December 6, 2018
In October President Nelson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints encouraged the women of the church to read the Book of Mormon before the end of the year and mark the references to Jesus Christ. As I have done this I have found different reasons this was good for me. I have noted characteristics of Jesus and the many, many times some are noted, and explained. I have noted how truly loving He is. This past week I have noticed how awesome it is to read of His birth, life and death as we celebrate his birth. It is interesting that we don't just celebrate his birth on one day, we celebrate for weeks. It is great as his birth, life, death, resurrection and Atonement have such a profound affect on every day! I can not image my life, without his. Would I be overwrought with guilt at all times? Would I have the strength to do even a small portion of what I have done? Would I have any purpose to life? Would I fear death constantly? Would I mourn and grieve inconsolably for those that have passed on? Would I have any direction? Would I have family or friends in my life? Would I have any love, happiness, joy?
I am grateful for His life, His example, His teachings, His love, His Atonement, His Grace, His long suffer, His death, His resurrection, His words. I am thankful for Him. He lives!
Thursday, December 6, 2018
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
Snow, Snow, wonderful snow
November 28, 2018
Snow, snow, snow
We have had several flurries, but today we got an ok snow. Enough to build snow/dirt men/women.
I forgot how much work it is to get dressed for snow and undressed, not to mention trying to roll balls in the leaves, dirt, etc. It was fun though and our daughter enjoyed picking sticks for arms, rocks for the eyes, and a carrot nose.
Snow, snow, snow
We have had several flurries, but today we got an ok snow. Enough to build snow/dirt men/women.
I forgot how much work it is to get dressed for snow and undressed, not to mention trying to roll balls in the leaves, dirt, etc. It was fun though and our daughter enjoyed picking sticks for arms, rocks for the eyes, and a carrot nose.
Friday, November 16, 2018
One Hen over the Coocoo's nest
November 16th
The new hens from a friend... One has decided she does not want to sleep in the coop. We expected to have to put them in the coop the first night or two, after the first night they went into the coop themselves, but the last couple nights one (Lady aka Dark Meat, the Black Sex Link) has decided she does not want to sleep in the coop. She prefers a Pine Tree at the edge of the property. Her wings are not clipped, nor are several of the others, so she can hop/flap/fly up the fence and settle on the top of the fence or in the tree. Three nights in a row I pulled her down and put her in the coop, but last night even though we searched we could not find her. Sure enough this morning she was back but on the other side of the fence, talking to her friend through the fence. I walked around behind her and she headed to the front of the coop area and got herself trapped between me and the Broody Coop. Using a box I lifted her over the fence and she took off across the field to join her friend (Bazooka aka White Meat, the Aracana). I will be interested to learn if she decides to do the same thing tonight or not.
November 28, 2018
After multiple nights in the cold and several frustrating hunts for us and rescue missions to get the chicken back in the field where the food and water is, we finally clipped "Dark meats" feathers. For those unfamiliar with this, this is similar to cutting a persons nails, where that person likes to use the nails. Not painful, just frustrating for the bird to not be able to flutter/fly. We only clipped a few flight feathers so nothing that should impact her ability to keep warm. She has now decided the coop is not so bad and is making friends with a couple chickens to snuggle up to at night.
The new hens from a friend... One has decided she does not want to sleep in the coop. We expected to have to put them in the coop the first night or two, after the first night they went into the coop themselves, but the last couple nights one (Lady aka Dark Meat, the Black Sex Link) has decided she does not want to sleep in the coop. She prefers a Pine Tree at the edge of the property. Her wings are not clipped, nor are several of the others, so she can hop/flap/fly up the fence and settle on the top of the fence or in the tree. Three nights in a row I pulled her down and put her in the coop, but last night even though we searched we could not find her. Sure enough this morning she was back but on the other side of the fence, talking to her friend through the fence. I walked around behind her and she headed to the front of the coop area and got herself trapped between me and the Broody Coop. Using a box I lifted her over the fence and she took off across the field to join her friend (Bazooka aka White Meat, the Aracana). I will be interested to learn if she decides to do the same thing tonight or not.
November 28, 2018
After multiple nights in the cold and several frustrating hunts for us and rescue missions to get the chicken back in the field where the food and water is, we finally clipped "Dark meats" feathers. For those unfamiliar with this, this is similar to cutting a persons nails, where that person likes to use the nails. Not painful, just frustrating for the bird to not be able to flutter/fly. We only clipped a few flight feathers so nothing that should impact her ability to keep warm. She has now decided the coop is not so bad and is making friends with a couple chickens to snuggle up to at night.
Sunday, November 11, 2018
Cheaper by the Dozen?
November 11, 2018
A friend of mine did not want to care for her chickens over the winter, she gave them to us.
One is an Aracana, a smaller whitish bird, the other is a Black Sex link
(FYI Black and Red Sex link are named such,
because you are suppose to be able to identify their sex at birth by their color).
My friend's family called the Aracana Bazooka, and the Black, Lady.
My sweetheart and our son have nicknamed them White Meat and Dark Meat.
I have not taken pictures of them yet.
They are pretty skittish right now and run when I come any where near them.
Here are pictures of their breeds though.
| Aracana |
| Black Sex Link |
Sunday, October 28, 2018
Bread
October 28, 2018
I have long enjoyed baking fresh bread, rolls, cookies, muffins and assorted other things. I do not do anything gourmet, just basics, but I enjoy it.
