In the blink of an eye...

 Last weekend I was snowshoeing.  This weekend started with Saturday in the 70's!  The foot of snow we had last Sunday melted, under a warm southernly wind.   It was great getting in the garden and cleaning up the flower beds.  Dollor even took a few minutes to sit with me.  Not for long though, then he was chasing chipmunks.  Dollor was not happy when I picked up all of the sticks, twigs, pinecones, and bark that he has left in the yard.  He couldn't understand why I didn't think they were necessary. 

After cleaning out the beds, I planted my seed trays and the greenhouse.  I have searched high and low and I cannot find the tops to my seed trays.  This is very upsetting.  Especially since I still haven't been able to find the mosquito repellent I bought in August.

Carrots, lettuce, peas and spinach are now incubating in the greenhouse. I ran the sprinkler for quite a while before planting anything.  It made for a nice humid and warm.  

Of course, things can change in the blink of an eye.  Last night the fog rolled in and it rained.  Then it snowed.  

And after a glimpse of spring, winter set in again.  It did end up melting before the end of the day, but it wasn't the same.  The air had a chill that it didn't have yesterday.

Last weekend to ward of the chill, I tried warm vanilla custard:

Ingredients

    2 c. milk

    ¼ c. sugar (or more or less to taste)

    2 eggs

    pinch of salt

    ⅛ tsp. vanilla

    ground nutmeg

Instructions

In a small pan, heat the milk and sugar just until it starts to simmer and come to a boil. (see Notes below).  In the meantime, blend the eggs, salt and vanilla. Once the milk mixture starts to bubble, remove it from the heat and add a small amount of the milk to the egg mixture. Blend immediately.  Add the rest of the milk to the egg mixture and blend well. Pour the warm custard into two mugs and sprinkle with nutmeg. Enjoy!  Warm Vanilla Custard Drink - Thrifty Frugal Mom.  I really enjoyed it. 

What was your weekend like?  Have you been able to garden yet or are you still snowshoeing?  

Celebration time...

 My brother got married this weekend.  I am so happy for both of them.  It was a wonderful ceremony, and everything was decorated beautifully. It was good for the family to spend time together. Especially in celebration.  Part of the ceremony was braiding a rope and then 'tying the knot.'

It was a blizzard on the way back for us heading to Deadwood and for them heading to Minnesota. 

Bear Butte was a delightful site when we finally got to the hills. 

The bighorn sheep greeted us when we got to Deadwood.  

There is a lot of country to see when you cross South Dakota.  Still my favorite view is from the family cattle pasture overlooking the river.  Growing up I rode a lot of horses through those draws. 

I am so thankful that we were able to celebrate with my brother and his wife.  Any time you can spend with family is precious.  Taking a few days with my parents was also also a highlight. It was a weekend where memories were made.  Some were precious and others were hilarious.  

What was the last family event you attended?  

Ready for Spring...

Today I prepared for spring.  I took all of my tools and scrubbed them with steel wool and then gave them a coat of mineral oil.  I took apart all of my pruners and sharpened the blades.  All wooden handles were coated with linseed oil, as well as my tool caddy.

Can you believe the rust on my clippers?  The poor tool caddy was bone dry. 

There they are.  All shined, sharpened, and ready to go. Spring, I am ready.  

A few more sunsets and I am sure it will be here.  We have some snow predicted in the future, but for now it is warm and we actually don't have much snow on the ground.

Are you ready for spring?  When was the last time you gave your tools a good once over?  What do you do to prepare for gardening season?  

Duck, Duck, Goose...

 Not much going on here.  It has been warm.  We stopped at Canyon Lake and enjoyed the ducks and geese.  

We have some snow, but it is melting fast.  It comes and goes.  We had a pretty sunny weekend.  

It was a great sunset on Friday.  It has been a while since we have had a pretty sunrise or sunset.  I just found out that I will be without an oven for another month.  I can't say that is making me happy.  

I'm on one month without my oven.  How long have you gone without a kitchen appliance that is necessary?

Sunshine and seed stashes...

 It is amazing how warm it feels when the wind isn't blowing.  It was quite cold this weekend, but the sun was out and there wasn't even a breeze.  I actually enjoyed our walk today.  Of course, Dollor loves any walk, rain, sun, snow, or wind.  He is just a happy go lucky mutt.

I cleaned out my seed box.  The goal was to see what I needed to order this year.  Come to find out, there is nothing needed.  I have everything for the upcoming year.  I've been gardening enough that I know what works best at our altitude.  

Everything is neatly organized.  I went through my list and checked it twice.  I'm pretty happy with my seed stash.

