Beaver prank on the farmer

I have to tell you we have awesome neighbors, on both sides of this property, one side is the farmer and the other side is another retired couple, fun folks both sides of us, couldn't have asked for better neighbors truly!

So the farmer is the ornery one, always pulling some prank or another, he lives for it I swear!

He knows everyone for miles around and has lived here his entire 70 some years.

his wife just rolls her eyes and just says "now John!"

yeah she is used to his ways, they have been married like 47 years, she once told me if she didn't know any better, she would have thought he had hand picked us to move in here just to liven up the valley

now about that beaver . . .

One day we were on our way home from Dundee while visiting some family, at a stop sign we see this HUGE and man do I mean HUGE BEAVER, I stop, its dead, thank God, it would have chewed our leg off if it wasn't, hmmmm our minds went to work pretty quick, I said we should get John back with this baby, can we get it into the explorer? kids in back seat just shaking their heads,  so he actually got it lifted BARELY into my explorer and down the road we go, chuckling the whole way!!

 WE got US a prize this time, now what to do with it?

yep it was a monster, it was also very late at night and very dark so the photo isn't the best

I said we needed to sit it on his Gator's seat, he doesn't walk anywhere, he rides that gator everywhere and if we sat it in his seat that would be the first thing he finds in the morning, heh heh heh, so we drag that sucker over there in the middle of the night to put on his seat

see, told you it was HUGE, hubby can hardly keep it held up there for the photo

so we go sneaking off in the night to the farmers, dragging a huge dead beaver down the road in the dark

we get there and get it propped up in the driver seat and its face/head area just lands right on the steering wheel, so it looks like it's driving,  well we are *snickering and snorthing* the whole entire time

I really am surprised we didn't wake anyone up!

we barely make it back home from all the laughter and can hardly contain ourselves, we did it, just wait till he comes out in the morning, I said, you watch, it'll be his wife that finds it, no hubby says, she never leaves before him, oh yeah right!!!

She needed to go somewhere the next morning, John was gonna move the gator because it's parked outside the garage door, meaning, he had to move it or she would back out of the garage and back right over his gator, she told him not to worry she could handle it . . .

yeah well . . next thing she comes back in the house and says to John, you better go move it, there's something dead in it, he just looked at her and went outside.

LOL OMG I am dying here with the memory, tears running down my face, I can ONLY IMAGINE what the heck she was thinking, thinking one of his pranks got a prank back on him, problem was he had pranked so many people down the valley, he had no clue who got him, never imagined it was us.

Next day with a straight face hubby comes back from the farmers and says, he told me all about a beaver greeting Cora when she went to move the gator, I about died, shit, she WAS the one to find it, so a few days went by, John still has no clue, can't figure out who put it there cuz nobody was making any hints about it and they thought it was hilarious, he told everyone, trying to figure it out, finally we had our daughter make a sign to go stick on the end of his driveway, it said "Thanks for babysitting my beaver"

he still didn't figure it out, another day or two passed, and the next thing, we find the sign on our back porch

and the beaver on our mailbox (mind you this is nearly a week later)

damn, he figured it out, how the hell did he figure it out!!??

well come to find out, our dear brother in law seen it and laughed and said looks like the one Robert found

well, yup, John knew immediately he had us, dead to rights

John also knew he had met his match, he was no longer king of the valley for pranks

heh heh heh

don't you wish YOU lived here?!

New flooring in living room FINALLY

March 2010 ~ 7 months, yes it's been 7 months since we moved in, I know you remember the old original 1965 carpeting in the living room, well . . . as promised, I have found laminate flooring and purchased enough for the living room, dining room and kitchen! HA so there, now it's time to rip out the old carpet and get busy!

to recap the old carpeting . . .

not too shabby for carpet that is 45 years old, but way way out of league for what I wanted to see in my new living room, so lets get started why don't we

I started by using a razor knife and slicing it into sections, making it much easier to roll up and discard

this took awhile, not so much the getting the carpet out, but the worst part was pulling out all the carpet tacks and old staples and nails, my knees were killing me by the time I was done!

yup, that's me, probably complaining about yet another jab in the knee! but almost done!!

piles of old krap to roll up and get outside

finally, all the carpet is out, now we are pulling staples and nails

while we were pulling staples and nails, I put my son to work breaking up that red slate in front of the entry way, I wanted to continue the flooring all the way over to the front door

This took us a whole day to get prepped for the laying of the laminate wood flooring, tomorrow it's hard at work getting it down in one day!

Until then . . .

Winter Blast

Whoa! Boy did it snow!

February 2010

woke to it snowing and blowing! perfect time for some gorgeous photos, just look at that beautiful white fluffy stuff

I think it's a day to stay home

well at least around home, neighbor plowed the driveway, but the front walkway was a rough one shoveling today!

Don't think there is anything for me to do outside today!!

Merry Christmas from the Redneck Homestead

Merry Christmas everyone!

sister came down on my birthday and we took some family photos

sister and daughter had a birthday on the 17th, mine is 18th, sons is 19th

sister with my daughter who share a birthday!

 daughter

youngest son

my brother and girlfriend

 oldest son, geesh behave

 son and girlfriend

 sister with her son

Mom and her boyfriend

all of us wish you a Merry Christmas!!

Cedar chest for mama

Today I want to show off a hand made cedar chest my hubby is making for my mama for Christmas, he builds things down at his brothers shop - he's my cabinet builder!!

isn't it pretty, just the base made so far, he will take it after I paint the panels and put the cedar lining in and put the lid on it

I have always loved painting and drawing, so when he made this for Mom I decided then and there I needed to customize it further for her, I start with just dabbing on the background color - something to make the flowers "pop" when I get to them

just dab the paint on, use your own judgement, you can even use stencils if you want or don't feel comfortable hand painting something, I use acrylic paints because of the wonderful range of colors I can find here in my area.

