The Blue Zoo

Wow----semi-famous

2010-12-09T07:02:00.003-05:00

I just wanted to give a huge shout out to Farm Bell Recipes today for posting the reindeer cookie recipe on their site. Both Farm Bell and the original blog Chickens In The Road are a must stop every morning as I sit drinking my coffee and telling the kids to hurry up getting ready so they don't miss the bus. It was CITR that inspired me with so many ideas on country living and also inspired me to blog. Here are links to these two great internet stops.

Chickens In The Road: http://chickensintheroad.com/
Farm Bell Recipes: http://chickensintheroad.com/farm-bell-recipes/

It Feels like August...............................

2010-05-25T08:54:00.002-04:00

It feels like August, but it's only May. I cannot believe how hot and humid it has been the last couple of days. Sweltering is a word that comes to mind, especially since we are not turning on our air conditioner yet. We have the window shades down, ceiling fans going trying to keep things comfortable. Even the the animals are trying to beat the heat----seeking shade and just laying around. I caught one of our kitties, Slinky, getting a drink of water from a dripping faucet. I thought she just looked too cute. Here's hoping we all survive the heat of another day, and I am looking forward to cooler temps that are suppposed to be here this weekend.

The Power of Positive Thinking

2010-05-13T08:15:00.005-04:00

I just love this picture so much. Bright blue sky, sunny yellow flowers, it makes me feel happy and full of energy and life. And, it is the complete opposite of what it is like out today!! Today is another day of gray, rainy dreariness. The whole week has been like this and it makes me want to hibernate. In fact, the gravitational pull of my cozy bed is pulling me towards it, and it may win the battle today. Isn't it funny how much the weather affects our moods and well being. If it were a day like the one I took this picture on, I would be out the door doing my animal chores, wanting to work in the garden and even being energized to get things accomplished indoors too. I am trying to be positive, trying to get motivated to accomplish what needs to be done, but the whole positive thinking thing can only get you so far somedays. Maybe I should have titled this "Memories......Light The Corners of my Mind", because it seems like such a long time since we have seen the sun.

Happy Monday..........................................

2010-05-10T07:07:00.003-04:00

If you are anything like me, Monday mornings can be tough. The kids just got on the bus, I am on my second cup of coffee and I am still a slug. I decided today to renew my blogging and to try to start this freezing cold Monday with a smile. The photo choice today is our sweet Betsy beagle wearing my infamous cheetah hat. I wear that hat all winter long and it's my own little trademark. It has been so cold the last couple of days, I almost got it out of storage to wear----somehow a cheetah print winter hat in May sounds so wrong. Way worse than wearing white after Labor Day.

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-09T09:15:00.008-04:00

I just wanted to take a minute to wish you all a Happy Mother's Day. I will be spending my day at my mother's having a cook out after church. The day started off with my youngest pouring me a nice, hot cup of coffee. (I can't believe she is old enough that I would allow her to pour me a cup of nice, HOT coffee-----lol) I have gotten several cards and a coupon book from my son. All of the coupons are for hugs, kisses and a neck or foot massage. Have I ever told you he'll make an awesome husband some day? I am also celebrating my anniversary today. Twelve years ago today, it was beautiful and sunny like today, only it was about 35 degrees warmer!!
I am glad there was no artic cold snap on that May day long ago.

still alive

2010-03-15T07:48:00.009-04:00

Well...............I am still alive, in case anyone reads this blog and is wondering. It seems as though time is just slipping by so fast. I think about blogging and the next thing I know, it's a new day and I still haven't written anything. That is pretty lame from a person who hopes to be a writer----lol.

Things have been very tough here. The economy has majorly affected us, as it has so many, many people. Even when provision has been less than needed in finances, I have been super blessed with many wonderful friends who have offered an ear to listen, a shoulder to cry on, laughter to brighten my day and other blessings to make life a little cheerier.

One of my sweet friends is named Debbie. She has such a sweet countenance and is so much fun to spend time with. She has many hobbies and interests such as bee keeping, weaving her own cloth, knitting and such. I went to her house for coffee last week and she made this wonderful honey and vanilla lip gloss to share. Yesterday when I saw her she had some extra eggs for us. Her hens produce more eggs than her family can always use, so we are blessed to get the overflow. She has several different breeds of hen that produce several different colors of eggs. They were so beautiful that I took a picture of them. It almost seems a shame to eat them, but I never let a little bit of shame keep me from eating---lol.

