We're Ready For The Tooth Fairy

A week ago my daughter and her husband had the pleasure of attending a Neil Diamond concert in Milwaukee Wisconsin.  My daughter isn't quite forty years old but she loves this seventy four year old singer.  It was an evening concert so rather than stay with our grandson at their house, we had Ewan and the dog Piper stay overnight with us.  Ewan came packed with everything he could possibly need.  His backpack was like Mary Poppin's bag.  He unpacked all his exploring supplies like a journal and a magnifying glass with a tweezers to identify and record anything we found.  He had a telescope, his pet rock, markers, books, paper, his clothes, toothbrush, a plush rabbit he had recently won in a drawing,

and last but not least he brought his tooth pillow just in case he lost a tooth.  He is only five and hasn't lost a tooth yet, but you have to be prepared.  I'm sure I am forgetting some of the treasures he brought, but the tooth pillow is what I want to tell you about.

Back in 1980 when my youngest daughter was five, we acquired a tooth pillow.  I thought I made it but my daughter has a memory of buying it at a place in Madison Wisconsin that sold crafts.  If I didn't make this one, I am sure I made others or repaired this one several times.

This pillow is made with two squares of fabric about six inches square.  The gingham check makes it even easier to cut two pieces the same size.  All you do is count the squares.  Then take smaller piece of fabric to make a pocket.  Sew the pocket on the outside of one of the squares, put the right sides together and sew almost all around, turn it right side out, stuff it with some batting and hand sew it shut.  There you have it, a tooth pillow.  Then when the child has lost their tooth, they put it in the pocket so the tooth fairy can retrieve it easily and leave them some money.  My daughter used this pillow for all of her teeth and her oldest son used it for all of his teeth.  Inflation has even hit the tooth fairy business.  My daughter probably got a dime or a quarter, our grandson got two dollar bills and I imagine the going rate is even more.  I heard some child say they got a five dollar bill.   

I am so glad Ewan brought this with him as I had forgotten about this memory.  He also carries a handkerchief in his pocket just like his papa.   Many years ago when papa was in school, his first grade teacher would check every day to make sure the kids had clean finger nails and carried a handkerchief.  It carried through life and my husband always has a white handkerchief in his pocket.  Ewan noticed that and is continuing the tradition. He won't leave home without a handkerchief in his pocket.  Oh to be five again.  Then again, maybe not.  I would pee my pants at recess so I could go home.  Not a pleasant memory but one I will always remember.

Cheesy Vegetable and Ham Soup

Last week we stopped at our local Kwik Trip for gasoline, bananas, eggs and butter.  I saw the bags of soup they have for sale.  They have a lot of different varieties to choose from.  A few weeks earlier, I saw a man buying several bags of soup and thought I would try one some day.  I decided to try the cheesy ham and broccoli soup.  I brought it home and heated it up for my dad's lunch.  He really enjoyed it, but I really hate to pay extra money for things I am capable of making myself.  Today I thought I would try my own version.  It would either turn out or it would not.  No matter how it tasted, it would be edible because you can't go too wrong with good ingredients.  I made a variation of a soup I have blogged about a couple of times.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2014/06/creamy-vegetable-soup-and-english.html

Cheesy Vegetable and Ham Soup

6 cups water

4 T.  or 6 cubes of Ham Base Bouillon
 (look for the brand with the least amount of additives.  Some have MSG and corn syrup solids.  I bought mine at the local bulk food store, but it still had some marginal ingredients.  If you are really ambitious, cook a ham bone and make your own ham broth)

1 cup chopped onion
1 24 oz. pkg. mixed vegetables

Bring water and bouillon to a boil and add the onion and vegetables.  Boil for about five minutes.

Add 2 cans of cream of chicken soup and 2 cans of water.
 ( I used my own homemade cream of chicken soup equivalent to 2 cans of soup)*

Add 12 oz. package of American cheese slices
1 8 oz. package of diced ham

My dad likes thin soup but for those who like a thicker soup, extra diced potatoes, broccoli or more vegetables could be added or use less water.


