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Friday, January 2, 2009

Nari........... must......... have.....

........the Birdie!!

How to keep a cat out of trouble for hours upon hours? Throw a little bird seed just out side the door and you have "Bird TV" just for cats!

Is there no end?!!

Little over half the snow has melted off, heavy rain all day yesterday which turned to snow late at night. Now we have another 3" of wet sticky snow.
Sigh ~~~~
The roads in the low lands are a solid sheet of ice. DH had to go to work today as we can't afford him taking any more time off.
That last snow storm, I was told by the neighbors, (since they were able to check, when I could not), was 4' deep...not counting the snow drifts! Last time there has been snow like this in this area, was 19 years ago.
No wonder the horses, donkey and alpaca's were not happy and refused to go any where that the snow wasn't packed down.
Of course this kind of weather has made me want to garden, so I have bought the Veggie seeds for the spring already. VBG

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

No Salt added foods~ oh my

Its bad enough I can't eat foods with dairy in them but one can get around that and still have tasty food to eat.
But having a "No Salt added" diet is a pain. People just don't realize that having a diet of 1000mg or less of salt a day is nigh on impossible in this day and age. One slice of store bought bread and a little ketchup can be over 1000mg of salt per day!
*
So if I want bread, any kind of bread I have to make it.
Oh how I miss having bacon or sausage!! Bacon sadly is a thing of the past but my search was on for a Sausage with out standing flavor and I think I finally ironed it out.

Bangor "No Salt" Sausage

1/2lb lean ground pork
1/2lb Veal or very lean ground hamburger
1/2 to 1 package of no salt Ritz crackers crumbled fine
1/4 tsp blk pepper
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp Mace (can be hard to find so ok if left out)
1/4 tsp ground thyme
1/4 tsp ground Sage
1- large egg well beaten
6oz of Veg shortening or Pork fat
*
Mix together Well- pat into circles or link rounds and cook in pan with a little more shortening until as near to golden brown as you can.
You will be surprised how well this tastes.

Also working on my Chili recipe but right now I just have the ingredients in my head. Will post my recipe as soon as I can.

For all of you out there,, I am still looking for a good tasting Ketchup that is 60mg or less per serving! If you know of a brand please tell me!

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Over 2' of snow ~ The snow event Dec 08

This photo was taken before I got sick and the main part of the snow coming down.

We have not seen a snow like this, since we left New Hampshire. Impressive to say the least. No power off and on and the longest time without power was 2 solid days and nights, not good up in the hills with a want'a be Fireplace. But we had to make do to stay warm and keep the pipes from freezing.
Just glad I keep a supply of Bee's wax candles and Lamp oil. Because I will tell you.. stores on this side of the country don't keep them in supply. Silly I know, seems like folks never think events like this will happen and run around like ants on a hill trying to find supplies that just aren't for sale.
I had to order another supply of Lamp Oil from Lehmans, which is on the other side of the country. Like to stay stocked up on this kind of supplies because you never know when you will need it.
I am so glad we have the old Tractor, if we did not, we would of never made it out of the driveway. Being able to plow our drive so we can get out, is priceless!
Of course during the number of days of this Snow Event, I had the flu and couldn't go out and take photos but here are some taken from the house.

It is hard to tell the depth of the snow from the photos but you are looking at 2'+ of snow...plus the inch or so ice under all of that.

Have not seen Icicles since we left NH,, some of these are 3' long and DH had to knock a few off.........after he walked into them coming out the back door. ;O)


Knock on wood, the old ugly shed is holding up, so far.


DH trying to get the gate open to feed the horses while DS and I were ill. Had to clean the snow from around the gate twice a day.

There are farm implements under all that snow...




A winter wonderland.... rather see it in pictures or drive up to it.


The far hay field and woods as seen from the inside of the house out the window. Fence is all'bout buried.




It finally started warming up today.. Icicles are all but gone but we still have a whole lot of snow. I do not mind a bit of snow but this is just too much!

I can't tell you how happy I will be when I can see green grass!

Friday, December 19, 2008

more snow pictures







Can you say...snow!?

OK,, I know for most in other parts of the country...snow is the norm and not a big deal.
Here...no one knows how to drive in the stuff..even if it is only 1".... make it 10 1/2"......and.....what a mess.
Beaufort...not impressed

Our woodlands and the hills beyond.
All the Alpacas are not impressed.
Bored horses....though they do like playing in it at times.
And..... heres the other fun part... we are supposed to get 6 more inches by tomorrow.
Did I say I love my heated water trough and buckets!!LOL

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Dancing through the snow~~~




On my twit of a horse......sigh.. they don't call Icelandics, the sports car of the horse World without good reason.
Decided to go out for a ride.. snow is starting to melt,, bit warmer at 35*. So I get Dyfra tacked up and we start out. DS can't get the main pasture gate open because there is too much snow.OK.. fine.. I will just putter about in the night pasture. Ha ! Dyfra had other ideas.. She was doing her... Oh my G** oh my G**... thing. :p So I look around to see what might be bothering her. You would not guess what it is... This is the horse I take into the woods and still sitting in the saddle, prune limbs and branches off trees, which fall on her and all about her .. drag branches and so on off the path with me still riding...........and she doesn't care.
*
She didn't like the horse killing snow falling off the tree branches.:grit:
*
By the time DS tooks some of the pictures we pretty much packed the snow down.

So instead of the nice relaxing ride I was wanting... I got Dashing through the snow... Circles, figure 8's... .. until she finally calmed down an hour later. Sigh ~~Just glad she is very steady on her hooves and she has no issues with traction in the snow.

At least I wasn't cold,,, nothing better than Military clothes and a Charles Ownen Beta 3 Safety Vest under ones jacket.