a few minutes later) uh, mom, I sort of dropped the thing

mom: Are you kidding me? (then remembering that we don't cry over spilled dessert, I pulled myself together)

*we take a trip downstairs together, where the freezer is*

mom: where is the dessert? (seeing that the pan is upside down on the floor with almost no evidence of dessert)

Andy: uh, that's the worst part...........

The pictures tell the rest of the story. No one was hurt and we were able to taste the dessert anyway.

A DISASTER INDEED.

OUR CURRENT READ-ALOUD

"On a cloth spread out upon the grass were arranged a roast shoulder of porcupine, a delicious bowl of soup made from a piece of the same animal, cheese, butter, and biscuits, forming a most tempting repast. Having done this ample justice, we collected our cattle, and the pigeons and fowls having retired to roost on the neighboring trees and on the steps of our ladder, we made up a glorious fire to keep off any prowling wild beasts, and ourselves lay down."

"........come and taste flamingo stew, and tell me how you like it."

CAN YOU GUESS IT ?????????????

MAKING A CANOE

This is the frame and half of the ribs to a canoe that I am making out at the new house. The frame is made of pine and the ribs are old barrels that I found out at the new house. I am going to cover the ribs with canvas.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON INSPIRATION LEADS TO MY KIND OF BREAKFAST.

It all started with a trip out for piano lessons......the gals offered me tea with biscotti......mmmm. *I should make some, I thought* So, I went home and thinking those stray pecans I had would make good in some biscottis. If pecans could be considered 'stray', of course. I hit the great WWW. A couple of clicks later I arrived at not only at pecan biscottis, but banana/pecan biscotti. This was even better, knowing that there was a great bundle in my bowl, ageing. Then of course I had to add chocolate to the top..........my kind of breakfast. Go HERE for the Banana Pecan Biscotti recipe. I really like this recipe site because you can print out such a nice recipe page with large enough print to read and without all the weird ads down the side and unnecessary pages added on! Enjoy. Thanks for the tea and biscotti gals, you are good hostesses.

SNOW ON MARCH 10th? GRRRRR......

Well what a sight out the window today! It's terrible. But I guess we will just take it anyway. Oh, and I love this children's book, author and illustrator. It's on my shelf. Adorable book! It does need to stop snowing in Nebraska though. I truly can't remember when in snowed this late in the year last.

TODAY IS OUR 19TH ANNIVERSARY! WOOHOO!

look'in pretty excited, aren't we now........

KNIFE SHEATH

How do you like my bead work. The button on the strap is deer antler.

The leather is from an old moccasin.

WANTED:

FOR BANK ROBBERY

$2,000.00 REWARD

This man has shown up in a popular book series, have you seen him?

INSPECTOR ABI ANIMATED

BEST PAINTINGS

1

2

3

4

I would like to ask all of our blog viewers to say which of these paintings I painted is the best.

use of limes #3 KEY LIME PIE

You had to know that my domestic drive to use up my key limes was going to involve key lime pie, didn't you? Of course! The meringue was heavenly. I can't say the same for the key lime part, so I'm not posting the recipe. I'll be in search of a better recipe. I have one more lime dessert to make, so stay tuned. (is "tuned" the right term here?) I don't know, what would you say?

a true HILARIOUS story

There was this little sister who was watching a science program with her brother, who was a little older..........They were talking about solar power on the program and they showed a picture of the earth plugged into the sun with a cord. The little sister said, "That would be hard to do." The brother, who was a little older, said, "You couldn't get close enough to do it because it's too hot." Then the little sister said, "Well, you could do it at night when the sun is off!"

The story you have just read is true, only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

use of limes #2 KEY LIME BARS

This looks like a shallow cheesecake only because I put it in a pie pan instead of a square baker. It is a lot like cheesecake in taste, but much more dense. A very good recipe with a coconut cookie crust, great flavors together! And cream cheese was even on sale, woohoo! Here is the recipe:

• 1 1/2 cups coconut cookie crumbs
• 3 Tbls. butter melted
• 1 pkg. (8oz.) cream cheese, softened
• 1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
• 1/4 cup key lime juice
• lime peel or strawberries, if desired

1. Hear oven to 350 F. Grease 9x9 pan 2. Mix cookie crumbs and butter thoroughly with fork. Press evenly in bottom of pan. Refrigerate while preparing cream cheese mixture. 3. Beat cream cheese in small bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in milk until smooth. Beat in lime juice and lime peel. Spread over layer in pan. 4. Bake about 35 minutes or until center is set. Cool 30 minutes. Cover loosely and refrigerate at least 3 hours until chilled. Cover and store in refrigerator.

The cute little retro measurement chart in the pic is a gift from a good friend, we must get together soon dear. :)

GUEST DOG

Last week we had our cousins staying with us. This dog is my cousin Michael's dog. His name is Briar and he and Hank had a really good time wrestling.

PLAYING IN THE SNOW

A few weeks ago I got Buck out to play with me. We had lots of fun playing in the snow. It was a warm and sunny day. Buck and I had a good time and he got some much needed exercise.

use of limes #1 CHERRY LIME-AIDS

Now, don't those just look refreshing? Here's how we make them: In a 14 oz. glass squeeze about a half an inch of fresh lime juice. Then add another half an inch of consentrated cherry juice, such as Juicy Juice. Then add lemon-lime pop and ice to fill the glass. If you want, perch a merichino cherry on top the ice too. We were out and we had already run to the store for ice, so we were definately not getting out again that night!

