Weekend Adventures A Great Turkey Shoot

Well, I am here to report the best turkey shoot at Sleepin' Bear Lodge and Farms that we've had to date.  The 7th annual shoot was put on Saturday, November 23rd, which is a week or so later in the year than it is normally held.  We had a cold, windy day but that didn't stop the shooters from coming.  I don't have an exact head count but I would venture to guess around a hundred people were in attendance which is the most we've ever had.  Over five hours we shot thirty two lines, between shotgun, rifle, pistol and skeet shoots.  That's a bit over six shoots an hour.  We had fantastic helpers there all day from the firing lines, pay line, behind the scenes and food crew.  Which speaking of the food.... we had regular chili, dove chili, BBQ soup, jalapeno cornbread, regular cornbread and desserts!  If you left hungry it's your own fault!  The raffle tickets gave way to three guns given away, two air guns and one 410.  Folks won so many turkeys, Boston butts and country hams that we ran out which is a wonderful thing!  Y'all, we had a mighty fine day and I'm not sure how much exactly we raised for the children's hospital but we gave it our finest shot.  Thanks to everyone and if you weren't there, well we missed you!!

I was too busy to take many pictures.  Here are a few of the ones I was able to snap.

 

Hulsey Apple Pie

Having a Fall party?  Want a cider-punch recipe?  Well here it is.  This shot-style sipper is best served at room temperature and in moderation.  I served this drink at our last get together.  I borrowed a glass gallon jug with a tap from my Mom… you know, one of those summer tea jugs, and purchased the smallest plastic cups I could find at Walmart.  This isn’t the type of adult beverage that you need a Solo cup full of.  Just a dab’ll do ya!

 

Hulsey Apple Pie

1 gallon apple cider (non-pasturized!)

1 handful red hots

4-5 cinnamon sticks

2-3 packets powdered apple cider drink mix

1 750ml bottle Ever Clear

1 750ml bottle Bacardi 151

 

In a large stock pot bring apple cider, red hots, cinnamon sticks and powdered mix to a slight boil stirring until red hots are melted and powdered mix has dissolved.  Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.  After cooled, add alcohol and stir together.  Pour into large mason jars to store.  Serve as you wish… and beware! 

This one will sneak up on you quickly and is oh-so good.

 

 

 

 

 

Sweet Kate Update

Oh our sweet little girl.  Katie Bird is growing like a weed!  I reckon they all do.  When we got her at seven weeks old she weighed three and a half pounds.  Friday, at ten weeks old, she was almost twelve pounds.  Not bad for just three weeks.  She also started going to work with Shaun and riding in his truck with him more.  She enjoys being a working girl!  On the job site, she got to meet and hang out with her buddy Opie who is a few weeks older than her, so she got to play a lot too.  Our friends also brought him over to play over the weekend.  Even though he is bigger than her she holds her own.  Must be from all her brothers and sisters.  She actually put herself to bed in her crate Saturday.  What a cutie. 

 

This is her first morning going with Shaun.

She must have got pretty comfortable in the truck.  By Thursday she was jumping from the front to backseat and looking out the windows.  Queen of the truck!

She gets along very well with the chickens.  She pecks right along with them.

Under cover Gardner and Katie Bug.

This is Opie.  Handsome fella huh?

Mean girl!  jk

Check out the karate chop from Opie.



I Thee Wed

Four years ago today, we were pronounced Man and Wife. 

I always say that if I knew he was on his way to me at 33, I would have had done a lot of things different and been more patient.  It is all in God's plan... not mine.

Shaun is such a wonderful husband and friend.  We don't argue and we enjoy each other's company.

We support each other's day and dreams and keep rollin along. 

This marriage by far is the best thing to ever happen to me and I feel he would say the same thing.

 

Happy Anniversary to Us!

 

Ever Thine, Ever Mine, Ever Ours.

 

    

Planning a Garden with Kids

I consider myself lucky that I have two gardens to plan.  We have a rather large garden at home and a smaller one at the day care.  I have showed you plans for our garden at home, so here's what we are doing at the DC.

Several months ago, I purchased chalk board contact paper from Amazon.com.  For some reason I didn't think I would like it and didn't do anything with it right away.  I was lucky to have it when this project came to mind.  I found a spot of wall space in the kitchen, measured it and cut out the appropriate size of the contact paper.  I then stuck it right on the wall.  It is utterly fantastic!  It takes chalk writing really well and once more when I am finished I can peel it off and no harm done to my wall! 

