Grandson's Fudgy Brownies

Everyone is getting their requested dessert for Christmas dinner .

   This grandson loves brownies and peanut butter. So I combined them both for him to indulge. A whole 13X9x2 pan full! He has to share at the dinner but gets to take leftovers home.

    Hubby tried the unfrosted brownies and loved the dark chocolate and chewiness of them. 

    Just face it, it's hard to beat a good Hershey's chocolate recipe!

Love 

Ranchmama 

( who is perfecting some really good favorite recipes to keep.)

Italian Chili!

Well you mean you've never heard of Italian Chili?!!

    What are you supposed to do when it's cold outside and chili sounds Sooo good to the tummy and you have no tomato sauce?

     Take a look at the ingredients and you can see the answer! LoL Yes that is black beans. Brown beans are too big and squishy for my taste buds.

Don't worry I didn't use all the spaghetti sauce, just enough to give it some flavor. I was really surprise it tasted really good. Even hubby liked it!

     Well the Italian Chili saved the day and even warmed us up.

     

Love 

Ranchmama 

I Think I Made Some Pasta!

Going to a family function and folks were asked to bring a salad and dessert.

   Ok so Nikki sent me this one she liked. It has most if the food groups in it so sounded good enough to me! 

    Oh my goodness ! It made a bunch!  I have to dig out some pretty dishes but Nikki said I could use hers if I didn't find them. 

     This is how much I still have after taking out 1/2 gallon to keep some for me and drop off at a aunts house on the way. She doesn't cook much so when I can think if it I try to share. 

Love

Ranchmama

(Still cooking for thanksgiving )

Taste Test

Heidi Ho has to have anything and everything that hubby has to eat or drink! She for sure has her opinion as to which soda is better! 
  

And the winner is....!

This is how she tells him what she wants. First with just a gentle stare down.

Then if you don't pay attention you get a sometimes not so gentle nudge.

If for some reason you are just ignoring her she gets downright cranky about it ! lOL

Wonder if Coka Cola would like this for a ad???

Love

Ranchmama 

What a Interesting Day !

I wanted to fix hubby a good breakfast today. Well he always has a good breakfast it's just I made one of his favorites today. Mush with lots of fried bacon ends and pieces with toast and orange juice. This weekend is a harder time in the birdhouse with having to go through each nest box. It's always been a hard job but getting older makes it a lot harder. 

Get hubby and Heidi Ho out the door and I get the kitchen put back together I get my binoculars and keys to make a round to all the properties. Friday was the start of deer gun season. So since this is Saturday and people have time off they could be in places they're not supposed to be like our property!

   I get back and start figuring out what to try and get done from the huge wish to do list I have! I start getting the cayenne peppers and sage cleaned up to make extracts. 

     I got a surprise call from the housekeeper. She is on her way with a photographer to see all the pretty places we have to take family pictures. I had a real surprise !  It was housekeeper her 4 young women daughters and about a 2 yo grandson with the photographer in I think I saw 4 autos? 

    I took the photographer and housekeeper around first to 3 different places. A lake, a park area, and geandma's barn. Then we went back for her girls that followed us in 1 car. When we got past the gates they piled into old blue hanging on for dear life. Lol

     The baby got to ride I the cab with me , the photographer and grandma . It was pretty chilly. They all seemed to have fun especially in grandmas 100 year old barn . The photographer liked the lake but the girls liked the barn. You can imagine 5 women and a baby getting pictures taken! They all did real good for several hours but they were ready for lunch and some were getting tired so called it quits. 

     I was the gate person. Opening closing and locking as needed. Ouch! I am a bit sore. Took everyone back to their cars and I had to go back to open one place for the helper to hunt. He already got one buck but has only seen a couple of does now and a dead hog sow that looked like it got into a fight and lost. We were wondering where what looked like 50 buzzards were chewing down at. I know all the cows were ok and thank goodness the cleanup crew were just taking care of natures mess.

