A bit o' this and that

Bits of this and that from our week.

BeetleBug is starting to sit up pretty well.

He got his first two teeth on the bottom at the same time. No wonder he has been  grumpy lately. His brother Leroy helped take this picture which makes him look a bit goofy.

 We had some milk to use up so we made some homemade Chocolate Pudding. This is a picture of the recipe, if your interested just click to enlarge. It was easier than typing it out.

 The cookbook also recommended covering it with seran wrap like so in order to keep a "crust" from forming on top.

 Ours turned out delicious.

 Hot out of the pot.

 We doubled the recipe and froze some which came out tasting like fudge pops!!

 I also used the whole egg rather than just the yolks which made it a bit grainy, but no one complained!

Yesterday Bugs came running in to tell me, all excited, that they had found a baby bird. I ran back out with him and we found this little guy hiding from them in the laurel hedge they love to play in. The mother was flying around the edges all a flutter scolding us.

I picked it up and put it on a large tree limb near by so it would be out of the reach of cats and boys. It didn't seem to be quite old enough to fly yet.

The boys each took a turn to climb up and look at it.

Today Phi found a bees' nest in the chicken coop.

Or I guess it found him...:} 

We read of this way to keep a bee sting from swelling that has worked for us almost with out fail. (except when it was on an upper lip once :} )  After removing the stinger if there is one, put your mouth over the spot and suck as hard as you can and SPIT IT OUT. DO NOT FORGET TO SPIT, I once swallowed on accident and two spots on my gums got swollen. Do this 3 or 4 times, then put on a baking soda paste to ease the pain. Leave it on till it drys and the pain stops.

This is what it looks like two hours later, no swelling. It has worked on feet too, just have to wash them quickly and well and proceed.

 The big, old, apple tree  in the front yard that looks like it is going to yield some fruit this fall!

 Ridem" cowgirl. :)

 And the custom home rising over the fence next door.

 Bugs hunting ripe tomatoes on our vines that did very well this year.

 The cucumbers as well!

We tried some lemon cucumbers too this year for fun. They are a round yellow variety that is supposed to have a lemony flavor.

And that pretty well sums up the week, we found some more golf balls :) blackberries are in full swing and we haven't had rain in a month. Tuesday we saw a good sized smoke cloud rising from a bit farther up the canyon from us. Mr. Tech was home and called the fire department, they were already in the neighborhood by then and by the time they figured out how to get around to it, it was getting smaller, thankfully. Don't know if it was intentional or accidental but was glad to see it out with everything soo dry.   Mr Tech worked another all nighter, it works out that we get to see him more during the day once he recovers, which we like!! ~ SJo