One Up....For Now

I have three younger brothers. The two that are closest in age to me were more like the usual siblings who play and fight together. Then my mom and dad decided after a break of five years to bless us with another little brother. Five children were just not enough for them. He was a accident lovingly planned baby just like all of us were and boy oh boy was he a cutie. I was nine years old at the time and he was like having a real live doll to play with. He was such a good natured little guy and I loved him so much. Still do.

Here we are in my get-away wagon. We were up at the corrals while our mom was working with some horses. Isn't he just sweet?

Then he grew up and turned 40. Hard to believe. No it is not his birthday and in fact he is now 41 but we have this relationship where we are always trying to get each others goat. So on his birthday I ordered a cake and the picture on top was a subject that gets him each time. You see he gave me a ferrell barn kitten from the ranch he was managing years ago. A beautiful gray short haired cat we named "Gray Jay". Why Gray Jay? Well because my brothers name is Jay and he is not particularly fond of cats. Although we loved this cat he soon became an outside kitty because he decided he preferred to use the farmers leg as a peeing post. In fact this cat was worse than a dog. He peed on car tires every day of his life even though he was neutered. Of course Jay delighted in the fact that farmer was loved by Gray Jay.

Oh isn't he adorable?

This is the photo I put on top of the cake. I superimposed his face on a picture of our cat in a tree. It was also a birthday card at one time.

I love to take photos and he is always so happy about it. Can't you just read his mind? He is thinking "Gawd, here comes the camera again". Actually Gawd might be a tad mild in his mind.

Take this! How do you like your photos now? Yep he got me back, NOT! He should know by now that he will never be able to outsmart me.

Especially when he makes the mistake of having a magazine cover made of himself and then gives it to me to make a copy of. Little did he know at the time that there would be an Internet world.

Well on his ranch he was raising little piglets. Oh how cute! Ha! I am not overly fond of big old sows and he did manage to know this.
Well perhaps he did get me back a few times. You need to click on the photo above to see what it says. This was a gift to me in a birthday card.

Oh Pig You Are Noble

As some may know, the farmer and I have been trying to watch our fat intake to lower our cholesterol and curb the mean old diabetes slut legacy that threatens to take over our health in our later years. An added side benefit is that we just might lose part of our bubble butts in the process.

Well I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Noble Pig, and came across this recipe. Now don't misunderstand me, she usually does not leave me feeling very good in the low fat sense of the word. Her recipes like the these ribs are to die for but certainly it is not supposed to be on our type of food watch. This means that she tempts us successfully to eat wrong for our end goal.

I saw her photo of the pancakes that are low in fat and I sat there smiling while the saliva dripped down my shirt. That is until the farmer slapped me up side the head and grabbed the computer from my hands. In our household a diet just might be little like an addict coming off of drugs.




I began by making the easy blueberry topping. We have a freezer full of blueberries just begging to be used before the new crop begins to ripen. This was so delicious and very easy to make. And warm. And it would be so good over vanilla ice cream. Oh I guess I have gone off on another food addict direction.



I then made the pancakes which have fresh squeezed lemon juice and lemon zest as well as ricotta cheese in them. They are to die for....nice and puffy and moist and hard to believe that they are low fat.



So I took this photo of the finished product right before I dove in. Notice the blur from my hand was shaking so bad in anticipation while the addict in me was in full throttle.

Um..... did I mention that I made these for myself for mothers day? Yes, I would not let my husband or daughter make them. They could scramble the eggs but I would get the first taste of these, you know kind of like a dog snarling over his dog food. Heh!

So go to Noble Pig's blog and make these. Yum!

Mothers Day

These four..........

grew into these four..........

who remain close through good times and difficult times,

and who love and support each other.

These four made me a mom, the most important job in the world.  Time floats away and steals the years but they will forever be in my heart as my little ones.