I may have blogged this recipe already, but I don't remember what I have posted at this point.

*Cream of Chicken Soup Mix

2 cups nonfat dry milk powder
3/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup instant chicken bouillon granules
1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves
1/2 tsp dried basil leaves
1/4 tsp white pepper

Combine all the ingredients together and store in an airtight container.  You can add spices or adjust the amount of spice to your taste.

To prepare combine 1/3 cup mix and 1 1/4 cup water in a saucepan.  Heat slowly and whisk until smooth and thickened.  This is equivalent to 1 can of soup.

Bluebirds Are Back In 2015

Last summer was the first year without bluebirds nesting in one of our bluebird houses.  We had bluebirds every year since we bought our house in 2002.    http://www.thecabincountess.com/2014/07/the-year-without-bluebirds.html

It was a very disappointing time for me,  but last Saturday, April 11, a pair of bluebirds returned to our yard. I was so excited.  I hope they build a nest soon, but so far they are just hanging out.  This is the third day, and they are still here.  Stay tuned.   The tree swallows have also returned.  They have had some minor squabbles with the bluebirds over who gets which house, but nothing has been determined.  It will be interesting to see what happens because after all the fighting, they always end up in the same houses.  The houses are the same shape but one is gray and one is natural wood.  The tree swallows get the gray and the bluebirds choose the natural wood.  I have no idea why.

I am so fortunate to be able to take photos from my windows.  This bluebird was right outside the kitchen window.  I leave the dried lamb's ear flowers in the garden all winter.  The birds love to sit on them and pose for the pictures.

This is the female bluebird sitting on the same dried lamb's ear flower.

Northern Shovelers and Blue Wing Teal

This past week was cold and rainy, however the past two day were perfect.  The weather was sunny and bright for a change.

 
At this time of year, I like to feature some of the birds or ducks that we have seen.  A lot are migratory and only stop to rest before moving further north.  Most of my facebook friends have seen these photos, but I like to repost for those who haven't seen them.

These ducks are called Northern Shovelers.  They have a wide-flat bill.  The female is rather plain and looks like a female mallard duck except her bill is flat.  The male has a green head with chestnut brown sides.  Here are a few photos I took from the window.  I think they are beautiful.

Many ducks migrate through the area.  I have written about these shovelers and many others in the past.  If you would like to see some of the other ducks we see,  just use the search box on the blog home page.

One duck I have mentioned is the Blue Wing Teal.  They are very common so this Spring I was able to get a few extra photos of them.

A Wilson Snipe

This is a very different Spring for us.  We usually have Spring floods from melting snow cover and rains.  Some parts of the United States had a lot of snow and moisture this winter, while other parts have drought conditions.  We are somewhere in between overall, but far less moisture than we are used to.  Because of the change in our landscape, we are seeing some birds we seldom see.  One of these is called a Wilson's Snipe.  I originally thought I was seeing an American Woodcock because of the long beak and other similar features.  I posted a photo on a nature group and was corrected.  I was told it was a Wilson's Snipe.  I didn't even know a snipe was a real bird.  When I grew up a snipe hunt was a term that was used to send someone on a wild goose chase for something impossible to find.  My husband remembers his older brother sending him on a few snipe hunts until eventually he caught on.  I should have known if a wild goose was real, so was a snipe.  The snipes blend in with the brown grass and mud in the marsh.  When I got out the binoculars, I noticed there were several poking their long beaks down in the mud.  I imagine they were finding insect larvae and worms.  It was nice to learn something new this year.

Slow Cooker Cheesy Bacon Potatoes with Helpful Hints

The recipe I am posting today is for potatoes made in the slow cooker.  These potatoes can be used as a side dish or with some added ham or vegetables as a main dish.

Slow Cooker Cheesy Bacon Potatoes

6 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
3 pounds red potatoes, cubed*
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 pkg. powdered ranch dressing mix

Line the slow cooker with aluminum foil** and spray with cooking spray.  Leave enough foil to fold over the top.

