Happenings on the Homestead

Hosted by Natalie the Explorer.  Grab a coffee or
your favorite beverage & walk with me...

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from South Dakota.  How you doing this 4th week of 2023?  Daughter & I started making plans for summer visits around oldest Grand's graduation.  I asked Kevin what he thought a good graduation gift would be for us to get Grand.  Kevin said his favorite things he remembers getting for graduation was a pocketknife & a fishing creel.  I remembered getting cards with money in them as being my favorite graduation gifts.  Here's a few of the other things that's happened around my place this week.

Our 1st born Grand, anticipating &
planning for his High School graduation
& thereafters. A cookout is in the works for
a graduation party.  Son-in-law grills up
the most delicious smash burgers.

*  We went to the Lions Club hosted community bingo.  Kevin was the number caller, I kept up with the card counts.  We both helped clean up afterwards.  Player brought in some delicious cookies to share.  I made a jug of tang & brought peppermints & suckers to go with Member's popcorn.  It was a fun competitive evening getting extra cards at times to try to win 1 of the 3 dozen of eggs being offered as prizes.

BINGO!  x 2.  I won $5.25, a Route 66
calendar & a dozen eggs.

*  We had a charcuterie board style picnic lunch

in the truck while out exploring the prairie.

We saw grouse & a coyote while out & about. 

Other things on the menu this week was a rabbit

bake using a chicken recipe & a meat & cheese

roll that's one of Kevin's favorites that he's been

requesting for a while. The meat loaf was made 

using 1/2 venison & 1/2 beef. 

Rose didn't have much troubles
walking on top of the snow.

The end of the road for now.

It was entertaining to see if we humans
could walk on top of the snow.

The forecast called for wind & snow this week with the high
temperatures reaching the mid 30s F.  That's pretty much what
we got - wind, snow & cold.  The talk of the town was about the
bitter cold wind & how lucky we had been the past couple of
weeks to have done without it.  This windmill was churning &
still in operation to provide water for the livestock.

It's like Christmas when
there's boxes to be opened.

*  I got the humidifier I ordered.  I'm hoping it will help with my extremely dry hands. The humidifier was bigger than I thought it would be.  It holds 1 gallon of water, so I don't know what I was thinking.  I did some reading about indoor humidity.  I was planning to put the humidifier in our bedroom but seems it needs to be as close to the center of the room as possible. It needs to be where there is air flowing to get that moist air moving & spread around.  I thought that did make a lot more sence.  We ended up putting the humidifier on the coffee table in the center of the living room.  I'm going to try some of the other humidity raising ideas too, mist the air with a spray bottle, put a pot of water on top of the heating stove, leave the bathroom door open when showering & let the dish water sit in the sink till it cools down.  We have an outdoor/indoor thermometer that gives lots of weather information, humidity is one of them.  I checked the inside humidity level at random times during the day to see what was going on with it.  The humidity raises the most & the quickest after our evening showers.

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how has your week been?

Happenings on the Homestead

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from South Dakota.  How you doing this 3rd week of 2023?  I got an extra day of weekend this week since there was a federal holiday, that meant getting in extra pet walks with Rose & going shopping with Kevin.  I got Valentines to make a care package to send to the Grands.  Kevin got some bow hunting accessories.  He had gift cards & card points that saved him quite a few $$$.  Having an extra day off also meant having a 2nd cup of morning coffee while getting all the laundry washed up in one day & hung on the line to dry.  Ohhhh & also, I straightened up in the pantry.  I threw out several outdated items & found the pumpkin pie spice I thought I had but couldn't find when I went to make pumpkin pies during Thanksgiving.  Kevin ran to the store & saved that pie making day.  I was so delighted to share the news with Kevin as soon as he walked in the door, "See, I knew I had pumpkin pie spice".  The thing Kevin was delighted about was that I had refilled the salt & pepper shakers & cleaned their lids.  Grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & I'll tell you about a few other things that went on around my place this week, come walk with me... 