These Mountains

It is very true that you don't appreciate the beauty you grew up with until later. I suppose that is because as a child you really don't know the difference, especially if like me, you never left your home town much. The greatest distance as a child was probably sixty or seventy miles away from our home. That was usually just for school clothes, a livestock auction, or to see family in one of the small nearby towns like Huntington or LaGrande. Our idea of a vacation was to be out of school for the summer and that pretty much summed it up. Oh there were the times Dad would occasionally take us on a drive up in the mountains and we would have a picnic and we felt like we were really going somewhere. We were a large family with small means and our ancestors were the same.

This is a photo of the Elkhorn mountains which were the range behind my parents home. I have always loved these mountains and as a child would stare and stare to see if I could see the Native American face.


By Native American face I mean in late December or early January the sun leaves a shadow on this peak that looks like the outline of a Native Americans face. The lore that I heard was that this Native American was the guardian of Baker valley, sort of a deity if you will, and is watching over the valley to keep it safe. I don't know if this is the accurate story but it is one I heard as a child. I very rarely saw it but occasionally my parents would point it out.  Last September when driving to our annual "sisters vacation" with my daughters I could see this range from afar and it just leaves a smile on my heart.

Simple

The older I get the more I realize that I really do love simple. You know, simple pleasures like short talks on the phone, natural smells like fresh mown grass and hay, the fresh breeze through the trees, watching birds of all kinds, the sweet innocence of children, etc.



It must be true that I am a simple person because I am so uncomfortable in high social situations like political affairs and such. I will attend these if I am doing this a part of my job but I really despise it. Send me home to dig in the earth, smell a flower, chase a butterfly with my grandchild or bake cookies and I am happy. I love to be domestic yet I have always worked outside the home just to make ends meet.

I was once told by a friend that the reason I have chosen to be in the life I have made is because if I chose to stay home and be in my comfort zone I would never stretch in growth and learning. I suppose that is true but I often wonder if I have stretched enough. Some days it feels like it.

Natural Versus Drugs

Since the birth of my little grandson I have had some time to think about the experience. Jill asked me and her sister, Kelli, if we would like to be in the room for the birth. In my case I was excited and happy to share this experience although a little apprehensive about seeing my daughter go through the pain. In Kelli's case I know she was completely in awe and very moved when the baby was born but I don't think she is in a hurry to have a child any time soon.

When I had my four children the thing to do at that time was to have your baby completely drug free and natural, in our case using the Lamaze breathing method. In my experiences the focus and breathing were helpful but certainly did not put me completely at ease or lessen the pain, especially at the end of long tiring labors. It was also very difficult to concentrate on your focal point, breathe and not smack your husband up side the head when there was another mom in labor in the room at the same time making noises and in one case, screaming. In fact at one point I really wanted to get up and drag the screaming mom to the delivery room myself.

My point is that now the thing to do is have an epidural. I know there are risks but if done at the right time it can be amazing. Jill chose to have one and I must say if I had the choice to do my deliveries over I would say "BRING IT ON!" I would drink the stuff if I could, knowing that my deliveries could have been more like Jill's.

Here is Jill on the birthing ball in full contraction mode. This was right before the epidural and she has her teeth slightly gritted. After the epidural she played video games on her phone and just hung out seemingly not paying much attention to her contractions. Although she felt the sensation of the contraction it was without pain.

Little Ayden was a big baby and Jill did fantastic. Her doctor was amazing, so calm and working with her through the process.

And in the end it produced this beautiful little bug. All very worthwhile.

Don't you think?

Little Chicken Herders

On Saturday it was such a beautiful day we took all of the grandchildren outside to play in the sun. Part of this of course is letting the chickens out to free range for a while. Two year olds and free ranging might not mix so well.

Lucy trucking over to make sure that last hen was not going to go back inside.

Byron just kept those hens on the go.  He felt they needed some exercise I guess.

Lucy watching the hens scratch around for the cracked corn she had just put in the pen.

March on old hens, march on!

Yep! The pinwheel helps him herd the chickens.