Pickin’ chickins bock bock bock…Pickin’ chickins…bock bockity bock…

Guess what we did today?

The crew consists of 3 Black Sex Link, 3 Red Sex Link, Ameraucana and 3 Barred Rocks.*  Each of my 4H crew can choose a group to call their own.  Come fair time if they are all similar they can show as a group of 3 and if not, then show just the best. (That’s my public rational anyway) Each are very good to excellent layers and are dual purpose (lay or fry chickie bwahhahaha!)

The turkins are selling nearly as fast as they arrive.  Fortunately we have practice every night this week so it will not be a bother to check in for new arrivals.  That will be about our limit–at least until I do some more measuring & calculating.

One thing I need to note for next time.  The chicks were fed from red feeders at the store (mostly). Mine are metal so we had to cover the bedding with newspaper to keep them from trying to eat it.  Hopefully they will adapt quickly to the metal.

On the bread front–two down, two more to eat while the rolls didn’t make it through the night.  Robert baked a 9×9 pan of brownies for his our late snack.  Not bad either.  Last time he miss read the box directions and added 1 1/2 cups of oil.  It was very rubbery/weird texture but still tasted good. (hate to admit that but there you have it, we ate them all)

*I hate to think of what that just did to my rating at the “rate your site” test.

Run, run, as fast as you can…

Once I got home from practice I found the 12 qt stockpot FULL of bread dough PLUS another small bowl full.  Seems that Robert gave it a hair cut every time it oozed out enough.

It being 10:00 at night I quickly smooshed it down then divided into my four bread pans (Walmart was out) and 12 muffins.  Stuck the muffins in for 25 min. When the rolls when finished the bread pans were placed into the oven for 45 min.  Once the timer dinged, the oven was turned off and the bread left inside until morning. 

How did it taste?  Not bad but everything really did need that second rising. I didn’t do it because all I could picture was waking up to dough everywhere.

So what went wrong?

1.) Well I used a bakers yeast from Sams and it works just a bit differently than regular yeast from the grocery store.  If I remember correctly you are supposed to use a bit less but I haven’t baked bread products in ages so cannot quite remember. And in the bread machine just use the same amount–which is how I had been using it.

2.) The recipe calls for packages and instead of looking up how many teaspoons equals a package I relied on memory.  This may or may not be correct depending on how much #1 affected things.

So everything still tastes good just a bit doughy or perhaps yeasty.  We are eating it all anyway.

So what about the first loaf?

Well it is still in the bowl.  The little bubbles were there too early and I just had too much running to do today to fool with anything.  I do plan on trying again soon.

But, I found an excellent pair of pants that look 1880ish and look good for today. I believe they might be old military uniform pants.  OLD–as in pocket watch pocket, buttons on the insides, button fly, and strings on the inside pant legs.  Nikos thinks they are cool and another man offered to buy them after the show.

Now to find *Y* shaped suspenders and sew a pair of boys knickers (pants not underpants).  The things I do for my kiddos….

Little Missey had lunch & a nap so on to the second “new” recipe–the four yo one.  The directions have everything mixed in a roasting pan or a large stock pot.  It seemed easier to mix in a roaster so that is what we did.

Mixing the flour, sugar, salt, and shortening together until it looks like cornmeal (all the same)

After adding the yeast water & the rest of the water.  I asked the kids to make a volcano but it wasn’t deep enough thus the islands.

Then they mixed.  Gooey among other adjectives.

I had to do a final mix as they did not get all the flour.  After looking at the amount mixed and knowing it had to sit all night I decided to put the dough into my larger stock pots.  If we did not have a rehearsal tonight I would have left it in the roaster, next time perhaps.

The empty roaster.  Everyone had a taste (after licking off their hands) and decided it was a sweet dough & it is.  For the record the stock pot I used is a 12qt and it was filled between 1/4 and 1/2.  The roasting pan is now in the oven cooking a corned beef.  Remember the old-time recipe for glue?  Flour & water.  It should be called cement.  Just a warning from btdt.  Tomorrow we bake!

