Morning Peace

Breakfast is done,
Table cleaned off, the rest of the mess waiting.
It can wait.
I walk out the front door and sit in the cold metal chair of my porch.
It's 52* on December 10 th dry, sunny and coolish.

I sit there in that chair looking southeast.
The sun is so bright I just close my eyes and soak it in.
The bright sun with that good for you vitamin D.
I only unbutton and show so much,
It isn't just cool, I sure don't want to scare the wildlife this beautiful morning.

I feel my skin warming on the side exposed to the sun.
Closing my eyes it is just so bright I can't see out.
I hear the far off crow in the woods,
Parakeets tweeting in the building not far away.

I shield my eyes with my hand every now and then
to view the morning peace.
Mowed fields in front of me from my summers work.
Woods across the road and across the creek,
The tired unused wood pile out by the driveway.
About 700 yds southeast on the hill I see my husbands range
It's a 1/2 plate of steel hanging between two metal pipes.
Painted yellow to see and tell where he has hit his target.
A neat hole punched in the middle of the metal
The metal is bending inwards from so many bulls eyes.

The heifers aren't up in front of the house yet.
They are waiting to be spoiled with good feed down in the barn.
The 5 new heifers we saved last week are quiet this morning
Adjusting to not having a mama to nurse for breakfast.

It is so much easier to sit here and just absorb.
Everything and nothing at the same time.
I try to push out what is churning in the back of my brain.
All the need to's, want to's and must do's
Daily, Christmas and just whatever's.

My skin starts getting hot in some places
My backside is still cold from the silly metal chair.
I give up.
I have to walk through those front double doors
Back to the need to's, want to's and must do's

Crud ! Oh, Well.
Looks like I can just run away for a few minutes.
I wonder... what would happen
If I just dumped everything in the floor,
Dirty dishes, to do lists, other needful things
Just walked around it or swept it out the door?
Better yet... walk back out the front door
To that Morning Peace and just said forget it?

Ok, I give up.
I am going back into Mama, wife and family mode.

Love
Ranchmama

12-10-2017

Summertime Fun

      Summer is gone although we have had a really warm fall when we even have green grass in the pastures after a freeze. It's kind of like have a nice long spring, pretty nice really. :-)

     I've been busier than usual with all the brush hogging this summer ever now and then I get to play doing something just for fun that has nothing to do with ranching husband or even Heidi Ho. 

   

Drying rose petals and making flower essences was a fun for me learning experience. I may not ever really put them to proper use but I had a blast! I can also open the jars and smell some really beatiful dried roses.

Love

Ranchmama

( who is now in Christmas mode with presents bought and wrapping next!)

   

I did it !

              

                               

Last year I tried making the Ultimate Coconut Cake. It was such a flop I didn't even bother to put the icing on the cake. It wasn't worth the cost of the ingredients to even try to salvage it. This year I took another try at it and I actually did it!

  If you go look at Martha Stewart she has the recipe there. 

 https://www.marthastewart.com/966156/ultimate-coconut-cake

This towering 12-layer coconut cake is the signature cake belonging to chef Robert Carter of The Peninsula Grill in Charleston, SC. It is based on his grandmother's recipe and it has become the cake-of-choice for Charleston brides.

 Entire cakes are shipped across the United States via overnight delivery. The show-stopping Ultimate Coconut Cake® weighs approximately 12 pounds and is delivered to your doorstep.I would like to know how in the world it arrives in one piece ! I can't imagine shipping this when I had such a challenge getting it across town.The whole cake is $130.00 to purchase then if you have to ship it you can tack on a whole lot more for shipping overnight. When you order a piece of cake at the restaurant it is $10.00 a slice and believe me it isn't one of those big fat slices you see sometimes. They say the 10" round cake serves 16 people. It is soooo rich I'm not sure you could eat a great big fat slice. 

   They tell you to let it sit on the counter a few hours to come to room temperature but honestly so far nobody has been able to wait that long yet! If we did I am sure the actual flavors of the toasted coconut and butter and cream cheese would make us drool even more. LOL

   I noticed several people at the party were enjoying a second helping that don't usually indulge in something so rich.  LOL

   Nikki wasn't able to attend the Thanksgiving dinner I took it to but I took her and her hubby the left overs to enjoy. She said ....

    Holy Cow! I just got home and took a bite of that cake!

    That's deadly! It's like.... If I was a prisoner on death row and had a last meal I'd want all that cake!

    It's funny. She got up the next morning and found out SOMEONE... was having cake for breakfast ! LOL

   It gives me a thrill to know that not only did I actually pull this recipe off this time but people really enjoyed it that much. This is how much was left over after the party and believe me it wasn't a very big party.

                             

Normally I would have started this cake a few days before because it has a lot of steps and parts to assemble but it didn't work out like that and I had only 1 day to cook, cool, and assemble. I worked on this from noon until midnight taking a break for lunch and supper. I was worn out and I needed a cleaning crew to take care of the kitchen. I don't know what was harder, making the cake of trying to find a cake board sturdy enough to hold the cake or trying to fit it into the fridge!

The cake has five steps: ( We won't figure up how much the ingredients cost )

1. The filling: You make it the night before assembling the cake..

2. The cake: Two 10” cakes.
3. Simple syrup
4. The frosting…
5. The assembly

    As you can see I didn't get everything cut as nice and neat at the Chief did but maybe I will have better luck next time.

                               

Love

Ranchmama

( who has met this challenge and wondering what the next one will be. LOL )