Autumn Apples

It is apple season again.  It sends my kids into a frenzy of picking at my parent's house.  They have two young trees that compete to over produce.  The kids have no limits on picking and bring me every apple they pick. 
We discovered that instead of sending the horses into colic by overfeeding them, we make apple betty.  If you click on the link, it takes you to a standard recipe for it.  I substitute the sugar and make half white, half brown.  I also double the batch.  Just a tip, when slicing up that many apples, put them in a bowl of water with some lemon juice to prevent browning while you cut and peel.
The kids enjoy this tasty treat and I don't mind making it.  It is so much easier and faster than a standard apple pie, and can be made in a large casserole dish.

Today marks the third batch I have made in the past month.  The first batch went to Caitlyn's class, where her school mates sang her praises and loved it.  We have to be careful in that class, as one girl has chocolate allergies.  Bummer, since chocolate is my bestie.

Speaking of friends, the kids are having quite the social year.  James and Conner (and sometimes Caitlyn) spend Friday mornings with their friends (Grant, Eli and Sawyer) and then we also have our Ms. Andrea come over, often with Emma and Caden.

Caitlyn certainly enjoys the girl time with Emma and Caden and the boys just roll along. On Mondays, after school, we have Allie and Alex stay for a bit.  My house is filled with squeals, laughter and running little feet.  We have moved well beyond the pitter patter, seeing as how all the boys take after their daddy!

The dogs think this arrangement is fabulous.  They also score extra time with Andrea and Caden on school mornings when we all meet to walk at the Walking Trails, other wise know as Prairie Dog Town.  Every school day, after ms. Tawna picks up the kiddos (God bless you) the dogs know it is walk time.  The whine and fuss, waiting for me to leash them up and go to the car.  We enjoy a one and a quarter mile brisk walk, with time out for "business", watching prairie dogs or the occasional detour from a sunbathing snake.
(Which, honestly Mom, doesn't happen that often, you should join us.)

So now, as the temperature slowly sinks more each week, I await the crisp autumn mornings.  I await the time where I will walk faster to stay warm, and get more exercise.
  So I can eat more apple betty.


So, how was your day?

A moment to reflect....

If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped transform for the better. We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better."
— J.K. Rowling

Imagine a better world, and make it so!

Roosevelt County Fair!

I will take some photos but I am too excited to wait!
One of my sewing entries won BEST OF SHOW!!  I won a bunch of firsts and seconds.
Then, my ducks took Grand Champion and Reserve!
Caitlyn won best female chicken, Best of Youth Barn!!!  Wow! what fun!

absolutely couldn't resist

Resistance is futile

James and the Tonsillectomy

James finally had his day under the knife.  It was a long time in coming and the tonsils had so begun to bother him that he took to asking anyone and everyone to remove his tonsils.
Even our Farrier, Marvin, was asked, when he pulled out a hoof knife to trim the horses.  Most people thought James was nervous, and he was to some degree, but mostly he was excited.  He wanted those things out.  The bugged him, they hurt and they made him sick.
We arrived at Plains Regional Medical Center at seven in the morning.  This is after we dropped the siblings off at Matt and Delane's house.  They were thrilled to be spending the day with "the Lego Master" and "having special girl time".  For those of you that saw the girls out having fun along Road S, Caitlyn was the one in the blond wig,  Don't ask.
We arrived and waited only moments before our nurse, Misty, called us to the back.  Misty is the daughter of a friend of a friend.  While I don't really know her well, I barely recognized her.  She had lost weight and was working as a pre-op nurse.  She was fabulous.  She was calm and caring with James and made a very special note that allowed him to see his tonsils after they were done.  Many thanks to Misty.
The doc, Dr. Rowley, was great.  With a cheery grin he told James what to expect and with no dithering or hesitation that could induce a case of the nerves, we kissed our boy and in he went.
Fifteen minutes later, I kid you not, out comes Dr. Rowley.  He said, James did great.  The left tonsil was rotted.  Ewwwwwww.  He said James took the gas, they put in the IV and took our the tonsils.
In post op we had another round of incredible nurses.  Betty and Lorraine were our nurses and they quickly moved James from the gurney into my lap in a recliner.  Ice chips and water were brought in, flashlight to check the swelling.  James was encouraged and praised.  My boy never cried.  He walked out of the hospital with his daddy, and promptly asked for a smoothie.
Skip ahead to being home.  The narcotic obviously wore off.  Maybe I should have asked for a script!
James has reached the painful, I don't want to swallow phase.  He is cold, but then again, constant fevers have robbed him of his fat.  He requested a bat, my little man so like me.  The comfort of being in water still was over ridden by the pain in his throat.  He still had an hour to go before the next round of meds, at the earliest!  We did ice.  He cried and painfully swallowed.  He did Popsicle, and he begged, no more.  We did ice chips and he teared up.  Yet each time, despite the pain, he managed to swallow.  I know he is hydrated because he managed tears and the bathroom several times.
It pains me to see him this way.  He is my plucky guy, my practical joker, my easy going man.  I hate to see him like this.
And I hate that I have spent so little time with the rest of my kids.  Will comes up to check on his brother, worry creasing his brow, but the promise of unlimited Wii play sends him back down.  Conner comes up on constant food request.
And my dear Caitlyn balanced spending some time with James, fetching for him, and settling down for some iCarly, self sufficient and self content.
I need a nap, but I write this blog, instead.  James snores gently beside me, the pain momentarily blinded by his sleep.  Holly, naturally, is tucked next to him, her head protective across his shoulder.  I pray that tonight the pain subsides, that he can find a smile for his daddy and that we will sleep.

In between the two hour intervals where I have to force liquids down him.

And how was your day?

Horse Practice

Many thanks to the Kanmore's for the use of a trailer! We went out to practice at the Mounted Patrol Arena.

It is always fun to watch Conner try in vain to get Rocky to move and Caitlyn and Shiloh are doing great.....see for yourself!

Summer Trippin'

We have had some serious fun the past week.  First we went out to Black Water Draw to see the old dig sites for Clovis points.  Clovis points are  unique prehistoric flint spear points made by a culture of people now referred to as Clovis people.  The dig site has also yielded an amazing amount of mammoth and ancient bison bones.  The deep area that we walked down into used to me a fairly large lake, however by the mid seventies use of agricultural wells had lowered the water table to the point where the lake dried out.  I found that sad.
The kids enjoyed seeing the archeologist working on the dig and a giant grasshopper.
We also enjoyed the natural wonders of the Carlsbad Caverns.  While this gorgeous cave is beautifully lit, we discovered the joys of bringing our own flashlight.  We did discover that a LED flashlight with the whiter, cooler beam, is much better than my Walmart special.  It was still a wonderful time.  Recent rains had saturated the ground water and the cave was much drippier than last time.  We were able to track drips as they landed on various cave formations and into the cave pools. 

The Caverns are a wonder that we in New Mexico are lucky to have.  We hope to enjoy it again and again!