A Sad Event in our Neighborhood........

This happened four houses away from us last night. Luckily the whole family escaped safely. The family had just moved in over the last couple weeks, daddy, momma, and four young children. The father had been trying to start a fire in the fireplace and sadly things went terribly wrong. the fire started about 7:30 and the last fire truck didn't get out of there until almost 1 AM.

This picture shows how dense the smoke was in the neighborhood.

Morning view, standing in exactly the same place I was last night.

I am amazed that this tree survived. This is pretty much all that remains of the house, the rest completely collapsed.

Kind of hard to tell what this picture is. There is a travel trailer to the side of the house that survived. I walked around to the side and crouched down to take this shot of some debris still smouldering this morning.

Homemade Vanilla..........................

Since I tend to live a bit on the frugal side (cheep, cheep, cheep...... that is what I am called by immediate family, and yes I know that is spelled wrong LOL) when I came across the directions on how to make homemade vanilla I had to give it a try and I am not disappointed with my results.

The average cost of a bottle of pure vanilla in my local grocery store is 10.00 for a 4 ounce bottle. That is equal to $2.50 per ounce. That is pretty pricey so I have always used imitation vanilla. There is a big difference in flavor between real vanilla and imitation.

An average bottle of vodka is $9.00. I started with 8 vanilla beans in the vodka which cost me $12.00. Beginning total = $21.00 A bottle of vodka is approximately 25 ounces. For an average of .84 per ounce. Not bad at all.

The process is very simple. Carefully slit the vanilla beans down the side and drop into the bottle of vodka. Allow the bottle to sit for a couple months before beginning to use. As you use the vanilla from the bottle occasionally add some more vodka and a fresh vanilla bean.

It is also important to watch the for the strength of the alcohol in the vodka. A bottle of vanilla extract is 35% alc/vol. The first bottle of vodka I bought was also 35% alc/vol. Just today when I was tweaking my bottle of homemade vanilla extract I noticed that my new bottle is 40% alc/vol. Hmmmmm, hopefully my kiddos won't get a bit tipsy from their oatmeal cookies.

I have also found that vanilla beans can be quite expensive. If you have to pay a small fortune for the beans it totally defeats the purpose of making homemade vanilla. I have found the best price for vanilla beans at Cost Plus World Market. They come two in the little sealed pouch, making them only $1.50 per vanilla bean.

Christmas Day in the Desert 2008.....................

I hope the term "better late than never' is acceptable for this blog post.

On Christmas Day I went out to the desert with hubby and son. We were amazed at the wildlife and tracks we came across that day.

A hawk

A hawk in flight with it's breakfast (look close at it's tallons)

Pack of wild dogs

Coyote fleeing across field

Same coyote fleeing into miloGoose, very rare sight

(sigh...... I must share a funny tale with you. Imagine a middle aged, non slender woman trying to creep up cautiously and get a shot of this beautiful goose without scaring it away. Heavy camera around my neck, focus is the least of my worries. I just don't want to scare it way. But there is no way on earth I am crawling up that embankment. My hands will not touch dirt unless I have a sink with nice warm water, soap and a bottle of hand lotion at my disposal. So we must all settle for this very blurry picture of the beautiful goose.)CranePossibly baby hawkHawk in flightDucks in canalWhen we got to the riverbed we spotted a lot of tracks..........

DeerCoyote

Another Coyote track......

(my son was walking a little ways from us and says that he saw a mama coyote and her two pups run off, not sure if that is a fish story or not)

And the thrill of the day................ either a very large bobcat or possibly a mountain lion. I wish I had placed a dollar bill next to this print to show the size.

And a tale about another type of Coyote and not the animal type.

Coyotes are people who transport illegal aliens up from the border. If you will notice on the next picture there is a lot of heavy trees and brush towards the right hand side. This is the route we took as we were walking away from the river.

We came across this man made bench. Hubby says possibly a lookout point for coyotes.
And sure enough just a while later a police officer stopped by and talked to us and told us to be very careful in this area. He said it is a known location for coyotes to stop with immigrants and wait for their pickup vehicles. He told us that the week before they had picked up over 20 illegals in this area but the coyotes escaped. He also mentioned that the coyotes were heavily armed... yikes!