    So now I'm back in. Resting up and trying to get back into the groove of my Wish To Do List. It's almost 4 p now. It will be time to make another hunter round soon and fix hubby some good supper while he rests up from a hard bird day .

  Roasting the tomatoes for salsa is for sure going to have to be Sunday !

    Seems like I get a lot done but for other people! Getting my stuff done is not in the cards sometimes .

     Oh well, it was different and loads of fun! I'll get it done yet.

  Oops! I just thought I could get going on my stuff. Hubby came in and wanted me to trim the excess fuzz off his neck ears etc . 

Love

Ranchmama 

Ready for Frost !

Well almost ... I think... Maybe..?

Not that many plants to try and save. 

I have some geranium plants I put in pots to bring inside. I put a purple basil plant in a pot. The sage can winter over I just need to harvest the leaves. I did see where there is a homeopathic remedy i can make from that i might try just because . I pulled up 3 cayenne pepper plants and put them in 5 gallon buckets. I picked off all the peppers and I am going to make a cayenne pepper extract for heart emergencies to have on hand. 

    I thought I would try the older tomato transplant of a Roma tomatoe I don't really expect that one to make it but it will be interesting to try. All the little tomatoes on it are going to be roasted and put into a salsa with one pepper and spices. That will be good. 

    Now I have to find a place to put all these things in the house ! I don't have prime plant growing spots in the house with good lighting. The big plants I might put in the birdhouse later if I can get away with it. 

It was a job but everything got put undercover.

    I still have some horseradish to dig up and figure out what to do with. Maybe make some more master tonic??

Love

Ranchmama 

Fall Pears

Nikki's pear tree did a really good job this year! Hubby and I picked two and a half 5 gallon buckets of those goodies!

     I brought them home, rested up and the next day washed them all off in the sink with just a tiny bit of bleach in the water to kill off any mold that might be on the outside. Since I am slow moving I try to do all I can to keep them from going bad too fast. If I just had fridge room it sure would be nice!

I sorted through this bunch and picked out the ones that needed immediate attention. These I peeled put in a pot and told them to cook! 

     I really just planned on having some nice chilled pears to eat for a few days in the fridge. Well..... Hmmm .. The pot full of beautiful pears was a lot more than I thought so I rounded up some canning jars ( that took a bit because I'm not exactly organized lol) washed, sterilized, filled, put the lids on and found a pot just barely big enough to water bath can them. I hate my fancy electric stove! It is so hard to get things to boil! Takes forever. Can't get natural gas out here in the country and propane is a pain to fill. So I'm just stuck I guess. 

It's amazing how many you peal to get this little bit canned.This is just part of them. But it is a oversized bowl.

    Here is the finished product.  Well this is only about half of what I picked . The other is still getting ripe. Can't decide if they will be canned or nice and cold in the fridge for dessert.

I think I am going to try getting some starts off that tree next year since it is so good and self pollinating. I know it would be a while before I get fruit but it is cheaper and a fun challenge . Maybe my kids can enjoy them years from now.

Love

Ranchmama

( who didn't know your arm can get sore from peeling! )

Mute Sounds

                    Mute Sounds


The day and week seems to fly and drag on at the same time,
With all the drama of elections and the worry over something we have very little control.
It is fall.
Leaves changing, crazy up and down temps,
The weather practicing for winter with one day cool the next silly hot.
The work of the ranch always goes on . Usually the same ol' same ol'.
Sometimes we have purple unicorns show up out of nowhere in the barn overnight,
Then most of the times it is the normal worries about muscle strain, lagging energy, and work.
At one time in a far off land these worries were not known you just did it and went on.

Night time is down time,
Literally many times.
Just wishing you didn't hurt so dang much from the little things like getting up and down out of a tractor.
When you get up to move around you ask someone if they need anything to save them the pain of movement.
You might move slow at first. Wincing, limping until you loosen up.
This is what you save the other from when getting something " while your up",
Surprisingly, this is love for the person you have been with for over 41 years.

