We've Come a Long Way, Baby

A Few Wildlife Visitors

We've been watching twin fawns visit our yard with their mama since they had spots. They were back yesterday without their mother, but they still came back for a visit.
Below is last weeks picture of a female cardinal who stopped by to catch a meal before heading south.

Sick-as-a-Dog

How Do You Store Your Plastic Baggies?

My favorite Mom-in-Law taught me this trick. Cut a hole in the side of a gallon of milk & use to store plastic baggies. It keeps them in a small localized area without taking up too much room. Pretty good, huh?

Mmm...Peas Please

Made pea soup with our own peas & carrots.

Weekend Trenching

My favorite father-in-law came over this weekend to assist Dave w/ digging a 2-foot deep trench from the back of the garage, across the yard, & to the power pole so that we could bury cables and get electricity to the garage. The digging was done Sat 10/10/09. Today, we got the wires fed into the garage and into the power pole. Those wires are the size of David's pinky, so to bend them is more than just squeezing w/ your hands.

Coffee

Even though my kitchen is decorated in a coffee theme and I drink it on a daily basis, I do not proclaim to be a coffee connoisseur by any means. My favorite is Kona from the big island of Hawaii, and I do like some instant organic blends as well. I was away from home from Monday to Friday this week in St. Cloud & Plymouth at a Mn SWAP meet for recreational therapy directors & Leadership training courses. During that week I left behind many a half-drunk cups of coffee. How hard is coffee to make, grounds+water, grounds+water. Lately more and more companies are using the convenient concentrated freeze dried instant coffee. We have it at my place of work. I could even tell from the aroma that I was not going to like the first sip. Why did I still drink it? I generally require a little caffeine fix in the AM & soda pop is not a first choice of mine (the high fructose corn syrup is just plain bad for you). All I know is that when Dave made the coffee this morning, I was like a hungry dog awaiting a Beggin' Strip when the coffee maker completed it's final percolation. I think I'll start packing tea bags for my hotel stays from now on.

Before & After

Before & After
I used half of a small zucchini for two loafs of bread. What am I going to do w/ the rest? Any ideas? :) Do you think that I could cut out the seeds, salt & bake them like pumpkin seeds? (I didn't label this "recipes" b/c I didn't give you the recipe! You can Google that yourself!)

October 10th, 6:30 AM

You ever notice that winter sneaks up on you sometimes? That's what happened this morning. I haven't even had the chance to clean out my frozen tomato plants from the garden and it snowed this morning, LOL! It will be gone by noon, but still....

Airborne - The Immune Booster

I started getting sick again early this week (aching muscles, sore eyes, sore throat, irritated sinuses), but feel great now. I bought Airborne On-The-Go and highly recommend it. Airborne is a proprietary combination of 17 vitamins, minerals and herbs. Read about it yourself if you don't believe me: http://www.airbornehealth.com/ Give me this over the H1N1 live-virus vaccine any day!

Plans

Have you ever watched a show or movie and it hits close to home? I'm not a TV nut, but tonight on Grey's Anatomy, Dr. Meredith Grey's father is diagnosed with end-stage liver disease d/t years of alcoholism. The younger Dr. Lexie Grey, doesn't miss a beat when she offers herself as an organ donor for her father. Unfortunately she was not a match.
I know there are controversial beliefs on organ transplants, mainly religious. Yet when my Dad was in his bed in the ICU, and Dr. Su was giving us the cold, hard truth, I never thought twice about donating a piece of my liver to my father. I was willing to give him a piece of my liver, a kidney, even a lobe of my lung if he needed it. We were never able to find out if it would have worked b/c his ca was too far spread. I'd do it for anyone in my family.
I have been traveling a lot lately. I kissed my husband goodnight Sunday night and have been in the cities all week on business. I miss him. Being out of my comfort zone scares me & being away from my family for a week makes me think about these things. Sitting in my hotel room watching cable makes me think of these things. If there is any doubt, I want to be an organ donor. It's on my driver's license. I have made my plans, have you?