We investigated this beaver house.  It looked like the 
place had been abandoned or maybe the homeowners
 went south for the winter & will return in the spring.

We had nice weather a couple of evenings that was perfect for us to get out & explore
the prairie.  Perfect being dressed warm in layers & wearing a coat while out walking &
riding around in the truck with the heater going.  A lot of snow melted the 1st of the
 week making icky puddles around in the yard not suitable for wearing my house slippers
 to take Rose out to potty.  Then there was freezing back of those wet spots making
the entire yard seem like an ice skating ring. There were snow flurries several days &
freezing drizzles one morning making slick roads on everyone's drive getting
to wherever they needed to go.

Kevin made rabbit dumplings
& I helped. Next up on the menu
were salmon patties made using
 corn flakes.  I made chicken salad
 for lunches.  We ate out a couple
times, having Burger King's $5
meal deal & ate out with our
fellow Lions at #3 grill & bar.

*  We went to Lions Club meeting that coincided with Martin Luther King Day.  Both encourages volunteer service within one's community.  We're finally going to get around to having the Christmas Potluck at our next meeting in February.  Bingo night is coming up.  I had to pay several .25 fines for not calling people Lion before their name.  Kevin had to pay a fine for not having his Lions hat. There was lots of laughing & tail twisting that went on.  

* I ordered a little bedroom humidifier to see if that helps with my extremely dry skin.  Vic's Vapor Rub helped heal my fingers from the cracked open bleeding places. Now I need to find a remedy to help keep my hands & body from drying out so bad like that.  I'm also trying to remember to drink more water.  It's supposed to be one of the best moisturizers for the body inside & out.

*  I found out that my hairdresser is closing her shop in April.  It got me in the mood to go ahead & get my spring haircut, so I'll probably make an appointment for next week.  I should get a haircut about every 6 weeks with the short style I like to go with, though I try to see how close to 6 months I can get.

Me sitting in the dentist chair
needing a haircut, waiting while
my crown gets cleaned up.  There
are bird feeders out every window
for everyone's enjoyment.

*  I went to the dentist.  As I was driving out of town, I noticed a truck that had just went off the road & down the bank coming off the bridge.  Apparently, the beautiful glistening frost covering everything including the road was a little slippery.  I didn't test it like Kevin likes to do.  I listened to Kelly Ripa's audio book Live Wire during the drive.  At the dentist they took some x-rays of my tooth & gums in the area the crown had popped off to see if anything weird was going on with it.  The dentist asked how the crown came off & wanted to hear an exciting story about a bar fight or such, not the boring real one about water flossing.  My crown got glued back in & I was on my way.  My next appointment is scheduled in April for a cleaning.  

One of the bead kits was 
mermaid & the other kit
was unicorn.

*  Grand wrote his 1st published sports article & another Grand recommended I watch The Hateful Eight on Netflix. 

Snapchat from Daughter,
Grands were working with
the beads I sent them
for Christmas.

As I look out the kitchen window...  Kevin will be using the tractor to open up a ditch 

along the side of the road there.  He said he'll put the snow on the garden in hopes that 

it will help to get more moisture down into the garden.  You can see the fence posts 

there in the garden where the netting fence was to keep the deer out.  There would 

be enough melting snow run-off that would flood our yard & house if we don't 

keep an eye on it.  See there across the road that there is no snow, this winter 

storm stockpiled the snow in some places & left other areas bare. 

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how has your week been?

Happenings on the Homestead

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from South Dakota.  How you doing this 2nd week of 2023?  My hands have been soooooo dry this winter.  The skin on my fingers cracks open, bleeds & sore to the touch.  There was pain & burning at bedtime when it's time to relax.  Let me tell you... I've tried all kinds of lotions, creams & Vaseline.  