And now for a few random scenery shots...................

Some shots deserve black and white

My very favorite scenic shot of the day which I will probably have printed and put on my wall.

Pic of Kiddos..........

I have the hardest time getting all my kids to cooperate when trying to get a group shot. Somebody is always scowling, frowning, angry, pouting, or just plain unhappy.



Finally here is one that I am partially satisfied with........................

Run! Don't walk... to your local Pfaltzgraff store.......

I really hate seeing businesses close, we are seeing way too many close down lately but.......... I do love a good sale. Pfaltzgraff retail stores are closing down and they will now only have their website. My local store will only be open about another week and items are 60% - 90% off. I have found some awesome bargains. I love crockery style serving dishes but can't usually afford them. Take a look at these 5 items that I got for under $25.00.

Debating if this will be a utensil container or if it will go outside to join my collection in the garden.

I envision a nice batch of freshly baked homemade crescent rolls in this serving dish.

Hmmm, maybe a platter for ham slices.Hark! I am having another vision..... I am standing in the kitchen on Christmas morn in my fluffy white apron, pouring battter into the waffle iron.And my favorite find of all........ I can just see this in the center of the table piled high with paella. I have never made paella before but there is a first time for everything.

Poinsettias.....................

I love poinsettias but I can never seem to buy one for myself every year. I always think my hubby should surprise me and buy me one. That never happens. This year I started tossing hints to my daughter so she could toss hints to her daddy so that he would buy me one. Things didn't quite work out the way I had planned. Daughter comes back to me and relays the message that daddy says if I want one to go buy it myself. OK then, one poinsettia added to the weekend grocery list. Hubby must have felt a little guilt though because the next day when he came home he had a little poinsettia for me........... stress the word LITTLE. It is the SMALLEST poinsettia I have ever seen. I controlled myself and didn't laugh when he gave it to me because I didn't want to hurt his feelings. Now of course I can not go buy myself another beautiful full poisettia because that would also hurt his feelings........



Sigh, note for Christmas 2009, Buy My Own Poinsettia!

note- this pic really does not convey how small this plant really is

2008 Christmas Tree................

Kind of hard to tell from this picture but I don't think I can possible squeeze another ornament in on my tree........


And can somebody seriously tell me what is wrong with my angel. I really love my angel with the old fashioned stained glass apearance. Problem is my kids think this angel is ugly. My feelings are so hurt, I just love her.

I am a painting fool..................

I love painting crafts. Actually I like many different crafts and activities but I have a tough time focusing on one for any length of time. I float back and forth from sewing, to knitting, to crocheting, to scrapbooking, to beading, to painting, to geneaology, to photography............ well you get the idea. Lately I have been in a painting mood so I have been busy painting as many Christmas objects as I can.

Noel ..... this was a simple project to paint, sorry the pic is blurry.

New Christmas ornaments to add to the tree. The little one on the right that says 2008 BFF has a story that I will try to share today. Two new additions to my Christmas Village...........

The Sweet shop, painted last week....

The cobbler shop also painted in the last couple weeks......The general store painted in a past year......The old red barn painted in a past year......And finally the little whited church also painted in a past year....... (needs a few touch ups)And last but not least a nutcracker. Oldest darling daughter was in our cities performance of the Nutcracker this year. I have decided that I will paint one every year that she makes it into the performance. I will also paint one for second dd if she makes it and maybe for any future grandchildren that make it into the performance

Footprints....................................

There is a popular saying that says ' God will never give you more than you can handle'. Sometimes you just want to sit back and say 'enough already'! Sometimes you feel like your shoulders can take no more weight.

This has been especially trying year for my family and today this poem came to mind...................


Footprints in the Sand


One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.
Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,
other times there were one set of footprints.

This bothered me because I noticed
that during the low periods of my life,
when I was suffering from
anguish, sorrow or defeat,
I could see only one set of footprints.

So I said to the Lord,
"You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you,
you would walk with me always.
But I have noticed that during
the most trying periods of my life
there have only been one
set of footprints in the sand.
Why, when I needed you most,
you have not been there for me?"

The Lord replied,
"The times when you have
seen only one set of footprints in the sand,
is when I carried you."

by.................Mary Stevenson