Fall Works: Part 1

This last week we weaned the Corrientes. 5 long days that started early and ended late, but the cattle are in good shape, the pastures are green and everyone stayed safe. Seems like ya'll always get pictures of the boys riding out before sunrise:

But the air was crisp with the promise of fall and I never tire of these desert skies. After I had hauled them out to West Bull, I scurried back to the kitchen to clean up after breakfast and get started on dinner. I try to get everything done efficiently on the off chance that I can sneak out for a few minutes with my camera if they happen to be working around the house:

And a few minutes is about all I get so I snap pictures with wild abandon

I was a long way off and hoped that my camera would yield some decent shots

The boys gathered and sorted::

Teamwork is always the name of the game:

No doubt humans and horses were tired at the end of the week:

Everything gets run into the pens:

Under the stealthy eyes of our resident storyteller:

 And funneled into the alley:

Where the ground crew dispenses the medicine: 2 shots and pour-on:

The weaned calves then settle into the pens with plenty of hay for a few days where we keep a close eye on them.

We always pray that we don't have any get sick. It's a little noisy for the first day or two as the calves bawl for their mamas, but soon peace and quiet reigns over headquarters once more:

Angel Biscuits

I've had a few requests for recipes and since my life has been consumed by all things cooking and baking this week, I'll try to share a few. I don't really have anything new on the menu this week. I'm always looking for something new, but truth be told, I make the old standbys that I've been making for a coon's age. They have stood the test of time and the result has been many a clean plate through the years. Never fancy, but always plenty of it and cowboys are always kind and generous with their praise when they slide their boots under our table and dig in. Today they didn't make a peep. The only sounds I heard were the clink of forks against the tin plates and the rattle of ice as they drained their tea glasses until I cleared their empty plates and brought out dessert. Then the stories began to fly. :)

Yesterday I fixed chicken fried steak, gravy, mashed potatoes, calabacitas (shared that here), rolls, and fried jalapenos.

The jalapenos were gone so no picture of them, but I'll make them again in a few weeks and share them then...if I remember. :)

Summer Berry Pie for dessert which I have shared here before.

Then today, as I was rolling out Angel Biscuits, I was sure I had shared those as well, but after a search, I realized that I had not. I don't even know if ya'll make bread, but if you don't, you should. :) There is something very comforting and therapeutic about it.

This recipe was shared by a treasured friend many moons ago and I think of her every time I make these. I love that this dough can be mixed up ahead of time and popped into the fridge for 3 or 4 days, and then pulled out again when the need for fresh baked bread is called for.

Angel Biscuits

5 C flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp baking powder
3-6 Tbsp of sugar, depending on how sweet you like your bread (I usually use 3 or 4)
3/4 C shortening or lard
1/2 C warm water
1 pkg yeast (I buy my yeast at Sam's and measure out 1 Tbsp whenever a recipe calls for a packet of                         yeast)
2 C buttermilk

*Mix all dry ingredients except for yeast. Cut shortening in. Make a well in your dry ingredients. Dissolve yeast in warm water and pour into well. Also pour buttermilk into well. Mix well with wooden spoon. Knead on lightly floured surface. (Some flour may need to be added to make the dough less sticky.) This dough may be rolled out and cut into biscuits or put in the fridge and use as needed. Bake at 400.

And now I am off to chop up a cabbage for coleslaw for tomorrow.

Bread Dough and Soap Suds

If you've been reading here for any length of time, you can probably guess by that title that we're gearing up for our fall cow works. Between mowing and making preparations, it's been a busy week. I've been pouring over recipes and making my grocery list and menu for a couple of days:

We had a horse sale at the sale barn on Saturday and I had planned on getting groceries after work, but I was just too pooped. It was after 6 when I left work and I knew that would put me home after 9, not to mention getting over $300 worth of groceries put up. However, that meant an early morning trip into town on Sunday morning:

I would have been in town earlier, but DH was worried about me being in town in the pre-dawn hours by myself. Thankfully, by the time I got to the market, I just about had the entire place to myself:

I never have understood the need for a grocery store to stay open 24 hours, but I laughed when I ran into a good friend there who works the night shift in a sleep clinic and had just gotten off of work. She has always been a night owl and often goes to bed as I am getting up.

My fridge is filled to overflowing for the week ahead:

As is the bunkhouse fridge:

That is what $7500 of medicine looks like. And I thought groceries were expensive!
I'm headed over to scrub down the bunkhouse and then make it an early night, as 4 a.m. will be here before I know it. If anyone needs me this week, you'll find me elbow deep in bread dough and soap suds:

Tilted Bears Quilt

I still haven't worked on the borders for my Crossing Time quilt, but that didn't stop me from starting something new. :) I feel like I can get away with it since I don't have any other UFOs waiting in the wings. I have a lot of unfinished quilts but they are all at the quilter's so for the time being, I'm at a stopping point.

I had one chore that needed my attention before I could sew in peace. I couldn't remember the last time I had cleaned my sewing machine. Ummm...yep. It was time:

Looked like I had been stitching on a Woolly Mammoth coat.

I've had this teddy bear fabric for 4 or 5 years. I don't recall where I found it...perhaps Hobby Lobby...it kind of looks like something from the 80's, but teddy bears are classic and timeless:

I didn't have a plan, but at some point I thought about using a tilted block and that just stuck. I'd never made that block, but pulled out the fabric on Saturday, as well as some coordinating fabrics,

 and gave it a test run. I didn't use a quilt pattern. I just did some figuring and used the old noggin.

I made a few paper templates in order to test things out. The red block had too much of a tilt so I regrouped and settled on the dimensions in the blue block. Using a 5" square, I ended up with a 7" block:

There is some waste when making these blocks and after doing some research, I saw that you could use a tri-recs ruler and eliminate the fabric waste, but I don't have one and I didn't really want to add another to my collection. :)

Once I figured everything out. I made 15 blue blocks and 15 red blocks and chain piecing made them come together quickly:

Once all the blocks were made, I made a plastic template to trim my blocks to size:

I made the red blocks tilt one way and the blue ones tilt the other.When I showed it to DH he said, "That's nice, but your bears are crooked". Funny guy.