Day 24 - Counting Our Blessings

Sometimes you just know it's going to be a long day.  Today was one of them.  Since I plan to print this Challenge Blog out as a book for my boys when done I plan to break the whole day down in a basic timeline so they know what took place.  But first, I need to count our blessings and say why this morning rather than getting upset we sang a hymn of praise.

1.  No one was hurt.
2.  Other than a few shingles the house wasn't damaged
3.  Everything lost was replaceable or fixable
4.  The livestock and barn kitties were all OK
5.  We have wonderful family and friends that came to help and/or offered support
6.  We had electricity
7.  We didn't lose anything that contributes to our family's livelihood
8.  Just a foot or two change in the direction of the windmill fall we could have lost the cars, part of the house and the electrical power pole
9.  God watches over us and provides for us

2:00 am -- woke up to strobe like lightning off to the north.  I got up and checked the radar and nothing showed up as severe or worrisome so I went back to bed.

About 45 minutes later Alan and I both woke up to sound of terrible winds and heavy rain with possibly some hail mixed in.  Alan went to turn on the TV to check the radar.  I went into the living room and quickly called to Alan to come help.  The storm had sucked our living room window open and the curtains were blowing out the window and rain was coming in.  Alan ran outside to push it shut while I tried to hold it closed and stop the rain pouring in.  Managed to completely smash and skin my finger in the process so someday when the kids ask where I received that scar I'll be able to tell them a great story.  After that we were too awake to go back to bed.  We watched the radar but it still just said heavy rain.  We stayed up and watched out the windows as the wind battered the rain everywhere and the trees bent over in protest.  We knew we had some branches down since we could see them in the front yard but the rain was so heavy and wind so strong we couldn't see far even during lightning strikes.  Finally it settled down enough that we didn't feel we would need to take the boys to the basement.  We read for awhile before finally succumbing to sleep once again.

A little before six, Alan comes in the bedroom and tells me I need to get up and come look outside.  So we go out with the camera and documented all the destruction.  Our old windmill fell down along with the tree that was wrapped in it.  It took out the well house too.  The male and female cherry trees were missing huge limbs.  It looked like they would have to be completely torn down but we did manage to selvage a portion of each.  Talk about my poor fruit trees just being pummeled this year!  The big old maple tree in the front yard had many of the top branches torn out and thrown all over the yard.

Two of the evergreen trees that we transplanted last fall were uprooted.

The garden was laid flat and my summer squash is just missing - ripped completely out of the ground and blown away.  (That's where my zucchini used to be).

The glads flattened; however, luckily enough we had considered putting their support fence up last night but we were just too tired.  Had we done that I truly would have lost them all because I'm afraid that wind would have just snapped them in half over the support wires.  I would rather have them laying flat - better chance of straightening them up.  There were some shingles off the roof of the house and some damage done to the chicken barn's roof.

Finally, we are sure our big, old barn is probably skinnier than it was yesterday.  The metal support in the door is bent up in a V and the North side looks like a large hand pushed it inward.

All in all though we were lucky.  Our neighbors lost a huge chunk of a very large cottonwood tree and their barn (which also threw wood into the side of their nice, new metal shed).  As we took stock; even though it was very early, I called my dad.  Since he hauls machines during detasseling season I figured I better call early in case he was out on a machine run.  One great thing about where he works is that they understand and told him to come help us.

After the boys woke up and ate breakfast we sat a blanket out in the front yard with a bunch of toys and I helped Alan clean up the front yard.  Clark helped too by picking up sticks and raking.  Such a good helper.  As we began work the sound of chainsaws could be heard in town and that was when we knew it must be much more widespread than just our area.

As we were working our friends who live in Ames called to see if we were OK.  This is when we realized Ames had gotten hit hard too.  Their house was OK but there were a lot of trees and limbs down.  Some areas were without electricity.  Unfortunately they lost a large chunk of their exhibition flowers and flowers they use to sell to local florists.  I haven't heard back so I hope they were able to selvage some of their plants.

