Evidence of Fall, and Cookies

I’ve always loved this house.  Every time I drive into town, I swing by this place.  Today, it’s decorated for fall and Halloween.

Here’s a tree that caught my eye, with its golden leaves, they shimmer in the breeze.

Because today was chilly and dreary outside, I made Bulldog Man a treat of homemade Ginger Snap cookies from a recipe submitted by RAMB, posted on allrecipes.com.

                                         Grandma’s Gingersnaps

Ingredients

¾ cup butter (or margarine)

1 cup white sugar

1 egg

¼ cup molasses

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

(1/2 cup white sugar for decoration)

Instructions

Preheat oven 350 degrees.

In a bowl, cream together the butter and 1 cup white sugar until smooth.  Beat in the egg and molasses until well blended.  Combine the flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.  Stir into the molasses mixture to form dough.  Roll dough into 1 inch balls and roll the balls in the ½ cup white sugar.  Place cookies 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 – 10 minutes, place cookies on wire rack to cool.

Thank You Mary Ann & 1st PeaPod

A friend of mine, Mary Ann from Calamity Acres Hobby Farm, recently reviewed a book written by Deborah Niemann called “Raising Goats Naturally”.    After reading her review, I commented on her blog, stating I would look into this book to educate myself on raising goats, because in the future, my husband and I wanted to get goats.   On Saturday, I received this book in the mail from Mary Ann as an act of kindness.  I’ve already started reading this book in the evenings when it’s quiet, while watching the Baseball World Series.  Thank you Mary Ann!

I went to the garden last night to check on how things were doing and look what I found……………..

Yes, my first peapod. I feel like a kid in a toy store, lol…… I looked all over the plants for more pods; there were none, just a bunch of flowers.  I’m hoping I can baby my pea plants, and have a nice harvest before our first major frost.

Silence Can Speak Volumes

Great commercial, watch it and see what silence can infer.

 

 

 

Source:  Youtube

Give - Away @ Camp and Cottage Living!!!!

A friend of mine, Kimberly over at Camp and Cottage Living blog is sponsoring a beautiful handmade jewelry give-away.  Please go check out her blog, you won’t be disappointed.  Kimberly is very talented, she makes all kinds of beautiful embellishments, and she repurposes items and turns them into art. 

 

Canning and the New Ugly Bird

I would like to start my post today by welcoming a new Blogger friend to my blog.   Welcome……. They call me Moe! (I’m not able to locate your blog, if you have one please let me know and I will update this post). Thank you for joining my blog, please sit back and enjoy the ride.  

*****

Anytime I have a question on canning, I go to one of my experienced blogger friends for assistance.  This time, I went to Patrice Lewis’ Blog, Rural Revolution.  I remembered Patrice posted instructions on her blog a while back on canning cooked chicken.  I borrowed her instructions, and continued on canning my chicken.   Thank you Patrice for your assistance!!!!  Patrice has a booklet series called the

Rural Revolution's Self-Sufficiency Series.  These booklets are in-expensive and make great reference material when trying to can by water bath or pressure canning.

Introduction to Water-Bath Canning

Introduction to Pressure Canning

Canning FAQs: 100 Basic Questions about Canning

You can find more information regarding her booklets here on Patrice’s blog. 

On to my chicken……..

 

 

 

In a big stock pot, I placed two whole chickens, water, vegetables, and spices. I cooked the stock for 10 hours, and canned 9 quarts of chicken stock.  I saved the chickens to pull the meat off the carcasses and can for future use.  Using Patrice’s instructions, I was able to can 2 quarts of chicken meat for future use.  I was surprised there was only enough meat for 2 jars :-)  I will have to process more chicken in the next several weeks.

*****

Tank came home the other night with a bird.  He figured it would look good out on the back patio.  It’s a bird made of old tool parts, this is the small one.  The 6 foot tall one stayed with his friend Matt’s family.  Tank has been over to Matt’s family’s farm to help clear out some of the property, just a small part of their 1700 acres in Oklahoma.  They offered him the bird; he took the bird knowing I would like it.

Have you canned anything lately?

 

 

                    

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gate Clip Art:  GardenClipArt.com

2013 Adorable Superbowl Commercial

I can’t wait to see what this year’s Super Bowl brings for commercials.  This 2013 commercial is adorable; I thought I would share it with you. 