Oh the sun is shining........................

2010-01-02T12:07:00.007-05:00

Oh the sun is shining...................but it is freezing out!!!! It is supposed to be 7 degrees outside, but with the wind whipping so hard I am sure the windchill is below zero. We are getting ready to head over to a friend's house for a little get together. A great way to end the christmas break and a great way to have others help eat up all the cookies and candies that we still have. On the agenda for the kids are sled rides behind the 4-wheeler. I am so glad I am not a kid and I can stay inside where it is nice and warm. Wherever you are today----keep toasty.

Okay---I just couldn't let this wind chill thing go. I found this chart on the link below that helps you to calculate the wind chill factor. It is 7 degrees outside with winds of 21mph. That gives us a wind chill factor of between -9 to -15 degrees. I am freezing just reading about it.

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/windchill/index.shtml

Reindeer Cookies

2009-12-27T09:25:00.007-05:00

Yes, yes, I have been completely and utterly remiss in keeping up with my blogging. A dear friend mentioned to me that she had not seen any blogs lately, and the guilt started.................well, not too badly, but enough to get me thinking again. This whole holiday season has been so busy, even though I have tried and somewhat successfully kept it simple. All of my grand ideas for posts and recipes are probably too late, but here is one simple, quick, totally easy and cute cookies idea that I did take some pictures of to post. These are a hit with kids and this recipe will give you ideas for the next holiday season.

Reindeer cookies originally came from an article in the Taste of Home magazine. Here is the recipe.

1 batch peanutbutter cookie dough formed into a roll (or you can cheat and buy rolls of Pillsbury peanutbutter cookie dough from your grocers dairy section)

1 bag mini pretzels

chocolate chips

cinnamon Imperial candies

Cut the peanutbutter cookies dough into slices and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Gently squeeze each slice in a bit so they are kind of shaped like a fat figure eight. Place a mini pretzel at the top of the head part, on each side, to form the antlers. Then place two chocolate chips on the top section for eyes, and one cinnamon Imperial candy on the bottom section for Rudolph's nose.

Reindeer in process

Bake according to the directions for the cookies (Ususally 350 for 9-11 minutes, but it may differ according to your oven.

WaaLaa----there you go!!! So easy, so cute and pretty darn tasty too!!!

The finished product:

Small beginnings

2009-12-05T19:24:00.002-05:00

Zechariah 4:10 (NLT) begins with the words "Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin........" The verse goes on to speak to the Israelites about Zerubbabel and the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. I have heard it used also to speak of how we need to not fret over things that seem small and meaningless, as God will often use these to build something big to glorify Him. When I saw Josh learning to mow the lawn, driving in front of his Papa's John Deere 8850 tractor that verse came right to mind. He needs to start at the beginning, but with work, practice and time he will be able to move onto the big tractor. Then Joshua will be in his own glory.

Sunshine on my shoulders.....................

2009-11-14T10:08:00.008-05:00

in November, who would have thought. We have had such nice, sunny weather it is hard to believe that it is November here in the Thumb. The sunshine has made it very pleasant this busy week. There are many things I wish I had been able to get done, but don't we all feel like that when wanting to take advantage of good weather. The kids and the husband have kept me busy with their needs, and I was also spending alot of time in prayer supporting a dear friend whose mother-in-law passed away unexpectedly. The busyness has kept me from blogging like I had planned, so I apologize to my readers for that. Hopefully I can start picking back up again. I am off in a minute to help Kara move her chickens, then it's time to finish up the fencing for their super coop. I will be so glad when that is done. We are also pondering putting up fencing and bringing our horses home instead of boarding them. Alot of things to decide in a short amout of time before freezing weather begins and fence posts won't go into the ground. I love where we board them, but if we can put up fences and such that we can reuse at our new farm it would maybe be money better spent in a tough economy. It it sometimes hard to squeeze in time to go see them, so being able to run out and love on them anytime we want sounds very appealing. I just keep praying for the right answer so we can keep our girls. They are lovely horses and I do not want to give them up. I hope you all have a great weekend and enjoy the weather, if it's good where you are.

Genie Weenie our Beauty Queenie

Kara and our Tess at the fair

I Don't Wanna Play Baby Dollies.............

2009-11-13T09:28:00.002-05:00

Mater definitely did not wanna play baby dollies!!!!!

The Road to Healthy..............................