So, after the back drop for our plans was in place, the kids and I got out the Burpee seed catalogue.  This is the one I get in the mail, mostly because it is where I have wound up ordering garlic seed for the last two years.  I have been asking the kids what they wanted to grow in our garden this year for weeks.  So it wasn't to tough to look through and find pictures to cut out.  We taped them on to the contact paper and I wrote what each of them were next to the picture. 

Next, all we have to do is the layout of our garden and then on to actual planting! 

 

 

 

 

Now this puts me in the market for kid sized tools for the garden!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all. It's Christmas morning and I am up bright and early. I couldn't lay there anymore with hickory smoke smell still heavy in my hair and cream cheese that needed to be out of the fridge. It almost had nothing to do not being able to find one of my ear plugs in the bed. It is like everything knows it's Christmas. Miss Kitty, our barn cat, came in the house last night which is normally not allowed and Tommy crawled up to snuggle this morning at the top of the bed instead of the foot. We had our fifth annual Christmas Eve Hulsey tradition of smoking the meat for our Christmas day feast. It is always an experience. Uncle Randy always brings a ton of shrimp for everyone, lies are told, old friends are remembered and this year there was someone else in the top of the barn instead of the barn owl that hung out last year. We laugh and cut up and just love on one another and there's no place else I'd rather be.

This happens in one of the old tobacco barns.  The smoker keeps us warm and there are Christmas carols on the radio in the other room... and every now and then Blue Christmas is heard by one of us... Elvis style.

 

 I had three chickens, a boston butt and sweet potatoes on this year.  The rest are ribs and turkeys.

I would love to say that nobody burned his hand or pissed his britches but I can't.  Merry Christmas!

Repotting My Orchid

I received an orchid from a working friend when I left a job about seven years ago.  Wow has it been that long?  I guess so.  Anyway, this was and is still my first orchid.  When I first got it, of course, it was in full bloom.  For the first year of it's life with me it lived in the house and seemed... just ok. 

The summer after I got it I decided to put it in a shady spot on my patio outside and to my surprise it bloomed!  That Fall I brought it back inside for the winter and each summer have set it outside to enjoy the fresh air.  It has bloomed for me four times now but has chosen not to for the last two summers.  Which makes me sad because it is a sure sign that something is wrong. 

Since it was placed in the same spot on the porch where it had once bloomed and receives water from the plant hanging above it, I knew it had to be that the poor thing needed more room.  I will be honest... I have been scared to death to repot this thing.  Orchids are just different.  There's no dirt.  Their natural habitat is a crevasse in a rock amidst a misty waterfall.  (Ahhh what a lovely thought) 

Yesterday, I bit the bullet and bought some orchid bark and simply tried to follow the directions on the package.  I picked a larger pot for it's new home but when I tried to pry it out of it's tiny home it wouldn't budge.  Roots where everywhere, old and new.  I trimmed and pried and wound up getting out a hammer and breaking the pot it was in. I trimmed more brown roots off and dug as much as I could of the old bark from it's base.  I placed some rocks in the bottom of the new pot and filled it the rest of the way with the new bark.  I placed the orchid inside and it sort of just fell over.  So I got out some wooden skewers and staked it.  It will receive a daily misting and will hopefully root into it's new home for a couple more years.  Hopefully!  It sure does look better and much healthier.  I think it is smiling now.   Maybe next summer it will bloom once again.

 The good, healthy roots are white with green tips.

Yeah.. not too many here huh. :(

 And to my surprise an even smaller pot inside.  This made me feel even better about what I was doing.  Even though my stomach was in knots the whole time.

 I also trimmed off some of the shoots.  Don't know it I was supposed to or not once they were still green inside.  But it cleaned it up more.

 It said to leave it out of the sunlight until it takes hold again.

I imagine it's spreading around as I type.

So much better!

 

This is what her blooms look like.  This pic was in 2008.

 And this was the last time she bloomed in 2010.



Days of our Day Care: Fall

Fall has fallen in the main playroom at the day care.  I decided to take down the dinosaur bulletin board painting and replace it with a scene more fitting for Fall.  It is plainly water color on freezer paper.  I also printed leaf templates for the kids to color.  They used crayons and scribbled all over the paper but when the leaves are cut out they have vibrant colors of autumn on each leaf.  So, we strung them and hung them from the ceiling. 

 

Next we will start working on our scarecrow and outside display.  I already have the pumpkins for that one and last week we gathered the cornstalks leftover in our garden.  I like when they have a hand in helping, especially in the garden.  Which was totally mowed down yesterday.  Except for the zinnias which my husband so lovingly did not cut down.  It's nice to have someone who understands what I love.