Cowboy Caviar

I personally don't know any self respecting cowboy that would eat fish eggs.....now calf nuts, that's a different story.....

Keep Reading....

Sad Day....

"I touched a dead man today......and he was my friend...."

So would read my journal entry from a week ago, if I had the presence of mind, upon returning home from that fateful fire call, to sit down and write.


Keep Reading......

Prairie Pastor

Periodically, I will feature snippets of life that can only be found and seen in our corner of the prairie.

If you have seen it somewhere else, please let me live in blissful ignorance..... we like to think that we are unique and special 'round here.....

This week, we are featuring the Prairie Pastor--

He doesn't know I'm doing this.... he, he, he!

Yes, this was his choice of costumes for Halloween.... and yes, that's a poodle skirt....

He promised to pay for therapy for my kids..... I'm holding him to it, cuz they will need therapy...... and hey, someone's gotta pay for it......

This is the vehicle of choice for the Prairie Pastor----

This is the Prairie Pastor's church and how the Prairie Pastor dries his laundry.....

(It's our church too......just thought I'd clarify)

This is the Prairie Pastor's hobby.....

Don't you wish you too had a cross-dressing, truck driving, pistol packing, Prairie Pastor?

Well, sorry, you can't have him.....

He's all ours......

Actually, for a six figure salary with benefits and paid vacation, you probably could have him.....

Let's just say that is not what he gets out here.....

You wouldn't really take it, would you, pastor? Pastor.... Pastor?!

He is never gonna let me take pictures of him again.....

Fluffy Buttermilk Waffles

You can have them for breakfast and cook extra for the next week--

They freeze great too!

Here at Cooking with Loving Hands

Jack

Jack is missing....

I remember the day that we brought him home-

A white fur puffball with little black inquisitive eyes and a tiny black nose, looking for all the world like a tiny seal pup.

We had just lost our other Great Pyrenees and in a quest to find a companion for our St Bernard, who was also a puppy at that time, we discovered Jack.

They truly loved each other, and would sleep, two big gentle giants filling the front hallway of our house, and play, like two enormous bears, chasing each other around the yard...

He has been a pillow for our kids, a protector of our sheep, a guardian of the house, and an amazing companion.

In short, everything that the breed aspires to be-

His soft fur has comforted hurting children that have come to our ranch, and his ferocious bark at night has kept the coyotes away from our horses.

He loved our cats, especially our big orange tom, who would sleep curled between his front legs, and perched on top of his fluffy back, sinking his claws in and out in rhythmic massage.

He had the funniest habit of goosing every visitor that came through the entrance--

He did this because, every time, without fail, they would give an "OOOH" and reach down and pet him--

What a better way to train a dog?

We didn't stop him because, frankly, it was pretty humorous and became our private joke...

On a hot, sunny day in July, he patiently helped his little buddy win a ribbon in the pet show at the local fair.

He sat up every night outside, strategically positioned to watch every entrance, so that he could keep his family safe.

He slept all day in the cool green grass in the yard, or buried in the soft dirt under a bush, resting up for the next night's work--

In the coolness of the evening, as we sat on the front porch, he would sit in regal splendor, his beautiful white coat highlighted against the deep green of the front yard.

We miss you Jack--

We pray that somehow, in the miles of the prairie grasslands, you will find your way home--