Some pictures need no captions

Old Picture

The Fearsome Foursomes

Since Hubby Hubie doesn't do his own blog, I'll blog for him. Here you see Lenny, Ben, Hubie & Chris @ our wedding 05/05/2007.
Below is Lenny, Jeremy, Troy, & Hubie @ his bachelor party end of March 2007.

Homemade Laundry Soap & Dryer Sheets

A promise is a promise, Cari! Thanks for an awesome time last night. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard! My side still aches.

There are also great recipes @ the Duggar's website: http://www.duggarfamily.com/recipes.html

Also try: http://www.doityourself.com/

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine- best value
4 Cups - hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Washing Soap*
½ Cup Borax
- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.
-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.
-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)
-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.
-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.
-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)
-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)*Arm & Hammer "Super Washing Soda" - in some stores or may be purchased online (at Meijer.com). Baking Soda will not work, nor will Arm & Hammer Detergent - It must be sodium carbonate!!

Powdered Laundry Detergent- Top load machine
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soap*
½ Cup Borax

-Grate soap or break into pieces and process in a food processor until powdered. Mix all ingredients. For light load, use 1 Tablespoon. For heavy or heavily soiled load, use 2 Tablespoons. Yields: 3 Cups detergent. (Approx. 40 loads)
*Arm & Hammer "Super Washing Soda" - in some stores or may be purchased online (at Meijer.com). Baking Soda will not work, nor will Arm & Hammer Detergent - It must be sodium carbonate!!
TIPS FOR LAUNDRY SOAP: We use Fels-Naptha bar soap in the homemade soap recipes, but you can use Ivory, Sunlight, Kirk's Hardwater Castile or Zote bars. Don't use heavily perfumed soaps. We buy Fels-Naptha by the case from our local grocer or online. Washing Soda and Borax can often be found on the laundry or cleaning aisle. Recipe cost approx. $2 per batch.

Inexpensive Fabric Softener Recipes
Recipe #1
1 Cup White Vinegar
Add vinegar to rinse cycle. Works great. Removes residue and odors. Also helps to keep washing machine and hoses fresh and clean too.

Recipe #2
1 Container of Name Brand Fabric Softener
4 Inexpensive sponges, cut in half
Pour entire container of softener into a 5 gallon bucket. Fill empty softener container with water twice. (2 parts water to 1 part softener) Add sponges to softener/water mixture. When ready to use wring out extra mixture from one sponge and add to the dryer as you would a dryer sheet.

T-Shirts=See How Many You Recognize

FRIED ZUCCHINI - GREEN TOMATO

FRIED ZUCCHINI - GREEN TOMATO
-----------------------------

2 med. zucchini, sliced 1/2 inch thick
1 c. milk
2 beaten eggs
2 tsp. pepper
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese (optional)
Olive oil

Heat oil in skillet. Mix milk and eggs together; beat well.
Dip zucchini slice in milk-egg mixture and roll in bread
crumbs mixed with pepper and Parmesan cheese. Fry until
brown on both sides. Works well with green tomato slices
also.

St. Jerome Day

Today is Saint Jerome Day. He is recognized by the Catholic Church as a canonized saint and Doctor of the Church. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome

Frost Watch Tonight

I never paid much attention to frost warnings...until I had a garden (that got in very late this year). I started my tomato plants this year from seed and have been really babying them. So I figured I'd pick just a few and pray it doesn't freeze. No use in covering them in plastic, too windy. Pictured here are my full-sized & cherry tomatoes. If nothing else, I'll make fried green tomatoes out of them. :)

Sore-Throat Solution

Got a Sore Throat? Here's the cure-all solution: white vinegar & salt gargle. If it is too strong, dilute with water. Last mouthful: swallow. Don't drink anything for 30 minutes afterwards to allow the solution to work. I am so susceptible to sore throats and this is the only cure (besides a penicillin shot) that helps me.

