Artisan Bread

We finally received our new baking tools. Thank you Lisa for sending the Pampered chef stone. It is wonderful. Donya slipped in a pizza peel on my last order to Amazon. $25 extra added to the order, but no shipping costs.
We already had the artisan bread cook book. Wow, look at what we can do !!
Having the right tools really does make a difference. We had tried cooking the bread on a cookie sheet. Not satisfactory. I am hoping to get used to the new stone, so I can remove the 'note to me' I have taped to the stove hood, to be sure to put the stone in the cold oven when I am starting to preheat it. And to remember to put the shallow pan below it for the cup of water that is added after you get the bread on your stone. AND I SHALL NEVER FORGET !! Don't open the oven until the time is up, because you will get a scald burn. My hand is almost healed ;-). Still a little pink on thumb and pointer area.

Our bed and breakfast guests LOVE the artisan bread. One recipe makes many versions.

Now I must get back to my paper arts and scrap booking. We will soon be hosting the annual fall scrap booking retreat. Menus to make, bread to bake, and lots of tools and supplies to move to the barn. This year we have a waiting list, in case someone has to cancel. Yea!!!

Does this make me a Great Great Grandma?

Donya purchased some baby silky chickens at an animal swap a year ago, and had hoped to get at least one rooster. As luck would have it, she did get just one rooster and the rest were hens. Last night when she was closing the little chicken coop, the little white hen refused to go in to roost. Donya got her Grandpa to help her lift the tiny pen so she could put the hen in the door. After the hen went in unwillingly and clucking all the while, Donya heard 'cheep cheep cheep'. There were 2 tiny little silky chicks left in the pen. They had to lift the pen again and move the babies in with the mother. Donya was so excited.. she came in exclaiming 'I'm a Grandma'. So that makes me a great great grandma, right? To some chickens.
If you are wondering what a 'silky' is, it is a small chicken (banty size) that has feathers that look more like fur then feathers. It grows on their feet and legs and they look like a tiny llama.
Mama with her babies. Tonight Don and I had to close the chicken hut, and the mama was sitting in the yard up close to the door of the hutch, all fluffed out with her babies under her. They are so tiny they can not get up into the hutch. It is about 3 inches off the ground. She pecked me when I grabbed her (didn't hurt) and pushed her in the open door. Then I had to feel around in the grass for her babies. My, they were tiny.
That is mown grass those little darlings are hiding in.
The rooster is in the back, by the hut. Actually this is our 'chicken tractor', we built it to fit between the rows of the garden, with wheels on one end so we can move it along each day. The chickens then can scratch and eat the weed seeds and bugs in the garden. The chicken house is under construction and will soon be ready for a photo. We will move them to the chicken coop for the winter.

Silkies make excellent mothers and even the rooster will help set on the eggs. Lots of fun for a cheap hobby. IF you can get someone to build the little pens and huts they need.
Donya brought home a new basket and Gabby took it over. Makes a real cute photo, AND it keeps her off the chairs and sofa.. and that is not a bad thing.

Company from Colorado

Surprise !! Fall has arrived. Never mind it comes every year at this time, it's still a surprise when it arrives. We had to replace all our mums, due to an icy winter. Sure missed having them the year we skipped setting out the new plants. Now, to the business of setting these new plants.
The birds must have 'planted' a wild grape seed. I might be making a mistake by leaving it to climb on the trellis. It looks nice there, right now. Don't know how big of a job it will be to remove it when it gets too wild.
Have you ever seen a sorrier looking tomato plant? This has not been a very good tomato year. It has been way too cold all summer. I have plenty for canning because we had set out so many plants. I am so mad at the jerk that messed with our global warming. Give it back !! We need that warmth for our plants.
We were happy to have Harold visit for a few days. Don took him to an auction (Don and Fred's most favorite hobby). Then the 2 brothers traveled to Wisconsin to visit their sister, Darlene. I remembered they would be going through Gays Mills (the famous apple orchards in Wisconsin) so called Don on Big Red's phone (his pickup) to ask for a couple dozen cider doughnuts that are made at Sunrise orchard in Gay's Mills. Yum! He also got a half bushel of his favorite apple, honey crisp, and a couple gallons of fresh cider.
Here are some Etter boys looking for trouble. Brothers Don and Harold, with Fred and Alfie. Too early for snomobiles and only one Harley motorcycle, not enough to share. Guess they could have gone canoeing if they would have had time.