Early in the night one of you may retire early to the comforts of the bed for a little while.
The other relaxes a while longer in the recliner.
Shutting out the day with loud noises from the entertainment box.
While hitting the mute button at times to listen to the world outside for normal sounds.

Sometimes normal sounds are Oklahoma wind.
Some of the night sounds may be a pack of coyotes running through singing to each other.
On occasion you hear the lone coyote yipping or singing for the others.
Heidi Ho hears the songs and has to make sure to let us know she is doing her job.
She growls and barks when inside.
When in the dark yard she runs to the fence sometimes nose to nose with the wild ones.
The normally quiet companion is going wild at the chain link fence barking and being fierce,
The wild one is on the other side hackles up, body bowed, snapping and snarling at the tame jailed one.
When Heidi Ho is inside I tell her it is ok and turn the noise box up again so she isn't listening to the wild ones.
When she is in the dark yard jail, I usually open the door and tell her to get inside before the coyotes bite her!
Heidi Ho the 82# pit bull quickly runs into the house like they really will.

Tonight's Oklahoma mute sounds are sometimes not all that normal,
I heard the wet sounds.
Rain gently falling off the metal roof,
It isn't raining hard enough to make a sound when it hits the roof.
It waits.........
Not making any sound until it hits the ground and splashes in the newly formed puddles.

I keep the mute button on just sitting there.
Soaking up the sounds into my soul much like standing in the rain getting wet.
Instead I was coated inside with Mother Natures tranquilizer,
Laying back, no idiot box noise, Heidi Ho lightly snoring only the way a puppy dog can do,
With the slowly falling rain gently rolling off the roof,
Finally making that rain sound when it hits the ground,
Gentle splashing with such a quiet sound,
Yet reverberating through the soul.

As you soak up the sound,
You think of the ponds refreshing themselves.
Renewing the thirst quenching supply for the cows,
The water line that was down at least 6 feet from the edge now slowly flowing back up.
The brown and almost brown grass from summers dryness and falls lack of perfect temperatures,
Perking up, absorbing the refreshment while it can.
Soon to be canceled with winters frost until next spring once again being renewed.

I fall asleep and wake up 2 hours later.
The rain is still gently falling,
You realized you have had the most refreshing and relaxed sleep you've had in a long time.
It's like your soul is smiling......
The gentleness of the night......
The calming of the rain........
As the soul soaks it up .....
It gently washes away all the nastiness of the day and even the last few days.

I need more of this more often,
God Please Send Me More Soul Food.

Love
Ranchmama
11- 7- 2016

We are a MESS !

