Weekend hangovers.

Life is pretty good lately.  I've been making the most of the weekends.  So much so that I feel as though I have a weekend hangover come Monday morning.  It's now Wednesday morning and I don't feel fully recovered.

This weekend was a whirlwind trip to Laramie and back.  Brent, Brink, and I left early Saturday morning.  We loaded up Brent's car until it was about to pop and then stuffed Brink in the back seat.  Brink always gets the shaft in space when it comes to camping trips, but I always assure him it will be worth it in the long run.  I had to snap a picture of him squished in the back seat.  He's not as squished as he appears.  He had half the seat but wanted to keep his head near us.  I think he was trying to earn himself some sympathy.  He got it.  He's a great pup - can't say it enough!!
  

The trip to Laramie was nice.  Most everything is still pretty green, which is rare considering it's almost the 4th of July.  As we drove, we pointed to the left and to the right at all of the places that would be nice to one day stake our claim.  We passed the Beverly Hillbillies on the way ....

It was nice to drive into Laramie again.  I told Brent it felt a lot like going home.  It's a quaint little town full of fond memories.  So much has changed but also very little in the time that we've been gone from Laramie.  New hotels, restaurants, and shops have opened up around campus, which itself has had some major renovations.  Sleepy old Laramie still exists.  People move at a slightly slower pace.  The speed limit through town is still 30.  That seems like a snail's pace compared to Ft. Collins.

Brent and I picked up McDonald's and headed to our first stop - Greenhill Cemetery!!  We ate our breakfast while sitting in the car in the cemetery.  The things Brent will do for me.  HA!  The history geek, genealogist in me was squeeing with delight.  I grabbed my map and plot notes and we headed down the path between sections.  Brinkley needs to work on his cemetery etiquette, but I'll cut him some slack as he'd just spent an hour and half crammed in the back of a Civic.  

We reached the end and headed back towards the car on the other side of the section.  Searching... searching... and finally found what we came for...

This, obviously, is the headstone for Daniel Joesiah Allen.  Daniel was my great-grandfather's brother.  His story has been haunting me over the last year or so.  I started digging into my family history after graduation last spring.  That's when I found Daniel.  He was one of Laramie's hometown boys.  He was born on the outskirts of town.  He was hardworking, well-known around town, and over the years tried to make a name for himself as a rancher.  He purchased some ranch land of his own but was called to the service of his country shortly after.  

He left small town Laramie for the countryside of France as a doughboy in The Great War.  He was a cook traveling unprotected with the kitchen wagons.  He was killed in the middle of the night by shrapnel from a German bomb.  His tentmate and fellow Laramie boy held him in his arms as he died from the wounds to his head.  It wasn't until 1921 that his body was finally returned to Laramie, which shut down for his funeral.

There's much more to the story, but that's it in a nutshell.  When I found out that he had been buried in Laramie I added the visit to Greenhill Cemetery to my ever growing To Do list.  I also took pics of the headstone for Daniel's brother Melvin, who murdered his girlfriend and then committed suicide.  Was he tormented by his service in WWI, distraught over the loss of his brother, or just plain crazy?  And near the two of them was Esther Allen, the second wife of their father.

Anywho...geneology rant over... we headed east out of Laramie towards our campsite.  Brent played radio with the Laramie amateur radio club guys while I plopped a chair near a tree down the road and worked on an article that I've been dragging my feet on.  Then it rained a while.  Brinkley found it unsettling to be stuck in a tent while the skies boomed all around us with thunder.

The evening pot luck barbeque around the campfire was delicious.  As usual, Brinkley impressed the crowd by his good behavior and good looks!  Someone even won over my heart by bringing S'more fixins!!  

                          

On Sunday I let Brink off his leash to run around.  He would take off at a trot through the woods, sniffing trees and checking branches for squirrels.  A few minutes later he would come busting back through the woods towards camp like someone lit his tail on fire.  The doggie smile on his face was huge!  He was so happy!  When we left, he slept all the way home.  And for another 16 hours after that.  If I didn't have go to work on Monday, I probably would have joined him!!  Great weekend!  

