Proud to be an Okie (but I'm not from Muskogee)

I love living in Oklahoma.  We have the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets, the very diverse weather, some of which can scare the pants off of you, lots of varied geological landscapes and lakes.  But by far sunsets are my favorite.  Here are some pictures, although they are not nearly as beautiful as seeing the real thing.

Nice and peaceful, right?  Here are some that aren't quite so.  This is the kind of weather you've got to keep your eye on here because it can lead to some really bad storms and even potentially a tornado, so you've got to be ready to jump in your fraidy hole, aka the cellar or basement.  Not at this time of year though.  Just in spring and a little bit in fall.  Everything has to be just right to spawn a twister.

And when we have thunderstorms, they can take your breath away too.

I apologize for the quality of the pictures.  Maybe someday I will learn to take a decent picture, but until that day, please bear with me.

In addition to beautiful sunsets and crazy weather, we Okies have lots of cool places to visit.  One of my family's favorite places to go is to the Wichita Mountains in Lawton, OK.  We do some hiking and relaxing and then we eat at Meer's where they have the best longhorn burgers you can get in Oklahoma.  They fill up a pie plate and I can eat a whole one!  You have to also get the fried okra and follow it all up with piping hot peach cobbler topped with homemade vanilla ice cream.  Tip:  find the crispy yet chewy pieces of the cobbler crust and you will find eutopia.  Picutres of the Wichitas in all their glory:

I can't find my pictures of us at Meer's.  I had some and if I ever find them I will post them.  I am very unorganized.  Can you tell?

The best part of living in Oklahoma is in my own backyard.  Kids, dogs, and horses roam free and there's always something to do.  When we have company, especially kids, we're outside.  My husband does some dutch oven cooking that is to die for.  We have campfires, fishing, frog hunting, fort and teepee building.  Just basically everything I need to be happy.





Pump up the jam

This summer, my little girl and I have decided to do all kinds of homestead-y projects.  One of them is making jam.  I have never done it, but have thoroughly researched it and I'm pretty sure I possess the necessary skills to make it happen.  We are going to try strawberry first and later on down the line blueberry, raspberry, and even apple butter.  How exciting!  I know, we're dorks.

Anyway, here is our jam making in pictures:

We started with 4 pounds for fresh strawberries, then hulled and crushed them before adding 4 pounds of sugar.  Yes, 4 pounds.  I've never claimed to be an angel.

The recipe I was using then had me bring this mixture to a boil, then reduce heat slightly and cook until it reached desired consistency.  I think this took about 25-30 minutes.  If it doesn't thicken quite like you want it to, you could add liquid pectin, return to full boil for 1 minute then remove from heat before canning.


My jam came out a little thinner than I would have liked, but it's pretty tasty and no one has complained.

Just happy to see me?

The other day I was in my nicely air conditioned house, minding my own business humming a little tune merrily while I worked when my husband comes in a tells me I have to come outside and see something.  Now, when you live in the country, you just never know what that thing might end up being.  It could be exciting, beautiful, scary, unbelievable, funny, or a combination of all of those things.  The anticipation during the walk out the door can sometimes be too much!

So, we walk outside so my husband can show me the snake he found right up by our house. 

Keep in mind, PETA types, we can not have a snake hanging around our house, so this one ended up dead and is now feeding fish and turtles in our pond.  Circle of life, people.  Come on.

This is not the first snake and certainly not the last, but hopefully we won't see any for a while.

Release the hounds

I'd like to expose the world to my mutts.  Their names are Sandy and Mojo. They are total weirdos.  Sandy showed up at our house just a few days before a major ice storm and I had to take her in.  She's so sweet and I couldn't leave a sweet little doggie out in the cold with icicles hanging off of her.  We claimed her, not knowing that she was pregnant and would soon give birth to 6 puppies, one of which was Mojo.

They run around the spread doing God knows what, but they always come home and make sure to talk to us and smile at us a little.  And, yes, they talk and smile, although Sandy is a bit more vocal and a little smilier.  That's a word, right?  Now it is.

This is Sandy with my daughter, ready to herd her if she needs to:

Here is little puppy Mojo.  She's so tiny and cute and soft!

Here's Mojo now:

3 years old and a total freakazoid!  I never know what dead animal is going to show up in my yard, when my wrists are going to get gnawed on for stopping the belly rub or paying attention to Sandy, or even when she will bolt up out of her sleep to take off like a bullet after something in the pasture.  My dogs are quite the source of entertainment.

The Tao of Horses

This is Lady. 

She is very sweet, but only if you pay all your attention to her.  She doesn't like it when you pet or feed the other horses and lets it be known.  Lady has only been with us a short while, so I'm still getting to know her.  Like I said, she's sweet.  She's a bit tempestuous and very funny if you watch from a distance.  What I didn't know about her is that if she is startled, something strange happens to her.

I was out taking pictures around the house and of course thought of taking some of the horses.  There are three, but Lady was the only one around.  I took a few and wanted to get some of her whole body and started to take a few steps back.  I accidentally stumbled over a brush hog for the tractor and it made a noise.  Lady startled and took off like a rocket.  I lured her back to me with my sweet, angelic voice, and then I noticed the strange thing happening to her.  Her breath was finally calming down...

...and she started falling asleep.  It was as if by being startled and getting a shot of adrenaline, she sort of shorted out and needed to take a nap for a minute.

Poor thing.  I didn't mean to freak her out so bad.  I hoped she would forgive me.

Then she leaned in for a kiss and I knew she had.