Tuesday Muse - 08/27/2013

How could anyone not love these cheerful faces?! I love these roadside 'weeds' so much that I had Jerry stop the car the other day so I could cut some to enjoy in the house. :)

Joining Nancy for Tuesday Muse.

Random 5 Friday - Red Edition

1.  When you adopt a pet from the Animal Shelter, you never really know just who you are getting, especially when they were brought in as a stray.

2.  Red is a 4-year-old Kelpie, a hardworking Australian stock dog breed with lots of energy. You would think, then, that he would have spent his prior life on a farm or ranch outside. Imagine our surprise when he wanted to follow us into the house Wednesday! We let him in to see what would happen...

3.  Outside, he is always on the move. He loves to go with Jerry when he takes the horse out. He loves to go for walks. He loves to accompany us down to the pasture to feed and take care of chores. He loves to go with Jerry in the truck. If we try to leave him in the pasture with Buddy, he paces back and forth at the gate and, eventually, escapes.

4.  He is an entirely different dog in the house. Inside, he is calm and quiet. He is housebroken. He lies on the floor with us while watching TV. The first night inside, he was a little restless and did a fair amount of pacing. None of us got much sleep that night. Last night, he settled right down.

5.  So, you adopt a dog thinking he is an outside ranch dog and will be a pasture mate for Buddy and end up with a good, good house dog that loves being outside with us too! ;)

P.S. Buddy is really okay out in the pasture by himself so don't feel bad for him.

Joining Nancy for Random 5 Friday.

Fruit & Nut Cookies

These cookies were inspired by a bar cookie recipe I used to make years ago. That recipe called for the addition of fresh banana and orange juice, which wasn't the way I wanted to go with these. I use a combination of dried blueberries, dried cherries and chopped dried apricots but any combination of dried fruit would be nice. The Apple Pie spice really adds a nice flavor and the dried blueberries are heavenly! A few of my die-hard Cowboy Cookie and Cowgirl Cookie customers at the Farmer's Market have actually switched and now buy these every week. ;)

Fruit & Nut Cookies

1 cup butter                         **Click here to print this recipe**
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups Baking Mix
2 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
1 1/2 teaspoons Apple Pie spice
2 cups diced mixed dried fruit
2/3 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugars until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. Stir in the Baking Mix, oats and Apple Pie spice; mix thoroughly. Stir in the dried fruit and pecans. Drop by 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 racks to cool completely.
Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Apple Pie Spice

4 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons allspice
1 teaspoon cardamom
1 teaspoon nutmeg

I use this Apple Pie spice in all kinds of baked goods, not just apple pie! Besides these cookies, I use it in fresh apple muffins and zucchini muffins for the Farmer's Market. It is also really nice in pancake or waffle batter with some pecans.

Sharing with the Rurality Blog Hop, Farmgirl Friday and What I Am Eating.

Update on Red:
He is still here and doing well. Jerry took him along this morning when he rode his horse out in the pasture and he did fine. We had to put him in the horse trailer last night since it was the only place we could think of that he couldn't escape from. Right now, he is actually sitting in the livingroom watching Gunsmoke with Jerry...

Tuesday's Tails - 08/20/2013

We picked up Red from the Animal Shelter this afternoon. He seems to be none the worse for wear from his surgery yesterday. Well, except for the nasty doggie farts in the car on the way home! (Gag!)

The introductions to Buddy, the barn kittens, the horses, the chickens and the goats went well for the first time. The kittens just hissed at him and hid under the hay and the goats were 'on point' the whole time they could see him, which is to be expected when introducing a new "Wolf" to the barnyard. Red and Buddy will get along just fine.

I do hope this works out though. It is a stormy afternoon here in Beautiful Southeastern Arizona and Buddy is a big scardey-dog about thunder. His safe zone is under the front porch during storms and he AIN'T coming out for NOTHIN'. We did manage to keep Buddy in the pasture when we brought Red home and I went down to sit with the dogs in the barn to get them settled. Red left and ran up to the gate but came back when I called him, the first time anyway. The second time he ran to the gate, he just scooted his butt right under and headed towards the house. I think he was looking for Jerry, who seems to be his designated human. Since he was already out, I went ahead and let Buddy out so he could go under the porch and not be so neurotic. Red went in the shop with Jerry and promptly settled down under the work bench.

I don't know what is going to happen tonight. I think Red would climb the fence to get up to the house even if we blocked the space under the gate. I sure hope he is still here in the morning. At least he has a collar and tag on in case he wanders off. Wish us luck...

Blueberry Bars

A couple of weeks ago, Farmgirl Susan, one of my favorite bloggers, did a post on freezing blueberries and included a recipe for her Blueberry Bonanza Breakfast Bars. Jerry and I both really like blueberries so I printed out the recipe and filed it away. This past weekend, our local grocery store had a pretty good price on blueberries so I picked some up with this recipe in mind. Can you say yum, yum, yummy, yum, yum?! These bars are bursting with blueberries and we both love the oatmeal crust and streusel topping! Thanks Susan for another winning recipe! :)

If you have never visited Farmgirl Susan's blog, hop on over and check it out. She writes about her life on a remote 240-acre farm in Missouri where they raise sheep, keep chickens, donkeys, cute farmdogs and farmcats, and Susan has the most beautiful kitchen garden. Oh, and there are always lots of lovely photographs to enjoy!

Puppy Update

Well, it seems the little guy decided to move on down the road, he was gone Friday morning. We did not hear anything during the night (we sleep with the windows open) so we don't think anything got him. My guess is that he went back to where he came from. We tried to get him to stay in the pasture with Buddy and hang out at the barn but he was so small that he could get through the fence. We did let Buddy out with him and they would sleep under the porch at night. The puppy had really bonded with Buddy too.

We reported him missing to the County Animal Control Officer and we filled out a missing dog report at the Animal Shelter in town. We also checked with all the neighbors. The County Officer called me this morning and no-one has turned him in, no surprise there! As cute and friendly as he is, if someone 'found' him they would keep him.

While we were at the Benson Animal Shelter Friday, we took a look at the dogs they had and one in particular caught our eye...Red, an Australian Kelpie. Red came to the shelter as a stray. After thinking and talking about it over the weekend, we went back today and adopted him. Unfortunately, we can't pick him up until next week. He can't get in to get neutered and get his shots until next Monday. If the puppy shows up or is found and returned, then we'll just have to have THREE dogs! :)



Red

Wordless Wednesday - 08/07/2013

You just never know who is going to come wandering down the road looking for a place to live...

Joining Madge for the Rurality Blog Hop.