  

Hittin' the road

It's official - Brent and I are going on vacation in September!  My time off was secured a while back because of the bid-based schedule at PD.   We were waiting on word from Brent's new job and he found this week that it got approved... so for the first time in our relationship we are going somewhere on vacation!!  I'm sure we'll have our fair share of bickering while on the road, but in the end, we'll have fun.

Nothing is really planned out - we're thinking we'll just drive east until we need to turn around to make it back home on time.  We'll probably look for places to sleep as we go since we won't know exactly where we'll end up at the end of each day.  We can motor along at our own speed and not be rushed to get somewhere to check-in.  I think the rental car topic is still floating around.  We're not sure there is enough room in our coupes for a week on the road.  It depends on how light we're willing to travel, I think.  I know Brent doesn't have a problem wearing the same clothes for a week, but I don't want to ride in a car with him if he's going to be wearing the same clothes over and over and over.  HA!!

In other news...we're off for a mini-vacation this weekend for amateur radio's annual Field Day.  We're busting out of town early tomorrow and heading to the home of our alma mater, Laramie, Wyoming!!  Brent and I both love Laramie.  We've always said it was a place we could live happily ever after if the stars (i.e. jobs) aligned.  Hopefully our future homestead will be between here and there.

We'll be off in the boonies.  Brent will play radio man, I'll desperately attempt to finish an article submission for Leatherneck magazine, and Brinkley Miles will get to sniff new trees, chase different squirrels, and enjoy some cool mountain breezes!  Wooohoo for the weekend!

Knitting, schmitting.

There's a certain talent to this knitting thing.  I don't have it, but that doesn't mean I can't keep working on it!  Last week, I bought my first knitting needles at the Estes Park Wool Market.  I wanted to find some needles with character, and I did.  There are little owls perched on the ends of my needles, hopefully, to provide me wisdom and guidance through this not so easy craft.  At first, they had no names, but I've now spent some time with them and decided to name them Huck and Molly.

If there are any West Wing fans out there, this combination sounds familiar.  Otherwise, just know this... twins Huck and Molly get a nice welcome to the world chat on their birth day from their father Toby.  He's surprised that babies come with hats.  He says, "I didn't realize babies come with hats.  You guys crack me up.  You don't have jobs.  You can't walk or speak the language.  You don't have dollars in your pockets but you've got yourself a hat so every thing's fine."  It's one my favorite moments in the West Wing.  And I loved the names Huck and Molly.  So, with any luck, my Huck and Molly will be there when I knit a hat of my own!  And maybe if I'm good, I'll knit baby hats!

I started my knitting adventure by searching YouTube.  I found some crappy videos and some great videos, but this video I found the most useful and watched it about 25 times.  It taught me how to cast on, knit, and cast off.  After my first go at it, I had something the size of a bookmark after four hours or so.  I kept at it though and tried again over this past weekend.  I added to the bookmark and before too long I had something that looked like a coaster.  I was just practicing, with no intention of making anything, and then right before my very eyes - a coaster!!  I re-watched the end of the video a half dozen times and casted-off.  I'm pretty sure I got the basics right but I struggled with the last slip knot tie-off part.  I'll have to keep practicing that.

Anywho, here ya have it...my first coaster in all its iPhone photo glory!  Isn't it beautiful??!!

I'm not sure where I expect my new knitting skills to take me.  I always thought it would be a great skill to know.  I don't intend on being an expert sweater maker, but think it would be excellent if I could make scarves, gloves, hats, wash clothes...simple things with very useful and practical purposes!!  Everyone I know will get matching scarves, coasters, and wash clothes for Christmas.  I have to practice, right?

A good kind of sore.

I love weekends!  When all of the activities make me sore on Monday, I know it was a great weekend.  This one was simple and fun!  As always, I didn't get everything accomplished I originally hoped to, but that's how it normally plays out.  With no creative intro...here's a recap, with photos!

My first priority was returning my craptastic carpet cleaner I bought from Kohl's two weeks ago.  For anyone out there in the market for a carpet cleaner, I do NOT recommend the Hoover Dual V Steamvac!  I spent over $200 on it, then proudly took it home, assembled it, and got busy cleaning carpets.  With Brinkley, Milo, Brent, and me marching all over a small one bedroom condo, the carpet gets dirty and smashed down pretty quickly.  I like to clean my carpets pretty often and have been borrowing my mom's old school Hoover over the last few years.