Kevin come in from work the other day telling about that day's lunch conversation being about a coworker's daughter having trouble with really dry skin on her hands & face.  She had been using Vic's Vapor Rub to treat it.  It's supposed to be good for all kinds of stuff including eczema, if you look it up online.  

It just so happened that I had some vapor rub in the medicine basket & thought I'd give it a try.  I greased up my hands with the vapor rub at bedtime when I was ready to sleep.  I put socks on my hands so the gunk wouldn't get on the bed covers. I put the vapor rub on my hands every night this week & used it like lotion a couple times during the day such as after washing the dishes.  No one commented about the smell at work, so maybe it was ok.  The healing results was simply amazing. Here's some other things that's happened around my place this week, grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & walk with me...

The sunny temperatures reached the 50s F a day or 2 this week.  It didn't look like
 a lot of the snow melted.  As long as the snow hangs around, I'll use it to water my houseplants. 
I'm going to see how long I can keep this poinsettia before most the leaves
 fall off.  A couple years ago I kept one till May, it seemed to like this sunny window
here, so we'll see how long this poinsettia lasts.

Snapchat from Daughter, it looked
like Grand was going to make a 
basket but the ball rolled right
 off the rim.

*  We took a drive to the Dollar Store to get some bathtub cleaner, crackers & a few other things. We rode over to the dam & took Rose on her pet walk.  January is walk your pet month, so for the occasion, I vowed to myself that I would take Rose on a walk every day this month, to other places besides just around in the yard like we usually do.  There was ice fisherman out on the lake; vehicles, tents, ice houses... on the ice all around the lake.  We like to fish but I'm too scaredy cat to fish out on the ice, plus we don't have the ice fishing equipment, plus every year we hear of deaths due to falls through the ice.  Ice fishing just is not my type of fishing thing, so, Kevin got us some rotisserie chicken pieces & we ate a picnic lunch on the way home.  We saw 5 bold eagles, the most pheasants we've ever seen in one place, lots of deer & antelope, Rose jumped up a jack rabbit & I took pictures of several big ol' beautiful barns along the way.

An eagle flying across the road in front of us.

Dakota Life in Buffalo.

Rose patiently waiting at the door while I put
on my shoes, she's eager to go on her pet walk.
  The temperature was 20 F.  The snow was frozen
 & I could walk on top of it. We walked by the
electric company.  I could smell the creosote on
the utility poles. I like the smell if it's
not too strong. 

Squash & okra from 
out of the garden.

*  A crown popped out as I was water flossing my teeth, see what I mean about keeping my teeth fit?  I tried to get an appointment at the dentist this week on my day off but there were not any available on that day or this month.  I wasn't in pain, so it wasn't an emergency.  They said they would let me know if there was a cancelation.  I got an email that a spot had been reserved for me next week on my day off.  I was so thankful.  Since I didn't have to spend my day off at the dentist, it's an hour & 15-minute drive to get there, I had a 2nd cup of coffee & spent the day reading, relaxing, took Rose on an extra pet walk & had supper ready for Kevin when he got home from work.

A coworker gave Kevin this spice.
What to do with it, what to make with it? 
It has a recipe for taco seasonings on the back. 
We like tacos.

Another beautiful frosty morning pet walk.  The fog prediction is
 that it will rain about 90 days after a fog.

These

Workday Simple Joy - An oreo
milkshake treat from the boss.

 are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how has your week been?

Happenings on the Homestead

Weekend Coffee Share

Hello there Adventurous Friends & Family, greetings from South Dakota.  Happy New Year!  I made it till 10 pm & watched the ball drop in New York City since it was midnight there.  Kevin & I had a quite Christmas day at home due to the weather but was able to venture out a little on New Year's Day.  There were no resolutions made or words chosen this year, just some time spent enjoying the outdoors.  Thinking right off the top of my head, if there was a word for me this year, it would be "be".  I'm just going to be me.  I do have some hopes for the year & we'll see if those hopes are fulfilled throughout the year.  Having said that, January is walk your pet month.  My 1st hope & good intention is taking Rose on a walk everyday this month other than just our usual walk around in the yard.  It's a plan of action & motivation to get me up & out to get rid of cabin fever.  How you doing this 1st week of the year 2023?  Here's some of the things that's happened around my place, grab a coffee or your favorite beverage & walk with me...