Harold left for Colorado this morning, anxious to return home. Time always seems to move by so quickly when vacationing. It felt like Harold had just arrived and then he was heading out with his suitcase, already.

Davis Rally 2009 part 2

Lou Ann's photos are much better then mine. She was kind enough share them using e-mail.
Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois and Missouri all represented in this photo. Packed and ready to head out. The weather was perfect this year, for the rally.
I TOLD Lou Ann the camera hates me, when she asked us to come on out for a photo. Alfie's picture is good, the rest of us ?!!!
Meet Red. He demands our guests to pick an apple from the near by tree and give it to him.
And this is Bud. He is a pen mate with Red. These 2 ponies have not been broke to ride. Anyone interested in playing rodeo??

Our saddle horses are named Skipper and Dude. Their home is in the lower corral.

Thank you Lou Ann for the photos.

Davis Rally 2009

A motor cycle gang visited our bed and breakfast this past week end. I had to chuckle when I thought about them all being baby boomers, riding trikes. One couple arrived in a corvette! Most have stayed at the Barn before, and helped welcome a few first timers. I took some photos this morning after breakfast. FANCY trikes..and corvette.

I am grateful that everyone reserved a room for 2010 rally. hmmmm I better start working on the menu.

The day ended with Don's brother, Harold, finally arriving for a nice vacation/visit. It has been over a year since his last visit.

End of summer is close

Fred likes to attend the Mennonite auctions that are near our farm. When you bid, it is on a pallet full. The grocery stores are there bidding against you, so you rest assured you are paying wholesale. The local farm wives have decided to buy their vegetables for canning at those auctions. Well, me too... next year.

I heard Fred had gone to the auction last Saturday, so I made a call to him to bring back mums for fall planting. It is a good thing his friend's mother in law was also interested in mums. She took 2/3 of the pallet and I got 1/3. It was lovely to see Fred drive in with a pickup load of blossoms. 12 huge mum plants. I had to take two photos to get them all in.(well, only because the sun was on the East side so most of the plants were in the shade.)
I think I am finished canning green beans. I made some dill green bean pickles, too. I hope they are as good as my mother in law's. My mother had never made any, so they were new to me. We had to rip and pillage a lot of our wild plum bushes when we put tile in that part of our farm this spring. So I made 'enough' plum jam for this year, and did not feel guilty for letting extra plums go to waste, there weren't any. I could not resist taking the photo when the morning sun flooded my counter top this morning.
More goodies brought in from the garden. The trees are starting to turn bright colors, as well.
The neighbor to our scrapbook shop told Donya and Michelle to help themselves to the pears. They were starting to fall off her trees and call flies. I plan to can them as soon as they get ripe.

A funny story: When Don and I were married 3 short years, we made a trip to the "Western Slope" in Colorado to get tree ripened peaches (they are the best! yum). I also wanted to get some tree ripened pears. The orchard farmers got a good laugh at me for that. Said there is no such thing as a tree ripened pear. They fall off before ripening. Besides , there is absolutely no way to transport ripe pears.

Highway 127 2009 adventures

Don can not help himself, he is attracted to 'junk'. He ran onto this pickup that is for sale, sitting near a few yard sales. He was tired of looking at my kind of 'junk' but got a kick out of this one. This is the good side.
This was the other side of that pickup. It was turned toward the trees, so the only way you would see it was to get out and walk around the thing.
Don spent a lot of time just watching people. He is the only one of us that did not carry a cell phone. I made the girls hunt him down when we were ready to move on. I wish he would agree to carry a cell phone, but he a stubborn old farmer. He sure counts on mine when we travel together.
There were quilts for sale. These were hanging on a porch rail.. and if you look closely you will see the kitten laying on the porch floor below the blue skirted girl quilt. The quilt makers were sitting in a row on the porch behind the quilts. They were looking at us, while we were looking at their quilts.
Donya is a gourmet cook, and has made the best pizzas on our grill at home. She brought all the makings for a couple pizzas, but had to experiment with cooking them on Fred's tripod over a camp fire. The first one came out a bit dark on the bottom side but still tasted great. Rhonda stood over the second one and it came out perfect.

