Halloween Wishes

 I wish you a HALLOWEEN filled with pumpkins on the porch, the LAUGHTER of children and the smell of CIDER in the air.

I wish you APPLE PIE..
and lots of candy for TRICK OR TREATS,
A clear, cold night...
And good COFFEE on Tuesday morning.

Wishes too, for SUNSHINE and warmth that brings a smile to your face.
.. and a talisman, or two, to ward off EVIL SPIRITS.

After watching < GRIMM > last night, I think that a few charms never hurt.
Did you see the new show? Are you watching faces?
Are you a direct descendant of the Brothers Grimm.?
CUTTER is playing it safe..

~Happy Halloween~
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P.S. I will be gone for the weekend. Got to go see the Beans.

Silliness Beyond All Reason Over a Covered Deck for Brownie

Yesterday.
They came into the goat house area as if a foreign creature of mythical proportions had arrive before them.

"What do you suppose this is?", cried Freckles, as he looked over at Murphy.
"Well I'm not sure." Murphy answered, " It wasn't here before."
 Bart, who thinks he is the leader of the pack, just stared at the new "thing" that had suddenly appeared.

 

 Then, thinking he needed to do something about this, he jumped up and sniffed the end of the offensive "thing" that was blocking the doorway.
Freckles watched Bart's every move. He felt that he needed to do something too, so ...

He first tried to lift the top"thing" off of the new post "thing". Then he tried to eat it.
None of this worked.
Then he tried to lift it with his head.

 If Freckles had been about a foot taller this might have worked... but he wasn't and it didn't.
Then he had a moment of ..."This goat isn't going to be able to remove this thing"

He finally stood there, like all the rest of them, looking up at the strange new object.

Only Brownie was missing. He was watching all of this from behind the goat house.

 Brownie is the reason for this new change . These three, wonderful goat boys keep pushing Brownie out of the goat house and winter is on its way... so we have decided to build an overhang and deck in front of the goat house. Yes, we do what we can. It's all about the animals around here
You see. Brownie got badly hurt last spring when he got a horn caught in the feeder inside the goat house. He preceded to panic. He ripped the horn off, spewing blood everywhere, sending the herd into total chaos.
He has had a bad time of it every since. He has been rejected by the others and, as typical of animal behavior as this is, it's very had to watch.
Brownie is weak, has been treated for Coccidiosis and (I think) he damaged part of his brain when he did this horrible thing to himself. His motor movement is slow and he is not as sure footed as goats should be.
So knowing that he is doing the best he can.. and that he has gained weight since he lost so much after the accident, we spoil him.
He gets fed apart from the rest of the goats and also gets extra carrots and peanuts to give him more calories and protein.
He is doing well but he keeps his distance from the other goats. He even sleeps outside next to the door of the goat house. So, we decided to build a small deck and overhang to protect him from the elements this Winter. We really do love this goat and feel he has had enough trauma without having to sleep on the cold ground in the rain. I'm sure this would be the last straw for him.
Yes, this is a labor of love. When it rains, we have noticed that they do let him into the house but most of the time he's sitting outside. 
So.. the Prospector has finished the potting shed and has started on the overhang for Brownie.

 This is the man who says that he can't build anything. He amazes me. Always has. When he puts his mind to something ... he just does it. He says, " I'm no carpenter.". Yea, well.. you are sweetie. You really are.
He swears a lot while he does it, but he does it and it's always a great job.

This morning the over head framing is almost done and the metal roof will be installed. Then the Prospector will start the decking.
Again, the goats will have to get use to another different and new "thing" in their lives. A new step up before the familiar one. As with all of us...

 Murphy, after an initial rub against the new"thing", was the calming influence in all this. He is always the first to accept new "things". He senses the good and bad of things...the yin and yang, as it were.
He knows this is for Brownie. I even saw him touch noses with Brownie yesterday afternoon. He probably told Brownie that it would be OK.
He is an amazing goat. Always at one with his surroundings. Always the peacemaker.

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Bart... not so much. He's still annoyed.
"Another step up. What kind of sense is this? We don't need a new step."

