Take the Long Way Home

Today, I went to visit Grambi and Aunt of Ken and I took the long way home to show you gentle readers the Kansas countryside.  First, though, check out Grambi's crabapple tree, which is loaded.  Crabapple jelly for everyone!

After a day of shopping and a trip through northeastern Oklahoma to get fresh blueberries, I headed home the long way.  This required me to drive a Chevy Tahoe on dry gravel roads, which requires some skills that I haven't used since I learned to drive in a Ford F-150 extended cab long bed (slightly shorter than a school bus) on gravel roads when I was 14.  For those of you who have never done this, it is like driving on marbles.  Apparently Uncle of Ken used to drive down these roads in excess of 90 mph.  Father of Ken denies involvement in these shenanigans.  

So, I bring you the fields of Kansas in the summer, beginning with "amber waves of grain:"

Also corn:

Probably soybeans:

More corn--I thought it was so pretty with the wind blowing through the fields:

More soybeans, just coming up:

After I got back on the highway and almost back to the town where Mother and Father of Ken live, I got stuck behind a farmer hauling some cattle to the stockyards.  That amounts to 45-50 mph on a 65 mph highway.  So, I spent some quality time with my future dinner:

Finally, home...

...to Piper and Boomer:

Parents Just Don't Understand

With the latest addition to our family, Brother of Ken's new puppy, MacGyver, Christmas was pretty interesting this year. We had four dogs, including the puppy, and we pretty much just let them do their thing. Most of dog pack behavior is beyond my comprehension, but it is certainly interesting to observe.

Kenna played with MacGyver some, but she eventually decided that he was not worth her time and she didn't like that he "stole" attention and pets from her, so she spent most of Christmas on the couch in a pose of superiority and with a look of disdain in her eyes.

Here are the two of them together:

Piper, the female Boxer, was torn between being the mama dog and putting Mac in his place. Boomer just wanted to kill him most of the time.

Because our Christmas plans had to be changed as a result of the snow storm, Brother of Ken had to bring Mac with him to Aunt and Uncle of Ken's house so that they could leave from there. Brother of Ken's truck isn't very big, so Mac rode with the rest of us in the other truck and I was in charge of entertaining him for an hour. Here he is checking out the presents in the back of the truck:

In a rare moment of calm and quiet:

He is a Border Collie/Lab mix (I think) and he is wearing the Christmas collar that Kenna and I gave him:

Who could resist this face?

Looking out the window:

Playing tug with an old towel since we forgot to put any toys in the truck:

Mac really wanted to get in the driver's seat with dad:

He rode for about the last fifteen minutes perched on the armrest, looking out the windshield:

When we arrived at Aunt and Uncle of Ken's house, Mac got to play with their new puppy who is about the same age, Sophie. Sophie is a German Shepherd mix and the two of them played almost non stop for about four hours both inside and outside. They ran through the snow until they were both soaking wet and then slept in a pile on the porch and ran some more. When Mac had to leave, Sophie came inside and got into her bed and slept like a rock for at least two hours. Mac slept all the way home, for which Brother of Ken was glad.

One of my favorite pictures of Mac--he fell asleep (finally) on Father of Ken's lap on Christmas Eve with his tongue hanging out of his mouth:

Some videos of all four dogs in action on Christmas Eve:

Happy New Year, gentle readers! I hit the jackpot on terrible cookbooks at a flea market, so I'll be "Reminiscing" soon.

Life In One Day

I've got some great stuff coming up for you gentle readers, but before I get out the scanner, I thought I'd share some photos of my time in Kansas and a few from my return to New York.

First, the dead frog in Mother and Father of Ken's pool:

I call this series "Hose Beast:"

Boomer really likes to drink water from the hose. McKenna always says that hose water is the best.

He also likes to plop his 70+ pound self in the middle of the kitchen floor:

Piper, smiling for the camera:

Boo, mad that she got some attention:

Because I did a lot of shopping and also have extremely generous relatives who give great birthday gifts, Mother of Ken had to mail four boxes of stuff to me. They arrived today:

My new apple peeler poked out of the box in transit. I hope that no one was harmed:

After spending most of the morning unpacking the boxes and putting everything away, I made a blueberry crisp from a recipe that I got at Penzey's in Kansas City. Penzey's is a dream come true for people who love food. I had never been to the store before, but I love their products. I bought some double strength vanilla and some Vietnamese Cassia cinnamon, which I used in this recipe.

I began by putting one cup of blueberries in a ramekin:

The ingredients for the topping are oats, flour, brown sugar, lemon juice, salt, cinnamon, and butter:

I mixed all of the topping ingredients together with a fork:

Then topped the blueberries with the mixture:

Here it is just out of the oven:

This was really good, but next time, I think I'll add some flour to the blueberries so that the filling isn't so soupy.

Here's the recipe, courtesy of Penzey's:

(Note: I added oats to mine and also only made a single serving--the whole recipe makes six servings.)

4 c. blueberries

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. brown sugar, firmly packed

1/4 c. butter

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Rinse the blueberries and then place in a 9 inch square pan or six individual ramekins. In a roomy bowl, combine the lemon juice, flour, brown sugar, butter, salt, and cinnamon. Stir the ingredients together with a fork and sprinkle topping over the blueberries and bake for 25-30 minutes.