My Dad

My dad went home 1 year ago today. This picture of Dad sitting at the fireplace is one of my favorites. He built that fireplace in the late 70's. He loved having a fire in it.

I can't believe he's been gone a year! It seems like it was 'just yesterday' when he died. But on the other hand, it seems like he's been gone for so long. I really miss him. So much.

So I picked out a few pictures, but couldn't just pick one or two. lol

So in memory of my dad, here's some more of my favorite pictures:

My dad gave great bear hugs. :)

I sure do miss you Dad.

Yellow Bird

Dd came in last week saying we had a little bird on the fence that wouldn't fly away.
Dd was outside with Dh & our 2 German Shepherd dogs. One of the dogs actually went up to it & sniffed it, while he did this his nosed actually touched the little bird & he rocked back & forth on the fence. lol Otto (the dog) was called back & he obeyed & left the little guy alone.

I came out with the camera & snapped these pictures.

I wonder if he must have just taken his 1st flight out of the tree, & then didn't know how to fly back up. After a few minutes his mother (or father) started calling him & he'd call back. It was pretty neat. I recorded some of it. We went inside & then checked an hour or so later & he was gone. I 'spose his momma came down & showed him how to fly back up into the tree.

Also--We've had almost 2 inches of rain this weekend, thankfully! We needed it SO bad as you can see by the grass! It was crunchy brown grass.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Peanut Butter Cookies
This is just your basic peaunt butter cookie recipe. It is the recipe we used in jr. high home ec. class. So it's from about 1977.



Peanut Butter Cookies
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. peanut butter
1/2 c. crisco
1 egg
1/2 t. vanilla
1/4 t. salt
1 1/4 c. flour
3/4 t. baking soda
Cream crisco, sugars, & peanut butter until smooth. Beat egg & vanilla & add to creamed mixture. In seperate bowl add the flour, soda, & salt. Add dry ingredients into the creamed mixture & mix well.
Roll into balls & put on ungreased cookie sheet. Use tines of fork to flatten.
Bake at 350 for 5-8 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes before removing.
I love these warm, right out of the oven. I usually double this recipe & it makes a few dozen.

4 Baby Birds

We now have 4 baby birds. We didn't know if the 4th egg was going to hatch. There had been a problem with it. It had somehow got knocked out of the nest, down into the flower basket.

After a few days my dh put it back. So, we didn't know if it would hatch or not. We didn't know what to do with that egg....if maybe the mother had knocked it out, knowing it was a bad egg?
Or maybe one of the dogs hit the pole holding the basket as they ran by? We thought we shouldn't mess with it, but then one day dh decided to just pick it up & put it back.

Some time yesterday, it hatched! :)

BABY BIRDS!

We have baby birds!


Last evening after we picked up dd from camp, my dh saw them. I grabbed the camera & took these while the mother chirped from the black walnut tree. I was not this close, I used the zoom.

Dh told me this morning that a 3rd one had hatched. But I haven't seen it yet as the mother has been sitting on the nest. Again, I wasn't really this close, it was the zoom.

I'll see if we can get pics every few days.

Egg Salad

I love egg salad on toast.

I just use mayo, a little squirt of mustard, salt & pepper, garlic powder, & diced onions. Oh, & I add finely chopped celery, or a little celery seed....just a little though, in my opinion, too much celery seed is a very bad thing. lol

Friday Felicities

In honor of Natalie Rose York:
Friday Felicities
1. My family
2. My friends
3. A good book
4. Weather that brings relief. (usually cool temps & rain!)
5. Peace that surpasses understanding

Chili Cheeseburgers

Here is a little bit of magic in a can:

Really, I was never a chili cheeseburger type of gal.
I am now. :)
We also add a little worce sauce & some liquid smoke to our hamburger. Makes it taste just like an expensive hamburger you'd get in a steak house.
I usually put ketchup & mustard on my hamburgers. But not if we're opening a can of chili! lol
I like a thick slice of onion, then the cheeseburger, big spoonful of chili, & a mess 'o pickles.
And we like to butter the bun with garlic butter & toast on the grill.



MMMMMMMM........
Finger lickin' good.
:)


***edited on 2-16-08
I can no long find Steak & Shake Chili in a can since the e-coli scare last year.
But any chili will work.

More eggs

Monday we saw a 3rd egg.

Tuesday makes 4 eggs!

And in the picture below, the mother is on the nest. But I don't know if you can see her with the picture this small. I know that she is there, just so hard to see. There is a flower blossom in the center of the bottom of the picture. About 2 inches upwards, she's there...but she sure blends in! If you know how to make the picture bigger (I don't, lol) you may be able to see her. You can see just her head.

