CREEEEEEEPY..............

Thea dora to my web is open...............
Isn't she a beauty! I spotted her several weeks ago over in the shop. I sat and watched her for over thirty minutes as she repaired her web. I came back later in the evening to snap some photos. Countrychick walked over to the shop with me. She started doing the creepy spider dance when she saw our little friend here. I had to get pretty darn close in order to take the photos and Countrychick was behind me the whole time saying things like.....mom, don't get any closer.....Mom, your to close......MOm, that thing is freaking me out......MOM, THAT SPIDER JUST MOVED.....and then she ran screaming from the building. Countrychick HATES any kind of spider! While snapping photos, I decided to name our little friend here, Theadora. The name seemed very fitting.

Notice the very large red hour-glass on her tummy..........I have seen a lot of Black Widows over the years, but I had never seen one with such a vivid and pronounced hour-glass. Do you have the willies yet from looking at the photo??????? Look out.......she might get you!!!

Have a Spooktacular Halloween!

EEEEKKKKKKKKKK........

That is the sound that started my week!! It all started on Sunday evening while watching TV. I heard a nose in the kitchen and assumed that one of the cats was playing with a cat toy. Several minutes later, Countrychick's cat ran into the room and frantically tried to get under the love seat. He kept running around the love seat in a circle, trying for all he was worth to squeeze himself under it. I started to laugh thinking it was cute and then it dawned on me what was going on.....Mook Man ( the cat ) had a mouse!! A real live mouse opposed to his toy one that he usually bats around. Countrychick was sitting on the love seat at the time. I told her to bang her foot against the seat to see what would happen....sure enough, a little brown streak ran across the floor from the love seat to the entertainment center. The mouse was now under the entertainment center and three cats were hot on its heels! Shopcat and Stinker each ran to opposite ends of the entertainment center and took up watch. There was no way they could get under the center to get at the mouse. Mook Man paced in front of the center like a mad man.....he wanted his darn live toy back!! This was all taking place at 9 o'clock at night. Hayman came out of the bedroom to see what all the racket was about. He chuckled and told me to place a sticky trap under the entertainment center and that would solve the problem. Yeah......right!

( Goliath...A.K.A. Mook Man after he gave up on getting the mouse back )

I got a sticky trap, placed a cracker on it and shoved it under the entertainment center. The cats refused to leave their posts and dutifully watched for the mouse to come out. I figured if the mouse was brave enough to come out during the night, then the cats could handle the situation. Off to bed I went..........only to dream about mice running across my bed!!

( Stinker on mouse watch ) The next morning, I was up early and both Stinker and Shopcat were still at their posts on opposite ends of the entertainment center. I was just heading over to check the sticky trap when Countrychick yells from the other room......"Mom are you missing a mouse trap?" Whaaaaat.........how could the mouse trap be missing if the cats were still posted in their respective spots????? I headed into the kitchen and was met by Countrychick who was holding her cat, Mook Man. He had the sticky trap STUCK to his tail!! I burst out laughing and the cat gave me a dirty look.....I'm not kidding, he stared me down and then growled at me. We had to remove the trap, which took a lot of the fur off Mook Man's tail. Then I had to cut some of the sticky part away, so now he has a bald spot on his tail. All we can figure is that he had gone behind the TV center in the middle of the night to find his live toy and as he turned to get back out, he swept his tail under the low edge and got the trap stuck on his tail........Dumb cat must have walked around all night with the thing stuck on him.

After getting the cat taken care of, Hayman decided it was time to move the entertainment center and remove the mouse ourselves...........right!! Easy, piece of cake, NOT!! He poked around under the center with a stick, the mouse ran out from under the center, between the cats legs and under the big couch. Suffice it to say that we spent the next hour trying to get the mouse out from under various pieces of furniture.......it was not a pretty sight. At one point, Hayman started throwing pillows........he, he, he. I had a laughing fit and the the mouse ran across Countrychick's feet! Then Hayman grabbed a broom and the mouse vacated the house through the front door. The photo below is the direct result of our little mouse adventure. What a great way to start our Monday........


After our morning of fun....Hayman and I headed off to town to pick up a few needed items for his up coming hunting trip this weekend. Made a stop at the post office and there was a package waiting for me. It was from my dear friend Oregontribal1 The package sure smelled good. When we got home several hours later, I opened that package.........she sent me ham and cheese crackers. Ha, ha, ha, ha.....not really, but check out her cool shipping box.

