New Year

Looks like it has been a month since my last post. I keep telling myself I need to post something but time gets away from me, so how about a little catch up. First there was Christmas. I had planned to post some pictures of our decorations and even a video of the outside lights (we have them on one of those Christmas carol timers so they flash with the music). Then the holiday itself (my family at our house this year). I could go on about all the years we traveled during the holidays but I will not bore you. Then two days after Christmas the hubby and I left the world behind and went to Maui!! Yes I said Maui. We got to spend 8 days there with some good friends of ours and had a relaxing time. We went whale watching, did a luau, did the drive to Hana and a two mile hike to one of the most beautiful waterfalls on the island.

We stayed in a condo that was right on the beach so every morning we woke up to the sound of the ocean.

Unfortunately time in Paradise came to an end and we had to return to the cold weather and snow. A couple of days after our return we woke up to this. Snow and below zero temperatures which in turn gave me a very bad cold keeping me in bed for three days. I am just now feeling better. Well I guess that is about all that is going on around here right now. Look forward to warmer weather and getting the rest of the decorations down outside. The snow is mostly gone now and I should not complain about it as we need the moisture but when you are not feeling your best nothing makes you happy. Keep warm and stay dry!

Dark Days Week 2

I am so far behind in this challenge it is not even funny. Our second meal of the challenge started out to be a great meal with the whole family but ended up with just me and the kids a few days late. So I will make this one quick and short. Basically it was chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes. The tenderized round steak is from a local cow we bought a few moths ago. It was raised by my brother-in-law about 80 miles from us on pasture and local hay. It was coated with flour, egg, and salt and pepper. None of which which were local or organic but were in the kitchen. The potatoes come from the San Luis Valley which is to the south east of us in Colorado and are readily available in the local store. A little locally produced milk and some butter and seasoning and there you have it. We were going to have some frozen corn from a farm stand in Rocky Ford but it was late and we were starving so that will have to wait till another time.

Dark Days Challenge Week 1

Well today is my first post for the Dark Days Challenge. I have been doing some research to get ready for it. Normally the range for the challenge is about 150 miles but I am going to be using the State of Colorado as my range. I have been looking at the different people that are going to be participating and it seems that most of the people are from the two coasts and just a few from the central states and and I am the only one from Colorado. This is my first time to do the challenge and have never really thought about the SOLE aspect of food. My garden did not do very well this year so it might be a little more difficult for me this year but it has opened my eyes to what is out there (or not as the case maybe). I have been buying my beef and some pork fro several years now from local producers. Not because it was local but because it was cheaper to buy it in bulk if you will. I might be concentrating more on the local aspect and not so much on the organic part this year. It is a start and will build on it as time goes by. We are able to have exceptions of spices, chocolate, coffee, tea and oils.

So my first meal was mostly a success. I made beans

with pork and tomatoes. It was really simple. I have just learned to cook beans, so thought I would give it a try. The beans are from the Adobe milling company in Dove Creek Colorado, the tomatoes were a fire roasted organic canned from the health food store and the cubed pork came from a pig we had slaughtered awhile back. It came from a farmer about 80 miles from here. Probably not organic but very local. I also used some boxed chicken broth that was in my cabinet. Not local or organic but it was there. Threw it all in a crock pot and let it go for the day. That was all there was to it and it turned out pretty good. You could use any spices that you like to turn up the flavor. Looking forward to seeing what everyone else comes up with and hope to find some new sources for local products as time goes by.

Happy Holidays!!

Well it is upon us. The holiday season is now in full swing. Two days ago it was Thanksgiving and yesterday my husband convinced me to go shopping with him. He hates to shop except at Christmas. He loves to go out on Black Friday and the day before Christmas. More to watch the people than to shop. We did find a few good things yesterday but it is getting harder to figure out what to get the kids as they get older. Now I have to have them show me what they want and to try it on and such so they pretty much know what they are getting on Christmas morning. And gift cards, they are a girls best friend.

I am getting ready for the Dark Days Challenge to start on December 1st. I decided to give it a try and have been looking around to source my local foods that I will need. It is going to be a little hard but that is why it is called a challenge.

Need to get going and finish the decorating of the house, inside and out. Will post pictures later. Have a great holiday!!

Dark Days Challenge

Hey everyone. I have been catching up on some of my favorite blogs and have read over at (Not So) Urban Hennery that they are getting read to start up the forth annual Dark Days Challenge. This is a challenge for people to eat more local foods. I caught the tail end of it last year and have to say that some people got very creative with their meals. Now all this being said, I am thinking about joining the challenge this year. I don't know how well I will do. We do not have year round farmers markets and only one natural food store that I know of in town. I did not have a very good year in my own garden this year what with the weird weather and me going back to work this year, so I do not have my own foods to fall back on. So what do you think? Is there anyone out there willing to give it a shot with me?? The rules seem pretty simple, one meal a week of most if not all ingredients that are sustainable, organic, local and ethical or SOLE as it is called. There are a few ingredients that are exempt such as coffee, spices and such. The radius for the challenge is about 150 miles but you can adapt it to your own needs. So who is up for giving it a try with me??

