Butterscotch Swirl Brownies

I was torn about whether to post this here at RoughDrafts, or over on Proof It, since it is image-heavy. Since it’s more of a how-to and since I mentioned it here first, I suppose I’ll do it here.

The Butterscotch Swirl Brownies are a huge success. Both recipes were prepared much the same, i.e. done in a saucepan by melting the oils, sugars and flavorings then adding the eggs and dry ingredients. The only thing I had to change was the cooking time; they required the longer, of course, and though I was worried the chocolate brownie batter would over-cook with an additional 5 minutes, it did not.

This was the view outside my kitchen window as I got started; it’s all about setting a scene, doncha know.

The two recipes, Butterscotch Brownies, and my go-to fudge brownie recipe.

The two batters.

I poured the butterscotch in on the bottom:

Then drizzled on the fudge:

Then pulled a table knife through it for a nice swirlie pattern:

I cut them into little squares, figuring they’d be rich, and voile!

They actually taste even better than they look.

In other news, Mom and I walked yesterday for the third time this week, and cut 15 minutes off our previous times. It was still chilly, but in spite of that, there were some raucous spring peepers kicking up a fuss in a little marsh. First I’ve heard of them this year.

This morning, I returned from choring and looked up into the hay field between us and the nearest neighbors to see a big dog standing facing me. I thought it was a boxer, at first. It was just staring. Then it turned and trotted a few feet, and I realized it was a very healthy-looking coyote! He didn’t even seem particularly bothered by my presence, even when I moved toward him and clapped my hands. He did head into the trees, but not away from me; more parallel to me and the house. It was broad daylight, too. Cheeky bugger.

And today’s quote:

“Me and a dead owl don’t give a hoot.” Raylan Givens from “Justified.” Love that show.

On that note…

!@#$ the Groundhog Says

 

Shot near the Mississippi RiverReplaces :Image:Groundhog Standing1.jpg, which, although of a higher resolution, is at a much poorer angle. , in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Copyright © 2004 by April King

 

I finally got out for a ride today. First one since sometime in the middle of January, I think. I put on all my layers and it was 50 degrees and sunny when I left the house just after noon. By the time we got home, it had dropped to something lower than that, the wind was blowing and it was spitting rain. It’s supposed to be 15 degrees tomorrow night! No, that is NOT Centigrade (all our Canadian friends are probably praying for 15 degrees right about now…) Ha!

 

February is hard because you can feel spring coming, but it never quite does. Though that little Philadelphia rodent predicted an early spring, which would put it in the next couple weeks; he may have lied… or been slightly hung over from all that hibernating. I know hibernation makes me leery of shadows, too.

 

It was a great ride, though. I expected to have WWIII on my hands with a fresh horse conveniently forgetting who rides whom coupled with the nice-ish weather and my own sore muscles from the fall I had working yesterday. But it was great. Sully was just glad to be out of the mud for awhile. We even passed a funeral, complete with weird covered chairs, flapping tent and coffin. How can a horse be afraid of a pig or a cow, but something that looks like a fancy coffee table standing in the middle of a yard and smelling of formaldehyde is business as usual?

 

We also rode by some resident groundhog holes, but no one seemed to be home. I guess they all know they only have two weeks before they have to wake up and do groundhog stuff.

 

After our ride, I took Mom home and Dad put mirrors on the truck for me. On my way back out we noticed the rear tire was soft. There was a piece of 12 gauge fence wire stuck in it. I managed to get it home, where now it is now resting on three tires and one rim.

 

 

 

 

 

Meteor trace (Photo credit: alexeya)

 

 

The asteroid did it. You know, the one that didn’t hit Earth today.

 

 

 

We have a nice evening planned. We had Chinese BBQ pork and rice for supper (homemade, of course) and we have a movie to watch while the snow flies. Yes. We’re going to be groundhogs this winter weekend!

 

Another Weekend…

…disappears into the fog. It was a good one though.

Saturday saw the creation of the art studio (see pics over on Proof It) and a short but good Sully ride. I was able to get his Easyboot Bares on his feet for the first time in three weeks, thanks to his trim last week. His hooves are so hard right now due to the dryness that I’ve been unable to even rasp much off. I will keep trying, though. But, being able to get the boots on meant we could head up Ben Ridge where it’s quiet.