Put a layer of potatoes evenly on the foil, top with 1/3 cup cheese, sprinkle with some ranch seasoning and bacon.  Repeat this two times more, leaving 1/2 cup of cheese for later.

Fold the foil over the potatoes and cook for 8 hours on low or 3-4 hours on high.
Sprinkle on the remaining cheese and put the cover back on for a couple minutes until the cheese melts.

* I imagine southern style frozen hash browns would work for this step and the cooking time would be a lot less.  I actually needed more cooking time.  I used the 3 to 4 hours on high method, and my potatoes were still slightly crunchy.  They were very firm raw red potatoes and needed extra time.

My method for making the cubes was using one of my favorite gadgets.  It is the Vidalia Chop Wizard.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2012/12/a-day-of-recovery.html

Slice the washed red potatoes into 1/2 inch slices.

Place slice on vidalia using the larger insert.

Results are uniform cubes of raw potato made in minutes.

**The next hint I have is for lining the slow cooker.  For most things I use the liner bags.  It saves washing the baked on food from the slow cooker.

 
However, this recipe said to line the slow cooker with foil, so that is what I did.  A good trick for lining a pan with foil is to first turn the pan upside down and form the foil around it.  It works for a crock pot insert or a cake pan.  The hard part about lining a pan with foil is to get the corners to fit without ripping the foil.  This eliminates that problem.

I'm showing this with a cake pan, but it also works for a crock pot.

Turn pan upside down and form the foil around the pan.

Take the foil off the pan, turn over and it fits perfectly even in the corners.

The Lost Ring

Happy Easter to all.  For some of you this is a very important religious holiday.  For others it is all about the Easter Bunny.  Whatever is important to you, I wish you a meaningful day.

This weekend was meaningful to me in a way I didn't expect.  On Good Friday we were busy.  We went to several grocery stores to pick up items for our family brunch.  We usually go out to eat with my dad on Fridays, so we took him on our shopping trip.  We didn't go to our usual places, but decided to try Kentucky Fried Chicken because basically it was the only game in town.  Well, not really, but it was convenient.  It wasn't a complete success for dad, but my husband and I liked it for a change. 

When we arrived home with the groceries, we put them away and then my husband went outside to split some logs.  He was outside for several hours.  That evening as we were sitting watching TV, my husband noticed he was missing his wedding ring.

He has been wearing this ring since 8/24/68.

I couldn't believe it.  Some days we don't leave the house, but that day we were in several places.  It was almost dark when he discovered it, so there was no looking around the yard.  I did look in the car and on the garage floor, but nothing showed up.  The next morning, we didn't have time to look.  We were having brunch with our daughters, their families and my daughter's mother and father in law.  Again after we arrived home, my husband went outside to work a little.  He barely looked for the ring because it could have been in the trash bag at KFC, or it could have been in the grocery store. 

I went about my business.  At some point in the afternoon, I went out to feed the birds and retrieve the camera card from the trail camera.  As I was walking in the house, Mike was raking around the bushes near the house.  He held up his hand and there was his ring on the second finger of his left hand.  He quietly said "I found it".  That's his personality.  I would have jumped up and down and ran to show him.  He figured I would notice eventually. 

He had remembered loading the wheelbarrow with debris.  Some of the big pieces were put in the burning barrel, but the excess got dumped at the edge of hill going down to the marsh.  To avoid erosion, we put excess debris and leaves on the hill.

This is the pile of leaves and small branches that get dumped on the hill.

He looked in the burning barrel but didn't see the ring.  Then he pushed the wheelbarrow to the the dumping spot.   He looked down and low and behold.  THE RING!  He couldn't believe his eyes, and I couldn't believe he found it. 

While cleaning up after splitting wood, he reached into his pocket to get out his knife.  Since his phone was on his belt, getting into the pocket was a tight squeeze.  This may have caused the ring to slip off and fall off without him noticing.   Then later while raking up the debris, the ring ended up in the wheelbarrow and dumped on the hill.  Hopefully that will never happen again.  He lost another ring his mom bought him in Green Lake five or six years ago.  That ring was never found, we thought this one was gone forever as well.