It was a nice end to a busy 'sight seeing, shopping yard sales' day.

More highway 127

Just look at those lush trees. Anywhere there was a vacant place to put your stuff, someone would open their trunks or unload their stuff from their pickup and they were in business. Donya was thrilled to find a game she has been wanting for years. She was almost ready to order it from Amazon for $50. $2.50 at this yard sale. It was like new... Scrabble on a turntable.
The oddest thing we found for sale was a mounted pig. Not just the head, but half the pig.How would you like to have that hanging over your fireplace?!! We did not even check to see how much they wanted for it. Afraid they might think we were making an offer.
The antique fire engine made into an ice cream server was a hit with all of us. They made the ice cream right on that truck, put it into a bowl and slid it onto a conveyor belt that brought it through a trough to us. Yep, India had peacock blue hair in honor of the yard sales.
Donya was a good little shopper. She is collecting white firestone dishes and cookware. She found many to add to her collection. I think her favorite was the small tea cups and saucers that were at a booth where a nice man had an East African accent when he talked to us. We were not sure if it was New Zealand, but it not quite right for that.. we will always wonder.
Donya rode with Don and me, while Rhonda, India and Mike were in her van. (She had a pretty full van when she headed home.) This is the back seat where Donya had her nest. Fred had put a storage (or huge tool) box with a lid in the front of our pickup bed. It did not interfere with the 5th wheel hitch for the camper.. and we filled it. And we filled out camper... but not so full that we had to rent a motel on the way home. We heard there were shoppers that did that very thing. More in the next post.

Highway 127 yard sale

We did it !! We finally took the trip to follow highway 127 for the yard sales. We did not go the complete 640 miles, but did cover 135 miles. We went as far South as Chattanooga.

Rhonda, husband Mike and daughter India,(from Kansas) met us at Wallyhoo campground near Crossville TN. Don, Donya and I had camp set up by the time they arrived. Not the best campground in the area. Could have been, but the owner/operator bought the campground and moved from Michigan about 3 or so years ago. He is letting it run down something awful, and cares not for his campers comfort. He opened the office about noon IF he felt like it. The only way to get wifi was to sit right outside his office, in the sun, and try to see the screen on your laptop. Swimming pool was out or order along with all the other things promised on the web site. The shower and bathrooms were in great working order and kept clean. We will choose a different campground for next year.

Yep, we had so much fun, we decided to go next year. The food was so much fun. India and Donya had real fried green tomatoes. I missed those. But the cajun boiled peanuts were done to perfection. Home made ice cream, fried pies, beans and corn bread, smoked chicken and ribs. yum !!! One of the best hamburger and french fry plates I have ever had.

We took advice from people who have been going to this event the 22 years since it was started. Take plenty of water to drink, toilet paper (those portapoties run out of paper, then what?) and baby wipes. You put your hands on grungy and sticky stuff, while sorting for the 'good stuff'. And then you sometimes get sticky eating the fried pies and ice cream. Baby wipes are a must have.

I was happy just to have a nice vacation, go camping, be with family and see some great scenery. It was spectacular, looking off across the hills and into the valleys. We went down some very narrow roads in search of another yard sale or two. Some were very memorable, and funny. We made sure to buy at least one thing, if we were the only shoppers down that lonely road and at the yard sale. Sometimes it was difficult to find at least one thing that you would even load in your truck. Other times we needed a trolley to haul all the good stuff back to the truck.

Don was hoping to find Alles tractors, instead he found a farmer that told him there were no Alles dealers in the area.. so it would be rare to find one. Don did find one, imported by that same Tennessee farmer, from Minnesota. The farmer said he drove up to get it after making the deal for it on the internet.

I have a couple regrets of things I saw and did not buy, but I really did not go to buy a lot of things. My place is too full of things as it is, but boy!! that sure was a pretty tea set I didn't buy. And those Christmas dishes (service for 4) were just perfect for the barn. Had there been place setting for 8.... they probably would have come home with me.

