Oddities and I'm not talking family pictures

At times here on Buhlaland - strange things appear. Apparently these fruits of galls are an incubator/hatchery for a wasp of some kind. I am curious about the whats and whys - my fanciful name for this oddity was Oak Tree Limes. They are about the size of a lime and certainly a lime color. When you pull one open it is filled with strange tissue. I didn't find a larva supposedly inside each one (and I didn't mind not finding a wormy thing - trust me - it is not my goal in life to find more yucky stuff) but I'll take the word of various internet experts. Just thought y'all might need something weird in your life today - if not - chalk this up to my having a computer and a camera and a little too much time this week.

Psalm 146:5-6 (New International Version)
5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,
6 the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them— the LORD, who remains faithful forever.

We might find or even do odd things here on Buhlaland but being one of those whose help is the God of Jacob - it is GOOD.

What it looks like on a Sunday in March

Welcome my friends to Buhlaland - a small bit of Texas and on days like this a preview of how heaven would be (for me at least). The wildflower is called a breadroot - apparently used by native peoples as a food source. The steers are in one of the pastures adjoining our property. The pansy basket is flowering with plants from last fall - enjoying the cold morning we had!

First rose of 2009 in our yard - a tiny blossom of our Jacob's Coat climber rose. Our silly Ellie goat - stuck in the fence - the goats do that a lot during the spring, things just look so tasty on the other side of a fence.

You didn't think I'd fail to put up some peeps pics - the one I'm holding already has wing feathers showing up - ah the babies grow up quickly. The peeps are out in their coop and I'm SOOOO glad. It was a good day on Buhlaland - fine worship at church today, delicious pancakes and sausage, some work completed around here and a very quiet day.

No chicks were harmed in the making of this blog post

As a bitter cold front was blowing in from the west (such timing huh?) we went to the feed store and picked up eight chicks constituting our new poultry endeavor. IF all eight survive and are definitely hens----long digression here --guy at feed store kept telling me only 90% guarantee of pullets - but these are sex linked chickens and the males are a different color at hatch - doesn't matter says he - only guarantee 90% will be hens - alrighty then back to our story. IF they meet the above mentioned requirements - in 4 or 5 months we should be getting a minimum of 28 eggs a week. Woo Hoo!They are peeping,pooing and generally making a royal mess in the small bathroom off our laundry room. We were going to start chicks in nice enclosure we put in our new coop but temps were dropping so drastically we chose to keep them in the house until spring returns. (according to the weather gurus that'll be late Sunday afternoon).

I'm big lately on better safe than - well better safe than most anything else I guess. No shark feeding,bull fighting, base jumping, sky divers in this household - life has enough challenges if you do it right!

The weird colored picture is the chicks ensconced in their temporary home with a red heat lamp.

No little peepers were injured when Conan decided to check the chicks. After sniffing and licking - he moved smoothly on to teeth closing over a chick but responded instantly to a Drop It command. Poor fellow - he thought we'd provided animated new toys!
No doubt I'll do more pictures of the peepers - I'm grateful for new lives and potential here on Buhlaland - oh yeah - and I'm really grateful for a recently refilled propane tank 'cause it is COLD here today! The cold weather won't last long but feels all the more painful after recent lovely days. This too shall pass (kind of like a kidney stone at the moment - painful in the process but OH how nice it will feel once it's gone!) It is still very good on Buhlaland - peep peep peeeeeeeppppp.

Delays,Delovely,Delightful

Today was marked on our calendars as "CHICK DAY" - well this chick has had a good day but didn't get any peeps. Feed store said there was a Delay. The Rojo Casita awaits our 8 Golden Comet pullets.

This morning was foggy and overcast, seemed primeval (if primeval could include hearing a radio playing in some neighbor's barn). The goats grumbled a bit about damp grounds and wet nibbles.

I went out early with my camera while things were still drippy and the humidity was 102%. Macro setting for the newly budded out oak leaves and lichen and maybe mosses (I'm not good on flora/ fauna) on trunks of other oak trees.

Psalm 117
1 Praise the Lord, all you nations. Praise him, all you people of the earth. 2 For he loves us with unfailing love; the Lord’s faithfulness endures forever.
Praise the Lord!

It has been a delaying, delovely, delightful day on Buhlaland - pretty cool huh?

You know how things can totally blindside you?

