Sick, very sick.......

Uuugggg...me and Terry are both down with the crud, no fun, hoping to be feeling better soon....:-(

Wonderful Brunch Recipe....

Today was a lazy kind of day around here, but I finally got up and fixed something to eat, and ended up making a delicious brunch. I made a Bacon and Cheddar Puff Pastry Quiche. It turned out great, and of course, I had to fix fried potatoes with onions and cheddar to go with it....Yum!

                                                   Bacon and Cheddar Puff Pastry Quiche

1 Sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed

6 eggs

6 slices bacon

1/4 cup chopped onions

2 cloves minced garlic (optional)

1/2 cup whipping cream OR 1/4 cup plain yogurt mixed with 1/4 cup milk

1 cup shredded cheddar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375*

Place the puff pastry sheet in an 8x8 inch baking pan, covering the bottom and sides. Cut the bacon into small pieces and fry to a crisp in a skillet, remove to paper towel to drain. Reserving some of the bacon grease, add onions to skillet and saute for about 8-10 minutes on med-low heat, or until very soft but not browned. Whisk together the eggs, cream or milk and yogurt, salt and pepper. Fold in the garlic, cheese, bacon, and onions. Pour into pastry crust and bake for 30 minutes or  until eggs are set and edges of puff pastry is golden brown. Let rest for 5 minutes, cut and serve with fried potatoes on the side.

I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I thank everyone for being a part of our life through this blog, and I hope everyone continues to visit throughout 2010 for lots more fun and adventures sure to come! Here is a picture of Ruby and Woody, they say Merry Christmas too!

A Nice Day To Work The Mules....

The weather was really mild here today, in the mid to upper 50's, and since Terry is off work for a couple weeks, he took advantage of the warmer weather. He harnessed up John Boy and Billy, and worked them a little bit, before we had a Christmas Eve dinner with a couple of our good friends. Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas Eve!

Greta says Merry Christmas!

I made soap!.......well, sort of......

I finally got around to doing something I've always wanted to do---make soap. I already make our own laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, and shampoo & conditioner, so I thought---what about soap? Making your own soap and detergents save A TON of money, and they work just as well if not better than the pricey store bought varieties.

But, this is just a "rebatch" made from plain 'ole regular Ivory soap. You melt it down, add scented oil and coloring and re-mold...very easy. And, it smells wonderful! I am gonna test these, then maybe make some for Christmas gifts. Next, I will tackle making soap from scratch, cooking it with the lye, curing it, etc....we'll see how it turns out!

Some people really disgust me and make me ashamed to be part of the human race.......

Recently here in TN, the US Humane Society rescued 84 horses from two idots who were starving them, with several more horses already dead. Here is the news story where they make themselves look like even bigger idiots by saying the horses were not starving and were fine! And, to beat all, they have a lawyer and are going to sue to get their horses back. I hope it is a cold day in hell before these men are even allowed to own any more animals, much less get the ones they nearly killed back. Here is the link to the video:http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/category.asp?C=125220&clipId=4372529&topVideoCatNo=85299&autoStart=true

.....And we have another one....I guess one more won't hurt

For some reason, I am a magnet for male tabby cats. This one came up about a week ago, he is adorable and just a total sweetheart too. I already have two, Rico and Reuben, so this new guy has been named Ralphie (after the little boy in A Christmas Story.) They all look like they could have came from the same parents, but they didn't. Oh well, now to make an appointment to have two cats neutered instead of one...more to come.

Well, it finally feels like winter has arrived here in Tennessee.....it is cold, very windy, and has been pouring the rain all day here. Highs only in the 30's tomorrow....burrrrr. Horses are wading through mud and muck, I hate this yucky, wet weather.....give me snow anyday! Here's what the dogs have been doing all day........

Terry's New Project.....

Hi all, I've not posted in awhile, but I am gonna try to get better about posting more often......This is John Boy and Billy, Terry's black mules that he is currently breaking to the wagon. They are 3 year olds, he has worked them a couple times, but they probably won't see much action until spring, LOL.....

Sad News...

Well, I am sorry to report that the baby calf didn't make it. She was doing good yesterday, then developed bad diarrhea yesterday evening. We gave her medicine for it, but she stopped nursing, and died during the night last night. We sort of expected this, they can take a turn for the worst really quick and nothing you can do can save them. Rest in peace little girl.....