INSPECTOR ABI

WHAT TO DO?

We were given a whole bunch of free key limes, now what do you do with so many limes? Stay tuned and we'll let you know what we are doing with them, it'll be fun. Suggestions welcome.

Lego guns

Here are my two helicopters and command center.

50 cal

155mm

40mm

30 cal

30 cal




Hey Evan here are my guns. I have 2 30 cals, 1 50 cal,
1 155mm gun, 1 40mm and 2 attack helicopters.

.....tried those Crabmeat Rangoons.....

I think in blog lingo this post would be called a "shoutout". Have you all been to the Flowershop Girl blog? Well, a couple of days ago she posted a recipe, as she often does, for crab rangoons. WOW! I like! It was a fun thing to do on a cold Saturday. Thanks for posting recipes R.S. We added green onions and had to use egg roll wrappers instead because our fine podunk town did not have the right ones......oh yeah, I made cookies today too, way too much time in the kitchen for one day. I'm feeling so....domestic.

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS FRIGHTFUL

This is the frosted up bathroom window. BRRRRR!!!

WHAT IS THIS?

Can you tell what this is?

SUMPTHIN' FUNNY GOIN' ON ROUND' HERE

I came into the kitchen to find the cat lounging next to the homemade deer sausage (yeah, on the kitchen table). By the time I got the camera he was standing at attention, then jumped down and escaped!

STRETCHING SQUIRREL

Taking a peek.

Looking around.

ready for the plunge.

stretch.

Yesterday I was doing my school and watching a squirrel outside the window, here are some pics. Watching a squirrel stretch is funny.

VINTAGE

This is one of my favorite vintage cookbook covers. Found at one of my favorite junk shops. Notice the old $1 tag? I think I actually paid a dollar.

READING THROUGH HISTORY

I recently found what could turn out to be a very interesting site! http://readingthroughhistory.blogspot.com/

ever heard of this?

September 24th is National Puncuation Day. Never heard of it. Click here to read about how a misplaced comma almost cost a company 2.13 million dollars. http://www.nationalpunctuationday.com/ I'm wondering what other days I don't know about.

BIG NEWS!

We lit the first fire in our new fireplace today! click to see

GRAMMAR AND POLITICS

......Abi had been learning about adding 'ed' to a word to make it past tense in her grammar book. Daddy went out to vote, (a lot of good it did) and so came back with an 'I VOTED' sticker. Abi came to me and whispered, "Mom, dad's vote thingy has 'ed'! It was very funny.

IT'S COLD OUTSIDE

This looks really good, don't you think?

HIS EYE IS ON THE SPARROW

In Matthew chapter 6: 25)Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 26) Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27) Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 28) And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin: 29) And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30) Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 31) Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32) (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33) But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness: and all these things shall be added unto you. 34) Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Lyrics and history of the old hymn.

The Sinking of the Lusitania

copyright AMB

This is a sketch by Andy of the Lusitania sinking.......go to composition central and learn how it happened.

FRESH FARM MILK

A few weeks ago we started to get fresh farm milk. It's better than store bought milk. The cream is so rich and thick . It's a bargain at $3 a gallon. I just love it! On the compositon blog I have written about how to make butter ! click here.

HOW DO YOU SLICE AN ONION?

".....Hey you there, come on in and see. I know you'd like to live here with your family. I'm spacious and beautiful inside and out. With my new facelift.....the Jones will be keeping up for a long, long time......."

CURB APPEAL

Amazingly, we finished the brown paint. There is some trim painting yet to do and we are waiting for new gutters to be made, but for the most part we are done. We are very glad!!!! We have been painting for weeks, all of us!!
Here's a shot of before and then after.

LOOKING GOOD

"It'll get worse before it gets better" seems to fit this scenario well. But things are looking pretty good as long as you keep your eyes up and not on the ground at all the trash and debri. So, in a couple more days guess what, it will be back to painting!!!!

School IS in session

Whew, I was worried I wasn't going to get started on time with schooling! This will be one of our 'occupation oriented elective' classes. Doesn't this look like class to you? Part of our roof is very steep, so using harnesses was a must. So hey, if your worried about your kids' safety, why not just tie them to a tree? What a mess this is making. I will be really glad when this is all said and done. Well, I shall leave you for now, I believe my paint brush is thawed out. I freeze my oil paint brushes between coats. I need to get that second coat on the front door. It is taking forever to dry in these humid conditions. What do you think of the cranberry red door? We shall see.....I happened to have an unopened quart from a project years ago. stay tuned.........

PROGRESS AT HOME

Well, I thought I would just post some pictures of the painting that we are doing. We are over half done and having a break from it today. Here are some pictures. So, what do you think so far?

EXCUSING OUR ABSENCE

Well guys, we have been working on painting the town house after a bad hail storm came through town. We are nearly done with 2 sides now and plan to also replace the roof. work, work, work.....We will post more pictures later, it will be beautiful when we are done and then maybe someone will buy it!

ART

We recently got some really nice colored pencils so I am trying them out. About a month ago I got a big set of drawing pencils with a wide range of hardnesses, so I have been drawing a lot. The color did not come through very well with this scan. We will have to work on that.

OO, YUMMY!