I'm not sure what type of lights were.  I don't think they were Northern lights or light pillars.  

Are you anticipating spring as much as I am?  Have you ordered seeds yet?  Do you get new seeds every year?  Do you stick with tried and true, or do you try new thing?  

No snow, but there is pie...

 The weather has been amazing.   We don't have much snow, which is unheard of for this time of year.

The other day at Someone's in the Kitchen, I saw this interesting pie crust contraption.   It is a plastic bag perfectly shaped for a pie or pizza pan.  It is simple to roll out to the perfect size.

It works pretty slick and sure saves the usual flour mess.

I made a cherry pie.  Since our oven parts are on a slow boat from China, my husband baked it in the smoker.  Wow was that good.

While walking Dollor, I came across these mouse tracks.  He went on quite the mouse adventure as they went for about a quarter of a mile.  

The sunrises and sunsets have been a bit lackluster.  It was nice to see a little color yesterday.  

Have you been baking?  How much snow do you have?  What is your favorite pie?  

Just a slow weekend...

The only exciting thing that happened this weekend was I got to see my niece.  We had a nice visit over coffee.  The weather has been nice. The snow is even melting. I took advantage of that and sat on the porch with my morning coffee today.  We even gave Dollor a bath.  Not his favorite thing.  No projects, no baking, and some pretty boring walks.  I'm not complaining.  Sometimes it is nice to have a quiet weekend.  

Did someone else get our winter weather?  Hope you had a relaxing weekend also.

Another project down...

 The oven project is finished.  My husband ordered a hickory panel to cover the hole in the bottom of the cabinet for the microwave cord.  He cut it to size; we applied a finish and glued it up.  Then we added a light above the stove.  It turned out perfect.  It only took four or five years, but now it is done.  We are not adding a shelf. 

Not much else has been going on.  The weather has been pretty sporadic.  Rain, snow, wind, sun...  I never know what is next.  The only thing that is consistent is the dog needs walked.

Right after we returned from our 2 mile walk it started raining like crazy.  Rain in January?  Don't worry it turned to snow at some point.  

I've been seeing a lot of elk on the drive home from work.  These bulls were making short work of someone's round bales.  They didn't seem to mind posing for the camera.  

The pay clerk does a phenomenal job feeding the birds at work.  Friday, we had a surprise guest.  A quail.  We are not sure where this little fella came from, as they are not native to the area.  I will be anxious to see if it stays around.  

That is all I have for this week.  I really liked the overnight oats and plan on making more this week.  

What have you been seeing for wildlife?  How has the weather been?  I hope everyone stayed safe from the storms that headed south.  

It is a cold world...

 It is pretty cold here, but we managed to avoid the winter storm.  We only had a skiff of snow.  I spent most of the week reading, cleaning, and walking our high energy dog.

I did try a new project.  I am experimenting with overnight oats.  

Overnight Oats Base Recipe

• ▢1 cup quick cooking oats, rolled oats work too
• ▢1 tablespoon chia seeds
• ▢½ cup plain Greek yogurt
• ▢1 cup milk, any kind, we used unsweetened almond milk
• ▢1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢2 tablespoons maple syrup, or honey

• 1 medium banana, cut into slices (or mashed)
• ▢4 medium strawberries, cut into slices

Place all of the ingredients for the base recipe into a large container and mix until combined. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight (preferred). We shall see how it tastes tomorrow.  I got the recipe from:   Healthy Overnight Oats (1 base - 8 flavors!) - Fit Foodie Finds

Our other project was the small kitchen remodel.  We took out the dead microwave about the oven.  There were huge holes from the drywall anchors.  It looked like a patch and re-paint project.  It just so happened that I saw a glass backsplash on Etsy that caught my eye.  My husband also liked it, so we decided to give it a whirl.  It turned out perfect.  It matches the paint and the rest of the kitchen perfectly.  All that is left is my husband is going to cover the hole for the microwave power cord.  We have an overhead light ready to install after that.  I will be so happy to have a light over the stove again.  When the microwave crashed, we decided, for safety's sake, to unplug it.  Thus, we have been without a light above the stove.  A bit annoying.  I thought about adding a little shelf above the stove, but now I'm not sure.  What do you think?  Do you like the change?  I must say It feels more open and I really like the picture.  Since it is glass it should be easy to clean.  On the oven front, we opted for th slow boat from China.  We should have a working oven in a month (ACK).  I made no-bake cookies today, because I have to make something.  Luckily, we have the smoker and the stove.  I'm sure we will survive. 

What do you think of the change?  Do you think it should have a shelf?  Have you ever made overnight oats? Did you get hit by the big winter storm?  Are you ok?  So many questions.