We spotted a second coyote in as many weeks, dead on the side of the road. The first one I assumed had just been hit, though there was no sign of injury, external or internal. Then we saw this one and it died in the exact same position; perfectly straight from nose to tail, laying on its side with legs extended. Poisoning, would be my guess.

While I have nothing against the illegal poisoning of coyotes, because they are a menace and there are far too many of them, I do worry that Blue will find some of the bait and ingest it. Yet one more reason I “cruelly” keep him tied in our own yard. Hm. I wonder which he would prefer? The freedom to roam at will and die a horrible, painful death, or living peacefully in his own yard with frequent walks and supervised play-times? I don’t have to leave my own yard to live a fulfilled life. And my house is not much larger than his run!

Sunday we spent the day at Mom and Dad’s and Mom made delicious pulled pork for barbeque sandwiches. We celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary a day late. The fog rolled in shortly after lunch, but she and I braved it to walk back here.

We also dug out some of the 2nd and 3rd grade piano music I went through as a kid. I’m going to apply it to the keyboard and see if I can finally get the feel of it. I spent about an hour yesterday just doing simple scales and utilizing the metronome feature on the keyboard, too.

Today, I’m hoping to do some more practice, and maybe even move toward finishing up that art project, now that everything is in place to do so! So if you need me, I’ll be in the studio

Today A Post About Yesterday

Sometimes I do so much in a day, physically, that sitting down and blogging about it afterward is as exhausting as reliving that day. But I do want to share the day I had yesterday.

It began with a bike ride to the barn, and I decided since I was in no big hurry, it would be a great day to take Blue along. Blue has the stamina of a long distance hauler, but only at moderate speeds. He’s a sprinter when it comes to high speed. Taking him along when I’m biking means I have to really slow down the downhills so he can sort of keep up. If I get too far ahead he forgets he’s supposed to be keeping up and allows his nose to distract him.

The trip over went well. He kept up better than usual, and was very focused. Sully got a spa treatment while he had his breakfast; I groomed him, worked on his relaxing his hind legs when I pick them up to pick hooves, and combed out his tail which I had washed and conditioned the day before. His attitude was so compliant that, instead of taking him down to the arena to practice poles, I hand grazed him for a little while. I began teaching Blue a “hold” command, handing him the end of Sully’s lead and making him keep it in his jaws until I told him to drop it.

After all that big fun, I mucked the paddock again. Then rode home.

On the way home, Blue was far less focused, and I had to stop six or eight times to get him off the road. The hardest part of taking him is keeping him on the shoulder; he always wants to run down the yellow line, which makes me nervous. I have to say, the worry over him takes a lot of the fun out of my cycling!

We made it home, and then it was bath time. Bathing Blue was at the top of this week’s To Do list, and I finally accomplished it… twice! It took two good lathers with my Hartz oatmeal shampoo to get the gray out of his white. Then I turned him loose to run high speed circles around the house while I used the electric weed eater to whack weeds around the house and barn. What I did not consider was the pile of grill ash Steve has been dumping on my garden. I finish my whacking and call for Blue. When he came around the corner my heart sank; my gleaming white dog was the color of soot.

Out came the hose again, and he got a second shower that he was none too happy about! This time, he got tied in the grass in a sunny spot to dry. Fool me once, you little twit!

Following all that, there was a space of time for a shower, lunch, a load of laundry and some grocery list composing. Then Mom came over and we went for a walk. Our walk showed us two interesting things, the first being brilliant splashes of pink and green in the clouds at about 1 o’clock south. The sky was deep blue, and there were multi-textured white clouds, and these colors occurred inside one of the clouds. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. We thought perhaps it was a sundog, but there was no second one. The color lasted and changed for the duration of the time we walked southward, then was gone.

The second thing was that our neighborhood killdeer, which you can see here, has a family! All her efforts to protect the eggs she had apparently laid on the side of the road have paid off, and we got to see the tiny killdeer chicks up close and personal. The two adult birds were going nuts, screaming and flailing in front of us, and I noticed that when the little ones started running the wrong way, papa killdeer would swoop out of the sky and literally knock the wayward kid in the right direction. I love to watch animals parent. They just don’t screw it up like people do! The little bird would stand back up, shake its head, and head off in the right direction, or risk another fly-by ass-kicking by dad!

