Boots And Baking ...

A Cowgirl needs LOTS of boots.  Two or three pair is never enough depending on the activity of the day.  Sometimes I'll even change my boots several times, mostly based on how long I have to stand up.  There seems to be a direct correlation between how pretty and how uncomfortable they are.  I didn't quite realize until yesterday however, that I have a LOT of boots.  From motorcycle to dress up to wade-through-the-cowpies to horse packing, there's a boot for every occasion.  There's even five more pair in the closet that wouldn't fit in the picture!!  

The good news is that boots pretty much last a lifetime, which is how long I have been collecting these.  The white pair at the far end are almost 40 years old and still just as comfortable as the day I bought them in Reno.  Yup ... I can tell you exactly where every pair came from.  Now to make a little more space in the closet ... something's got to go!!

It was all about baking yesterday.  By the end of the day I was shocked to realize there were no failures (close, but that doesn't count) and no alarms went off, scaring the puppies under the couch.

First off was bird biscuits.  Exotic birds are notoriously picky eaters, just like little kids.  They want all cookies and crackers.  Jon eats mostly sunflower and safflower seeds, which just don't have enough nutrients.  Orange colored vegetables provide everything required, but Jon refuses to eat anything but carrots ... and not many of those.  

Years ago I developed this easy recipe to keep him in good health ... bird biscuits.  He loves them.  Corn muffin mix, lovely orange sweet potatoes and lots of nuts.  He gets half of one a day, warmed up in the microwave.  What we moms won't do to get the kids to eat, but I'm pretty sure this is the main reason Jonathan has lived this long.

With those in the freezer, and 6 cans of pumpkin puree in the cupboard (what was I thinking??) I picked up a pumpkin bread recipe from the internet and heated up the oven.  I'm guessing my oven is off by about 75 degrees.  No idea why, so I got a thermometer to check it.  When the oven says 425, the thermometer says 300, but by the feel of the heat, it's about 350.  Pretty hard to bake with those extremes.  I just kept testing and adding two minutes.  Nevertheless, the bread came out wonderful ... light and moist.  This recipe was a GREAT find at Once Upon A Chef .

Back at the same website, I printed off more quick bread recipes for later and baked some Hawaiian banana bread, all of which will go in the freezer for January's trip South.  It makes good bribes for my  Can-You-Help-Me List.

It's sunny and gorgeous out today, but a chilly 32 degrees last night.  Guess I got those pipes covered just in time.  Mr. Nick is still in the hospital and I'm sure appreciates all the well wishes.  Isn't it funny how one day you can feel just great without a care in the world, and the next day you're in the hospital?  The same has happened with friends Joe and Betty Graffis.  It just goes to show how quickly life can go south and we should enjoy every minute of our good health, even the little aches and pains.  Prayers to both of these families.