 

Source: You Tube

***WARNING FOR EVERYONE TO READ ABOUT SHOPPING ANYWHERE***

 

****Note from Oklahoma Transient, I posted this post to alert my Blogger friends and shoppers to always be aware of what is going on at a cash register no matter where you shop, and how you pay for your merchandise. Holidays are coming up, and this time of year brings out the criminals.   Granted, I didn’t check the validity of this article on Face Book.  Crime happens every day, and any where……… don’t be a victim!!!!!

 

 

THIS ARTICLE CAME FROM ALEXIS JONATHAN SALYERS, FROM FACEBOOK.

PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR RECEIPTS - THIS IS IMPORTANT AS YOU START YOUR SHOPPING FOR THE CHRISTMAS SEASON CHECK YOUR RECEIPTS BEFORE LEAVING ANY CASHIER'S STATION!!!!! THIS SCAM CAN BE DONE ANYWHERE, AT ANY RETAIL OR WHOLESALE LOCATION!!! It happened at a Wal-Mart Supercenter a month ago. I bought a bunch of stuff, over $150, & I glanced at my receipt as the cashier was handing me the bags. I saw a cash-back of $40. I told her I didn't request a cash back & to delete it. She said I'd have to take the $40 because she couldn't delete it. I told her to call a supervisor. Supervisor came & said I'd have to take it! I said NO! Taking the $40 would be a cash advance against my Discover & I wasn't paying interest on the cash advance!!!!! If they couldn't delete it then they would have to delete the whole order. So the supervisor had the cashier delete the whole order & rescan everything! The second time I looked at the electronic tab before I signed & a cash-back of $20 popped up. At that point I told the cashier & she deleted it. The total came out right. the cashier agreed that the electronic pad must be defective. (yeah, right!) Obviously the cashier knew the electronic pad wasn't defective because she NEVER offered me the $40 at the beginning. Can you imagine how many people went through before me & at the end of her shift how much money she pocketed? Just to alert everyone. My coworker went to Milford , DE Wal-Mart last week. She had her items rung up by the cashier. The cashier hurried her along and didn't give her a receipt. She asked the cashier for a receipt and the cashier was annoyed and gave it to her. My coworker didn't look at her receipt until later that night. The receipt showed that she asked for $20 cash back. SHE DID NOT ASK FOR CASH BACK! My coworker called Wal-Mart who investigated but could not see the cashier pocket the money. She then called her niece who works for the bank and her niece told her This is a new scam. The cashier will key in that you asked for cash back and then hand it to her friend who is the next person in line. Please, please, please check your receipts right away when using credit or debit cards! This is NOT limited to Wal-Mart, although they are the largest retailer so they have the most incidents. I am adding to this.... My husband and I were in Wal-Mart North Salisbury and paying with a credit card. When my husband went to sign the credit card signer, he just happened to notice there was a $20 cash back added. He told the cashier that he did not ask nor want cash back and she said this machine has been messing up and she canceled it. We didn't think anything of it until we read this email. I wonder how many "seniors" have been, or will be, "stung" by this one???? BEFORE LEAVING THE CASHIER'S STATION!!!!! CHECK YOUR RECEIPT BEFORE LEAVING THE STAND. I'VE SEEN PEOPLE DO JUST THAT. NOW I'LL START! PASS THIS ON TO YOUR FRIENDS, KIDS, LOVED ONES

 

****Note from Oklahoma Transient, I posted this post to alert my Blogger friends and shoppers to always be aware of what is going on at a cash register no matter where you shop, and how you pay for your merchandise. Holidays are coming up, and this time of year brings out the criminals.   Granted, I didn’t check the validity of this article on Face Book.  Crime happens every day, and any where……… don’t be a victim!!!!!

  

 

 

Hand (Warning Picture May Make You Squeamish)

Today was a slow day.  We did absolutely nothing, attempted to go to a movie, and hubby wasn’t feeling too good with the movement of the picture on the screen, and the medications for his hand.  So we returned home and had a nice spaghetti dinner with light sauce and cheese bread. 

The day before yesterday, the doctor wanted us to remove the ace bandage wrapped around Bulldog Man’s hand.  Yesterday, we were to remove the gauze and wash around the surgical site.  Today, the site is swollen, his hand and arm somewhat bruised, but appears to be healing. 

Bulldog Man is not feeling the excruciating pain he used to up his arm and in his fingers.  Tomorrow we will make an appointment to have his sutures removed and make plans for the next procedure.

Here’s a picture of how his hand looks at 7:20PM tonight (warning if you’re squeamish don’t look at this picture).

