Thanksgiving Hodgepodge

I don't know what the deal is, but we've had the most beautiful sunrises this fall...more than I remember in the past...but my grey hair gets in the way of my memory, so I may be just full of it!

No matter...a good sunrise always makes the start of the day special. This photo was taken on the eve of Thanksgiving...pie making day. I was hoping that the sunrise was an omen that my pie crust would turn out perfect, but that was not going to be the case. On a scale of 1-10 I'd say the crust turned out a 7...the apple and pumpkin pies still looked good and tasted great, so I can't complain too much.

Another beautiful sunrise

My older brother and his wife came over from Portland and stayed three nights. We had a great time catching up on family news, playing cards and telling stories from our past. The last time we saw my brother was in the spring during sage rat hunting season, and I hadn't seen my sister-in-law since last Christmas.

Since we got Red, My Man's been working on rebuilding the fence in the back yard. It had some holes along the bottom where Bella Jo would get out and the posts were rotted off and the whole fence was going to fall over if we didn't do something. So, that was the project for the four-day weekend that My Man decided to do...with help from my brother, they got the old fence ripped out and all the posts in...between all the other stuff happening...like Thanksgiving dinner and Black Friday shopping in town.

Yep, we all went to the lil' town of Burns for Black Friday...it was fun! Red and Cindy Sue came with us. We went to the farm store and of course Red and CS get to go inside. Red really well, some people he didn't seem to like...others he loved. I'd say he just knows a good dog person and who isn't a good dog person...gotta give him credit for that.

Tamping in the posts

My Man is surveying the situation...and Red is inspecting
 the quality of the work! Red loves to hang out with his dad.
So far, he hasn't become just a mommy's boy!

For Thanksgiving dinner, we decided to try smoking/grilling a turkey on My Man's Traeger grill. It was only a 13 pound turkey, but it was still too big to get into the Traeger! So, I went to the Traeger FaceBook page and found that someone else had the same problem, and the solution was to spatchcock the turkey...huh?...I said the same thing...what the hell is that?!?

The internet is an amazing source of information...in case you didn't already know ;~)

Just Google it and you'll learn all about it. But, in a nut shell, you remove the backbone from the turkey and break the breast bone. That allows the turkey to be laid out flat in the roasting pan.

I felt like a turkey murderer as I was cutting out the backbone!!! Then I had to stand on a stool to get high enough to get any leverage to break the breast bone...which I really didn't break good enough...I'll explain...

The Traeger smoked turkey...1 hour from being done.

I found a smoked turkey recipe that I liked which was simply onions and an apple with some garlic and a can of carbonated cola...yep, Coke! All the reviews were excellent, so we decided to give it a try. I placed the spatchcocked turkey on a bed of onion, apple and coke in the roasting pan, and smoked it for 30 minutes, then turned the heat up to medium (350 degrees or so). We used hickory pellets. It should have taken about 2 hours at medium heat to reach the correct temperature.

The legs were done before the breast though...so, I think the problem was that the breast bone didn't get broken enough to lay flat in the roasting pan...so it took an extra hour to get the breast meat up to the right temperature. It was one of those awful waiting games where everything is ready to eat except for one thing!

But, it all turned out perfect...the turkey was totally awesome!!!! We all went into a turkey coma after dinner!!

My Man, your's truly, brother Larry and sister-in-law Laura...
and yes, I do have another brother...named Darrell ;~)

Saturday morning, Red and I had our first training class. It's a very informal get-to-gather of a few people and their dogs. We first did some obedience, then a lil' bit of agility, and then some search. Red had already done all of this with his foster family (B & B), so he was very comfortable in the surroundings. This is giving Red and I a good bonding tool and an opportunity to really get to know one another.

I have only done one obedience class and one agility class in my lifetime, and that was 12 years ago with Abby...I definitely need the refresher!!! I really enjoyed it, and Red did too. We'll do this every Saturday as long as the winter weather doesn't get too nasty.

The Red dog...look at that dirty red nose! He'd been digging!

My brother brought his 100+ pound dog Sydney. He and Red got along very nicely...they played and shared toys. The angle in the photo below doesn't show how big Sydney really is...but, he's huge for a Golden Retriever...and he fills up a room in no time when he lays down!! Sydney is just as sweet as he is big...he's a great dog.

Red and Sydney

This afternoon our neighbor stopped by. He has the dog named Missy that Bella Jo loved to play with...well, it wasn't much different with Red...they hit it off great!!

Play time!! Red and Missy.

I hope that you all had as wonderful of a Thanksgiving as we did!

Guess this means we're officially into the Christmas season!!

Christmas at Our Family Farm

~It's kind of exciting not knowing what's coming next.~

~Anonymous~

I know this is totally late, but the following text is what I wrote for the January Horsefly (one of the reasons I didn't do much posting after Christmas)...and wanted to share it with you. I'm adding a lot more photos than were printed in the publication...as usual (you know me!).

The View From My Saddle

You know, I’ve heard that it’s not a good idea to go back to a place you sold; it’s usually worse for wear and always a disappointment. In this instance, we didn’t sell our family farm, but when my father and uncle retired, they divided the farm which was located south of Hillsboro ,and my uncle sold his half a few years later.


After the new owners took over, they tore down the old two-story farm house I lived in for years as a child and replaced it with a manufactured home. That was hard to take. But the worst was yet to come. I remember the day I drove up the driveway for a visit and the old barn was gone. I was angry. I was hurt. A part of my life was gone…forever.