2009-11-03T07:50:00.005-05:00

I am really, truly hoping our family is on the road to healthy. No one way streets, no detours, I just want to be on that one road and drive until we are at the destination known as back to normal. It has been a very long last week. First the kids were all sick, then they passed that love onto momma and papa. Everyone went to school today and I think hubby may make it off the couch today too. I am always amazed at how much further I can get behind on all the daily chores that need to be done, let alone all the projects and extras that need attention too. Anyone in that same boat with me? It seems overwhelming, all the things to do to return to that destination of normal. I am sitting in my chair looking around and trying to decide where to start first to clean up and put away things. I have a feeling this is one of those days where I will be saying to myself, alot, that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I wonder if I pray enough if maybe a maid will appear at my door.

Here's Hoping...............

2009-10-31T19:36:00.001-04:00

You find more treats than tricks tonight!!!

Happily Ever After.......................................

2009-10-30T10:36:00.003-04:00

Once upon a time there was a squash named Miss Pattypan who dreamed of getting married and raising a family. As she sat sunning herself in the patch one day, a she spied the most handsome veggie ever.

It was Mr. Pumpkin. Miss Pattypan knew he was from the wrong side of the patch, but he was so handsome she knew she could not live without him. Mr. Pumpkin found Miss Pattypan to be wonderful also, and they quickly fell in love, married and began to raise a family.

These are their three children.

(We did not even plant pumpkins or pattypan squash this year. In a remote area of the garden these funky looking hydrids popped up, and I quickly deduced who the parents were.)

Cayennes are drying...............................

2009-10-27T16:05:00.008-04:00

I finally got the rest of the peppers put up this week. I got the rest of the jalapenos cleaned and in the freezer for poppers. I also got the cayennes strung up on some fishing line and hung to dry. I was going to borrow my friend's dehydrator, but instead I decided to use my MIL's method. Due to having 2 rambunctious inside cats and also having a damp basement, my choices for spots that were dry and safe from attack were limited. Hence, we hung them from the ceiling fan in the livingroom. It does look pretty silly, and DH has almost hit his head on them several times, but you gotta do what you gotta do sometimes. When they are dried and crushed and DH is happily eating them with everything, it will all be worth it.

The Flu----part 2

2009-10-27T10:54:00.006-04:00

We had a super fun and busy Friday and Saturday. The birthday party on Friday was fun, and my friend made her super yummy homemade salsa to snack on. Saturday morning was carving pumpkins with cousins, and at night we went to our churche's Fiesta Chili Cook Off which was super fun too. On Sunday morning we made it to our first church service so the kids could sing with the Cherub choir from school, but DS and I never made it to our regular church. He had the dreaded tummy ache. At first I thought it was due to the umpteen pieces of pizza he ate while be babysat at a friend's house on Saturday night. I realized it was not when his two sisters also started to complain of not feeling well. That makes two weekends in a row that the bug has hit. Everyone stayed home from school on Monday, and hubby and I were a little under the weather also. Luckily, everyone was good to go the next day and went to school. The flu has been battering alot of the school districts near and far, and the scary thing is that it's not even the usual peak season for the flu. I guess I will be stepping up the healthy eating and vitamins for the kids, and hope it wards off the worst of the germs.

(I am adding that oldest DD was home from school again today (Wed,) I just heard that a child in the community tested positive for swine flu. Germs, stay far away from here!!!)

Busy, busy, busy

2009-10-23T14:57:00.005-04:00

Just popped on quick to post. I have been very busy, but it has been fun busy. Had a fantastic lunch with some great friends yesterday. Today has been helping my MIL make wine. We had picked, cleaned and crushed the grapes 11 days ago. They fermented in big pails until today when we pressed them, then added sugar water to the juice and put it in the oak barrel to turn into wine. It was interesting and very fun. We also got to taste some of her wine from 2003 when we had lunch. I am sitting down and resting for a bit before we go to the birthday party for a friend's little girl. There will be even more friends, fun and some fabulous mexican food. More festivities and food tomorrow. I will probably weigh 2 tons more by Sunday.

If we get home from the party in time, I am going to try to make some goat milk yogurt tonight so it will be ready for breakfast. I am so excited, I almost can't stand it. I hope it turns out good. My friend gave me some more of her honey from her bees for us to drizzle on it. I can't wait to try it. Yes---I am weird and it doesn't take much to thrill me. LOL

Helping Out My Foxy Farmer..........

2009-10-20T20:06:00.030-04:00

I spent a good chunk of Tuesday helping my Foxy Farmer (aka hubby) shift his combine between fields. This was my view on the first trip of the morning.

