The Road To Blogging Is Paved With Good Intentions

These pictures are all from sometime in May.  This post is my attempt to do a little blogging catch up.

I'll start with a llama because there can never be too many llama pictures.

We went to Llama magic that was held at a fair grounds in the cities.

At Llama Magic you can buy fiber and llamas in the same buildings.  It was good we didn't bring the trailer with because there were some adorable crias for sale that might have found their way home with us.

Mother's Day we traveled up the road to see how high the water in the Mississippi River was and how fast it was flowing over the dams.  FAST!

At one park the kids couldn't resist climbing on their unique play equipment.

Stopped at the dam where we usually go fishing.  This support has a huge ledge around it that you have to climb up on to, now you couldn't even get close to it.   

The mist was so high that we couldn't see across to the other side.

Helmets Required took a trip up to the Hinkley Fire Museum.  This is a place has a fascinating story.   

First thing rebuilt after the fire was the train station.  Now it houses the museum which we spent a lot of time in because there is so much to see there.

The boys spent a good portion of the time hanging out in an Indian shelter.  They all thought it would be super cool to have one in their backyards.  I agree.

We stopped at the monument for the mass grave for those the survivors weren't able to identify. 

The plan was to start out the day enjoying lunch at the casino buffet and then going to the arcade.  After lunch, however, we found out that the arcade didn't open until later in the afternoon so we trekked back after the museum and boys played games while the rest of us watched and waited.

We toured a fish hatchery.  Working there would be Dancer's dream job, growing little fish in to big fish to stock lakes.  

Checking out fish samples.

Counting how many fish hatched.  

Pumpakunchen just keeps growing.

The 4-H Junior Leaders made May baskets for a local nursing home.  Like the lateness of this blog post, they didn't get them handed out until the middle of the month.  I don't think any of the residents minded that they weren't on the actual day, they just like to have the kids visit. 

This will be the first year we have a llama show in our own county so llama obstacles needed to be built.

Lots of painting and

hammering and we have ourselves a pretty nice set of obstacles to start with.

Helmets Required toured a military museum.  The boys climbed on all the tanks to pose for pictures

while Dancer checked out a Jeep.  I think she had visions of all the off roading she could do in it.

Our Monday co-op did a service project helping a member of the church we meet at clean out and 

plant her flowers.  With 14 people it didn't take very long.

We have enjoyed a few bonfires, always a nice reward after a busy day.

And we will end with a llama.  They got their spring hair cuts.  They will need lots more work before the fair but we did this much so they won't suffer heat stress.

Ice Cream Bread - Pinterest Busters

Dancer thought this should be called "Break Up Bread" since, at least in the movies, when people break up they eat ice cream.  I was mostly amazed that someone thought this up.  Either way, Helmets Required set out to see if it was a recipe we needed to add to our baking repertoire.

The recipe is easy, a pint of ice cream and a cup and half of self rising flour.  Let the ice cream sit out for half an hour and then stir in the flour.  

Spread it in a greased baking pan.  Out of the four pans the kids made, the consistency varied from spreadable to thick and goopy.  Not sure for the reason but after baking they were all the same. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.  The loaves looked wonderful.

Sliced, it looked like quick bread and had a dense texture.  

We tasted it and, well, it didn't really taste.  The one with the most flavor was the strawberry.  

Because of the bland taste we voted this pin - BUSTED.  Just enjoy the ice cream, don't waste it in this bread.

Concrete Cleaner - Pinterest Busters

First step is to know that your concrete is dirty.  I thought that if the chicken hadn't left any bombs on the steps when company is coming it looked good.  Boy, was I wrong!  Lots people out there have the time, and the desire, to clean their concrete. 

The mixture we tried was 3 parts baking soda to 2 parts bleach made into a paste.  Spark scrubbed a spot on the steps, we poured water on it and......

sure thing, I am guilty of having dirty steps.  Really dirty steps.  So the pin worked right?

Next Spark scrubbed the spot next to the clean spot using only elbow grease and it looked about the same.  

Our verdict - this pin is BUSTED, the main ingredient in getting the steps clean was a good old fashioned scrub brush and a little effort.  Save the baking soda for cookies and the bleach for your laundry. 

Corn Starch Makes Cookies Soft - Pinterest Busters

Adding corn starch to cookies is suppose to make them soft like Keebler cookies in the package.  Our homeschool co-op, Helmets Required, decided to put this pin to the taste test.  

