Look What I Made! Muesli!

I had this cankering for Muesli*. 

I like that kind of thing.

I have never attempted this before. 

I mixed chopped nuts with about 4 cups of oats.

(I used a handful of sliced almonds and macadamia nuts.)

I added a bunch of spices. 

You know, like cinnamon and nutmeg and ginger.
I also added poppy seeds. I wanted sunflower seeds too, but alas, I was out.

Then I drizzled the whole bunch with syrup. 

Not too much, just enough to moisten it up.

I baked it in a 175 degree F. oven 

for about 25 - 30 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. 

Once I deemed it "Done" I took it out, 

let it cool and added unsweetened coconut flacks and dried cranberries. 

It seems even Bunny approves of it! 

But she may just be picking out the cranberries!

*For the original recipe click here.

Fall Concert in Little Town

The Fall Concert was this week. My Lulu is in choir. She loves it! I'm so happy because I was in choir.

Since I was in 4th grade, I have sung in a choir. Well, up through high school anyway. I'm not all that musically inclined and I'm sad to say that none of my kids have had much music lessons either, so band was a little much for her. But choir is fun. And she loves it! And that's all that matters to me!

I wanted to share the night and thought it would be fun to Embrace the Camera at the same time. So here is me and Bunny waiting for it to start. 

Our school is small and the high school and Jr high are in the same building. So the concert included both schools. First the Jr high choir sang, then the high school choir. Next the the Jr high band performed followed by the high school band. Everyone did so great. It was such a great night. 

Bear and Bean, and "baby Dinosaur, Sophie" being so well behaved. For the most part! 

Jr High Choir. They did so great for their first concert! I'm so proud!

Jr High Band. I'm so impressed with these kids! They must put a lot of time in to practicing. And I know so many of them do sports too! Way to go!

And Lulu, it was her night after all! I just can't get over how fast she is growing! She is an inch shorter than me and her feet are bigger! (That's good because I got most of my shoes back… most of them anyway!)

Our Orange Aspen

We have a section of aspen trees in the grove just to the south of our field that have orange trees in it. Not orange trees as in the fruit, but aspen trees that turn orange instead of yellow, in the fall. The grove has some of the oldest trees in our area. I have heard, however that orange aspens are a sign of illness. I have no idea where I heard this from. I guess I need to do some homework! 

Adventure Man wanted to take some pictures of them before they blow away. It's very windy up here on this mountain and a good wind storm will strip the fall color in one night. Leaving behind the stark, gray winter forest that makes me think of a Witch's forest.

Adventure Man wanted to take some pictures of them before they blow away. It's very windy up here on this mountain and a good wind storm will strip the fall color in one night. Leaving behind the stark, gray winter forest that makes me think of a Witch's forest.

The view of our house and the guest ranch from the trees.
All these pictures where taken by Adventure Man

 I want to share with you the beautiful color with Sarah 

for Orange You Glad It's Friday at Hood Photo Blog. 

Enjoy! 

I Took My Cat For a Walk

I went out to the barn to take this picture the other day of the first day of autumn. 

I left the garage door open and the cat had been inside. He followed me out. 

When we lived at the Other Ranch he was an indoor, outdoor can. He was young and a good mouser. He was also a good ground squirrel-er and rabbit-er. My little garden grew very well for all the critters I buried there. 

But here we are right on the ranch. The guests pass our house on the way to the horses. Their kids play at the ranch park, in our backyard. So the day Adventure Man came to have me bury a decapitated rabbit that was left on our back step, he decided the cat had to stay in. (Not to mention the threat of mountain lions, coyotes, bears, and zombies.) Really it's for the good of the cat! 

But he's a Siamese cat. And he has a Siamese cry. MmmEeeeAaawww. Once I woke in the night and thought a child was crying "Mama!" It was just the cat in the hall. He makes me crazy! He walks down the hall where the hardwood floors have a great echo effect. There he tells the world what a sorry kitty he is. In fact, even as I type this he is off somewhere crying like a baby. Oh, he has food, and water…. Just no justice. 

He is allowed into the garage. Where it would be nice if he caught a mouse. Sadly, squirrels also get into the garage. Apparently he doesn't really like to eat mice. But he can't finish a squirrel! So we trap mice in traps and he leaves bloody squirrel messes for me. 

No really! Once, the whole floor was covered with blood. Like he had slit a throat and just let the animal flop around. It was like the feline mafia had just had a shake down. 

"You talk'n to me?"

"Ah, Forget 'bout it!"  

So, I walked out and the cat just followed me. Stalking a long, never getting too far from my side. It's is as if he knows it's not safe for him here. He is out of practice. He's no barn cat. He never was. He is a fat house cat who wants to sit and snuggle. Seriously, we should have named him Romeo! 