Mulberry madness days are going on at our house since we discovered several mulberry trees. Mulberry lemonade is wonderful. Just sugar up some mulberry juice and mix it in with your lemonade. So good. This is not to be confused with a former trend called zucchini madness. The kids say "whew".

Check out why mulberries are good for you!

In case you thought this blog was boring,

I posted this picture early just this morning.

Well really, I couldn't sleep because my husband was snoring-

and isn't it great that it's no longer poring ?

A KNIFE FOR JIM

This is what it will look like.

This is me grinding on the hand guard.
This is the blade and the two parts of the butt plate.

This is a knife that I am making for Jim C. The second picture up is the steel that I cut it out of and the last picture is the handle parts. So far I have been working on it for two weeks. If I wanted to do this right I would need a bench grinder but you do not have to have one. I wood burned my name in the handle parts.

A LITTLE CARVING

I got the idea to carve this whale when I watched the movie Moby Dick. For those of you that haven't watched it, it is really spooky, too spooky for the average person. But the white whale is really animated, I liked that part.

LIFE WITHOUT A SHOP

Well, we sold our shop. This means that the driveway became the car fix-it spot instead. Not comfortable. Hun is missing the shop already, can you tell?

WHAT I'VE BEEN DOING

Lately I have been drawing a lot. I usually don't use colored pencils. This is a picture of Teddy Roosevelt looking over the Grand Canyon. I recently read a book about him. It's a pretty good sketch, but I don't think it really looks like him. My mom really likes this picture and she thought it would make a good post. For a long time I was mostly drawing airplanes but now I am stuck on drawing faces of famous people like presidents and composers.

LEGO THINGS

BROTHERLY LOVE?

TWO DOGS ARE TOO MANY TO HAVE ON THIS BED

THREE DAYS OF TREASURE HUNTING

For the last three days we have been working out at our new house, we might go today. The picture is a mouse that I caught in the metal pile, he was in a tin can. The other picture is a 20mm cannon dummy shell that I found in the big pile. I also found a billy club, a turkey call, more tools, a whistle, a collapsible fishing rod and I think that I found half a military tent! Someone threw away a lot of good stuff.

THE DIGGING DAY

The day before yesterday we were out at our farm, we were digging in the piles and sorting for metal. In the pile behind the garage I found a set of screw drivers still in the package and Andy found this painting. In the big pile I found the army bag. I also found a grinder that works but did not get a picture. We are going to cut the painting down so that it looks good. I am going to use the army bag for my tool bag and the screw drivers will go in it. I will have to fix the grinder because the switch does not work, you have to unplug it to turn it off.

A REALLY NEAT SQUIRT GUN

The other day we went to our new house. We were digging through the trash. Then I saw some thing! I pulled it out and it was a homemade squirt gun! It has a wood handle with a hole drilled through it with a syringe through it. I tried it and it works!

RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD

We have been finding dead birds at Nanny's, but this is the first Red-Winged Blackbird we have found there. I found the rest of it but the wings and the head were not attached to the body. The red-winged one is the male.

WRITERS WANTED:

Dear friends, An exciting new blog is up and running. So far we have three authors posting. Do you have the blogger blahs? Why not join in and add some spice to your blogging experience? Click on "SHARE YOUR WRITING" in the upper right corner. Get started today!

NEW BLOG

Hey' everyone this is Bryan and I am starting a blog of my own. You can see it at http://huntinguy.wordpress.com/

FIVE BABY COONS

Yesterday we went out to the new house to do some work. I was up in the barn loft looking around. I moved a door that was up there and right behind it was a female coon. I yelled for Bryan and Andy to come and help me kill it. Bryan hit it with a shovel handle and it slipped down a hole. After Bryan and Andy had left I kept looking around I moved a piece of insulation and right in front of me were five baby coons.

A HOME MADE BASKETBALL HOOP

Recently I was bored so I made a basketball hoop out of a bucket and a ladder and practiced with a soccer ball. Then my brother went to our new house and brought home a basketball. It is a junky old basketball that I pulled the skin off of. I started with the bucket sitting on top of the ladder but it kept falling off. So then I tied it on with a rope, it didn't fall off anymore. It works OK, but a real hoop would work much better.

COMING SOON........

We are setting up a new blog just for composition writing pieces. 'Everyone' is welcome to join in. Watch for it. If you like to write, you'll love it. If you have to write, it will be a place to share it. -Mrs. B.

HANK

We love Hank because he is so nice and he does some of the funniest things. Hank is our two year old German shorthair, but he still is our little pup. If you do not like dogs, Hank will reform you. Hank can run like the wind. When we go to our new house he will run the whole time that we are there, sometimes two or three hours. Hank will still jump up in your lap like a puppy. He will go crazy when someone stops by, and I mean crazy. And Hank loves us.

HURRY UP SPRING!