Her cleaner always did a good job so I thought I'd buy a Hoover also.  Bigger and fancier is not always better.  The Dual V has a separate cleaner dispenser, which means there is a small tank next to the clean water tank that holds the carpet shampoo.  In theory, and according to the manual, any cleaner not used can be stored in its tank after use.  So that's what I did.  A few days later, Brent ask if there was supposed to be goop in the clean water tank.  He picked up the tank and showed me.  Rolling around the bottom of the tank was all of the cleaner.  The seal between the cleaner tank and the clean water tank was broken!!

Just to make sure I hadn't lost my mind, I googled and found that the cheap plastic seals between the tanks on these Hoover models with the shampoo dispenser break early and often!!  Cheap, crappy plastic!  So, I took my vacuum back.  I hauled my still-assemble cleaner into Kohl's and told them I wanted to return my piece of crap carpet cleaner.  Needless to say, I'm once again in the market for a carpet cleaner.  Sigh.

On a slighty funnier note, when I walked into Kohl's carrying my cleaner sticking out of it's box, one of the cash register ladies told one of the cash register guys to come over and help me.  He asked if I needed any help and I said I was almost there, but thanks for the offer.  The high school kid looked so familiar to me.  And as I was winding my way through those little rope lines to the Customer Service counter it hit me.  I had to write that kid a ticket for Careless Driving last week.  That was my first civilian encounter with someone from something work related.  It was weird.  I can't say that I'm keen on the idea of that happening often.

The second thing I wanted to accomplish over the weekend was getting Brinkley in somewhere for a haircut.  He desperately needed a thorough bath, shave, nail clipping, and ear cleaning.  He's only had two haircuts before, once at Camp Bow Wow and once at Petsmart.  I figured any place was cheaper than Petsmart's $75 bill for a head to tow cleaning.  And I knew Camp Bow Wow required an appointment on selected days.  So, I settled on the Biscuit's Dog Pawlour.  It's been open for a couple of years.  They have self-service stations for washing dogs, doggie day care, and somewhat drop-off pawlour services!  Brent and I killed a few hours shopping in town while Brinkley was made into one handsome pup!!

I'm not sure what he thinks about his flame bandana, but I think he looks cute!!  He seems much happier without all the fluffy hair keeping him hot this time of year.  And I know he loves the extra petting and loving because he's so soft and smells good!!

Saturday night we celebrated Father's Day for Brent's dad.  We went out to dinner at Fatso's in Loveland.  It's in the old A&W building.  While it's no A&W, it was pretty scrumptious and I would go again.

Sunday morning the alarm went off early considering our late night. I had to roll myself out of bed to meet my Mom at Green Acre.  We did a little work in the garden and did some clean-up.  Our tomato plants starting turning yellow last week.  Between the non-stop raining for days and the wind beating them, it's hard to know for sure why they are unhappy.  They don't appear to have a fungus or bug or anything so hopefully they will pull through.  They sure don't seem like they have grown much in the last two or three weeks.

The corn has definitely grown.  We have three rows of about 8 inch tall corn!  We only had one pumpkin plant sprout.  One out of four hills worth of seeds!!  So I planted more pumpkin seeds hoping they will fair better than the first round.  I also had to thin out some cucumber sprouts.

While I was playing farmer, Mom got out the little red tractor (riding lawn mower) and hooked up the trailer.  We made about dozen trips from the side of the garage to the barn with mini-trailer loads of cinder blocks.  Someday those will make a nice raised flower bed or retaining wall!  After the heavy lifting, I tore up some yard lights and an old water pipe to throw in the dumpster.  Bit by little bit Green Acre is getting cleaned up!  There is always something to do up there.

