The Old Folks Home

[Arielle]

Quote: Gorgeous phot of the mtn-- and gotta love the lush green riverway-- had a taste of spring but now it is gone today with strong winds and freezing temps of 20 and all white again. IT is March in New ENgland.

Being boys my 2 love that which goes bang, explodes or erupts in fire!! THe continual activity around the RIng of FIre captures their attention. Certainly as the most active area on Earth, it will intrigue them for a long time.

Quote: THe plus side of the eruption is that is delivers a new source of minerals back to the surface for reuse. Mother Natures method of recycling!

 

[Highcotton]

There is a LAPD cop that it's using the lot to hide out and nab people making a tricky turn towards the LAX rental car returns.

Every fifteen minutes some poor tourist is getting a nice farewell gift from our fair city.[/quote]

Like there is not enough pick pockets and muggers hanging out everywhere.

 

[Bunnylady]

I've heard that the reason the volcanoes on the west coast are so explosive is because it is a subduction zone. Some of the plates are sliding past each other, but some are diving under. A certain amount of water gets trapped in the sediments that are going under, so when it comes back up, it makes like . . . .popcorn!

 

[ronott1]

I've heard that the reason the volcanoes on the west coast are so explosive is because it is a subduction zone. Some of the plates are sliding past each other, but some are diving under. A certain amount of water gets trapped in the sediments that are going under, so when it comes back up, it makes like . . . .popcorn!

It is a combination of the type of rock that is in the Lava and the mud and water hitting it.

The Cascade Mt.s have thick sticky lava that does not flow much. Hawaii has thin lava that flows for miles!

 

[IttyBiddyRedHen]

Okay, y'all know I love you, but y'all are driving me nuts with the quoting! Quoting someone is helpful when you are responding to something they asked or said. It lets others enjoy the frame of reference without having to go back and find it. But, it is much easier to follow the comments if you go back and edit the quoted post to just what you are commenting on. I also LOVE all the pics that Canuck and others post, but wading through all of them three or four times (on my phone) is a pain! I know some of us are fairly new to this internet/forum/chat thing, but we can help each other learn as long as we can help (which I am trying to do) as long as we don't offend anyone. I sincerely don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, I hope it doesn't, but please edit your quotes! Love Y'all!!

Thank you!!..Thank you wisher!!,....for mentioning that little tip/issue! My eyes were starting to roll into the back of my head.!!

I end up fast scrolling and missing far too many posts that were mixed in with the overly quoted pictures.

So...I cheated.....and made a new tab to add this quote. To wishers post. I still have to go back and fast scroll. ...4 more pages.

 

[IttyBiddyRedHen]

"adobo cop".....gotta luv it!

I have had some roosters....that would make egg-celent cops

. Too bad they are a chillin'. In the freezer.

 

[Cynthia12]

Volcanoes? We are so close to Wyoming..it's scary to think of Yellow Stone going! That would affect the whole country, and more.

Hey chickadoodles..you changed your avatar..had to look to see who that was! Cute.

 

[CanuckBock]

I love your sweet puppies! I just love your ranch too! And you're such a good storyteller. ...I have this funny feeling that your farming grandmother was a storyteller too!

Thank you. Hope we are all having FUN! Lots of fun stuff here to read and enjoy.

Farming grandmother lived in the city of Winnipeg. She was some bad too, underground urban chickener...not allowed to have farm animals but there she was, with chickens in her garden shed. Be some very sorry person to tell her NO to her egg makers! She loved them and even kept them into their old age when they quit laying...she loved them for all they gave her. Sorta like the farmers that let the dried up milk cow enjoy a life in retirement. I like people that do that very much.

Those turn of the century lots m Gran had were a luxury too and I think all "backyard" poultry owners should be blessed with a place for chooks and a great big garden too! Might make a lot of city dwellers not so stressed out. All stuff too close together, a little space at home to play in the dirt and enjoy life more like the country folk do.

