Lentils, Sweaters, One-Eyed Cat, Family, and Reading, Oh My!

Do you own a Rice Cooker? Well if you do, don't just limit yourself to only using it for rice. I decided to try cooking lentils in my Rice Cooker, and I am so glad I did, the lentils cooked up perfectly, and I didn't have to worry about them boiling dry and burning in the pan. I am quite sure any grain would be good to cook in the Rice Cooker, Quinoa seems like a perfect grain to try. And, I am thinking about trying a very basic rice pudding with some almond milk and rice, I will give it a whirl and see how it turns out. As they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

A little pot of lentils

Knitting project continues on, now three sweaters are completed, and I am working hard to finish the final blue sweater for Peter. Pictured are Masen, George, and Ralph modeling their new homemade sweaters - they seemed really pleased with them.

Masen

George

Ralph

About seven or so years ago we had a one-eyed stray cat show up, she was thin and obviously very hungry,  so we fed her some beaten eggs. Later I ran to the store to purchase cat food and we have fed her ever since. We named her, very originally, (NOT), One-Eye. She is a fixture around our place, hangs out on our deck and front porch most of the day, prowls our field hunting small rodents, she is a very good hunter despite the handicap of a missing eye, and seems to have made her home in our barn. One-Eye is well fed, by us, and other neighbors, and each neighbor has their own name for her. In mid-January we had a heavy snowfall, I saw One-Eye wading through the snow on our deck to eat her food and that was the last time I saw her. After a week or so we assumed the worst, after all she is an older cat, and an outdoor cat, her life is not as cushy as it would be for an indoor cat. I was sad about her possible death and missed her morning visit to the back door. On Saturday morning when I was out on my run I said my final farewells to One-Eye. Later that day I was out and about when I received a text from my husband, One-Eye was back! WOW - how happy the news made me!!!
I am not sure where she was for two weeks, perhaps someone shut her inside for a couple of weeks to shelter her from the weather, if so I am very glad that they did. One-Eye is not a people person cat, she does not like to be petted or picked up, and she is not a fan of the indoors, once in a while she comes in, but she wants back out within a few minutes. 
I am so happy to be back into our normal routine with One-Eye, she appears at the back door every morning, I feed her, then she hangs out on the deck and the front porch most of the day, she likes to sit by the backdoor and look at us. Yesterday it was raining hard so I placed her food dish just inside the back door and after a bit of coaxing she stepped over the threshold to eat her food.  Masen and Ralph were very excited that One-Eye was in the house, I must say I was impressed with her tolerance towards their little boy exuberant expressions of love towards her, and Ralph even tried a little cat food for himself, YUCK! 
I think she is glad to be back :)

Last Saturday, after a week of brutal cold, it was nice to enjoy a very warm February day, it was in the low forties and the sun was shining! I met up at a local Coney Dog cafe with our son Matt, and our son Ben and his wife Taylor, I was watching our daughter Amber's five boys, so we had a total of eight grandchildren to dine with, I think everyone had a good time. I did, although I did not partake of a hot dog, I did enjoy a few french fries.

And, last but not least, this is the book I am currently reading, Death and The Dancing Footman by Ngaio Marsh, I am enjoying it. A murder mystery, it is fairly obvious who the murderer is from the get go, but that doesn't spoil the story, it enhances it. I liken this story to the came of Clue, just a fun little puzzler.

Google +

I recently made the mistake of adding a google + account, and oh how I disliked it, this morning I figured out how to delete it and how to return to my old, familiar, blogger set up.

I was a little scared that my blog would get deleted, but the google + simply does not allow for any privacy whatsoever.  You can block certain things from public viewing, and be sure you do if you choose to use the application because otherwise all information required to enter to set up the account will display - YIKES!!

Another thing I did not like is that when I comment on other blogs if a person wants to click on my "name" instead of going to my blog they are taken to the rather perplexing Google + screen that takes a certain level of determination to figure out how to get to someone's blog.  In the past I have found frustration when following a blog comment author and it goes to a Google + account and it all becomes a bit bewildering.

Facebook - easy to use, privacy settings - easy to use.  Google + weird to use and I for the life of me cannot figure out the purpose of Google +. I saw a few comments that indicated that Google wants it to be the new Facebook, well they better go take a good look at Facebook and see why people like it, it is because it is super easy to use.

Well enough of my rant on Google +.

Dear Digby is doing better, the steriods and pain pills seem to working, he is eating, going potty and getting around okay. Occasionally I hear a yelp of pain, like once per day, but nothing like it was several days ago. We are thankful he is doing better and seems to be almost back to normal.