Want to see what I did bring home? Well, here are a couple things..
This little wooden box is covered with leather. Not sure what kind, but the wood is very aged and looks a lot like the Belgian cabinet I bought from an antique shop about 15 years ago to use as a china hutch. Paid $900 for the cabinet (a new china hutch would have cost more then $1500) and later discovered it was valued at $3000. I love it and would never part with it. I gave $4.00 for this box.
I'll bet you would like to know what it is. So did I. I had no idea what it was or what it was used for. Rhonda told me it was a Samovar. I still did not know what it was. The instruction book is in Russian. Donya studied Russian when she attended OU. (Oklahoma University) and translated a few of the words in the booklet. The seller did not know what it was, so they were no help. But I thought it was very pretty, so bargained them down to $30.

It is a Russian Samovar, used in tea making. You make a very strong, usually sweet fruity tea, in the little teapot on the top. It sits on the 'chimney' and stays warm, with hot water in the bottom of the pot(that big round part at the bottom). You put a little of the strong tea from the little teapot in your cup, then run hot water out of the spigot in the bottom pot to dilute the tea. That way the tea in the top pot does not get bitter and strong by boiling too long.

This pot is electric, but the antique pots have a tube that goes down the middle that charcoal is put into and kept burning.. to keep the bottom water hot. I will need to get an adapter as the electric is for European outlets.

I'll show you some more 'stuff' on the next post. Lots of our stuff is still in the camper. Got to find somewhere to put our treasures before we can unload them. Hope we find the 'place' for them before we go next year, or the camper could get a bit crowded. heh heh

July 09 quilt reteat

Material Magic, New Hampton Iowa, held their quilt retreat at the Dairy Barn Bed and Breakfast. The 3 days seemed to fly past yet many of the quilters completed their projects. Table runners, quilts and purses were on the agenda this year.

Some of the photos (45) I took are in the album. I had a quick lesson on loading photos in an album that I could attach to my blog. Hope it all works right.

Cold July 09

Out side my front door... flowers and weeds. Don is Mr Chemical Man and got out his sprayer and took care of the weeds in the rocks and between the cracks in the patio. Donya and Don went berserk at the Mennonite green house this spring, and we have lots of flowers across the front of the patio and in containers everywhere. Alfie has been ever so good as to not dig them up. If we were having normal hot July weather, I'm sure the story would be much different.

This is a record setting cold July for Iowa. The high was only 61 degrees a few days ago. The flowers are huddled up trying to keep warm.

I am preparing for another quilt retreat, getting menus made and food prepared as much ahead of time as is possible. Discovered I had forgotten to buy a couple items when Don and I went to town yesterday. It is a pity that we drove 50 miles to the store and forgot 2 important parts of our meals. grrrrrr This retreat starts Thursday and ends Sunday afternoon.

Summer on the farm

After healing from the terrible antler scruffing a deer gave our baby Linden tree,(Don announced he did not think our Linden tree was going to make it, due to all the bark being 'eaten' off by some animal) it survived and was loaded with the sweetest smelling flowers this summer.
I did not have time to make tea with the blossoms this time, but look forward to leisurely cups of tea next season. Woo Hoo! I no longer have to make hay. I guess that is one thing good about getting old.

Fred collects Alles Chalmers tractors, and likes to play with them in his 'big sand box'. He was cutting and baling our water way grasses, and several farm folks with small bits of hay and grass ground asked him to cut and bale their hay. Large operators want no part of dinking around with small patches of ground, so Fred has found a nitch to play around with his old equipment.

He feeds some of his hay to these guys. Perhaps they will be big enough for the freezer late this fall. He feeds some of the hay to our (his) 4 horses. But he seems to have a little left to bargain with. It is a nice hobby and would be better if he did not have hay fever.

During our farming years I really hated hay making for the herd of Brown Swiss Dairy Cows. It seemed a lightening and thunderstorm would come up as we had all the wagons loaded with baled hay. No way could we leave them out in the yard to get rained on. Many times I would be on the wagon, throwing those bales into the conveyer with lightening much closer then I had ever wanted to see it. Yep, I am ever so glad those days are behind me, and I survived.

Moving in

Finally !! The walls are finished and the carpet is installed. I finally get to use my private family/sitting room. It is much needed, so Don can spread his magazines and papers around without worry that we will have some unexpected guests call for a room.

