Gluten Free Donuts!

Yeah, GLUTEN FREE homemade donuts!!!!!!!  My daughter hadn't eaten donuts for over four years, since before she was diagnosed with Celiac Disease.  For a myriad of reasons, donuts have never been a staple in our kitchen.  Recently, though, I found this book.

There are several recipes I want to try, but the first one had to be the donut recipe.  My daughter flipped out... even my wheat-flour-loving son flipped out over these donuts!  The first copy was one I checked out from the library.  Needless to say, after the first batch of donuts I bought my own copy of the book.  I can't wait to try the sandwich bread recipe. 

Update:  We have tried the sandwich bread recipe, as well as many others, and they all have gotten "thumbs up" from my kids.  I love a gluten-free success in the kitchen!

Back At the Creek...

 

This past weekend we took time to get out the fishing poles and head to the creek.  My husband and kids all caught fish.  My job was to keep hooks baited, remove the caught fish from the hooks, and photograph the whole thing.  The great thing about this spot in the river is that there are all these deep areas under the trees.  Every single cast into those spots led to a fish on the hook.  We released every fish they caught, though.  We already have plans for another visit this weekend!    

Chickens!

We finally have chickens!  Meet the four hens:  Rosie, Mystery, Sally, and Lucille Ball (listed in the correct pecking order, too).  We have had them for several weeks now, and they are each happily laying an egg a day.  I could spend hours out there watching them scratch and fluff and go about their business.  There is a new "necessity" on our weekly grocery list:  either a Cup-O-Crickets or a container of nightcrawlers.  Never underestimate how much fun it is to watch four hens scramble around to catch every last cricket or chase each other like football players when one of them runs off with a giant worm dangling from her beak!

The cats are endlessly entertained by watching the hens in their pen.  It is outside this window, and Sparkles and Minnie have the perfect view...  Neither one has ever seen a bird that big before!

I don't know if four are going to be enough...  :) 

In The Pool...

I am sure there will be a lot more photos like theses in our future.  We bought a pool, and the kids do love it.  I am a complete wuss (sp?) when it comes to "cold" water (any water under 86 degrees), so my place is usually on the outside, patrolling with my camera and bug skimmer while I watch the kids play. 

It's been an odd July.  Our temperatures are cooler than normal and we have been getting pretty frequent rain showers.  Today the high is only supposed to be in the low 70's, which means I will not be getting in the pool for quite a few days.  My kids, though, will most likely jump right in.  I don't know how they do it...

In the Garden (July 17, 2013)...

 

I am happy to say, while keeping fingers crossed that I'm not jinxing my garden, that this little devil was one of only six hornworms that I have pulled from my potato plants so far this season.  They haven't found my tomatoes...yet.  They are so pretty to be so destructive...

More garden photos:

Healthy & Happy...

   My children are healthy and I am happy.  Just within the past week, both of my kids have been sick with some sort of a virus.   They had a relatively high fever, headaches, body aches, stomach cramping, and vomiting.  Pretty typical stuff when you have two young children in the public school system.  Certainly not something that we haven't had to deal with before and will most surely have to deal with again.  However, as I sat and tended to each one's fever, nausea, aches and pains, and watched them try to sleep through their discomfort, I worried.  I found myself remembering news stories about a brain-attacking bacteria in a lake somewhere, and a story about food poisoning somewhere else.  I began to replay the past days' activities...where were we, what did we do, what did we all eat?  What possible dangers could I have subjected my kids to at the movie theater, grocery store, or even our own yard?
   My littlest woke from a nap yesterday sobbing hysterically from the pain in her jaw and head.  Her fever was low, but it scared me enough that I called the pediatrician.  I usually try to avoid taking my kids to the pediatrician, mostly to avoid picking up any other infections, but that is where we ended up yesterday.  Luckily, the doctor agreed that it was a viral infection and simply needed to run its course. Today both are feeling and acting much better.  I find, as a mom, that I usually follow my intuition and trust my ability to read their cues.  On the other hand, I try to be informed...  I read any article about nutrition that comes across my radar, I listen to health stories in the news, I even seek out information on the internet (don't even get me started...)  It's difficult not to panic. 
   Anyway, I am very thankful that both of my kids are now back to health.  I will remind myself with the next illness (hopefully it will not be anytime soon!) that we have been through it before and that we can handle it.  I will remind myself not to panic and to trust my intuition.  And I will try to take my husband's advice and turn off the news for a while. 

Playing At The Creek...

I do believe we have found a new summer time activity.  We drove by this spot off a small one lane bridge about a hundred times, but never really saw it until earlier this week.  It is a beautiful little area in the creek, clear shallow water to wade through and look for crawdads and minnows and tadpoles, deeper areas for my son to practice casting his line into (and maybe reel in the occasional little fish if lucky).  While my kids are playing and thoroughly engrossed in their surroundings, I am enjoying watching them and photographing all the beauty around us.  We went two different days this week, and there are plans for a third visit in the works.  Turns out, we can spend hours here before anyone even thinks about looking at the time. 

In the Garden (June 27, 2013)...

First Tomatoes of the 2013 Summer

These are the first tomatoes off the plants this summer.  Please take note, the largest is about the same diameter as a quarter.  Tiny, but beautiful.  I also picked one nice banana pepper, and one good sized jalapeno pepper. 

Green Beans

Dill Flowers

Zucchini Bloom

Banana Pepper

Green Tomato

 I have been watering daily.  It has been very hot, with no rain for well over a week now.  Almost every one of my 50 tomato plants has at least one green tomato on it.  They are looking so promising, that I am out there several times a day checking for any sign of bug, disease, or any pest of any kind.  I say a little prayer with each visit...

Needless to say, I have a little work to do in the weed control department...

Summer Morning...

In the summer months, later nights up playing mean that my kids sleep in a little later.  This means that I get some quiet time outside with my cup of coffee, to listen to the birds and enjoy the start of the day.  At 6:45 this morning, the temp was already heading towards 80 degrees (we may have hit 100 degrees today for the high) and the air was heavy.  Is it possible to photograph humidity? 

High up in this oak, there was a little woodpecker going about his business, looking for breakfast.  I  like to search for one of the pileated woodpeckers that calls our little woods home.  There is always quite an assortment of other birds to be seen and heard, though.  Just a few weeks ago the hummingbirds were so plentiful that we felt we had to dodge them each time we went out the front door.  Now, though, they aren't out as much... I don't know if it is the heat, or if they have just moved on.  

In The Garden...

Garden, June 2013

 This is how my vegetable garden looks today.  The space is approximately 45 x 60 feet.  This is the second season for my vegetable garden in this house.  Before it was tilled up, this little field was pasture to some horses.  The ground is amazingly (especially for this area) ROCK FREE!  This year's garden includes a ridiculous number (50) of tomato plants, about 100 running feet of green beans, several types of squash, cucumbers, and zucchini, several varieties of hot peppers, green peppers, kale, spinach, beets, watermelon, potatoes, and onions.  (I have great expectations for all those tomato and green bean plants.)

I got the garden in the ground later than normal this year, due to a cold and wet spring.  On Mothers Day, a neighbor came and tilled up the space for me.  By Thursday of that week, just about everything was planted.  Now, every day that it isn't raining, I find myself walking the aisles and rows, picking the little weeds and grasses trying to grow up through the straw mulch, inspecting each plant for signs of bugs (I'm thinking of Japanese Beetles, grrrrrrr...), and just trying to be patient and not panic. 

Now, some of the pretty flowers currently showing off in my yard...

 
 And finally, two "pets" who seem to have made permanent residence under our front porch:

Raven the Three Toed Box Turtle

Mr. Peepers