Family Photo Friday: Surprise Family Member!

 Today we have a different family member to highlight!

This is Gumdrop!  See how beautiful she is!  Look at her sturdy legs and beautiful markings! Also notice her lifted tail.  This meant she was excited and getting ready to run.  She was a wonderful well-loved family member for years.  Here she is learning to lead by our oldest son who was ten at the time, getting ready to take her to the fair as part of his 4-H project.

Here is the story of the genealogy of family cows on our little "farm"...a matter of 2.6 acres on Cranberry Hill.

First thing we did was build a barn.  Yes, we built the barn...mostly Dear One, but with a little help from me from time to time. I already told the story of getting the lumber from the sawmill to our house.  With the barn built, our friend and neighbor, Mr. Dexter, went to the auction barn one Monday night, looked over the cows for sale, and bought a beautiful gentle Jersey cow named Buttercup.  He took Buttercup to his barn for a few days while we got ready for her.  We had been given a milking machine by Mr. Ordway and were ready to go.  Or thought we were.  We had bought into milking twice a day, every day, unless it was the few weeks leading up to the birth of the next calf.  No vacations.  Ever.

Buttercup's bag was not ideal for milking, which is probably why the farmer sold her, but since we only had one cow, it was not so much a problem for us.  Something to think about if you plan to buy a family cow is that the udder should ideally be easily available to be milked, not have the teats more or less behind the legs.  Also, it would be great if they were more than two and a half inches long.  Still, milking can be done if you work hard enough.

 

Buttercup gave us several gallons of lovely rich milk every day.  We loved it and used it all.  Buttercup also gave us Petal, a mostly pleasant, but sometimes feisty, calf.  We had maybe one more Jersey calf, but being a bull calf, he went to the auction.  Don't ask.

Because our children were growing up, and because we wanted them to participate in 4-H where you need to have a registered animal, we got a registered Holstein named Gloria.  When you buy a cow, you always want her to be expecting.  Gloria was.  Gloria was also quite a switch from gentle Buttercup.  First thing was that she was HUGE plus she gave 6 gallons of milk a day!  It had way less butterfat than Buttercup's milk, but that was not problem.  We did not need the extra fat.  Not that we knew that at the time...

Gloria's first calf was Gumdrop.  She was so beautiful and so much fun.  Son Number 1 spent hours leading her around  the yard with a halter so she would be ready to show at the agricultural fair not too far from our home.  She was a great calf and did win at least one price at the fair.

Eventually our cow barn filled up.  We had four cows at one point.  Can you believe it?!! And both Dear One and I worked full time.  We did have Dear One's dream come true: our children learned how to do real work and every one of them could milk the cows and care for them.  We had cows for seventeen years before we let the last one go down the road due to just too many other activities to give them the care they needed.  We did miss them.  I still think fondly of them.  The one thing I do NOT think fondly of was washing the milker twice a day in the bathtub.  NOT ONE BIT!!

Wednesday Wildlife

 The squirrels in our bird feeder have incensed me over the weeks.  Today we finally see a benefit of their ministrations with our bird seed!

See this beautiful guy!  Right there less than six feet away from us as we stand at the sliding glass doors.  So beautiful.  You see how proudly he stands! Maybe nervously, too.... There are plenty of seeds for him on the surface of the "planter", thanks to the squirrels.

When I am thinking, and not carrying my phone/camera, I leave the phone on the end of the counter by the sliding door so I can pick it up without visible movement by the wildlife on the porch.  Everyone  (except the squirrels!!) is very skittish when we move on the other side of the glass.

Tuesday Troubles

 Well, not really troubles but annoyances!

The Love Knots Blanket test knit is over. 

The Baby Dungarees are almost done.

The next big project is a sweater for our daughter to hopefully use up the rest of the Hilda Yates yarn.

The number one thing to do after assembling pattern, yarn, and needles for a new project is to knit a gauge swatch.  This entails casting on quite a few stitches and knitting in the pattern you are going to use so you can measure and know if your stitch count is correct. 

 For example, if you are knitting in stockinette stitch (knit one row, purl the next row, then repeat), and if the pattern calls for a stitch gauge of  22 stitches and 28 rows in 4 inches of knitting but you get 18 stitches and 22 rows in your gauge swatch (to be smart you would have cast on 40 stitches and knit about 6 inches of fabric so you could lay the swatch out flat then get an accurate measurement--and if you were REALLY solid, you would cast off the swatch, wash it, and block it and THEN count the stitches...this way you will know what your garment will actually be like)--if your gauge did not match the pattern gauge then you know you will need to change needles until you get gauge or you garment will not fit.  In my example, the garment would be way too big.