Inside that very nifty box was a bag of coffee beans. Dutch Bros. coffee beans!!!! I love their coffee and she always brings me a bag of the Decaf. coffee when she comes to visit. This bag of beans was for Hayman.........not decaf and guaranteed to give him a jolt on those early mornings during the hunting trip. Thank you Oregontribal1...........=)

The rest of the week has played out like this.........spent the rest of Monday cooking with Mrs. B, preparing various meals for the hunting trip. Spent Tuesday in town with Countrychick and my mom. Counrychick had an orthodontist apt, then we all went out to Cowboy M's new house to have lunch. Cowboy M bought a house and the deal closed about three weeks ago. He is one proud home owner! Wednesday saw me back in town for a meeting. Today, I have spent the day catching up on various household chores, blog reading and baking. I made six dozen cinnamon rolls for Hayman to take on the hunting trip. ( they leave on Saturday ) I used Cocoa's buttermilk roll recipe......OH MY HEAVENS......you must hop over to her blog and get this recipe. It makes a lot, but my oh my, are they ever delicious!! Thank you Cocoa for posting such an easy, wonderful, yummy recipe! Tomorrow, Friday, finds Countrychick and I back in town for a homeschool field trip and grocery shopping. What a week..........I'm pooped!!!

Caramel Apples.....From Scratch

Yesterday I made caramel apples.......from scratch. I try to make these at least once a year, usually for our Fall bookmobile gathering. This recipe is so easy to do and the caramel stays soft and chewy on the apples. The ingredient list is very simple.......apples, brown sugar, Karo corn syrup, butter, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, a pinch of salt and wooden sticks to put into the apples. (I just use craft sticks....you can buy them in a large box and you will be able to make caramel apples with that box for the next, oh say ten years or so..........the box I bought had 500 sticks in it........I bought that box eight years ago!)

Wash and dry your apples. Remove stems and place a stick in the center of each apple.

Place butter into heavy 3-quart saucepan. Melt the butter over medium heat. Be sure to pay attention to the butter so you don't brown it or burn it.

Once the butter is melted you will add in the brown sugar..........

Then you will add the corn syrup and a dash of salt.......I use Kosher salt. Mix well with a wooden spoon. Bring to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly.

Add the condensed milk..........


At this point, you will continue to stir the mixture over medium-low heat for about 15 minutes. I know this seems like a lot of time to stand and stir......but it is so worth the effort!

Someone will call in the middle of your stir-fest and want you to make him sandwiches. You can't stop and make sandwiches for someone because you can't stop stirring......so you call help into the kitchen and you make them stir while you make someone sandwiches for his lunch. Someone had to take his lunch and eat it while driving tractor.......someone is doing fall field work and didn't have time to stop for lunch. Help in the kitchen is always a good thing...........thank you Countrychick for not letting the caramel burn.


After you or your help have stirred the mixture for about 15 minutes, the entire surface should be gently boiling..........see the gentle bubbles in the photo...........the mixture should look like that.

Remove the mixture from the heat and add in the vanilla and stir well.

Dip each apple into the caramel mixture, turning to coat the apple. I do not go all the way up to the stick with the caramel......I like to leave a little of the apple peaking out. Bring the apple up out of the caramel and let the excess drip back into the pan. Place the apples onto a buttered cookie sheet or plate to cool.


The end result is ooooohhhhh soooooooo goooooood!!!! Now go make some caramel apples from scratch and enjoy the fruits of your labors........................................happy eating!

Caramel Apple Recipe

14 small tart apples

1/2 cup butter

2 cups packed brown sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk

dash salt

1 tsp. vanilla

Wash and dry apples. Remove stems and insert wooden sticks into apples. Melt butter in a 3 quart saucepan. Stir in sugar, corn syrup and salt; mix well. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Stir in condensed milk. Cook, stirring constantly, for 12 to 15 minutes ( mixture should boil gently over entire surface ) Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Dip each apple into caramel mixture, turn to coat. Set on buttered baking sheets to cool. Makes 14 coated apples. Yummy!!

Yesterdays Afternoon Drive

I had to make a trip out to the hwy. late yesterday afternoon to meet a friend. She was kind enough to bring something that I needed from town on her way home. She lives up the hwy another 15 miles or so, but must drive right past my turn on her journey home. Before I left the house, I grabbed my camera.......I have become very good about remembering to take my camera along these days. On the way back home as I topped the hill overlooking our valley I noticed how the sunlight was hitting the sand dunes off to my left........the photo turned out way to bright, but I wanted to show you what you would see when you first top the hill and come down into our valley..........this shot is looking to the left of the road.