Mr. Neko 

He used to be a great hunter. But now he is old and confinded. He spends more time sleeping and eating and coughing up what he just ate. It's a hard life being an old cat.

Bunny in the Garden

Bunny wants to go into the garden. 

She pulls on the gate until I come and unlatch it. 

And she's off! 

She loves it in here and wants to show me everything she finds. 

I go grab a few stems of chard for lunch. (Sshhh! Don't tell the cook!)

This isn't my garden (Even though it's in view of my kitchen window)! 

It's the Ranch's garden. 

The organic veggies they grow here are served to the guests. 

But they have a lot of swiss chard, I love swiss chard!

Bunny comes to get me. 

She wants me to see something.

Is it the onions?

No, not the onions.

Where are we going? 

Oh, is it the squash?

No, not the Squash. 

Is it the rhubarb?

No, not the rhubarb. 

By the way, I have been told to take as much rhubarb as I want! 

It's been taking over this garden for as long as 

the ranch has been planting here! 

~~~~~

What the heck do you make with rhubarb??? 

What was I doing? Oh yeah, Bunny! 

What did you find?

A ladybug! How Fun!

There were a few beds left unplanted this year and I'm thinking I will ask for one next year as a family plot. We were just too busy this year… will next year be better… probably not! Ha!

Lost and Found

I found it!
Orangie, My camera!

I mentioned before that I had lost it and now it's found. I'm so happy. Not being able to take pictures on a regular basis was killing me! It was actually Lulu who found it. It was in the side pocket of my swim bag. The bag I carry around to the pool, with spare diapers, crackers, fruit snakes, goggles and things. Do I feel dumb or what!?

I remember going out to the car, the day after we had taken it to Big Town. I remember it was in my hand while I walked into the house because I remember thinking how hot the camera felt and I had the thought that I hoped it didn't hurt it. That was the last thing I remember. But now that we have found it, I think I know what I did. The next day we were having a pool party for my daughter's birthday. I put it in the bag, so I would have it for the party.

It's a waterproof camera and we love getting great underwater shots of the kids as well as awesome dive board shots.

Adventure Man

It also takes really good close-ups and landscape pictures. I've used it with all my wildflower captures.

wild rose hips 

And sunsets. It seems to like orange, just like me. Plus, having an orange camera helps if you loose things often. It's a good bright color that stands out on a cluttered counter top of a dark bag… well, usually!

SO I had it with me ALL THE TIME! Ugh!
Hahahaha!

The Little Sip Cafe

This is my hopping little cafe that has got my sugar tub running on empty! This was taken this spring, before all the hollyhocks where in bloom. We aren't quite as busy these days.

Sunday Afternoon With My Darlings

I've been wanting to take some photos of my kids and last Sunday afternoon was the perfect opportunity. We all headed out to play after lunch and the kids still had most of their Sunday attire on. 

Not all of my kids participated, but 3/4's isn't bad! 

Here are some of my favorites! 

 Bean. 

She was standing at the edge of the world, 

taking it all in with her artist's eye. 

She turned to me and I started snapping. 

 Bear. 

Having a moment of fun on the pogo swing.

Bunny. 

Into everything and always on her way. 

She was escaping the deck and off to the swings. 

She's not big enough to swing solo, 

but she sure thought she was cool when I sat her on it by her big self! 

I've used the Nikon D70, but I must confess, I do not know what I'm doing!

What. Is. That. SMELL?!

It all started the day my brother and his family were here. I walked into the living room and said, "What is that smell?" They all looked at me as if they had know idea what I was talking about. OK. My brother has 3 boys. Three teenage boys. Maybe that's just their boy smell.

But I wasn't convinced... At All.

These boys are good looking kids and they practices good hygiene. I was pretty sure it wasn't them.

Our living room is the log cabin, a one room home that was once owned by one of our wrangler's grandparents. Whether they lived in it year round or just used it for a hunting or vacation cabin I don't know. Perhaps I should ask! The rest of the house is an addition. And really quite nice for an older home. The only complaint we have is the lack of bathrooms. No wait, we DO have bathrooms, what I mean is we don't have enough. Really we just wish there was a master bathroom.

The next day the smell was stronger. Can you really not smell that? They didn't seem to notice. By this time I knew what it was. It was a mouse. A dead mouse. I know that smell, I have a cat! I started checking the traps. The one behind the wood burning stove was still set. The one under a cabinet was tripped, but had caught the extension cord. I'm guessing that was from yanking the standing fan in front of the screen door too many times.

I had put out more traps just a few nights ago because I had seen a mouse run past the stove at 3 AM when I was up with the baby. He had come out from under the T.V. and had paused when he saw me in the big chair. I had paused too. I don't think it was for the same reason. But maybe it was. Maybe when a mouse sees a human, he gets a shiver down his spine. The hairs on the back of it's little neck stand up. But then again, maybe not.

