Turkey, Dressing, and Pies! Oh My!

Turkey, Dressing, and Pies! Oh My!

Yes, um...well I never got around to posting about Thanksgiving, did I. No, I sure didn't. Shame on me.

Let me start out by saying I love tea. Especially Chai tea. Like I'm crazy over it. Now that that's out of the way, we can all get on with our lives.

I started out TG day making a big batch of pie dough and sipping on some delicious(you guessed it)Chai tea. Mmm..what better way to start out your day?

And of course I had my cute & fuzzy foot warmer laying on my feet to keep them warm. Doesn't everybody have a foot warmer when they make pie dough? No? Well they should. 

Now, where was I..ahh yes, pie making!

 Carolina and I got very creative with the pie crusts, as you can clearly see. 

Fingerprint and butterfly crust.

Bird track crust.

As for this one, I have no clue what kind of pattern you'd call it. Suggestions?

 Next on the list I made the dressing. And cried. Didn't you know I'm very emotional in the kitchen? OK, well maybe you didn't know. But now you do. 

(I'm blaming it on the onions though, it's all their fault).

Momma set the table. It looked mighty fine. 

Dad carved up the turkey.

Then we laid out all the yummy dishes, which included:

Dressing.

Cheesy Broccoli & and Rice Casserole (which, just between me and you was absolutely, ridiculously, delicious...say that three times fast).

Then of course we had some scrumptious mashed sweet potatoes and some cranberry sauce, and a few pickled beets thrown in for good measure.

Now on to the part you've all been waiting for...*drum roll please* Pie!

We had Chocolate Alabama Pie. 

A big 'ole Apple Pie.

And of course several good old fashioned Pumpkin Pies..okay actually they were Sweet Meat Squash Pies, but who cares about minor details?

 Momma made some meringue.

Doesn't that look lovely? Of course it does!

Here are the pie monsters..they devoured all of the pie. I kid you not.

The Bunbuns had a feast of leftover apple peelings.

Alan: "These apple bits are all fine and dandy, but where's my pie?"

Alan: " Surely you didn't forget to make me my own pie!!"

Alan: "Ah, how could you do this to me!!??!!??"

Alan: "Although, I would settle for a Carrot Cake if you had one handy."

Alan: "You don't have one of those either? Fine, just for that, I'll eat the camera."

Blessings - 

~ Aspen 

Prince Charming

Prince Charming

Prince had a recent adventure that I'm not sure you've heard about...yet. I'm afraid to say he didn't rescue a damsel in distress or anything of that sort, instead he got stuck up in a tree. Yes, yes, I know..you're shocked. How did this tragedy occur you ask? Well, he escaped his pen and flew to a big tree limb that hung over the carport. I didn't know he had escaped until I heard frantic screaming coming from that direction, and noticed his two peahens running up and down their pen calling to him. I had no clue how to get him down. He was calling like crazy to his two girls below, but seemed too scared to move from his high perch. I enlisted Dad's help, and with a little assistance from a very long pvc pipe rod we were able push him a little and he took off flying like a bird..okay I guess he is a bird, but you know what I mean. He flew around the house, circled back around and glided over the goose yard, the geese were super excited and were all honking and screaming at him...probably encouraging him to fly farther off. The goof balls! Next he shot over the duck yard and had all the ducks in a tizzy, then he flew back into the horse pasture behind the poultry building and landed in a mesquite tree. While all this was happening we were running around like crazy people trying to catch up with him. When we saw he'd landed we jumped over the fence leading out to the pasture and saw his brightly colored feathers in-amongst a bunch of mesquites. He looked like he had no idea what just happened to him. I was able to sneak up from behind and scoop him up in a non-too-gentle embrace. Then we escorted his highness back to his ladies, who were ever so excited to see him. I locked them up a tad bit early so we could figure out how to fix the top of their pen.

Here is the master escape artist himself.

 He was breathing very heavily after his exertions, as were we, after chasing him all over the place.

