Pizza and the Girls!

      As I sit here writing this, Randy is smoking chicken for Skylar's lunch this week! Tomorrow, I'll grill chicken for the rest of his lunch this week. Why didn't my Mom do that for us? The lunches are a lot worse now than way back then, that's why. Randy is also trying to build a ramp for the boy goats to climb on, but Java keeps head-butting and tearing down what he's doing! Silly goats! They don't realize he's trying to make their life more pleasant! Goats are funny creatures! We are going to breed our girls next month in hopes of babies this summer! Have you seen baby Nigerian Dwarf goats? They are adorable!

      The sun is shining nicely but it's still cool! Even though the temp says 53, it feels like 43 cause of the wind. The temp is supposed to be much colder this week. I do not like cold weather. I'm ready for warmer days! We just don't usually have this many cold days, here! I'm contemplating planting tomato seeds soon, but the guy down the road says he doesn't start his until mid-February. I don't know if I can wait! I love to watch them grow! I hope to have more cardboard again this year to lay down for a weed barrier in the garden. I also hope to add some more blueberry bushes where the chicken run used to be. We closed that area off and added a different section for the hens. They seem happy with the new area, but last week I saw one running to the closed off run and bounce off the fence! I felt so sorry for her!

      I've been working on the layout of the blog a bit. I like the new colors and I'm hoping I have the watermark figured out. I tried to change the favicon and add a signature but no success with either. I spent way too long to try again soon! Tech stuff doesn't come easy for me. I'd rather be making bread or jumping or something! I forgot to download the photos to picmonkey so I could watermark the them. Guess I'll have to figure out something else.

      I wanted some English muffins for breakfast last week, so I looked through my stash of recipes and found one that sounded good. They turned out really good! I'm enjoying them with my eggs, or just alone with my homemade blackberry jelly. The recipe I use for my pizza dough is found at King Arthur Flour. I have the cookbook, but you can find it online on their website. It's the first one they post. It makes enough for three pizzas. I also found a super easy recipe using the Cuisinart that makes three doughs. I don't know which one I like better. I think the Cuisinart one, cause it's so quick!

      The girls, all four of them came Friday and stayed until Saturday. Can you believe they all slept through the night without waking up? They did so good! I'm glad Ran was here to help cause with the baby, they are a handful! He enjoys them as well as I do. They may be here again this weekend as we will be celebrating Win's fourth birthday! So hard to believe she'll be four! They are growing up way too fast! The baby,even though she's small, is walking all over the place and climbing and saying words! She jabbers all the time! She's so cute! My house! Anyone want to volunteer to help clean? I didn't think so! Oh well, I had to clean it anyway!

      I had to order a new rebounder. The one I got at first from Walmart was fine for a few days. Then my toes and feet started hurting, so I used my shoes. That didn't help. Then my knee started hurting so I told Ran this wasn't going to get it. I loved jumping on that thing so I decided to get a Cellerciser. I did a lot of reading and comparing before I chose this one. It's like jumping on a trampoline and the other one is like jumping on a brick! What a difference! I can hardly wait to get back on it tomorrow! It is so much fun!

      I hope ya'll are staying full and warm! Have a nice week! Blessings from Bama!

Delicious Italian grilled chicken!

English muffins cooking.

All done and cooling! They taste more like a yest roll until you toast them. They are probably as good as I'm going to make.

The girls really enjoyed jumping on the rebounder from Walmart.

They love uncle Randy!

Fixing the top so the goats won't slide off.

Sam loves to get inside the area where the hay is.

Silly Java!

Posing for his pic!

The three pizza doughs.

English muffins after being cut. They have been sprinkled with corn meal.

Windy weather, sourdough starter, and more sprouts!

      The weather this week is so unpredictable! It was cloudy with a chance of rain; then it rained; and now it is blustering windy! The temp fell from 60 degrees, to 49 in an hour! I did manage to get my walk in after the brief thunderstorm, however! Tomorrow 's high is only 40's, but the next day back to sixties, then even to 70! Spring has it's moments here in the South! We got some snow flurries this past weekend but no accumulation. We have to watch the weather on a daily basis, so we'll know how to dress! OK, so much about the weather! Just like for my out of state readers to know what we're experiencing!

      I did get outside yesterday as the temps were 60-ish. I emptied the wheel barrow of goat manure onto the big bed. I just need to get out there now and turn it under. I need to do that to all of the beds! Won't that be a good workout! My arms are really feeling the workouts I've been doing on the DVD! I'm actually doing better with them than I thought I would! I hope I can hang in there this summer when it's so hot! I really hate profuse sweating, and that's what happens when I workout in the summer! We'll see!

      I received my co-op order Saturday and am planning on canning some beans tomorrow! Can you believe WM didn't have pint size jars? The hubs is stopping at Winn Dixie to get some on his way home this evening. I will also be trying out my new sourdough starter come Thursday, the day it will be ready. I've been acquiring sourdough recipes not just for bread; like: English muffins, pancakes and waffles, bread, and even dumplins! All you do to start is mix 1/4 cup flour with 1/4 cup water, stir, put in a jar, put a coffee filter with rubber band around it and let it sit for twenty-four hours. Then you add the same amount of flour and water, stir and let sit. Do this for seven days, and you'll have captured wild yeast or sourdough starter! Neat isn't it! Oh, I made a delicious new recipe for the bread machine from Bob's Red Mill: New York Rye. It's on their website. It is the best rye I've ever made! The hubs said don't even look for another one!

      I've got lentils and rice in the crock-pot and it smells so good! It has southwestern spices so it will be good in tacos and such. I got that recipe from: lifecurrents.dw2.net if you're interested. Hope ya'll are having a good week! Stay safe! Blessings from Bama!

This was an experiment to see if I could make washing soda. I'm not sure if it ever did, and it's not worth the amount of time spent in the oven if it did. Better to buy it instead.

My co-op order: nuts, dried fruit, beans, oatmeal, whole wheat pastry flour, all organic of course!

The delicious rye bread!

Wonderful smoked salmon! I think this was my first time to eat it! I know it was the hubs first time to smoke it. Make sure you read the label. It may say wild caught but from what country? I ran into that at WM, so this pack came from Washington state.

Sourdough starter. See the separation? Totally natural. You can see tiny bubbles. I think my kitchen is very yeasty!

These are the English muffins I made. They turned out pretty good. My first time making them and they got a little dark. Next batch will be with the sourdough.

My delicious lunch: smoked salmon, pickled onions, pickled beets, lettuce mix with homemade vinaigrette, and Hazel nuts.