The other thing/maybe smarter thing to do is to take the yarn you want and the needles you want,  knit up a swatch at least 6 inches tall, then measure YOUR own gauge then look at the pattern schematic and plop in your numbers to know how many stitches to cast on, etc.  That does work.

Anyway, because I am planning to use Elizabeth Zimmermann's yoke sweater in the round and Elizabeth's Percentage System, I decided to cast on enough stitches to make a hat that would match the sweater then started merrily knitting along.  The bottom of the sweater will have a hem rather than ribbing so I knit a bit less than two inches for the hem facing, purled one round, then started knitting up. The plan being that when I got up another two inches I would start introducing color work.  (Of course, I am still not solid on the color patterns I will use so...I might have been getting ahead of myself, though being prepared for the colors is such a great idea. I thought!)

When I was halfway ready for the colors to start,  I noticed a funny thing.  Something I did NOT want to notice!  It turns out that I had a moebius on my needles, not a hat/swatch!  So annoying.  I do not know how I did it.  Every pattern in the round reminds you that you must NOT TWIST the stitches when you begin the actual knitting.  The only time you can fix a twisted stitch is at the beginning of the second row.  Even then it can be tricky.  Well, I would almost stake my life that I had it right at that point, but now....

All I can imagine is that when I began the purl round I somehow twisted the stitches.  Now I have a moebius, an infinite loop, on my needles.  This will NOT work for a hat though it might be fine as a neck warmer.  On a pretty small neck, or someone who loves snug clothing.  I do not.  

Now I will do something different for the gauge swatch.

Notice the twist right there on my knee?  You might have to follow it around clockwise to find that it really is twisted.  So annoying.  But I am NOT discouraged!!!

Munchie Monday: Easy Homemade Tater Tots

 We are getting down on fun things to eat***.  Somewhere (It turns out it was Chuck Underwood!) I found a Homemade Tater Tots recipe.  I sort of followed it.

Scrub and remove eyes from 6 small to medium potatoes.

Shred in the food processor with the larger shredding disc then put in a large bowl of cold water to rinse.

Put 2-3 Tablespoons of dehydrated onions in a bowl then pour in 3 Tablespoons of hot water.  Set aside.

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.

Stir the potatoes around in the water to release some of the starch, then drain through a strainer.  Pick up a large handful of the shredded potatoes and squeeze as dry as possible. Put into the large bowl.  When all the potatoes are in the bowl, sprinkle on 2 Tablespoons of corn starch and mix in well.  

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes on a rimmed baking sheet.  I put a Silpat on the pan.  Turns out, I should have put on a little grease, something I am trying to avoid.  Still, it would have been a good idea...

When the cooked potatoes are pretty much cooled, or as long as you can stand to wait for the next step, sprinkle in 1 Tablespoon dried chives, more if you have fresh ones, 1 teaspoon of granulated garlic and 1 teaspoon of salt.  Add the re-hydrated onions, including any juice in the bowl.

Mix well then use a portion scoop to make into tater tots which you will put in an air fryer basket and bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes.  Ours were pretty big.  Next batch I will use a smaller portion scoop so they will get crispier.  Even so, these were pretty good!

***The story on "getting low on fun things to eat" is that ten days ago I was reminded how much I had always wanted a WooLee Winder for my spinning wheel so the yarn wool wind onto the bobbin evenly and beautifully.  I found that the price had gone up terribly, BUT, when I looked for my specific spinning wheel (an Ashford Traveller) the WooLee Winder was way less that I thought it would be.  I was mentioning to Dear One that when I got the money together I was going to get it.

WELL!!!  He said, "If you won't spend another penny this month, you can get it."  WHAT?!!!  I checked to be sure he was willing, then I pushed the button!!!  Now the trick is to not spend another penny.  It has been ten days and I have not spent a bit.  It is very hard and there is another whole week to go.  I have had to unsubscribe from several places so I won't get tempting emailed ads...

