Quilting

At work we found a set of quilt block patterns that were published in an 1830s newspaper. As we are doing a quilting exhibit in October, it was decided that I should make each of the blocks. We have 20 of the 25 and should be able to find other versions of the rest since four of them are pretty common. The fifth I may have to redesign from the picture of the completed quilt. Here are the ones I have completed so far. The red and green is "crazy Ann", the blue snowman is "Weathervane", the green and flowers is "Mill Wheel", and the pink is "Spools". Up next is a lily.

Merry Christmas

So I am sitting here traveling late Christmas night and looking out my windows at the southern California 'countryside' (how this collection of buildings can be a countryside I don't know) and noticing how many businesses are closed. Other than gas stations and fast food places the stores are dark and parking lots empty. It has nothing to do with the fact that it is 9:00 on a Sunday night, it is Christmas. It gets me thinking about the annual bemoaning of the "secularization of Christmas." Always we hear about how secular the holiday has become and how bad it is. I am actually rather grateful for the secularization. In the area we are now traveling through is there really enough Christian influence to close down whole businesses for a religious holiday? I don't think so. Because Christmas has changed into a holiday that anyone can celebrate, most everyone does. This is not a new event unique to the current generations either. Look at the classic story of "A Christmas Carol". The only mention of a religious figure in the story is found if you split the central word of the title. The story is not about what some would call the true meaning of Christmas, but about a man learning that, at least on this one day, we need to really see and be involved in the lives of others. That "mankind is our business." If that is all some people get out of the day, how much better is the world for that. So bring on the Santas and the shopping. The odd Christmas songs and the parties. For a short time in the year let everyone celebrate in what ever way and for what ever reason the time that, as Dr. Who says, we are coming out of the dark. The darkness of winter and the darkness of our own narrow lives. Merry Christmas and "God bless us, everyone."

Happy spring

We have two new calves, two new pigs, and two new chicks. You would think it was spring. The calves were expected, but not this soon, the pigs were inevitable once the calves came, and the chicks are most exciting because they were least expected.

We thought the milk cow wouldn't calve for another month. At least some did. The rest of us said the bull did not go in the cow pen because she had better hay, even if that was all he was doing when found. The second calf was more of a surprise. A nice pair of heifers though. And we get real milk again.

The chicks are cute. We have never had eggs hatch before. We have never had a rooster before. The hen started out with five eggs. One exploded early, not fertile apparently. Two may have hatched later, but I guess after a few days the hen decides to take care of the chicks she has and kicked out or broke the two that hadn't hatched. We still have two more chicks than we have ever had. Hopefully at least one is a hen. And I need better pictures. Time to recharge the real camera batteries.

Wow

I now have a way to blog without a computer. Watch out world. I can put my pictures and inane comments out in the world from the comfort of my couch with no previous thought. No current thought is really necessary either. So first I thought I would share a nice fall picture from last year as we are getting on to that time of year. Nothing like a golden forest of aspens.

Lambing

Time to attempt this once again. For a few days anyway. Lambing is in fullish swing. They don't seem to be lambing as fast this year. We have never had the shed full and only about six sets of triplets. Of course now that we are having triplets the singles have stopped so the adoption process is not going so well. Most of the ewes in the stanchion are ones that don't like their own lambs. The unpardonable sin, to not like your own lambs. Stay with your head stuck in the stanchion for a few days then get a bell buckled on that will make your ears ring for the next 11 months. Mean aren't we.

Sleep deprivation is setting in. And with today being fast Sunday, caloric deprivation has hit as well. So if anyone has chocolate chip cookies laying around, we need about 10 per day per person. I have heard that lack of sleep makes you crave sugar. I believe that. We are running low on all forms of this high and instant energy food. Kisses, gone. Wednesday's cookies, gone. Nasty store bought cookies that usually go to the pigs, gone. Gummy sour worms, gone before dark I am sure. Good thing this only lasts a few weeks. We would all be diabetic with all the refined sugar, except for the fact that we get constant exercise: walking, lifting, climbing, chasing, wrestling and pulling.

Enough with my semi-somnolent ramblings. Must go supervise the making of oatmeal cookies. Don't bother coming over for any. They will be gone tomorrow.

Slacker

Boy am I bad at this blog thing. Not that I think anyone notices or cares. My excuse is summer. All those things to do besides sitting down at a computer. We have had a pretty productive summer. Need to remember that we only need six pepper plants next year though. We have enough frozen to last into the next decade. Maybe not that much. Have to leave space in the freezer for the chili andtomato sauce since we ran out of bottles making salsa, spagetti sauce, elderberry jelly, choke cherry jelly, and whatever else. The tomatoes have gone crazy this year. Yesterday I spent all day cooking tomato sauce. I started with a five gallon bucket-full and ended up with about five quarts of sauce. If anyone wonders you have to cook it down that much so the sauce doesn't separate. You can tell when it is done because the layer of liquid on the top goes away. And so you don't take up as much freezer/bottle space. It is a bit strange for us to have tomatoes and corn out of the garden this late. It did attempt to freeze at the beginning of the month, but since then the weather has warmed up again. The only problem is we rely on irrigation water from the field for the garden and that is about over. And I have eaten so many cherry tomatoes that I have canker sores. It just needs to stay warm long enough to get the popcorn ripe. That was our experiment this year. So far what we have tried hasn't popped. Probably because it was just what we salvaged from the stalks Miss Polly the cow knocked over. Now that she is secured the rest should ripen in safety

Fall

Summer is over and school has started. Where has it all gone? We did finish our second Cook's Illustrated. Mom also got a book called "Zucchini Houdini" that we have been trying out. The recipes we have tried have been pretty good. The people at work were not too impressed with my zucchini brownies. "Is that ruining a vegetable or a dessert?" I wouldn't have called them brownies though, but cake. Or really cakey brownies. They were one of those things better the second day. The first day they had a definite vegetable flavor, but the second it didn't seem so bad. Or I got accustomed to the flavor. One of my cousins (there were two here at the time) saw me making them and doesn't like squash so he didn't try them. The other one ate two before he figured the secret ingredient. Then he decided he didn't like them anymore. Maybe a smaller holed grater next time so the zucchini is less noticeable. The chocolate does cover up the green color.

Back to the five day bread pudding. We needed Challa bread to make it, and I don't know where we could get that here, so day one was make Challa. Fortunately it made more bread than needed for the bread pudding so we got to eat Challa, and it was good. I am pretty good at the bread thing. Day two nothing happened because we were busy. Day three, cube the bread then run out of time. Day four, make the final thing. It was good too. Don't know if it was worth the wait. Maybe if we had bought the bread. And not actually five days, but close.

Here is some manzanita. A very pretty bush with it's glossy evergreen leaves and smooth red bark. And a pretty good picture too, I think. Hey, I have to do something with all these pictures I take.