The people I talk to on the email lists on the net pretty much knows as a nation we are a mess! Most of the time we are referring to the nations government and how it is conducted or the people that have no clue just what kind of MESS we are really in.
   What I would like to talk and maybe rant about is the real people at home. The people that actually make up the National MESS as a whole. Those individuals and families out there we encounter every day for some of us.
    I live a fairly sheltered life here on the ranch. Go to town when I have to otherwise about once a week. I don't socialize much. Just don't need to when I am busy and a lot of people don't live like I do so not so much in common sometimes. I do have net friends and keep up with family on the net with emails and FB sometimes after a while I call to hear a voice about every month or so.
   I do encounter folks that we hire to help out around here. I get to know them pretty well either with helping someone with something when they ask or seems like I make a pretty good sounding board.
   What I am seeing isn't all that much political folks but just people trying to survive the day or week. Most of the time it is about money and paying bills but anymore many of these people are having a hard time putting food on the table. I know a couple of hunters that can put meat on the table but then I know some that don't hunt, have a gun in the house and wouldn't know how to either shoot the gun or hunt. Gardens do not seem to be a common thing with these folks. Some of it they don't have the know how. Most of it I think is just too preoccupied struggling with life. Folks say get help with food stamps and all but these folks don't seem to qualify from what they say. If they do it isn't enough to do much good.
   I know one man that works for $50 a day. Hard worker. We pay him $10 a hr. and I try to give him some frozen hamburger meat for a couple of meals. He said they usually eat hot dogs for their meat. An other person I know is the only single mother working in the family of 2 teen girls, a grandmother, a baby and a adult brother in the house. Whatever funds they may get goes really quick!
   All these people are used to tough times and being what a lot of people would call poor. They cope, they cut corners better than I could any day!
   What I am also seeing with other people are problems other than money. We are talking about health issues with pain, addictions with drugs, gambling and who knows what else.
   Then you have people that have survived and gotten away from physical and mental abuse. I know of women that have been put in the hospital by men and lucky enough to get away and change their lives. Still the abuse goes on. They have survived but the mental issues that go along with it are still there. It is amazing some of the little things that can be attributed with abuses. Their reactions to life situations, their thinking isn't clear and although their life is much better they really don't know how to cope and manage to make true progress and not have to struggle not only with money but with the rest of the family and the quirks they may have acquired through the years of abuse.
    We are a nation of broken people. Millions of people are truly broken big time. We are all a little goofy and have cute or just plain weird harmless quirks. I am talking about people that are broken just enough not to have a complete whole moderately happy family out there. Then you have the serious millions of folks that are so broken in the head they are dangerous or generally a useless drain on the government or the community or family around them.
    Some folks just can't be fixed even with good meds. They are such a mess they really one day need to disappear. I know that is brutal but true. Other folks can be fixed. It would take time but it's like they need to start all over from kindergarten on the basics. That is a lot of hand holding for a long time!
    Even if you were to fix folks up with whatever government or charity program out there..... it should be only temporary and I think many of the programs are only to get by a little easier. I'm sure there is counseling to talk to folks to work through whatever but I am not sure (since I have no training or actual experience with that sort of thing) how much of that isn't just a band - aid for something that will never heal enough.
     I just don't know if these damages from folks growing up in continuous drama can acquire enough skills to graduate to total independence of government or private helping hands. They have not been trained or wired that way from childhood many times. It's like getting a plow horse and putting a really well known jockey on top of it and expecting them to win the Kentucky Derby. It AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN. Some folks get a good start in family life but later on they are always behind the 8 ball. Many just flat out get overwhelmed with life and all the things they have to handle. One stressful thing after another, daily sometimes.
   How in the heck do we fix it. I don't think nationwide government programs are the answer.I think it needs to be more of a local thing.
Well that is all for now.
I will think more about how to Clean up or Fix The MESS another time.

Love
Ranchmama

The Purple Unicorns

  Sometimes some days are just strange. This Purple Unicorn day actually started the night before.

     Neighbor called and said she found 3 donkeys in the road and put them in her yard. She asked if I had any idea who they belonged to. Told her I had no clue. 

    She texted later and thought she heard more down my way. Told her no Heidi Ho was outside and she would have told us. Told us who knows what critters we will find in the morning ! Lol

    Well sure enough hubby goes in the tractor to put hay out and when he gets back we had 3 donkeys. ( unicorns ) down in our barn ! Text neighbor told her I found  3 donkeys and she said hubby came home late and left the gate open so they got out.

    My hubby had called the sheriff and told them to come get them because we had no clue where they go. 

     I told him we could keep them so I wouldn't have to do so much brush hogging. Then I look up and see about 30 head of cows running to the other corner of the place to get away from them! Well I guess that canceled that idea out. Lol

    Talked to helper and he said he knew where they go he thought. We called sheriff and canceled the pick up. Sure enough turns out I had met her a few years ago at my homeopathic doc friends and I had her card so I called her. 

   Oh my goodness! She is a midwife on her way to Amarillo for a client but she had 6 kids at home that would come and get them! She said that they had been gone 3 weeks and she passed my house 70 times looking for them. She said she prayed and prayed to find them. 

     Here's the interesting part. These are milking donkeys! That's right didn't know there was such a thing either.

     The lady is a naturalpathic doctor and she uses the donkey milk for a few kids with a disorder where they have to take antibiotics all the time. The donkey milk keeps them off their meds. And keeps them well. 