Dad and mom both came down mid-morning which was a huge help.  Mom helped with the kids and lunch and dad helped with clean-up.  Alan called his dad and he came up to help too bringing along the torch we needed to chop up the old windmill structure.  And my brother and sister-in-law and their family came out to help.  Everyone was such great help - we cannot thank them all enough.  Plus, the cousins got to play together and have some time with grandma and grandpa so that was good too.

Later when we ran to get sweet corn for all the help we had coming around lunch time I saw so much destruction everywhere.  The DeMoss farm where I pick up my sweet corn had lost so many crops.  They figured this morning that most of their popcorn and Indian corn crop is gone (80,000 some ears).

By the end of the afternoon the yard was looking pretty good.  The boys were all snacking on chocolate ice cream cones and we had hauled most of the fallen limbs from the front yard away.  The windmill was all cut into manageable chunks.  We saw our neighbors and their large crew of help had gotten a lot done too.  We were all tired, dirty and hot - but the acreage looked a lot better than it did this morning.  Even some of the plants that had been flattened this morning were starting to look a little perkier.  There is still a lot for Alan and I to clean up but it is a manageable amount.  Tomorrow we need to call the insurance agency regarding some of the damage and try to straighten the pushed over evergreens.

What does this mean for my Iowa State Fair goals.  Well, not that it was important at all on a day like today but, my horticulture and floriculture entries took a huge hit.  Of course this is why I never count on them - it's like counting chickens before the eggs hatch - you never know what will happen in the course of a summer.  I'll just have to try and make up the difference with food entries.

At the end of the long day all I have to say is:  Thank the Lord and sing His praise!  What was bad could have been so much worse and what this day shows is how blessed we truly are; material things can always be replaced or lived without but nothing is as important as the health, love and camaraderie of loved ones.

Day 25 - Corn Relish

Started out the day in the garden this morning (before it became unbearably hot).  There are probably enough beans that we could pick some for lunch tomorrow.  Lots of green tomatoes but nothing turning colors yet.

After gardening (and a cold shower) went down in the basement to work on some sewing projects.  Cut my new fabric for the tote bag so it's ready to sew.

We bought some sweet corn from the DeMoss farm just a couple miles away.  It was such good looking sweet corn and tasted as good as it looked.

Bought 3 dozen ears so I could also make up some corn relish.  Aside from waiting for large pots of water to boil it went pretty fast.  And it looks so pretty.  Great colors for a family of ISU fans!  We always liked the corn relish at the Huber Farm (near Louisville) so thought we would try some of our own.  Since our sweet corn will probably end up being ready during the Iowa State Fair I figured this may be the best way to get some put up early.

Note: if you have been waiting for me to update my list I worked on it today.  I wiped out the old list and started fresh.  This list includes ONLY those items that are complete.  In the case of the pies I consider if I have the filling made that counts since that is the more time consuming issue.  I realize now that I should have been preparing my food entry tags as I go.  The recipe cards that attach to the tags always seem to take forever.  With so many food items it may have been smarter to type them as I go.  I will start that from this point on.  So 45 items done!  Almost half way there!  Don't worry when I start baking bread that 1st week of August the tally will start jumping pretty fast.

Day 26 - Let the Garden Grow!

As much as I am not a fan of hot weather - as an agronomist I appreciate what it does for plants.  At this point my garden is going nuts.  Case in point:

This is a view of our back yard - full of vines.  I am not sure how many there are but they have completely taken over the new landscaping I put in this spring.  Actually they are providing some nice shade to some of my delicate new landscape plants.

I always loved how our neighbor down the road when I was growing up incorporated vines around the farmyard - just where ever.  I think it's fun and if you have the space - why not?

After picking up my new computer this afternoon (yay!) I ran to the quilt shop to pick out some fabric to make a totebag.  The woman who helped me was so good.  She helped me find exactly what I was looking for to go with my vintage 1960's fabric.  Can you pick it out?