Sunday afternoon we celebrated Father's Day for my dad at my parent's house with taco salad and ice cream sundaes!!!  My nephew Moxon provided the entertainment.  I can't remember what we did before he came along.  We played sidewalk chalk and kick ball.  We looked for and tried to catch a frog.  My parent's have a bird's nest on a downspout so I picked Moxon up to take a peek inside.  When he saw the eggs inside, I asked him how many, and he held up his hands and counted out his fingers, one-two-three!! Green and blue!  So, I had to get the ladder to see if he was right...and to take pictures, of course!!  He was right!

It was a great weekend!! Lots of fun with my dog, my man, and my family!  I even did a little knitting last night!  But that's a whole different story for another post!  I woke up this morning feeling sore all over!  And it was that good kind of sore all over.  You know, where the aches remind you of the fun weekend and actually make Monday's a little easier.  I'm already looking forward to next weekend!!!

Smooth as butter.

What better way to continue my trend of educating myself in self-sufficiency than by making my own butter?!  It doesn't matter what homesteading, country living, farming, or self-sufficient website, blog, or magazine a person reads, inevitably the easy recipe for butter will reveal itself.

Mason jar - check.  Whipping cream - check.  Patience - check.

Fill a trusty mason jar about 1/3 or slightly more with whipping cream, then shake.  You don't have to shake hard enough to make your teeth rattle.  Just gently roll the jar around in your hands.  Depending on the temperature of the cream and how vigorous you shake, a nice yellow blob of butter will form in ten to fifteen minutes.  Keep turning the jar and you will see more and more buttermilk separate from the butter.  Pour out the buttermilk into its own container.  The yellow blob is the butter!!!

To extend the life of the butter, put it under some ice cold water and squish the butter (technical term would be kneading).  The water will turn cloudy.  This means you're doing it right.  Keep rinsing with cold water until the water post-squishing runs clear.

This was my first attempt at making butter.  My conclusion...instead of saying "Piece of cake," I'm going to say "Easy as making butter!"  A quick taste test made me smile.  I had to track down Brent and make him try a small dollop of my first homemade butter.  He was impressed!

Butter                                                     Buttermilk

It's too late in my day to attempt to make anything with my buttermilk.  I may have to make more butter to get more buttermilk before I can make some pancakes or biscuits!!  

Mission Make Butter was a success!!

And the rain continues.

Oh yes, the rain continues.  It's been a bit more sporadic today but as of posting time, it's still raining.  I'm beginning to think that someone should start building an ark and collecting animals.  Swollen rivers and continuing showers caused many events to be cancelled over the weekend.  Thankfully, the Wool Market in Estes Park wasn't cancelled!

Vanessa and I started our wool adventure with lemon poppyseed scones from Starbucks.  Then we headed out of town towards the fog covered mountains with the windshield wipers going and our mouths blabbering.  Vanessa and I don't get to hang out as often as we'd like so we have to make the most of those times we do get together.  We may have been separated at birth.  We're both Taurus souls - creative, imaginative, big-dreamers, simply entertained, and easily bored.  All of these traits make any of our make-our-own-adventure days into a great ones!

When we arrived in Estes, we made our way to the fairgrounds under stormy clouds... and rain.  Our first stop was the Paco-Vicunas tent, which due to the rain, also housed the Sheep to Shawl demonstration.  We made our way around the alpaca pens and then got sucked into the carding, spinning, and looming of the sheep to shawl competition.  Vanessa and I stood in awe (our jaws may have dropped) and watched the seamless transition of the fiber from one person to the next.  Here are some shots of the different teams hard at work.  Yes, I said teams!  Four teams of five people work for five hours to transform the wool into a wearable shawl.

     

After breaking out of our sheep to shawl stupor, Vanessa tried her hand at spinning in the children's tent.  Don't knock it.  She did a great job!!

After Vanessa added spinning to her resume, we went to see the GOATS!!  There was a goat show or judging of some kind going on when we got there.  The folks in the judging circle and those surrounding it were taking everything very seriously.  As we meandered our way up and down the aisles looking at all of the goats left out of the debutante ball, we overheard things like "A goat of this age shouldn't have wool of any quality, but this one does.  I give it a four." and "We look for third teats on male goats.  That's one thing we want to know if it's passed onto offspring."  Clearly, this was THE moment for a lot of goat breeders in Colorado and surrounding states, but all I cared about was checking out the goats' personalities.  Some definitely seemed more friendly than others.  I'd imagine it has a lot to do with how they're raised.