Gran was not so much a storyteller as she use to read people's fortunes. "Card reader" I think they termed it. I never much believed in that hocus pocus BUT I do remember her reading my fortune when I was young...what I figured card reading for her was more like an excuse to make the younger folk sit down and pay attention to their wise elders.

She said my future spouse would be a "knight in shining armour" and would sweep me off to a grand life.

Hmmm...

​

What do we think about Gran's prediction...my fav colour being chrome, eh?

​

Fair amount of shiny amour that my hero now owns.

Gran was not so far off the mark I would say. Whee hee hee...in the summer we go for long slo mo drives...all about the drive, never the destination. Me riding shot gun, singing to the oldies (badly), and enjoying the view as it rolls on by. Perfection!

DEFINITE X2

Thank you...

I'm with you on the heat. 50-60F is my sweet spot. So why am I still in St. Louis?
Beautiful place. I wish I had that much room. I should have bought my dad's farm years ago.
How did you get the aerial photos?
Nice horizontal splitter.

Roasting or freezing...a more moderate climate is more akin to working outdoors. I wanna get things done...not dead yet...not unable to move...not quite yet. Want every precious day given to count for something. Reflect in our chairs in the evening, laying there wondering why this part hurts when we never knew we owned one...well I wanna reflect that something was accomplished that day, every day! Driven...hate when some whipper snapper comments that "keeners" make them look bad...agh...never mind...old gaffers are GOOD ones...takes three to four of them youngsters to replace just one of us, eh?

Moderate temperatures, YES would be conducive to working more (but do we wanna physically work more than we do already?)...so sure, we put up with extremes because I figure like you...BEAUTIFUL PLACE...and somehow or other, because of the extremes, that is the how & why it is so beauty! When I lived on the WEsT Coast (rusted for 25+ years) and it was not raining (for like 90 days straight!)...it was THE most gorgeous place on the planet. Absolutely gorgeous on a sunny sunshine day. Just never had enough and was not overly farmy orientated. Moved to where seed and forage are available in excess, along with good dirt...need that good dirt to plant myself to grow in.

Yes, having space to play on is good...I bet your family farm would have made a GREAT sanctuary. I try not to dwell on what coulda been and strive forward and make the best of what we are able. Choices made are the best ones for that moment in time. Onwards and upwards!


Hee hee...yes, that "horizontal splitter" was the very first purchase I got to make when we moved here. I bought it (proud of that) but technically, my money is always already spent keeping the critters in feed, seeds (I work for bird seed??), and bedding. But my share helps...as Rick says, because I work, it allows the family to enjoy the "cream" that rises to the top--allows us to enjoy things we would have to pass up on because the money just would not be there for that little extra specials. Team effort for sure here but he often allows me the grace of the delusions that "I bought that!" Silly really what motives many of us.

I figure a wood splitter is an investment in ourselves and keeping ourselves nice and toasty warm in an economical sense. Furnace oil would probably technically be cheaper if we counted our time and effort putting by firewood but oil furnaces are a whole different kind of heat feeling from the blowing warmed air. In a more populated area, I am thinking wood burning would not be welcomed as a severe kind of nasty pollution. Out here in the wilds, it is still an accepted practise and the wood we harvest is always dead standing, wind blown down, or in this birch case, pipeline right a way; downed and left to rot. I cannot fathom harvesting timber that has an ongoing opportunity to live and grow for something like firewood. Makes me laugh, having been raised on a father's faller's salary...I am over sensitive to the value a living tree has over being harvested...balance between being a renewable resource and killing something that is alive. Same dilemma we have over extra males you put in the pot. But given how too many males joust and make things miserable, it is a sweet/sour decision we never quite feel perfectly happy about.

