January ending

Still not in the blog mood - here is a picture of DH working on a temporary fence in our new home. We may have a buyer for the other place - will know more in about 20 days if the financing and all is going to work out. Don't believe the hogwash about things are getting better in this country --financing, foreclosures, joblessness or downsized to lower paying jobs - we simply are becoming desensitized to the lowering of our economic standards. Please think seriously when you are deciding who to vote for this year.

I've been dealing with an odd assortment of minor health issues - been told by more than one person they think it is "stress" - well DUH - but I know they mean well.

Scripture as usual provided me with a much needed sense of direction -

^{Isaiah 43:16} The Lord is making roads through the sea. He is making a path for his people, even through rough waters. The LORD says, ¹⁷ “Those who fight against me with their chariots, horses, and armies will be defeated. They will never rise again. They will be destroyed. They will be put out like the flame in a lamp. ¹⁸ So don’t remember what happened in earlier times. Don’t think about what happened a long time ago, ¹⁹ because I am doing something new! Now you will grow like a new plant. Surely you know this is true. I will even make a road in the desert, and rivers will flow through that dry land. ²⁰ The wild animals will thank me. The large animals and birds will honor me when I put water in the desert and make rivers flow through that dry land. I will do this to give water to my chosen people. ²¹ I made them, and they will sing songs of praise to me"

OK to me this said - don't keep looking over your shoulder at what has been - look ahead to what God is doing and will do with my life - when I give up trying to direct my own steps.

We are blessed - our mini version of Buhlaland is feeling more like home (no goats yet but I'm working on getting some fence done!). Thank you for stopping by - someday I'll have real news or get back in the bloggity groove. Bless y'all - February is upon us! Plenty of important events in February and here is a hint about at least one!

Doing the garden, digging the weeds,
Who could ask for more?
Will you still need me, will you still feed me,
When I'm sixty-four?

Responses

First I'll put up a legal disclaimer since idjits at internet central or whatever have nothing more to do than be concerned whether bloggers are fraudulently recommending things for which they are paid to recommend - nothing in this blog is paid for by any being - the Lord provides and the Lord takes away, Blessed is the name of the Lord.

Whew - now pinto bean recipe for Pam - I know she is eating healthier (and has lost a LOT of weight as well as gained energy). By the way, dear Pam - we don't much eat turnips - not a favorite of either of us. If I did - would brush small amount of good olive oil, plenty of salt and pepper - then roast 'em til they are squishy and sweet.

Currently I'm making beans this way:

32 ounce bag dried pinto beans
1 large onion roughly chopped
Garlic – at least two cloves chopped
Two teaspoons of pepper corns
Two small cans diced green chilies
Large can of tomatoes including juice
Two teaspoons ground cumin
One lb. bacon chopped, cooked and drained OR
One 2.8 oz. jar Hormel REAL bacon pieces
Salt to taste


Prepare dried beans by rinsing with clean water and picking out any small pieces of rock or debris. Put beans in a large cooking pot – cover with water and bring to a boil. Turn off heat, cover pan and let sit for one hour – beans will absorb liquid and swell up. If you are picky – drain off water add fresh but I use the soak water – beans are already clean from rinsing. Remove cover; add enough water to completely cover beans. Add to bean pot, Onion, garlic, peppercorns, chilies, tomatoes and bacon - bring to low simmering boil. Cook until beans are softened – adding hot water if water level drops below top of beans. Add salt as soon as beans begin to soften – good way to check if beans are done – take one bean out in a cold metal spoon – blow on it and if the skin breaks open – it is probably quite done!

I also recommend going to the various boards for recipes - Dry Beans
Obviously if your family hates garlic or chilies or whatever – modify – the bacon pieces in a jar are less expensive and WAY less messy than frying up all that bacon.

KathyB -will have to find those B&B pictures and a few recipes - will have to be a whole separate posting. I probably do have a picture of our wedding at the inn.

Lanny - already said I'm going to work at posting more often but I am so committed to a few other things - not sure how well I'll do this - so will try but not covenant to post more often.

Sandra - not at all sure about Scotsmen - one of the few nationalities I have never dated or married! I'd hope they wore something solid color (I'm including skin color in there 'cause I've heard that is most likely what they wear) so wouldn't clash with clan plaid. Question immediately reminded me of the scene in Braveheart where the clans pulled up their kilts in defiance and shone their hineys at enemy soldiers!

