July 31, 2012

got about a tenth of an inch of rain early this morning....NOT complaining....

just wish it was more.....the WIND trimmed some of the trees for us...

so I did property clean up duty this morning.

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wanted to try one more new recipe in July and so I have never made or eaten a

Tuna Noodle Casserole......so this was the winner!!!!

Tuna Noodle Casserole :

2 cans tuna

1 cup peas

1/2 cup milk or buttermilk

2 1/2 cups egg noodles

1 can cream of mushroom

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 small bag of potato chips or crackers

cook the noodles....in a separate bowl, add the soup, milk and garlic powder.....mix together....then add tuna and peas....mix together......drain noodles and add to mixture.

bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.....then add your chips or crackers to the top...

put it back in the oven for 10 more minutes

it was very good!!!!

the best part about any meal with Tuna is that Pouncer kitty

gets the juice.... he is soooooo happy!!!



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now to the Olympics.....WAY TO GO women's gymnastics....GOLD ....our Michigan

girl Jordyn Wieber did a FANTASTIC job!!!!

what an AMAZING swimming team....both Men & Women...

way to represent!!!!

Pleasant Dreams!!!

July 30, 2012

we planted the 2nd batch of lettuce seeds on June 27th....I split them into individual plants

on July 22nd.... thought that I would need to wait another week before I planted the lettuce

 in the garden.... but it was ready to go today......

here is the spot where the first batch of lettuce was planted.....

and here it is with the 2nd batch planted...



we will do this at least one more time.....

we have lettuce from the garden ... June to October.....YEAH!!!

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we put up 20 more jars of pickles tonight....

10 Bread & Butter Chunks

10 Dill Spears

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more upsets tonight at the Olympics.....it keeps me up way later than normal,

but I love watching everyone do their absolute BEST!!!!

GO Team USA!!!

Pleasant Dreams!!!

July 29, 2012

had a GREAT day at church today......guest speaker Emma did a wonderful job...

take a listen at http://www.h-hcc.org/

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19 years ago today, Ross and I had our first date...

and the rest, as they say....is history!!!!

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at least once a day I fill up the birdbath in the front yard (several times if it is hot)...

as I walk away, I yell out to the birdies.....the POOL IS OPEN...

this afternoon...I went right in and got the camera.....

within 1 minute....we had visitors....

the bird bath sits on the original Well Pump installed on the farm....

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we are watching the women's gymnastics very closely....Jordyn Wieber is from

DeWitt Michigan which is about 45 miles north of us.....

unfortunately she had a great night but because they take the top 2 from each country instead

of the top 24 overall....she does not get to compete in the all-around.....

Huge BUMMER!!!  GO Team USA!!!

Pleasant Dreams!!!

July 28, 2012

today is our daughter Jessica's 38th Birthday...Hope you had a GREAT day!!!

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went to another local event today....LOVE that all of these things are just a few minutes from the farm....

this was a Civil War Muster in Concord Michigan...less than 10 minutes from us...

had a blast.... no pun intended....lol

did learn some interesting history about enlistment in the civil war....

very few questions were asked of the recruits.....but they did, however, want to look at your teeth....

one of the most important requirements to serve was that you had a top and bottom tooth

(2 opposing teeth) on at least one side so that you could rip off the end of the paper cartridge

 that held the gunpowder.....AMAZING!!!

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 found these ham bones in the freezer....so we pulled some of our beans off the shelf and for the next couple of days....we will be having Ham & Beans...



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Olympic upset in the swimming pool......gotta love it when they push themselves to the limit!!!

May the best man/woman win!!!

Pleasant Dreams!!!

July 27, 2012

rain everywhere BUT here.....seriously not even possible.....you look at the radar and it looks

 like it is coming right for us...then it either breaks up or goes above or below.....

we will be thankful whenever it does come...

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spent a good portion of the day working on installing a new router and connecting the house

 and the office together....so the farm is officially WIFI....woohoo!!!

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normally Friday night is Pizza night....this is what was on the

chalkboard when I came in to make dinner.....

no one has to cook tonight....yeah!!!

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very excited about the Opening Games of the 30th Summer Olympics tonight....

GO USA!!!

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as we were looking at the garden last night, we found several plants that had

been eaten....not only the leaves but the tomatoes as well....

silly tomato worms...we will let you know what action will be taken...

I will not go down without a FIGHT!!!!  lol

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Pleasant Dreams!!!

July 26, 2012

today is my brother Dan's 45th birthday.....Hope you had a GREAT day!!!

tonight for dinner Prime Rib on the grill.....

coated the meat in Olive Oil....the rub was Garlic Pepper Seasoning

almost done....

ready to serve...

it tasted AMAZING!!!!

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we were given 3 kinds of Basil from a customer today.... Thanks Scott!!!!

Ross hung it up to dry.....