 

 

The End of Fall Garden

Several of my blogger friends asked about my fall garden, and how it was doing.  I planted broccoli, it’s growing without leaves, and something keeps chewing on each broccoli plant.  The same thing happened when I planted them in early spring.  I have asparagus growing like crazy in the garden.  This was the first year I started to grow asparagus.  Two of my friends, Phelan over at A Homesteading Neophyte, and SciFiChick at Bacon and Eggs, recommended I leave the asparagus in the ground and not to pick it until the following year or so.  This way the harvest will be solid and plentiful. I can’t wait to try it after this next spring. 

The Japanese eggplant keeps producing wonderful little eggplants. The one pictured here has some brown markings on the outside of the skin.

My squash has produced flowers; I’m still waiting to see if I get any vegetables on it before we freeze here.  So far, no signs of squash bugs J

 I have a few carrots popping up in the garden.

My chocolate peppers keep producing all kinds of peppers, and buds.  Here’s a picture of the peppers turning that nice chocolate color. 

The bush beans are growing like crazy and producing all kinds of beans.  I need to go back out into the garden tomorrow and harvest another basket full of beans.

My peas are also growing like weeds and producing all kinds of flowers; hopefully they will survive the next several weeks, and produce peas for harvest.

And finally, the cucumbers decided to produce flowers.  The leaves are splotchy with white spots.  I’ve pretty much given up on them. 

This is all that is left of my fall garden.  I’m getting antsy and can’t wait to start planting again in the spring of 2014.  I have a few plans on changing up my garden boxes, and adding a straw bale garden.  I’m even considering a new way of growing my strawberries this next year.  It’s a surprise, so if it works out, I will make a post on in it in the spring of 2014, otherwise I won’t create a post.

Snow, Medical, Beans

It’s snowing in the panhandle of Oklahoma!!!  Tonight, in southern Oklahoma, we’re to expect frost.  I’m debating on going out and covering my peas, or just waiting to see if they’ll make it.  Temperatures are predicted to go back up into the 70’s over the weekend.

 

 

Bulldog Man’s doctor decided to operate on his right hand and arm, cleaning out around the nerve.  This nerve runs up his arm into his neck. Somewhere between the hand and neck the nerve is pinched, creating migraines.  The neurosurgeon would rather start attempting to eliminate the migraines, and neck issues, first with the minor surgeries, instead of going directly for the more serious surgery of cutting his neck open, and working from the front of the neck into the back, to work on the nerves and vertebrae.  If doing minor surgery resolves the medical problems, then we’re both okay with this decision.  Bulldog Man is taking it easy for the next couple of days and will return to work on Monday.  He’ll need to keep an eye on his hand and arm; stitches will be removed in two weeks at the follow up doctor’s appointment.

I know you're talking about me!

This morning, Beans went into the Vet, for his yearly teeth cleaning. He wasn’t too happy with me; he thought he was going for a ride in the truck, not a ride to the Vet.  The Vet called and stated Beans did really well, his teeth are clean and good, no extractions.  He’s a healthy, beasty boy.  Yes, he’s slightly overweight and spoiled.  I’ll admit he was overweight when we rescued him, but this didn’t make me love him any less. 

I don’t have a lot to say today, I just wanted to let everyone know I’m alive and reading everyone’s blogs.  Have a great weekend, and stay warm.

 

Medical picture source: forums.anandtech.com 

Anniversary, Meeting Friends, Garden

I’m going to start my post out by saying Happy Anniversary to my hero, my husband Bulldog Man.  As each year goes by, I love you more.  Consider today’s post a certificate for one home-cooked meal of your choice!!!!  And after eating this meal, I’ll let you do dishes (a gift from you to me)…………Bahahahahaha!!!!! 

Friday, I did the usual; paid bills, hit Crest grocery store for some spices I didn’t have, and didn’t grow in my garden, and picked up what groceries we needed.  After getting home, unloading, and putting away the groceries, Bulldog Man called me, and suggested we go out to the military base to meet up with some of his good friends he hadn’t seen in over 7 years.  Over the past several years, Bulldog Man always talked to me about his friends, Lorri and Steve, in a positive way. I’ve always wanted the opportunity to meet his friends.  This was the perfect time to finally meet them.  I just wished my sweet husband, Bulldog Man would have called me earlier in the morning, before I went grocery shopping.  I would prefer grocery shopping at the commissary instead of Crest. 

Saturday, amazingly enough, we actually slept until 9:30AM, (this is highly unusual) but I’m glad we got caught up on our sleep.  We both jumped into the shower, and got ready to head to Tinker AFB to meet up with Lorri and Steve.  They mentioned to my husband when he talked with them to look for a motor home parked in the parking lot of the BX. 

