Wrong Side of The Bed

Daughter called one morning while I was fixing breakfast and asked what I was doing 

     Told her I had already fixed her dad cereal,sausage and toast with grapefruit on the side and was trying to fix me something since I can’t eat the milk in cereal and the sausages make me sick. Evidently my tone wasn’t that great.LOL 

     Told her I get tired of us not doing things together anymore! The only time we sleep at the same time is in the recliners! When we do happen to be in bed at the same time he sleeps with his head at the foot of the bed on top of the cover because that’s the only way his body is comfortable. So when I make it into bed I get to snuggle up to his big toe!

  Then for some reason he thinks meal time is the perfect time to talk business and bills! I hate it! I want to relax and he gets going and there is no enjoying the meal. 

      Breakfast is at the kitchen table whenever I sit down he is almost done heading out the door telling me what he’s doing and when he will be back to pick me up in a few. This means I have to hurry so I can eat get refrigerator stuff up take meds change clothes and get ready. There is no way to just eat and have a pleasant meal with someone like that!

   Lunch sometimes doesn’t happen usually in the garage sometimes in the living room then it’s back to yacking about whatever is bugging him

    Supper I fix his plate and deliver everything to his recliner. Usually he’s to tired to talk plans and business and is lucky to stay awake till 7pm

       After some ranting daughter laughed and said sounds like someone got up on the wrong side of the bed!!

Love

Ranchmama 

(Where did the romance go? LOL)

Why Am I Tired ?

 Sometimes I stop during the day and just can't believe how tired I am.  I know some of it is older age. I don't think it is the surgery still. 
    Well this afternoon I told hubby boy I sure am tired ! Then I stopped to think about the day and figured it out. 
     I was up at 5am.
    Hubby was out with the birds earlier than that. He came back and got Heidi Ho because since he has gone through the building and plugged all the mouse hole he trapped a bunch in the building. Heidi had such a good time! She lovesss to catch mice and kill them. She chased and killed 3 running all over the place and under cages and hubby killed 3 himself with a broom and disposing of them.  
    I took a shower, did my breathing machine thing while he was out.
     Hubby wanted me to check something out with the checking accounts and when I went to log in my password had expired. He came back in the house several times all antsy wanting to know if I was ready yet. I put the phone on speaker so he could see what the delay was after I explained I tried several times to reset the password and finally had to call them to fix it. Took forever so I carried the phone around while I was getting ready waiting for someone to get on the phone. Drying hair and gathering things. Finally got that fixed and got the information he wanted and of course I was supposed to walk out the door ready to go because he got what he wanted and just couldn't understand what the delay was for me! Grrrr sometimes! 
     We were out the door by 8:10 which was 10 minutes late for hubby and he just had to get all bent out of shape about it. 
    We drove to Shawnee running by Micky D's eating and since I drove to town he finished the drive to OKC. After we finished our business I got the pleasure of driving home to give him a break. 
    We got home around 12 ish. We unloaded the truck from Sam's. He changed clothes and went down to the barn to get feed for the cows. 
    I came in did the darn breathing machine again, changed into work clothes and told Heidi Ho to load up in the truck. 
    We stopped at Grandma's first and was feeding the bunch of cows there and some of them started bumping heads. First 2 then 3 or 4 were at it. Hubby had to make sure and stay out of the way of the shifting herd. We saw a big red cow get knocked down then we saw a really old cow go down on her side and couldn't get up. 
    He's yelling at me to get out and help with the down cow. It didn't help when she was kind of facing the wrong side of the hill to get up. I helped him get the rope over her head and got in the truck with him directing me to gently pull a certain direction so maybe she could get up. Well she did and wound up going back down the wrong direction again! 
   So I let Heidi Ho out to encourage her to get up. That didn't work. She nipped at her but I was afraid she was going to hurt her so put Heidi back in the truck. Hubby got hold of the front legs and I got the back trying to roll her over and not get kicked in the process. She was just too much for us to handle like that.
    I told hubby lets go feed the other cows and come back. That will give her a chance to calm down and rest a bit and maybe we can get her up again. 
    We fed the other cows and since we had at least 2 inches of rain yesterday we burned some trash.
    We took Heidi Ho home because sometimes she is just too much to handle all excited and doing things with the cows. Hubby picked up the hot shot thinking maybe that would get her going.
    We went back to grandmas and damn it she was still laying down! We pulled up and she was Mooing like she was wanting to get up or needed help or something. He cleared the area around her with the hot shot and tried it twice on her and we could see it wasn't going to get her up. He thought hook the rope up to the trailer hitch and try puling her so she would be lined up on the hill right. 
   I told him no lets just see if we can pull her up. He just about laughed at that ! Oh sure like we are strong enough to do something like that now days! Got the rope around her neck and I was in the lead with hubby pulling behind me. We got lucky. I guess on the ground like that we could actually direct her in a way she could get up easier. She got up and wobbled some. We jumped out of the way so she wouldn't fall on us. 
   I was worried she wouldn't be able to get with the herd but hubby put some more feed out and she ran right over and got in the middle of it with them! Whew! We got lucky!
   Went back to the house and I went in changed clothes again and sat in the recliner drinking a bunch of water to keep my BP down decent. I watched some Netflix while he was shutting up gates, checking birds etc. While he was down there Heidi Ho looked around the birdhouse for mice to kill. She was actually disappointed. LOL
   Hubby came in cleaned up and I went into the kitchen for supper. I sliced up a nice pork tenderloin and bagged that up. We had fried tenderloin spiced up with garlic & onion powder and chili powder, masked potatoes with gravy and warmed french garlic toast. 

