SVR

FriendsYesterday we came home from Skyview Ranch 🙁 We were there for the weekend!!!!!!! 🙂

We were visiting the Sellers and had llooottss of fun.

On lots of hay

The boys and I:

  • played the Wii
  • played army
  • went exploring
  • made some movies
  • built some Lego ships
  • played Star Wars
  • climbed on hay
  • and had loooootssssssss of funOne wet group!

Everyone:

  • bobbed for apples
  • and talked
  • ate good food
  • stayed up really late
I did it fast
I did it fast

The kids:

  • ate a donut on a string
  • played
  • went trick or treating
  • had lots of fun

The adults

  • cookedExploring
  • and talked and talked and talked

Wilderness Update

Picture sent from Wilderness

We got an update on Wilderness.  This is where Daddy took off from.

Mrs. Sigman sent us a note telling us what the plans were for Daddy today. They are going to go through Big Trout Lake through Longer Lake till they get to their camp site on Whistle Bay. This has a lot of canoing and a few short portages.

Or they may decide to go through Lake La Muir and the “Trail of Tears.” Momma does not remember if she did that one, but remembers one year with a LOT of hiking.  This trail has 4,425 meters of portages and three big lakes, Big Trout, La Muir and Burntroot.

Since a mile equals 1,609.344 meters, this means about 2.75 miles of walking with a canoe on your head and a backpack on your back.  Daddy said the canoe was about 35 pounds and his backpack was about 30 or 40, we forgot which.

Momma said we can look on our map to see where these are.

I hope Daddy has fun and does the one with a few short portages.  I still want to go when I get a little heavier and older.

Snake Meat and Daddy’s Birthday

We made “Snake Meat” for Daddy’s birthday. It is special because Daddy had it in Africa and liked it. — it is also a fun braai food.–
I hope you like it too.Grinding the meat

how to make Snake Meat (otherwise known as Beorewors)

1 pound trimmed brisket
1 pound pork round roast
1/4 pound bacon
2 Tbl red wine vinegar
4 cloves garlicStuffing the casing
1 Table Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tablespoon salt
Pepper to taste (a big pinch)
1/2 Tbl ground coriander
Large pinch of grated nutmeg, dried thyme and allspice
Small pinch of ground cloves
Sausage casingsFinished Beorewors

Dice all the meat into 1 inch cubes. Mix all ingredients-except casings-together.
Grind meat using a medium size grinding plate. (It was fun using ours for the first time!)
Fill casings firmly, but not to tightly. Be careful so the casings do not split open.
Refrigerate for 24 hours before using (we tasted part of ours after refrigerating a few hours)
Can be frozen for 3 months or stored in refrigerator a week.

To use…Fire up your favorite grill and enjoy a braai with your favorite picnic foods. Recommended favorites are Simba Salt and Vinegar Chips or Tomato flavoured chips (If you live in South Africa) 🙂 Plus lots of salads and fresh vegetables.FinishedThe girls made Daddy’s Brownie

Our Dinner

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday Dear Daddy, Happy Birthday to you!

P.S.  The girls made Daddy’s brownie and it was GOOODDD!

 

Pancakes and Home made Syrup

Even Adrian helps.Today for lunch we made pancakes.  Here is Momma’s home made recipe for pancake mix.  It is from the More with Less Cookbook Oma gave her when she married Daddy.  She says it is her favorite cookbook.

Pancake Mix Cooking the pancakes

6 cups white flour

3 cups whole wheat flour (or buckwheat, cornmeal or rye flour)

3 cups quick oats

2 cups wheat germ

The pancakes!1 Tablespoon salt

3/4 cup baking powder

3/4 cup sugar (you can use a little less if you want)

4 cups powdered milk

Mix all these ingredients well and store in an airtight container.  When you want to make pancakes, combine 1 1/2 cups pancake mix with one beaten egg, 1 cup water and 2 tablespoons oil.  It makes enough for 3 or 4 people.  We double the recipe and sometimes need more!Eating the pancakes

Remember when we made maple syrup?   When we opened it, we discovered it was not quite boiled down enough.  So we reboiled it the other day.  We went down from 4 pints to 2 and Daddy said it could have been boiled more.  Momma stopped so it would not go down to sugar.  The syrup tasted good!Reboiled syrup

I want to boil syrup again next year.  We already have the tubing.  Hint for boiling it inside–Use a dehumidifier!

Snakes and 4th of July

My Rattle Snake HatAdrian’s Rattle Snake HatOn Friday we went to First Friday in Goshen.  This month they had face painting and balloons!  There were lots of old and new cars cruising!

Here’s a close up picture of my rattlesnake that Grandma will LOVE!

Snake!

Playing with “snakes”On the fourth of July we went Oma’s.  We had a picnic.  We played outside.  We also did some fake snakes.  You lit a match under them and they caught on fire.  Instead of being pellets they turned into snakes.  Adrian called them scat.

Muzzle Loader RiflesOn Sunday, we went to watch fireworks at Black Squirrel Golf Course.  They had a Civil War encampment were we got to talk to some re-enactors.  They told me a lot.

The Civil War uniforms were H O T.  Hot!  They were made of wool.  The men always had to wear a vest or a jacket along with a shirt and pants.  Or they were considered naked.  They could not say body parts in “mixed company” so they made words for chicken like “white meat” instead of breast or “drumstick” instead of leg.

Most of the soldiers were around 18.

Civil War demonstrationOne half of the soldiers died because of dehydration and sickness.  When you were marching you would sweat about a quart a day.  They had water canteens that held a quart of water.  Sometimes they could only get yucky water to drink.

Momma thought it was interesting that more Union soldiers died after surgery then Southern soldiers.  The Union used silk stitches because they were supposed to be the best.  But the Southern doctors could not get silk so they used horse tail hair.  It was to coarse to stitch with until they boiled it.  That Trying on Civil War Uniformsterilized it and kept the wounds cleaner!

On their uniforms the stripes meant the rank. Three blue stripes with a triangle on the top was an artillery corporal. Three blue stripes with flags on top was a flag corporal. I don’t remember what the white and red stripes meant.

It was a fun weekend!