Peterson Family Get-Together

Every year my Mother-in-law's side of the family has a reunion at the ol' farmhouse. This is a picture of Mark driving Uncle Mike's Allis-Chalmers tractor, towing us on a hay ride. Mike's father, Alvin Peterson, owned it originally, and Mike & Cheryl restored it to near perfect condition. We are having the annual get together today!

Judicial Watch Investigates Side-Effects of HPV Vaccine

On June 8, 2006, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the drug Gardasil. Gardasil is a vaccine against certain types of human papillomavirus (HPV) which is the primary cause of cervical cancer in women.
28 women have already died from this vaccine. 1 in 185,000 Gardasil shots have resulted in serious, negative outcomes. See for yourself: National Vaccine Information Center http://www.nvic.org//

Summer is Still Hanging On

As long as it was drizzling tonight and couldn't do siding, Hubby Hubie & I went for a walk. We were commenting on how it is starting to smell like fall already and how dark it is when we drive to work, and here we were pleasantly surprised with one more gift of summer, berries. We got a few handfuls of blackberries on the way back from picking plums at the end of our drive. Yum!

Guess Who Turned One This Week? RUBY & WILLIAM!

Ole Joke

FINKERS

Ole vas vorking at the fish plant up nort in Dulut vhen he accidentally cut off all ten of his finkers.
He vent to da emergency room in the Clinik and vhen he got dar da Norsky doctor looked at Ole and said, "Let's have da finkers and I'll see vhat I can do."
Ole said, "I haven't got da finkers."
"Vhat do you mean, you hafen't got da finkers?" the doctor said. "Lord! It's 2009 and I'ves got microsurgery and all kinds of incredible techniques. I could hafe put dem back on and made you like new! Vhy din't you brink da
finkers?"
Ole says........"How da heck vas I suppose to pick dem up?"

Famous Words by Bill Cosby

Here's an email from my Hubby Hubie:

Since you like Cosby...

I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.
- Bill Cosby

Missed Email

Today I checked one of my old, old email addresses from high school. I check it maybe 1-2x/year. In there was an email from Dad, dated exactly 5 months ago today, offering me his manual treadmill because he was going to get an electric one so that he could exercise & get strong again after the hard winter"cause this one requires too much effort for atrophied legs" is what he wrote.
What a breath stopper; to get an email from your father who passed away 4 months ago. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of him. I pray for everyone in my family daily, in my morning and evening, including the ones who have gone before us. Any why not? Yesterday, I finally forced myself go through the sympathy cards we received back in May. I wasn't ready until now. Some people wrote really touching, personal messages. Including how he was always willing to lend a hand at work, how he would help a neighbor without asking for anything in return, how good of a friend and neighbor he was, and how he was always willing to sit & listen or share a good laugh. And to them, I thank you for sharing those memories with Dad's kids.
I dream of Dad, quite often really. He's still alive and I am trying to warn him that his days are numbered. He tells me he already knows and that all of our days are numbered. Good point, Dad.
The dreams and the emails all sign off the same: love you lots...........Dad

Movie Review: Watchmen

I love superhero movies, but this one was absolutely terrible. Too long. The story bounces all over the place & times, difficult story line. Changes history. Too much nudity & language. Don't waste your money.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

I just finished Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. It was fantastic, all 850 pages, copyright 1991. It is a series and Outlander is the first. I borrowed it from a girlfriend at work. She offered me the other books, but since I get so engrossed in reading that nothing else gets done, I put it off until the cold, slow winter months. :) We have a garage to finish & a garden to harvest before the snow flies, ya know!

Outlander is a magnificent book about a woman living in Scotland in the 1940's when she "falls" back in time to 1744 and has to manage to live in their time, all the while trying to get back to 1945. She is educated as a nurse, but has leave her modern medicine techniques behind and use her knowledge of herbs, flowers, & fungi for healing & antibiodics. It is also a love story with a bit of history and action. It is really well written and a page-turner. I also read it will be made into a movie, but the crew is still seeking out the right director. I highly recommend this book! ISBN#: 0-440-21256-1

Raspberry Wine

Before & after of our homemade raspberry wine.

