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

Permanent Visitors?

Sometimes I wonder when things come into our lives if they are a test or just a part of life-maybe both.  The other night I was woken up by barking outside of my window-my dogs were in the house so this was not normal.  I looked out my window and thanks to a full moon, I was able to clearly see 2 LARGE white dogs who were very happy to see me.  Now, it is 2 in the morning, my bed is warm and cozy but there are 2 very big dogs that I have never seen outside my window-what do I do?  Of course, I get up, put my boots, coat and hat on, grab a flashlight and head out to go say 'hi'-after all, I have lots of critters that could make wonderful snacks for such large dogs and I didn't want any of that!  They were very friendly and happy to see me so I thought that I would just show them the gate and send them on their way-I always have a hard time with this because I would hate to see them hurt but do I try to call the Sheriffs Office to have someone pick them up-I hate seeing them go to the pound too, or do i let them stay not knowing how they are going to behave with all of the other critters here?  Anyhow, one of them wouldn't follow me to the gate-he seemed set in staying so I thought I would put them in the kennel and deal with them come morning-this didn't agree with both of them either. So, after strict instructions that they were not to kill anything, I left them and went back to bed(I didn't sleep well knowing they were out there) but to my surprise they curled up and went to sleep right out the window and were happy to see me again come morning. 

The next morning, since they were still here, presented another 'problem'-my dogs. How is everyone gonna get along?  I decided that on opposite sides of the fence was the way to do introductions.  Thankfully, everyone had tails waggin and didn't seem to mind and so the gate was open and the 'visitors' came on in to the yard. Now what?  We find the owners!

I went and woke the girls up so they could come see them and hang out with them while I fed everybody else-by this time they all thought they were starving.  The girl's were immediately 'in love' with these dogs, which by the way are puppies-90+ pounds of puppy!!

It didn't take long to discover that these were truely gentle giants who loved all the affection they were getting and before long, names were thought of just in case the owners are not found.

 It was very obvious that these pups had never been in a house before as they took a little persuasion, pushing and pulling to get them in but they have now discovered that inside is a cool place to be.

                                                             Gentle giants!!                
                              



                                                       House dogs?  They seem to think so!!

So let me introduce you to Stuart and Grant. Yes, they've been named after Civil War officers.

This Year, Its a Girl Thing

October!!!  Hunting Season-one of my favorite fall activities and this year I was able to experience it with Jessie, but before I go on, let me go back to the events that lead up to this years hunting.

Jessie: Mom, I want to get my hunter's safety so I can go hunting.

Me: Ummm....okay(I'm shocked that she is asking me this and honestly think that she will change her mind)I'm thinkin', "Well, it would be good for her to go ahead and get it-good skills and things to know even if she never hunts.  She has such a tender heart that I dont' think that she could actually shoot a deer, she can't even watch the chickens get butchered."

Jessie: a couple weeks later, "Am I going to be doing hunter safety? I really want to hunt."

Me: "Yep, I'll get you signed up and go get your work book that you have to have done before the class."

So, I get her signed up, got her book and we went to work on getting it done-it was a group effort from all family members.  The book was a whole lot longer and more thorough then it was when I took it-not something to wait until the last minute to get it done. However, Jessie did very well with getting it done and before we knew it, it was time for the class.  The class was 8hrs long split over 2 evenings-it actually only lasted around 6hrs total-had lots of room for improvement is all I'm going to say.  What I am going to say is that Jessie past the test and received her Hunter's Safety card-she was stoked to say the least and so was I. The next part was to register her hunter's safety with NDOW and then start the application process for tags. We all applied for tags but only Jessie and myself were successful in drawing; we both got deer tags. Being that Jessie is a 'youth', she was able to apply for a 'junior or youth' tag that is only available for mule deer and if successful she can harvest either a buck or a doe; my tag was buck only.

Okay, so we find out that we are successful with tags in June but have to wait till October to hunt-no biggy, summer flew by!!

Opening day, Jessie and I go out and find some does right away but she wants to get a buck-she wants something on the wall.  So we pass the does and take off walking looking for a buck. After a couple hours with no bucks in sight we head back to the truck and now Jessie is thinking that maybe a doe is the way to go.  I told her that it was her choice, there is nothing wrong with harvesting a doe after all, my first deer was a doe but, this is her hunt and if she wants a buck, we'll try to find one.  As we get back to the truck, there are a bunch of doe's back where we saw the first ones earlier today. We watch them for a while hoping that if we look hard enough, long enough one of them will sprout antlers-that didn't happen and there was never a clear shot so we headed home for lunch.

I made a couple phone calls that afternoon to see if Jessie could hunt on a ranch that belongs to some friends-the manager said yes, so out we went that evening.  We walked in to the meadow and found a place to sit and watch. After about 20min, the deer started coming out of the willows, including a buck but they were on the far side-way to far away for a shot.  We tried to get closer but were unsuccessful that evening.

