Ode to the Barn Cats

Growing up on a ranch, most conversations in our house revolved around animals. Whether about cattle, pets, or wildlife we could talk about animals for hours. So I will embrace my inner crazy animal lady and introduce some of the critters here on our farm. The barn cats have only been here about a month but they made it feel more like a farm.

Skitty kitty is the mama barn cat. She likes people but get a little scared if you try to approach her. She hangs around the house some days but is often gone-I assume out hunting. She is playful and will chase the dog around the yard.

Tatanka is one of her kittens. She is very friendly, loves attention. She is a bit "fluffy" if you know what I mean, maybe from all the mice she's been eating.

There is another grey tabby kitten that is pretty wild. So wild I have no picture of it. It disappeared shortly after it was dropped off here and I thought it either ran away or got eaten by something. Lately however, I was glad to see it showed up again.

I think these cats are probably all good hunters and are relatively good at avoiding predators. Since we got them, there is evidence of a skunk hanging around. I think he comes into the shop at night where their food and beds are and eats their food. Such is the hard knock life of a barn cat; fighting the skunk for your food while trying to not become food for a fox, owl, or eagle. They are happy though and we are grateful for the job they do.

Door Chime Makeover

I have not written too much yet on my diy home adventures. I guess I was trying to wait until something was "finished" to write about it. That nasty "F" word anyway. So here is a little project that is actually finished...

This beauty, our 1970's fake wood grain and brass door chime was ready for an update. It still worked so I didn't want to trash it completely but it definitely needed an update. I decided to go with a black/silver scheme to match my stainless steel appliances.

First, I figured out which breaker runs the door chime and turned it off. The front plate pulls off pretty easily and the rest is wired in and hung on a screw. It was full of cobwebs so once I got it down I cleaned it up. The pipes unscrew from the main piece and then the chimes could be pulled off. There were little rubber washers that held the chimes onto the pipes so I was careful not to loose them.

I taped off the motif on the front plate and that was ready to paint. I spray painted the pipes and the motif with silver spray paint-2 coats. Then I painted over the wood grain with an acrylic enamel. I had never used this kind of paint before-it is very shiny and you really have to keep a wet edge or it shows. It dries very hard and looks kind of plasticky. I did 2 coats of this as well.

After it was all dry I put it back together and hooked it up. The spray paint was scratching off pretty easily but now that it is up there it won't be touched. It was a cheap update and looks way better-on to the next project!

Its dendricide!

Ever since we moved here Mike's been itching to slice and dice our overgrown lilac bushes. This scares me because being a weed scientist, he is very good at killing plants and these are ones I want to keep! I love lilacs because they remind me of our wedding and when we looked at this place I was very excited about the lilacs lining the north and west corner of the house. I don't want to take any chances with them. However, the plant scientists in my life tell me it is actually good to prune them this time of year when there are fewer pests around. With this beautifully warm un-winter we are having Saturday was a good day for yard work and I finally gave him the go ahead.



He used a pruning saw to cut off the old, overgrown, and dead branches of one of the bushes and left the newer shoots. We probably won't get flowers on that one for awhile, but this one was especially out of control. He left plenty of other bushes untouched so we will still have lilacs blooming this spring.

While we were at it, we also decided to cut down the poopy tree behind the house. Its not actually covered in poop it has a fungus call black knot. Turns out it is treatable but we thought the tree was pretty infested and as I mentioned earlier, Mike is a proponent of plant slaughter.

Now we have some good bonfire material.

Down home beef stew and it's sidekick-the pot pie

Nothing says country cooking like beef stew. I made a couple gallons of it this weekend for my Mom's 50th birthday party with my parent's beef so I thought I'd share my recipe. It is so easy in the slow cooker-and very tasty! As a bonus, the leftovers make a great pot pie.




Beef Stew
olive or canola oil
4 med. onions, chopped
small can tomato pate
3 t or ~ 6 cloves minced garlic
salt
14 oz can low sodium chicken broth
14 oz can low sodium beef broth
~4 lbs beef stew meat
1/3 c soy sauce
2 T dry tapioca
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 lbs red potatoes, cut into chunks
1 lb baby carrots
1 t thyme
2 c frozen peas
pepper

Heat some oil in a skillet and add the onions, tomato paste, garlic, and salt to taste. Cook until onions are softened and lightly browned 10-15 min. Stir in some broth, scraping up browned bits. Put in a slow cooker with the meat, broth, soy sauce, tapioca, and bay leaves.

Toss the potatoes & carrots with some oil and the tyme and season with salt & pepper. Wrap in a foil packet and place on top of the rest in the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low until the meat is tender 9-11 hours.

Remove foil packet and skim off fat. Remove bay leaves. Dump the contents of the foil into the stew and add peas. Let stand about 5 minutes.

Beef Pot Pie
Roll out a frozen pie crust or make your own. Place leftover beef stew into shell and cover with top dough. Brush with beaten egg mixed with water. Bake at 375 until golden brown.

Cooperative Meeting

Mike and I went to our first electric coop annual meeting last night. Our neighbor was running for the board, so we came to support him. He won by only two votes, so we were glad we went and felt like our vote really mattered. I think that is one of the best things about the cooperative business model-as a member you have a hand in the decision making.

Making a difference in the community is something we missed as people with rural roots living in the big city. You are a part of the community just like you are a part of a cooperative-in some ways its an obligation but you want to be a part of it. Your contribution, however humble, matters in a small community.

Besides all that good stuff, the meeting was interesting. If I remember correctly the four cheapest ways to make electricity are hydro, natural gas, coal and wind; all of which we have here in North Dakota. It was also cool to learn that a good chunk of the power from our coop comes from renewable sources. Also, we learned that rural electric coops started with the help of President Roosevelt. The meeting was good food for thought-we talked about energy all the way home.

A Moment of Doggy Joy

This is my in-laws' dog Sassy. She is staying with us while they are in Texas for the winter. It has been different having a dog in the house. My nickname for her is "the little puker" (although I think we've got to the bottom of the puking problem-she was eating the cat's food while we were asleep.) But she is a good natured dog and irresistibly cute sometimes. We enjoy having her. Mike took this video of her after I gave her a bath yesterday and I wanted to share.