Freezing Cold w/ Wind Chill -40

It has been nothing but cold here, just bitter, bitter freezing cold. Even inside with the heat on it's still cold! They (the weather men and women) say we are having one of the coldest winters in years. I will agree with them completely. Today with the wind chill factor it was -40 below. Just saying that chills me to the bone.

The kids have been out of school for 2½ days now because of the weather. Snow has also been an issue, the other night Mike said coming home from work it was a white out most of the way home.

The picture is perfect it's what it feels and looks like here.

We have been blessed these passed few years with mild winters and now we seem to be getting paid back for it.



The freezing temps are not suppose to lift until sometime this weekend. Believe me it can't come soon enough.

Just before the winter storm

Just about two weeks ago the sun was shinning and weather was showing no signs that winter was near. When I looked out the living room windows I saw the farmer that lives in behind of us and across the field. He was out in December plowing the field that was still up and full of corn.

This all takes place right in my back yard.

The red machine is picking the corn and dumping it into the green machine.

It's really amazing to see in person.
Because these machines are so much bigger than us.
He turns around for another round.


The green machine takes what he has to the street to dumb into a truck

that will drive it back to the farm and store for feed for the animals.

Winter in the Country

Winter in the Country

My favorite barn was painted over the summer. I liked the barn just the way it was, I love that old look but the farmer felt differently as you can see.

The farmer told us some history about the barn and surrounding area where we live. We found out that there was a Saw Mill located where the cows now live and roam. And that the Saw Mill was the supplier of the wood for all the barns in the area. Most of the barns were built around the 1930's.

Thanksgiving was an A+

My first Thanksgiving dinner turned out great, so great I was voted to cook every year. And to be honest I'm o.k. with that because I really enjoyed it. I love cooking when I have the time and I'm not tried from working all day.

I love having people over and I enjoy being at home so hosting is just fine with me for next year and the year after that.

The only part I didn't like was the swollen feet and legs that night. 12 hours of standing on ceramic tile is rough but a little wine and some time in the hot tub helped me forget it all.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Dinner

This year I'll be cooking my first Thanksgiving dinner. I'm so excited to be taking on this huge job for our family gathering. I have very little experience at this but feel I can handle the challenge.



Last year year at Christmas I took on the pleasure of hosting the Christmas gathering at my house so I got my feet wet with cooking an entire turkey dinner. And I have to say everything went really well for it being my first time cooking a large meal like that.



What helped me out last year at Christmas was I had just been to see my sister in another state and helped her with Thanksgiving dinner. You would think though after growing up watching my mother cook all those years I would have learned something, nope! Not a darn thing, I was just there driving her nuts probably. Asking a million times like my own child does - when is it going to be done over and over. Oh, sure I watched her cooked but with drooling hanging out of my mouth and the brain not thinking right because I had been fasting for days prior to so I could eat like a pig come dinner time. Now do you see why I never learned a darn thing a as kid watching my mother, plus my mind set was I'll never have to do that, that's what mom's are for. Guess what my label is today - Mom. How it happened I don't know I plead the fifth if I may.



I will joyfully take on this dinner and pray it all comes out just fine as did Christmas dinner did last year besides the almost dropped the turkey on myself but I saved it. Just the blazing hot juice from the turkey was the only thing lost down my two legs but I was still in good condition to eat with 1st degree burns on my legs.



Stay turn for some homemade recipes for your Thanksgiving dinners.

Snow and Cold

We had our first big snow fall this year waking up to 10" of snow Tuesday morning.

Blurry picture below, not sure who was shaking from the cold Rexie or myself.

I didn't put his coat on but he ventured out on to the porch anyway to check out the snow.

The snow is always pretty but it's the cold that's hard to deal with.

Being out in the country it's very open and the wind can be very strong because there is nothing to block it like in the cities or suburbs. The temperature out here is always lower due to the wind chill factor even in the summer.

In the top picture you will notice the corn field has never been harvested this year. The corn is feed corn for animals, not corn that is sold to farm stands for human consumption. Not sure what the farmers plans are. I know we won't be ATVing in the field this winter if the farmer doesn't harvest. Darn it's fun in the fields when it snows.

Coming Down

It's that time of year when the corn fields start coming down around us. It's funny when they plant them we are sad in some ways because we can no longer ride the ATV's.

Now when they start to plow them down it's sad to see them go because it leaves you with an empty feeling as if someone has striped you naked. Everything becomes so open for miles and miles like anyone can see in your house.

Our dogs love the corn fields they eat the corn right off the stalk. It's the craziest thing I've ever seen, they pull back the husk and hold the cob and eat.

This year as the fields have been coming down there was a terrible accident at one of the farms just down the street from us. A young farmer 25 years old was killed by his own farm equipment when he was crushed underneath. Please pray for this family in this difficult time.

Gardening season over

A few weeks ago I dug up the plants in the garden because they had pretty much stop producing veggies. Next year we plan to move the garden to another area and make it larger.



After I was done Mike prepared the soil for planting grass seed to see if we could at least get it started this fall. Although fall seems to have come and gone quickly I don't know how much the seeds will take.



I enjoyed my first organic garden this past summer and can't wait till next summer to start my next one. Over the winter I want to get some books on organic gardening to be better prepared for next spring.

Homemade Salsa

The other thing my garden produced this summer was jalapeno peppers. Now these are one of my favorite peppers. As I would pick them I wasn’t sure what I would do with them. Yesterday I decided I have to use or loss them, so salsa was ending result.

I have never made homemade salsa before and had no clue how to make it. With a little bit of this and a little bit of that, that being what I already had in the pantry along with the peppers poof! I had salsa.

The peanut gallery approved.

My Sweet Organic Garden

As the summer rapped up this past weekend I decided I would harvest my organic sweet potatoes. I was a little worried digging them up because we had put the garden in the lowest lying area thinking that way all the plants would have nice moist soil all the time. This was good for most of the other plants but not so good for the sweet potatoes. I found out after researching, they need a hot and dry climate.

After spending what seemed like forever digging up the garden hunting for my sweet potatoes, I only had to toss a few from being water logged. I then cleaned the good ones and gave the tiny, tiny ones to the dogs for treats. The dogs had been dancing around me the whole time I was working just waiting for a veggie treat. By the time I was done tossing water logged sweet potatoes and passing out treats to the dogs believe it or not I had more than enough for dinner.

Our garden this year was a spur of the moment, wing and a prayer garden, but all and all we have had more than we could have ever asked for from this garden. It saved us from buying salad fixing all summer long so I can’t complain. Next year we plan to move the garden to another area and make it much, much bigger.