Unfortunately, the event was very much geared towards people who knew about the different animals.  Very few pens had labels.  And those that did, were just name tags for the goats.  It would have been great to know which of the some 200 goat breeds I was looking at it.  I definitely would have made notes as to my favorites!

The weather cooperated for a while and we got to see a sheep herding demonstration!  I'd explain it, but I'm not quite sure I could do so as simply as the host.  Basically, a shepherd can have his/her dog bring the sheep, move the sheep, push the sheep in any direction of their choosing with verbal commands, whistles, and hand movements!  It was fun to watch.  The dogs were intense!  Even when it wasn't their turn to strut their stuff and they were told "That'll do for now, ____," they watched every move the sheep made. 

After the sheep herding we checked out the vendor barn.  Vanessa and I both agreed it would have been ten times more fun if we had the ability to make something out of the fabulous fibers for sale in the vendor barn.  I did buy my very first pair of knitting needles.  A photo of them will have to come another day.

The sky started spitting at us again as we left town, but it didn't stop us from taking a photo break alongside the road.  The Big Thompson river is so high and moving so fast right now; we couldn't pass up the opportunity to snap some photos.  Check it out!

Upstream                                              Downstream

It was a great day!  Our little Taurus hearts loved the possibilities the day created.  For in a goat,  sheep, rabbit, or alpaca lie sweaters, blankets, gloves, scarves, socks, and so much more!!  I look forward to the day I can proudly wear a stocking cap or scarf that I made!!!  As always, I'll post photos when it happens!  

Weather today. Wool tomorrow.

It's raining.

It's pouring.  

Brinkley Miles is snoring.

It's been one of those days.  The rain started last night and it hasn't really let up all day.  We don't get many rainy days in Ft. Collins.  The local university, CSU and the city tourism folks like to brag that we get 300+ days a year of pure sunshine.  Mix in snowy days and that really doesn't leave much room for rainy ones.  So it's been one of those rare rainy days.  Drizzling rain, spitting rain, pouring rain, misty rain - we've seen it all in the last 36 hours.

Rainy day meant lazy day.  Brent and I headed out for some shopping this morning.  I finally picked up an Under Armour shirt to wear under by protective vest at work.  The cotton just wasn't cutting it under all that kevlar so I thought I'd try some wicking material to see if it helps keep me cool as the temperatures continue to rise through the summer!  We stopped at Jax Farm & Ranch for Brent to look at boots.  I made a mental note of their decent selection of country living and gardening!

We also stopped at Copoco's Honey and Bee Products on north Hwy 287.  I'd been there once but knew Brent would want to check it out.  A rainy, lazy day was the perfect day to finally stop in there.  The place is interesting.  It carries locally produced honey and honey products like soaps and candles.  For the adventurous set they also have beekeeping gear, including beekeeper hats!  There is also a honeycomb and hundreds of bees set up on display so people can watch all the busy bees at work going into the combs and crawling all over one another.  I spotted the Queen!!

Before heading home we stopped at the furniture store so I could order two more pieces for the living room.  Once they are picked up and in the room I'll post photos.  I spent part of the afternoon out in the garage collecting cardboard for recycling, which was then followed by a trip to the recycling center!  Even the rain couldn't keep recyclers away - the place was packed as normal.  Then I shampooed the carpets while Brent cleaned the bathroom.  Yah!  Cleanliness is a good thing!  

We finished off our night with dinner at Rustic Oven.  Best four cheese ravioli in town!  And the Truffelicious desert is to die for!

Tomorrow is going to bring quite the adventure.  My friend, Vanessa and I are going to Estes Park to the Wool Market!  I'm not quite sure what to expect but we can make fun out of anything.  I'd really like to spot an Angora rabbit in the crowd and pet some goats.  Vanessa is going to teach me to knit so maybe I'll find some knitting needles with a story!  I'm so excited.  I may not be counting sheep right before falling asleep tonight but I'll sure be thinking about them!!

Oh, and if you are wondering, the rain continues.