Then you swivel your body slightly to the right with the camera and this is what you see..........

What a contrast between the two photos and they are located in the same valley!

Down by the big sweeping curve in the road, I spotted these blowing gently in the breeze. When I got out of the car to take the photo, I was overwhelmed by the smell of sage.................

I got back in my car and headed on up the road.....the school bus was coming off the hill and I didn't want to get stuck behind it.......I don't like sucking on dust all the way up the road! Just as I was about to put the camera away, I spotted this lovely doe standing in the neighbor's alfalfa field.....we usually just see lots of antelope standing around in the fields. Seeing this does was a treat.......she stood still until I got close to the fence then she took off across the field.............

She was very healthy looking and a beautiful sight to behold on a fall afternoon............

Off to safety she ran.............and off I drove to the warmth of my home.

Imagine My Excitiment

When I discovered that I had been given two blog awards over the weekend. WOW!! I was speechless.....well not totally speechless because I went running from the room to tell Countrychick that I had received two blog awards. I was totally excited! I was running around saying things like....."they like me out there in blogger land," and "Bloggy Buddies are just the BEST." Countrychick thought for sure I had gone 'round the bend....................

*************************************************************************************

So now I want to thank both gals that gave me the following awards. Scrappy, thank you so much for thinking of me and for stopping in to read my blog. I always love your comments. You are so sweet and I LOVE your blog too.
Thank you Adventure Girl for giving me this award. This makes me feel special. ( both awards make me feel special :) I LOVE Adventure Girls blog too.......her photos are amazing. So go on over to both of these blogs and check them out.............they are special gals and I hope to call them my bloggy buddies for years to come.So I'm passing on the LOVE to the following Lovely Ladies. They each are wonderful and have such fun, creative, interesting, and lovely blogs. I know some of you have probably received these awards before, but I just want you to know that I truly do love each and everyone one of your blogs and I thank you for your kind words and encouragement that you leave in my comments section. It means so much to me..............Now, here is my list that I'm passing on to:

Midlife By Farmlight

Chocolate On My Cranium

W.O.W

Oregontribal1

Redhoodoos

Little Egg Farm

Colleen

So here are the rules:

1. The receiver can put the logo on their blog.

2. Link to the person you received your award from

3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs. ( I'm so new to all of this, that I'm passing on both awards to all that are listed. )

4. Put links to those blogs are yours

5. Leave a message on the blogs you have nominated to let them know you have given them an award.

Okay, everyone have fun. Thank you to all that come here to read and leave a comment. IT really does make my day...................=)

Ever Get The Feeling..............

That you are being watched.................Meet Princess Pumpkin and Pumpkin Fred. They have been watching me for the past several days. I have been stuck in front of the laptop working on a project. Countrychick decorated the pumpkins a few days back and placed them where they could watch me. I started talking to them yesterday..........carrying on a conversation like a crazy lady. Princess Pumpkin is so kind with her input about my project, very supportive she is. Pumpkin Fred on the other hand is a bit negative about things..........he likes to grumble a lot.

I must return to the project now and get my nose back to the grind stone. I just needed to take a short break to let everyone know that I'm loosing my mind! Talking to mini-pumpkins is evidence of that! I have not had much time to read blogs the past few days, but I hope to catch up on that this evening.

A Happy Sunday to all.

Picking Up, Hauling & Stacking....The Final Haying Installment

After the baling of a field is complete the bales are picked up using the American Eagle bale wagon. This is Haymans favorite job. This fancy piece of equipment makes the clearing of a field of hay so much easier. Hayman already had a few bales on the truck when I started taking photos..........Here he is coming towards me, getting ready to pick up the next bale.
The bale wagon travels through the field at about 10 mph. Hayman does not have to stop the truck when he is picking up the bales, but moves through the field at pretty steady rate. He can bump a bale to move it into position, then the claw will grab onto the bale.

The claw reaches out and clamps down onto the bale, then lifts it up and onto the truck. It is a very interesting process to watch. Once the bale is slid onto the truck, Hayman will pick up another bale and it will be stacked on top of the first bale. Then they are pushed back to start forming the stack on the truck.
The truck will hold ten bales, stacked five high. It takes Hayman about six minutes to load the truck, then he heads to the stack yard to unload the stack.
Hayman is off to complete the load and I head over to the stack yard to await his arrival..........