I restrained myself from putting books on the shelf before Don had installed the last book case. His complaint about me, I always start moving in before he gets it half done. As you can see, I have a couple shelves to put in place in the book case and the media cabinet. There are some things I would do different, and it would not be hard to change.. except.. with Don there is NO changing anything, even it is done wrong. Someday, when I am home alone...... perhaps when it is below 0 and snowing outside .....
I am happy to see one of the rummage sale lamps fits in that little alcove, perfectly. I love the soft look of indirect lighting from lamps. I need to put a doily under that lamp. I know I have some around here, somewhere.
We made a trip to Menards for more sheetrock and insulation, yesterday. Donya finally decided it was time to set up her massage studio and got her National license.. so we gave her a 20x12 ft section in my old workroom at the shop. I will no longer strip and refinish furniture (I'm retiring that part of my shop, right now.!!) We are dividing up that 40x20 room into 3 sections, her studio will have the best part with a large window and private entrance door, the center part will be used to expand the ever growing scrap book/paper arts shop, and the small remaining room will be office. Fred already has the partition wall up and ready for the next step. He would have done more if we had not run out of sheet rock and insulation.

Our next project is to install this:
We found the fan I had bought a few years ago for the personal sitting room is too big, due to the angles of the roof (attic rooms cause that kind of problem). As I was shopping for a replacement, I found that Hunter does not make any fans smaller then 42 inches. I refuse to buy another low end fan, after using the Hunter in my bedroom. So I bought this 'cutesy' pink fan to put in one of the bedrooms that already have a small white 'low end'(cheap) fan in it, and move that small fan into the sitting room. hmmm how long do you think it will take Don to get in the mood to do that?!! Donya is excited to have the new fan in her room because it is shabby chic, her favorite way to decorate these days.

Fred is busy making hay (the sun finally came out and it is not supposed to rain for a few days) so he will not be available to help with the remodeling/building project for a while. He also complains that I try to move in before he is done. I guess I just get a little excited about getting something new.

First ripe tomato

Don picked our first ripe tomato !! I had pulled it to the front of the vine so I could get the camera and take a photo with it on the vine. Don came along and decided to pick it before Alfie saw it and would come in proudly carrying the tiny little fruit. It is planted in a pot and kept near the front door of the Bed and Breakfast (we have acres to plant it in, but always start one in a pot to hurry up the process with one tomato plant.

Don's cousin, Mary, told me about planting a potato in a bucket near the back door.. to get potatoes earlier as well. I will put that on my to do list for next spring.

50 years celebration

Don and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary June 7... with a little vacation to Kansas. I wanted to take my computer to Wichita to get it repaired and Don wanted to search for Allis Chalmers tractors. While in Wichita we visited 'old town square' where the cattle drivers would spend the night after bringing the herds up from Texas. The old buildings are built around an empty town square where entertainment was (and still is) provided. While standing there looking at the old buildings you can almost hear the hub bub from the old time visits to the saloons, hotels and brothels. Mrs. O'Leary's is in one of the more interesting buildings. It is an art store with supplies for scrapbookers as well as hard core artists. There is an abundance of gift items as well.

That took one day. The rest of the time was spent looking at this;
And this;
Then he found this;
Rhonda was a good sport and waded in the weeds taking the photos, even though she felt uneasy about snakes that might be in the grass. Don found the owner of this lot, in the little gas station down the road, (Don hangs around gas stations a lot, where ever he goes) and got his business card... just in case.


Rhonda, Don and I spent a day in Vinita Oklahoma researching ancestors. Mine, not his. We just love the gals at the library in the genealogy corner. They are so helpful and know where all our dead relatives are buried. We bought the book the 2 gals wrote, with names and dates and lots of other helpful information about the history of the surrounding area.

Then we went out the back door of the library into the museum. Oh MY Goodness. Don found a tractor like his grandfather Tigges owned. It is a Fordson tractor.

He had many stories to tell about his grandfather while he checked out that old piece of machinery.

We planned to eat at Cowboy Crossing, but decided to check out the famous chicken fried steak at a restaurant in town.It was a good choice as the steak was excellent.

I love Cowboy Crossing, it is a church and restaurant just outside of Vinita.. and I had planned to get decal from there to put in our pickup. It shows a cowboy on a horse and has a cross in the background.. I just have to get one next time we go down. We still have more ancestors and stories to find in Vinita, so we WILL go down again.