Vickie - fellow Texan! Where would I visit IF the world weren't beset by terrorists, economic upheaval and hatred of Americans? - Dream visit would probably be Jerusalem - dream vacation would be a warm tropical beach - have lived on both right and left side of USA map - as well as north and south - love the natural beauty and unique places each state has to offer. But my statement stands - if I had to pick - visit Jerusalem/ stay a while on warm sands in the tropics!

Kathleen - funny you would ask what would I do, recently did a bucket list (things to do before we die) with a bunch of people on WalkerTracker.com -

top would be (I sound like a dimwitted beauty contestant here) something of significance for the Kingdom of God - build a missionary hospital in Ethiopia would top that list. Probably in the list of things I'd be able to do without winning lotto would be stay where we are for as long as we live - then both go to heaven at the same time!

Picture is recent sunrise over the tree line at our place - I mean really - where would I want to be other than right here on Buhlaland. It is good here and I appreciate y'all's interest in my life. Will put up B&B post SOON I promise .

True Luv

~ The look of love is on your face ~

Norman knows how to melt my heart - her look of devotion and LUV always gets me. She is a sweet natured goat,an excellent mother in fact all around good companion. When I'm in real need of a sympathetic ear - she is my "go to" pal. Putting my arms around her sturdy body eases any heartache. I'm realistic enough to know her stunt of putting her head through the gate wires and ogling me may be love and it may be "that woman has access to our treats bucket".

Lots of blogs talking about the cold wave in USA (and Northern Europe) this week. The picture from my last post where Moe the Mighty is lying in sunshine on top of a round bale was taken this week last year. What a change in conditions!

We are safe and warm in our little farm house on Buhlaland. Our lives rock along, I still have a tremendous mess of Christmas decor to pack away (I need to remember this next year --simplify simplify!) Goats are quite safe in their south facing enclosure - large hay bale inside the shelter muscled into place by DH.

We have an electric float in the trough so water stays clear of ice. The goldfish would survive the ice but all life needs a source of water - birds and deer come by - often we see tracks of raccoons, armadillos and rabbits. The fish have a hollow half cement block so they can avoid unwanted attention (blue herons, pushy cats and raccoons with big appetites!).

We enjoy having time to care for our animals, each other, and friends or visitors who come to Buhlaland. A big part of our caring is prayer for people in our community as well as many thousands of miles away. In humble faith we are working through this world to send out actions which might result in pleasant chords in eternity -
"Every action of our lives touches on some chord that will vibrate in eternity."
E. H. Chapin

Life is a bit chilled outdoors but it is always good on Buhlaland.
Don't settle - prepare for a feast
"The Bible says that, “He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus” (2 Corinthians 4:14). Our future is filled with optimism and hope because we know that someday we will be like Him. We cannot lose heart and settle for a bag-lunch life when a heavenly feast beyond all imagination awaits us!" David Jeremiah

Still a tad moist!

No words for this - unusual and unseasonal don't even come close! Wet webs in rosemary, cluckers in muddy run, shortstack of fungi on oak stump, droplets of water on the culinary sage - yep - it is wet in North Texas and Buhlaland is good - soggy but good. For those of you who are loyal (or not) readers - you know we've had some serious health challenges. God is so faithful and good -

doctor's appointment on Monday gave us both some much needed reassurance and sleeping SO much better. Not trying to be mysterious - if you have a real interest leave a comment and I'll send a link to our health site for fuller information Honestly - I feel as if our lives have become such an open book - sometimes a comic book and sometimes a mystery thriller - but read on friends read ON!

Nosey Goats

Our goats grow up with me taking pictures of them - so it seems they LIKE to have their pictures taken. How spoiled are they? well I walked up to the fence and here they came pushing their heads through just in case I had treats available! Goats lead a pretty nice life here on Buhlaland - but then so do the people.

Biggest picture is our sweet wether - Bandit - amazing eyelashes huh?

Then we have Pearl - a middle aged doe who had twins this year.

Ellie is an aunt to Bandit - she was the mother of Bubba (rejected him at birth so he was a bottle boy).

Bubba the ham - bottle raised goats are such babies.

Then we have a few shy goats - the buttery colored one is Butterscotch - she doesn't let us touch her at all.