Hayman arrives in the stack yard to unload his load of hay. He lines up with the stack and backs in...........

As he is backing in, he drops the bed of the bale wagon so that the stack on the truck is parallel to the large stack.

Closer, Closer and Closer to the main stack.......................

Then as the truck touches the main stack, Hayman drops the load to the ground and extends the push off foot to hold the stack in place as he pulls away from it.

Push off foot at work in photo below............then Hayman heads back out to the field for another load. It takes between four and five hours to completely clear a field, depending on tonnage, length of haul to and from field and road conditions.
The finished product............a nice straight hay stack! ( Hayman is a perfectionist when it comes to the stacks! )
The stacks will now await the semi trucks to haul them to the dairy in Idaho. All of Mr. B.'s hay is sold to one specific dairy in Idaho.

In summation, the boys put up around 750 acres of their own hay, four times throughout the summer. They also pick up around 500 acres of custom hay work for friends and neighbors. The motto the boys adhere to during the summer is....."High Speed and Low Drag."

If you have any questions, feel free to ask, Hayman loves to talk about what he does for a living. ( and he'll talk to you about his favorite hobby too............fly fishing. )

Wordfull Wednesday

My Worst Fear is..............

Flying!

( Click on the photo below to see the detail. I took the photo on a camping trip while reclining in a chair one evening in the late fall. I wondered at the time, what it was like for the people on the plane........what were they seeing, where were they going?? )

I have never flown in my entire life. I have never boarded a plane or even sat in one that I can remember. All I know is this, I have had a fear of flying since I was a small child. I mean very, very small child. Where this fear comes from, I can only guess. But it lurks within me, my fear of flying! The smallest thought of flying does odd things to me........panic sets in, my heart rate picks up and goes wacko, the world tilts, I get dizzy and feel the need to run, run, run far, far away..........I'm not kidding, its bad!! I'm afraid I would fail one of those, "we can get you over your fear of flying" courses.............I would be like Meg Ryan in the movie French Kiss and go crashing through the door of the flight simulator. They would refuse to give me my money back because I would have destroyed the inside of the fake plane while trying to claw my way out! On my 10th birthday, we had lots of family over for a day of fun........my birthday falls on July 4th, so it was a good time to have a fun summer get together............Uncle Bill flew my Grandpa, Nana, Aunt and cousin over for the day. He offered to take me up in the plane later that day. I was excited at first.......we drove to the airport, I saw the plane and I refused to go up for a flight. I remember that in a very vivid way. The same thing happened in college........Hayman has a friend who owned his own plane.......they were all going flying........I made it to the airport.........then I stood frozen to the ground with all sorts of horrid images flashing through my head...............Hayman and friends flew off into the wild blue yonder and I stayed behind with my fear. I drove home, shaky and defeated, then I waited by the phone for Hayman to call for me to come pick him up from the airport. When Hayman's mother had her heart attack several years back.........he flew alone to AZ. to be with her...........I watched him board that plane, taxi out and take off..........the kids thought it was great fun to watch all of that.........I had vivid crash scenes running through my head.........I could barely drive out of the airport that day. The amazing thing that day was the fact that it was a three hour drive for us to get home and when we got home, there was a message on the machine from Hayman........he was already safely on the ground in AZ. Wonders of all wonders........I just can't get past the fact that my body must leave the Terra Firma, the safety of the ground, in order to experience such fast and speedy travel. I would much rather drive to where I am going..............and I know what the statistics are about driving, don't even tell or remind me or I might never drive again..........just kidding......well maybe.

Okay, so Hayman now works for Mr. B. and Mr. B. can fly a plane. They have offered to take me up for a flight...........I have thought about it a lot........but I'm so afraid that I will repeat the past......drive to the airport, stop dead in my tracks, horrible crash scenes flash through my head and there I stand frozen to the earth once again. I will be 40 years old soon.........maybe it is time I face this fear and win! ( I'll think on it..........and don't even get me started on my airplane dreams..........I don't want to go there and I might scare some of you!! ) Or maybe I am just not meant to fly and never will.............only time will tell.

(You should hop on over to Chocolate on my cranium and check out her Wordfull Wednesdays. Also you should see the photo she did.......it really does look like poor Countrychick when she sees a spider. )