Movie Review: Julie & Julia

We brought some of our residents at the nursing home to a Julie & Julia matinée. It is a combination of two real-life stories of Julie Powell & Julia Child. We giggled through much of it, but it had some of it's "ahh" moments as well, bringing tears to my eyes more than once. It's a different movie, maybe a little slow paced, but entertaining none the less. I like action movies on the big screen, so I would recommend waiting until it comes out on DVD, but definitely a must-see. Meryl Streep and Amy Adams really do an awesome job at their roles. 7/8 of our residents gave it a thumbs-up. (Our one thumbs down was the one male we brought along, and he slept through much of it !) Bon Appetit.

Nobody here but us servantless American cooks...
Julie Powell's actual blog: http://blogs.salon.com/0001399/

Playing Catch-UP

I have been putting in a lot of overtime at work, so here I play catch-up on da blog. I told my boss I was pooped and need to take Labor Day off to recoup from my long, long days the past few weeks. She asked me what I was planning for my long weekend (picnicking, camping, relaxing?) Not us. What are we doing pray tell?
SIDING our 30' X 60' garage. Arg, a glutton for punishment. lol
(Cartoon = catchup/ketchup joke)

Brooks' Garden

Even with getting the garden late this year, it's producing pretty well. Kohlrabi is one of my favorites. I swore I'd plant more this year, which I did. And yet, I should have planted a whole row vs just 12 feet of them. We have leaf lettuce & onions coming out of our ears. Peas & beans are catching up. My beets are crying out, "pluck me, can me, cook me, eat me!" Carrots fresh from the garden just make my mouth water. That sweet smell you can only get from your own garden that gets lost in the packaging and shipping to the local grocery store fills the ol' olfactory system and brings back childhood memories. I gave my pumpkin patch 10 feet to spread out and grow, and yet it is still is trying to choke out my brussel sprouts, green & yellow squash, and cukes. Wiley little things. The tomato plants are only about a foot tall, but sturdy and blossom-covered. We didn't even have to use cages this year.

Cabbage Casserole (Pigs w/o a blanket)

If you like sarmas, you'll love this much-easier recipe!
Cabbage Casserole (Pigs w/o a blanket)
1.5# hamburger
1 C. rice
8 slices cooked bacon
1 small onion, chopped
salt, pepper, basil to taste
1 head cabbage (boil 5-10 min until partially cooked)
1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
1 can sauerkraut
1 can diced tomatoes

Cook rice& bacon. Add to hamburger along w/ onions & spices. Mix well. Layer roasting pan w/ cabbage. Place hamburger mixture on top. Spread sauerkraut on top of hamburger mixture. Add tomato sauce. Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Bake 1.5 hours covered.

I wrote this recipe verbatim from my co-worker. These are the changes I made:
* quarter & freeze cabbage overnight...thereby no cooking.
*precooked my meats & onion on the stove & crumbled my bacon into the hamburger mixture. I didn't like the consistency of the bacon. Next time I will do 1/2 & 1/2 ground pork & ground beef.
* I made multiple layers of the tomatoes, kraut, cabbage & meat mixture in my Crockpot. Everything was cooked ahead of time so when it was warm enough, we ate. That and we don't have to heat up the house with the oven.
Make your own changes to your own personal tastes!

Bored

How do you keep yourself entertained @ an estate sale? Take pictures!
We had Dad's estate sale on 08/28 & 08/29 this past weekend. It was hard to see the years of Dad's hard work and collecting just leave with someone else...but what can you do? We can't keep it all. I would recommend if you ever have to do a sale, bite the bullet & advertise in the local newspaper or shopper. There were quite a few people there who said that they had seen the ad. And have BIG, SIMPLE, BRIGHT SIGNS. A lot of people stopped by just because they said they saw the sign on the highway on their way home from work!

This is my beautiful, 11mo old niece, Ruby Wren,
picking grass at Grandpa Lon's. "Ah tu" to you too, Tuesday!