Peace

This day was amazing as it started out with a hike with friends and family!

"You will go out in joy

    and be led forth in peace;

the mountains and hills

    will burst into song before you,

and all the trees of the field

    will clap their hands."

~Isaiah 55:12~

Awesome temperature! Beautiful morning!
Inspiring!

We have been wanting to do a hike for quite some time and today was the day!  WOW, oh WOW, am I sure glad we did!  Laura and Mayda met me at what is called "Bead Mountain."  It's right here in our neck of the woods.  We met there and began our hike at a wonderful 56*!!

Oh, the views!

God!

Can't you just imagine the ole' wagon trail passing through on the Oregon Trail?

Friends!  We made it to the top!

After our hike, it was off to work!  So grateful that we made time for these moments.  Such great memories shared with friends.  Nothing can replace the time spent in God's country with people that you love.  Part of my job today was to recycle our broken refrigerator.  I knew exactly where I would go when Heath mentioned it.  Langer Industrial, my client.  It is so fun in my job because I get to know people and their services right here in our own town!  This gentleman is from Kansas and you can tell that he is passionate about what he does.  If you ever need recycling here in the Scottsbluff area, I would highly recommend Langer Industrial on the corner of the Beltline and 5th Avenue.

That big HUGE claw is squishing our fridge at the moment!

Lunch and then packed a picnic for tonight!

Nothing like fresh corn on the cob!

Garry and Me

My father-in-law loves tractor pulls, so I invited him as soon as I found out about the county fair pull!  We met at the park in Mitchell and had our picnic, complete with a piece of chokecherry pie.  He is very fond of this particular dessert, especially when the berries are in season!  We had an absolutely lovely evening with the best seats in the house.  We sat at the '50 yard line' of a tractor pull at the very top, middle.  Great breeze from the back and awesome views.  Thankful for this bonding time with Garry!

If you have never been to a pull, I would highly recommend it.  Take ear plugs and plan on having a really fun evening!

Chokecherry Pan

Great devotion this morning from Sarah Young's Jesus Calling book.

This amazing pan has been loaned to me by a friend.  She is awesome!  She said to use it and enjoy it, so I usually send her pictures of whatever I am making at the time!  It's so fun and it has been an amazing gift of simplicity!  There are other ways to extract the juice from the chokecherries, but this is waaaay better!

The bottom pan - holds the boiling water and
doubles for cheesecake water bath!

The 2nd pan is where all the juice collects and then
goes out the straw.

The 3rd level is a sieve where the berries sit and
the skins/seeds stay.

Crazy looking contraption, but oh so efficient!

Simplicity

This is our side porch and those chairs seem to help ground me.  My daddy made them with
the wonderful Mr. Dean Robert.  Such a special gift!

Life isn't always easy, it isn't always fun, it isn't always relaxing, it isn't always simple but it is worth it!  Whenever I begin to get stressed, I try to first talk to God, my Savior, then I typically walk outside or at pause in front of a window to see outside.  God takes care of the animals and they do great!  How much more valuable are we.  It brings me to the verse in Matthew.  I don't have it memorized but I do know the message and I lean on that alot especially when I start getting anxious or antsy about 'getting everything done.'

"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?"

~Matthew 6:26-27~

The Tiger Lilies are about to bloom ~ reminds me of Home Sweet Illinois and my mama!  We have always had these at the home place!

Breakfast!!!!  Homemade superhero muffin, carrot-egg souflee, grilled zucchini,
fresh blackberries.  So blessed!  Keeping the food real, whole, and delicious!

Beginning the prep of the cajun surprise.  Loaded with yummy
veggies and so very colorful!

Worth the Wait

Waiting in line -- I was feeding the chickens & cats?!
My dogs eat corn and the peacock eats cat food....who knew?!

Waiting for this garden to fill in.  Heath and I found out these beautiful colors existed
for the cone flower at the CSU gardens.  He researched them and found them.
Totally worth the wait!

We waited for our carrots to grow!  The are awesome and multi-colored!
So fun and colorful, just like everything else inside and outside the house!

We waited and saved up for a hot tub for quite some time.  When the time was right (this
past June) we did it!  A great investment that we use almost every night!  We had an electrician
put electric out there and so now we have an overhead porch light and the string lights.
Heath built a cool wind break around it and added the romantic touch -- string lights!

....and our shower waited for us to get home!  We haven't used the indoor shower since
oh, probably April!  These rope lights are the original solar powered ones we installed.
Turns out our Aspen trees are growing so much we had to move the solar panel out a bit
so it could reach the sun!