To our surprise, we arrived……. found the motor home, trailer, car, motorcycle, bird cages (their birds travel with them), and all kinds of spinners. 

Lorri and Steve, Bulldog’s military friends, retired from the military, left a civil service job, sold their home, auctioned off all of their belongs, and decided to live life to its fullest, and travel the United States.  When they stop at military bases for the night, if they feel like it, they setup their spinners for others to enjoy and buy.  They do this for fun; don’t need the money to support themselves.  Any money received is used to put gas in their motor home.  This just sounds like so much fun, one day I would love to be able to do something like this.  For now, Bulldog Man and I are destined to find acreage and setup our homestead. 

Before saying goodbye to Lorri and Steve, Bulldog Man and I purchased a pig spinner and windsock with a 32 foot windsock pole (Bulldog Man has alternative reasons for purchasing the large windsock pull, he will outline this in one of my future posts).  Lorri and Steve are headed towards San Antonio.  If you happen to be on base, tell them we said “Hey”!

This pig is adorable, I placed him in my garden.

Lorri and Steve's setup.  Our rainbow wind sock on the front of the RV.

 

Before the rain came on Sunday evening, Bulldog Man and I went out to the garden to harvest some green beans.  We were able to bring in enough green beans to add as a side dish to a meal.  The peas in the garden have grown and even produce beautiful flowers.  I’m still waiting on peas to harvest.  Hopefully, it will be soon, before we get our first freeze. 

 

It’s been raining a gentle, continuous rain, which should continue through Tuesday.  Once the grass dries, I get to sneak out the tractor and cut grass (hubby will be at work, and he can’t hog the machine).

I hope everyone has a blessed Monday!!!

 

 

Join, Welcome, Thank You, Food Grade Buckets, Bread Trees, & GArden

I would like to start my post today by welcoming a new Blogger friend to my blog.   Welcome M.E. Masterson from Adventures of life!

Thank you for joining my blog, please sit back and enjoy the ride.   Friends, please check out the Adventures of life blog, you won’t be disappointed. 

*****

Food grade buckets!!!!  I went to Sam’s Club and picked up free food storage buckets from the bakery.  Instead of washing them inside, I decided to do it outside.  This made life so much easier on the first wash.  I wash each bucket once again before using them for food storage, and then place a Mylar bag in the bucket before adding the food, and oxygen absorbers. 

*****

Earlier this morning, I decided to make some more pumpkin bread, since it was a hit with everyone at the house.  I’ll need to hurry up and wrap these loafs and hide two in the freezer before the guys know how many were made J

*****

Yo……mama, give me your carrots!!!!  NOW!!!!!!!

*****

These branches are the start of so kind of tree. I’m not sure what type of tree it is.  If I let them go, they will cover the entire patio in the back of the house.  Today, I chopped 2 down into very small pieces and loaded up some contractor bags for hauling off and out of the way.  There are two more of these trees on the back fence line that need to be removed.  Does anyone know what type of tree this is?

*****

I also took all the flower pots with old dead flowers to the side of our home, and dumped the potting soil into one of my cleared raised beds. I stacked the empty flower pots against the side of home until spring, when they’ll be loaded with new flowers.

Dog Imitating Baby

This is cute a little video found on You Tube  to make you smile or even laugh.

 

 

Source: You Tube; Video by: Tom Cammarata

Bulldogs Mans Chew Toy!

For the past two years, Bulldog Man and I have been looking at riding lawnmowers to make life much easier…….especially since we both are getting older.  Each and every time, the price was just too much for our pockets. 

On Saturday, Bulldog Man and I needed the heavy duty contractor garbage bags, because we ended up using all of the ones we had at home.  So off to Lowe’s we went (usually we go to Home Depot, but avoided this area because there was an OU football game in town with heavy traffic).

As we were getting out of our truck in the parking lot, I noticed 1 John Deer driving mower sitting in the area where mowers are after being fixed.  Both Bulldog Man and I examined the mower, it looked brand new.  There was no price tag on the machine, so we went inside to talk to the sales representative in the lawn equipment section.  The young lady advised this mower is usually $1499.00.  I said okay, why is the machine in the repair section.  “It’s in the repair section because when we took the machine out of the crate from shipping, the hydrostatic drive needed repair.”  Lowe’s ended up replacing the hydrostatic drive and just placed the machine in the repair section for sale at a discounted price.  Again, I asked what the price was she threw some numbers at us; I said is that price negotiable??  Her immediate response, “sure I can give you 40% off of this John Deer tractor today with a full 2 year warranty.”  Both Bulldog Man and I looked at one another and said we will take it. 