After seeing some of the gnarly wood in the birch Rick split, the twisted grained stuff never gave the splitter any troubles. Five ton with a good old Honda engine (nfi). A little overkill but what I have been stacking is all in nice useable pieces. Stupid birch though...your mind sees a piece and thinks, "one in each hand" and you lift the first and find yourself catching it up with the second hand. I will be most pleased to see this on the walls, get some air drying in. No wonder it burns like coal...it is dense, like moi! Ha ha ha!

THank you wisher---on dial up the photos keep loading and pulling my reading spot out of screen. I just had to keep scrolling faster and faster . . . .

We tried to stay on dial up for the longest we could...unfortunately, we had to change over when our supplier just up and quit giving any service whatsoever. Can't imagine posting or downloading photos now with dial up. You totally ROCK for sticking with it. I totally remember not being able to receive anything one MB in size...take forever to download.

That said, in the summer, with what they call "high speed" is a complete joke for us here. All the campers come out and live under our tower out here. Absolutely ZERO service at times in the summer...someone on a quad taking photos of themselves to send back to their city friends...that takes up our space or place or whatever it is called. At times, we use to joke on dial up it was like two tin cans and a string for a connection...I would laugh more only it hurts more because it COSTS way more for pseudo high speed and we are indeed, not getting ANY service period. At least with dial up, I could send e-mails with typing. Now it is nothing...dead...no service at all.

Hello? Hello? Help????

On dial up, we paid for time used unlike now we pay for the amounts of data sent/received. We pay far too much for less service...like the candy bar that got smaller and costs even more. Like as consumers, we would NOT notice that, eh?

What made me insulted was our former premier here said that every Albertan would have high speed in their homes...yeh sure...there is a cable that runs in the ditch next to the highway beside us...a high speed cable...can see me late at night, dressed in black, piggy backing off the wire...sure...sure, get right on that! Like stealing cable for TV right outta the air in the apartment buildings...

"Arrrrrrrrrrrr...a pirating thief we be!"​

I try always to send small sized photos...I like the feature here that it takes pics posted and makes them a decent size for viewing and receiving. I post piccies ONLY ever to bring joy, happiness and laughter. I apologize if any of my photos have become painful...never meant to be viewed repeatedly till you freak yer beaks...

...absolutely NOT my objectives.

OK, so it isn't just me. I thought maybe I was just being a cranky old bunny-witch.

I love the pics, and I love the stories, and I love how some of us use pics to illustrate their stories. But even well-illustrated, funny stories lose a little of their charm on the 5th or 6th telling in as many posts.I find myself kinda like Fixins, needing to take a break after only a couple of throws!

Yes, I hope this quits happening...people can quote previous posts but we also can place the cursor over the photo, click on it and hit the delete key and the photo is removed outta the quote.

Text quoted helps keep us all on the same page (I hope) but repeated photos is annoying...especially if viewers have to PAY to view them...over and over again. Blah!

Fixins would agree...too much is overwhelming...even good things like toy tossing, in moderation is better. Bwa ha ha....

Hey Canuck, in the spirit of showing off the ACD...Here's my Zeta (pronounced Zeee Ta) She'll be six April 1st.

of course when I get the camera out she wont sit still and started yawning...

Sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!​

Love Zeta...very royal sounding name! Rolls off the tongue & a great choice for an ACD!

I so wanna....


BEEP the nose--POKE in the mouth--COVER the eyes so NO SEE--PAT PAT on the dently of the head--ROLLY the pointy ear flaps back (my son laughed at Makins...so Princess Leia Organa!!!)


Course if I did this all to Zeta (and she even let me get past BEEP or even POKE), I'd have to run like the dickens and choose to climb a very tall tree (Cattle Dogs climb...ladders to see what Dad is doing on the roof, or trees to get to c@ts) ...'cause she'll be hunting me down for my insolence to an ACD! Hunting me down.....like vermin....

^~~^ ^~~^ ^~~^ ^~~^ ^~~^​

Ever made these on the keyboard for ACDS??? That's my herd of FIVE cow dogs above...bwah ha ha....

Canuck Thanks for sharing all the recipes. Your soup looks good.

