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Friday, June 24, 2011

IT'S TAKE YOUR DOG TO WORK DAY

Emmy is the doggie child of my heart so naturally she deserves this holiday.



It is not take your chicken to work day.....

that is another day entirely.



Its a chance for your dog to see what you do all day...






Look Emmy! Cows and fences, yippee!









Come on Emmers we are trying to show the blogging world how scintillating our life is. You are so not getting a doggie treat now. You hearing me?




sigh...............

Its ok I guess,


its hard for Emmy to deal with an uber mom with the aforementioned scintillating job.

Shes probably just shy and embarrassed.

I understand...

I read one time that Billy Joel's daughter didn't like for him to sing around her friends.

Kids are weird that way.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

SUMMER BEGINS







"Summer solstice" : A major celestial event widely, and sometimes wildly, celebrated on earth. In the Northern Hemisphere, it represents the first day of summer – and we all know what that means.




This year summer solstice occurs on June 21 at 1:16 p.m. EDT. At that moment, the sun appears to have reached its northernmost extreme and seems to stand still in the sky. ("Solstice" comes from Latin words meaning "sun" and "to stand still.")
In our hemisphere,
according to www.chiff.com, summer solstice results in the longest day and the shortest night of the year. In the Southern Hemisphere that happens in December.
In a happy-seeming combination, our first day of summer and the last day of school fall very close to each other. Happy kids foresee months of freedom and daylight, while adults know the first day of summer is actually the beginning of the end of summer because after June 21, the days start growing shorter as the hours of sunlight decrease.

Source




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_solstice






On this longest day of the year the sun hangs hot and heavy in the sky...

a gateway to...




baseball games




campfires, roasted hot dogs and marshmallows




favorite swimming spots




and all the treats of summer.


Friday, June 17, 2011

Climb Every Mountain

Normally we live in the land of flat.

Not this week though!

Do to a huge load of dolomite we had delivered.

To the average eye, this may look like a pile of fertilizer but to a child,

it is a mountain






a place to leap and slide














Dolomite has a very interesting texture. More like beach sand than dirt.*







* Dolomite is rock composed of mainly calciun and magnesium, ground to a fine sediment. Its primary purpose is to balance the ph of the soil for growth of crops.
It is harmless to all young and tender things....such as children....and plants.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Tomato, tomahto, Let's call the whole thing off

Somebody stop the tomato storm!

It is a Monday.

This is what I have staring me in the face.







I have made all the salsa one person can make. Everyone scatters when they see me coming with a bowl in my hands.

There will be another wave of fresh tomatoes ripening in a day or so.

Its time to fight fire with....

the freezer.

I used to stand over a boiling pan of water blanching tomatoes and fishing them out and then peeling them. Its the long hot frustrating way to do things.

And then I came up with a better system. Better because it involves less work!

First core the tomatoes










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Place in a microwave safe bowl


















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cover with a paper towel and microwave 2 to 3 minutes per tomato depending on your microwave.









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Let them stand covered and cool for 15 minutes or longer.

The skin separates and peels off easily using fingers or a fork.








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This yields (from 4 tomatoes) approx a quart of lovely fresh tomatoes which will be great to have this winter.







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I put mine in gallon freezer bags because that's what I had on hand.








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I hung the bag of tomatoes from the shelf above using a container of ice Cream as a weight to hold it. I guess clothespins would work too. I let it hang suspended between the frozen blueberries and the Haagen Dazs for two hours because I was going for a log shaped roll for easy stacking instead of letting the tomatoes spread around in the bag.









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So it was a laid back style of accomplishing. Micro, let stand till cool, bag, freeze...

but it left me free to do other things and at the end of the day I had that pile of tomatoes tucked away for winter.






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It was easy enough that I think I can do this every other day till the tomatoes are gone.

We'll see!

Friday, June 10, 2011

HORSIN AROUND

My three favorite people have some favorites of their own these days...

of the equine variety!

As any good horse person will tell you, riding is the last and least part of having your own horse. The most important and first part is the care and training of your horse. Building a relationship of trust and respect.

So when the sun gets a little less relentless and the breeze kicks up a bit, its horse time!

Princess #1 has her horse "Lady"






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Agent B has his horse "Indigo"









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and the littlest Princess has her horse "Lightning"










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so cute watching her 70 pound self tell "Lightnings" 1000 pound self

"back up Lightning!"









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Everyone gets a good brushing









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even a dog or two









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Its all about learning the ropes









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and building memories that will last a lifetime.