Make Ahead Company Breakfast/Brunch

A breakfast/brunch fit for Kings and Queens and Prices and Princesses!

A friend I met in grad school gave me this recipe.
It is AMAZING, AMAZING!
I dare you to only eat one piece!

A friend I met while attending graduate school at Colorado State gave me this Chocolate Zucchini Bread recipe.  This is one you will want to save!  There are several reasons why I like it!

1.  It doesn't have 2 cups of sugar in it!
2.  It has 2 different types of chocolate in it.
3.  It is super moist, gooey, and amazingness in one bite or twenty.  I dare you to only eat one piece!

(Note:  it will spoil quickly because it is fresh with NO preservatives.  My suggestion is to make it, eat it for just a couple of days, and then slice and freeze what you have leftover......if you have leftovers!)

This is a picture of only half of the egg casserole!  I just pulled it out of the
freezer, reheated in the oven and serve!

The Egg Casserole recipe is from my boss.  She brought it to work one day, she is just awesome like that, and that was it....I had to have it!  WOW, it's simple yet flavorful and freezes well!

So Simple.  So Delicious!

Farm Fresh

Fresh veggies, deer, and yogurt with walnuts.
English Breakfast Tea with honey!

Beet chips with rosemary.

Roasted Radishes.....

....with bacon!  =  AMAZINGNESS!!  Complements to the author of this recipe!
https://thatlowcarblife.com/fried-radishes/

All the goodies we found in our cellar while cleaning it out!
(Minus the copper tea kettle - from Dad, wooden cross - from Mama, and insulator -
Gram and Pa's dump.)

Good Helpers

This morning I put up a ton of spinach.  Picked it yesterday then began the process for freezing it!  I use this really awesome resource from Bon Appetit:  https://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/cooking-tips/article/preserve-leafy-greens.

1. Rinse clean
2. Roughly chop (DANGEROUS --> see below)
3. Blanch in boiling water
4. Cool down in ice bath
5. Squeeze (really hard) all the excess water out
6. Make into little golfballs
7. Place individual balls on cookie sheet to freeze
8. Next day, place all the spinach balls into baggies and use Food Saver to suck all the air out
9. Place in freezer
10. Enjoy ALL winter long

So this system works with lots of things in which I have experimented:  Swiss chard, spinach, and beet tops.  I also plan to try it with kale.  It is wonderful for smoothies....you already have the perfect size to go in there....just pop a ball in smoothie and add other ingredients.  I am also steaming and freezing red and yellow beets which are also a smoothie staple.  All this work now will pay off this winter when the sun goes down at 5 pm and doesn't get up until 7 am.  We will be all cozied in our home using all the wonderful, bountiful blessings God has provided this year.

Turns out your nail does not stop a sharp knife.

I have started going out to the barn to pick up the bigger kittens in order to get them friendly and handle them more.  We go out to the gardens in my basket and then back to their home in the basket.  They are sweet little things and sure do love them some gardenin'!

As you can see there are only four little ones.  I was laying in the hammock last week when Heath came home.  He asked if I had fed the kittens yet and I hadn't.  I also have been giving an antibiotic and cleaning their little eyes twice a day to help them feel better.  When I went out there, I only saw 3 of the 4, thinking to myself, maybe Fuzzy was just in with the chickens.  Sometimes, I find them in the chicken coop mingling....may be an identity crisis since they lost their mama at an early age.  Regardless, they all get along and the chickens don't see to mind the kittens and the kittens don't try to eat the birds, so it's all good!  Right when I was starting to administer the meds to the three, Heath walked up.  When I told him that I thought Fuzzy was still in with the girls....he had a very sad look on his face.  We exchanged glances and I knew what had happened, Fuzzy had passed away and Heath gently had already take care of him.  Tears, tears, and more tears poured out.  I had gotten so attached to this little guy and he had just made it to his second round of going to the vet, our little miracle kitten.  He is no longer suffering.  He was a sick little guy and Heath reassured me that I did the very best I could.  We had such an awesome moment as he embraced me, allowing me to cry, reassuring me on the barn floor.  It was such a treasured moment.  He has such a BIG heart!

We decided no more naming animals as we have lost so many lately....all but 3 of our chicks we raised from babies, 2 ducks, 3 cats, 1 turkey, and now this kitten.  No more names.  I told him that I just don't know what to do differently to stop losing all of our animals.  He said the only way you will not lose animals is if you don't have any.  True.  Life must go on and we just do the best we can to love and care for them and to provide them what they need.

