Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Gotta love semi-country life


This reminds me of those pictures that we used to see when we were kids. There'd be a super close-up of the picture and we'd try to guess what it was. Ok so what's black and white and sitting on my carport? (*Note* Skunks still smell when they haven't sprayed, it's just not NEAR as bad) I have to admit, this guy was pretty cute but there's no way I was gonna let him stay. After all, I have dogs, cats, horses, and KIDS. In fact, my kids and one of my house dogs was outside when this guy showed up. I can't imagine what would've happened if someone would've gotten sprayed.

Come to find out, skunks don't like water much. After several glasses of water throwed at him, he decided to find a drier place to sleep and went on his way. It's never dull around here. We've had raccoons, opossums, snakes and skunks. That's not counting the stray dogs, cats, horses, and CHICKENS that we get. Life is definately fun.

Here's a better picture of Mr. Stinky. I could've gotten even better pics but I was busy watching which end was pointing at me :o) Thank God I'm not here begging for air freshener!




Monday, March 16, 2009

A New Love, Crescent Rolls

I must admit that I have a soft spot in my tummy for bread. I don't really like the fancy breads but give me home baked hot rolls any day. This new recipe is no exception. I found this online and I'm in love! Here's the original recipe, how I found it.


Ingredients
2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
3/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup shortening
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, softened

DIRECTIONS
Dissolve yeast in warm water.
Stir in sugar, salt, eggs, shortening, and 2 cups of flour. Beat until smooth. Mix in remaining flour until smooth. Scrape dough from side of bowl. Knead dough, then cover it and let rise in a warm place until double (about 1-1/2 hours).
Punch down dough. Divide in half. Roll each half into a 12-inch circle. Spread with butter. Cut into 10 to 15 wedge. Roll up the wedges starting with the wide end. Place rolls with point under on a greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise until double (about 1 hour).
Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 12-15 minute or until golden brown. Brush tops with butter when they come out.



Now here's how I tweaked it. I added all of the ingredients to my breadmaker in this order: all flour, sugar, salt, eggs, butter, shortening, and yeast dissolved in warm water. I then turned the breadmaker to the "dough" setting and did my own thing for an hour and a half. When it was done, I dumped the dough onto a floured counter and kneaded then cut it in half and rolled it to about 1/4 inch thick. Then I cut the dough into triangles (which I'm obviously not good at doing) and rolled them up, fat end first. I placed them in the pan and let them rise another hour or so, until doubled in size. Then I slapped them into my oven, preheated to 350* instead of 400*. I'm not sure how long I cooked them for, but it was until they were done :o) I brushed them with butter and burned my fingers trying to eat the first one, oops! Anyhow, these are AWESOME! I'll never buy the canned ones again! TW


Wednesday, March 11, 2009

More Scenes From a Truck

I adore the pictures that Hubby sends me. He has an old 2 mp Kodak EasyShare camera that he takes with him and after years of being banged around in that truck, it still works like a charm! I loved it so much that I bought a newer and better model.

Anyhow, here's some more pictures from the last few years that Hubby's sent me. He gets to see a LOT of beautiful scenery!




I hope you enjoyed this installment of "Scenes from a Truck". Have a great evening and God Bless you all! TW



Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Morning Visitors

It's been a bad couple of days around here. Hubby's trips have been short and this last one just gave him a ton of trouble. I'm so glad he's getting rid of it today and he's done with that one.

Today's a new day and God is smiling down on us, aren't you excited? I sure am!

I went out to feed the horses this morning and they were in the upper part of our little field looking at something. My neighbor's cow field is right next to ours so I figured they were visiting with the baby cows. Nope. I looked and saw these two guys on the edge of my neighbor's pond.

Aren't they beautiful? Some people hate them but I just think they're gorgeous. He also gets bald eagles on his property quite a bit. I wish I had a longer lens for my camera so I could get a better picture of them because they are a beautiful sight!
As a side note, I'm making hot rolls today, YUMMY! I'll get the recipe up as soon as I'm done.