This is off of Merrill's blog

1. If I were a doll, the accessories packaged with me would be:
A suit of camo clothes and a shotgun.
2. I have an irrational fear of:
Nothing I can think of.
3. What type of food do you eat at your grandparents house?
Grandma's fried chicken. It's finger lickin' good.
4. What weight were you when you were born?
Mom says 9.lb 3.oz and it hurt.
5. What would you do if you were stranded on an island with the person you hate most?
Go fishing.
8. I find the thought of childbirth:
I don't know I never find that thought.
9. Next door to my house is:
A high school teacher.
10. My feet are:
Size 11.5
11. My preferred style of jeans is:
Levi's 501
12. Do you play a musical instrument?
The harmonica.
13. Know how to cook?
Anything I want to.But you don't want to taste it.
14.I am annoyed with:
Rap music.
16. What child-related smell do you not like?
Diapers.
17. What sea creature scares you?
All the ones that are big and have teeth.
18. What color of hair do most of the people you are around have?
Brown.
19. What object have you broken most recently?
A glass. I did it today.
20. Name one of the Spice Girls.
I don't have a clue.
21. What was the last thing to make you cry?
My dog died, three years ago.
22. What are the stems on wine glasses for?
I have no idea.
23. My favorite shoes are:
ROCKY rider work boots.
24. Can you use chopsticks?
Yes.
25. Do you prefer beaches or forests?
Forests hands down.
26. What serial killer do you find most disturbing?
I don't know any.
27.Who knows a secret or two about you?
Nobody.
28. Have you ever burned yourself?
Yes.
30.Who is your hero[s]?
Thomas Jefferson.
40. Do you believe that things last forever?
Not very many things.
41. What are you listening to?
The computer humming.
42. What do you smell like?
You don't want to know.
43.Are you married?
No
44. Does anyone regularly tell you they love you?
A few people.
45.What's the most confusing to you?
People.
46. Do you have any bad habits?
Popping my knuckles.
47. Have you ever wanted to be a teacher?
No
48. What is one thing you've learned about life?
It is a roller coaster.
49. What is your favorite color?
Brown.
50. Have you ever been stuck in an elevator?
No
53. What are you looking forward to?
SUMMER!
54. How are you today?
Not bad, a little restless. I must have spring fever.

KAYLA TAGGED ME

Here are the rules:



::Link to the person that tagged you.

::Post the rules on your blog.

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

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

:: let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

1. I go out in the nastiest weather you can think of trying to shot something and call it fun.

2.I have eaten beaver.(it was nasty)

3. I like hard work.

4.I sleep with my socks on.(my dad says that's weird)

5. I like getting up early.

6. I don't like ketchup.(I don't think that's weird, but some other people do)

Everyone I know has already been tagged.

NOTHING PARTICULAR

Hey everyone, Bryan here. It's been a while since I posted(a long while)so I thought I would just tell you what's been going on. To start with I was sick for about two weeks. Then I went to work with my dad for a couple of weeks to help him wire a house before he started his new job. He started today so now I have tons of time to do my school. While we were wiring the house the plumber that was there came up with a brilliant word. bossmanship. It's kind of hard to explain the meaning in words but I'll try. If you are the boss on a job and you tell your crew to do the job wrong that's bad bossmanship. That was about as clear as mud. That's an example of bad blogsmanship. See you soon!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

March 3rd was mom and dad's 18th wedding anniversary. Mom was trying on her wedding dress, but it didn't fit. She asked me if I would like to try it on. It is pinned in the back. It was exciting for me to try it on. Mom made it herself. She sewed all the beads on by hand. You can click on the picture to get a close-up of the beads.

WONDERING WHY THERE ARE NO NEW POSTS?

this picture is a few years old

Sorry folks, we have been under the weather around here. Laying around, blowing our noses, coughing, trying to remain cheerful! We'll be back soon!

MINIATURE PLANES

I like to make miniature planes. Here are some pictures of some of the planes that I have made. The big one is a B-17. The gray one is a Messerschmitt ME 262. The tan one is a Messerschmitt BF 109 and the last one is a P 51 Mustang. To make them I used popcicle sticks and square dowels.

LEARNING TO KNIT

I have wanted to learn to knit for a long time. I spent some of my own money on a kit with a book. This last November some company came to stay with us. Their oldest girl taught me to knit. I learned quicker than I expected, now I am doing it really fast. Now I am knitting a bag for my knitting.

BLANCMANGE

What is blancmange? If you have read Little Women you will know that Jo took some blancmange [blawnh-Mahnzh] to Laurie when he was sick. It is usually a sweetened and flavored dessert made from gelatious or starchy ingredients and milk. It is a lot like pudding and is usually made up in molds. There are hundreds of recipes, some use meat.

We made this Chocolate-Orange blancmange, it was good.

THE ANNOYING BLUE CHAIR

Once upon a time, there was a chair. It was a rickety old blue chair, the color of a robin's egg. Then one day a boy put his foot up upon it and it fell apart. You see there were only four rungs when there should have been eight. This chair was free, it came from grandma's house. Mom loved this chair, such a pretty blue. So the boy decided to fix it. He found a piece of wood, but the piece of wood was square. So what does he do? He takes a knife and carves and carves. And finally,he took a belt sander to them. He made two new rungs as good as new, well almost. Now once we glue them in, the chair will be usable once again in the land of sugar and spice!

THE FREE ONLINE TYPING COURSE

I have been using a free online typing course. I like typing on that better than the electric typewriter. I was using type it.

My next post will be a short story, stay tuned.......

"FORD" found on road dead

Isn't it cute?

Last Monday we were out taking our dog Buck for a walk around the park. While we were walking we found a coon beside the road. It had started raining so we stashed it in a brush pile. When we got back home mom was going out so I hitched a ride with her and went and picked up the coon. I'm hoping that I can get eight dollars for it. If anyone is wondering "WE" means, Sam, Andy, Abi, and I.

