It's a Great Way to Spend Boxing Day

Aisling and I spent part of the day today canning spaghetti sauce. Last summer my tomatoes couldn't really get with the program. I took the tomatoes as I got them; blanched and quartered them and put them in the freezer. This morning the job was half done!I must say it sure beats canning during the heat of the summer!! We did 17 1/2 pints, now she'll have even more food to take back to school with her.

Hmmm... Glad We Weren't Christmas Dinner!!

Lately I've been wondering if I actually own my home and property or if we happen to be placed in the middle of someone's wildlife refuge. :)The turkeys seem to be back for a while. They usually come during the winter. They do a great job cleaning up under the bird feeders;) These guys are pretty fat, they'd make a great dinner for someone willing to do it. I remember once when mom and dad were gone, Grandma & Grandpa Baird were staying with my brother and me. There was a sage hen in the yard. Grandma had my brother go shoot it, then we had it for dinner. There was NO WAY I was going to eat it. I still feel that way.

They all seem to live in harmony...... I just wish the deer would live happily in someone else's yard.

No wonder I can't keep my birdbath filled!!

It's a Wonderful Life!

This year, for the first time in years, we stayed home for Christmas. We knew we would miss Christmas Eve with family so we looked for ways to make our own memorable.
Santa always brings us new jammies on Christmas Eve. This year, instead of getting jammies, Laurence got a cool Belgian Waffle Maker. We had a waffle supper, for the waffles we had whipped cream, frozen fruit, ice cream (my personal favorite), maple syrup, and blueberry topping. What a FUN supper!

This is my waffle with Double Strawberry ice cream. It was YUMMY!!

Then we each shared a Christmas Story along with some pitiful singing of Christmas Carols.

We watched a movie of the Christmas Story from Luke.

What a wonderful evening. It was just the three of us, but it was so nice. I feel so blessed tonight.

Christmas is HERE!!

I am so tickled to have our Christmas tree up!!! We haven't had one for several years. I had a project at work that I always let take priority. (Stupid me!!)So this year is my Hallmark Christmas. The tree has mainly Aisling's Hallmark ornaments we've purchased through the years. On other years I use my heirloom ornaments from my mom.

I got it up and decorated Saturday. Aisling and Laurence were thrilled. (Not to have the tree up, but to not have to do any of it!)
This is my Peanuts Gallery. I love the things Hallmark does with some of the comic strip characters. They used to do more.......(are you listening Hallmark?)
The cute battery operated candles were given to me by mom's secretary Peggy. She is the BEST!!

Am I too old for Barbie's? I don't think so!! I tell Laurence I do this because I didn't get any Barbie's when I was growing up!! I love my Barbie ornaments!! There are four others that are separate this year, they're from different countries. They belong to Aisling, she was given one every year by a dear friend when she was little.
Now for the bad news: Aisling sees all of this as unnecessary fluff. I'm sure that when I die you'll find them for a really good price on eBay. Sob, sob!!! Hmmmmm can I be buried with them?:)

Thanksgiving

What fun it was to get to see Aisling!! We only got to see her for about 18 hours, but I was grateful for that. We sure do miss her. Glad she's happy at college.

Aisling and Jake. He has the cutest smile! Aisling is so good with kids. She even had Emily talking to her by the time she left.

Kent, at dinner. Not his best picture, but since he never reads our blog, he'll never know:) Or if he does, I'll hear about it. He is the best young man!

Daniel and Jason. Now where was Ben??? Oh yes, he was over working at the factory with Uncle Laurence. For pictures of them, check out the Queen Bee blog.

Fun in Grantsville

We stayed with Tracy and Steve. What great hosts!! They and their kids were so good to us! It was so fun to stay up late talking to Tracy. I haven't done that in years! It's amazing that we both have daughters the same age. Steven and Conner gave us their beds, THANKS guys!!
Steve and Tracy are amazing and I was so impressed with their family and their home. Wish we lived closer to all of you!!
We got to go visit Erin & Bump. What a fun family. Quincy had a great time showing mom how to put the nativity together. Probably a bit different than it was that night 2,000 years ago:)

Erin, Quincy, Mom, Corbin, Gabby and Bump

What a wonderful family!! They are just great!

And the work they've done on their house is amazing!!

I didn't get a picture of the Christmas decor but if you look on Erin's blog it is there.

The house looks GREAT!!

More Family from Aunt Roma's Funeral

Bill and Dan
Sherley, Sheryl and Carol
Uncle Don and Aunt Sherley

A fun picture of Dan and Mom

I love this picture!