Here is the combines header being loaded on the trailer for transport.

This here is my Foxy Farmer

My Foxy Farmer suggested a romantic drive in the combine, so off we went. I decided to take this lovely self portrait during this lovely ride.

The view from a combine is grand, indeed.

Spider Pig

2009-10-20T08:01:00.005-04:00

This is what I saw Monday morning when I took my kidlets to school---a pig, a really Big pig. But after looking at it again on the way home I realized it wasn't just any old pig, it was a gianormous Spider Pig from The Simpson's Movie that was in theaters a couple of years ago. I vaguely remembered reading in Yahoo news something about it being the anniversary of The Simpson's cartoon. (I also vaguely remembered reading something about Marge Simpson being in Playboy, but I will not touch that subject with a 10 foot pole) I never saw The Simpson's Movie, but who in any continent with television did not see the commercials for this movie about a zillion times. Though I tried to ignore it, after I while I too was singing the jingle "Spider Pig, Spider Pig, does whatever a Spider Pig does....." Well, it seems as though we have a neighbor who is a fan and wishes to send Homer, Marge and the crew their best wishes on their anniversary. I personally could care less about the Simpson's, but I really got a kick out of having a giant Spider Pig a half a mile from my house. I especially love Spider Pig's curly tail. It's shape reminds me of a twisted Cheeto---too funny!!!

Cheap Entertainment.................................

2009-10-18T16:59:00.009-04:00

On the way back from checking the soy beans down at mom's place, Craig noticed that the neighbors were cleaning out their storage shed. Out by the road was an eliptical machine thingie. (Yes--thingie is a real technical term) He promptly came home and told me about it, and I wondered if this was some sort of subtle hint that I needed it----lol. We all climbed into the 'burb and drove down to check it out. Much to my surprise it was in working order and was quickly loaded into the back of the 'burb. Once back in the driveway the kids had a ball trying it out. For free is the best entertainment ever.

Blue Zoo Flu

2009-10-18T09:52:00.014-04:00

The kids in the Blue Zoo had the flu.
Luckily momma knew what to do.
She gave them some meds,
and sent them to their beds,
They felt better in the morning---yahoo.

Yesterday was a day of droopys. All three of the kids had some type of virus. They sat around, snuggled under their blankets, all glassy eyed and quiet. That is not the norm for them at all. Two of them were running fevers, so Momma had to make the rounds several times with the thermometer to monitor them. Upon arising this morning all fevers are gone and they are acting more like themselves. Prayers were definitely answered. Of course, Papa said he has a headache and went back to bed for a while. That means my last kid is now fighting the good fight against germs. Hopefully he will bounce back soon, and Momma will remain immune!!!

As you can see from the picture above, the kids actually listened to me and drank lots and lots of hot liquids. Hot tea and hot cocoa were the drinks of choice. I just wish they would feel well enough to do up their dishes. :-)

harvest time

2009-10-16T21:00:00.007-04:00

I've been busy today hauling hubby back and forth between fields so he can continue harvesting his soy beans. Happy will be the day when he is done!!! Also happy will be the time when the kids are finally in bed!!! I wonder if they would like a little cheese to go with all that whine they have tonight.

2009-10-15T11:55:00.001-04:00

Well, as usual, no time to play on the computer and figure this blog thing out. It was a late night last night, what with Kara's volleyball game and then shopping for boots for her to take to camp next week. Today is full too. First on the list was sorting through and organizing the Cub Scout popcorn for the annual sale. I hope to have the popcorn distributed in the next couple of days, so that it is not filling up the back of the suburban!! Then it's on to finishing making concord grape juice and getting the jalapenos ready and in the freezer. Gotta make some jalapeno poppers this winter, they will certainly warm things up a bit, especially if they are as hot as the batch I made the other day!!

In the beginning...........................................

2009-10-14T07:45:00.002-04:00

In the beginning there was light and dark, well mostly dark because it was early in the morning. A laptop appeared and was connected to the internet. There sat a woman in her lazy boy, sipping a cup of coffee with the laptop on her lap, and it was good. After reading many other blogs, the woman got brave, very brave, and created her own blog. This would allow her to share her life and write---a long time dream of hers. She dreamed of others enjoying what she wrote, and even if no one ever read her blog, she was happy to be able to write at all. Then time for housework came and off she went, until another moment would appear for her to explore this new found and fangled blog she had birthed.....................