The good thing is that the refrigerator and the freezer are becoming skinnier.  And so am I!  At the same time as this no-spending thing, I decided to seriously remove all fat from my diet.  This is particularly good because from Thanksgiving to the beginning of February I had gone haywire, eating up a storm of not very good food.  Well, good to the tongue and brain and maybe even heart (as in comfort food...) but NOT AT ALL GOOD for the body.  So, I am now taking off those ungodly pounds.  Yet again.  I am going to try to keep this up until my lab work gets done in April.  The money, though, I cannot commit to stay off spending that long...Not by a long shot!  Though it really is rather empowering to have had ten successful days! 

In fact, I am thinking of subscribing to Misfits Market the first of March, so the spending ban will be broken.  Has anyone done that?  How has it gone?  Thanks.

Family Photo Friday

 Here is a sweet picture that makes me smile. Aren't they adorable children!!  We were so blessed with children with lovely, kind personalities. We are only missing our youngest.  

You can see the wall of the log cabin that Dear One built.  What you cannot see just above our heads is a wonderful plaque my angel sister-in-law made for us as a baby gift when our second son was born.  It said,  "A boy is all God can use to make a man."  I have loved that sentiment for so many years.  Our boys have grown up to be wonderful men. I am so grateful.

Grammie C, from Montpelier, knit the sweaters and vest.  Isn't that the greatest!!!  Now you know another of my knitting heroes...

Wednesday Wildlife

 It is always a delight to see a bird up close and personal on the back porch.  Lately we have had a number of "ground feeders" because of the mess the squirrels made with the bird feeder.  Even though the "ground" is the back deck!

Can you help me decide what this bird is?  I was thinking a young male cardinal but I am unsure.  Whatever he is, I love his visits.

Recycling of Yarn

 Well, actually, this is an afghan that I started recycling last year...pulling out more than two/thirds of the wool and turned it into yarn cakes.  This one of the three yarns I used for the Love Knots Blanket project.  The last third of the blanket was on the couch.  

I have semi-volunteered to do another test knit, but this time I told the designer right up front that I would not be able to finish on time so she could choose to include me or not.  She emailed me back to say that the size I want to knit is possibly not going to be chosen but someone else to knit  so she might be able to use me anyway.  We shall see.  This is the yarn I will use.  REALLY trying to use it up!

This is Hilda Yates' yarn, spun and dyed by Bartlettyarns Mill in Harmony, Maine.  I have used the same yarn many times over past years but now my taste in yarn is gradually shifting to finer/lighter-weight yarn.  Of course, this means smaller needs and longer lives to the projects but the item in my lap will not be anywhere near as heavy.  I feel like a complainer/baby when I say that but it does begin to make a difference.

Munchie Monday: Successful Blueberry Muffin Tops!

 Wa--hoo!!  Two recipes in a row met with applause by Dear One.  Unheard of, really.  This Blueberry Muffin Tops recipe was the first success.

The recipe came from Once Upon A Chef with Jenn Segal for Best Blueberry Muffins.  Go to her website for many more good recipes.  I did make some changes in her recipe, most notably I change milk to buttermilk since I want to use up the buttermilk in the refrigerator so I will no longer be tempted by it...Dear One is a happy camper with the food I have been making for him lately.

Since we were going for muffin tops and since Dear One LOVES blueberry muffins even more than chocolate muffins, I thought I would give these a try.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Get out your muffin tops tin and a portion scoop.  I used a 2-3 Tablespoon scoop. (I will have to measure to see which it really is...)

In a large bowl whisk together:

2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

In a medium bowl stir until smooth:

1/2 cup softened butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 bottle caps vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir gently until all the flour is incorporated but don't take a long time with.

Fold in 2 cups or so of fresh blueberries then scoop into muffin top pan.

Bake for 10 minutes.  Check them.  They should be done. If not, let them go a little longer. Maybe 1 minute more.

This recipe made 12 small and 4 or 5 large muffin tops.  Yes, I did go crazy and ordered a small muffin top tin.  Glad I did, too!

When I went to my camera roll to find a picture to share I found double chocolate muffin tops and corn muffin tops but no blueberry muffin tops.  I will need to make some more soon, I think!

Family Photo Friday

 

Dear One has been digitizing an old photo album.  I am so happy he is doing that.  It is great that we can share the family photos with the whole family.  And others. This photo was taken probably in the spring of 1984.  We have the whole family together.  

You can see the log cabin the Dear One built for us back in 1972/1973 before our marriage in 1973.  Our upstairs bedroom window is showing.  You can see that the log cabin was story and a half so he, who is over six feet tall had to stoop to get into bed.  Well, after a while we changed the position of the bed to be under the window then BOTH of us had to stoop to get into bed.