The snow had a hard crusted top layer,
Kevin told me to walk soft so I 
wouldn't fall through.

* Sun - I started reading Blue by Danielle Steel. Moma sent me the book in a Christmas goodie box with a note telling me it was a good book to read.  The book starts off a few days before Christmas.  I washed sheets & hung them on the line to dry, made a blueberry cobbler & a grouse bake to have to eat on for a few days.  I used a chicken recipe & substituted the grouse meat to make the meat veggie casserole type dish.  I helped Kevin prep meat to make jerky, my job was tumbling the meat in a bowel to distribute the spices then put the meat in Ziplock bags to marinade overnight in the refrigerator.  We went for a truck ride up to the pond to take Rose on her 1st pet walk of the year. Kevin rabbit hunted along our walk, he got 4 rabbits, we talked on the ride home that we would make rabbit dumplings.  Kevin got a deer in the evening with his bow, we'll grind most the meat after it has cooled for a few days.  I completed & checked everything off my holiday weekend to-do list. My legs ached at bedtime from trudging through the snow.  I started watching the Candy series on Hulu, seems it's about a murder based on a true story. 

I dusted the frames, cleaned the glass &
 put in the new pictures of the Grands
that I got for Christmas.

* Mon - Why did the alarm go off at 5:30 am?  Neither of us had to work.  We cooked the marinated meat to make the jerky.  The meat was elk, grouse & mule deer.  A friend gave us the elk meat, Kevin brought in the grouse & deer.  We sampled the jerky as it cooked & that was enough for my morning snack & lunch.  The jerky took longer to cook than the directions suggested.  Our favorite was unanimously the grouse.  I watched you tube videos from The Frugal Cottage & A Charming Abode.  There were ideas for getting budgeting back to the basics living.  Will the 2023 decorating trend be Granny Chic & did you know garment bags can be used to store wrapping paper, wreaths & other seasonal decorations?  We took Rose for her pet walk out at the lake, there were ice fisherman.  We went to Lions Club meeting, dues were due, the meal was at #3, there was good conversations, good laughs & I had leftovers for lunch. We noticed fog rolling in on our way home.

6 degrees during Rose's pet walk, everything
was covered with a layer of frosty ice, didn't
know it was called hoarfrost till we moved
to the midwest, it's refreshing & energizing
walking in the early morning, hope I can
keep it up.

* Tues - Kevin made pancakes for our breakfast topped with blueberries & our homemade blueberry syrup.  I added peanut butter on mine for protein.  I packed lunches & snacks.  Kevin got leftover bagel bites, blueberry cobbler, jerky & Christmas candy. Mine was my leftover nacho tots from the #3, jerky & a blueberried pancake since I only ate 1 of mine for breakfast.  I packed us water to drink throughout the day.  I took Rose on her pet walk & got my household work done before going to work; cleaned up the breakfast stuff, sorted all the laundry & carried it downstairs, washed a load & hung it on the line to dry, vacuumed & dusted the living room.  I read The Frugal Girl while finishing up my morning coffee.  I enjoyed her Five Things Frugal & Meet a Reader.  It was an exceptionally busy day at work because it was a day after a holiday.  We had leftover grouse bake & salad for supper, finished up the blueberry cobbler & had a couple of little torte cakes from a meat & cheese sampler Daughter sent us for Christmas.  Kevin had brought in the trail cam a couple days ago, so we looked at the pictures to see what critters had been in our backyard.  There were deer, pheasants, grouse, cats & a dog.