Viola hanging basket suprise

My mom got me this hanging basket back in April. We hung it out at the garden.

Saturday I brought it up near the house to sit in the shade & pick off the blooms. (not all the blooms, just the 'past prime' ones) In about 15 minutes I had about 3/4 of it done (there's lots of blooms!) & I had to seperate the middle because it was so thick.

I got a big suprise!!

After getting all excited...lol

I hung the basket back up. I searched the net trying to identify it. It's too small to be robin eggs, these are about the size of jelly beans. Plus, it has black speckles on it.

Then Sunday afternoon our 4 year old son yelled to me that he could see 2 eggs in the nest! (I have since told him to stay away from the basket. lol)

I also read on the net that mother birds do not lay all the eggs at once, but only 1 a day.

I just went out to check, but I couldn't see in the nest because the mommy was there! She's very tiny & brown. I think she's some kind of sparrow. I put the camera on zoom & took a picture, but you can't see her. And, dh told me there are 3 eggs this morning!

This will be fun watching the nest!

(and now I have a new subject on my 'blog'....LOL)

From the Freezer

Turkey Noodle Casserole with Spinach
6 ounces noodles (1/2 package "no yolk" noodles)
1 package (10 ounces) frozen spinach, thawed & drained
2 T. butter
2 T. flour
1 t. salt
¼ t. prepared mustard
¼ t. black pepper
1 c. turkey or chicken stock
1 c. milk
1 c. mild cheddar cheese, grated
2 c. diced turkey

Cook noodles following package directions; drain. Into noodles toss the thawed & drained spinach.
In a saucepan over low heat, melt butter; blend in flour, salt, prepared mustard, and pepper. Stir until smooth & bubbly. Gradually add milk & stock, stirring until thickened; remove from heat & stir in cheese until melted.
Pour over noodles & stir to coat. Pour into 8 in. square baking dish. (I used a round 9 in. pan. Could even use a deep dish pie pan.)
Bake at 350 until hot & bubbly.
OR-
Make this a few days after thanksgiving & instead of baking, freeze it. I made 4 or 5 different turkey casseroles & froze them. But so my pans wouldn’t be tied up in the freezer, I read a tip that you could freeze it in the pan you are going to be baking in. Once frozen, you can remove it from the pan. (I lined my pan with foil so it could pop out of the pan easier, but then I did have to peel some of the foil off that had frozen to the casserole, but it wasn’t that hard) Then re-wrap the frozen casserole really well. Then tape a note to it with baking instructions & which pan it goes in.
To bake this frozen, bake at 350 for an hour & a half, or until bubbly. I baked this covered with foil so the top layer of noodles wouldn't get hardened. I think I stirred it a few times too.

I did take the foil off the last 10 minutes or so.

See? It had been in the deep freezer for a little more than 6 months. It's fitting right back into the pan I had frozen it in.

And here it is topped with shredded parmesan cheese, & served with Ritz Cracker broccoli casserole & sliced apples. (I know it was 2 casseroles & 2 green things...but it was still good. lol)

When the family asked what was for supper & I replied with "turkey casserole from the freezer", they all looked disappointed. lol But it turned out they all LOVED it. It was really, really good. It felt like a free meal, because it was from leftover turkey from last year...lol...& it was sure easy to pull something out of the freezer & just bake it.

This could also be made with chopped broccoli. I don't know...I may have one with broccoli in the freezer. lol I think I have 2 different turkey casseroles left in the freezer.

Eclair Dessert

1 box graham crackers
2 small boxes instant vanilla pudding
3 1/2 cups milk
1 (8 or 9 ounce) cool whip
chocolate icing

Butter a 9 x 13 pan. Layer bottom with whole graham crackers. Make pudding as directed except use 3 1/2 c. milk. Bend the cool whip into the pudding. Pour half the pudding mixture over the graham cracker layer. Layer another layer of graham crackers on top of the pudding.

Top that layer with the rest of the pudding mixture. Top with one more layer of graham crackers. (so you have crackers, pudding, crackers, pudding, then crackers)


Then frost with chocolate icing.

Chocolate icing:
2 squares semi-sweet chocolate, melted
3 T. butter, softened
2 t. white corn syrup
1 t. vanilla
4 T. milk
1 2/3 cup powdered sugar





This is the hardest part of the recipe:
Cover with foil or plastic wrap (careful not to get in icing) & refrigerate for 24 hours.
It is so hard to wait a day to eat this! LOL