I'M FINISHED WITH THE KNIFE

I am done with my knife and I want to make another one but I do not have any steel. I have a design made and I have the tools to make it. It was fun to make this knife. I made the handle out of black walnut and the pins are nails that I got out of mom's box of nails.

A KNIFE WITH A SECOND LIFE

The blade of this knife is 10 inches long, but the whole knife is 14 1/2 inches long. If you have looked on Evan's blog you know that he cut it out. Thanks Evan, you did a great job. Dad brought some of our black walnut home from the shop for us to make handles out of. I used a belt sander to put the bevel on the knife and Dads diamond sharpener to put the edge on . This knife used to be a corn knife, it looked a lot different before.

HAND MADE KNIFE

The steel
The design The vice and the knife

After hardening

I found this piece of steel out at the new place and brought it home to make a knife out of. The vice that you see in the picture is a vice that I found out at the new place. Dad let me borrow his hack saw to cut part of it out. The entire top edge I cut out with a file. I have been reading a lot on how to make a hand made knifes. Grandpa let me harden it at their place. I still need to put the handle on.

WE MET A FAMOUS HUNTER!

Sunday night we went to the Omaha airport to pick up Nanny, she was coming back from Oklahoma. While we were waiting for her baggage I saw a guy that looked kind of familiar. I said, "Hey guys, that looks like Randy Anderson." They all looked at the guy and thought he sure looked like him. Then I saw another guy standing right next to him. I said, "That's got to be him, that's one of the guy's that hunts with him." So we all went over and introduced ourselves. We even got to shake his hand. All the way home Andy was saying how he could smell coyote blood on his hand. Because as you can see by the picture he is a very affective coyote hunter. He is in like five or six hunting movies and we have one of them, that's why I recognized him. Him and the guy that was with him (his name is Glenn Zink) both live in western NE.

ANDY'S WILD LOOK

Let me explain this picture. We were working at the house and I had been wearing a stocking cap all day and I needed a haircut really bad! Plus, I needed a shower. I was burning lath and got soot around my eyes. I have since had a haircut and a shower!

AN ORIOLE NEST

I found his nest at the new house. It was a branch that had fallen off a tree in the ice storm. My brother told me it was an oriole nest , I have seen a few more out there. We have collected bird's nests and eggs for years.

ENCOUNTER WITH AN OPOSSUM

Warning: contains graphic descriptions!
The other day I was walking through the dining room and just happened to look out the window and there sitting right in the door to the garage was an opossum. I jumped into the office and grabbed my BB gun, I slipped out the door very quietly and walked back to the garage. Andy was right behind me with another BB gun and Sam was right behind him with a pitch fork. We went into the garage and shut the door behind us. At first we couldn't find it, so we started digging around in the junk. I finally found it hiding behind a crate and shot it in the nose, then Andy shot at it and missed. My shot was not enough to kill it and we only had one BB a piece. So I sent Andy in to get me another BB. While we were waiting for Andy the opossum crawled up on top of the mower, well Sam, he wanted to knock it out so he drew back his fist and hit it as hard as he could right on the head. He let out a scream of pain loud enough to be heard a mile away. Then he said, "that thing's head is hard." About that time Andy got back with my BB, so I loaded up and shot it in the eye. You would think that would kill it ,but no sir it was still alive. So I just did what I had to do, I know everyone will say it was nasty and gross but it had to be done. I grabbed a rubber mallet and bashed on it's head until it stopped moving . That's why it's head is so bloody. That's one more thing to add to the list of things I have humanely removed from this earth.

A ROUGH DAY AT THE PETERSON'S

The other day we went to the Peterson's and Evan and I had a rough time. First we were in the barn and I cut my leg on a nail then in the house Evan kneeled on a nail, then Bryan whacked me in the face with a stick. We were having a sword fight with homemade swords and Bryan had a broomstick that he was using as a quarter staff. We had a fun day. When Bryan whacked me in the face I had a baseball helmet on with a mask, he poked right through it with his stick.

GINGERBREAD HOUSE - THE EASY WAY

The night before Thanksgiving we bought a gingerbread house kit at Wal-Mart. This is the "cheater's way" of making a gingerbread house. Mom thought it would be fun. Last week, we finally put it together! It took all that time and effort to put it together and then it tasted terrible. The frosting was old and the gingerbread didn't taste a thing like real ginger bread. We will be making the next one from scratch! Never buy a gingerbread house in a box!

UP PIKE'S PEAK

While we were in Colorado we decided to drive up Pike's Peak. Nothing really exciting happened on the way up, but on the way down we got out and walked around a little while. Bryan and I started to run up this hill that we were right by, and by the time we got to the top we were not running anymore. I mean we were barely moving. Oh, and by the way we only went to the 13 mile marker. The rest was blockaded. The road crews had had a few windows blown out by rocks picked up by the wind. And I picked up a nice rock full of quartz.

GARDEN OF THE GODS

While we where in Colorado we went to this place called the GARDEN OF THE GODS, don't ask me why thy call it that, I never found out. It's a public park so it doesn't cost anything, and since we are cheap tourists we liked that just fine. As you can see by the pictures the Garden of the Gods is a rock garden (it took millions of years to form,just kidding). They had trails for you to walk on right around the rocks, it was a lot of fun except that you're not allowed off the trails at all. On our way out we saw a big mule deer buck and dad got within about ten yards of it and got some nice pictures (the deer was pretty tame because of all the people that come through there).They had a gift shop too but it was just like any other gift shop so I'm not going to tell you about it. It's almost supper time anyway.