We love homemade bread but the bread machine cannot quite keep up with the demand.  So once upon a time I was inspired to google ‘no knead bread’ recipes and found a recipe that looked interesting–4 years ago and no bread.  More recently Amy had a side link to an artisan bread that also looked inspiring.  Today is bread day.  After shoveling off the kitchen deep freeze to get the yeast we were set.  I don’t think we need the *big* bowl.

I plan on mixing up the other recipe after tending to Little Missey.  Around the house…

 These hyacinths are from an abandoned house up the street.  The jonquils are from my flower beds.

 Little Missey helping sweep.

  Don’t you wish sweeping were still this much fun?

…or the rush to welcome spring…whatever you name this time of year we are all extremely busy.  Among the ever present list of activities:

Dance Classes are working on the shows.  One of the biggest differences between the Studio classes and other studios is the end of year show.  Most offer a recital where each class does a dance (or two for older students) ending the year with applause and happy parents.  This studio does a full scale production that combines all the classes–dancing, drama, and art.  This lets the students learn exactly what a production entails: props, timing, etc.  The time on stage is about the same per class but the experience is far different.  This year the pre-point and up, plus selected students are working with the Imperial Theater in “Oklahoma!”.  We have Nikos and Thomas participating.  The schedule has reached the *everynight* stage.  The play dates are: April 5, 6, 11, 12, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26 and May 2, 3, 4, 9, 10 ,11.  Yes that many.  Yes the house will be full with the expectation that there will be enough demand to add additional shows.  At least all the work isn’t for 3 days only–but my is it tiring (& expensive due to gas).
  Meanwhile the younger students are working on “Annie”. (This is not my favorite musical btw but I will watch my kiddos.) This too is different. We will be doing two days of school matinees. What?…well two shows a day for local school children to come, watch a theater show, and learn a bit about theater. The ticket price is cheap–around $1 or $2 per child and the schools look plan on the yearly trip. The more classes you attend the longer your on stage time. However, it too will have a week of every night rehearsals to get used to the stage, tech, and dress rehearsals. I’m tired already. Thomas is in this show also and so is Lindsay.

Gardening:  When it rains it pours.  For many years all I had available was a smallish area in the backyard.  Now a friend has offered a large area on her place (about 1/2 mile away) and a local group has offered space to the 4H group.  Plus, Grits has offered her spot as she doubts she will be able to take good care of much with a new baby.  (She will water and we will weed.)  I’m behind on starting seedlings but will be getting that started & finished by the weekend.  We are adding herbs as flower beds & hopefully some rhubarb too.  Dh is a bit more enthused as we got the troy built fixed (a permanent loaner it seems) and rising prices.

Animals:  Ever since we did the chicken project a few years back (wow 6 actually) the kids have been wanting to have more chickens.  I’ve debated with myself and the fall of 2006 to go ahead.  Those plans were put on hold when Little Missey made her future arrival known–sometimes I admit I have limits.  But now seems to be a good time to begin again.  I have fond memories of Lindsay throwing scratch feed to the chickens just before her first birthday, a cute sight!  Of course now is the time that the feed store has a good selection–important as we cannot have the 25 most hatcheries require to mail order (not enough room).

Additional projects:  This worm bin, thinking about attempting this and off-the-record attempting this. (Much easier in summer when tomato sandwiches are the favorite food) The really big thinking–in my spare time–is how/where of keeping some bees but, alas, it doesn’t seem possible here in town.

Sewing:  Because of course plays need costumes.  I need to make a pair of boys knickers and adapt a pair of men’s work pants (think v shape in back).  I don’t even want to think about the Y shaped suspenders.

Not forgetting…Grits baby is due at the end of April.  My good friend & her daughter are having a shower for her the 12th.  I am not missing it–everything else will have to wait that day.  AND…Nikos graduates in May so there is a BBQ for friends & family.  AND…both Nikos and Fyah are/have joined the Air Force so there’s those details.

Fortunately for this family the flooding has only been a road problem–how to get from point A to point B and how much additional time do we need.  The theater side came within 2 inches of flooding while the studio side had a generous 6 feet. 

So anyone else up for some circle time?