The Weekend

Well I got home from Grand Junction on Tuesday night after a long and sometimes scary drive. Zach and I went to Grand Junction on Sunday for his State 3A Marching competition. The drive over was uneventful though a bit slow following the bus. We got to the hotel and the kids had a chance to relax and hang out. The next morning we got up to pouring rain. Not good for new uniforms and instruments. We later found out that the event was postponed for 2 hours and the semi finals and the finals would become just the finals. We did not have to compete till the afternoon so we took the kids to a local mall and let them eat and look around a bit. Then we took them to the stadium to watch some of the other band perform before getting ready to perform themselves. All the while I am worried about my daughter, Amanda, as she and her college band, CSU Pueblo, are traveling in to be the exhibition band for this event. They were coming over highway 50 over Monarch Pass, which had snow the night before. I find out later that the bus began to slide off the road a couple of times and had to stop and put chains on. Finally they make to Grand Junction to perform. I got see a few of the 3A bands perform and watched as one of them got snowed on as the were on the field. I watched our band perform and then had to go and get a couple of our kids changed to perform with the CSUP band. Some of our high school kids also perform with the college band. They even get college credit for it. Well anyway we ended up get 8th place this year but that is not bad. This was the first time in about 7 years that we have even gone to the state competition.I did not get any still pictures of them because of the rain but I did get a video of them. After finishing up on Monday we returned to the hotel to watch the weather for the next day to see which way we will go. It is almost winter you know and we are in the mountains at that time. We find out that we are supposed to get 10 to 12 inches of snow overnight on Vail Pass. We think that it will be alright to go that way since it will be better maintained than over Monarch Pass. Wrong!! The storm did not move out as fast as we thought and did not do as much damage over Monarch. The kids left the hotel about 30 to 40 minutes before I did and me in my infinite wisdom thought that I would catch up to them. Wrong again!! This is what I was driving though as I approached Vail Pass.

Not even close to what I will be driving through in about 40 minutes time. I finally get to Vail Pass and find that it is CLOSED!! I am thinking what do I do now. So I make some calls and let a few people know what is going on and find a Mc Donalds and sit and wait. Luckily the bus made it through before it was closed but several other bus loads of kids were not so lucky. After about an hour and a half I give it another try and the road is back open so I continue on. I make it up the west side of the pass with no problems but as I go down the east side things get worse. It is snow packed and slick. I spend the next hour going about 15 to 20 miles an hour and playing dodge the cars and trucks in the middle of the road that have stopped and started sliding backwards. All the while hoping that if I do have to stop completely that I can get moving again. Well I finally made it through the storm and the rest of the way home. Believe me I do not want to do that again any time soon. Keep safe this winter and stay close to home if you can.

Were has the time gone??

I just looked at the date of my last post and I can not believe where the time has gone. I keep telling myself that I will get to it but I guess that I have not gotten to it so here it is. A brief recap. Last weekend we went to the cabin to try to get finished up with the last of the finish work on the cabin. We got most of it done but ran out of time. We also helped the neighbors to catch their escaped horses. One little mare got her hoof stuck in the cattle guard at the neighbors place. They had to call out a vet to sedate her and then the welder could cut through the steel pipe that they used for the guard. While my husband was helping with that I helped chase down the rest of the horses. We managed to catch 7 of them before we had to leave. The others caught the rest of them with saddled horses. It was an event, and got to met some of the neighbors. We have snow on the tops of the Mountians now and the weather was in the 30's in the mornings while we were there.
We have been going to football games and watching our kids in the marching bands. Zach, the youngest, just found out a couple of days ago that they made it to the State Marching Competition and he is jazzed. This is the first time it has happened for his school. So it looks like I will be in Grand Junction next weekend. Will post pictures of that later. Ivan, the St Bernard, had to go to the vet on Wednesday. We made the decision to have him neutered. We thought about using for stud but decided that it would be easier all around not to so he got to go to the doctor and have the snip snip. Both of the boys are now neutered and I like it that way. They are just family pets not show dogs and it is healthier for them. I have a wedding to go to this weekdend. My best friend in high school is getting married. Looking forward to see her and her family again. We don't get to see each other very often. Wel I guess that is all for now. Keep checking to see what is going on and I will try to write a little more often. Till next time stay warm.