New Year Blue Moon

Last night before I went to sleep, I cranked open the window for a little fresh air.  My eyes glimpsed the sight of the nearly full moon on the snowy white landscape and it was absolutely breathtaking!  I wish you could have seen it.  It was an eerie yet glowing, inviting light that made me want to go for a walk just then.  I should have.  I hope you saw it, but if you didn't, I hope you'll take a little time tonight to look at the New Year's Eve Blue Moon which won't happen again until 2029.  Did you know, however, that blue moons do come around more often than every 19 years?  The next blue moon happens in 2012.  A blue moon simply means that there are two full moons in one month.  The kids and I have been observing the moon and blue moons together for many years and  have always taken note of them in our nature journals.

Yesterday our pastor came by the coffee shop where my Only Daughter works and said, "Hey, did you know that there will be a blue moon on New Year's Eve?  Blue Moons only come around once in a lifetime, you know."

My smart lil girl knew better than that since her family is devoted to sky watching and nature study so she replied, "I'm sorry Pastor, but you're facts are wrong on that.  I've seen a few blue moons in my life and I'm only 23." 

To her retort the pastor remarked with a grin, "Well, you home schooled kids think you're so smart!"

Smart?  Well, let's just say... observant!

Happy New Year Blue Moon!

One in a New Year Blue Moon article

I'm going get my camera out for a NYBM picture tonight and I'll post it here if I get it.  Cross your fingers!

....the last of these

The New Year is almost here

and the last of these lovely hand dipped chocolates

(a gift from the Middle Child, J)

will be had with coffee this afternoon.

I don't want a bit of temptation left in January.

New Year's Eve will be spent with family, playing cards, burning the Christmas tree, eating good food, laughing and talking, and we'll  be setting off a few fireworks to celebrate another year's passing and a new year's coming.  Together, we always make a Top Ten list of events for the year which is a very good way to review and remember the old year.  The list carries the blessings and gifts, the joys and sadnesses, the people in our lives and those gone from our presence on this earth.
Every day is a gift.  Enjoy each one as He gives it.

Back to basics: the whisk & can opener

My electric hand mixer died.  The whisk came out.  It has been awhile since I've used a hand whisk to mix heavy whipping cream..  Talk about an arm and wrist work out!  If I whisked cream every day I could use enough calories to afford to eat it.  Giada De Laurentiis admits that she had one arm, her right, that was far more muscular than her other due to the constant whisking that she was required to do in cooking school.  I believe it!

This morning the whisking job was not so hard....just waffle batter which I beat with a whisk anyway.  So far I haven't any plans for whisking a dozen egg whites for angel food cake but if I do, I'll pull out the Big Gun -- the Bosch!  He's still running like the Macho Man he is. 

I used to keep a hand-crank beater like this

for times when the electricity was out or when I wanted to beat something quickly.  I ought to look into purchasing another one.  The gears on the one I had before got messed up and I didn't think I needed a replacement.  Plastic gears just don't hold up.   I do love a whisk, but I'd like to find a stainless steel variety.  I like to throw mine in the dishwasher and that makes for a little rust on the ones I own now.  Not nice.

While I'm talking about tried-and-true basic kitchen tools, there's another Kitchen Helper I'm proud to own.  Just this month I decided it was time to retire my Swing Away hand can opener which I had been using in my kitchen for the likes of 10-15 years.  It still worked, but wasn't as sharp as it once was and tended to leave some of the lid attached to the can.  I thought surely I'd never find one like it out there with all the years that had passed by.  Isn't that the way it is?  Well, I went on the Amazon website to look at the can openers that people are using nowadays and to my surprise, I found a Swing Away just like mine!  For $8.99 I replaced Old Reliable with New Reliable.  I even bought four more for stocking stuffers for my kids!  The eyes rolled a bit, but I know one day they will appreciate their Swing Away as much as I do.


"Cut round on the top near to the outer edge with a chisel and hammer."  Directions on a can of roast veal in 1824

Winter feeding...

click photos to enlarge

Livestock gets fed every single day, especially now when there is enough snow on the ground that it doesn't allow for natural grazing.  S and I went out to feed together and so I brought along my camera to click a few wintry pictures of our critters.  Here you see the bucks (male sheep) getting a little bit of alfalfa cake.  Cake is a pressed or compacted feed of grains or in this case, alfalfa, which is high in protein and energy.  We feed alfalfa cake to all our livestock -- cows, bulls, sheep, horses.  We also feed loose grass hay through the winter months.