On a superficial note, a second miracle occurred for us yesterday.  We were born and raised in Wisconsin so it is logical that we are Wisconsin Badger sport fans.  Last night, Wisconsin beat undefeated Kentucky in the semifinal NCAA Men's Basketball game allowing them to play Duke for the National Championship.  It was a good day.

Lester Schwartz Sculptures Discovered

Last weekend we learned about making maple syrup.  I wrote about it in a blog.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2015/03/a-maple-syrup-tour.html

What I didn't include is what else I learned that day.  As we drove onto the property for the tour, I noticed several metal sculptures in the landscape.  I had seen these from the road for many years, but I never took the time to find out about them.  Apparently this was the home and property of Lester Schwartz, and it was his daughter and her husband who created the informative maple syrup tour.

I learned that Les Schwartz founded the art department at Ripon College and was a famous artist.  He was the Artist in Residence at Ripon College for many years.  At his home, near Green Lake Wisconsin, he built large scale sculptures made from scrap metal.  His sculptures were inspired by his travels and his love for the circus.  He named the sculpture garden "Gloria Hills" after his late wife.  Lester died in 2006 and the park is no longer open to visitors.  Hopefully some of these sculptures can be preserved and moved to a park, to the Town Square in Green Lake or better yet, to the Ripon College campus.  Moving them may be a huge project, but they should be available for people to see on a regular basis.

Here is a link with more information about Lester Schwartz:
http://www.wisconsinart.org/archives/artist/lester-o-schwartz/profile-150.aspx

I don't know the name or history of these sculptures but they were very interesting.

Piper Saves The Day

We have a little grand dog.  Her name is Piper Ann, and she is a cockapoo.  I have written this story before, but will mention it again.  She got her name because when my daughter was expecting her second child, ultrasound photos said she was probably having a girl.  Probably is an important word because five years ago yesterday our fourth grandson was born.  They had chosen a girl name but not a boy name.  For a few hours our grandson was nameless.  They finally agreed on naming him Ewan.  It seemed to fit with his brother's name which is Dylan.  Since they liked the girls name Piper, that is what they named their girl dog.

Piper is a spunky little thing.  She is extremely smart but can be a bit naughty at times.  Many times when my daughter gets home from work, her bedroom door is open and Piper is lounging on the bed.  She can go into a purse and gently remove a mint or tissues without disturbing anything else.  She loves tissues.  We took care of her this weekend, and she can remove one tissue from the box without disturbing the box or any other tissues.  We tie her out on a long tie out when she is with us because she can find all kinds of things in the woods.  We also don't want to be responsible for her getting away from us.  She is the only dog we have had who can untangle herself from trees or bushes.  They have tried to train her not to open doors or steal items, but today it was a good thing she didn't pay attention.

My daughter lives in the country now.  She has had an unbelievable number of Asian Beetles (or as my grandson says Ancient Beetles).  She will vacuum for a half hour and ten minutes later there are fifty more on the window sills.  She finally had enough even though spraying for them was not what she wanted to do.  She hired an exterminator who came to their house and sprayed today.  He went out on a balcony they have so he could reach some of the window sills on the second floor.  When he tried to come in, the door was locked.  He knocked and knocked until my daughter heard him and opened the door.  While she was upstairs, he wanted to show her where some of the beetles were gathering.  As soon as they went back out, the door slammed shut.  There she was, locked out on a balcony with a strange man.  She was thinking about what to do and who to call, when she heard Piper.  She called to her and told her to come.  Yup, the dog opened the door for them.  The man called her a Hero Dog.  So in this case, Piper's stealth skills came in very handy.  You never know when you might need a dog that can pick a lock.

Peanut Butter Granola

My husband and dad eat a lot of oatmeal in the morning.  I know how good oatmeal is for a person, but some days I just can't eat another bowl.  That is why I make granola using oatmeal.  I still get the oatmeal but in another form.  I have made variations of the same recipe for years.  I blogged about it two years ago.  Here it is in case you missed it.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2013/04/granola.html

Recently I made a new favorite.  It is super easy.  I added powdered peanut butter to the recipe.  If you haven't tried PB2 powdered peanut butter, you should.  It has 85% less fat calories.  You just measure out some powder and add water.  Mix it up and use it as you would any peanut butter.  I add it to recipes instead of protein powder.