It was and it is. Dogs loved it but well, cooking for dogs, any animal in fact, is never much of a compliment for the cook...

Well all Rick had to do once when I was trying (and not succeeding!) to make a good curried chicken rice dish is say, "Some people will do anything to have a dog!" Confused, I was...at the time we were between dogs and well...his wicked wit meant it looked like...

A dog's breakfast!

Thanks!

I will need to make this soon.

Yum

Glad these recipes I am posting are helping...

Love recipes that call for lots and lots of eggs...always looking for ways to use up eggs! Ponder why people figure that is funny...they think it is strange I want lots of eggs in a recipe..."Isn't that expensive?" Ha ha ha....why yes but my cackleberry makers won't slow things down...bring it on, bring on the many ways to use up our EGGERS! Bock a bock bock...

SORRY NO photos of these two recipes in the process...not made them in a while...got a supply of them stashed in the freezers though!


Biscotti - Lemon Almond

3 Eggs
1 1/4 Cup Sugar
1/3 Mild Olive Oil
1 tablespoon Grated Lemon Rind
1 teaspoon Almond Extract
2 3/4 cup Flour
2 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 cup Unblanched Almonds (I have substituted chopped pecans too)
1 Egg white
1/2 Cup Sliced Unblanched Almonds (or chopped pecans)


Beat eggs.

Add sugar, olive oil, lemon rind, almond extract into a rather LARGE bowl.

In separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.

Stir flour mixture into egg/sugar mixture.

Stir in chopped almonds.

Divide mixture in half.

On a lightly floured surface, with floured hands, take one half and roll into a ball. Make a "log" ten inches by three inches high. Place first one on well greased cookie sheet. Flatten this log into a loaf that is 2.5 inches high with a slightly rounded top (make the loaf look like you could slice it into traditionally shaped biscotti pieces). This loaf with expand outwards a bit, so give it room to "grow" whilst cooking.

Do the same with last half. Place on another greased cookie sheet and flatten out.

Brush egg white on top and sprinkle with a single layer of sliced almonds.

Heat oven to 325F.

Cook for 25 to 30 minutes till light golden and firm to the touch.

Let cool for ten minutes on baking sheet.

Cut with serrated knife diagonally into 1/3 inch wide slices.

Place slices about one inch apart back on cookie sheets.

Reduce oven heat to 300F and cook another 20 to 25 minutes until nice and dry. You want them crispy!



Authentic Italian Biscotti - Anise Oil Flavoured

1/2 pound Butter
12 Eggs
4 cup Sugar
1 teaspoon Anise Oil (can be expensive...Jan 2004; 100ml = $20.99!)
9 cup Flour
1/4 cup Baking Powder


Melt butter and cool.

Beat eggs and sugar till fluffy.

Add butter and beat more.

Add Anise oil.

Add Flour and Baking Powder until mixer cannot continue to beat mixture.

Place batter on counter to work further so you may make stiff dough into two equal FLAT loaves.

Put two loaves on greased pans.

Heat oven to 350F. Cook two loaves for 15 minutes until golden colour and completely cooked thru.

Cool loaves. Slice diagonally.

Heat oven up to 375F.

Toast the slices and cool completely.

- For added naughtiness...you may dip finished slices in bitter sweet chocolate and then lightly toasted slivers of almonds...extra calories and extra delish!


STORAGE
For both the above recipes, you may freeze the slices in heavy bags in the freezer for long time storage or put slices in a tight container where they may remain dry. You may heat them up in a warm oven to make them warm and crispy.


Enjoy with good company out on the porch with your choice of beverages. Coffee or tea make awesome dipping liquids for any of us that are teeth challenged...num nummy!

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[Arielle]

at CanuckBOch

I'm having visions of Petticoat Junction ,with Mr. ____ up the telelphone pole amking a call!!

 

[kingfrodo]

Oh, thanks for the recipes!! I love Biscotti!!!

Yum...making the grocery list now