I was hammered emotionally Monday- am better today but still dealing with sadness and not a little anger. Our sweet new dog, Zoe, has been diagnosed with heartworm disease, a parasitism of the heart. She will begin treatment on Friday and I'm trusting the Lord we will continue to have sufficient additional income as we go along with her series of hospitalizations and medications.

Pictures of Zoe all matted and dirty to recent "shaved down" look. Third picture is Zoe and her constant companion - our dear little Conan - teaming up to terrorize the goat kids. If you live in an area where heartworm is a possibility,please keep your dogs on heartworm preventative and don't adopt a pet who is not tested. I'm upset with the Weatherford/Parker County Animal Shelter - they place dogs and microchip as well as neuter/spay but do NOT test for heartworm. Through their practices they actually increase the heartworm problem - a heartLESS practice. Our options were to take her back (to be euthanized or placed with another unsuspecting family), go through a costly and painful treatment series, or do nothing and allow her to be sick and probably infect other animals (through mosquito bites - the only way the disease is spread). So our joy with sweet little (chewer of everything she finds) Zoe has been tempered a bit with the diagnosis. Anyhow - that's how it is on Buhlaland today and we'll be OK. We're believing Zoe will survive treatments (we have an excellent if sometimes grouchy veterinarian) and hoping I'll finally learn not to fall in love with something/someone without full disclosure on their side huh? It is springtime, overcast and a turkey in the roaster here on Buhlaland and it is good. I hate to be gloomy on my blog - we all have challenges and most readers have bigger issues than sick dogs, but once again I have to say - it's my blog and I'll cry if I want to (remember Leslie Gore?) Not crying today, working and best get back at it - there are strange things accumulating in my closet and they are about to be exposed to the light of day!

New Blog on List

I added this blog tonight after reading about Deborah Drapper on the Rebelution website. If you have wonderful kids - read her blog and smile about meeting another wonderful kid. If you don't have wonderful kids - read her blog and maybe you'll find inspiration to pursue new ways of communication. I appreciate the Rebelution motto "Do Hard Things" and Deborah Drapper definitely does hard things with enthusiasm. Besides - she posts pictures of her family animals-- bunnies and goats --- you cannot go wrong with goat pictures in my book!

I've noticed a pattern

I perused (don't you love that word - peruse - sounds smarter than looked at stuff) my blog archives to determine whether we'd enjoyed this yumo cookie bar previously. You'll be pleased to know it's more than likely new to you. I was struck (no! not by lightning or a baseball bat ) by the number of recipes I make using oatmeal - I must be a real Quaker Oats kinda person.

These cookie bars taste a little like cream pie without the meringue topping (Oh I know some of you out there put whipped cream toppings on cream pies - but I'm from the part of Texas known as meringue country.(may also be known as the home of malarkey from Linda Sue).

Original recipe (which featured Craisins) was from Betty Crocker recipes online.

Sour Cream Cookie Bars

preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. one cup butter, softened



2. one cup packed brown sugar



3. two cups quick-cooking oats



4. one and one half cups all purpose flour



5. one teaspoon baking soda



6. one and one half cups shredded coconut



7. one 20 oz can pineapple tidbits, well drained



8. one cup sour cream



9. three fourths cup (3/4) granulated sugar



10. two tablespoons all purpose flour



11. two teaspoons vanilla



12. one egg

Mix the butter and brown sugar in bowl of mixer, add oats, 1 1/2 cups of flour and baking soda until the mixture is crumbly. Press half of the mixture in a 13X9X2 inch pan (don't grease it)

Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Mix remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Pour over baked crust. Crumble remaining oat mixture over filling.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until top is golden brown and filling well set. Cool completely (yeah right - we dug into them within 5 minutes of them coming out of the oven!).

After the bars sit for a while the flavors mingle better. If you are anti coconut or a pineapple hater - this will work with dried fruit (think craisins, raisins, chopped dried apricots) or very well drained canned fruit. Recipe is easily halved for those with smaller appetites, smaller pans or smaller need for indulgence.

The pattern of oat use will probably continue - I like the crunchy goodness of oatmeal in lots of recipes.

In the spirit of full disclosure - I made corned beef hash for lunch using leftover corned beef from St. Patrick's Day. It was delicious, just shredded potatoes and shredded corned beef - cooked to crispy goodness. The picture I took looked absolutely repulsive! So think corned beef hash - good to eat not to photograph. Don't add a lot to the two ingredients - if your corned beef was well seasoned it'll flavor the hash just right.