He'll get over it by dinnertime.

Wordless Wednesday: "From whence arrived the praying mantis? From outer space, or lost Atlantis?~Ogden Nash~

"The Dew of Compassion is a Tear ~Lord Byron~

A small bird... saved from my cat.

With feathers too short to fly. It hopped down the path and then, as I scooted it through the fence, trying to save it from Annie, it turned around... and there, as if confronted by a tiny "elephant man", I gasped in horror.
This small bird had no eyes.

Attacked in its nest? A growth that had overcome its face? A deformity of birth? I will never know.
How did this little bird last this long without sight, without feathers... without protection?
Where had it come from? Why was it here, now?
I scooped it up into a colander and walked up the road with it.
Should I put it out of its misery? Should I take it to the local shelter? Let the natural world take care of it?
What should I do?

I cannot tell you what I did... I cannot.
I think that my compassion was not strong enough, or brave enough, to do what the spirit of this tiny creature  wanted. 
I only hope that no one judges me for my decision.
I only hope that this impossible (untold) choice was the right one.
Maybe there was no right decision ...

Beautiful little creature, deformed and alone, only you know.
... Only you.

A Lovely Day

Yesterday was one of those Fall days in the Foothills when the weather was just about perfect. This is what we mean by California Dreamin'... it is the quintessential day; that wonderful time of the year when the temperature never goes above 85 degrees and because of the cold nights, it takes all morning to warm up. This is "sweater in the mornings and shorts in the afternoon." weather and... If you're going to be outside you had best use some sunscreen. It may not feel hot but it's still going to do some damage if you're out in it for a while.
I was meeting some friends for lunch. They both live down in the valley so we planned to meet in Ione.
This is an interesting town.

Ione is about 10 miles from where I live. It use to be the supply center on the main roads to the mines during the Gold Rush and was the agricultural hub of the area. It was called Bedbug, Hardscrabble and Freeze Out at different times in the past.
Now it has a population of about 7900 folks and almost half of them reside at Mule Creek State Prison which is located at the north end of town.
Dave Brubeck, the famous jazz pianist, was raised here.

I found a parking place right on Main St. and took pictures while I waited for my friends. This is the Restaurant that we chose to meet at.
It's called Clark's Corner...

While I was waiting I saw a lot of trucks with horse trailers and huge cow trucks come down Main Street. More than any other town in the area. There are lots of farms, horse ranches and cattle around here. It's evident that, even though they put a fancy golf course in a few years ago, the farmers and their critters still rule this little town.
My friends arrived and we went inside to have some lunch.

In the 1800's there were six saloons in this town. (and they thought Jackson was wild.)
Clark's Corner has metamorphosed into a wonderful eatery.. but it was once a SALOON.

Dedicated to the spirits within..? Would that be liquor or ghost spirits?
And how original... Old Red Brick Building. I think that was more of a descriptive way of finding the place that a name for the bar.  As in..."Meet me at the old red brick building on Main St. I'll buy the drinks."
Or...
"I need to be in Ione by Friday. My brothers, James and Virgil are meetin' me there. Can I pay you with some gold dust?"
"What was your name again?", the train station ticket man asked.
"Earp. Wyatt Earp. I need one ticket."
No problem, Mr. Earp. Gold dust will be fine."
I'm on my way to San Francisco. Got some things to take care of."
"None of my business, Mr. Earp. Not at all. You have a nice trip." 

Well, it could have happen. Wyatt came to California a couple of times. He lived in Santa Rosa for a while. He died in Los Angeles in 1929.
He might have had a drink and stayed over night  at the Old Red Brick Building Saloon. It's possible. Isn't it?
I love to think about who visited or worked in these old buildings a long time ago.
I love to think that I might be stepping on the same old floor that Wyatt, or Joaquin, or Mr. Muir. might have.

Now the old saloon is lookin' spiffy.

I'll bet Wyatt didn't get a French Dip and raspberry ice tea.... or a chocolate chip mocha scone for dessert. No he didn't. But we did.... just to name a few delicious lunch items.
The food was very good.
The tables all had a lot of history under the glass for us to read while we ate.