 

We put up trellising around the "under porch" area so we no longer had skunks, cats, or woodchucks under there!  You would not think cats would be a problem, but THEY WERE!  They thought it was a giant litter box.  Really bad idea.

For myself, I LOVED the log cabin.  I felt no compunction about hanging things on the wall.  Just grab a hammer and some nails and poof: a picture was hung or a little shelf that one of the kids made in shop class.  Or a quilt on the wall.  In our new house, both in Vermont and here in South Carolina, Dear One had definite ideas about how and what gets hung.  Fortunately my sister introduced us to some fabulous  pieces of hardware that you can pound into the wall, more or less, and hang paintings and other pictures.  We had previously used the stick-on picture holders.  They DID NOT WORK!!!  Several times we came downstairs in the morning to a real mess of broken frames and glass shards on the floor.  Very discouraging.

So the kids look really good to me, even though the picture is old and still in the album.  Our oldest son was 10 years old and the baby was coming up to a year.  You can see the cute little shorts and shirt outfit I made for the older boys and passed on down to our final child.  Our daughter is wearing one of the better dresses I ever sewed.  The material was a lovely lightweight summer fabric. I don't think you can see it but I think there were little red dots on the dress.  I loved the little puff sleeves.

It makes me happy to see all their faces which show their personalities in some sweet ways.  Dear One surely looks different without his mustache...

The Mask Thing

 This mask thing sometimes gets on my nerves.  Don't get me wrong, I totally agree with the need to protect ourselves, and others, from any germ-y things hanging out there in the air.  My complaint is that all the masks I have made, or tried, make it hard to breathe AND they fog up my glasses.  I have to take off my glasses when shopping so I can actually see what is on the shelves but worry that I will drop them and not be able to get them again. Or step on them after they fall to the floor, which comes to the same thing.

So it occurred to me that last summer I had gotten a silly hat with a French Foreign Legion towel at the back and a mask in the front, all meant to keep the sun off the skin.  It occurred to me that it would be no worse for a mask than the handkerchiefs I see over some people's faces.  

So I have started wearing it.  Yes. It looks silly.  At best.  But I can breathe and my glasses don't fog up.

This is me in the hat mask in the car...a picture I took to share with one of our grandsons so he could have a good laugh.  Feel totally free to laugh your head off, but not so much that you fall on the floor and injure yourself.  I have not yet had the intestinal fortitude to wear it to Church.  I am not sure if Dear One would be very happy to have me sit beside him in this mask.  What do you think?  Can we still be friends if I wear this in your presence?  It does keep the sun off, too.

Last Time: Love Knots Blanket Update!

 Finally it is finished!  I am so very happy to have it done.  And so very happy that Dear One loves it.  He has had it on his lap almost every time I go into his "room"/"man cave"/tv room.  That really pleases me.

The blanket was designed by Arella Seaton.  You can see her beautiful version on Ravelry.  I was very fortunate to be chosen as one of her test knitters. I was not as fast as I should have been and took five weeks longer than the test knitting period to complete it, but it is now done, and in use!

The version I made, with Bartlettyarns two-ply wool in three different colors, almost completely covers the top of our king size mattress.  It was actually supposed to be about 72" by 72" but that is only if you use the yarn called for and meet the gauge projected.  

May I say I am so happy with the way the blanket came out.  Arella designed a beautiful blanket, wrote up a good, clear, easy-to-follow pattern, and gave good support when requested by test knitters.  If I was asked again, I would knit one of her designs.  I would not use this extra heavy yarn, though.  One Saturday I spent more than eight hours knitting in an effort for finish before the end of the month.  I was unable to knit for almost a week after that.  Live and learn.  The last of the knitting I did only in no more than one-hour segments.  Even today, working with fingering weight yarn on US 3 needles, I am only working one hour at a time to get my body back into shape. (I also found that 90-minute swims aggravated the situation, so those are out the window for a while.  Will I learn?  Maybe.  Pain is rather a strong teacher!)

Munchie Monday: Hazel's Light Cornbread

 The other day I was browsing online and found a recipe for Hazel's Chili.  It looked good so I printed the recipe.  Just after I did that I found Hazel's Light Cornbread!  Lots of people like chili and cornbread so I gave it a try.