That night I put out a lot more traps. But the next day I took them all down again because we were having a birthday party and I didn't want to trap party guests. Or gross out any moms. I checked all the corners where I thought there might be a forgotten trap but found nothing. The smell was getting worst. I could hardly stand to be in the room. Adventure Man couldn't smell it! My sister-in-law couldn't smell it. She asked what it smelled like and I told her, "a dead mouse!" No one knew what I was talking about. I tried, for the sake of our guests to not complain. To not say something. What if  I was wrong! What if teenage boys really DID smell like that! Heaven help us all when our girls start dating… when they are 29…

It wasn't until the day after my brother, his wonderful wife and all those great boys left that we found it. Bean bent down to the speaker next to the T.V. Then she come and whispered in my ear that she found the mouse. There was one more trap, in one more corner that I had missed. And it had been there for at least 4 days in a room  without AC in the hot summer heat.

I threw it all away, trap and all. I scrubbed the area, and let is soak to loosen that which was stuck to the floor. That was when Adventure Man walked in and said, "I smell it now!"

Darn Right You Smell It! And I Cleaned It UP!

I am happy to say, that my living room smells much MUCH better. And it wasn't my teenage nephews at all!

Say it With Chalk

Have you ever noticed how labeling things can make a place look more orderly? Even if it's not? I am always trying to get "organized" but really, well, I don't really know what I'm doing! So when a friend of ours asked for help with photographing her labels from her etsy shop, I thought, "Sure! I'll give it a try."

These aren't your regular labels though, she's selling chalkboard stickers that are used for labeling. And you know what, they are really cool. She only asked for pictures, she never even knew that I blog, but I had so much fun with them that I thought I would share her shop, Chalk and Talk, with all of you!

What she needed was these Lunchbox Kits photographed. They come in different shapes that you can choose from, but I mixed them up. The idea is to put the larger "board" on the inside of the lunch bag so you can send a message. I usually do this on a napkin, but this is just cute! Unfortunately, we didn't have a lunch box that fit the label, so I cut it in half and stuck it to the outside of the bag. Hehe! I asked my oldest if she would mind carrying that around. She said she wouldn't, but I'm not sure she was telling the whole truth. Still, it's pretty cool! And I can inform her what's in the thermos. See, "Today's Special" in the picture below.

When I told her I would do it, I wasn't really sure what I would do. Then, the day they came, I realized that there were somethings I had been using sticky notes for. My kids would stack their coats on any hook and that meant that other people where loosing their coats, under someone else's. This of course would start an argument. So I had hung sticky notes over each hook so they knew which one was theirs. And only theirs. So that was the first to go!

The vinyl sticker sticks right to the wall. It looks just like a chalkboard. 

To write on it she sent a "chalk ink pen" that rubs off with a wet rag. 

Once the fun had began, 

I set to work labeling other things that were just calling out to be identified in our household:

Spices, (my two favorite)! Ah, my garlic that no one can find because I keep in it that little pot. 

Well, no one would find it if anyone else used my kitchen! 

The mail. 

That way, if anyone other than us ever wanted to know who read what magizines… 

well, there you go. Please note that I put the bills in "His" slot! 

And the postcard from my brother from Niagara Falls in mine! As it should be.

This one made me laugh. 

I have a marble collection and a rock collection that I keep in these jars, 

on my bookshelf in the living room. 

So of course, they needed to be marked and labeled 

in case anyone ever wondered what they were. 

 And also note that I didn't actually label where the different craft items go. 

That would be far more organized than my little brain could handle. 

But, in case you couldn't tell, there are crafts in the cool beer bottle carrier. 

The matching tub that was originally intended for an ice chest for an "orange party" 

is where I keep the hats, scarves and gloves in the winter. 

Now this all works because I can erase the writing and mark it "Ice and Drinks" when we have a party. 

Which will probably happen next week when my daughter has a birthday. 

So keep your eyes open for it in a future post! 

And this was probably the most useful label I made! I bought herbs this year, but can't remember which are which, so I kept the stick that was in the pot at the nursery. But I have a toddler who moves everything! In fact, I had to search under the deck for them just to make these labels! 

I really do like how it all turned out, and am planning on doing some more labels for things in the pantry (like flour, sugar and powdered sugar) and toy room, if not for others, than really just for me. Cause I like it!