The rain falls, the tank fills...

Over the last week, we have gotten almost 10 inches of rain. That's more than our total for the last 18 months. As you know, it takes a hard rain to make the water run off of the soil, and you can tell how hard it is raining in this picture. Mike braves the storm, yes-it is thundering and lightning, and digs out a runoff area so that the water is diverted into our newly enlarged tank. He already had the "dry creek" built but it was raining so hard that the water was running over the sides. He runs out and shovels out some more dirt and builds up a better dam. It really helps and the tank is now half full of water.

This is my muddy view from the front deck. I can see the water from here! It is very reddish brown from the clay but it will settle. The water will clear up and water plants will start to grow. Then it will be ready for some catfish. Hopefully we will get some more rain and it will finish filling up.

I love reading your comments and from now on, I will reply to them in my comments section. KathyB from http://cedarpond.blogspot.com/ does this and I love it. So if you ask me a question or leave me a comment, check back by my comment section for the reply. Thanks!

Happy Birthday to my Mom

We celebrated my Mom's 70th birthday last Sunday. She is so young-only 19years older than I am. We all got together for a brunch. I made this cake for her. It is the "best ever Carrot Cake" from Reader's Digest. It has 3 sticks of butter in it and cream cheese icing, and yes, it was good. We rounded out the menu with migas, pigs in the blanket, and sopapilla cheesecake. It rained hard the entire 24 hours that we were there. The creek was out, and the road was washed out. We were able to make it back home and discovered that we had about half of the rain that she did and our newly enlarged tank is about half full. It was definitely a memorable weekend!

Fingerling Potatoes with a Crunchy Parmesan Crust

Oh....these are so good!
Fingerling Potatoes with a Crunchy Parmesan Crust: (for 4 people)
16 fingerling potatoes, cut in half
1/2 stick of butter
4 oz. freshly grated Parmesan cheese (or more!, I also used Romano-delicious)
salt, pepper


This is Pecorino Romano since this is the strongest flavored cheese I had in the fridge.

Melt the butter in 400 degree oven, using a 9x13 glass pan. When the pan is hot and the butter is melted, sprinkle the cheese evenly over the bottom of the pan. Place the potatoes, cut side down, over the cheese. Season the skins with sea salt and black pepper.Bake for about 40 minutes.

As you can see, the potatoes oven-fry in the butter, and the cheese becomes a golden brown, crunchy crust.

Cool slightly then turn the potatoes over to reveal the cheesy crust. These are really tasty. I also have used this method with regular russet potatoes but, to me, the fingerlings are better.

New News! New food Website

I love reading the Pioneer Woman's blog. She recently started a new food and recipe sharing site called Tasty Kitchen. Yesterday I got up the nerve to join it and post a recipe. Here is the picture of myself I used:You can find Tasty Kitchen here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/, and my first recipe is listed under the bread category. You can find me here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/categories/breads/. I am under the recent recipes section.


It looks like there are a lot of good recipes here and I'm excited now that I posted my first recipe. I hope you will check it out and let me know what you think.

Stage 3, the finished tank

Here is the newly enlarged tank. It is at least twice as big as it used to be. Hopefully we will get a heavy rain soon and catch some water. With the tank being twice as deep, it is less likely to go dry during the next drought. Amos and I explored...



I am standing where our new "fishing deck" will be, looking toward what used to be the shallow end.

Amos runs down and then across the bottom of what will be the deep end. He blends in with the dirt and is hard to see.

I stand at the bottom and take a picture looking back toward our house. Hopefully this will be the only time I'll be able to do that. When we do catch some water, I will definitely post a picture!

Monarch of the Glen

This is the cast of one of my favorite series ever. (Thanks James for reminding me about it-glad you like it too). I started watching it on BBC during the 2nd season. Last year, I bought the entire series on DVD and we have been watching them over again.


ION TV says:

Inspired by the highland novels of Compton Mackenzie, this show follows Archie MacDonald as he finds himself thrown into the role of the new Laird of Glenbogle, his family's financially failing Scottish estate. With the help, and sometimes hinderance, of his family and faithful retainers he works to get the noble estate back on its feet.

I will say that we like the originality of the story and the quirky characters. It is a heartwarming series with lots of humor. The only thing we had to adjust to was the Scottish accents. After a while, we could finally understand what the characters were saying.

I haven't seen the entire series yet and have about 3 seasons to go. I highly recommend Monarch of the Glen for those who want something a little bit different-with lots of substance.

Stage 2!

Our tank enlargement continues: It is amazing to watch. This dozer can move so much dirt in such a short time. I'm starting to love heavy equipment...




Amos sits where our little bridge once started. This will be the site of our new deck with a fire pit (I hope).

Our friend enlarges the shallow end. It is at least twice as big at this point.

He carefully digs the dirt from the bottom and pushes it up the side to make a bank. He has to be careful not to get the dozer too vertical as he goes.

Final stage coming soon!