Then we see Blackie - a doe about the same age as Pearl and one of Blackie's twins - a doeling named Fawn who is beginning to let us touch her.

It is good on Buhlaland when there is plenty of grass to graze and goat antics to watch!

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?

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.

Thanks giving - yes I do

I'm giving thanks today and every day for :sunrise on Buhlaland and our goofy animals companions living with us (or letting us live with them).

My wonderful DH who hates to have his picture taken (so I do stealth photography while he works on furnitue).

For sweet memories of one no longer with us -she loved all the critters around here.

Oh yes and for the book - THE BOOK - guidance in this life and promise of the life to come. I pray you have a bounty of blessings and our country would begin to learn to be humbly grateful instead of grumbly hateful!(phrase borrowed from Chuck Swindoll )

Maranatha - freely translated - Come Lord Jesus

Visitors

Matthew 25:35 NIV
35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.

Here on Buhlaland we always have something to eat or drink and most strangers are welcome.

Some of our visitors aren't all that strange - but they are usually interesting at least to us!

Here is a particularly lively and charming visitor. Hollis is a handsome fellow and finds his own reflection amusing beyond all imagination! Perfect dinner guest - the people who came with him were pretty nifty too.

Then we find this critter on a huge fall Peace rose. We have lots of mantis around this year and they are welcomed visitors because of their huge appetite for all the pesky insects!

Next visitor decided she didn't want her picture taken so here she is leaping the back fence - two does come into the backyard and eat acorns. You will probably need to click on the other picture to find the deer - she is to the right a bit and barely visible but definitely there!

We love company here on Buhlaland! You never know when we get to feed an angel in disguise (somehow I don't think the mantis was one - but surely could have been an angel hiding in that little boy!)

Wish we could have visitors from Bangladesh - our boys Elius and Bipul write to us and their requests are so very small. I know most visitors to this blog are more than aware of the needs of children in poverty all around the world and our personal commitment to Compassion International. If you haven't sponsored a child yet or feel moved to spread some of the blessings you have in your life around to someone who is grateful for shoes and rice and letters from a friend in a foreign country - please click here for a child who needs YOU right now . I know times are tight financially, but what for us means not ordering a pizza this week - can for them be the literal difference between having anything to eat each day or not. We live in almost the only country where people worry about what they want to eat rather than if they will have anything to eat. What is the purpose of life? To glorify God - taking care of one of the least of these gives you far more than the $32/month in money it costs. Here on Buhlaland - that's a fact, Jack!

Bowl'o'beans ala Buhl

A bowl of beans - no fancy accoutrements, condiments or even breath mints. Sometimes it is a good thing to go plain,nothing complex except the carbohydrates. I hesitate to call this a recipe posting but what the hey, you have to call it something!

I used about 2 pounds of dry pinto beans(no reason to do all this unless you make enough for a couple of good meals and to freeze or make into frijoles refritos), washed and sorted (picked out any little rocks) put into a large cooking pot. Add water to cover by a couple of inches. Put the pot on a burner, bring the water to a boil - then turn it off heat, cover the pot and wait one hour. VOILA!! you have perfectly "soaked" beans (without waiting overnight). Drain off the soakng water. Put beans, a very meaty hambone, a large onion -can cut it up a little if you want, a tablespoon or so of black peppercorns and two tablespoons minced roasted garlic- then cover with water. About the garlic - I don't roast and mince garlic - really I don't. I buy roasted minced delicious garlic at Wally World or your personal favorite grocery store. Adds good flavor, no big mess to use and whooeee I don't have extra nasty finger smells. OK now comes a tricky part - we go from the beans in my nice black cooking pot - to what is this? a red crockpot I see! Got this far and realized I didn't want to keep a propane burner going on low for several hours to cook the beans. Transferred the whole thing over to crockpot set on high to wisely not use as much energy for cooking. I don't add salt to the beans until they are already softened and tender - salt seems to toughen beans. When the time comes don't be skimpy with the salt - I use natural sea salt and tasted the liquid first to make sure the ham hadn't been enough salt. The beans smell great when they are done (we are talking 4 hours in a crockpot IF you don't lift the lid to mess with the beans). If you'll wait and refrigerate the cooked beans overnight (oops - there is an "overnight" instruction after I made the big deal about avoiding "overnight" in beans sorry). Taste will be greatly enhanced and when reheated liquid will thicken.