Easy Granola

6 cups oats (either quick cooking or regular)
5 cups flake cereal (corn flakes, wheaties, rice krispies)
1 cup wheat germ or bran or oat bran
1/4 cup powdered peanut butter (more or less to taste)
1 cup pecans (anything will work like walnuts, sunflower seeds, slivered almonds)
1 Tablespoon chia seeds
1/2 t. salt

Mix together these wet ingredients:
 3/4 cup oil
1 cup (honey, maple syrup or agave)
1 T. vanilla

In a big bowl mix the dry ingredients together.  Heat the wet ingredients and pour over the dry ingredients.  Mix it up so everything is coated.

Pour on a 10 x 15 jelly roll pan and bake at 250 degrees for 2 hours.  Stir every 30-45 minutes so the edges don't get too brown.  At the end press down the granola, turn off the oven and let it cool completely in the oven.  This will give you chunky granola, but you can break it up however you like it.

I added a few mini chocolate chips to the cooled granola.  I like the chocolate and peanut butter taste.  You could add coconut, cinnamon, dried fruit or anything else you have on hand. 

A Maple Syrup Tour

Today is Saturday, March 28th, 2015.  It was a cold frosty morning here in Wisconsin.  My daughter called to see if we were doing anything special.  She had signed up for an activity called "Tap into Sweetness: Maple Syrup Tour".  It was one of many events sponsored by the Green Team.  The Green Team is a partnership of many organizations in the Green Lake Wisconsin area such as the Green Lake Association, Green Lake Conservancy, the Green Lake Sanitary District, and the Green Lake School District..  They introduce special, unusual, and unknown natural and historical features of the Green Lake area through the special talents of their volunteers.  These are free, family-friendly events.  This is the first time we participated, but looking at the calendar of events, it won't be the last.  http://www.greenlakeassociation.com/glaw/index.php/calendar-of-events/

It was a bit frosty when we arrived at the sight this morning, but the sun was bright in the sky and it was perfect weather.

Our daughter Heather and grandson Ewan waiting to start the tour.

We were given a brief explanation of how to make maple syrup.  I have written in  a previous blog about one of my childhood memories about making maple syrup.
http://www.thecabincountess.com/2015/03/making-maple-syrup-old-fashioned-way.html 

It was fun to see the process again in person.  Rather than hang sap buckets from the trees, they use a tap connected to a hose.  The sap runs out of the tree, and into a covered bucket.  This way the bucket is solid on the ground when it gets heavy and debris can't get into the sap.

A sample of a tap and tube.

The sap is clear.  This much sap makes the little 2 oz. leaf shaped container of syrup.

After the information and a question and answer session, we started the walk into the woods.

Following the leaders, the sugar shack signs and the sap buckets scattered in the woods.

Finally off in the distance, we could see the steam from the boiling syrup. 

When everyone arrived, we learned more about the process.  We learned that the weather is what determines whether or not the sap will run.  It has to freeze at night and warm up during the day.  When the weather stays at freezing the sap will not run and vice versa, if the days and nights warm to above freezing the sap won't run.  Today should be an excellent day because it was very cold last night and today it is in the 40's.  When the buckets are full, they are emptied into a stainless steel holding tank.

This is the large holding tank.

The sap is poured into the evaporator and is boiled.

A Hydrometer

They use a hydrometer to determine the density of the syrup to determine when the proper thickness is achieved.  As it is boiled and the water is evaporated, it is tested for the exact thickness.  There is niter in the product that has to be strained out. 

You can see the Niter settled in the bottom.

We were given maple cookies and maple candy to sample, but before long it was time to leave the woods.  Grandpa and Ewan headed down the path.  He told grandpa he wanted a Micky Mouse pancake, so guess what we did.  We went to breakfast.  These are the days memories are made of.