Why Me?

Today, I drove a friend into Edmonton and got back about 1:30 pm. As Daphne was locked in the house all morning, I took her for a bush walk. I had just stopped the car and let her out when she bounded off the trail after something, likely a small bird.

However, it was a skunk! She came back a few minutes later, whining, rubbing her eyes and rubbing her head on the ground. Yep! She was skunked! She was also coughing, sneezing and trying to throw up. Definitely not a happy camper!

I loaded her back into the car, opened the windows and headed for home. My car now smells like a skunk farm. I headed to the vet for the latest in skunk odour removal. They said to forget tomato juice as it doesn't work.

Instead they gave me a recipe that does:

1 cup of lemon juice,
1 cup of dish soap, Dove or Palmolive
1 cup of baking powder.

Mix them all up together and use as a shampoo, rubbing it well in. Then rinse

It worked very well, but I may have to repeat tomorrow. There is still a slight odour.

I sprayed the car heavily with Febreze, but figure on driving with the windows open for a while.

ALL my clothes and 3 dog towels, and jacket went into the washer with 2 power balls. That seems to have worked!

 I hope none of you experience this experience, but can recommend the home made shampoo.

Progression

It's nice to come home from vacation and find this! The raspberry bushes are starting to ripen.

 The last two days I have picked 36 cups of raspberries. When on vacation, I noticed raspberries on sale for $4.95 per cup! The first picking  works out to $178.00 of berries!

 And converted them to these! Raspberry Crisp!

 Coming out of the oven they look and smell great. The first one was sacrificed to see if it tasted as good as it looks. It did.

 I will be switching to jam on the next picking to bring the larder back up.

There is not much better than Raspberry Crisp, with a big scoop of ice cream!



I could not find a recipe, so I developed my own.

2 cups of sugar
3/4 cup of rice flour (allergies to gluten)
1 tsp salt
2 tsp of cinnamon

Mix the above in a bowl then add 1/3 cup margarine and make the crumble with a fork.

Place over 4 cups of raspberries in an 8X8 aluminum pan and cook for 45 minutes at 350F

I use the disposable pans.

Add one cup of coffee and enjoy! Keep coffee separate from the crumble.

Raspberries are right high up on my list of great garden stock. They don't take much work and produce year after year, much like rhubarb for minimal care.

Homemade Laundry Soap

Here is a really good tip on how to cut costs in the laundry department! I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds worthwhile and easy to make. I didn't know that the packaged stuff has a lot of filler in it. Somehow, that just doesn't seem right.

http://beingcreativetokeepmysanity.blogspot.ca/2010/11/homemade-laundry-soap.html

A Great Weekend!

Elaine has gone to summer camp with the grand kids so I kind of had a honey do list. However, yesterday, I played truant and saddled up Alpine. I figured she needed some miles on her, and I needed a trail ride. So, off we went. The gate was open to our neighbour's half section and the cows (bulls) weren't in there yet. Alpine was a little skittish at first, but settled down into a steady trot. Can that horse trot! Two hours later, she was still trotting on the way home. It was very difficult to get her to walk. She just wanted to trot! I am not sure if that is a trait of the Morgan horse or not. It took a good half hour to catch her rhythm, which appeared to be totally different from the other horses. I was tempted to go to a cantor, but decided as I was alone in the middle of 320 acres populated by deer, moose and whatever, it was probably not a good idea.

I hate to say it, but I think that I am a little out of shape, as my legs did not want to work very well after the two hours.

Boots came along for the ride and man, was his butt dragging by the time we got back! I could tell where he was in the hay field because there was a bow wave spreading out. Brooklynn started out, but disappeared about 20 minutes into the ride. I found her sleeping under the deck looking very comfortable. 

Today we have a high wind so it's back to chores. I trimmed some brush growing around  hiding the shed, transplanted my slightly root bound mint, weeded a garden and picked a half gallon of our raspberries. It looks like it's going to be a good crop! Last year we put 100 pounds in the freezer and will probably get the same amount this year. Now, all I need is a good recipe for raspberry crisp, or ?

Tomorrow its back to town to water the church plants (Elaine's job, normally) then over to check on the hay cutting/ baling. I am hoping my truck will last long enough to get the hay home. Fortunately, it is only about a 2 mile round trip times ten to get the 300 bales home. It turns out that I not only blew a plug, but lost a valve. The transmission is also starting to slip. I really like the truck, but it is a 2001 and how much money do you feed into it?  It's 16 hours labour at $80/hour plus the cost of a used motor. I haven't looked at the transmission cost . It is probably time to cut the cost and look at a good used replacement. Drat!

I hope all you folks in Canada had a really good long weekend, and that you folks in the U.S can get a working compromise regarding debt reduction. We don't need another world recession!

Favourite recipes.

Fish Chowder


This one is a favourite of mine and was developed by me about 55 years ago when I was guiding tourists at a fly in camp. Take a large pot, dice up about 8 large potatoes and 2 medium onions. Cover with water. Add 3 bay leaves and about 12 whole peppercorns. Boil until the potatoes are soft. Add 1, 16 ounce can of niblets corn ( without the water). Add 1 pound of fish cut up into bite size chunks.  Add 1, 16 ounce can of Condensed Milk ( Carnation is my favourite) Do NOT boil at this point, just simmer. Add 1/4 pound of butter or margarine and continue to simmer.  This is one chowder that you can't overcook, and it is very good warmed up the next day.

When eating, keep an eye out for the peppercorns.

Spaghetti Squash


Do you get tired of trying to judge when a Spaghetti Squash is cooked in the oven? Try this one.
Cut the squash in half and clean out the pulp. Stick it in the microwave on high for 9 minutes. Mine has not blown up yet.

When cooked, add 2 heaping tablespoons of brown sugar and  2 tablespoons of butter. As you scrape the squash out with a fork, everything melts and gets mixed perfectly. Any left overs are great fried up the next day.

Enjoy!

Raisin/cranberry/cinnamon Bread


To improve your homemade raisin bread, replace some of the raisins with dried cranberries, or do like i do and just add a handful to the regular amount of raisins and adjust the water upwards slightly.

It really adds to the flavor and is a hit with all the grand kids.