And there were some old photos of local families.

And some tough looking men.
What a great idea to put all those photos under glass so you could read the history of the town while eating.
The restaurant is also a community meeting place for local issues, Internet communicating and just taking about what's happening in town.
We ate lunch and talked. Then we went and got dessert and then... ate and talked some more.
One friend, Sylvia, is the president of the California Gourd Associating and she is also the vice president of our local gourd group. She gardens, grows gourds and makes beautiful gourd art.
Jane, another friend, is a member of our goat group and owns a wonderful herd of Alpine goats. Alpines are really lovely animals. She has a beautiful old horse and two big ol' dogs and lives with a guy named Richard ...so I call their farm DICK AND JANE'S, like the children's book.
There's no SPOT but that's OK. Their two goofy dogs make up for not having a dog named Spot. We wouldn't want to get too silly about this.
Sylvia and Jane have known each other for many years.  We had such a good time together. We laughed and talked about all kind of things... But, as the saying goes...
What is talked about in Ione, stays in Ione... or is that Las Vegas?
It doesn't matter.
We had a great time.
Right ladies?

Wordless Wednesday: "I have nothing to say, I am saying it, and that is poetry." ~John Cage~

Philpy

A friend gave me this book last year and it's a good one. It is filled with a lot of recipes that were brought West by the 49er's and folks that came here to start a new life. Interesting stories about how the early settlers got here and brought their favorite recipes with them.
It's a cookbook and a history book all in one. It was publish in 1952. The year my sister was born.
Hey, Sis. I thought you were 39! No, that can't be right because I'm only 49. No... that can't be right because my oldest son is 41. Oh, this isn't working well anymore. We may have to get older... *#&%@. I will call you soon.
Anyway...
Here is one recipe, in the book, that I had never heard of but I thought the name was kind of catchy so last night I decided to make it. It looked really easy.
I didn't have any leftover rice so I made some earlier in the day. 
I took a good look at the recipe first. I've been known to start a recipe without looking to see if I have all the ingredients. Since we live in the middle of nowhere and don't have "next door" neighbors, I try to be sure and have everything I need before I start cooking or baking. The chickens and the goats have heard me shout..."Oh no. I don't have any bla, bla, bla." So, I always check first.
Here's the recipe...

I did have everything I needed. I used 1% milk. and Polenta in place of the corn meal. It's a little grainier than corn meal but I like the texture. I'm Italian... mostly, so I always have Polenta in the cupboard.
My helpers were in place... sometimes I call it "underfoot".

Cutter (on the left) is always in the kitchen when I am. He's my main man when I'm cooking. Carl (on the rug) doesn't usually show up until dinner is on the table. That's why he looks a little like he's not suppose to be there.
Yesterday they were both anxiously waiting for whatever was going to happen.
I preheated the oven to 350 degrees,  got a bowl and mixed all the ingredients together and poured the mixture into a glass 9X12 pan. I told you this was easy...
Be sure to spray the pan with a non stick spray of some kind. Egg mixes tend to stick if you don't.
"Bake until nicely brown" ended up being  about 30 mins. I checked at 20 minutes but I continued baking the bread for 10 more minutes. It's suppose to be thin and crispy. With a 10 in. pie pan, the bread would have been thicker and might have required more baking time. At 30 mins. the bread was brown, crispy and done.

I cut it into pieces and piled them on a plate for dinner.

We ate this with some steak and Broccoli. It was delicious!