There's that Zeller humor in Uncle Don!

Aunt Roma's Funeral

Although we will miss Aunt Roma desperately in this life,

it was wonderful to see family and reconnect.

Chris, Dan, Bill
Eldon, Nina
Don, Sherley, Bessie
Bessie, Nina, Sondra
Sherley, Sheryl, Carol

Sheryl, Sondra, Mike, Eldon, Nina, Bill, Ann, Kim, Chris, Dan
Carol, Sidney, Don, Sherley, Bessie

After the Party's Over.... More Party!

Darrel, Sidney, Jordan, Laurence, Shirl, Bill
After the game we took the family out to dinner. Olive Garden was the restaurant of choice.
David and Bill
Darrel enjoying those mussels!

Shirl and Darrel enjoying dinner.

It was such a fun time. We love our family!

Jordan Takes State (with a little help:) !

What a fun day!! Yesterday we went to Billings to watch our Grandson Jordan play football with the Miles City (CCDHS) Cowboy High School Football Team.

Jordan plays QB. Miles City beat Central to win the Class A State Football Title. Way to Go Jordan!! Jordan is now ranked the #1 HS quarterback in the state. He threw for one touch down and ran for the other. They won 20-7!!

Jordan is a senior and is a great young man. He has broken several records this year. Hopefully this will bode well for college!!

Darrel, Jordan and Shirl

His parents have really done themselves proud! We're proud of all of them!!

The Coveted Trophy!!

Fun Visitors at My Cafeteria

My Red Shafted Northern Flicker has found a friend. Well, maybe just an eating partner. Anyway is was fun to see him and the house finch together.
I love to watch the flickers. They are such a pretty bird. Through the years they've gotten braver and braver.


I think this is a Downy Woodpecker. Boy was he brave. I got to within about 4 feet of him out in my birch tree. He stayed absolutely frozen. Not eating or anything as I moved up on him.

I do Love my birds!!

My Little Chickadee

Meet one of my little black capped chickadees. These guys are so quick it's amazing. They fly to the feeder, grab one sunflower seed really fast and fly off. Then they're back in about 2-5 minutes for another. I finally had to just sit with the camera ready to shoot until I got the one at the feeder. The one at the birdbath was easier as he was thirsty so settled for a bit. Birds can be so entertaining!!

The Self Fertilizing Yard

This is part of our resident fertilizers. Unfortunately we've been unable to teach them the difference between the sidewalk, the yard and the garden.

The Perks of Icky Days in Montana

My Flicker has returned. Today is his first visit.

The finches really pig out when the weather is changing.

They love having water to bathe and drink. I love having the birds around. The birdbath and some of the feeders are right outside my office window.

One thing I do love here is that when the weather gets icky, (definately a weather term!), the birds really come in. Some for a drink, and a quick clean up and some for food. There are always lots more when there is a storm brewing. Laurence calls my finches welfare birds. Oh well, I love them!!

The Big Measuring Spoon vs. the Little One

You already know of my trials with the bread. Viv was kind enough to point out that I was using 1Tablespoon of yeast vs.1 teaspoon of yeast. The crazy thing is that I had actually checked it and in my mind I was doing it right. So, here is the evidence. I did't put in too much yeast OR burn it. Yahoo!!

Not Even Breadmaking 101

A while ago my cousin Viv was telling me about the wonderful bread recipe she got from a friend. Bread that was just incredible!! Well of course, I HAD to have the recipe. It was for a 2 pound loaf, but she and I figured that if I just cut the recipe in half I'd be good to go. I made the bread and then there was this smell of burning bread....... ooops, not the smell I'd been after.

It turned out that the dough had risen out over the outside of the pan and then cooked (burned) onto the outside of the pan and the inside of the bread maker! RATS! I had to put a wet washcloth over it for most of the day to finally get all of the baked on bread off.

So, thinks I, I'll try this again. After all it's just a matter of ingredients and the bread maker does the rest. This was my second attempt. BUT dum da dum dum.... at least this time I was on the watch.

I checked the bread YES it was on the outside but I very cleverly took the pan out put the bread into the pan and let it bake. Well a picture is worth a thousand words.

It was NOT PRETTY!!

I WILL try this bread-- but Viv will have to make it for me. I am going back to my old recipe!!:) Hmmmmm does this mean I visit her or she visits me?

Back to the old stand by recipes for me:)

Laurence and the Billings Temple

Today was the first Saturday of the month. Laurence and I got to spend the day at the Billings Montana Temple.
If it just didn't mean that we have to get up so early in the morning to get there in time to work!:)