Tuesday's Tails - 02/25/2014

Hmmmm...I guess we know how Missy Mare feels about getting her picture taken! ;)

Random 5 Friday - 2/14/2014

1.  I finished the chicken applique quilt top this week. Now, I'm all caught up with the Quilt-A-Long and looking forward to the next step! :)

2.  Jerry has been a member of the Tombstone Art Association for about a year now. His watercolor paintings and colored pencil drawings have been doing very well at the Art Gallery, he sells two to four pieces each month! The Tombstone Art Association is having their annual juried art show next month. I decided to enter some of my photography. I also joined the Art Association so that I can offer my photos for sale at the Gallery.

3. My goat, Daphne, is definitely bred so we will be having baby goats on the ground in June. They are always so cute!

4.  The mare, Missy, got out of the pasture yesterday while Jerry was gone riding his gelding, Paco. He had looped the chain over the gate but hadn't latched it. We think the dog got the gate open trying to squeeze through. Anyway, when Jerry got back, Missy was out in the front yard! He thought (ha-ha) that she would just follow him and Paco back into the pasture but noooo. She ended up across the road at the neighbors' place so Jerry latched their gate and then we proceeded to try and catch her. Every time Jerry would get within 10 feet of her she would take off. By the way, the neighbors have eight acres. They also have a very nice roping arena and they have a couple of their horses 'stabled' in it. After about an hour, Missy went down the alley that is used to bring the steers up to the chute. When she finally realized there was nowhere to go, she stood quietly and let Jerry put the halter on her.

5. Today, when I got back from town, I went out to hang the sheets and there was a smell kind of like a skunk but not really. I checked Red Dog and he was okay, so I brought him in the house with me. Within half an hour, he wanted to go back out (just like having a 4-year-old!). When I went to let him back in, he had gotten into whatever that awful smell was! Blech! There were several javelina in the back yard a week or so ago drinking out of the dog dish so I looked up javelina smell on the internet and lo and behold, another name for them is "skunk pig!" A couple of months ago he got into what we thought was skunk but now I think it was javelina. Here is some info I found: And that smell! Strolling through the Arizona high desert, you'll often smell a Javelina before you see one. They have a gland at the base of their tails that they use to mark trees, rocks and even each other with a sharp, musky scent something like that of a skunk, though just a touch less eye-watering. I tell ya' there's never a dull moment around here! ;)

I hope you all have a very happy Valentine's Day!! :)

Linking up with Nancy for Random 5 Friday. 

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Cookies

What is your favorite cookie? Chocolate chip? Peanut butter? Oatmeal? Why not just combine them all in one cookie! :)

We were out of cookies the other day (gasp!) and I was bored with the same old, same old. I remembered a peanut butter cookie with chocolate chips that I had years ago and decided to peruse the internet to see if I could recreate it. Well, DUH, you can find ANYTHING on the internet! LOL!! This recipe is a compilation of several that I looked at and uses my Baking Mix and basic cookie recipe.

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter & Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup butter               **Click here to print this recipe**
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups Baking Mix
2 cups quick-cooking oats
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, beat together butter, peanut butter and sugars until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. Stir in the Baking Mix and oats; mix thoroughly. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets.
Bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly browned.
Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes and then remove to wire racks to cool completely.
Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Linking up with the Down Home Blog Hop, the Rurality Blog Hop and Farmgirl Friday.

Tuesday's Tails - 02/11/2014

Sunday, we tore down the old pieced together with chicken wire, T-posts, pallets and cattle panels chicken run and put up this new one. When I removed the wire holding the old gate to the T-post, it actually fell over because the termites had eaten the bottom! Jerry likes this MUCH better, the old one was a real eyesore. Here is a picture from 2011, the coop is out of the picture to the left. Quite an improvement I'd say!

The new run is a 10 x 10 x 6-foot chain link dog kennel that we purchased from Tractor Supply. We also purchased two extra 10 x 6-foot chain link panels to make it 10 x 20 x 6-foot and purchased the shade/roof kit. We covered the open top area with 2 x 4-inch wire. The chickens wouldn't come out of their coop when we opened their little door so Jerry went in and chased them out. Once they got out, they seemed to really like it. They have extra room too as the old run was only 8 x 16. What Jerry and I really like though is the 6-foot height, the old height was only 4 1/2 feet. I still catch myself stooping over when I go in to give them feed and water. ;)

By the way, I LOVE Tractor Supply and am really glad they finally made it to Arizona and to our little town!

Quilt Progress

Whew, I have been working diligently on my chicken applique quilt! So far, I have all the blocks and chickens cut out, the chickens fused on and just finished up sewing them all onto the blocks. I used the blanket stitch on my sewing machine for the applique.

Now, I have to cut the strips that will go in between the blocks and rows, cut the border strips and get everything pieced together. That will finish the quilt top and get me caught up with the Quilt-A-Long. :)
Linking up with The Rurality Blog Hop and Farmgirl Friday.

Quilt-A-Long

I'm excited to be joining Melissa at Tilly's Nest in my first ever Quilt-A-Long! Here are the fabrics I picked up today for my quilt top. We are making a chicken applique lap quilt. This is good for me because it won't be so big that I get intimidated about getting it finished. The first five fabrics are for my blocks and chicken appliques, the fabric on the right is for the borders.

I have pieced quilt tops before but have never actually quilted, I have always finished my projects by tying, so this is new for me.

I'm a little late to the party but figure I can catch up easily enough. You can join in too here! My fabrics are in the washing machine and I hope to get everything cut out tomorrow. I hope ya'll don't get too sick of seeing my updates! ;)