daily yarns 'n more

someone had a birthday

Mr had a birthday.  I made him a Black Forest Cake from the Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog.  It was very good but very big, at least too big for just the two of us.  So, I divided it up to share with our neighbors, and they all seemed to appreciate someone bringing a cake to their door.

on the design wall

I'm not sure where I got this pattern called Log Cabin Hidden Stars from.  I started this top awhile back and finally picked it up again, and right now it's up on the design wall, half sewed together.  Camping last summer I brought a blanket from home and told Mr one night that I'm going to make us a quilt to take camping.  I bought a Glamping Jelly Roll from the quilt shop in town that went out of business, unfortunately that makes two quilt shops that closed in our small town, not from lack of business, but both from health issues in the family.  When I saw the Glamping Jelly Roll I knew that was what I wanted to use for our camping quilt.  I will be putting on a couple of borders to make it a bit bigger.

Okay, I almost bought white for the stars...white...for camping...nope that just wouldn't have worked.

I hope I get it finished before we go camping again.

chickens 2016

Making sure the brooder is all set before we bring the chicks to their new home.

Well everything with the brooder is okay so it was time to get the chicks.  I could hear them chirping as we opened up the truck door.

The feed store owner recommended for us to give them warm water when we got them, so the little things wanted to hang around the water cooler for warmth.  I had to keep taking them out of the water and after awhile I would take them and put them near the warming area to get warm, and finally they figured out where they could get warm.

Standing back and watching the chicks check out their new home.

When I went to check on them later they were doing great and seemed to be adjusting the their new home pretty good.  When chicks are stressed they will do a lot of chirping, and walking into the barn I hear only a few chirps coming from the brooder.

All is good :)

today's the day

Today the meat birds arrive.  Mr is heading out right now to get them so it will be a busy 6-7 weeks with them here.

I thought I'd update you on the progress of my egg shell plantings.  These were taken a few days ago and since then a few more have popped out.  Now to get them transplanted into bigger containers, they are not ready to plant outside yet as we are still having very cool temps.

I received a package in the mail and showed Mr my new lens I bought.

Totally faked him out :)  It's a coffee mug for traveling.  How cool it that eh?!  It's the perfect size for me and fits perfectly in the cup holder of his truck.

Did I fake you out on the lens coffee cup?

I'm off to get myself going so I can help with the chicks and take some pictures to show you their arrival.

springtime

A close-up of the eagles.

It's still looking pretty drab around here and I'm enjoying the blogs that are showing photos of the pretty flowers that are blooming in their areas...sigh...soon.  At times it doesn't even seem like spring has arrived at all, we've had the wood stove going a couple of nights ago.  Speaking of things arriving, we are expecting to get our meat birds on the 14th or 15th depending on when they arrive at the feed store, and we are ready.

an easter sunday drive

On Easter Sunday we went for a wonderful brunch, we left early and took a scenic drive to get there.

We passed through Amish country.

I hope you enjoyed the scenic drive we took and the sights we saw along the way.  We have had more company come and right now we are dog sitting for our son and daughter-in-laws dogs while they are at a wedding in Minnesota.

betty witt's frosting

I've been going through some of my old recipes trying to organize the ones I want to keep and get rid of the ones that I know I'll never make.  Every time I found a recipe I hadn't made in a long time I'd go "Oh, I remember this recipe", and if someone walked into the room they'd wonder who I was talking to.

Anyway, the recipe that brought back a lot of memories is a frosting recipe called Betty Witt's frosting.  That's all I've ever known it as, I got it from my mother-in-law and she said they called it that because they got it from Betty Witt :)  I made this recipe a lot over the years when my children were young, and Mr remembers it I think not only from me making it but from his mother making it as well.

So I just had to make it again and would you believe it tasted just like I remembered.

 

    Betty Witt's Frosting

2 Tbsp Flour

2 Tbsp Milk

2 Tbsp Butter

2 Tsp Vanilla

1/2 cup Shortening

1 Egg White

1/2 Tsp Salt

2 Cups Powdered Sugar

 

Mix ALL together in order.

 

life in the hills

It's that time of year again when the calves are being born.  I love driving past the farms and seeing the new births.  This morning we woke up to fog coming up from the valley.  The seedlings I've planted aren't going to have the best start as we haven't seen the sun for a couple of days.  So, right now they are under a lamp and I'm hoping that will help get them started.  Right now it's snowing out...WHAT?!?!!!!!!  It's not sticking but it is coming down...sigh!  Oh what an April Fools joke.