HAPPY TURKEY DAY EVERYONE!!!!!!!

-15!?

lol. It was COLD last night. No new snow, however the snow that is already down is nice and crusty. For the most part this doesn't hinder the animals in the neighborhood. I looked outback this morning and saw where a rabbit had come through last night and broken through the crust as he hopped along.




We also have a resident covey of quail that seem to have made a little path along the edge of the house in the back yard. They were out in the front yard yesterday. I keep telling myself that I'm going to get pictures of them someday, I guess their tracks will have to do!


I wasn't sure these would turn quite as well as they did. The first picture was taken through a window and a screen! It's bunny tracks around an evergreen in the back yard. The second picture is more bunny tracks all over around the back yard and around the aspen tree. This third one is of the quail tracks taken right outside the sliding glass door out of our garage. Both of the last two pics were taken through the closed sliding door as a matter of fact.




It did get cold last night, I told the husband that if this keeps up we'll have to throw another dog on the bed!!!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!!

It's snowing... and COLD! Tonight, it's supposed to get down to "really cold", and tomorrow night it's supposed to get down to "unbeleivably cold", and Wednesday night it'll be "you've gotta be kidding me cold". In the mean time it's been snowing, and then snowing, and then... well... Snowing! I keep hearing reports of the Interstate both North and South of us being shut down. I know the pass to the North of us on the highway has been closed. I know that both passes to the East and West have been hazardous to drive, and I see the snow plows going buy both morning and night. This could end up being a very interesting Winter.

We shut off all the outside water and wrapped the faucets a few weeks ago. In the window where the swamp cooler is, a huge monster of a machine that can't be dismounted to close the window, we weather proofed it. First we wrapped the front in plastic (good ol' cheap shower curtain!) then I made an insulated cover out of some batted material and velcro. that's over the swamp cooler itself. The one thing we still have to do is I have another chunk of plastic that is going to go over the entire window as a further barrier to air. I've just been busy doing other things and haven't gotten around to getting it finished. Before the cold air hits tomorrow That last layer of plastic will be up.

Last year we didn't put a layer of plastic between the cover and the cooler and it still leaked a lot of air. Even with the batted cover and the plastic over the whole window. Already you can feel a difference just in putting the plastic between the cooler and the cover. I didn't think it would make that much of a difference but it sure has.

This beautiful tree is in our front yard. I took this picture yesterday, when we had about 4 inches of snow on the ground, we are around 6 inches on the ground now. (hubby says 5 inches tonight and 3 inches yesterday, however, he always estimates conservatively. lol.) Pretty huh?

Apple yummy!

Time for another recipe. :D It's REALLY good hubby ate a whole panful (well, minus the scoop I had)!!!

2 large apples, cored and cut. I used my wedge thingy.. I don't know what it's called, but you push it through the apple and it cores and cuts it into wedges at the same time. Peel the wedges, and toss the core. slice these wedges so you end up with little chunks about 1 inch square and 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.
1 cube of butter (1/2 cup) room temp
2/3 cup brown sugar, brown sugar subsitute would work also however you may want to cut the amount down since the fake stuff is sweeter.
2/3 cup oatmeal
1 tsp apple pie spice
1/2 tsp cinnamon, what can I say? I like cinnamon!

Put the apple pieces in a pie plate. In a seperate bowl mix together all the remaining ingredients either using your hand or an electric beater until everything is well mixed and all the chunks are the about the size of peas. Pour this over your apples, being sure all the apple pieces are covered and the topping is spread evenly to the sides of the pan. Cook in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until the butter is melted.

Mmmmmmmmmm. Super simple and it was pretty good. What wasn't eaten that night was put into the fridge and then nuked the next morning for breakfast. It tasted kind of like apple-y oatmeal stuff. lol. It was pretty good and this recipe is for sure going to be a late addition to the cook book!

Rice Price

Ack. Rice is getting expensive. Still relative cheap as far as food goes, but expensive as far as rice goes. I bought 50 lbs at Cash & Carry for $19.96. While that doesn't seem like much for 50 lbs of food, 50 lbs of rice USED to be less than $10.00. Is this a reflection on prices overall with the bad economy, or is it a reflection of the demand of rice as more people get an eye for prepareness/survivalism (or whatever they decide to call it that day)?

Either way, no matter what the answer, I now have another 8 mylar bags of rice happily portioned out and in my pantry. This will last me about 4 to 6 months with our regular food rotation.

If you use mylar bags for your food storage, be sure to seal as close to the edge as you can so you can reuse them. They are durable, and a bit on the expensive, however worth it, side of food preservation. Even more expensive than say... rice.

Trick or Treats

Well, another halloween has come and gone.. and I'm bummed! In the entire night I got only 2 trick & treaters. Granted I live on the very edge of town... However, some of the people just a little away from me got more than 40! I didn't even get one picture because hubby forgot to grab the camera in the mad rush for the door. lol. Maybe next year.


I had a thought... How many modern children know that "trick or treat" is really a question they are posing to the person they just rang the bell for? As in, "will you give me a treat, or do I have to pull a trick?". Hmmmm.. may have to ask a few of them.... If I ever SEE a trick or treater again!