Chocolate Pie and Bluebirds

Lawsy Mercy, where has the time gone? Living out here in the middle of nowhere, we never seem to know what day it is so you'd think the time would just drag by. Not at all!!! Time goes by so fast, it is scary! My birthday was Feb 22nd . On my birthday, I usually look in the mirror, examine my face and say to myself, "My mom has to have made a mistake on my birth certificate. I can't possibly be this old!"  I don't think like an old person, act like an old person and people tell me I don't look like an old person either. But ya have to accept facts, so this year, I didn't look in the mirror and go thru my usual birthday routine. Pa has a birthday on Friday and he will be 71. My GAWD, I'm married to an old man!!!!!!! But let me tell ya, that old man can out work men half his age. He can cook too!

Is this not the most beautiful chocolate meringue pie you've ever seen? Everything except the pie crust was made from scratch. Pa found the meringue recipe in an old cook book. At some point you cook the meringue on top of the stove before putting it on the pie to bake in the oven. It doesn't shrink or weep and tastes delicious.

For the month of February, Tilly killed 12 rabbits in the garden! Believe it or not, it hasn't even made a dent in the rabbit population around here. She killed one last night so the tally for March has begun. She usually won't let go of it but as soon as she killed it, she lost interest so we didn't have a tug of war.

Tom came over yesterday to say he was going to the abandoned property where we get our horse fertilizer. He needed some for his garden. I volunteered to go with him to help him shovel it in. We got a big pick up load full. By the time we were done, I was feeling my age. I was tired for the rest of the day. Pa volunteered to reheat the chicken and noodles we had the night before for dinner. I appreciated that very much!

After a week of no birds in the yard, we had Robins, Western and Mountain Bluebirds, Redshafted Flickers and Pipets at the bird bath yesterday. All the Bluebirds wanted to take a bath so water was flying everywhere. They pretty much emptied the bird bath.

 The Robins were in the front yard.

 The Flicker was in the back yard.

 Bluebirds everywhere! Some of them are sooooo blue!

 I really laughed watching them try to bathe with so many birds in the bird bath.

 I used to fill the one that's sitting on the upturned clay pot with bird seed but it seemed they needed the water the most.

 And I thought they needed to work for their food so I just throw it on the ground so they can scratch for it. That way, the Blue Jay's can't just stand there and scoop up whole mouthfuls.

 If I remember correctly, the Mountain Bluebirds are pretty much all blue and the Western Bluebirds have some red on their breast.

 I have joined Bountiful Baskets.Org
It is a food co-op and is nation wide. For $15.00 you get a basket of half fruit/half veggies. For $10.00 or $12.00 extra, you get 5 loaves of bread. You can get other things also like 40 pounds of tomatoes, oranges, a juice basket filled with fruits that you can juice. My BFF Katie got one and said everything is wonderful. Unfortunately they don't deliver to St. Johns so I will have to go to Springerville to pick it up. I told Pa that we could go together and have dinner while we were there. We could have a delivery to St. Johns if we got enough people to order so maybe sometime in the future, I'll see about that.

You who know me, know I'm all about bargains. I recently bought three dog beds and new bras from this site: http://1saleaday.com/
They have some awesome deals but you have to check every day because each day is different.

Pa went to Show Low this morning and will be gone most of the day. It's nice to have the house all to myself for a change. He's usually out side doing man things anyway so I really have the house to myself  most of the time. I'll go to Show Low next Wednesday which is pay day to stock up on stuff. There are a few "Preppers" out here. They all tell me I should start prepping in case of doomsday. I have enough for a couple of months and if times got really bad, I would have no problem helping myself to one of the rancher's cows. But we never seem to have extra cash to start buying those number 10 cans of dried stuff to store away. We joke with Tom and tell him we'll just come over and steal his supply. Survival of the fittest. That was kind of the idea I had to have a garden and buy heirloom seeds. I never get enough garden goodies to harvest seeds!  I am not eagerly looking forward to gardening this year. I did buy seeds tho and ordered two apple trees and a peach tree and some strawberry plants. Maybe if I have better gardening luck this summer, I'll get my mojo back.

My daughter sent me a book for my birthday. "Jesus Calling" by Sarah Young. It is a daily book of 2 minute devotionals. I really love it and added it to my daily Bible reading. I'm still plowing thru the old Testament. I make it sound like a chore but I really enjoy the history as well as the messages and promises we can apply to our daily lives.

Speaking of mojo, I need to get some for crafting. I'm tired of playing on my computer, tired of reading and tired of crafting. I think it's just a case of spring fever. I want to be outside and go exploring. Speaking of outside.....my laundry is done so I had better sign off and hang the clothes out on the line.
Until next time!