  

The morning constitutional. Truman knew what he was doing.

Each morning starts the same these days.  While Brent stumbles through his morning routine, Brinkley hops up into bed with me.  His heavy flop into my side is always welcome.  Brink and I slumber lightly for another hour or so.  I get a kiss on the cheek from Brent and he gets a groggy, "Goodbye.  Be careful" in return.

When I finally do wake up, saying "Good morning, Brink" isn't enough to make him stir.  Without lifting his head, he'll shift his eyes and look at me with his big puppy dog eyes while gladly accepting the petting and ear rubs.  His stillness and look suggests he wants to pause the moment and make the morning cuddling last forever.  Pretty soon the attention and excitement of me being awake is too much for him to handle and he'll stretch and crawl closer to my face and put his head across my chest.  His tail will start to wag and then his whole lower body shifts back and forth.  As I move the bed sheets off of me, he springs up like a jack out of its box!

Brink and I have quite the routine.  We've both adjusted to my work schedule.  We both know I have plenty of time for a lazy morning walk every single day.  And Brinkley is anxious for it from the moment I finally move my butt out of bed.  He follows me around from the kitchen, to the bathroom, to the bedroom.  He watches what I'm doing and what I pick up.  He stares at me while I sip my coffee.  If he could tap his foot impatiently I'm sure he would.  He knows what pants I wear on our walk.  And he knows which shoes I grab when it's time.  He sits in front of me and watches me lace up my shoes.  As soon they are tied he runs to his leash hanging on the wall and back to me.  In his head he's probably thinking, "Come ON, Mom!  You don't need shoes, I don't have them.  Let's go!"

Our walks are peaceful.  Brinkley gets to run when we near grassy open spaces.  And he knows to slow down and wait for me when I say "With Me."  He trots along beside me keeping watch for the nearest bird, squirrel, or fox.  I'm patient enough to let him stalk one when he does spot it.  He largely ignores the other dogs passing by.  I think we both have a bit of pride in that he doesn't acknowledge the other dogs.  With head held high and an impressive stride, he marches beside me to the beat of his own drummer.  When I pick up speed, he picks up speed.  His ears flop back a little and his dog grin gets bigger!  It's a beautiful sight to see.  There's no greater way to spend a morning than knowing I'm making my dog THAT happy.

Our morning constitutional has become addictive.  I think I now understand why President Truman loved his morning walks so much!  It gets me out of bed and it lightens the whole day.  Brink and I both get our exercise out of the way and I can leave for work feeling a lot less guilty.

Who knows - maybe we'll take up evening walking too!  I know Brink wouldn't mind.  And I'll never turn down the chance to see a big old Brinkley smile!

A little inspiration...made from scratch.

There is another person out there somewhat like myself.  Her name is Jenna Woginrich and she lives in Jackson, New York.  I discovered Jenna about four or five days ago.  I was perusing Mother Earth News Online and saw a link which promised to describe my obsession.  I clicked on that link and found a blog post entitled "Barnheart: Yearning to be a Farmer."  Now the world is a lot less scary.  I know I'm not alone in my desire to live simply, raise chickens, a goat or tow, and maybe some sheep.

What is Barnheart, you ask?  I highly recommend reading the blog post by Jenna, but in a chicken egg-shell, it's "unequivocally knowing you want to be a farmer - and for whatever personal circumstances - cannot be one just yet."  There was no specific moment when I knew I wanted to be a farmer.  The desire has crept up slowly over the past few years.  It started with thinking that I wanted some chickens someday, so I started dreaming up the perfect chicken coop and naming my rooster and hens.  It's blossomed from there.  I've said it before, I want one or two of everything - goats, sheep, pigs.

Like other sufferers of Barnheart, I find myself daydreaming about what I would plant in my bountiful garden, outsmarting a sly goat, and relaxing on a back porch watching the sun set over chickens pecking at the ground.  I ease my symptoms by reading, planning, dreaming, and doing simple things that move me one step closer to a home on a small chunk of land.  I don't want a sprawling farm of hundreds of acres - my gut and wallet tell me that's not true farming (a whole other tangent for another day).  I want to be self-sustainable, and that doesn't mean I have to live an Amish lifestyle.