Beautiful spring day here - DH finished wiring the chicken coop, put in perches/roosts and I think we are ready for the chicks! It is good on Buhlaland - full, tired and blessed beyond belief.

There is no particular reason for posting this picture of a goat kid we call Bandit - except he is very cute and cuteness counts!

Busy week

If you look at my blog activity you'd think I was missing in action. I didn't go missing but we were in action a lot this week.

Strange how it can be - at this very moment - Friday night. It was just Monday morning a few hours ago wasn't it? What did we do in the 5 days since Monday?

We started building a chicken coop. DH pulled our truck in the backyard with load of building materials. First you see the new nifty JawHorse holding the first post for le coop deluxe. We are nearly done - today (Friday) DH dug the trench for wiring so the coop will have electricity. No - we aren't putting a tv and sound system in - just going to have a light inside.

Chicks are supposed to show up on the 26th - getting excited about the new critters for Buhlaland.

We also took several walks in the pastures - enjoying all the new growth since our nice rains last week. Fun seeing tiny oak leaves opening up.

Columbines are coming up - yep it is spring and busy here on Buhlaland. I plan to do some cooking this weekend and will post recipes if it turns out well. Maybe I'll post the recipe even if it is yucky as a warning huh? Working on my menu for Easter Sunday -not far off now.

Time is such a tricky concept - it seems we have so much of it - 24 hours,7 day weeks, 365 day years - a life time span of maybe 80 years?

2 Corinthians 4:16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Didn't want you to think I was totally MIA - even though all this is temporary we still have to work at useful activities toward the time when time is no more.

Velvety Ears and Sweet Faces

A caprine loving blog buddy over at Dirt's Place requested pictures of nubian goat floppy ears. I didn't get a good shot of several kids running at one time but here's ears just for you Lanny! We have healthy baby goats on Buhlaland and that is good.

Return of a welcome visitor

You may recall the bathtub inspector who gives joy to our hearts and smiles all around. His mom (also know as chauffeur/playdate scheduler) said he liked baby goats at the stock show last month but didn't enjoy the crowds and noise. We have lots of baby goats, no crowds and not much noise so he was invited to Buhlaland to mingle with baby goats. The goat mingling didn't last too long - Crybaby checked on little boy fingers to see if they were edible. Mom had to take his hand and suggest other things to do (not heading in best direction at that moment) and he felt she wasn't correct. He spied the dwarf peach tree in full bloom and became the peach tree inspector. He also discovered - when you pull OFF the little flowers - they won't stick back ON no matter how you hold your mouth. Oh well - no problem - throw down the flowers (and ignore Mom and that other woman who are laughing for no apparent reason) and keep on running - places to go and things to do!

We love having visitors on Buhlaland and our inspector of bathtubs, goat babies and peach trees is welcome any time!

Psalm 127:3 Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him.

Feeling a little Hungry?

Millions of people in our world are hungry and it isn't a matter of going to the store to replenish the pantry. Today(March 11, 2009) is a day of emphasis by Compassion International about the global food crisis.

"What is the global food crisis?
The World Food Programme calls the global food crisis a phenomenon, a "silent tsunami," that is affecting families in every nation on every continent. Food prices for popular menu items like rice, wheat and beans have doubled in the last year. Though increases in food prices have hit all budgets, it's the poor who bear the brunt of price inflation. The higher prices are forcing people who survive on just $1 a day to spend upwards of 80 percent of their budgets just on food. As a result, many people, including millions of children, are going hungry. The longer food prices rise, the more people will be plunged into hunger and poverty.
Why is the global food crisis happening?
Food shortages have affected developing countries for generations. It's a cyclical problem. But this global food crisis is more rapid, urgent and devastating. Since 2005, food prices have risen a whopping 80 percent.

• Why?
  *rising fuel costs
  *rising food demand from populous nations like India and China
  *natural disasters destroying crop yields all over the world, including the United States
  *growth of biofuels."

