Homemade Creamy Mushroom Soup

Our 'spring' weather has had many 'wintery' days that are just perfect for making you want to stay inside, build a fire and have a bowl of hot soup.  A few months ago, my dad made this soup and after a sip, it was something I had to make-tastes nothing like the stuff in a can(I've tried that).  Anyhow, I came home and made a bunch of it and put it in the freezer. I've used it for recipes that called for cream of mushroom soup too and its just nice for a hot bowl of creamy soup!!  Jessie and I love it-Bryan and Marisa not so much but I remind them how good mushrooms are for the immune system and they gobble it up-NOT! 

   So, a little over a week ago, Jessie came down with strep throat-not sure where she got it but she got it; anyhow, it was a 'soupy' kind of day and her being sick made it all the more reason to make soup. I thought I should share the recipe.
   Melt 1/2 cube of butter in a med. to lrg pot
   Cut up 1 cup of fresh mushrooms and 1 med. onion. Put them in the pot with the butter and cook until onions are soft.

  Blend in 4 tbsp of flour......

 and 3 cups of chicken broth stirring constantly. Add 1tsp of salt and 1/2tsp of pepper, reduce heat and simmer for 5 min.

 Slowly stir in 1 cup of whipping cream and mix well.  Continue to cook of low heat until hot.  Sprinkle with sliced mushrooms on top and serve hot; or you can let it cool and put it in freezer safe containers to have for later.

  I think this recipe lends itself for 'tweaks' like adding bacon or ham or something but I haven't tried that yet.

Great Egret

Somedays you just never know what your going to see or where you are going to see it and the other day was no exception.

  I was coming back from town and on the side of the road was this large, white bird that normally you would see down on the river-not on the side of the road in the sagebrush.

  He didn't seem to concerned about the traffic so I went  home and got my camera and came back to get a few pics.

  He was more comfortable with me in the car and promptly flew to the other side of the road when I got out.

 Anyhow, the Great Egret is a fairly large bird. They can be found almost all over the world in areas that are warm and or tropical.  They are a migratory bird that passes through Nevada to and from the warmer west coast and southern areas. Some stay around here usually around the river and other wet lands to have their young. There food consists of fish, frogs, small mammals and sometimes reptiles and insects that they 'spear' with their long bill. 

Needless to say, it was pretty cool to be able to get a few pics of him. I was pretty surprised to see him here especially since the river isn't that far away. 

Oh Deer!

As most of you know, I love the outdoors and all that it has to offer.  I love going hiking and if I get to see some deer, antelope or elk that's always a bonus.

   Come late winter and into spring, the deer and elk start dropping their antlers in preparation to grow new ones.  Lots of things factor into a deers antlers as far as size and points go-genetics is a huge one but nutrition, age and even trauma while they are still in velvet can affect how they grow.

  Trying to find antlers can be harder then trying to find deer; deer move around and leave signs-antlers don't but if you can find where the deer have been then there is a chance of finding antlers.  Coyotes and rodents like to find the antlers too as there is some nutritional value to them.

   Here are a couple of antlers that I found; one of them is a shed from at least a year ago and has been chewed on quite a bit; the other one is a 2 point from this year still in good shape.

   The most important thing to remember when out 'hunting' for sheds is to not disturb or stress the deer!!  They are coming out of winter and especially this year are showing the affects of a severe drought from last year and a very cold winter-the last thing they need is to waist energy getting away from you. This poor doe was definitely suffering from the 'long haul' of winter and was quite depressed when we came up on her.  She was in no hurry to get with the rest of the herd which was quite a ways off so we went the other way.

   Here is the rest of the group that we sat back and watched for a while. There was still one large buck in here that we could see that hadn't dropped his antlers yet. Over all this herd looked pretty good despite the one doe.

  Here, my dad, Jessie and I went out to another place later that week to look for more.  We didn't see any deer this time but lots of sign that the elk had been there recently.  Dad found a nice 4 point shed that was sticking out of the snow.
   So, you may be wondering at this point, why?  I like it!  I like hiking and I like the wildlife.  I am thinking about making some table center pieces with the antlers in my 'free' time though.