Update On the Tiny Calf....

So Far so good..... the calf is doing great this morning, she took nearly a third of the large nurser bottle, and is very alert. I am trying to think of a name for her, any suggestions are welcome...
We are still amazed at how such a tiny calf can be seemingly healthy and fully developed. Terry said in all the years he has raised cattle, he has never seen such a small calf be normal and show no effects of being premature, or seem to be a "dummy" calf. We think she may have been born a little early, but only by a week or two maybe. Anyway, I hope she continues to thrive, she is still not out of the woods yet, though.....

Wow..Maybe the World's smallest calf?

We had a very interesting event today, one of our cows delivered a TINY heifer calf. She seems mature and normal, just very small. She has no characteristics of a premature or dummy calf, she has a normal hair coat, she is alert, nursing, and strong so far. She is the size of a small dog, and weighed in at a whopping 23 pounds!!! A normal sized calf is between 60-70 pounds. She is solid black with not a speck of white on her. Her mother has no milk, so we will be bottle feeding her, so hopefully she will make it. It will be touch and go for a few days, but maybe she will have a strong will to live. I will feed her every 3~4 hours for the first few days....I will update on her tomorrow... it's gonna be a long night....

Well, we have a new family member.....

Meet Reuben, our new kitten. We needed another kitten like a hole in the head, but under the circumstances, I just couldn't help myself. As I was coming out of the grocery store, this man was sitting with a crate on the back of his truck with a momma cat and 4 kittens inside. They looked pitiful, the mama cat was very thin, and the kittens didn't look much better. He said they were 7 weeks old, but no way~~they MAY have been 5 weeks old. And worst of all, he was trying to feed them the BIG CHUNK nasty dog food! So, I picked out this little guy~~mainly because he is a great match to my other cat, Rico. Brought him home, and he ate nearly a whole can of cat food, he was starved to death. He is doing great now, he has been wormed, and I will start him on his shots next week. He has gained nearly a pound in the two weeks I have had him.

Chicken Tacos Recipe

I was craving Mexican today, so I went to the kitchen and came up with a recipe I just created as I went along. I was pleasantly suprised, it was really good, ...

1 boneless skinless chicken breast
1TBSP olive or vegetable oil
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped red pepper
salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, garlic powder,
smoked paprika to taste
4 corn tortillas ( or taco shells, whichever you prefer)
shredded cheese, lettuce, tomato, salsa, sour cream, guacamole

I start by shredding my chicken in a food processor (or you can buy ground chicken)
but I shred/grind my own, it is much cheaper)
Add chicken, peppers, and onions to preheated skillet coated with oil. Saute while breaking up the chicken to resemble ground beef 2-3 minutes then add all of your spices to your taste. If it is a little dry, you can add more oil or a little water. On a griddle or in a skillet lightly grease the bottom and brown your corn tortillas until golden brown but still flexible. Fill each shell with chicken mixture, fold up ( or use the store bought taco shells) and top with all the condiments you prefer. This recipe makes about 3 or 4 tacos depending on how full you like to stuff them~~Enjoy!

I had a slight scare this morning with one of my horses

Dior, our 18 yr old quarter horse seen below, had a nosebleed when I went out to feed this am. Upon further inspection, thankfully it looked like he had just gotten stuck with a hay stalk about 4 inches up into his left nostril. It was bleeding pretty good, bright red blood, but I think it will be OK. More to come later.......

Oh~~The things they do...

Don't you just love it when your animals do things to make you laugh? Here's our horse Dior, with his new hair-do, LOL. He had some burrs in his forelock, and after my daughter pulled them out (finally), he was left with this snazzy do, LOL. I don't think he was amused by it as we were, though...

New Blog about Horses, Mules, Dogs, Cooking, Farming

Well, here we go, I am going to take a stab at having my own blog! We can discuss anything form horses, mules, cattle, dogs, cooking, coupons (my favorite hobby) and anything in between. My day pretty much consists of feeding, watering, and taking care of the horses, housework, matching coupons with the sales for the week, and listing items that I sell on ebay. Any thought, comments, ideas, or opinions will be welcomed.