Fabric I found in my mom's stash at some point.  She thinks they were old curtains - makes sense because I have a lot of it.  You should know mom, the lady in the quilt store said this type of fabric is making quite a comeback right now - it's in again!  Why I love shopping at the quilt store - got some fabulous ideas I might not have thought of on my own.  Like fussy cutting the floral print for the inside pockets - making flower pockets.  How cool is that?  Washing the fabric now to work on tomorrow.

This morning at the library I picked up some books on baking as well as a book on finishing off my crib quilt.  I am just a nervous wreck when it comes to finishing it off.  I think I found an idea I'd like to try - hopefully I can get it finished yet this week.  This week is going to be a little nuts.  Alan and I will be cleaning like mad since IPTV will be out on Friday to do some taping.  Luckily they want to tape Alan too so less pressure on me and my entries.  Although if I'm doing beans Friday than that's what I'll be doing regardless of who is coming.  I am quite sure the beans will be ready to go this week.

Finally - here is Grant signing off for the evening!  He loves to snuggle with his bears when it's time for bed.  Have to catch the moments while I have them since they grow up way too fast!

Day 27 - Practicing with Pie for Charity

Last night I made up enough pie crust dough for 3 double crust pies.  Clark and Grant as normal helped.  Clark is good with a whisk along with dumping pre-measured materials into the bowl.  Grant's just happy with any type of spoon and a bowl to play with as he watches.  I made a peach, cherry and blueberry pie.  Here's how they looked:

I decided not to take the peach.  This was an experiment to see how a frozen pie filling (made last fall) would work in the crust.  The crust seemed a little soggy on the bottom and it fell over one side so I left it home.  Wow - was it yummy! Clark, Grant and I all had a slice for snack today - but the bottom crust was a little soggy.  As much as I'd like to think my filling is spectacular I must give the credit to the peaches.  Faye Alberta peaches (they should be coming into Fareway soon) are the absolute best and the only peaches I use for canning or baking.  They are a specific canning peach.  My great-aunt Helen who was a most marvelous baker herself (I'm told) once told me I made the best canned peaches (which was quite a compliment).  I still say it's the peaches that make the difference.

Back to the Charity Auction Pies:
Also made a cherry pie.  I started experimenting with using an egg wash on the crust.  The cherry pie just looks yummy.  It brought $60.00 on the auction.

And a blueberry pie.  I had to take a picture before I messed it up of the stars all neatly laid out.  Amazingly even after baking they held their shape and looked good!  So this was an experiment in using cookie cutters and adding some sparkling sugar.  This pie brought $40.00 on the auction but I got the pie plate back since the golfers ate it with their supper.  Sweet!

Here are some photos of the family outing at the event:

So, my son rather than wanting to spend time looking at the HUGE private collection of classic cars wanted so badly to go out and look at the fountains.

Spent some time exploring the sand trap.

Parking the golf cart back with the rest.

Finally, a bit about yogurt.  Grant will dip anything in yogurt - anything!  Pizza, veggies, fruit, bread.  He is also capable of getting it everywhere.  That said for his age he is also very good at getting a lot of it to his mouth when he wants to.  Clark on the other hand wants it in little parfait or sherbet cups so he can call it ice cream. Hey, it works.

Days 29 & 28 - Slowly Crankin' Away

The past two days have been spent mostly just working on odds and ends; here and there.  Worked out in the garden a little each day.  The herbs are looking very nice.  The pumpkins have completely taken over the back yard.  These would be the pumpkins that came up from seed left over from rotted out 2009 pumpkins.  And the gourd seeds that Clark scattered everywhere by taking a hammer to the old gourds around the yard earlier this spring (this was a hoot to watch).  My rule of thumb is - if they aren't completely in the way they can stay.  Often these do better than the ones in my garden anyway.  Case in point - as I looked over my summer squash collection today I realized almost every single one has a European corn borer bored into the stem.  Arghh - I detest those things!  I may have done a science fair project on them that won me great honors back in the day but it doesn't mean I like them!