For now, and for many, many years, I will work a 9-5 job.  Well, it's more like a 12-8 job, but you get the idea.  Brent and I will soon hit the big time (a.k.a. working our butts off to make our own "big time") and be landowners.  Until then, I'll ease the symptoms of Barnheart by making homemade lemonade, baking bread, growing carrots on my patio, and pumpkins at Green Acre.

So, yes, I stand-up and say I have Barnheart and contently prepare for the eye-rolling, snickers, and pessimistic jokes that are bound to come my way.

Now, back to Jenna.  I said she was somewhat like myself.  She's a dreamer, a writer, a photographer, and a lover of all things simple.  The difference between she and I ... she's about 15 steps ahead of me.  She already has her chickens, ducks, goat, sheep, and honeybees.  She has a fascinating, inspiring, and entertaining blog about her life as a twenty-something homesteader at Cold Antler Farm.  I highly recommend her blog.  I've been reading it and living vicariously through her for the past week.  Just last night, I started her book, Made From Scratch.  

I'm proud to say that more and more of my life is made from scratch.  I find sweet joy in planting my patio garden every summer and then making salsa with my respectable crop.  I haven't purchased a loaf of bread since last December.  I make some surprisingly delicious pesto sauce and super scrumptious, all-natural granola bars.  And the list of things that I want to make from scratch is growing on a daily basis.  Stay tuned for those developments...I'm sure some will be tasty!!

Recipe for a good nights sleep...

It was a successful day around these parts.  Brinkley and I left home at what felt like the crack of dawn to go join other dogs and their humans to walk in the 20th Annual Fire Hydrant 5k.  It's been on my wanna-do list since the day Brinkley picked me as his owner.  It was a beautiful day in the park as we joined the masses of dogs.  B. Miles behaved himself fabulously.  He was timid at first and plopped himself at my feet to observe the canine craziness happening all around.  Even after he realized it was a day for the dogs, he minded his manners and looked at me for approval before running off to sniff and give doggie kisses.

For the race/walk we weaved our way through a nearby neighborhood, passing homeowners in lawn chairs.  At first glance it appeared they were there to be friendly cheerleaders, waving and saying good morning.  A closer look revealed that the "cheerleaders" were merely there to keep watch over the furry walkers and the pooper-scoopers who accompanied them.  The 5k path was set out on the street, but it was entertaining to watch how many dogs pulled their owners up on to the sidewalk, including Brinkley.  All those hours spent walking on the sidewalk, we never knew how well trained our dogs had become!!!

When our three mile walk was over, Brinkley and I wandered through the pet fair hosted by the Larimer County Humane Society.  Brinkley got free tennis balls, some treats, and some congratulatory licks and sniffs from his four-legged counterparts.  For all the dogs out there, Brink was the only Brittany in the pack.  There were dozens of labs, dozens of golden retrievers, pugs, shitzus, boxers, and mutts, but there was only orange and white Brittany!!

Brink and I plopped in the shade by the car for a few minutes before we headed home.  Brinkley had an air of accomplishment around him with his head held high and a full doggy smile!  I wondered if he was thinking the same thing I was ... we should definitely do this again!

Later in the morning I headed to the Urban Gardening Festival at the Gardens on Spring Creek.  I've driven by the gardens many times but never stopped.  I didn't have much time because Brent and I were meeting friends for lunch.  I walked around the booths and took a few pictures.  Unfortunately, the only workshop that I was interested (stained glass stepping stones) happened while Brink and I were at the 5k.  The booths were kind of uninformative.  There was a booth for each nursery in town, some landscaping companies, and a few other odd ones.

One lady approached me saying she was a garden consultant (gee, rough life she must have) and asked if I had any questions.  She was standing near her makeshift cold frame, so I asked her about cold frames.  Brent and I are still trying to figure out how to elevate my cold frame on the patio.  She told me that I would most likely need a compost mixture as soil, not just straight garden dirt.  She also explained that the most useful thing to have for a cold frame is an air thermometer and a soil thermometer.  If either of those get too hot, all of the stuff on the inside will croak.

