They grow up so fast

I apologize for the weird spacing on this - I'm too tired (will tell the story tomorrow or soon) and Blogger has that moves stuff around issue I don't want to fight. SORRY!

Day one, hour one saga of the chicks of Buhlaland. Riding home in a box - looking so fluffy and chickie - Date March 27 - all at least 48 hours old.

Just three days later getting feathers on our wings and wanting to explore outside this weird nest.

Yes now they are getting feathers and chickatude - look at that face and tell me she isn't thinking she'd like to peck my camera!

Then the big day comes when they can go out in the big wide world (at least the part of it enclosed by wire and a cover over the entire run). Is this where the term chicken describing a coward comes from? All eight of them huddled at the top of the ramp to freedom for quite a long time.

Then one chicken boldly goes where no chicken has gone before - she is on the ground! They readily go up and down the ramp now - their water and feeder is in their coop -

This picture is the harassment our sweet soon to be egg laying chickens must endure on a daily basis - two mouthy terriers trying to get IN that fence.

It is fun having chickens on Buhlaland !

Goat Jenga

Newsflash not hot flash - Monday morning - bale collapsed yesterday around 5 pm - goats immediately climbed on top of Jenga win and I didn' t see who the poor soul was taking the final jenga bite. I did go out and make sure no babies were under the mound when it collapsed. No goats were injured in the making of this blog post. Thankeweverymuch!

Round hay bale in our front pasture has taken on a sculptured appearance. When I went out to take pictures I realized - the goats are playing Jenga! You see our Norman (favorite Doe) scoping out the bale planning her next munch.

Violet is a shy goat but she dove right in to take out a big bite from very low in the bale.

Then bossy Flip and cantankerous Crybaby started moving in to try to control the game.

As of this morning - the bale still stands. Leaning a bit but standing ready for the next

round of goat Jenga.


Here on Buhlaland - doesn't take much to amuse us and that is good!

Rose-y outlook

Too much gloom on the 'net and news. Too much "reality" instead of dreaming - it is rose-y here on Buhlaland.

Best advice for today is --- when your world has an excess of manure - put it on some plants and bingo - comin' up roses!

Hey where'd that cute dog come from? Oh that's Conan the Destroyer - a slimming down, guarding the garden Rat Terrorist.

He wanted me to remind you - -

"2 Corinthians 4:8-10 (New Living Translation)
8 We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9 We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. 10 Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies."

Smart dog isn't he?

Sometimes it is good to be doing nearly nothing

Sometimes goats are worth having around just for entertainment value -today I was trying to get pictures of birds (something I seem incapable of accomplishing). Had camera ready when Iona, daughter of Violet, decided she needed an all around the tree trunk body rub.






She is normally skittish around people but was quite intent on her tree experience . Iona never looked directly at me or the camera.

You could almost hear her say "ahhhhhh" - what's next?!

I had a little time and a camera on my hands today on Buhlaland - and Iona had a good body rub.

Blooms and buzzes

The macro setting on our little point and shoot camera always surprises me. Sometimes when the camera is downloaded nifty pictures appear.
The bee is chowing down on a scabiosa bloom.

Our clematis is always a joy - it looks totally dead all winter and suddenly BAM green leaves, fast growing tendrils and dozens of deep red blooms.

Flowers are blooming, bees a' buzzin' and life is very good today on Buhlaland.

Grateful for the everday and the eternal

Our life here on Buhlaland is rarely high excitement. Our days are a steady pace of working, resting, enjoying what is given us to maintain or improve and anticipating our eternal work. We appreciate small joys like this week's appearance of hosta shoots in the garden, the sweet care of young does for their first babies, the palette of colors on trunks of oak trees or golden light of a new day - we are grateful for our everyday life.

Today's devotional from Back to the Bible was needed by my heart so I trust someone else will be blessed by it also. On the right side a picture shows some of our does waiting expectantly for a good treat. They trust us to treat them well, do what is best for them and look out for their well being.

Do we accept gratefully the blessings of hot water, friendships or first shoots of spring growth? How about accepting disease, pain, or separation from those we love? Our Heavenly Father does know what is eternally good whether our earthsuit perspective can see the good. Do we live trusting Our Father; following the excellent guidance from Paul to the church at Thessalonica to "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ?

I am well aware of falling short of Paul's standard for how we are to live, but without a guidepost how do we know which way to walk?

It is good on Buhlaland- a little overcast and chilly but that too is good.