I missed church this morning, I have my grandsons today and they usually go along to Sunday school.  I didn't think there would be a children's class today as the three ladies that teach asked for prayer last Sunday for safe travels as they were all going away for spring break. Well it is just as well we didn't leave for Sunday school because as we were getting ready to leave for church service the baby pooped and one of the older boys had a rather messy bathroom accident. I had to run to Dollar General to buy a packet of boys underwear and some pajama pants, upon return the child was cleaned up and put to rights and then I scrubbed down the bathroom and gave my thanks for paper towels and Clorox Clean Up!
I hope I can go to bible study and Sunday evening service but may not as our son Ben is home from university this weekend and will be back over a little later today and I am not sure of his plans but he will probably stay for supper and if he does I obviously will stay home.

Prayer Request:
Two people at my office seem to have developed chronic health issues that are causing them a lot of pain and stress at this time - please pray for healing.
A fellow blogger, Rebecca, - please pray for healing as she recovers from hip replacement surgery.
For my daughter and daughter in law that they have trouble free pregnancies and deliveries and healthy babies. Amber's baby, their fourth boy, is due in mid-August, and Traci's baby, their second, is due in late November. We will have six grandchildren by the end of the year - FEELING BLESSED.

Bean

Our Poor Doggy.....

Last Tuesday Emily called me to say that Digby, our dog, appeared to have hurt his foot, he was limping, and whimpering and seemed rather stressed. By the time I arrived home he seemed back to normal, I wondered if he had hurt is foot on the frozen ground or slipped on some ice.
Then last night I got home and let Digby out for a potty break, I got busy with some things and was alarmed to suddenly hear loud howling at the front door. I rushed to the front door and Digby came in, he was limping badly, whimpering and occasionally howling, panting, shaking and just couldn't relax. I wasn't sure what to do, I thought he might have been bumped by a car and was simply shaken up. However an hour later Digby was still pacing, seemed in extreme pain if he tried to sit as he couldn't/wouldn't put any weight on his left front leg.
My neighbor Nancy stopped in for supper and she was worried about Digby too, he was obviously distressed, Emily called the emergency after hours vet clinic and we decided to take him in. Nancy drove and Emily rode in back with Digby. We arrived at the clinic, found out Digby weighs 61 lbs, and then waited for the vet.  Eventually the vet came into the examining room, she asked us about his symptoms and then proceeded to check his back legs, we thought this odd at first. Then the diagnosis, Digby has a slipped/ruptured disk in his neck, she took him into the back to do some further neurological tests and later returned. Our poor Digby has a slipped/ruptured disk, he has to rest for six weeks, take pain pills and prednesone. Unfortunately this is not a cure, he may recover and be fine, he may not. If the pain continues the only option is surgery, and unfortunately it is not an option that fits with our income. Today he seems to be in pain, even with the meds, I hope he starts to feel better soon because I don't think I can watch him suffer for six weeks.
The other bad thing is that this can reoccur at any time, we will always have to make sure he doesn't climb the stairs, jump around, or do anything that can jar his spine and cause further injury. Paralysis is a possibility but less likely for Digby as the injury is to his neck.  Prednesone is hard on body and it can have side effects that can cause liver and kidney damage. We feel like we are in a rock and hard place and our dog is miserable.

A New Addition

Sir Digby

A few weeks ago one of Emily's friends, who is going to school to be a vet tech, facebooked looking for a home for Durby.  We talked about it and decided to give Durby a chance, his owner had died and if a new home was not found soon he would be put to sleep.  We changed his name from Durby to Digby, and welcomed him into our home.  He is an extremely good dog, very lazy and very well behaved. We have had no regrets what so ever and are glad that Emily stumbled across her friends request and that we were able to provide a home for such a nice dog.

I Scared of the One-Eyed Kitty, Gwanma!

For the past several years a one-eyed cat has roamed around the neighborhood, she belongs to no one and each winter she would take refuge in our barn and our next door neighbor put food out for her. How she lost her eye is anybodies guess but it does go to show what a survivor she is.
This summer One-Eye started to look really scrawny and pathetic, I took pity upon her and fed her a few times, usually a few beaten eggs in a bowl, she would not come up to eat until I went back into the house, but once at the bowl she would wolf down the food as fast as she possibly could.  One day I decided enough was enough I would buy some cat food and start feeding her daily, so off to Dollar General I went and came back armed with a couple of small glass bowls, a bag of Meow Mix and several tins of 9Lives wet cat food.  I have been feeding One-Eye every day for a month and she looks so MUCH better!  And although she is very wary of people she doesn't run off anymore when she sees me, and she will rub up against me but will NOT allow me to reach out and pet her yet, I am sure she will eventually.
We have tried to come up with a nicer name than One-Eye, we tried out Marmite for a few days but it doesn't suit her, we joked around with calling her Cyclops but it doesn't suit her either, so One-Eye she is and One-Eye she will remain.
Henry and Patrick do not like to get too close to One-Eye as she is a little off-putting to look at initially.  But whenever One-Eye shows up, which happens throughout the day now, the boys get very excited and tell me she is here, if the food bowls are empty they get the cat food out of the pantry, but they still like to keep their distance from her.  Patrick tells me in his two year old little boy voice that, "I scared of the one-eyed kitty Gwanma", and Henry plainly told me one morning in a very serious voice, "We only like cats with two eyes Grandma!", this amused me to no end.
We now have a second cat coming to feed each day, a sleek, pantheresque black male cat, he is very skittish, and little One-Eye takes no nonsense from him, if she is eating and he tries to join her he is hissed at and swatted around the head, it is a bit comical given he is about twice the size of her..
This morning I fed One-Eye and Bagheera (I have named the black cat after the panther in the Jungle Book, the boys however, refer to him as "the two-eyed cat")  then left the door open and laid down on the floor to take some pictures. If I make no sudden moves and remain very quite Bagheera will not run away, but even when I take food out he runs down the deck steps and then back up and peers at me from a safe distance, I hope he will eventually feel more comfortable around people.  Anyway here are the pics:

The photographer!! Still in my nightie!!!

One-Eye the Cat!

Bagheera

Bagheera waiting patiently for his turn to eat.

My geranium making the most of last warm fall days.

You were a good dog Tasha - we will miss you dearly!!

A sad day at our home today, we had to have our dear old dog Tasha put to sleep. Tasha joined our family 16 years ago. Dave came home one day and said come out to the car I have something, I followed him out, and there on the front passenger seat was what I thought was a kitten. I was wrong, it was a very small puppy, the runt of the litter, Dave had taken pity on her and brought her home. Tasha grew into a nice dog, she was a german shepherd/chow mix, she was loyal to the family, behaved well and shedded a lot!!! As Tasha grew older she suffered from arthritis, particularily in her hips, she became less and less active, but still pottered around the yard with us, followed us out to feed the cows, and really liked to lay on the deck and snooze her days away. Over the past several months Tasha declined, she barely left the deck or front porch, she would occasionaly wander a little ways into the yard, but getting up was a struggle for her, it took a huge amount of effort to stand. Yesterday evening I heard a strange noise and went to investigate, it was Tasha, she was attempting to get up and go into the kitchen, but was unable to get her back legs up, Dave carried her to her food bowls. Tasha eventually did get to standing and limped to the living room where she laid down. This morning she was still in the living room and completely unable to get up, we knew that the time we had dreaded had arrived, I made an appointment with our vet. Amber came over to help me carry Tasha to the car, carry her into the vet, carry her back to the room, it was very upsetting, yet I knew that it was the right thing to do. We were with Tasha to the end, we petted her, we cried, we sobbed, it was so sad........ We love you Tasha the cow dog, we miss you, you were a good dog and much loved and we are so glad that you were a part of our family for the past sixteen years. Good Bye Old Girl.

Promised Pictures

Lady, our new puppy, loves to lie on the register and cool herself with the a/c.

Lady supervising feeding time in the cow pen!

There were three in the feeder and the Big Steer said, " Move Over, Move Over", so they all moved over the Jersey was out,

There were two in the feeder and the Big Steer said, "Move Over, Move Over",
so they all moved over and the Big Steer said,

"Ah, that's better. "

Patrick's baptism, May 15, 2010.

I had a lot of fun figuring out the pattern to crochet the gown, blanket, and bonnet!

A Picture of me holding my precious grandbabies!

A Busy Time of Year!

Phew!! We have been busy putting away our garden. We have canned a dozen pints of beets, a dozen pints of peas, fifty quarts of green beans, and ten quarts of peaches. The tomatoes are ready, we have put up 24 quarts so far, and will continue to can until there are none left! The potatoes and onions are all in and stored, and we have five, one gallon bags, of cut up green peppers in the freezer.
Dave cut our hay, we obtained a sickle bar this year, and after some new blades were put on and couple of adjustments made, it worked well. The hay was then raked up with a leaf rake, time consuming job, especially wearing when it is 90 out and very humid. A few days later the dried hay was hand loaded onto the pick up truck and moved to a couple of spots to make huge haystacks, fortunately our neighbor was able to help out, it was quite a job getting everything raked, collected up, and stored away.
On Monday we will be taking our steer, Banana, and our neighbors cow, Sprinkles, to the meat packer. Banana and Sprinkles have lived together in our field for the past year and a half, they were a few weeks old when they arrived, and so very cute, they are now large lumbering beasts, I am glad that they are not aware of whats going to happen next week :( We will have just one steer left, a jersey, that we share with our neighbor, he will be ready later in the year, notice we don' t have a name for the jersey.
A few weeks ago we added a puppy to our family, Lady is a blue heeler/golden retriever mix, she is now ten weeks old, she was free, is a friendly little thing and has settled in well. Lady is slowly getting the idea that we really would prefer that she take care of her personal business outside. Our older dog, Tasha, is sixteen, she came to live with us when she was six weeks old, she was the runt of the litter, she was free too. Tasha has been a great dog, she is now old, very stiff in the hips, and spends most of her day napping, she particularily enjoys a nice snooze on the deck each morning, and when the sun moves around the house making the deck too hot, she walks around to the front porch to take another nap!
I will post some pictures of Tasha, Lady, Banana, and Sprinkles.