She also advised I will need to remove my greenhouse lid through the summer.  As the temperature cools in fall, I'll have to add the lid but leave it propped open for ventilation.  One fall has turned into cold fall, I'll have to close it.  I should be able to grow most (low profile)herbs and maybe some lettuce and squatty carrots if we get the base built deep enough.  Basil (my main inspiration) is extreme wimp when it comes to cold weather so she said growing it in a cold frame, even if heated through winter, could be very difficult.  I'll just have to grow my basil inside this winter!!  Anywho, it was very informative to talk with her briefly.  She offered me the chance to enter the contest for an hour of garden consultation.  I had to kindly decline and say my patio garden is not nearly big enough for a consultation.  Maybe someday.

As I passed another booth, I saw this beauty...

It's a redwood frame and it's much bigger than it looks in the photo.  It's probably six feet square.  And I want one!!!  Raised beds seem to be the hottest thing going.  Just in my time driving around town hour after hour for work I've noticed raised beds being built in front, side, and backyards!  It will be interesting to see if anyone turns them into cold frames come fall time.

After the gardens, I met Brent and our friends Aric and Sara at Ruby Tuesdays for lunch.  From there, Brent and I did some running around town.  We dropped off the old paint at the Household Hazard Waste Collection event!!  We hit up the Verizon store and a place called Hops & Berries, a home brewing supply store.  We got some root beer and vanilla creme soda extract (more on that another day). We also hit Whole Foods.  I got some heavy whipping cream and some goat's milk (more on those another day too)!  The day of productiveness ended with some burgers on the grill and a mini-marathon of Everwood on DVD.

Fabulous Friday!

Fridays are once again fabulous.  I know that may seem like an odd thing to proclaim.  Most normal hard-working Americans have fabulous Fridays all the time.  TGIF, right?  For a long time Fridays were just another day for me.  I'd either have a mountain of homework in front of me or weekend shifts to fulfill by obsessive need for stretching myself too thin in my self-inflicted demand for "success."

Now that life has settled down quite a bit, my Fridays are once again Fridays!!  They are the end of my work week.  And now (woohoo!) the end of Brent's work week.  He still has some Casper business to finish up this weekend so I'm thinking up things of my own to do.  Possibilities include...dropping off about 4 gallons (mostly empty) of years-old paint at the City hazardous waste collection event; walking in the Fire Hydrant 5k with Brinkley Miles; going to the Urban Gardening Festival at the Gardens on Spring Creek; furniture shopping for my coffee table and end table; building my table/bed frame for my greenhouse; attempting to make butter using heavy cream and a mason jar; whipping up some of my delicious homemade granola bars; dropping off a trunk load of recycling; removing the warped plywood shelves from my patio storage closet; returning library books; getting a haircut; and getting Brinkley a haircut!!

Fridays bring so many possibilities!  Ah, the weekend!  I'm off to bed with my Encyclopedia of Country Living.

I want a kid.

Before anyone starts getting out the pink and blue booties, I don''t mean a baby.  I want a kid...goat.  Part of my preparation for being a homesteader some day is learning about all the facets of living in the boondocks.  One of those facets is animal husbandry.  Of course, not everyone who lives in the boonies has animals, but it seems like a waste of acreage not to have animals.  I've decided I want one or two of everything - goats, mini-cows, sheep, chickens, pigs.  No horses though - I don't like horses.  They scare me.  (I'll give you a moment to snicker if you wish)

Yesterday I was reading Grit Magazine Online and found a great article about pint-sized goats.  Did you know more people in the world drink goat milk than drink cow milk?  I didn't.  Neither did Brent.  Whether or not that convinced Brent to want goats, I'm not sure.  I fell asleep shortly after enlightening him to my new found jeopardy fact.

Goats are actually very useful to a homestead.  Not only can they provide milk, cheese, butter, and meat, but with their always curious personalities and juvenile antics, they would provide endless entertainment.  And they are weed eating machines!!  I'm not a huge fan of mowing or weed wackin', so this last point is major selling point.  Even if goats are tricksters and jump fences, trample and eat gardens, and everything in between, who can resist those pretty little goat faces!