My baby is all grown!

My baby, Rascal, is looking all grown up! I remember when he fit in the two of my hands, and I weighed him in ounces. I took him with me to school the last week so I could feed him his kitten formula. He waited for me to wipe his face after a meal!

Now he is a big boy and can bathe himself.  He has also been naughty. I found bird feathers on the patio the other day. I love birds, so I don't like him catching them.

I have learned that he can also feed himself. I have the evidence of this on video.

I had been finding the lid of the cat food open. (It is kept in a Schwan's ice cream tub.) I assumed one of my guys was giving the cats some food and neglecting to close the lid. I never dreamed Rascal was helping himself!

Y'all come back,

Lorilee

Gottlieb

Gottlieb is my rooster. He is an Ameraucana. I think he is the most handsome rooster I have seen! He thinks so too. He struts around the run like a king. He is named after my Great-grandfather Gottlieb, who came to America from the town of Stein in Switzerland, located on the Rhine river.

I adore his muff!

There he goes! Off to strut!

Y'all come back,

Lorilee

Root Crop harvesting

I haven't had a fall/winter garden in years! The start of school, followed by the time change make it difficult for me to find the time to work in my garden after school. I was determined this year! It really helped when we finally started getting some rain!

I think the white icicle and cherry belle radishes are so pretty!

This is my first time to raise carrots. I planted some last year, but it was too late into winter.

I plan to make pickled beets with these. I am not sure what the rogue white thing is! I think it is an Albino beet. They originate in Holland.

This is my pride and joy! It is my first Romanesco! I had more varieties of cauliflower and broccoli planted but the 2 or 3 hard freezes we had in South Texas came when the plants were susceptible to the cold, and it killed them! I also have a few sugar snap pea vines that are starting to produce. I usually pick and eat them while I am working in the garden.

Y'all come back,

Lorilee

A Family Affair-making sausage

I wish I could manage to blog in REAL time instead of a week behind! Oh, well. It is what it is! LAST Saturday, I went out to my Dad and Stepmom's for some sausage-making! In the photo, my brother, his youngest son and my Dad are stuffing the first Summer Sausage we have ever made. It is wonderful! We will definitely be making it again!

Here the summer sausage is stuffed and waiting to be smoked, while we stuffed the regular sausage.

We hang the links in a pump house. We were lucky to have a cool, clear and dry day!

We hung the summer sausage last!

The last step is to get the hickory shavings lit, and the smoking begins. It smells wonderful! After several hours of smoking the sausage is ready to wrap, freeze and provide many delicious meals!

Y'all come back,

Lorilee

Theodore

This box arrived on my front porch on St. Valentine's Day.

Theodore arrived from my husband. My Mum's childhood rocking chair is a perfect fit.

It says "Born in Vermont" in his eyes!

What a sweet face! Thank you, sweety!

Y'all come back,

Lorilee

Poultry in the kitchen!

My good friend, Martha, has an embroidery machine and is a wonderful seamstress. She makes beautiful things to sell. I bought the rooster towel from her.

She gave me the singing rooster and 3 chicks towels for Christmas. She is so sweet.

After my son cleaned up a soda spill a few years ago with my good towels and then left them in a bag under his bed, I put this note in the good towel drawer as a reminder! We also had a long talk!

Y'all come back,

Lorilee

Does any one else buy food just for the jar?

I am a push-over for a pretty jar! My local H.E.B. carried these German mustards for a short time. I had to buy some just for the jars. My great-grandfather, Gottlieb, came to America from a town called Stein on the Rhine River.Oh, and the mustard was great! Has anyone else ever bought something just for the jar?

Y'all come back,

Lorilee 

"Reader" Glasses and Daring Dresses!

  I just bought my first pair of "reader" or magnifying glasses. I have been near-sighted since I was a freshman. I started wearing contact lenses as a sophomore and still do! I now have a +1 added to my contacts to aid in close-up vision. Sometimes this just isn't enough! If I happen to be wearing my glasses, I can take them off and see something close just fine. On the other hand, some things are just too small to see with my contacts. So I now have magnifiers for paper quilling, small print, some crocheting and hand stitching! I am accepting the passage of time, and the addition of years to my age! At the same time, I don't want to dress too old and plain! This fall I found these boots. They are Clarks "Wish Excite". I wear them with leggings or skinny jeans and long blouses and sweaters  every chance I get! Although, we haven't had much of a winter here in south Texas. I also don't dress up for school to teach 4-year-olds.

I recently splurged on these 2 short dresses! I want to stop wearing jeans almost every time I go somewhere! I have black and gray leggings I can wear with them. I want to get some light gray flats for the silvery gray dress.

I found these boots-top photo (Indigo by Clarks "Jordan Brooke" on the Clarks website. I was lucky to find the black boots  at my local JC Pennys. They were having a boot sale, and I decided to look around. I found a pair to try on, but they weren't fitting all that well. I started whining to the clerk about the lack of any Clarks brand boots. She then told me they had some in the back, just not on display! My lucky day. They had my size. I still can't imagine why they would not have had them on display. Did they NOT want to sell them? Back to the lace ups. I REALLY want them. I just hate ordering shoes online. I'm begging for advice!

Would these boots work with the dresses?

Would this color be OK. ? I love the natural look of the color. Plus I already have  a large number of black shoes!

Y'all come back,

Lorilee

I Won a Giveaway!

I recently won these sweet earrings from Holly at My Sister's Suitcase. The giveaway was in celebration of reaching 100 followers. She and her sister, Nat, have a fun blog to visit! Thank you for the earrings, Holly!

Y'all come back,

Lorilee

My First Baker's Twine!

I just ordered and received my first Baker's Twine from The Twinery. I kept seeing it on blogs and Pinterest. Of course, I  couldn't find any here locally. And, believe me, I tried. The colors are absolutely beautiful. For my first project, I plan to crochet little flowers with white cotton thread and string them along the Baker's Twine for a spring garland. It may be awhile though. I have told myself, I can't start a new project until I finish my current project, the shawl. I am VERY close! I don't get to crochet every day with a full-time job, and a house and garden to care for. I may also squeeze in some burlap banner-making with Valentine themes. They don't count since they are not a crochet project! That makes perfect sense to me.

Y'all come back,

Lorilee

Garden Goodies!

Radishes and spinach are doing well in my garden! I have beets, carrots, lettuce, Romanesco and cauliflower growing as well. I would have more cauliflower along with broccoli except that a couple of the ONLY freezes we have had came at just the right time to kill them.

My garden sink is especially handy for washing the sand out of the wrinkles in the spinach leaves. I love to eat spinach salad with dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, shredded Parmesan cheese, mandarin oranges and raspberry vinaigrette dressing.

I've been robbing/thinning the carrots here and there. They are so sweet to rinse and eat!

Y'all come back,

Lorilee