I matted and framed Jean's coloring page!
Spray painted an old frame teal!!
It looks great in my yellow walled office!

We are doing something special for our boss' birthday tomorrow.  My part was the flowers.  I purchased some sunflowers
since ours aren't in bloom yet and then got creative!  Even used Tiger Lilies and dill!  Picked, arranged, and delivered!

Finally got those Superhero muffins mixed up and in
the oven.

By the way, I am looking for muffin tins that are waxy, you know, the ones you usually see at a bakery.  You can have a larger muffin without the muffin top sticking to the pan or the actual muffin sticking to the muffin tin.  If you know where to purchase them, please let me know.  It's a struggle because these muffins turn out different each time since I use different ingredients each time depending on what I have available.  I purchased tin cups thinking they wouldn't stick, but I freeze these and pull them out to eat.....turns out tin doesn't microwave well.  The paper cups stick and make a horrible mess.....any suggestions, I'm open!  :)  These muffins are delicious!

Girl's Day

Outdoor Adventures and Cooking with a Friend
=
Blessed!

So thankful that I took the time to hang out with my friend today!  It was a much needed time of  rest and refreshment.  We went for a walk to the local coffee shop called the Tarnished Halo and continued with a walk and talk around town.  We walked by a local kids swim meet, so that was neat!  Then, we took her paddle board over to the lake and I got to try it out.  YES, that's me in the picture!  Can you believe it!?  I am standing and balancing on the water!  How awesome and super peaceful.  We took turns while one was paddling around the other was on shore relaxing/reading.  When we finished paddle boarding, we made some lunch.  I brought a whole bunch of yummy garden veggies so we did quite a bit of slicing and dicing.  We made a salad and sautéed some veggies.  We made enough for her and her hubby to have for supper!  It was fun!

I left in what I thought was 'just in time' to beat those very dark clouds rolling in, but turns out about 5 miles out of town it came down hard.  It was a bit unnerving, but I prayed alot.  God eased my fears and we made it through nice and slow.  WOAH, thank you LORD!  By the time I got home, it was sunny and nice again!  All clear, all good!

After I got home, Heath suggested we run into town to look at refrigerators.  My man is awesome!  He had already done all the research in finding just what we needed.  Our current one sounds like a freight train right now.  It freezes my veggies on the top left hand shelf and melts my ice.  Who knows how much longer it might last, but I sure don't want to lose everything.  It was used when I got it and it has definitely served us well over the past several years!  We found one at Menard's and got it ordered.  It is the basic white, freezer on top just like we have now except it is shorter and wider allowing for more shelf space.  Heath is so SMART!  I LOVE HIM!

Supper Club

I finished this book and I am so glad I read it!  It was an easy, conversational read -- just like you were visiting with a friend over some coffee.  One of the things that really struck me was the chapter called Porches as Alters.  Just talking about the good ole' fashioned (face-to-face) get togethers.  Like the good old days when phones and watches and social media weren't all competing for every waking moment of our time.  When we were not so focused on that instant reply or that worry that we might 'miss something' if we don't check it every five seconds.  Guilty!  Things don't have to be perfect, the house doesn't have to be spotless, the grass doesn't have to be ideally trimmed....just inviting people over to fellowship, laugh, eat, talk, work through troubling challenges that may be present in this season of life, have fun, let the inner you shine through, let go and let God.  REAL LIFE, REAL PEOPLE.  One of the things Jen also mentions in this book is her Supper Club.  The "rules" are listed below and it sounds so awesome!  Just getting together once a month and "doing life together."  Having that core group of friends is something that I was fortunate enough to grow up experiencing.  Our group acquired the name "COOP" which were all my mom and dad's friends who would gather for barn raisings and then food and fellowship.  Over the years, as we kids started coming along, we all became friends and are friends to this day.  This type of friendship and fellowship is so important and something that I so often find hard to make happen.  If we don't make it happen and be intentional with this fellowship, it will not happen.  So as hard as it may be to get a group of eight adults together all in one spot, all on one night, I don't want to give up!  The rewards will be worth it!  You never know, it may open the door to soooo much more -- including lifelong friendships with each other and our kids!

~ Supper Club ~

Day of Rest

We enjoyed a Sunday morning hot tub before church complete with tea and ice water!

Another Day on the Farm

One of the older kittens by the wildflowers
Dad gave us.

Briggs, Scarlett, and Mya

Scarlett, Bill and Alicia's Golden Doodle, stayed with us while they went on a mini vacation!  She had a big culture shock I think while she was here.  We enjoyed her visit!

Fresh * Rhubarb

Fresh * Spinach