Random Photos

My family gave me a wonderful present when I turned 40,

a new Nikon camera.

I have just recently begun to learn how to use it.

An old barn tucked in a corner of the farm.

Wild flowers or weeds?

Water babbling down Snake Creek

All the recent rains have left Snake Creek flowing.




The bone dry Kilpatrick Lake now has water back to the trees!

We are excited about this development.




Although the drought has left some interesting tree formations

and my favorite

and my present to my family when I turned 40,

Trey

warning: my next post may contain 300 pictures of daugter # 1 throwing shot and discuss, daugter # 2 singing in the school play, and my baby boy just being cute.

Living Dangerously

When someone hollers at you, "Quick! A baby skunk!"

It's hard to know which way to run. Yes, you've heard the horror stories. Yes, you're low on tomato juice. Yes, it's insane.

But if like me, you've never seen a fuzzy, cute, adorable baby skunk before, you have to run toward the skunk.

When your husband assures you that "Baby skunks don't spray" and "Don't worry, we're down wind, they can't smell us." You might want to say "Are you *&$*%()** crazy?"

But only if you are one of The Three Sisters, raised by a wannabe sailor mom.

Fortunately, no photographers were harmed in the making of this blog, but it's a regular Mutual-of-Omaha-Wild-Kingdom around here:

Mr. (or Mrs.) Snake is back, living in our bush--or possibly beneath our house.

Visions of Porky's 3 flash into my mind, when I think about a snake slithering around beneath our house, near our pipes, etc.

I've been reassured by several facebook friends that this California King is helpful and docile, and even eats other snakes. So that's a good thing.

Now I see why my sisters love the country. Everywhere we turn, new little spring critters are arriving or waiting to arrive.

In our chicken coop:

It's hard to see the eggs because they're so tiny. Our chickens aren't big fans of their coop, but this little swallow ((?) I'm not sure, I'm no bird expert) seems to have made herself at home.

And another nest appeared on our back fence:

Anyone know what these are?? I googled them and someone had posted a picture of similar looking eggs by a northern mockingbird.

And I think I already posted this one. Maybe from a kildeer?

I had to post it again because they are so cool!! Eggs are amazing!! Yay Spring!

Just to make my sisters jealous (Part 1)

I strolled out to the ol' garden the other day and found some juicy ripe strawberries, just waiting to be picked.

ok, some of them look a little funky in this picture, but we had to pick a little early because some kind of garden critter keeps eating them. Not even the whole berry, he just hops along sampling a bit out of every berry.

Here's my nod to pioneer woman, with a little smoothie recipe for all of you to emulate at home.

How to make a smoothie.

1. move to California.

2. go out to the garden and pick a bowl full of strawberries.

3. put them in blender.

4. add a banana.

5. Add some milk. (I'm doing a dairy-free thing, so I added Rice Milk.)

I have a bunch of smoothie recipes that recommend uing tofu. I'd never tried it before, so I figured we'd give it a shot.

6. throw in a little tofu. (not the firm kind.) You might need a permit to use tofu if you are a U.S. citizen, but not a California resident. Check your local and state ordinances to ensure you are in compliance before proceeding with step 6.

7. Add some ice and blend.

If you have small children in the home, be sure to emphasize the importance of putting the lid on BEFORE pushing the button.

(why is this concept so difficult to grasp?)

8. Enjoy!!

PS here's the other awesome thing we found in our garden!!!