Ewe Sheep (females) are coming up to the truck for their share of cake.  Some of them are so gentle that they will eat from our hands.  A few of these girls are a bit "wool blind."  That means that the wool has grown over their eyes and makes it difficult for them to see.  Lucky for them, sheep are herd animals and they graze and live in a herd at all times.  They rarely venture off on their own unless they are lambing (having their baby lambs).  The wool blind sheep rely on the voice of their fellow sheep to keep them within the herd.  Sometimes we "eye" the sheep.  That means we shear the wool from their faces so they can see through the winter months since snow and ice can stick to the wool and make it even more difficult for them to see.

The sheep are all circled up eating their cake.  We feed them in a circle or in circles-within-circles depending on how much cake they need.  The circle keeps the sheep together and helps them to find their feed easily.

Here the herd bulls are nibbling on their cake in a track that S made before pouring out his bucket of feed.

I love seeing the hungry cows coming up to us for their feed.  See how perky their ears are?  All attention is on us because we have the breakfast!

 I wanted this picture to be from afar to reveal the wide-openness of our prairie.  Here the mature cows are being fed their daily  hay by tractor.   We went down to feed them cake too.  I love being a rancher's wife.  Did you know Justice Sandra Day O'Connor lived on a cattle ranch in Arizona when she was a girl?   Here's a little biography on SDO.

I wanted to be a cattle rancher when I was young, because it was what I knew and I loved it. 
~Sandra Day O'Connor

Blizzards and peppermint candy canes....

It has been a cold, windy, blustery, blizzardy Christmas.  The storm we thought was only going to drop 1 or 2 inches of snow and pass on decided to get stuck over us and swirl around and around and dump a whole lotta snow on the plains and hills.  (It feels very North Pole-ish here)  We probably received a foot of new snow on top of what we had but it is very difficult to measure when the winds are whipping at a sustained 35 mph.  Blizzard.  The ski resort that is an hour and a half from us got a whopping 50 inches of snow.  A new record.  The kids are excited to get up there with their snowboards.

We were blessed to get out on Christmas Eve to attend Candlelight Services at our church and then gathered with our kids  at my parents' home for a nice prime rib dinner.  Oh, it was so lovely.  The night was cold, but quiet and calm, just like you would imagine  a Christmas Eve to be.  But after the drive home, the blizzard conditions descended.

Since Christmas Eve, we've been in the house playing lots of cards and cribbage.  I've been sniffling and sniveling with a little cold that just leaves me feeling tired.  Nothing serious, but today I decided I needed some soothing as well as a little decongesting.   I watched one of the boys sucking on a peppermint candy cane and thought it would be just the thing for me.  Peppermint always makes me feel better whether I'm all stuffed up in the nose or if I have a tummy ache.  I thought hot peppermint tea would be just the thing to sooth my throat and nose, but I didn't have any.  I did, however, have a bottle of peppermint oil so I put 2-3 drops in my tea mug and added a little bit of honey and water just off the boil.  It was the perfect soothing treatment I needed.  I also added a few drops of peppermint oil to the pan of water that is on the wood stove adding a little humidity to the dry air in our home.  The smell wafted through the kitchen and living room and just gave everything a fresh "flavor."  I'm feeling  much better.

The blizzard passed this evening at about supper time.  I'm looking forward to a little sunshine tomorrow.
If you have more candy canes than you can eat, check out this recipe for Candy Cane Syrup from Storybook Woods!

Oh Christmas tree...

O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
How richly God has decked thee!
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
How richly God has decked thee!
Thou bidst us true and faithful be,
And trust in God unchangingly.
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
How richly God has decked thee!

The Christmas tree carries reminders of loved ones and Christmases past.

The children made Baby Jesus in a walnut shell many years ago.

His name is Wonderful -- Jesus, Son of God.

It is a miracle of miracles that the Infinite

should become an infant.

~Charles Spurgeon

Blue Christmas....

I sat down this morning to have my cup of coffee in my rocking chair and read from my Bible and as I glanced up to the big window, I saw blue.  I knew that the light was just right to give everything a blue glow and so I lept from my chair to immortalize the very moment and colors.  The first snapshot is with the flash.  Do you see how wonderfully the light reflected upon the falling snow?   Light glitter!