The representative said how do you want to pickup this machine, we said just deliver it…………..with the negotiation the delivery of the machine was free!!!

Oh how it pays to negotiate even with the big building supply stores J

*****Winner Announced*****

Mark Kirkman was selected the winner of the Complete Wilderness Training Manual and the Adventures Medical Kits, Pocket Medic.

 

 The winner has been notified and has until Thursday,October 10^th;

to respond to me with a mailing address.

If the winner does not respond by

11:59PM on October 10^th; I will have no choice but to select

another winner.

Mark Kirkman please e-mail me with your mailing address.

My E-mail is: SandyLivesay@gmail.com

Join, Welcome, Thank You, Garden, Po Po, Final Day To Register

I would like to start my post today by welcoming a new Blogger friend to my blog.   Welcome Gammy Tammy from Gammy's House Blog.

Thank you for joining my blog, please sit back and enjoy the ride.   Friends, please check out Gammy's House Blog , you won’t be disappointed. 

(I've tried to fix the fonts 4 times and the alignment.  I'm done trying)

*****

A ritual I do every Friday is to backup my blog and save it to a standalone backup drive.  You ask why I do this………………………I do it for several reasons.  My blog could be deleted for some unknown reason by Blogger.  Or I could have picked up a virus from a site I visited.  Or someone could try to hack my blog.  These are a few of the reasons why I backup my blog.  When I first started blogging, I had no idea how to backup my blog.  Then one day, a friend of mine, Mike Yukon over at the Living Prepared blog documented how to backup your blog in detail on his blog.  Ever since Mike published these instructions, I’ve made it a ritual to backup my blog and protect all of the work I’ve put into creating and maintaining my blog.  I would highly recommend to all of my friends to visit Mike’s blog, Living Prepared; he’s always testing or making something to be more prepared and self reliant, and when you do visit Mike, tell him I sent you J.

*****

 My green beans are really looking amazing, and I’m so excited; soon I’ll be harvesting all kinds of beans to can and freeze.  That is if we don’t suffer a freeze, from the weather we’re expecting tonight and into tomorrow.  The National Weather Service is predicting heavy rain, winds, and potential tornadoes, and then for temperatures to plummet into the 30’s in certain parts of Oklahoma.  Yes, I said tornadoes.  Can you believe it? Tornadoes this time of year???

 

 

Speaking of weather, I’m praying tropical storm Karen doesn’t turn into a mean hurricane.  Hopefully, the winds will remain on the low side, and the storm just provides some rain in those areas needing moisture. 

I’m sending prayers to all affected by the radical weather working its way through the United States this weekend.  Please be safe, stay warm, dry, and watch out for flying debris.

Back to my garden………………

 

After checking on my green beans, I walked over to another of my raised garden beds to find several of my melons pulled off the vines and partially eaten.  It looks like a critter with teeth has been having a field day with my cantaloupe. 

*****

I had a suspicious vehicle pull up on the street alongside my place, with Kansas tags.  The vehicle was a large SUV, and the male occupant scooted down in his seat, and just sat there.  I kept an eye on the vehicle, and the male occupant, while cutting the grass.  After cutting the grass on the back of the property, the vehicle and male occupant were still parked in the same place.  Now I needed to cut the grass on that side of the house where the suspicious vehicle/person was sitting, and well, I just didn’t feel comfortable.  I knew my neighbor friend, elderly gentleman in his 70’s wasn’t home, nor were the people down the street.  I pulled out the telephone, and called the local police department’s non-emergency number.  I explained the situation; the police knew we’ve had problems throughout the area with crime, so they responded immediately. Two marked units drove up to the truck, the 1^st officer got out of his vehicle with his hand on his gun.  He knocked on the rear window of the SUV to get the occupant’s attention.  The officer walked up to his slightly opened driver side window, while the second officer walked to the passenger’s window.  The 1^st officer asked for the occupant’s driver’s license, and vehicle registration, and proceeded back to his vehicle to run the subject for wants and warrants.  Apparently everything came back negative.  The 1^st officer handed the occupant back his legal documents, and asked him what he was doing in the area.  His response, just waiting……………. for what, who knows.   The suspicious vehicle/person left the area right after the officer cleared the scene. I’m pretty sure he knew he was being watched, and decided this was not a woman he wanted to try to mess with!!!

 *****

Tonight is the final night to register for my sponsored give-away.  If you’re interested in registering, please go here and place a comment in the comments field of this post before 11:59PM tonight.