Hope you make a pot of beans, enjoy them with someone you love.

We had bowl'o'beans tonight for supper - it is good on Buhlaland!

A horse is a horse of course

I'm not a horse person - you know how people say they are cat people or dog people. Well we are aware they are not truly feline or canine homo sapiens so we agree about understanding what they mean. I love the appearance of horses, have ridden a few in my life and certainly appreciate having these magnificent creatures around us every day. The county in which we live is a self proclaimed capital of two things - first it is the peach capital of Texas - now honestly - there is NOT much competition for that title in Texas. We are in an area where peaches will grow but it is no Georgia. We have fun at the Peach Festival each year and occasionally enjoy someone's shared peach bounty.The other capital claim of Parker County is Cutting Horse Capital of the World. I think there are places in Oklahoma which might want to dispute this title but there ya go. Sorry I didn't take along something to clean the plaque which explains the claim - apparently grackles have nested and done what birds do - do. (small potty humor there) You'll probably have to click on the picture of the plaque to read the text. The large bronze which is next to the plaque shows a cutting horse and cowboy doing what they do best - cutting or heading a calf away from the herd. We also have a picture of a mare with her foal next to a local bank. Most colorful picture is a pair of fiberglass horses painted with the designs of an American and Texas flag - technically I think they are quarter horses and not necessarily cutting horses (hindquarters not as heavy) but they are pretty cool. I don't have a good scripture to tag along with this - we know the Lord God created all and when He made horses I think He liked the result a lot. So I'm not back to blogging from my heart - but this is from my area. It is horsey around the country of Buhlaland.

Snapshots

Remember when we called casual photographs "snapshots"? Definitely dating myself with use of the term. I wanted to share a few pictures with almost no interesting story behind them. The moon recently was so brightly shining just after sunset I took this picture - liked it then and still like it.

Other pictures are from our trip to the rock yard - how odd to live in the country and drive to a place to buy rocks . The little view of a rock waterfall is by the pond at the rock yard. Then we have a picture of the rocks we bought (called mossy builder stone) for DH to use around gate posts. Solar panel for gate openers seems to be working perfectly. The red flowers are wildflowers we saw while out on one of our listings. Not exactly breaking news from here on Buhlaland only real update is we are experiencing Texas weather - like a TexMex restaurant menu - gonna be chile tonight but it'll be hot tamale! Groans are cheerfully acknowledged!

Creepy stuff?

What creeps around here in addition to spiders, snakes and bugs ? The doggoned vines! Some of the older oak trees are covered with virginia creeper. In truth I like creeper, all that foliage looks so Sherwood Forest ish- doesn't it? In the fall it can turn a pretty bright red. Apparently creeper has a berry which is very nutritious for birds in the winter. For all these reasons - I like THIS creeper.

The alien looking plant is a Bull Thistle (which I mistakenly identified on the photo as Russian thistle - DUH Russian thistle is a tumbleweed!). How big is this nasty looking plant? Those cedar fence posts are a bit over 5 feet high! The whole leaf surface is covered with prickly stickery hard things. Even my voracious goats didn't nibble this thing when it was just a tiny sprout!

Last on my list of nasties is the ultimate evil - Poison oak or Toxicodendron diversilobum --my personal nemesis. I expend serious effort in avoiding the oils from this innocent looking plant. I can get a serious skin inflammation from touching something which has touched the oily leaves of poison oak. Remember the silly song by the Coasters? ~ you're gonna need an ocean of calamine lotion, poison ivy veahea (phonetic spelling folks and poison oak is the western version of poison ivy)~. In reality I've found a silver colloidal spray does better than calamine in drying up my itchy blistery stuff. When we have a number of baby goats, I can get poison oak from them eating it and then nuzzling me for affection (only humans are affected by the oils of poison oak - so my cat and dogs can afflict me too).

WHEW this post is therapeutic for me y'all - baring my soul about mean plants. I'm laughing at myself and hope you at least got a smile ! Life is good here on Buhlaland -I only have a half dollar sized patch of poison oak on my left hand and my DH sitting by my side (well two very spoiled rat terriers are between us). Be well and avoid creeps (hmm sounds like dating advice doesn't it?)