* Wed - Kevin said everything was still frosty outside as he left out walking to work before daylight. I need to get back to walking to work but I don't like walking home in the dark when I can't see the icy spots & potholes.  I took Rose on her pet walk before doing my morning housework.  I cleaned up the dishes from supper & breakfast, it was dish drainer jenga.  I folded & hung clothes on hangers & put them away, washed towels & hung them on the line.  I dusted in the bedroom & took the kitchen trash out, it was stinky.  Hustling around in the house & up & down the stairs got my heart pumping giving me a little workout.  Sometimes I can get more done during a time constraint than I can having the whole day. I read about how Far Side of Fifty's granddog gets in some extra exercise &  Knit by God's Hands favorite things.  There was a recipe for vegan burgers that sounded good. We ate up the last of the grouse bake for lunches.  Kevin put rabbit legs in the crockpot during his lunch break, he then fried the rabbit for supper & made french fries using carrots, sweet tators & regular tators.  He brought in leftover chicken soup from the lunchroom & we each ate a small bowl of that.  I finished watching Candy.  I felt like I was starving at bedtime, so I snuck & finished off a box of crackers. I try not to eat anything after supper, oh well.

We liked the sweet tator fries best, maybe because they
were different, the carrots needed to cook a little longer,
the rabbit was tender & spiced perfect.

I'm warm all bundled up.

 * Thurs - All the frost was gone off of everything though still plenty of ice & snow.  The road was busy getting the kids to school as I took Rose on her pet walk, I slide on the ice crossing the road, I didn't see the deer anywhere.   Rose was cold & ran straight to the fire to warm up as soon as we came back inside.  I read about how Frugalwoods does their Christmas gift giving.  I washed a load of pants, my jeans had a hole in the knee, not for fashion but from being old & plum wore out thin.  I'll make those into shorts & get me a new pair of non-holy jeans.  I folded towels & socks & put them away, tidied the kitchen, carried up the meat grinder & gathered a few things to get ready to process that deer Kevin got over the weekend.  I went to write a check for the water bill, where was the bill?  It will show up, if it don't, I'll pay it in the office next Thursday along with taking care of all the vehicle insurances next week.  I picked up a few things at the grocery store after work, spent $44.30, we always need butter. The dry beans were on sale, so I got a pack of pintos & a pack of great northern.  My car didn't need any gas since I've been working in town less than a mile from home & not drove anywhere else.  Kevin usually takes me to work on the snowiest days & we've had a lot of those days these past several weeks.  Kevin made mashed tators to go with leftover soup for supper since he got home from work before I did.  He cut up the tenderloin in the deer, I assisted with getting containers, cleaning up & making cookies.  The pull apart ready to bake kind of cookies, no gathering ingredients, no mixing & no dirtying up more dishes to have to wash.

Rose says "I'm going to lay here & warm, you
can go do your thing".

* Fri - Kevin cooked some of the deer tenderloin for breakfast with eggs.  My worn-out teeth could not chew up the meat even though I've spent a lot of money to keep my teeth fit.  A bridge collapsed a couple years ago & my insurance don't cover implants; I'm making do with those back missing teeth for now.  That's one of the reasons we grind most of the deer meat because sometimes it's hard to get even the best cuts of meat tender for us cooked well-done meat eaters.  I wanted to take Rose on a longer pet walk, but the roads were just too icy.  I can only walk like a penguin for so far & for so long being pulled in every direction by a leashed very strong 12 pound furbaby full of energy & raring to go.  I read 3 things Runs for Cookies likes about her winter exercise.  I was off work for the day & Kevin come home early to work on getting the rest of the deer meat fixed.  One of his coworkers was out with her sick mother so Kevin was on call & planned to go back to work later in the day.  I washed Rose's blankets, cleaned her bedding & feeding area & cleaned the bathroom while Kevin cut up the meat.  As soon as we were done grinding, Kevin was called back into work to clean up a puke pile.  I cleaned up the grinder.  The trick to cleaning it, is wash & rinse immediately before any of the little meat particles dry.  I guess really that is the trick for cleaning any dish. We got 35 one-pound packs of ground venison from 2 deer, if we counted right.  Pizza for supper, early to bed for reading, watching shows on Hulu & relaxing.