We had our our yearly 4H banquet this past Saturday.  It is rather late, so late that the year in review is October 2006 through September 2007.  This makes for some interesting “what we did” speeches as many of the leaders kept getting confused.  Our group was in better shape–I send out reminder letters that tell the members what we will be doing at the next meeting.  My memory is all in computer files.  

While this may give the appearance that I am an awesome leader I will let it be known that 1) I have been group leader for at least 10 years (no one including me can remember) and 2) my group has some favorite ruts projects they like and now expect prefer to do again.  I have no complaints as it makes planning easier and the kids like moving from “not having a clue” to “the expert” at least to the newer members.  My internal thought commentator is in red.

October:  The official beginning of the 4H calendar.  We begin every year with pumpkin painting.  Every year I am surprised at what the kid’s imaginations can see in a fat orange pumpkin.  This year it was how my 4yo Zach painted his pumpkin–complete face on one side and a story picture on the other.  Best of all was it could be seen without asking for an explanation.  Too cool.

October also brings our hamburger stand at the local fourth Saturday in October Harvest Festival.  That year we had 30 helpers–including members aged 7+ and ag agents.  We sell 1,000+ hamburgers.  The great thing is the profit allows us to do all the listed activities with no or little cost to the families in our group.  This is a definite plus as we are a Delta poverty area.  (still have to pull teeth to get workers–something for nothing everywhere these days, but still I/we pull it off every year so what can you say?)

We participated in the county Fall Fun Festival with our group providing drinks and enjoying the weennie roast & hay ride.  (too cold as some were not prepared and one group needs to provide more supervision for its very young members such that there are many more grey hairs on my head)

November 2006:  Asked the state winner to come give her award winning speech and give pointers to the group.  Project was the annual tie-dye which is an eternal favorite.  (No child in our group & 99% of the county will give a speech.  It is a sure advance to regional competition if anyone would even stutter through.  We moved the tie-dye to later in the year because kids would come for all the freebies early in the year and disappear as we moved into 4H*work* areas.  very frustrating.) 

December 2006:  Just about the busiest month for our group.  First Community Service:  We worked with the ***Church and a member’s prison ministry to make cookie packages for the inmates in the county jail.  Somewhat of a reward for attending Bible study/counseling but the rules say that everyone must get one so also a nice gesture.  This was our first (and only) year of doing this as some later expressed reservations about rewarding inmates. 

Our annual project is to shop for one boy and one girl from the angel trees.  I usually select younger children as the $75 per child we have allotted goes farther.  The girls buy for the girl and the boys for boys.  They compete to see who can get closest without going over.  This is an excellent learning experience as we try to get as much as requested/suggested as possible.  Real budgeting in real life brings  home the *can’t have everything* without a lecture.  Again it is amazing to see how well the kids do. 

For the fun projects:  For the second year we learned to build a Christmas gift basket.  The kids did egg yolk painted cookies, chocolate dipped pretzels, candy mice,  decorated prebaked gingerbread men, handrolled & coated several different candies, bagged sampler of fancy tropical trail mix, added hot drink packages (chosen from flavored hot teas, hot cider, and flavored hot chocolates).  These where topped with foiled candies & candy canes and wrapped in fancy decorator plastics & bows.  The kids did all the work with supervision.  This meeting had a ‘bring your favorite party food’ so we noshed while we worked.

We ended the season with a trip to the “Nutcracker”.  Even the kids that griped going in enjoyed themselves and asked to go again the next year.  (kids DO NOT roll candy centers into neat little ball of approximately 6 and then coat in assorted stuff.  They lump into one or two giant balls and go on to the next section.  Forget peanut butter, coconut, or any other flavors for the basket.  But the baskets were lovely & third years were also and next years will be too).