The beans are coming along nicely - have some little baby beans on most of the plants.  The dahlias are coming along; although there seems no way they'll be big enough by the ISF.  My glads are doing fine - other than the grasshoppers that are putting LARGE HOLES in them.  I even have some lovely little baby glads that  actually overwintered from last year's crop.  I am looking forward to seeing how they do.  The egg plant and marigolds I planted last week - eaten.  As a person that holds a degree in entomology from ISU you would think my garden would be less over ridden with bugs.  Ahh, now that I have kids that like to frequent the garden my spraying days have taken a back seat to trying to do it with as few chemicals as possible.  Which for exhibition flowers and veggies isn't always the greatest thing but not everything is about competition.

Today I actually completely finished one of my sewing projects.  Today was a good day to spend with the boys in much cooler basement.  I have decided sewing is somewhat like home improvement.  It's easy to get the big picture thing done to the point where a project looks OK to good; but the finishing takes the longest to accomplish.  At least this is my issue (with both).  I have so many projects sitting here just waiting to be finished - a little hand sewing here, a little trimming and seam finishing there.

This apron that before children would have taken me 2 - 3 hours ended up taking 2-3 days (In 15 - 20 minute increments here and there).  Oh well, it is finished and I think it is so cute.  Can't wait to wear it after the fair.  Which this sums up why I wanted to enter Fabrics and Threads - to actually finish some projects that quite frankly have been on the sewing bench for years!

Look - completely reversible!

Today Clark was in the sewing room with me watching the machine.  He told me that he was older today.  I told him he was right but the light didn't click on right away.  I realized I had told him when he was older I would teach him how to use the sewing machine.  I had to explain I mean when he is 5 or 6 I will teach him how to use the sewing machine.  This was disappointing news so I told him maybe we could do some hand sewing with yarn.  Tonight I need to make up some little card stock animals and punch holes in them to make sewing cards he can lace with yarn.  I'll do that while waiting for my pies to bake.  These are charity auction pies for tomorrow - more on that in tomorrow's post.

Day 30 - Sew, Sew Day

Ever since Alan took Clark to the Star Wars Concert I get to listen to various renditions throughout the day as Clark sings them.  He and Grant also like to play with their light sabers.  Grant actually gets it now and will hold his light saber up for Clark to clash his against.  Such fun!

Today, since it was dark, dreary and rainy for a large chunk of the morning the boys decided to play in the basement.  While they played I worked on some sewing.  Lots of projects nearly completed, just need the time to finish them off.  When Grant went down for his morning nap Clark came in the sewing room and asked if he could help me.  I told him in a couple years I would teach him how to use the sewing machine but he wasn't old enough right now.  He stayed and watched and asked a million questions about what I was doing, what the machine was doing, what the various parts were named - ahh - 3 year olds.

Day 31 - Pie!

Today Alan decided he wanted pork burgers with onion hamburger buns.  These buns did win a blue ribbon at the 2009 ISF.  He sauteed the onions and I put them together.  However, I forgot the original recipe calls for only 9 rolls but I should have made 12.  The nine rolls are just too big (even for my husbands burgers).  Mmm - but they are so tasty.

I also wanted to test out a bread machine I found at a sale.  It didn't cost much and sometimes it helps to have an extra when I want to do a couple different breads at the same time.  Note:  my bread machine is almost always set on the dough cycle - for those of you who think I cheat by using the bread machine.  I rarely ever bake the bread in the machine.  However, if you want a consistent place to do the first rise nothing beats the machine - especially in humidity.  King Arthur Flour actually recommends the dough cycle to start many of their breads (or puts it as an option in their recipes) to keep consistency.  I could tell it was humid as I had to add an extra tablespoon of flour to each recipe to keep it from being too sticky.  I should have backed off on the liquid but forgot some of my summer bread lessons.  The used machine worked very well so it will be a nice backup on days I want to have a couple things going at once.  Nothing beats the machine mom and dad gave me for Christmas.  It has a permanent counter space.