   All 6 kids came to pick them up. Interesting to see how they operated together. Kind of like a voting system. 

     Funny how God works isn't it? They get loose. 3 weeks later someone finds them and nobody had a clue where they belong. They get loose again and come all the way to our barn so the helper can tell us where they belong and they can go home to get kids well again!

Here's our purple unicorns folks!

Love

Ranchmama

Granny's French Jelly Cookies

Hubby has been wanting a homemade treat lately and this was surprisingly quick and easy to turn out. I used Smuckers strawberry jam and it was like taking a small bite of strawberry shortcake each time . Really good stuff! 

I cooked it about 10 mins longer in my oven and still they were a little crumbly. Oh my goodness they were good crumbs though!

    I used the back of a teaspoon to squish the middle enough to hold the jelly.

Love 

Ranchmama

Gooseberry Patch

Submitted by: Karen Crooks from West Des Moines, IA 
Originally shared on the web 01/30/2013 

3/4 c. butter, softened
3/4 c. sugar, divided
2 egg yolks, beaten
1/2 t. vanilla extract
1/4 t. salt
2 c. all-purpose flour
2 t. lemon zest 

( I used lemon extract)
2 T. currant jelly,strawberry jam or orange marmalade

Combine butter, 1/2 c. sugar, egg yolks, vanilla and salt. 

Beat until blended. 

Gradually add flour and lemon zest. Beat between additions until just combined, do not over beat. 

Roll into one-inch balls. 

Roll balls in remaining sugar and place on ungreased baking sheets. 

Indent each cookie, fill indentations with 1/4 teaspoon jelly. 

Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes. 

Remove to wire racks to cool. 

Makes 3 dozen cookies.

Giant Buttermilk Biscuit



Giant homemade buttermilk bacon egg and cheese biscuit

( almost as big as your hand around)

Have to use a fork to eat it! This fills up a plate. It would be really great with sausage gravy!

Love

Ranchmama 

Nerves of Steel Hat Full of Stupid

When I go hogging on the tractor I have to get both of these out! It's not that the land is all that ruff or rocky even. It's that I am a amature and the least little bit of slope I get a little panicky and although most of our land is really nice and clear you never know what the heck is under 2 feet of thick weeds so I have eyes peeled at all times. Then we have the normal humpity bumps from all the terraces they put in probably a 100 years ago to keep you on your toes. This pic is about 15-20 acres I'm working on now. Looks like it's going to take about 2 days a couple hours each. Can't take much more than that. After a couple days or recuperating I can work on something else

Love

Ranchmama

Who Says Puppy Dogs Can't Talk !

It was clean the puppy pool day. It gets crud in it to the point she's dirtier after she gets out. We emptied it then I had a little balloon pop up over my head that said hmmm... I can hook the hose nozel onto the cart, point it the right direction and just sit down and watch it fill up.

See genius !

Now see what happens.....

She sees the water running. She l o v e s to play in the water! You can just see her looking at me to see if she can get away with it! LOL

She had already been playing in the water but of course never enough. :-) She's eyeballing her aim.

And here she is in action ! Mid jump and filling up trying to drink it all!

Sometime maybe I can catch her in action grabbing the hose and running off with it. She is Sooo funny sometimes!

Love

Ranchmama 

Sideways Bully

 I had a paid helper for a day doing some things we needed to get caught up on.

Other than pulling hay string out late in the season on this day the next day was a lot easier with fence clearing.

        Out cutting trees off fence with helper doing the work and me supervising and being lazy. 

    One of the bulls came up to the truck door and didn't have a clue I was inside.        

     This picture is about 3 ft from the window and distorted weird. 

      On this funny day he literally had his nose almost in the cab with me! 

 I calmly turned my head and in a normal voice said, boo ! He jumped. 6 ft sideways from me ! 

     Should have seen the way he looked at me ! Soooo funny !

      That was one really surprised and ticked off bull!! I swear I have never seen a bovine of any kind jump straight sideways!

Love

Ranchmama