That old barn was the nucleus of my childhood. From hay forts and the smell of burnin’ calf hair on branding day to little girls spending a night in the barn for a sleep-over and getting my horse ready for 4-H fair; that old barn was my life.


Time has healed the wounds. I enjoy just remembering the way it was. My younger brother now owns the farm and has done wonderful improvements to not only the house that my mom and dad built, but has also built a cabin down at the irrigation pond.

My dad built this irrigation pond way back when.
It's fed by a stream. The deepest part is probably 13-15 feet or so.

The Cabin.
It comes with a pot bellied stove, running water, and electricity powered by a generator.
There's a half loft above with a bed. Totally cozy!!!

We spent Christmas Eve afternoon at the cabin playing
 the card game "Euchre" and eating popcorn.
Cindy Sue was trying to get a corner of the dog bed,
but Bella Jo was being a bed hog!

What would a cabin in the woods be without a matching outhouse?!?

Peace and tranquility.

The dock sees a lot of activity in the summer. Big kids and little kids alike are out there
with their fishing poles catching bass, catfish and blue gill.
The boat ties up to the dock.

The annual family Christmas Eve gathering was held at the farm this year. My husband and I spent three nights there and enjoyed every minute.

My favorite meal of all were these stuffed Cornish game hens...
(my brother's not too bad of a chef for a general contractor)

...along with these "fresh from Boston" lobster!!! Serious...they were still alive
when they got plopped into the boiling water...the best I've ever tasted!

Spending time at the pond and cabin brought back childhood memories of summers swimming and catching pollywogs and extreme winters when it froze over and the church youth group came out and we played hockey. Ah…the good ol’ days.

So, life goes on no matter what happens. Mom and dad would be mighty proud of our family farm now; even with the changes.

It’s good to know that the land is still in the family. It’s cared for and loved by all of us.


Well, that was our wonderful Christmas trip. The weather was pretty good going over the passes and we also got to visit friends. But, as always, we were sure glad to be home!

NOTE: The nursery stock you see in some of the photos is on the property that my uncle had owned. My brother raises a few Christmas trees, but leases out the majority of the land to another farmer.

Just Like Days of Ol' at the Family Farm

My younger brother sent me some photos yesterday that I want to share with you. After our Mom passed away it worked out that he was able to "buy the farm." Of course it's in the good way!

There is an irrigation pond that covers at least 3 acres or so and when the temps drop below freezing for enough days in a row, it obviously freezes over.

My brother playing a lil' ice hockey on the pond.

The farm is located in the Willamette Valley south of Hillsboro. So normally they get a lot of rain on the "Wet Side" of Oregon.

In year's past when we were growing up, the pond froze over quite a few times. At least one of those times, the whole youth group from our church came out and we played ice hockey.

If you look hard into the tree grove on the left, you

can sort of make out the cabin my brother has

built on the edge of the pond. He's a builder and

it's just the cutest lil' cabin with a nice big porch.

This is the view from the cabin.

Oh what memories this brings back...

Sunday Stills

Sunday Stills - Black & White

This week's Sunday Stills challenge is Black & White with a Twist. We could choose any two challenges we've done before and shoot them in B & W or in color and convert them to B & W. No photo that had been used before could be used for this challenge.

Yesterday was a big day outside for us with lots of photos taken...it was hard to just choose two!!

But, my first choice is Plants & Flowers...or Macro...which seem to go hand in hand a lot of the time.

I found these wild blue bells in the sagebrush. The neat looking seed plant to the left is cheat grass from last year...not such a neat plant...a nasty weed that is no friend to dogs, horses or cows, so looks are deceiving.





My second choice is In Motion. Stetson was showing off his stuff as he came down the hill for water. He always runs with his ears pinned back like he's gonna kick some a**...I guess you can do that when you're a donkey ;~)



You can see more Black and White photo challenges by checking out the links in the comments here.


And, as it is Mother's Day today, I want to share a darling photo of my late Mother and her brother. It was taken in the late 1920's.


Happy Mother's Day to all~~

The Faster I Go, The Behinder I Get!

Is that the right saying? If it isn't, you know what I mean. I just can't believe how the days fly by!

The last couple of weeks I spent working on my newest part-time job. I've always thought that the area where I live needed a small, local, fun, informative, interesting, horsey newspaper. I'd put off the idea for 3 years. But, a few weeks ago I called a gal who lives in Central Oregon because I had picked up one of her papers which just happened to be exactly what I had been thinking of. I just wanted to pick her brain a little on how to get a publication started.

Well, it just happened that she has been wanting to expand into Harney County!!! Perfect!! She and I hit it off and I figured "Why reinvent the wheel." She's been doing publications for decades and can teach me a lot. So, I've been selling ads and get a commission on them. It's been great. I'm getting off the property a little bit, meeting new people, visiting with old friends, and just enjoying a little bit of social activity.

So, the publication is called Horsefly and is published monthly. We go to print on Wednesday and so that will be my first issue to be involved in. I'm really excited.

Thanksgiving was a great time. My 2 brothers and their wives came along with one of my nieces. In addition they brought 3 dogs. Needless to say, our little 2 bedroom home was a bit crowded!! John & I slept in the big horse trailer. It's nicely self contained and it made me want to go camping!!!

Here's the family:

And next is Christmas!!! Can you believe it's only 23 days away?!?!?!? I'm freaking out! I've got lots of leather projects to work on as gifts and better get my behind in gear!

Oh...I know I am so far behind in reading everyone's blogs. I'm making headway though!! Mikey, I'll be there to pick up those flowers!