What follows are the words of Elisabeth Elliot:

Sometimes when I was a child my mother or father would say, "Shut your eyes and hold out your hand." That was the promise of some lovely surprise. I trusted them, so I shut my eyes instantly and held out my hand. Whatever they were going to give me I was ready to take. So it should be in our trust of our heavenly Father. Faith is the willingness to receive whatever He wants to give, or the willingness not to have what He does not want to give.
I am content to be and have what in Thy heart I am meant to be and have. --(George MacDonald, Diary of an Old Soul)
From the greatest of all gifts, salvation in Christ, to the material blessings of any ordinary day (hot water, a pair of legs that work, a cup of coffee, a job to do and strength to do it), every good gift comes down from the Father of Lights. Every one of them is to be received gladly and, like gifts people give us, with thanks.
Sometimes we want things we were not meant to have. Because He loves us, the Father says no. Faith trusts that no. Faith is willing not to have what God is not willing to give. Furthermore, faith does not insist upon an explanation. It is enough to know his promise to give what is good--He knows so much more about that than we do.

(Content from All That Was Ever Ours, Keep a Quiet Heart and Love Has a Price Tag by Elisabeth Elliot)

Again with the miscellany

Saturday morning --Comment moderation has been taken off now!

Sorry friends and occasional readers - I've enabled comment moderation for this post to avoid unnecessary malarkey from those who have nothing better to do than attack free speech along with all our other freedoms. Will change the comments back to normal soon - sorry for the inconvenience. First shot is the tulips I posted for Easter - they are really full and nice now- will be fun to see how they do when I put them outside for next year.

We attended (along with several thousand of our neighbors) a rally downtown to express our disappointment in the direction our government(at ALL levels) is headed. The little girl in a stroller is the child of a friend from church, the crowd was really mixed as far as ages and lifestyles.

I'm not expert with this macro setting - somehow the picture of an iris is out of focus and the honeysuckle was dead on.

Yesterday we tried to let the chicks out for some quality time in their run. They had great hesitation about even trying their ramp. One brave chick made a dash for it ----with Zoe raising cain outside the chicken run. Unfortunately we overestimated the size of the chicks because they walked out on the ground, pecked enthusiastically and then walked right through the chain link surrounding their run. Grateful for hubby remembering we'd kept the huge pole net purchased when we had guinea hens! All safely rounded up and moved back into the coop for more growing time.

OK it is busy time on Buhlaland - DH is removing siding from east end of house so we can rough in the new addition. I need to take truck for safety inspection and a few more errands (which includes buying eggs - come ON chickens!). Life is good and it is definitely springtime - ACHOO!




Almost forgot the original reason I wanted to post! click and enjoy!
If you are among the few hundred who haven't seen this youtube video yet - grab a box of kleenex and set aside 8 minutes - it is well worth it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA sorry I couldn't embed the youtube video player --it is disabled (probably for copyright issues).
GetReligion.org has a very good posting about Susan Boyle--- here is her Backstory .

Hodge and some podge of Easter

Potted tulips were a decorated with a little cross --one of the handicrafts from dear departed MIL. She loved Easter and I'm sure this year was the BEST Easter ever--she was in the presence of our Savior. Patchwork table runner was another of Ethel's crafts - she loved setting the colorful egg shaped candles down the middle.

Easter being the primary spring holiday and also a good time for flowers - we are blessed with an abundance of floral decorations. (as opposed to the non decoration I usually have on tables in our house).

The fruit platter was decorated with the top of a pineapple and blossoms from our garden - fun and really easy this time since we'd had so much rain there were no bugs on the flowers. It's the little things that make my day. The pitiful rendition of a bunny cake is all my doing - looks like a long eared drug taking cat - but it tasted great!
Iris were a gift out of our neighbor's backyard - planted many years ago by the friends from whom we purchased our land . Tablecloth on our side table was a handmade gift to Ethel when she was a young bride - still quite sturdy and makes a little more dressy background to some of our decor.

It was good here on Buhlaland for Easter - friends, food, flowers and a sense of appreciation for all of the above.

He IS Risen

We went with a group of friends to the Capernaum Experience on Maundy Thursday - experiencing a re-creation of a village in Capernaum around the time of Christ's life on earth. My favorite moment I didn't capture with a picture. The actor playing Christ came through the villlage square laughing, stopping to talk and play with the children ( everyone stays in character). I often picture my Savior laughing and always loving His children-- a man not of comely features but he draws people - - -

Isaiah 53(the Message paraphrase)

Who believes what we've heard and seen? Who would have thought God's saving power would look like this?
The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling, a scrubby plant in a parched field.There was nothing attractive about him, nothing to cause us to take a second look.