It reminded me of something from my childhood but I knew that I had never eaten Philpy.
Until Breakfast...
We had leftovers and when I took the Philpy out of the refrigerator, it seems like I had done this before. 
Way back in my memory was this picture of my mother cutting up Polenta, from the night before, frying it in a pan and serving it to us with butter and syrup.
Oh yes. This was the memory that had been calling to me.. 
This recipe was a little different. Mom's Polenta didn't have milk or rice in it.
But... when I covered pieces of Philpy with butter and popped them into the microwave for a minute and then poured some syrup over them. Oh my. Did I have a rush of nostalgia. 
Philpy is heavier because of the rice but the taste and the flavor was so similar to fried Polenta. It just took me right back to my Mom's kitchen on a Saturday morning. It was a plateful of sweetness and wonderful memories just sitting there waiting for me. 
I could even here my Dad saying " Pass the butter or I'll walk right down the middle of the table."
He never did, of course, and then he'd say, "Jackie, this is so good. Can I have some more please?".... and my sister and I would laugh and the whole world was happy. 
I have never figured out how we had so much left over Polenta if we ate most of it for dinner the night before. Maybe Mom made a double batch so we would have enough for breakfast.
  I looked it up and some recipes for Philpy don't have corn meal in them.  Some say that it has "Southern" roots and is what poor people ate. Some recipes add a little flour. Some use wild rice. Some use shredded cheese and spices. I think you could just about use anything you wanted to as long as you keep the basics the same.
Enjoy the recipe. It's really a good staple for dinner.
It's inexpensive, quick and very good.

Buon Apetite!

Beginnings and Endings ... and a Time of Transition

This is the beginning of a Nuno Felted scarf. I went to a local fabric shop called the Sewing Cottage. I only went in to buy some needles for my sewing machine. I came out with all these fat quarters of beautiful fabric too.

Then today I had to go into town for some paint and I decided to stop at the thrift shop. 
Well... those fat quarters are beautiful but very expensive at the fabric store. They were about $10. a yard and added up to about $20. for 8 or 9 quarters.
All of this, at the thrift store was way cheaper.

For about $8.00 I bought all of this. If you just need scraps and you're not too particular, this is a really inexpensive way to buy fabric. Some of these are hankerchiefs and they're beautiful. With Nuno Felting, I'm more interested in the color and texture than the patterns. I found some great pieces to start my project. I will always check the thrift store first from now on.
I have some beautiful fleece and roving that I've been saving for the occasion.

Fleece is washed, uncarded wool from a sheep but roving is carded and sometimes twisted into long strands.

This is wool roving that has been dyed from light to dark shades of pink. Both of these bags of wool have been dyed.
I can blend the colors by carding it again and mixing the strands together.

"Oh, be still my heart."

Isn't this beautiful stuff?
The fun begins.
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I had to finish the painting of the POTTING SHED first. The outside is done now and weatherproof.

 Now I can paint the inside at my leisure. Which means... sometime before the weather turns on us.  There are a lot of acorns on the ground this year and I think that means a rough winter.
But...
Come on rain.
It's time for you to put some fears to rest for the winter.
We want the new grasses to push through the burned area so the deer have something to eat.

Momma and her baby are looking for something to eat.

I don't know why they hang around the fire zone. There's is nothing there for them.

 And we want the weather to change bringing the cold that makes Rattlers go back into their dens for the Winter. 

This four foot monster was sunning himself on our driveway yesterday.
This was a big mistake on his part.
He is now in snake heaven.

We hate to kill these beautiful creatures. They have a right to be here but we cannot let them wander around the house area. Not near the chickens and the goats... Not near our dogs.
It's a hard call and I'm always sad when we have to kill one. We have been very lucky the last couple of years. When we first moved here we had up to 7 or 8 a season.
This is only the second Rattler this summer.  The other was a baby and it was on the road last week. They're moving around right now. We are being very vigilant.
This was a big one and old..

This snake had lived many years and shed many skins. Its rattles were broken off. I'm sure that it saw many battles and fought hard. This was one battle it could not win.
I'm sorry Rattle Warrior. May you find green grass and many mice in the next world.
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And for all of you who are shaking in you moccasins over these last photos... here is a change of pace. 

Some strange looking, small people have appeared on my piano.

 Strange ladies with funny hats... And this one, below, with the blue eyes
Kind of scary...

...but the pumpkin head guy doesn't seem too worried so I guess I won't be either.
And, to Carl's undying annoyance, a CAT has taken up residence on top of the bookcase.

And it looks like a cat that is not to be messed with. That's kind of a scary grin.
I don't know where these creatures came from... but I suspect that it has something to do with HALLOWEEN. 
Don't you?