Better Than Sex Pumpkin Dessert

Ingredients:
1 box spice cake mix 
1 small can pumpkin puree 
1 - 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk 
1 - 8 oz. tub cool whip 
1/2 bag Heath Bits 
Caramel Sundae Sauce 
Directions:
In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix and pumpkin puree until a smooth batter forms. 
Pour batter into a well greased 9x13 baking dish. Bake at 350º according to the directions for a 9x13 cake on the cake mix box. 
Let cool for about 10 minutes after baking. Using the bottom of a wooden spoon, poke holes all over the top of the cake. 
Pour the sweetened condensed milk over the cake, filling the holes. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Spread the cool whip over top of cake. Sprinkle on the heath bits, and drizzle caramel over top (just to your liking). Refrigerate for 3-4 hours, or overnight (best).

I am not claiming that this is my original recipe. A friend made it, I ate it, and THIS IS DELISH!!!

Memorial Day Weekend with the Family

OMG!! The hottest day of the year so far, and we are sitting at a STL Cardinals game IN THE SUN!!!!   No, seriously, I love it when we all get-together. We have been very blessed and are very proud of all of our kids.

The weekend started out for me on Friday, May 25th. I traveled to St. Louis to spend some time with our daughter. Just a mother/daughter couple of days.  I SO NEEDED IT!! Friday was spent getting settled in and Cassie had to work (she works 2nd shift).
Saturday morning we took off and went to our favorite coffee shop Kaldi's in Clayton, MO for brunch.  It never looses it's appeal! We then headed to a shop called TFA (The Future Antiques).  It is such a neat little shop and transports me back to a time when I was a little girl.  So much of the items in the shop I remember as a part of our household items.  I could spend a lot of time there.

Then Sunday, the rest of the family met us at Busch Stadium.  Here are a few pictures of our day.

Coconut Cream Dessert

Ingredients:
1c. Flour
1/2c. finely chopped pecans
1/4c. brown sugar
1/2c. melted butter
2 -3.4oz boxes Jello Instant Coconut Cream Pudding Mix (or in a pinch: Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix)
4c milk
16oz container Cool Whip
3c. Angel Flake Coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 baking cake pan with cooking spray. Prepare the Shortbread Crust: In a bowl, combine the flour, pecans & brown sugar. Stir in the butter, mix well. Press into the bottom of the 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes (the appearance should be very light brown. Remove from the oven and cool.

Coconut Filling: In a large bowl beat pudding mixes & 4 cups COLD milk for 2 minutes. Stir in 1 1/2cup coconut. Put into the refrigerator until the pudding is set.

Spread the cool whip on top like you are icing a cake.

Toasted Coconut: Spread the remaining 1 1/2cup of coconut on a rimmed cookie sheet and put into an oven at 350 degrees for about 5-10 minutes. stirring once or twice, until a golden color. Keep an eye on it.

Sprinkle the Toasted Coconut on top of the Cool Whip.....ENJOY!!

Death By Chocolate

Ingredients:
1 box (9x13) brownie or chocolate cake mix (prepared according to the directions and cooled)
2 - 3.4oz boxes of Instant Chocolate Pudding (prepare according to directions)
1 - 16oz frozen Cool Whip (thawed)
1 - 8oz package Heath English Toffee Bits (or several Heath Bars crushed)

Prepare & bake brownie mix according to the directions on the box. Let it cool
Prepare the pudding according to the directions on the box
In a large trifle bowl layer 1/2 of the brownie mix (crumbled), 1/2 of the chocolate pudding, 1/3 of the toffee bits, 1/2 of the cool whip. repeat. Sprinkle the remaining toffee bits as the last layer.

Refrigerate for at least a couple of hours (preferably overnight).

Martina Rose has a Baby!!

Surprise!! Without a whole lot of warning signs Martina Rose delivered her heifer calf yesterday afternoon. We knew she was close, but she didn't show the usual signs that we always look for. Somewhat like humans, Cows may labor on and on and others just have it so easy!!  Just to clear up some confusion, Martina Rose is Martina's daughter.  Here are some of the pictures of our newest addition..... Enjoy!!

Still a little wobbly

I would love to know what that conversation is about!!

OK, now it's time for another nap.

STOP looking at me!!

Martina had Her Baby!!

Martina is trying to find the perfect spot

OK, there she goes....

Here he is

Now he's up!

Candy is watching

Martina Rose and H are watching too

Don't Steam the Chicks!

First of all, I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea. I love my animals. I care for them and they are treated very, very well.  That said, I had something happen earlier in the week that is.....well, embarrassing.  I did not realize that there was a crack in one of my chicks water containers. Every bit of the water emptied into the brooder tank. The bedding soaked it up, the heatlamps created a sauna effect. Needless to say, the 'steam heat' took the downy feathers right off of the baby chicks.  UGH!!!!

Orphan Kitten Formula

On the farm we sometimes have to take over, and become 'mommy' to our animals. In this case, a family friend had some kittens, 6 all together.  Mommy was probably a year old and this is a lot for a seasoned veteran, let alone a mother cat that is so young.  We have used this Newborn Formula for kittens, puppies and in a pinch calves.

2c. 2% milk
1c. half & half
1 egg
1Tbls white Karo corn syrup

Mix well. Warm to feed. Use and eye dropper or syringe.  Store in the refrigerator. It will separate so mix well before each feeding. This will keep according to the dates on your milk and/or half & half.

House Finch

We have some visitors on our front porch

Here is daddy

Here is mommy

This is the Spring wreath that I bought at Michaels (which will probably be thrown out when she gets done with it).

And here is a nest that our resident finch worked very hard to build

She is so proud of her work. They get very upset when I come out of the house and sit on my front porch.

Four little blue eggs

And here she is, as I look at her from the inside of my house.

Baby Chicks Get a New Lid

I was not satisfied with the top we had put on the tank which houses our new baby chicks. Quite frankly it was a mess! we had chicken wire bent around the top of the tank. Plywood on top of chicken wire with a square cut in the middle, where we put the heat lamps, and just in case something (a predator) got in, we weighted the whole mess down with 2x4's.  UGH!! Talk about a chore trying to get in and out of there!!! SHEESH!!!
So.....today, I made a trip to Lowe's. This was going to be taken care of TODAY!!!  Since Papa Bear was in the field, I figured the coast was clear for me to get a little creative, screw things up, cuss, cry, and still have everything put back in order and 'perfect' by the time he got in tonight.  Uhmmmm......no such luck. He was in the barn lot when I got home, working on filling the planter and talking to a friend that we farm with.  So all of this had to be done, under his watchful eye. I'm sure he was just waiting for me to either say, 'would you just take care of this' or 'I give up'. .....Not happening buddy, not on your life!! I am going to fix this, and it will be perfect, and effortless!!!
Here is my creation, I am sure this is not an original. But I am very satisfied with the results. AND the bonus is, I got a compliment from Papa Bear!

 Finished Project

 See where I have hinged the 2 shelves

 Here is a better picture 

 Here are the zip ties at one of the ends

 Zip ties in the middle

I took the custom shelving, using 2 shelves per tank. I used the plastic zip-ties to join the 2 shelves together and fashion a hinge. I then zip-tied the heat lamps to the shelving and they fit perfectly over the tanks.  I didn't cut the length of the shelving, just in case we get a longer tank sometime in the future.

I think we are going to leave them set up, and use them as a pen if we ever need to separate some of the hens.