His ladies were all too eager to hear about his escape.

 Fixing the top. We had to remove the tarp along with all the bungees that held it on. Then we laid a big hog panel across the top and secured it on, then put put the tarp over it and secured it. No More escapes...we hope.

Prince gave my finger a fine gash during the trip from the pasture to the pen. Are you starting to notice a pattern here? I sure am. Every time I post about Prince, I get hurt. What's with that?

How has your week been? No injuries I hope!

Blessings - 

~ Aspen

Frozen Eggs & Double Yolkers

Frozen Eggs & Double Yolkers

During the second snow/ice storm we had several days ago, one of my Call ducks decided to lay an egg out in the the yard, and bury it underneath the snow. Why you ask? I have no idea. When I found it, it was already busted and frozen. 

While we're on the subject of eggs, I thought I'd share a pic of the double yolker duck egg I got last week. It was a big'n. When I found it, I thought perhaps it was a goose egg. But that didn't make sense, as geese are seasonal layers and only lay during the spring/early summer months. 

On a non-egg related note, can you believe Christmas is just around the corner?  It seems like the year just whizzed by.

Blessings - 

~ Aspen

Fall Leaves, Grass Nests, and 'Lil Pinkies

 Fall Leaves, Grass Nests, and 'Lil Pinkies

Fall is now but just a memory, after the cold, winter snap we several weeks ago, all the leaves have blown off the trees and now lay brown and dried on the ground.

Fall is no more. But we can still look back at the good times we had, enjoying the leaves changing colors, the cooler days, and crisp mornings. Yes, fall is a wonderful season!

 

These pictures are long overdue, as is this post, I apologize my dear readers, I blush to think of how many weeks I let slip by since my last blog post. Forgive me? Good.

Now lets talk about rabbit nests for a minute, shall we .

Before the snow and ice came we still had some tough green grass growing along the sides of the raised beds in the garden. I couldn't persuade the geese to eat up all that tough grass, so I offered some to the bunbuns, and was surprised to find that they loved it! Not only did they enjoy eating it, but they liked to nest in it as well! It was a win/win!

Alora was quite pleased with her nesting skills. 

Note: See that ear in the side of the picture? That's Alan. He thinks the camera should be pointing at him, not Alora.

Alora: "Mom!! Alan keeps trying to steal my cameo time in front of the camera! Make him go away!"

The bunnies love all the fallen leaves. They make tasty snacks.

Alan: " Momme! I hungry! I starving! I need carrots!...this INSTANT!!"

Alan: "You lisning mom? Hellooooo in there!"

Alan: "Oh, I see carrots! 10 of them!!"

Me: "Alan! Stop those are my fingers!"

Alan: "Fine. If you won't give me carrots, I'll just eat my cage."

Alan: "But don't expect to be allowed in my presence, ever again!"

Alan has left the facility.....

Dutchess (or perhaps I should say Dutch Boy...*ahem*...) always manages to look very guilty when eating "her" food.

Alora exited her nest just to come see if I had any goodies for her. And I have been forgiven by Alan, for the time being, for not having any carrots on hand. In the future he expects me to serve him carrots on a silver platter.

Are you wondering what "lil pinkies are? Let me enlighten you...

WARNING: Do not proceed if you are scared of mice...you have been warned.

Tiny, little, itty bitty, tinsy winsy...a.k.a = small baby mice in a nest I found on the side of a trailer we were in the process of covering up in preparation of the cold weather that was headed our way.

Aren't they cute! Of course they are, shriveled pink skin and all!

I love baby critters...just not baby reptiles (excluding baby horny toads of course, who are just plum adorable!).

We've had another cold wintery weather storm blow in today...all the animals are hunkered down in their winter bunkers, waiting for warmer weather. Meanwhile in the house, all us humans are huddling next to the fires and drinking gallons of hot tea. I kid you not.



Blessings - 

~ Aspen