Dancer made the recipe off the back of the Toll House Chocolate Chip bag.  She divided the dough in half and added a teaspoon of corn starch to one half.  After they were baked we had a taste test. Everyone got two cookies, one with corn starch, one without.  

Did they look any different?  The one with corn starch was suppose to be lighter, but they looked exactly the same.

Were the cookies equally delicious?  Without a doubt, by time co-op was over the cooling rack was as  bare as Mother Hubbard's cupboards.

Finally the big question, was one softer than the other?  One person thought the one without corn starch might, and that was an iffy might, be softer than the one with, otherwise, everyone was in agreement that they were the same. 

Our verdict - this pin is BUSTED    

Pumpkins for Sale?

Last year our 4-H club had a wonderful idea to grow and sell pumpkins as a fund raiser.  Problem was the deer thought our growing pumpkins was a great idea too, but they used the patch as a buffet.  We are trying this again, but this year moving it to the community garden site.  Hopefully they will find all the other produce tastier and leave our pumpkins alone!

Say What?

We were at a fast food establishment waiting for our food when the guy behind the counter looked at us and said, "Mosquito?"

Thinking I must be going deaf, although I understood everything else he said just fine, I asked in a puzzled voice, "What?"

 He repeats much slower, "For here or to go."

Not able to help myself I said, "I thought you said mosquito."

Spark pipes in, "I thought he said mosquito too."

Oh good, I can hear, but I think the guy was embarrassed because he went in the back for the rest of time we were at the counter.

 

Selfies

Dad and I didn't know this, but you are suppose to practice taking selfies.  I asked some friends if they knew that and they didn't either.  There must be an age cut off for this information, like under 30 you know about such things and over 30 you don't.  

LLama Clinic

We were fortunate that the 4-H state wide llama clinic was not to terribly far from our home.  We loaded up the girls and joined about 60 other llamas for the day.

There were llama relays.  Some llamas cooperated and some not so much.  Marceline, thankfully, was one who would.  Good girl Marceline!!

The kids made these super cute little llamas.  They are out of Popsicle sticks that were done ahead of time so the glue would be dry and they would be nice and sturdy.  The kids colored the legs and added faces.  They wrapped yarn around the neck and barrel of the llama and then used a crochet hook to secure the fiber.  

Add a couple eyes and a little blanket.  I would like to make some of these out of the fiber from our own girls.  A warning though, these need to be kept where the cats can't get at them or they don't look cute like this for long.

The fiber carding station.  I wold love one of these carders but the price is way too much for just a hobbyist. 

After the fiber is run through the carder three times it looks like this.  Made me think of the Duck Dynasty beards.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Dad celebrated his birthday by coming to homeschool co-op for lunch and everyone sand him Happy Birthday.  Then he cooked us diner so that when we got home we could eat fast, enjoy a slice of his Dairy Queen birthday cake and be out the door to our 4-H meeting.  Before the meeting our club picked ditches - in the rain.  Birthdays for parents aren't always very exciting.

Pumpakungen

Honey Bear says, "Something is happening in the barn!"

Lola is proud to announce the arrival of her new baby boy, Pumpakungen (his name means pumpkin king)  

His birth was perfect, he was almost all dry by the time we got out to the barn.  He was standing up within a half and hour and eating unassisted.  

After getting those two important skills down, there is nothing left to do but cuddle.

Wrapping Up the School Year

Dancer is finishing up her first semester of PSEO.  One big project to complete and a final on Friday and she can put these classes behind her.  I think she wrote more papers in the last four months than she ever has in her whole life.

Spark keeps on track when he has his study pup by him.

But when she's not there, things can get a little boring and I find him sound asleep.

Flat Bread for Passover

4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3 T. butter
2 egg yolks
2 T. olive oil
1 cup milk - this was hard to mix and I ended up adding more milk to make the dough workable.

Sift together flour and salt.  Cut the butter into the flour.  In another bowl, beat the egg yolks, adding in the oil slowly and then add milk.  Pour into flour and mix with fork until it forms a ball away from the sides of the bowl.  Knead to shape into a soft ball.

Use about a third of a cup of dough at time.  Roll it as thin as you can without it breaking.  Transfer to an ungreased baking sheet.  Bake at 400 degrees about 8-12 minutes until puffed or very lightly browned.

We had this spread with peanut butter and thought it was really good, but then we rarely have bread so it was quite a treat for us.