Cold Weather Perseverence

"Because of the Lord's faithful love we do not perish, for His mercies never end. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!"  Lam.3:22-23

 This verse came to my mind frequently as the extreme cold and the problems that came with it started to really 'wear' on me.  The snow was beautiful and very much needed but the extreme cold and ice that stuck around became a daily test of patience and perseverance.  It didn't take long for all of the critters to show that the cold was getting to them too.  The chickens lived in their coup for an entire month which brought lots of extra cleaning of the coup, the goats don't like the snow very well so they would 'cry' from their shelters for food to be brought to them and the arthritis that a few of them now have became very evident as they would limp and shiver their way to the feed; one goat in particular was actually to cold to eat a few times.  The cats had cozy holes in the hay stack and gladly appreciated the path that I made them through the snow to their food.  The bunnies hutches had been filled with lots of straw so that they could burrow in except to eat and drink.  Even the horses after a while seemed to get a bit 'depressed' but always readily accepted the extra hay with never-ending appetites.  The dogs spent more time in the house enjoying the heat from the wood stove then being outside; a couple of them got really good at holding the urge to have to go outside and relieve themselves-this was almost comical as I would open the door to let them out, they'd take one look and turn around-can't say that I blame them.  The hardest thing to deal with in this cold and the most important was the water-hydration for an living living is key to survival and as waterlines started freezing up it got even more challenging.  Thankfully, Bryan was able to get the power finished this year so that we were able to run tank heaters on a few troughs so that helped a lot for the horses, goats and cats.  The chickens had a heat lamp in the coup to keep their water thawed and the dogs have heated water bowls so this left the bunnies and the horses out back to twice daily break ice and water. 

"There is an occasion for everything, and a time for every activity under heaven....."  Ecc.3:1

   Our wind chimes after the snow came in.....sideways.

   We heat our house with firewood so the rack was filled almost daily since the fire was never allowed to go out.

   Despite the cold, some chores had to be kept up on......like cleaning up after the dogs-Marisa's favorite thing to do.

   Jessie sporting the 'winter chore' look and enjoying a little sunshine.

  School work quite often started in front of the wood stove in the morning-notice the puppy curled behind her-she likes it there too!!

 .....and after a while, school moved to the recliner and out she went.  Cold weather seems to have a draining effect even when your in the house most of the time.

Winter Ride

Well, yes, its been 6mo since I've posted anything on here and once again no good excuse. Blogger has re-done the way pics are loaded on here and for some reason I can't get my cursor to go to the left of the page without causing major issues with the pictures so things may not be completely 'correct' as far as paragraphs go. 

This winter was definitely a hard one!!  We were blessed with snow which was received with many smiles from friends and family especially since last year was so dry-the driest its been in over 20yrs according some residents that have been here for a long time..  The affects of the drought are still very evident and unless we get a wet spring and moisture through out the summer it will definitely take a while for the vegetation, ranches and wildlife to re-bound.  Also this winter though, it got cold. To you, this may be a 'duh' statement but let me explain.  The temps we got were completely normal 20 below happens almost every year but I can't remember a time in the 24yrs that I've been here that it lasted for a month!!!  Around 20 below at night and maybe teens during the day gets old real quick!!   Many people suffered from it too-frozen water pipes were very common. We are selves had our fair share of 'issues'.   It started with the waterline to outback freezing up-there goes the use of 4 hydrants-2 of which really make watering the chickens and the horses that I board much easier. So, that started the hauling water outback in a stock tank in the back of my truck to bucket to the horses out back so they could drink-not to mention the water had to be chopped out first so more could be put in. This lasted for over a month!. Then a week or so later, the frost started reaching the other waterlines and before I knew it, I had 1 hydrant outside that hadn't froze up; needless to say, watering all of the horses, goats, dogs, rabbits, chickens and cats got very tiring.

Thankfully, God is faithful in bringing the changes of seasons and things started to warm up and thaw. The waterline to outback was the last to thaw-end of March but we were able to run hoses out back for the horses out there so that helped a lot and thankfully, despite having all of these lines frozen, none of them broke-a HUGE blessing!!!

"You set all the boundaries of the earth; You made the summer and the winter."  Psalm 74:17

    Okay, so now I can't the cursor to go to the center between my pics so hopefully this still 'flows' well.  Despite the cold, there were plenty of sunny days that after bundling up wasn't to bad to be out in and we managed to get a few rides in.  The snow was 'squeaky' at this time-a rather annoying sound if you ask me but not enough of an annoying sound to keep my sister and I from a ride out back.
                                                                                  

   The meadow out back was almost completely untouched from any forms that life has been out and about-its been too cold.  However, there is something fun about blazing your own trail through the untouched snow. The horses seemed to enjoy it too.

    As you can see the sun was very bright and actually quite warming.  This is Sara in her new winter gear on Lena and below me in my already tried winter attire with Riata.

We rode for at least an hour or so-it doesn't take long for the temps to change as soon as the sun started to drop but we both felt a little 'rosie' on the cheeks when we were done and wondered if a 'sunburn' wasn't the reason.

 "May the name of God be praised forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him. He changes the times and the seasons....."  Daniel 2:20-21