Pleasant Dreams!!!

July 25, 2012

today is my niece Susan Miller's birthday....hope is was a GREAT one!!!!

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had a visitor on the back porch all day today....

looked him up in the butterfly book .... he is called a "BUCKEYE"

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when we got done with work today....it was time to do more canning....

we started with a sink full of cucumbers...

Dill Stackers were the first batch...

 Dill Spears were the second and third batch...

Bread & Butter Chunks were the fourth batch

we put up 27 jars of pickles....1 broke in the canner...

7 - Dill Stacker, 7 - B & B Chunk, 13 - Dill Spear

in between all of the canning I created a meatloaf recipe....we named it Spaghetti Meatloaf...

Spaghetti Meatloaf :

2 eggs

2 lbs ground beef

2 cups crackers

2 cups spaghetti sauce

1 tsp pepper

2 Tbsp Italian seasoning

2 cups mozzarella cheese

mix the eggs, hamburg, crackers, 1 cup sauce and pepper together.....then fold in 1 cup of cheese....put it into your casserole dish....sprinkle the Italian seasoning on top .....Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.....drain the grease......pour the other cup of sauce and cheese over the top and bake again for about 15 minutes......We liked it!!!!

Pleasant Dreams!!!

July 24, 2012

sunrise this morning........Beautiful!!!



I have been waiting to make my first Angel Food Cake.....for a couple of reasons....1) it requires so many eggs....and when I was paying for them, I couldn't see using a dozen eggs for one cake and 2) the 2 part pan freaked me out.....so over the last 5 days I finally had a total of 15 eggs from my girls

Angel Food Cake : Betty Crocker

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 cup cake flour

mix these 2 items together in a bowl and set aside

1 1/2 cups egg whites

1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar

mix these 2 items together....on medium speed

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp almond extract

1/4 tsp salt

add in the sugar 2 Tbsp at a time.....then add the vanilla, extract and salt and turn your mixer to high....



now the fun part....keep mixing until it turns into a meringue....it took about 12 minutes...

don't underbeat it

next step......sprinkle the flour/sugar mixture into the meringue...

1/4 cup at a time and fold it in with a spatula...

put batter into an ungreased angel food pan (2 piece tube pan)

flatten the batter and cut through the batter to release air pockets

bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes or until cracks feel dry and the top springs back....

flip it over immediately on a metal funnel and let cool....

after it has cooled......take the inner pan out and remove cake...

all finished...with a chocolate drizzle....turned out GREAT!!!



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had a shish-ka-bobs for dinner....YUMMY!!!

Pleasant Dreams!!!

July 23, 2012

we hit 95+ today.....the rest of the week is supposed to be back to normal....mid 80's

today is my niece Angela and her husband Brad's 1 year anniversary!!!!

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we were given a couple of old coins by a friend....here is some history on them.... Thanks Dan!!!

 1865 - 2 cent coin

The U.S. Two-Cent coin of 1864-73 has three major things going for it 1) it’s the only two-cent coin type ever struck by the United States Mint. 2) it’s the first U.S. coin to bear the motto, “In God We Trust" ...this is in the banner above the shield...you can read some of it 3) this coin is a bonafide Civil War coin, its first two years of production taking place in 1864 and 1865.

 1869 - 3 cent coin

A 3-cent coin was clearly needed, 1) to drive out the proliferation of 3-cent paper notes and 2) as a coin to be used to purchase postage just recently reduced from five cents to three cents.

gotta love History!!!

Pleasant Dreams!!!

July 22, 2012

had a GREAT day at church...had a guest speaker while Pastor is away on a much deserved vacation.....Steve did a wonderful job....give it a listen at www.h-hcc.org

hot one today....back into the 90's...tomorrow we get close to 100 again

today in 1994...we started Tri-State Technical Services....we Thank GOD for allowing

us to be self-employed for the past 18 years....looking forward to many more!!!

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garden on May 26th....

garden today...not quite 2 months later

tomatoes planted on the side of the house....June 20th

and today 5 weeks later....they are doing great!!!!

lettuce that Brad & Angela planted on June 27th

and today (3 1/2 weeks later) I broke it apart and planted them in individual holders.....

love that the 3 small trays.....made 46 lettuce plants....

we will lets these grow for about 2 weeks and then we will plant them in the holes in the garden



needed some Worcestershire Sauce as a marinade for our steaks tonight....found this great,

easy recipe on foodrenegade.com .... we changed a few things

Worcestershire Sauce:

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

2 Tbsp Thai Fish Sauce

2 Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp molasses

2 Tbsp lime juice

1/2 tsp ground clove

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp mild chili powder

we poured everything into our funnel.....put the lid on the dressing bottle and shook it....very easy!!!

had steaks on the grill.....with taters and a salad

Pleasant Dreams!!!