CHECK IT OUT!!!!

Be sure to check out our great new content. In the upper right corner you can search the bible right from this blog! And if you scroll down there will be a new bible trivia quiz each day. Isn't that great?

THE ROYAL GORGE

Last week we were in Colorado and while we were in Colorado we went to a place called the Royal Gorge. There is a suspension bridge over the gorge. We drove over that. We also went down to the bottom of the gorge. We went down in an incline railway. It was neat. There were animals there too. There were buffalo, elk, and big horn sheep in a fenced in area for you to look at. Another thing we did there was ride a cable car over the gorge.

BAD DAY FOR UNION PACIFIC

Yesterday morning at 7:20 we had about 20 railroad cars derail on the east edge of town. It was a mess, there were at least five cars and all the coal that was in them in a pile the size of a house right on top of the tracks. It brought rail traffic to a complete stop. The boss on the job said the clean up crew came all the way from Kansas. He said thy were going to work all night to get the tracks clear. When we where there, there was all kinds of heavy equipment working on the pile. They had trucks parked along the tracks for blocks. The good news is nobody got hurt.

MY BEST GOOSE HUNT EVER

The other day I went goose hunting with dad and a man we know. It was his blind. There were four of us all together. We got twelve. The limit is three per person. We could have shot 200! There were so many! Dad and I were tired after we got home because we left at 5:00 AM, but we were up all night! I was so anxious that I kept getting up and I kept mom and dad awake all night. I have a clock in my room but it had not been reset from when the ice storm turned it off! I also had the best donut I had ever tasted that morning. It had just been made and glazed. It was still warm.

BLACK OLIVE SPREAD

I was rummaging through the cabinet and I found two cans of black olives. I looked in the fridge and we had cream cheese too! I asked mom if I could make some olive spread.

Recipe: 1 6oz. can of black olives, drained and chopped

1 8oz. package of cream cheese, softened

1/4 teas. of ground granulated garlic

1/4 teas. of graulated onion

1/8 teas. of cumin

1 dash of hot pepper sauce (like Tabasco)

salt to taste ( I put 6 shakes)

blend until smooth. Spread on your favorite cracker. I used Ritz.

HAPPY 14TH BIRTHDAY, SAM!!!

COYOTE

Hey everyone, its been a while since
I was here last. I shot this coyote
three weeks ago and I'm just now
getting him on the blog. I was out deer
hunting one morning and it had just
gotten light enough to shoot,(I was sitting
in a thorn bush)when I heard a noise.
I looked out into the field where the noise
was coming from and I could see something
moving out there. At first I didn't know
what it was. (I could only see its back
over the corn stalks) Then I figured out what
it was, so I got down on my belly and crawled
out to where I could get a shot at him.
I waited for him to step out of the field
then I shot him. My rifle can make a coyote
into a bloody mess, sorry girls. I would have
put some pictures of my deer on here but
they are of a very graphic nature. I sold
that coyote to a fur buyer for twelve bucks.
A few days later I shot another coyote,
but it had mange, it was so nasty I
didn't even pick it up.

Take a wild guess at what a wet coyote smells like.

If you have varmints that you want shot
just call yours truly, Bryan Buckmaster.
-alias the verminator.

DEMOLITION AT THE COUNTRY PLACE

Yesterday all of us Buckmasters went to our new house and we started to tear the entire upstairs apart. First we tore the pink room up, then we tore the wood paneled room up. Then we tore the hall up. There was a lot of lath. We tossed all of the lath out of the window and when we were done we had a pile of lath five feet tall. Now you can see from one end of the house to the other upstairs. It was fun. To follow the progress on our country house, click here.

PIANO LESSONS

I have been wanting to take piano lessons for a long time. Last September Erika Wood started giving me lessons. I am still in the first few books she is teaching me from . I like to play for her. For my fifth birthday I got a keyboard and I'm finally learning how to play it! Now I am 9.

ANDY'S FIRST BUCK

Shooting my first buck was exciting. It is a seven point. Last year I got a doe. When I got my first buck we were sitting in a corn field. It came out and I shot it. It happened so fast I did't even get nervous.

JERKY TIME

Well a few weeks ago we shot a lot of deer and we either made it into jerky or we ground it up. We will be making a lot of different flavours. But if we did not have this jerky slicer we would not be making that much jerky. It is good that we have the grinder too because we used to use a hand grinder and that was a lot of work. Come over some time and try some.

SAM'S FIRST BUCK

Yesterday I was sitting by a irrigation well hunting deer. I had seen some does, but I was after a buck. I decided to walk down a road that was in between a corn field and the creek. When I got to the end of the corn I saw a few more does but did not shoot at them. Then all the does started to go into the standing corn. I thought that they were going right through the corn field so I walked back down the road. When I got back to the well I saw another doe, when it left I went back down the road again to see if there were any more deer on the other side of the corn. There were not any deer so I started to walk back to the well. When I was only about 30 yards away from the well my buck jumped out of the field ten feet in front of me. It started running strait away from me down the road. I started to chase it. It started to turn to my left then it changed it's mind and turned to the right. He stopped about 75 yards out and I shot him in both lungs and the heart. He started to run again and I took another shot at him and miss over his back. I shot the rest of the bullets in my gun at him and hit him in the rear.

