A Dog's Love

Every...single...day.  Every single day our dogs joyfully leap down the driveway as we near home. They run beside the car or in front of the car so we have to wait until their wagging tails get out of the way. They greet us as we open our car doors and they walk with us to or from the house.

They wait patiently each day until I get the chance to feed them and they love to drink the water as it comes from the faucet. They are proud to do their tricks for me for the 100th time and will run alongside me on my 2 miles runs. They even whimpered through the glass door the day I had such a bad cramp in my foot that I was crying on the living room floor.

Of course they also get into the burnt trash or the cat food that I just bought. I have found them inside the house when the basement door got left open and they tend to think they're invited to sleep inside our tent on our camping trip. They have been known to scare the fish off by leaping into the water for a swim, and they even have costed us our pet ducks.

But they love us every day and they're always there waiting for us, no matter what is going on in our lives, or what mood we're in, or what time of the day or night it may be.

Kylie likes to reminds Rudy that she's 14 in doggy years.  Her favorite place to be is right beside our front door on the porch.  She can shake and even shakes with her back leg, impressive?  She is a good dog but she's very timid and sometimes would rather sit, well, right beside the front door on the porch than go somewhere with us. 

Tanner is 77 in doggy years.  He has gone from a town dog to a country dog in the last few years.  He's a darn good buddy to me.  He will let us know when someone arrives as he is very protective of his home.  He shows emotions to the extreme...when you come to visit him when he hasn't seen you in awhile he can't control his excitement.  Or if he's told to "stay" when we go up the road and he can't join us, he displays the ultimate sad demeanor and walks back to the house, head down, looking a bit like Eeyore. 

I am probably more of a cat person but to be honest, I can say that there's nothing quite like a dog friend.

Kollin Christofer

My little brother...my family's gift from God...a handsome boy who keeps my parents young...

When I was 12 years old and my sister 14, we picked up on a few unordinary things around our house and it didn't take us long to put things together and as we sat on the couch in front of the fireplace well after the lights had been turned off, we pondered "what if Mom really is pregnant...at age 38!"  At the dinner table when our parents attempted to share the news with us, "Girls, we have something to tell you," it was followed up with, "We already know!"  We spent the next few months discussing all the things we had to look forward to and prepare for the fifth member of our family.

Let me just say that he is such a blessing.  His birth seemed to bring our family a little closer together as it was during the time my sister and I were going through our teenage years and were likely a tish difficult.  Kollin began Kindergarten the year I was a senior.  My parents had the help of two teenage daughters to help raise their little one.  We taught him to spell, to do math, and "verb, it's what you do" at a very young age.  He was all of our pride and joy...and still is.

He keeps my parents busy with baseball and basketball and inviting his friends over to play.  He's into his PS3, drawing, making videos (I like to pride myself with influencing him on this one), and of course sports.  He has the brains and he has the looks.  To say that I love him doesn't even begin to express my feelings for him.

I look forward to seeing him grow, and change, and mature, and learn.  I simply look forward to seeing him.

Hearty Italian Soup

I took some photos while making an easy and tasty meal to share with my sister, in case she is needing a recipe to try. I am putting it on my blog in case anyone may be looking for a new recipe. I found the recipe on an app called foodgawker.

The ingredients are as follows:
1/2 cup onion (about 1/2 an onion), chopped
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tsp olive oil
1 lb ground turkey burger (I'm sure ground beef works too)
5 1/2 cups beef broth
1 can Italian stewed tomatoes
2 cups bow-tie pasta

To make this fine, easy meal, you first chop up your onions and garlic, throw it in the soup pan with the olive oil along with the burger to brown.

Then you add your broth (I don't think using a little more would hurt any; my soup turned out a little thick but it could have been the consistently high temp I boiled it at in spite of Keane's many attempts to remind me that food does not need to be on high to cook, boil, etc.) and your tomatoes. Bring this to a boil and add your noodles. Boil for about 10-12 minutes and voila.

You can add Parmesan cheese to the top, along with seasoning of your choice. We used salt, pepper, garlic salt & basil. We had a salad with our soup and went to bed with happy bellies.

Let me know if you try this recipe and what you think of it!

Mushroom Journal - Entry III

New mushroom count: 76

Last night we found 19 of the freshest mushrooms Keane said that he's ever seen. We also stumbled across a large red mushroom that was too far gone and a peckerhead mushroom that Keane said can be more toxic than the morels so we let it be. Last night we looked in a different spot than the past few nights and yesterday it had rained earlier in the day with sunshine in the afternoon so the mushrooms must have come up after the rain. We only stopped because we ran out of daylight, but we went out still looking!

Mushroom Journal - Entry II

Yesterday, Keane and the kids went mushroom hunting and found 22 mushrooms (6 left behind from the day before) and I, again, grabbed a couple cold drinks and joined them when I got home and found 1.  Not very impresive, I know, but at least I contributed!

 

And let me say, the ones we ate for supper last night...delicious!!

Our mushroom count to date for 2012 is: 57

Our Real McCoy

My sister and her husband blessed our family with a brand new baby in October.  His name is McCoy, McCoy Francis, and he is such a blessing to us all.  We have been fortunate to be able to see him quite often during these first five months of his little life because my sister has come back "home" a few times and has been able to stay for a couple weeks at a time. 

He is smiling all the time, laughing, and learning to use his voice.  Swinging makes him laugh and he loves baths.  He is little and looks so much like my big sister!  I am in love with him and so proud of my sister for entering into mommyhood and doing such a good job at it.  He has been teething and is working on his fourth tooth! McCoy's daddy left in January for an overseas trip for the National Guard and will return to see his baby boy at eight months old.  McCoy listens intently to the voice on the phone when Kimberly plays Lonnie's voicemails; it's a sweet thing and I'm ready for him to be back and enjoy watching their baby grow, and to complete their family.

I have pictures and pictures and videos of the little feller, too many to post, but I have to share some so enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mushroom Journal - Entry I

Keane and I quickly went into the woods Monday evening when I finally made it home from work and with no luck, we came back home with 0 mushrooms.

Yesterday we drove home from work together and I went right into the kitchen to begin making a dish while he went straight to the woods to see if he could find any mushrooms. A few minutes after he left, he called me to say he already spotted 15! I grabbed a few cold drinks and left supper to be finished after mushroom hunting, and joined him in the fun! In a short period of time, before the sun went down, we walked out of the woods with 36 mushrooms (leaving 6 in the woods for the kid to find this evening). A successful hunt with some delicious mushrooms soaking in the fridge waiting to be eaten tonight!

It has been an early spring this year.  It was in the high 70's yesterday and we have had little spurts of rain and a lot of sunshine in the past few weeks so it is perfect for mushrooms!