An editorial comment of mine and certainly not to be attributed to Compassion International - the issue of biofuels is concerning because many people think it is very "green" to use biofuels in their vehicles. My understanding of the commercial production of biofuels is the costs are not low to make the fuel and clearly it takes more production out of the world food supply. My prejudices are showing- but in my mind the survival of human beings (created in God's image beings) is a great deal more important than nifty car fuels. Not being foolish about wasting fossil fuels is a good thing. Using food to fuel a vehicle to drive to church to pray for the poor and downtrodden isn't exactly the highest and best use of resources. Please read and pray about the issue and respond according to your finances and heart --

"James 1:27 (New International Version)
27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Interesting wording, being polluted by the world. I believe true religion is following the teaching of our God and Savior as closely as we are able. Are we able to feed orphans and widows and millions of our brothers and sisters with a few dollars? Yes - because $5 from each of us can become tons of rice, cooking oil and seed to plant for a future harvest. Try it - you will like it! Better to be labeled a fool for Christ than be wise in man's eyes. We are well fed and content on Buhlaland - why are we so blessed?

Sniff, sigh, repeat

Song of Solomon 2:13 (New Living Translation)
13 The fig trees are forming young fruit, and the fragrant grapevines are blossoming. Rise up, my darling! Come away with me, my fair one!”

Fig leaves - hooray the fig tree we planted last fall came through the cold winter without freezing back to the ground. With our warm weather there will be fruit this year - I'm optimistic and excited to find our first figgy fruit.We have wild plums around here - they aren't good to eat (unless you are desperate for a really sour tiny piece of fruit or a bird). In the spring for just a short time the fragrance of these plum blossoms floats on the air - even standing in our goat pens (which are fragrant in a WHOLE different way) I can almost taste the smell. Once the blooming time is over the trees seem to fade into the background of our wooded areas.

It smells good on Buhlaland - Spring is a renewing blessing God - thank you!

Gardening the Buhlaland Method

Our container gardening experiment - I brought it up a couple of times recently. Despite having abundant water and space, I'm going to try to grow a few veggies and flowers in containers located just outside our breakfast room windows. The theory behind this --I'll actually water appropriately, tend to insect infestations and pull out any weeds which dare to appear in our store bought soil! I'm good on knowing theory and we'll see in the months to come whether I'm OK with practice of theory. The little building which appears to be a dog house is actually our well head - unfortunately for us the water well guy located and dug our water well BEFORE the foundation of our house was in place and put it far too close. Anyhow

Today DH and I put little pieces of screening over the drainage holes he put in our large plastic containers, then put in bags of potting soil mixed with bags of humus. Didn't get much further on the project - because it was about 86 degrees out there! Woo Hoo.

I plan on putting larger tomato plants in the round galvanized containers .Looks quite orderly now - I'm sure I can fix that in a short time!

What will we plant? Why seedlings from my "not so greenhouse" - started indoors under lights then moved to our porch outside master bedroom area. I repotted some last night because their roots were coming through the little starter cubes already. Now leaving them on the porch day and night so they will harden off before putting in the big containers.

Nothing too exciting on Buhlaland today (thank you Lord) - you know I couldn't leave you without a cute goat kids picture.

The End - (or ends as the picture clearly shows!)

It is spring on Buhlaland and I'm lovin' it!

Peachy Keen

I'm not a great gardener - I like to garden and my favorite part of gardening would be watering my garden on warm summer mornings. We would be hard pressed to survive on what I am able to harvest from my gardening endeavors. When we first moved onto Buhlaland we industriously planted an "orchard" - 5 or 6 fruit trees guaranteed to be good for this area. The peach blossom you are seeing ---- is not from one of those trees.
Our little orchard was stone cold dead in less than 12 months - I'd picked a spot with clay in the soil, easy access for deer (who like to nibble tender young trees ----to death!) and difficult to keep watered sufficiently. DH dug a trench and ran a water line up to the orchard but it was a case of too little too late.
Being an optimistic soul by choice and inclination - I blew another thirty dollars on a genetic dwarf peach tree. It is an itty bitty thing, but has made it through a winter in our yard and actually has the appearance of being alive in a thriving sense of the word.
well WOO HOOO! If we harvest this year from the tiny twig looking peach tree - they will be the most expensive peaches we have ever eaten. Hope they taste great! It is drought level dry around North Texas right now so I'm thinking, hoping, praying rain. Rain encouragement will extend to washing cars today and making plans to be outside Sunday - do you think my program will work?