A CACHE OF STAMPS

We were working at our new house in the country and I was moving some brush when mom yelled at me over the sound of dad's trencher that she had found some stamps. When I went to look I saw they were all over the floor and on the desk. Later, when I counted them, I counted 204 stamps! There were some from the Philippines, England, Germany, Netherlands, Japan and Korea. As a stamp collector, this was a very exciting moment. I said to mom, "Tell me this isn't a dream." Only a few of them were ones I already had.

AN ADDITION TO MY COLLECTION

In a post I did before I put a picture of my skull collection. Recently my dad found me a cat skull at our new place in the country. My skull collection is growing.

A DO-DAD HOLDER

Well, Sam did not really want to write about this find, even though he found it and was very excited at the time. This little rustic shelf was found in the garage out at le country place. It just fits right in, don't you think? We cleaned it up and claimed it as our own. That spot on the wall was just begging for a shelf. -Mrs. B

FINDING SOME TRAPS

Last Saturday we were working on our new house getting as much of the trash into a pile as possible. We were about to leave when I happened to look into a barrel that was full of metal. When I looked in I found four leg traps but one was rusted so bad that I threw it away. A leg trap can be used to catch fox, bear, coon, opossum, muskrat, beaver and mink. The small trap that you see in the picture is a size "2" trap and the others are size "3" traps. I have always wanted some traps. I'm looking forward to trapping on our land sometime soon.

A QUESTIONNAIRE

Mrs. B would like to know how everyone likes the This Day In History box. Readers please leave comments.

PROGRESS AT OUR HOUSE

The top photo is at the beginning of the
day, the bottom is at the end of the day.
Dad tearing off the deck.

A dead mouse mom found under a bed
in the living room.

So far we have got quite a bit of work done. We cleaned up the main level, we got rid of the fence and the weeds in the front yard and dad pushed most of the trash into a pile with the trencher. While we were there a guy came by and asked if he could have that old van that was laying on its side and all the tires that have rims(he is going to sell them as scrap metal).The best thing was when dad ripped the back deck apart with the trencher.

BUSY

That's right, I've been working with my dad, working for John Wood, doing school and hunting when I can. Some of the things I have been doing out at the Wood's are building fences, repairing fences, hauling corn and working with cattle. I need to hurry up and shoot a deer because after tomorrow we are going to start working on our new house. So far this season I have seen more bucks then I did does last year, but thy have all been too small. Today we are going to put a new roof on our garage here. You can see why I haven't posted much lately. That will have to be all for now, I have to go do math.

FIXING THE ROOF

The day before yesterday Andy and I were on our garage roof tearing off all of the shingles pulling all the nails. We did half of the roof and today we will be tearing off the other half while Dad and Bryan are putting new shingles on the other side. Mom will be scraping all of the paint off of the garage while we do this. We had a lot of fun and are hoping for more. We also have to repair the small door. I will post a picture of the final product later.

HAVING CHICKENS

Now that we are moving out to the country I decided that I want to have some chickens! I got some books from the library that tell all about chickens. I'm planning to get Rhode Island Reds. We will have to repair the roof of the chicken coop before we put any chickens in it!

PASSING A TEST

A couple of weeks ago I took the Hunter's safety test. I only got three wrong. I was glad I passed it! It was easy. Here is a picture of me holding my "Hunter Education Graduate" card.

WHAT WE'VE BEEN DOING

the hallway being repaired

can you see the hole now?

the new house

Yesterday dad and Bryan started to fix up the house. I helped some. Dad finally fixed the hole in the office ceiling and the hole Andy and Sharon made in the wall. Besides that dad did a few patches all around the house. I have been helping mom fix windows. Friday we will be closing on the new house in the country. It looks like we will be moving next spring. I think it will be a lot of fun remodeling the new place. Mom says I will learn a lot. We hope to raise some pheasants out there!

MY NEW BOW

Last week we went to Cabelas and bought a new bow for me. I'm going to owe dad for a long time, but it really improved my shooting. I sold my rifle to Abi for part of the money. My new bow is a Diamond Edge, by Bowtech, not available at your local Wal-mart. As you can see by the picture, I aimed at the pink dot and hit the pink dot! I had a chance to try this "out in the field" a couple nights ago, but no deer came along.

SHOOTING TOO GOOD

This can get expensive. $8 per arrow.

APPLE PIE FOR BREAKFAST

My pie kit with a "birdie" pie vent.

Must have been pretty good!!!

One day I went down to look in the freezer for some salsa. I found apples instead, so I decided I'd make an apple pie. We made it late last night and had it for breakfast. My mom got me a pie making kit. I have been practicing my pie making ever since.

OUR DOG BUCK

Buck is our Labrador Retriever. He is black as the blackest night. He can pee on more trees than any dog alive. He is a stubborn dumb dog, but he is very lovable. He stinks like the worst dump. He is four yours old but he still acts like a little puppy. The Peterson's dog, Samson, is his brother and he is the fattest Lab I have ever seen. Buck just jumped up on top of what I was writing and sort of messed up the page. Samson and Buck used to live in the same kennel and tried to dig their way out when they were just weeks old.