And here, I took the same picture with the flash off.  The landscape still glows with soft blues but not as deeply as the first picture  How blessed are we to see the light in so many different colors and reflections.  I'm thinking of how I should reflect the Light of Jesus who lives in me and through me.

We have been experiencing heavy frost here on the plains and for us, that often means the snapping of branches and limbs from the few trees and the snapping of power poles and lines.  As I was at the chicken coop yesterday afternoon, I walked by the Great Elm that has been providing shade for chickens for probably 100 years and I heard a startling crack and down came a limb from atop the tree.  I've been hoping that this old guardian of the chickens will not lose his great arms, but I know all things cannot live forever.

Great Elm standing over the chicken coop and granary

Last night the power dipped, dipped and dipped again as we sat eating our supper and then all went black.  Thankfully we had a candle lit on the table.  We ate by candle light only and then the men went out to start up the tractors and the generators.  I am always so grateful for Hubs who had the good wisdom to provide us with generators to keep us up and running when the power gives out. Two years ago we were without electricity for 19 days in a row and although we did have a generator, it wasn't much.  Now we are much more prepared to sustain ourselves should it happen again. 

The weatherman is predicting snow and high winds for much of the area so we are assured of a white Christmas and more possible power outages.  White Christmases often mean no travel.  We will see how it all plays out in the couple of days for children getting home and for Christmas Eve services.

Wishing you all the Love and the Light of the World for Christmas.
His name is Emmanuel, Jesus, Lord.

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.  And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.  ~John 1:4-5

Crab salad in shells....

The recipe and presentation has all come about due to my sweet son-in-love.  It is his mother's crab salad recipe which she shared with me over M's graduation lunch.  Son-in-love had a crab salad appetizer served in jumbo shells that he told me about.  I thought it was a brilliant idea so I copied, and the results were scrumptious!  The recipe, which I will share, is one of those that must be tasted as you go and may also be altered according to your tastes, but I will list the ingredients for you to mix as you like.  By the way, since we are plains dwellers and our local grocery stores are geared for the ranching community, I settle for the imitation crab without reservation.

Tammy's Crab Salad

1 lb. crab meat or imitation crab
REAL mayonnaise
chopped celery
chopped black olives
chopped green onions
bacon bits
grated Monterrey Jack Cheese
salt & pepper to taste

Mix it to your liking.  The longer the salad sits in the frig, the more the flavors come through.  Serve in cooked jumbo pasta shells.  The salad is also delicious by itself, as a sandwich salad, or rolled in tortillas as a wrap.

Sew Be It generosity....

I recently nominated my friend Joyce from Plain Ol’ Vanilla  to receive recognition for her giving spirit in the arts of sewing at Sew Mama Sew.  Joyce is a retired home school mom and a wonderful sewist who is constantly working to learn new sewing skills and shares her talents with others. This year she started a class for a group of area home school girls who wanted to learn the basic skills of sewing. Joyce organized a whole bevvy of projects for these girls to complete. They are enthusiastically learning and loving the art of sewing which is a gift in itself. Recently a stack of fabric was donated to them and Joyce had the brilliant idea to use the girls’ sewing skills to make pillowcases for The Sheepfold, a shelter for abused and homeless women and children in the area. Joyce, the girls, and their moms gathered for a Pillowcase Party and made 44 cases for the shelter. Not only has Joyce given of her time and her skills, but she has planted the seeds of giving in the hearts of her Sew Be It girls too. Little acorn seeds grow into Big Oaks. Thanks Joyce!  God bless the work of your hands and the gifts from your heart.

Read about the Pillowcase Party here.

Cones, paint and glitter...

It really takes very little to satisfy me...just a few pine cones, some paint and glitter will do the trick.  My son-in-love, Hubs, and I gathered a few pine cones from the forest on our Christmas tree cutting trip this past weekend.  It took a little doing, digging beneath the snow for them, but we came out victorious.  The cones weren't the prettiest, but I fixed that by painting the tips with white paint and then sprinkled on some clear glitter whilst they were still wet.  I scattered a few cones here and there in the house and then decided to make a simple garland with them using a hunk of twine.  I unraveled a long piece of twine and snipped it to the length I thought I wanted (and then some extra for tying).  I simply wove the twine in between the bracts of the cone and tied them on, lining them up next to each other.  I was going to use ribbon and do something like this, but decided I'd keep it simple and rustic.  I'm happy.