Back to Black

Our Kenmore Elite from Sears has been a problem from day one 3 years ago. So after many months of research, showrooms and calls we ordered our Maytag from Lowes 2.5 hours away. Drove out, picked it up and got busy. Pulled out the old one and installed the new one ourselves.

Cotton doing inventory.

Having a meeting.

Happily working Maytag in black. Never will get stainless steel appliance ever again. Stainless is hard to keep nice looking. Black does not show dirt. As our dishwasher is the most used appliance next to the clothes washer on our farm simplicity and durability is a must. And this Maytag is quieter than our Kenmore. We make all our meals from scratch and the kitchen gets used a lot.

Roasted Strawberry Rolls

I make most of our meals from scratch. While I make many protein, veggie and meat meals making sweets are rare. With only two of us it is a waste. But I needed to make a large quantity for a potluck. After trying out this recipe ,I was happy with the results. I had to test my yeast to make sure it was still viable being the fridge.

The yeast lives! 

Rolled, punched and ready to rise.

These are 2015 frozen strawberries picked/grown by the Amish locally. Ready to be used and very fresh thanks to vac-u-seal.

After roasting the berries in the over I cook them down.

The messy part is rolling them with the berry mix. Here they are rising again before baking.

Very tasty and fresh rolls better than you can believe. Store bought never comes close to this treat. Worth the time, cleanup and effort to make these.

Springfield's Wonders of Wildlife Aquarium

It is about $27 per person to go to this aquarium. But it is big and has lots to see. It does have boring parts whole halls of famous game fishermen and women and their gear, photos and awards, yawn. If you do not sport fish you will not care to see these 3 halls of stuff. But the animals are very cool. Tons of tanks and staff and things to see and do.

They do prattle on about Johnny Morris and all he has done for Bass pro and this Aquarium. I got lectured to from some docent Dr. Bob guy gushing about who Johnny Morris is and all does (he is still alive). Never met the man and never will. I do not care for Bass Pro. Fancy overpriced stuff will not make me fish and shoot better. Can't worship some guy, just wanted to see the beauty of the underwater world he had built. And it is.

It is handicapped accessible through out the place. Elevator and escalator and scooters if you need them. Plenty of bathrooms and eating cafes. It is still under construction but tons to see. Go during the week, hardly any kids and not crowded at all.

Very knowledgeable staff (marine and conservationist biologist) to answer the millions of questions I had about the filtration, tanks and waste management. There are birds, gators, snakes and fish. No labels on most of the small cages nor static displays and the computer pads are slow to refresh the info. Some of the gofer holes for kids were dirty inside but are padded well for cool things to do.

Love the benches and watching the jellyfish.

At the end of the tour you can go and feed and pet the stingray real minnows for $3 a tiny ketchup sample size. But it is fun to do. This was only the aquarium part we saw. There is a whole other part filled with stuffed animals and taxidermy stuff that we did not buy an extra ticket to. We only wanted to see the tanks. We did get to see beaver, bear and birds. There are live penguins but they are in the stuffed animals part of this exhibit. It is pricey but is much better than the aquarium in New Orleans. And after you can go and walk around the Bass Pro if you want to. We got there at 1 and walked at slow speed and left at 4:15. Lots to see, sit, photo opts and things to do. Could have spent all day feeding the stingrays.

Duckling Desertion

About a 26 days ago my Khaki Campbell hen went rouge and hatched out in the tall pasture. She returned with three ducklings in tow. On Saturday she left them out in the pasture and headed for the drakes. The ducklings were wandering around, no mama and no protection. With all the predators we have there were sitting ducks. I threw my hat over them and took them indoors. I had built two brooder boxes long ago out of clear storage bins with hen wire screen lids. I picked up one and it shattered in my hand as plastic degrades over time. The other one is compromised and held together with wire and tape. But it will do for now. It is time to build new ones. Finances and time were factors in neglecting this upgrading task. I had sold off my drakes last year to have a smaller feed bill. This year we got new Indian Runner drakes and a Welsh Harlequin. They got the job done and now we have fertile eggs and ducklings on the farm again.

I did not understand why the mama duck abandoned her ducklings.These were small and thin for their age. One died yesterday in the brooder even with food, heat and water. The other two are eating and drinking and doing very well. Last night a foster banty chicken hen hatched from an abandoned duckling clutch a single duckling. My larger breed chicken do not like ducklings in their nest boxes and will kill them as history has shown me. So the hatchling is now also in the brooder box with the two wild ones. It will be interesting to see the how these turn out as adults. There is a demand for duck eggs these days. My husband enjoys the ducks and I like the clean pond and the eggs. Ducks are also hardier to have on the farm than chickens.