On Saturday as mom and I were doing some research we also realized that I messed up on my canned pie fillings.  Drat.  I used instant Clear Jel rather than regular Clear Jel.  This is why you should read and re-read instructions.  So, the viscosity is not what is recommended by the USDA for home processing.  I decided I should probably dump it into pie plates and flash freeze than put into freezer bags and freeze.  Wanted to try a cherry pie just to see how it would taste.  I love making pie filling but the crust has always been an issue for me.  I was so happy - the crust recipe I tried turned out perfect!  Plus, I ended up having enough crust left over to make a quiche as well.  The cherry pie and the quiche were both delicious!

Keeping the boys awake took some doing.  We parked at a park where we could watch the fireworks.  The boys played on the playground and we took a walk to look at the river on the trails.  Finally, we sat down to watch the fireworks.  Grant at first kept jumping with the loud booms.  Alan put his hands over Grant's ears and then he just sat and stared at the fireworks pointing to his favorites every now and again.  This made for a very late night but the boys seemed to enjoy the show!

Day 33 & 32 - ISF Bust

Friday and Saturday were pretty much a bust as far as working on any Iowa State Fair entries.

The bugs have been so horrible it's impossible to take Clark outside with me now.  Even with lots of bug spray on he gets eaten.  His poor face on Friday looked like he had a pox of some kind.  His ears were all swollen again too.  So, we went to the library where Clark found two new little friends to play with.  Usually he has a long warm-up period with people but he dove right in to playing blocks and talking to these boys.  And it was the first time in public he told mom to go away he wanted to play with these "guys."

Saturday a friend and I headed out to some garage sales on our way to Bondurant for an auction.  Again - bust! We didn't find anything.  Actually, my friend went to the auction specifically to bid on some piano rolls for her and her husband's player piano.  Unfortunately the rolls were sold with the piano instead of separately as advertised so her time at the auction was rather all for naught.  However, we did have a fabulous picnic lunch under the shade of a tree with the most awesome view.  You could see for miles and miles.  Plus, just spending the day catching up and talking made it all worthwhile.

Alan met us at the auction and he and I headed to a wedding.  It was a beautiful ceremony.  Many thanks to my mom who watched the boys for us so we could drive to western Iowa.  First time without our boys for that long a period of time in a long time.  We decided to try to make it back in time to take Clark to the fireworks display that had been postponed the previous week due to rain.  When we got home we realized I had misread the date and the fireworks were on Sunday.  Yet another bust!  Oh well, we put Clark to bed with promises of fireworks the next night.

Mom brought along her equipment to test the pressure canner.  It tested almost perfect so I'm good to go when those beans are ready.  We braved the bugs to go check out my garden before full dark hit.  Something is eating the leaves on my sweet potato plants - probably the woodchuck and some of my beans have a fungus type look to the leaves.  However, only a few plants so hopefully the rest are OK.  I may need to just pull those that look sick and destroy them away from the garden.

After garden discussion, mom and I worked on some family ancestry.  Mom has been able to find family records on her side back to the 1700's.  We are working on figuring out how to merge our two trees.  However, my version was so old I ended up ordering the newest version of the software.  My tree is pretty complete on my side and my father-in-law has done a lot of work on that side of the family as well.  Hopefully  this means my children will have a well put together family tree.  I should talk to some of my older cousins though because a number of them worked with our Grandma Clark to get most of the history in that direction (I think I still have some holes to fill in along that branch).

That concludes Friday and Saturday - I guess this means Sunday will have to do double duty.

Day 34 - Fondant = Play-doh for Adults

Ah - play-doh; that wonderful substance that keeps kids occupied for long stretches of time.  This week Clark has been in a play-doh mood.  Awhile back we had found a big bag of play-doh accessories at a garage sale and he wanted to dig in and use them today.  His brother just enjoyed watching and stacking the various containers.