Lately I have been learning about other types of baking. Gluten free for my brother, and sourdough for my husband.
I have dabbled a little in each in the past, but yesterday I had a good baking day. I made "San Francisco Sour Dough Bread" It took several weeks to grow a starter, then 3 days of mixing and waiting to have the bread ready. I think my sweetheart felt it was well worth it. I do think it turned out well and the loaf was gone by the end of dinner....
I have been learning about Gluten Free baking. Things like Grain vrs. Starch flours, the 40/60 ratio. I was mostly successful with baking powder/quick rise items like muffins and cookies, but failed over and over in yeast breads. I found a recipe online that is literally called "Gluten Free Bread that Doesn't Suck" There are a couple sites out there with it, with very minor variations, I actually did my own variations on it. One calls for a ground Chia seed, one an dry egg substitute, I used plain gelatin. It is intended to help with the texture of the bread. Having had so many fails I did not want to totally forgo it, but I had gelatin on hand and did not have the other items that can be used for egg substitute for texture. Interesting to me, there are eggs in the recipe but the extra egg substitute supposedly is still needed. The name told the truth. It truly was Gluten free Bread that did not Suck. It was pretty good. Soft and spongy. I love that the internet has several places with similar things, and you can compare and contrast and learn different things from each. For example the Chia seed variation suggested putting one loaf of bread in a pan in the freezer and defrosting and raising it later to bake so you only have one fresh loaf at a time, but can mix up both at the same time. They also suggested mixing batches of the dry ingredients all at once to make it faster to make other times.
The egg substitute variation explained why she used it and I figured out the Chia seeds must serve the same purpose, years earlier I learned you could used plain gelatin as an egg substitute and a binder in gluten free cooking. FYI you can also use flax seed in a similar manner.
I also learned that when the bread seemed to be getting dark, it was ok, and that Gluten free bread needs 4 minutes of mixing, no more, no less, and lots longer to raise than many other breads...
Now I want to make Great Harvest Cinnamon burst bread. I read online you can make your own cinnamon chips for the bread (and to use in muffins) for less than the ones you buy and then you don't have to worry about it if/when you can not find them in the store anyway. I want to try to make the cinnamon chips and then the bread. YUM!!!
Maybe we can even make Gluten Free Cinnamon burst bread, that doesn't suck...
I should have taken a pictures of the breads... maybe next time.
I have long enjoyed baking fresh bread, rolls, cookies, muffins and assorted other things. I do not do anything gourmet, just basics, but I enjoy it.
Lately I have been learning about other types of baking. Gluten free for my brother, and sourdough for my husband.
I have dabbled a little in each in the past, but yesterday I had a good baking day. I made "San Francisco Sour Dough Bread" It took several weeks to grow a starter, then 3 days of mixing and waiting to have the bread ready. I think my sweetheart felt it was well worth it. I do think it turned out well and the loaf was gone by the end of dinner....
I have been learning about Gluten Free baking. Things like Grain vrs. Starch flours, the 40/60 ratio. I was mostly successful with baking powder/quick rise items like muffins and cookies, but failed over and over in yeast breads. I found a recipe online that is literally called "Gluten Free Bread that Doesn't Suck" There are a couple sites out there with it, with very minor variations, I actually did my own variations on it. One calls for a ground Chia seed, one an dry egg substitute, I used plain gelatin. It is intended to help with the texture of the bread. Having had so many fails I did not want to totally forgo it, but I had gelatin on hand and did not have the other items that can be used for egg substitute for texture. Interesting to me, there are eggs in the recipe but the extra egg substitute supposedly is still needed. The name told the truth. It truly was Gluten free Bread that did not Suck. It was pretty good. Soft and spongy. I love that the internet has several places with similar things, and you can compare and contrast and learn different things from each. For example the Chia seed variation suggested putting one loaf of bread in a pan in the freezer and defrosting and raising it later to bake so you only have one fresh loaf at a time, but can mix up both at the same time. They also suggested mixing batches of the dry ingredients all at once to make it faster to make other times.
The egg substitute variation explained why she used it and I figured out the Chia seeds must serve the same purpose, years earlier I learned you could used plain gelatin as an egg substitute and a binder in gluten free cooking. FYI you can also use flax seed in a similar manner.
I also learned that when the bread seemed to be getting dark, it was ok, and that Gluten free bread needs 4 minutes of mixing, no more, no less, and lots longer to raise than many other breads...
Now I want to make Great Harvest Cinnamon burst bread. I read online you can make your own cinnamon chips for the bread (and to use in muffins) for less than the ones you buy and then you don't have to worry about it if/when you can not find them in the store anyway. I want to try to make the cinnamon chips and then the bread. YUM!!!
Maybe we can even make Gluten Free Cinnamon burst bread, that doesn't suck...
I should have taken a pictures of the breads... maybe next time.
Saturday, October 20, 2018
Super Brother builds again
October 20, 2018
Super Brother is building a playhouse for our youngest child. He first built it as a modular frame in the shop then this past week has moved it outside and been assembling, framing the roof, and adding a door. You would think he has done tons of things like this but really he hasn't. His super brain just figures things out.
Super Brother is building a playhouse for our youngest child. He first built it as a modular frame in the shop then this past week has moved it outside and been assembling, framing the roof, and adding a door. You would think he has done tons of things like this but really he hasn't. His super brain just figures things out.
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