I leashed Blue to ensure he didn’t make a snack of the baby birds, and mom and I stood and watched them until we decided we’d tormented the parent birds with our presence long enough. On our way home from town today, I intend to stop and try to get a couple of pictures. I don’t know if I’ll succeed or not! It may be a risk of life and limb to get that close; the big birds are determined in their custodial duties!

After our walk, I crashed for the rest of the day. I finished my grocery list, laundry, and the dishes Mom started for me, and made a chicken and ham casserole for dinner. I then succumbed to the modern marvel of gas-powered transportation for the evening feeding. Steve and I settled in and watched a movie that I slept through the majority of.

And that was my day. You may now rouse yourself and continue on with yours!

Wordy Wednesday-Snow Day!

Sunday it snowed and rained and sleeted and rained and snowed some more. It stormed pretty much from dawn to dusk. Steve and I felt very prepared, for once. We both took showers, Then I caught up the laundry, dishes, filtered four gallons of drinking water and filled up the bath tub for toilet flushing and pet water.

Although the snow piled up to a depth of about 4 inches, the power never even flickered throughout the day and night. Our emergency preparedness paid off!

We got up Monday morning to a cold, but sunny and warming morning. We made it to the barn in the Subaru without mishap. The roads were snow-packed, but had been scraped and treated. The animals were fine. Sully’s rain sheet was stiff with ice, but underneath it, he was dry and toasty (I really can’t say enough good things about that EuroBreeze sheet that cost $35 at Schneider’s!)

It ended up working out that Steve dropped me back at the barn on his way to work, and I saddled the beast and rode around the property in the fresh fallen snow. Mom, Jenny and the kids accompanied on foot.

While the snow was beautiful, ground conditions left something to be desired since it never had a chance to freeze between the rain and snow, so beneath the snow was a hidden layer of slippery mud, and there are a couple of very steep hills on that trek. Sully slipped a few times, but since he was barefoot he kept pretty good purchase. He was very energetic, but listened well. He also seemed to understand I had a somewhat precarious seat since I was wearing my Schmidt coveralls.They’re very warm, but do not allow for any flexibility or range of motion.

We flushed out four does in the back field. I think it’s the first time Sully hasn’t been spooked by unexpected deer, and I know it’s the first time the goofball has tried to chase them as they ran away!

The only real problem came at the foot of the final climb home. I was trying to get him to follow a road (two rutted tire tracks) back up toward the house. Apparently, there was standing water lurking beneath the snow pack. When he broke through and started sinking, he panicked and jumped into the woods, slipping and sliding and scrambling for a foothold. I thought we were goners for a second. Well, he finally found some footing and got his balance back, but we were now in the woods. I couldn’t just ride him on through because the trees were too low and the trunks too close together. Then his lead got tangled a holly tree.

Fortunately for us, Mom came to the rescue. There wasn’t even enough room for me to safely dismount without the danger of sliding under him. She untangled us, and then lead him back down and safely across the water hazard. For all his carrying on a moment before, he put his head down and followed her like a big puppy dog. After all, who doesn’t trust Mom?

When we got back to the house, I decided to extend our ride a little by taking him a half mile or so down the road.

We had a good little jaunt. I used my helmet cozy, my new Mountain Horse gloves, and the fleece quarter sheet. I was so warm, and Sully stayed nice and loose without breaking a sweat.

I got back home mid-morning. I’d been warming up before jumping in the shower when we lost power. It was out for over 6 hours, which isn’t too bad, but I’d already let the water out of the tub. After a walk over to Jenny’s with Blue for a cuppa coffee, I came back home and spent the latter part of the afternoon catching melting snow off the roof in my mop bucket and pouring it into the tub.

So I wrote this entire post out longhand, like, with an actual pen and paper! (I haven’t done this in ages!) My typing is far more legible than my handwriting these days, let me tell you.

By sundown Monday, much of the snow was gone. I did get a couple of pics around the yard and barn first thing Monday morning, and I think Jenny got at least one of me and Sully. I will put them up eventually.

On second thought, I think this post qualifies for a Wordy Wednesday post. Perhaps I’ll get it typed up by then. (I did, I did, I did get it typed up by then!)

Gone to the Birds

We’re being over-run by wild turkeys this year. While these were taken a few weeks ago, I see this flock, 40-50 birds strong, out my kitchen window every day.

This is just a small portion of the flock, possibly younger birds? On the weekend I walked out the back door and startled them, and they all took wing. They are very noisy, very clumsy fliers. It was quite a sight!