Day 2;  Jessie and I went out the next morning and she had decided that she was going to shoot the first doe or buck that gave her a shot to which I reminded her, that if really wanted a buck, we would find one and that she had all month-no hurry.  We went back to the first spot we had gone to the day before and didn't see anything so we took the long way back to the meadow by the ranch.  We parked the truck and took off walking. There was nothing obvious in the meadow when we first got here so we made out way to some trees to take a break and get a snack-that break was quickly shortened when the bulls that were in the trees too took off running into the meadow and into the willows which in turn scared up the same deer we had seen the night before.  We quickly grabbed our stuff and made our stalk.  The deer had gone back into the willows and the bulls had gone the other way. I knew that the deer would lay back down and that we would be sitting there for hours so I set Jessie up in a spot that she could see the whole meadow and I took off walking on the back side of the willows to see if I could get the deer out  into the meadow-this kind of worked for a second and then back in they went. As I came around out of the willows, I motioned to Jessie to move up to another spot and we would try again. She took a few steps and then motioned to me to wait, pointed to the hillside, crouched down, took aim and right before she shot, I found the deer with my binoculars and then BANG!!!

Jessie got her first deer with one shot at 100yds-dropped right in its tracks!!

I couldn't of been prouder- I was literally jumping up and down!!

I have to admit, I really didn't think she was going to be able to pull the trigger once she had one in her sights but boy did she prove me wrong and now she thinks she is ready to hunt antelope and elk-that' my 'little mini-me'!!   Not only did she do great hunting, she handled everything that goes with it like a pro-gutting, picking ticks off, dragging it a half a mile, etc.....it was a great day!!!

So now that the most important tag of the season had been filled, we took the next day off before I started to hunt for my deer. This year, we also had company hunting with us, our Uncle Bill. He had a tag for the same area as me and had been hunting but so far with no success.  My first day out, we did see a couple of small bucks but nothing that neither of us were willing to shoot or never gave me a shot however, like always, the time spent outdoors getting to see some amazing country is always worth the time spent whether I get my deer or not. 

In the mean time, in between hunting with Jessie and other things around the house we had been making some phone calls to see if we could hunt some private land on the river.  We were granted permission and so that evening we went out.  It was more of a scouting trip as we were not familiar with the area but we did see a really nice buck at about dark and figured that's where we would come back to the next morning. 

Morning came and out we went. Things were looking promising when all of a sudden we heard 3 gunshots, an ATV and some really noisy people.  Needless to say, our hunt was ruined by 4 kids on one ATV that tried to shoot the buck we saw the night before. After Bryan talked to the kids in a very professional but nice manner, they left(they were told to get permission as we were asked to 'run' anyone off that was down there without permission) we headed back to the truck and then home.  We decided that we would spend the rest of the day at home working on some projects and enjoying Bill's company since he was planning on leaving the next day. 

Well, if you know me even a little bit, you would know that I would jump at the first opportunity to go back out if it came and.......it did! Sara said that she would go with me for and evening hunt.  There wasn't really anything at the house for me to help with or that the guys couldn't handle so I got ready and when Sara got to the house, we loaded up and were gone.

Where we were going, wasn't very far from the house and shortly after we got through the gate and down the road a bit I saw the un-mistakable white butt and very large antlers of a buck!  I stopped the truck, turned it off, grabbed my gun, quietly opened the door, slipped out, chambered a round and started sneaking around the truck all the while, Sara is quietly getting out to to see this deer that she hadn't seen yet.  As I made my way around the truck to the fence, I honestly didn't think he would still be there since we were only about 50yds away; surely he would of took off into the willows after the truck stopped even though he couldn't see it. I was wrong.  He was still there nibbling away completely oblivious to us being there.  After getting to a spot that gave me a clear shot, I waited for him to turn honestly thinking that he would just mosey back into the willows; by now Sara is there with me, watching and thinking the same thing-he needs to turn.  Then, he did just that and without hesitation, I pulled the trigger and after a 20ft run, he dropped!  I had just shot one of the biggest deer I had ever seen(there is an exception but that's another story).  I was stoked!! 

While he doesn't have much for points, he makes up in sheer mass and a good spread of 26inches.

Yes, we were not far from the truck and he actually ran a bit closer before he fell but did I mention that we were on opposite sides of the river?

 Yea, were had the river to get across.  Thankfully, cell service worked where we were at and we got a hold of Bryan and Bill to come help us. Sara and I could of got him home, but why waste the energy when you have willing and able men to come help?  He he he he he. 

We actually couldn't go straight to the truck because of the steep bank and fence so Bryan found a way to get the truck through a gate and then we took him through the river and willows(that was a chore!!) and then eventually to the truck. 

This hunting season has definitely been a 'girl thing' as far as harvesting the deer go but was made a great success by the help of many people to which we are extremely grateful.