Very quiet worship video - I love the words - here on Buhlaland it is good when it rains down - we are asking for physical and spiritual showers.

Sprung or is it Spring?

I can tell when y'all are not paying attention to my ramblings because nobody told me the link to Conversion Diaries was not working! SORRY - it is a wonderful post about being grateful in the midst of our normally ungrateful business. As Chuck Swindoll sometimes prays over his congregation "dear Lord please make us all humbly grateful instead of grumbly hateful". Amen ( read a paraphrase of the word amen in scripture and it was Yes! Absolutely! - you can see how much I like exclamation points so it appealed greatly to moi! Amen )

I'm not sure if I'm sprung (as in my wires are sticking out all over like a cyborg badly assembled) or it is spring and I am simply working through spring (and hay) fever! The tiny star shaped wildflowers are wild onions. I'm grateful to live in a time we can buy Vidalias, Texas Super Sweet or Maui sweet onions - 'cause these little boogers taste more like bad garlic than onion. (Yes I've tried them). The other looks very like a chamomile but I'm too lazy to look it up in my Wildflowers of Texas guidebook. Speaking of my lazybones ------

Sorry I've been AWOL - actually more AWLYK (absent without letting y'all know). Just nothing worth saying past week - my life is still busy, I do laundry, make meals, run errands, go to bible study and answer emails. To my mind there hasn't been something particularly inspiring about which to blog. Yes I hated the way The Bachelor show turned out for so many reasons but didn't feel compelled to push my thoughts upon you. American Idol is boring my hiney - where do all these borderline psychotics hide during the day? Kindness - no thanks I'll just be snarky about damaged and unhappy young people trying to pursue their craft. See - I'm not a worthy vessel recently.

The verse upon which I'm meditating in two different wordings.

Proverbs 3:5-8 (New Living Translation)
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.

6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.
7 Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. 8 Then you will have healing for your body and strength for your bones.

Proverbs 3:5-8 (The Message)
5-12 Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don't try to figure out everything on your own.Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he's the one who will keep you on track.Don't assume that you know it all. Run to God! Run from evil!Your body will glow with health, your very bones will vibrate with life!

I need to seek God's will and not pay attention to the junk I've piled up in my brain storage compartment. In lifetimes past (seems each of the 4 reinventions of Linda Sue started me over from nearly zero) I relied on what I knew - I was smart even educated but lacking wisdom. I certainly did not seek God's will. Bruised and battered - weakening in my bones - hmmm sounds SO familiar. Being still and knowing He is God is a big change for me. Since I've been with DH my hearing isn't as good as it used to be (so watch out all you kids - that rock music will ruin yer hearing - oops - the weird old lady slipped out again!) I mean my spiritual hearing wasn't good and we've worked together on my hearing aids. I spend more time in the bible and prayer and less time being "amused". Hard to believe that last statement when I babbled on about TV shows isn't it? We don't "go to movies", we do rent DVDs, we don't have cable or satellite TV but we do own an HDTV (in full disclosure - two HDTVs), we have many books and we spend a great deal of time outside. So am I justifying what I do for entertainment? Not really 'cause I'm OK with both the amount of time spent and the pursuits. Back off the rabbit trail to the topic at hand ----- if only I recall -------Oh yeah - loving the Lord and seeking His will.

SO - what does all this malarkey and ten cents buy you? not a thing. I'm rambling on about my hesitation to blog. You stalwarts who have waded through my mishmash of thought can grasp WHY I didn't blog for a week now. I have been reading blogs, not commenting as much as usual, and visiting bloggers I haven't seen for a long while. I recommended this blogger back on Valentine's Day and she has moved to BeliefNet. From Amy's blog I ventured back to Conversion Diary. Oh fickle hearted reader I am - I had totally forgotten what a blessing it is to read well written love letters from a new believer to our God. Just this past Tuesday in my occasional bible study we talked about the church at Ephesus (check out Revelation chapter 2)which had forsaken her first love. Coincidink? I believe there are no coincidences. I do not recall the precise moment when I accepted salvation. I have a good idea of when I recognized Christ as my Lord and Savior and it wasn't all that long ago.

If you ask me what I've been doing - I'll say this or that or the other. But don't ask me where I've been - it can be a dusty twisty trail. I'm here on Buhlaland - it is good and I'm grateful for grocery lists (to grasp my reference you need to check Conversion Diary). Bless y'all