He was looked down on and passed over, a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.One look at him and people turned away. We looked down on him, thought he was scum.But the fact is, it was our pains he carried our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.

We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures.But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore and crushed him our sins!He took the punishment, and that made us whole.

Through his bruises we get healed.We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost. We've all done our own thing, gone our own way.And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong, on him, on him.
He was beaten, he was tortured, but he didn't say a word.Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered and like a sheep being sheared, he took it all in silence.Justice miscarried, and he was led off— and did anyone really know what was happening?

He died without a thought for his own welfare, beaten bloody for the sins of my people.They buried him with the wicked, threw him in a grave with a rich man,Even though he'd never hurt a soul or said one word that wasn't true.
Still, it's what God had in mind all along, to crush him with pain.The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin so that he'd see life come from it—life, life, and more life. And God's plan will deeply prosper through him.
Out of that terrible travail of soul, he'll see that it's worth it and be glad he did it.Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant, will make many "righteous ones," as he himself carries the burden of their sins.

Therefore I'll reward him extravagantly— the best of everything, the highest honors—Because he looked death in the face and didn't flinch, because he embraced the company of the lowest.He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many, he took up the cause of all the black sheep.

Being one of the black sheep - I'm eternally grateful for his willingness to become sin - MY sin so I could be forgiven. He is Risen! He is risen indeed.

1,2,3 - easy as can be

We were having company over for supper last night and Joy in the Morning I had all the ingredients (without a trip to town) for a simple chicken dish - literally 3 ingredients (unless you are picky and want to count freshly ground pepper as 4). You'll need boneless skinless chicken breasts (unless you like the skin on - I'm not judging you here). Pound the chicken out to about 1/2 inch thickness -you'll need it to be flattened and big enough to roll up.

Slice Gouda very thinly - I used one of those little cheese slicers you drag across the cheese but had to give up once the cheese got warm and use a tomato slicing knife. Slice up most of it then plan on cutting into tiny chunks the bits left. I'll tell you why later - suspense is a technique in writing - I didn't say good writing - just writing.

Back to our story of the chicken and the cheese - well here comes the exciting ingredient Ta DA -bacon. Use thick sliced bacon any kind you fancy, pepper bacon might have been a thrill but we had plain hickory smoked.

Put a piece of chicken on a work surface - add some cheese (how much you ask - I say - enough but not too much ( if you overload with cheese you get big time melt out/burn in your pan) on the chicken, roll it up and wrap a slice of bacon around the tidy bundle of deliciousness. If you need to - stick a toothpick in there but remember you did it or somebody will get a bad surprise.

With the 8 ounces of gouda - I made 7 chicken bundles and had enough to make a cheese sauce to serve over it (very optional and this is the suspense reliever - that's what I do with extra 1/3 of the cheese). Grind some pepper over the bundles before cooking - there's that stealth ingredient number 4.

Spray a broiler pan with olive oil (BTW check out a Misto sprayer for inexpensive way to have decent quality spray cooking oils without propellants in Pam type sprays) .

Place the bundles on the rack of broiler pan and bake at 375 for -- I guess 30 minutes - sorry I didn't time it and basically it was until the chicken was done. I thought I had a picture of this process but obviously I was busier than I realized making the meal.

The sauce was a simple white sauce =melted butter, whisk in flour, whisk in chicken broth and milk - then add cheese and stir until melted - season to taste.

We served the chicken with basmati rice cooked in broth and water mixture, steamed green beans, fruit salad and cheese drop biscuits. Dessert was one of my recurring oatmeal bar things -this time with a cheesecake and diced dried mango filling. Yep - yummo.

I need to get busy - house is still far from ready for weekend company. This week is about spiritual preparation and lots of cooking (if done correctly the two mingle well!) Enjoy some easy food - I'll be back very soon! It smells GOOD on Buhlaland.

Lanny's Ride?

DH and I were turning onto Main St. after puttering around in town for a couple of hours (puttering can be translated liberally - spending money we hadn't planned) when we spotted a Kodak Moment perfect for A Dirt Woman . Lanny - I don't know whether you were in town on a lark or y'all practice plural marriage or this is a relative by Dirt bloodline - but you have some snazzy wheels.

Sorry about the spotty pic - through our front windshield isn't the clearest spot for a camera lens to work. Here it is the license plate of Mrs. Drt!

See how tricked out Mrs. Dirt's ride is here in Texas -

Love to you Dirt's woman - and yes in Christ we are Unlimited!