The Taming of the Jell-O

I kinda bit my own self in the backside with that last post. I was finally NOT singing it anymore, and now… Oh well. Once a blonde, always a blonde.

We went for a long ride today, first one in pretty close to 2 weeks. That is unacceptable! He was so filthy from all the mud we have that it took nearly an hour just to find the bay.

It was a more exciting ride than we typically have, and not necessarily in a good way. We encountered pigs for the first time. I knew they were there, but I just didn’t give it any thought. Sully’s become so unflappable in his old age I tend to take for granted there might still be “new” things out there that will unflap his unflappableness. Pigs were the key.

We got even with them, a sow, a boar and a bunch of piglets, all rooting around in their mudhole, and they all ran to the far side of the pen, having their own little freak out. Well that was bad enough. Then Mama pig decided to charge us. Keep in mind this pen is a good 15 feet off the road, plus we were separated by a ditch of stagnant green water. But my 1800 pound steed turned into 12 feet of towering Jell-O. Have you ever ridden Jell-O? I do not recommend it.

I managed to keep my own cool, and while he quivered and danced and pranced and backed up and twirled, I sat very still, saying things like, “Yo, dude, they’re pigs,” and “Really?” in a very soft, even, hopefully reassuring voice. I don’t think it helped him at all. Although perhaps that was the only thing standing between semi-stationary us and uncontrolled flight into oncoming traffic. (Of course there was traffic. The only time there is ever traffic on these roads is when you really wish there wasn’t.)

It took from the dairy (Pig Ground Zero) all the way to Rome church to get him to stop bouncing. We went from Jell-O to pogo stick. He nearly dumped me in the ditch just before the church, and I’m still not sure what he did. We were doing a little lope up the hill, and I think he did a rocking horse-type buck and zigged, while I zagged. I started falling over his right shoulder and thought I was a goner, but then he zagged back and caught me. Purely accidental on his part, I think. At least I’d have had mud to land on!

For the rest of the ride, there were horse-eating pigs hiding behind every tree, rock and dog along our path. That old lady up ahead checking her mail, she might be a pig! That rustle off in the leaves (squirrel), pretty sure that’s a pig!

Pigs are evil.

Once we joined up with Mom and Blue he relaxed a bit. One teeny, tiny problem. We still had to pass Ground Zero to get back home. I decided ahead of time I was just going to dismount and lead him past them. No more taming Jell-O for this cowgirl. So I did. Back and forth, for five or ten minutes, smacking him in the face with the ends of the reins every time the pigs became more frightening than me. He did settle some, but my gosh, he sure gets BIG when he’s scared. The pigs were unimpressed.

I got back on him once they were safely behind us, and he power-walked all the way back home. I think we nearly killed my poor mother, who was already sore from the hellish workout I put her through two days ago! Hopefully she won’t hold it against me.

Sunday LOL

Mountain December

The frosted dawn
Hangs cold and still
But for the frozen breath
Of a doe on the hill

Silver moonlight
Silver meadow
A floating heron
Casts no shadow

While leaden horizon
Lifts open its eyes
Casts off the night
And paints pink the rise

Where returns to her breakfast
The unconcerned doe
And awakens the day
With the cry of a crow.

The Truth About Turkeys

Thanks to Backyard Chickens for the pic. Check them out by clicking the photo.

They poop. Alot. And when 40 of them take off out of a cow pasture and fly over you and your horse, two thoughts go through your mind: Duck! and Whoa, horse, please don’t freak out.

That was a first for me and Sully yesterday. While we have certainly come across our fair share of turkeys, I’ve never seen a whole flock of them take wing, and then double back and fly right overhead. The poop was splatting all around us, and while I really did want to look up, I refrained. Not a good idea.

I expected Sully to freak out, because all those pumping wings sort of sounded like a really big toilet flushing. Oddly enough, Sully didn’t even act mildly concerned. Perhaps his mind was still on the weird hat-wearing cow we’d just met. Yes, this little black angus was wearing a dunce cap made entirely out of cockleburs. I felt bad for it, but it seemed unbothered, and more curious about the human on top of the horse that had just wandered into its world. I was really wishing I had my camera. Sully walked right up to the fence for a closer look. He lives with a cow now, after all, so that part was fine. But the hat?

So considering these two new experiences and that we both escaped without catching poo or freaking out, we had a lovely afternoon trail ride.