   No wonder my hips and back hurt after playing tug of war with a cow! LOL

Love
Ranchmama

Pie Blooper

Nikki’s husband likes sweet stuff. He bought me a pie book I had picked out for Christmas. He just happened to show me which one he likes. 

    Well I thought I would test out my energy and make it.

These were the ingredients:

This is how it turned out. The topping has melted peanut butter, melted chocolate and sprinkled with chopped Reeses cups and chocolate chips. 
    It also has chopped Reeses inside the pie. 

Now by the time I was done with it I think it must have weighed 5 pounds! 

    The funny part about all of it is I READ THE RECIPE WRONG! 

   I realized afterwards that the recipe was more like a whole lot of cool whip and a little bit of peanut butter. Where I must have put in equal amounts of peanut butter and cool whip.! This made for a really tasty but definitely much more intense peanut butter experience. You really had to be a peanut butter fanatic to eat much of it.

     I made sure and served it with a glass of water so nobody choked! LOL 

   Now I know folks that are that kind of peanut butter person. I asked hubby if he wanted to try some and he told me” H*ll No! “ He is barely a peanut butter sandwich person so I wasn’t surprised. LOL 

Love

Ranchmama 

(I think I will keep the blooper recipe and maybe add some Jelly in the middle layer)

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 )

Carnivore Man Food

This is one of hubby's favorite soups.

Fried Potato Soup 

 with 

Bacon and Monteray Jack Cheese

Pretty easy . I cut up a pound of bacon in about 1 inch pieces and fry then drain and set aside. 

    Chunk up your potatoes of choice and fry until pretty much brown or until kinda soft but not too soft sice you don't want them to fall apart in the soup.

     While you fry potatoes get a pot of water boiling enough to cover taters. Put some seasoning in like salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder. I use chicken bullion but you can also use chicken broth. 

     When all the potatoes are done put them in the water. If you can't fry them all at once fry a pan full place in a bowl repeat until all are done

      Save some bacon for topping. Dump the rest in the pot. 

      I usually have too much water so I thicken it up with instant mash potatoes . Be careful it sure is easy to put too much and you wind up with a thick gloppy mess! You can water it down again with milk, water or chicken broth.

      Fill your bowls with the soup. Put a really good layer of Monteray jack cheese then top with fried bacon.

      Great with club crackers or if trying to cut back on salt use plain oyster crackers.

Love

Ranchmama