January 2007:  We toured the local veterinary clinic.  The vet showed the kids the entire facility from kennels to medical equipment.  We saw doggie gall stones and a new mother.  The hands down favorite was the internal camera and the demonstration of how it works.  Second favorite was the surgical room and the doggie gall stones.  Our group turned in three project journals.  The two cloverbuds stayed in county while the Sr. won at the regional level.  (these are my kids and it was a challenge as I am notorious for not developing pictures and there are at least 4 pages for pictures.  Important as it is easy to claim the work so pictures back up the claim.  Journal are also the part that scares off most parents, although I do not mandate that one gets turned in ever.  My older children never did and still learned a lot.  The problem is that 4H is a government supported group and must *prove* that we are doing what we should be–which is what record journals do.  The state is really pushing, so I really encourage, and so on…)

February 2007:  Mrs. Susan came and taught those 10+ how to weave baskets while I taught the younger ones how to weave paper heart baskets .  It was very very involved and while the older ones enjoyed the end result it will be a long while before we do this again.  Most adults present were ready to do a little basket weaving ourselves.  Note:  the link has good directions just practice using a different number of cuts for best results.

March 2007:   Time to prepare for O’Rama–what the competition is called in 4H.  KG did a fashion review (area of competition) for the group.  We discussed the different competiton areas and the chicken BBQ contest (thus the matches & lighter fluid reference in an earlier post).  BBQ contest is the hardest for parents as the kids must to EVERYTHING themselves from lighting fires, to preparing and cooking the chicken.  Lighter fluid & matches = grey hairs on even the most hands on learning parents. 

April 2007:  O’Rama practice and competition.  We invited Mr. Billy from Arkansas Fish and Game to come and teach us how to tie fishing knots and fish habitats for the sports fishing contest.  There were many questions about fishing & hunting asked so the kids learned a lot.  At the O’Rama Lindsay completed an insect collection and displayed for a participation ribbon. (cloverbuds ages 5-8 compete for participation ribbons only so they can concentrate on learning the ropes).  Robert won several areas and chose to advance in the bicycle area.  He also advanced in the BBQ so on to regionals.

Ball season began so we encouraged working on individual projects.  Five families signed up to grow giant watermelons & pumpkins.

May 2007:  Robert competed a BBQ and placed in the top 5.  The group received their seeds and planted after the beginning date.  Ball season severely challenges 4H.  Planned for regional O’Rama in June.

June 2007:  Robert competed in bicycle and won first so he advanced to the state competition.

July 2007:  Robert competed and came in fifth at state.  He was disappointed but enjoyed the trip.  It is a 3 day-2 night stay at the university at Fayetteville.  The kids are given a variety of tours and classes to choose from (in addition to competing) so are very busy.  Drought had set in so the pumpkins & watermelons are doing poorly–eventually dead poorly.

August 2007:  Behind the scenes Mrs. Stephanie is getting as much done as possible for the stand as a baby came on the 13th.  The group took a break meeting.

September 2007:  We began the get ready for hamburger stand chant.  Just a get into the swing of things meeting & asking what they might want to do in the new year.  Mostly they like their rut expected activities.  

In addition to this every month the newsletter encourages the members to do one thing in their project books or something related and tell us at the meeting what they did.  This works well and we have gotten a lot of project work done. 

Now we are gearing up to stress individual project work and summertime projects.  The county is trying to find volunteers to begin a shooting club but it is proving difficult.  Most adults do not shoot anything anymore.  Add in training (two days) and over all commitment and it is difficult.

I am also trying to find new activities to do with the kids.  Something for ages 5 – 16 is not easy so if you have a suggestion please post in the comments.

Whew! Sure am busy aren’t I?

 Thanks to Grits and her dh Davo I have some wedding pictures to share.  This color is apple in honor of the bride’s colors. These pictures were taken after the wedding so and the relief or relaxed look is there.  Davo tweaked some–as all artists do.  So without further ado…

Fyah & Mrs. Fyah

The Fyahs on Grandpa’s car.  We asked Grandpa if we could use his car to take the happy couple to their reception & he was glad to oblige.  It is an elegant ride isn’t it?

Fyah, Mrs Fyah, Grandpa, Me & the Mr.  (Grandpa is dh’s dad)

Fyah and LinLin.  She was the flower girl.  The two share a love of hair twirling which their close siblings have complained about–same words too!

Grandpa’s ride-as tweaked by Davo.  Sure is a beauty isn’t it?  A ‘62 Studebaker.

The Davo Family:  Davo, Grits, and little Elizabeth.  Yes, they are as sweet in person.

We have more pictures & then more coming.  It was a beautiful day that I am glad is finished.  At least the picture part…