This is one of Knit by God's Hand favorite Friday funnies,
I've been in the Atlanta airport feeling like I've done a 5k 
then was told I was in the wrong line, it was funny reading
this but it was not too funny that day in the airport.

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how has your week been?

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2023

Greetings from South Dakota! Kevin has been busy at the school fixing things & moving snow from around the school, around the house & around town.  I've been busy at the Post Office helping Santa get all the Christmas presents delivered. The mail didn’t move for days due to I-90 being closed due to a little dab of snow that was blowing around all over the midwest causing a blizzard. Snow around our place was 0 to 8 feet deep due to drifting.

The perfect gift for those (me) that
like to have picnics.

We had a restful Christmas Day at home due to the Sheriff saying to stay home. There were reports of black ice on the roads & no travel was advised along with wind gusts predicted of up to 65 mph making snow drifts.  A time or 2 the Sheriff put it like this “stay off the freaking roads”. We decided that was a good enough reason for us to just stay home instead of taking our camper out & going camping as we had originally planned. We had just came out of a blizzard that left traveling through families & truckers stranded in town for a couple nights. A shelter was set up in the Rec Center that accommodated about 40 people one night & about 60 people the next night. Santa was able to make it to the shelter for a quick little visit & give out goodies.

Our Christmas special cooking project was trying our hand at making an old-fashioned gingerbread cake to use up some molasses we had in the pantry.  Kevin remembers having a sweet bread when he was a boy, so he searched for a recipe online. The recipe he chose turned out pretty tasty with a serving of snow cream & chocolate syrup. We talked that we might make another cake using the same recipe someday soon to use up the rest of that molasses before it goes bad. 

We’ve done a lot of camping & exploring this year, going out every chance we got on the weekends & holidays.  In the spring & early summer we were able to have a few little campfires to roast hotdogs & make smores, then the weather turned too dry during the rest of the summer for lighting up.

Toney

We enjoyed having the Grandkids visit during the summer.  Austin, the oldest, is all set to graduate high school in the spring.  He is working at KFC & seems to like it pretty good.  He has a girlfriend & they have plans to move out on their own after graduation & take courses at a community college. The middle teen & tween boys are playing all the sports. The girls are doing cheerleading & dance.  The babies are growing so unbelievably fast.  We welcomed our 9th Grandbaby in October.  He was a little feller, weighing just under 5 pounds.  He had a little trouble at the very 1st wanting to start breathing & taking in oxygen, though he is healthy & fine now.  I went to North Carolina to be with the family & help out during the week of delivery & recovery.

Kevin got the garden all cleaned up just before the cold weather & snow set in. We were able to keep the deer out of the garden this season by putting up a netting fence around the entire garden area.  We planted a couple rows of sweet tators this year that produced a good crop.  We put the tators & onions downstairs where it’s dry & cooler.  They seem to be keeping good down there. We put the carrots in the crisper in the refrigerator & they are doing good in there. We like to make french fries with the carrots & sweet tators.  Mmmmmm!  We put squash & pumpkin in the freezer.  I made a couple pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving & we have a squash casserole recipe that is good

Kevin got a deer during hunting season. We ground most that meat for making sloppy joes & such. He took a shot at a deer with his bow to fill his archery tag but didn’t get it yet. Kevin did a little bird hunting too & brought in some doves, grouse & a rabbit or 2.  We went fishing quite a bit & have fish in the freezer that we’re still eating on. Kevin went on a little camping trip in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming & did some fishing over there. It seems a lot of our activities involves food of some sort.

                                                                                       

 We look forward to seeing what 2023 

has in store for us, Karen & Kevin.

These are some of the things that's been going on in my neck of the woods, how about you?