Hazel's Light Cornbread via PACC. (I made a couple of changes that seemed to work.)

1 cup cornmeal (We used medium cornmeal.  The texture takes some getting used to... but it really was not nasty)
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
4-6 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup soft butter
1 egg 

Whisk all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Add the egg and milk and mix well using a wooden spoon or spatula.  Add the very soft butter and mix well.

Scoop into a muffin top tin using a 2-Tablespoon scoop.  This recipe made 12 of the small muffin tops and 3 tops in the large muffin top tin using two scoops in each one.

Bake in a 400 degree F. preheated oven for 10 minutes.  Let sit for 1-2 minutes on a rack then remove from pan.

Dear One just wolfed several of them down. I buttered one then felt like that was depraved so I crumbled on in the bottom of my bowl then had a serving of chili on top.  It was really delicious!

Food Friday: Boring Quick and EASY Breakfast

 Today was more oatmeal.  

1/3 cup dry old-fashioned oatmeal
1/2 cup seedless grapes, chopped very fine (in Ninja Express)
1/4 cup blueberries
1 heaping teaspoon Inulin (a pre-biotic that is very low glycemic and quite sweet, if you like that kind of thing...Dear One does)

Mix all these together, except the Inulin which you sprinkle on top.  Dear One pours milk over the cereal. I eat it dry.  It is not that dry since the grapes are pretty well ground up!

Yummy.  Good for you. Quick and easy.

Squirrels: 4,621. Humans: 0. Well Maybe Possibly-1

 We put up a bird feeder on the deck a few weeks ago. I think I mentioned it and was so excited about all the different birds coming to feed.  That was then.  This is now.

We have moved the bird feeder many times.  Each time we move it, we think we have moved it beyond the reach of the three squirrels who feel it is their personal granary.  So annoying.  We want to feed the birds.  Well, as Alissa says, "The squirrels need to eat, too." Yes, they do.  HOWEVER!!  The birds don't seem to get a chance at the seeds nor the suet with seeds inside.  I think the bird feeder is so cute.  It has a spot for suet bricks at each end and plenty of room for seeds inside, easily gotten to by removing the roof.

As you can see, even though we moved the feeder  far away from the chairs, the railings, and the big garden bins, the squirrels have figured out how to ascend the food house and fill their bellies.  We have not seen them do it, but there they are!

SO...ONE MORE TIME.  We moved the feeder on its shepherds crook into the front yard to a position outside our dining room window.  This morning, for the first time in the three days since we moved it, while we were eating breakfast, we saw one lonely bird having a gay old time eating to his heart's content.  Dear One said he hoped the bird would pass the word along.  II hope so, too!  I am looking forward to breakfast tomorrow!

Double Chocolate Chip Muffin Tops

Very recently Dear One told me he likes muffins, but only the tops.  What to do, what to do?!  Well, I went online and immediately ordered a Chicago Metallic Muffin Top Tin.  It came in three days. Sadly, Amazon packaged the tin in a plastic bag instead of in a sturdy box and the tin arrived warped.  I decided to try it anyway. 

You can see that the tin does not entirely touch the counter surface.  Too bad.  However, with this particular recipe, and portioning, the batter did not spew out of the tin.  Thankfully.

The recipe I used came from Mel's Kitchen Cafe, a wonderful blogger who posts delicious decadent treats.  

Double Chocolate Chip/Chunk Muffin Tops

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cups unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

In a large bowl place flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and cocoa powder.  Stir well. I put them all through a sieve to get out any lumps as I was putting the ingredients into the bowl.

In a medium bowl place the eggs, oil, buttermilk, and vanilla.  Whisk gently until well combined.

Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix well.

Add chocolate chips and fold in gently.

Using a 1/4 cup portion scoop, scoop and dump into the 6 wells in the muffin top tin.  

Bake 10 minutes.

Cool on wire rack 1 minute then invert pan and ease the muffin tops out onto the wire rack to cool completely.  Unless you are the only one in the kitchen, good luck on having the tops cool completely before consumption!

The muffin top tin we purchased has 6 wells.  I think you can find muffin top tins with 12 wells, which is probably a better idea.  It turns out that the 6-well muffin tops have 175 calories per top!!  I learned this when I input the recipe into MyFitnessPal so I can add them to my meals and know the nutritional value.  Rather shocking. It was short-sighted to have purchased the larger muffin tops tin. I may have to get the smaller one!