OUR PRETTY CATS

We have two cats, they both live in the house. Arthur, the big boy cat, is really an indoor-outdoor cat. He is lazy . Ginger, the small girl cat, is not. She likes to purr in your face when you're trying to sleep. She rubs on your face and her little fangs get in your ears. I really like to dress Ginger up in doll clothes, Arthur is much too fat for that. Arthur is the darker cat on the left in the picture. We love our cats!

MY SKULL COLLECTION

Once my dad, my brothers , and I were blood-trailing a deer and found a deer skull. And that was the beginning of my skull collection. A couple days ago we were out scouting and found a huge cow skull to add to my collection. It is the biggest one in the picture. The smallest one is a beaver and the other three are all deer. I used to have a bird skull. I think they are a neat thing to collect.

AN APOLOGETIC APOLOGIST APOLOGIZING.

apologetic adj. making an apology; expressing regret or offering an excuse for a fault or failure: an apologetic reply. defending by speech or writing.
apologetics n. branch of theology that deals with the rational defense of a religious faith.
apologist n. person who defends an idea, belief, religion, etc., in speech or writing.
apologia n. statement in defense or justification of an idea, belief, religion, etc.;
apologize v.i., , -gized, -gizing . make an apology; express regret; acknowledge a fault; offer an excuse: She apologized for hurting my feelings. defend an idea, belief, religion, etc., in speech or writing.

THE BIG BAD QUESTION - WHAT'S FOR LUNCH?

Today we were all wondering what was for lunch. Mom had not thought much about it until that moment. Remembering that there was wild turkey from last year , we pulled that out. We made wild rice soup with wild turkey. It was good! Here's how we made it: 1/2 onion, chopped; 2 carrots, peeled and chopped; 1/2 stick of butter; about 2 cups of cooked turkey; 1 1/2 cups of wild rice; 7-8 cups of chicken broth; salt and white pepper to taste. First, saute the onion and carrot in butter. When they are tender add the other ingredients and cook until done.

A RIFLE FOR SAM

Today dad bought me a rifle. It is a 257 Roberts. It is powerful
enough to shoot deer and elk. This was a big surprise to me, I did
not think that dad was going to help me buy a gun. I was saving to
buy a 270 Mossberg from Wal-Mart so I could hunt deer with a gun
this season. As you can see from the picture, it is a nice looking gun.
One great thing about this new gun is that it does not kick. Opening
season for rifle-hunting deer starts November 10th. Here I come
Mr. Buck.

THANK YOU DAD

A FAMILY TRADITION: BACON WRAPPED DOVE BREAST

Every year, after we go dove hunting, we make our favorite dove recipe; bacon wrapped dove breast. This year all of us kids went with dad. We went out three times and brought home nineteen doves all together . First, we salted and peppered the breast meat after they were cut from the bone. Then we wrapped them, along with a small piece of jalapeno, with bacon. We grilled them on the outside grill until done. We look forward to this every year. We like the eating and the hunting.

MY HOME MADE MODEL FRIGATE

This summer I had a lot of time on my hands. I had been making model planes out of scrap wood. That got boring, so I decided to make a frigate. A frigate is a fast three masted, square-rigged ( meaning the sails run perpendicular to the ship) sailing war ship of medium size. These were used much from 1750-1850. Frigates had 30-44 guns. One of the most powerful, and most feared by the English, was the Constitution; an American frigate. I made my model out of pine wood, bamboo skewers, and popsicle sticks. It took me two days to build and I recommend a project like this for anyone to try.

I ACCEPT, EXCEPT FOR.......

except (ek sept') leaving out; other than; but: every day except Sunday. with the exception of; except: Everyone was early for the party except for my cousin. were it not for: We could have the picnic today except for the rain. accept (ak sept') willingly take or receive (somthing offered or given); She accepted my gift gratefully. agree to; consent to; accept a proposal.

FIRST DOVES OF THE YEAR

September first was the opening day of dove season. My dad, my brothers and I got up early that morning and drove down to Shell creek. Dad dropped Sam and I off at the north end of the area that we hunt, then he and Andy went to the south end. Sam and I started walking down a road through a corn field, the weeds on the road were soaking wet, and pretty soon we were too. Once we got to the creek we started seeing doves, our problem was that we were shooting terrible. All that morning I only shot two doves, dad shot five, Andy shot two and Sam shot one. When Sam and I got back to where dad and Andy were it was about 10:00 so we went home and ate. Later in the day about 5:00 we went out again, dad dropped Sam and I off at the same place he had that morning. This time we did a lot better, we started seeing doves as soon as we got out, we jumped six off a mud puddle, I shot one and Sam shot one, I found mine but Sam could not find his. About a minute later a dove flew by and Sam shot it, just around the corner from there two doves jumped up and I shot one. When we were just about to the creek we saw a dove land, we snuck up on it and Sam shot it just as it jumped up. We walked on down the creek to where dad was, (he had one dove) then we went home and cleaned our birds. We took home fifteen all together, we plan to wrap them in bacon and grill them. yummmm!

THE COLT PATERSON

At 16, Samuel Colt went to sea and carved a model of his first revolver cylinder pistol. When he got back he submitted it to the US patten office on March 6, 1836 (the day the Alamo fell). It was a 5 shot, 36 caliber revolver that had a folding trigger that dropped out of the frame when the hammer was cocked. The Texas Rangers saw the advantages of having 5 shots when facing Comanche Indians and as it turned out, 16 rangers held off 80 Comanche braves in a day long fight using only their Colt Patersons in 1844.