 Mom loves purples and blues, so that is why I chose those colors for her

start layering on the paint until you are satisfied with what you have turned out

 I use little fine brushes for the detail work, adding in layers

there, almost done, hubby needs to put the cedar lining in it, sealer on it and put the lid on it and it will be ready for under the Christmas tree, or ok, well beside it anyway

and just look at that pretty rainbow in December!

it's reveal time, it's finished and it's Christmas day 

yes, I think she likes it LOL

There is the finished product, she adores it, I am happy about that, now she can take it home and fill it up with those old quilts :)

Have a great day everyone!!

December Birthdays & Pizzelle cookies

It's December 2009 already!! We have lots of things to do to keep busy this month, birthdays for one, my father in law just turned 81, my sister and daughter share a birthday, my birthday and my sons as well!

That means it's time for a gathering here at the redneck homestead! 

Fun times, meet my father in law, 81 today, and of course, after I looked at the photos I had taken, who do I see in the background flying the bird? on yes it's cuz Ralphie, what a heathen!

who me? ~ yes, him there on the left, he's the guilty party! Gotta love them, HAR

that's ok, it appears that the santa cake is sticking his tongue out, geesh!

hubbs with his brothers

and yet another brother!

we were missing a sister and brother as one is in Florida and the other had to work, gotta love family gatherings, it's never a sane time when they are together!

Alright - let us talk a bit about my lovely new vintage mixer, I love this thing, I searched and searched for one of the old Hobart Kitchen Aid mixers and after a year I got one, it is awesome!

I know they have those new beautiful colored ones out there, and they are pretty and nice, however I would far rather have the old ones, they hold up and last so much longer, everything was made better back in the day! The gears are actually stronger, not the plastic they use in today's models.

It's pizzelle cookie making time!!

a pizzelle is an Italian wafer like cookie, since the family I married into is pure Italian, well you can guess what this Amish hick learned how to cook, yup, Italian foods, and I am loving every single minute of it let me say!

Pizzelle - Italian wafer cookie

(makes about 2 dozen)

 3 eggs

 3/4 cup white sugar

 1/2 cup butter, melted

 1 tablespoon anise flavoring (can use vanilla, lemon, almond, etc.)

 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

 2 teaspoons baking powder

In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar until thick. Stir in the melted butter and flavoring of your choice.

Sift together the flour and baking powder, and blend into the batter until smooth.

Heat the pizzelle press (I spray with Pam lightly). Drop about one tablespoon of batter onto each circle on the iron.

You may need to experiment with the amount of batter and baking time depending on the iron.

Bake for 20 to 45 seconds, or until steam is no longer coming out of the iron.

Carefully remove cookies from the press.

Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

These make wonderful gifts for family and friends.

yes, my counter top still has not gotten the new laminate job done yet!

I mix up the batter, then my youngest son is the pizzelle master, he loves using the pizzelle press and it's his job every year, if you don't have a pizzelle press/iron, they can easily be purchased at your local Walmart store, at least they used to be available there . . . 

get them wafer cookes made and let them cool, time to sit back and enjoy our own company LOL

after they cool, we store in a huge tupperware cake container, works perfect until its time to package them up for gift giving. My daughter gets that job

What kind of family favorites do you have that you make each year? Would love to hear about them.

Next time I will be back with a hand painted cedar chest, it's a Christmas present for my mother, hubby builds the cedar chest, I paint it, then we clear coat it, we like to make our family gifts each year instead of buying items.

So see you back here next time . . .

Bunnies for meat and a stroll through Historic Schoenbrunn

Today I wanted to show off some of the bunnies from the farm, you all met John the neighbor before, what a critter he is, you just never know what he is going to do or get into! I always find "treasures" on my back porch that he thinks I will like, if it's something he is going to trash, he brings it to my porch instead just in case I want it LOL and Cora knows also that "Laurrie will take it", so she gives John the goods and he drags them over here, gotta love them!

the neighbors! We get our beef and lovely brown eggs from these folks (as well as all those treasures)

and like I said, you just NEVER have a clue what he will drag out of one of his barns or sheds, one day he showed up in our driveway on THIS! all proud as a peacock too LOL

 talk about vintage LOL

I guess you just have to get them out on occasion to keep the beasts running!

 now meet the "meat bunnies" they get HUGE, and are awesome in the freezer, yea I know, they are cute

but they do make some great suppers, at least we know what goes into them, and well, can I just say they are the best bunnies in my opinion :)

We are fortunate enough to live near HISTORIC SCHOENBRUNN VILLAGE

in fact, my husband grew up real close to there, the park was his stomping grounds as a kid and now his brother actually owns a portion of the park area - we call it the family pond, there is an acre old gravel pit pond that we love to go swimming and have gatherings at during the hot summer months!

but for today I will show you the park area at Schoenbrunn, many a family walk has been taken there, family reunions held there too in this pavilion

so pretty and peaceful there (still have picnic tables in there too)

 the grounds used to be covered with picnic tables and little grills, today only one single grill remains, and the grill/grate portion is missing

 it's not used so much anymore and you can rarely find anyone down here, I used to mow this area as a volunteer every Monday :)

 then there is the "wishing well" it doesn't hold water any longer but it's still a gorgeous piece of history

lots of family photos taken around here

We even had a hog roast down here for one of our reunions, plenty of space for all the generations to play and run around, trails to walk and lots of wildlife to see

the road my brother in law made from his pond property over to the park, lovely fall walk :)

Hope you enjoyed your little visit ~ please stop back again soon.