The more I watched Clark play I realized that this is pretty much just like working with fondant.  Slightly less sticky and one isn't edible (well, at least it's not recommended for eating and the other I consider a poor frosting substitute also not really edible).  Really, you roll it out and cut it into lots of shapes or mold them by hand or using molds (see - you don't know if I mean play-doh or fondant here).  Clark wanted me to watch him cut out letters and play with him so I figured this would be a great way for me to practice some of the things I would like to do for my decorated cakes.

Look at that corn!  Yes, it is fondant.  I have been struggling with trying to figure out how to make realistic ears of corn for one of my cake ideas.  Ta da!  That was well worth practicing to see if it would work.  I did a few peas too just for fun.  

Next I decided to try doing some hand sculpting.  I was so happy when my husband came home and said, "Nice pig!"  Ha - he knew what it was (I'm no artist)!  Grant liked the pig too.  This is actually done out of play-doh.  I also sculpted a cardinal but didn't get any pictures.  (The things on his sides are where I was experimenting with spots - in case you thought my play-doh pig had some weird disease or something).

Alright - it's time to tint some fondant and get to work on cake decorations.  Picked up the new 2011 Wilton Yearbook last night and read it cover to cover.  I get so excited when the new ones come out.  What's great is I have always admired the beautiful tiered cakes but never have a reason to try them myself.  This is why I am so very excited to try the decorated cakes class for the first time this year!  Even if none of my cakes are displayed I'll have had lots of fun (after all the fair theme is Non-Stop Fun)!  Just like a kid playing with their play-doh!

Day 35 - Banana Nut Bread: Parts 1 & 2

I have long been on a quest to find the perfect banana nut bread.  On Wednesday I thought I had found the recipe but then it ended up looking like this:

[sigh] - both loaves sunk and pockmarked; not pretty.  They were tasty though.  So, on Thursday I decided I was going to make up my own unique recipe.  Having been baking banana bread on a fairly regular basis for a couple years now I think I understand how the dry to liquid chemistry works.  So, I put together my own recipe using my own ratios and favorite ingredients.  This is the first time I have ever so completely just developed my own recipe.  I often merge recipes or update older, more traditional recipes but this was quite a step.  And this is what it looked like:

Both loaves a beautiful golden brown, lovely crack down the center of a nice rounded middle - awesome.  Now, I am going to just assume that it tastes good (yes, I know what assuming can do - this is where confidence in my scientific skills will either make or break me).  I think a large part of my love for baking is the science - I love science and have a very analytical brain so baking suits me well.  Anyway, I froze both loaves and this is what my family gets to see when they open the freezer:

I am a firm believer in having a back up ready just in case.  Plus, there are other classes the second one could fit in.  Those of you that know I have a decent non-nut banana bread recipe are asking yourselves why not use that recipe with NUTS?  OK, I could do that but then I have the exact same recipe in the same division (just 2 different classes).  I don't think that's a good idea.  Plus, I don't like my regular banana bread with nuts added.

Today for afternoon snack Clark was eating some trail mix and Grant was finishing off his banana nut bread that was left over from breakfast.  Clark asked me for some banana bread too.  I had to tell him it was all gone.  I quickly realized my mistake; "but mommy there are two sitting there."  I told him he was right but those weren't ready yet.  "Oh, OK mommy!"  Technically not a lie since banana bread should rest 12 hours before cutting and secondly they won't be ready to eat until after the state fair.  If he would have pushed it I still had the second loaf from Wednesday in the freezer.  Yet again, whether the judges like it or not my boys approve and that's what matters!

Alan snapped this bottom shot on Tuesday evening.  In the evening I like to work on a little needlepoint before bed.  As you can see our cat Jack likes to "help."  Look at the concentration.  Yeah - actually he was chasing the needle as I pulled it up through the fabric.  He was told to lay down or go elsewhere.  Lazy cat that he is he chose to lay on my feet.