Mary Mary Quite Contrary

How can one little bone in your back cause so much trouble?  I was waiting at the Chiropractor's office before the OPEN sign turned on.  It's just the biggest annoyance for me!  He can't seem to get it back in place because it's so painful when he tries, I scream UNCLE.  I'm apparently a big wimp when it comes to this stuff.  

SO ... besides the foxy brothers roaming the back yard, the LION patrols his property every night.  I hope he too is looking for mice and gophers!!  So far no skunks, thank goodness.  The first thing I do in the morning is open the door for Cooper and take a big WHIFF before he can go out.  So far all I've smelled is the glorious wafting of garlic on the breeze.  Not far from here is a garlic processing plant that just smells divine.  

Here's a little more about ranch life.  We were a very religious family.  Methodists to be exact.  There were 37 Methodist churches on the Isle of Man where my grandfather came from.  No one ever worked on Sunday and we always went to church.  As you can tell, this was back in the "hat" days.  Hats were required for women.

My mom made all of the dresses and skirts I wore, and Easter was the most special day.  You can tell I probably wore this dress several years in a row ... it was getting rather tight.  See that black rectangle on the wall?  That is the light switch, only not the kind you are familiar with.  

This house was built in the late 1800's and to turn on every light, you either had to reach up and pull the chain, or push the buttons on this plate.  The top button was ON, the bottom button OFF.  

As part of the church family, my Dad sang solos in the choir.  Heck, we ALL sang in the choir.  At least twice a year there were shows put on to demonstrate how to raise your family.  Mostly comedies if I remember right.  Somehow I always got stuck with a part in those plays and was so scared, I could never remember my lines.  

This is Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow ... thus the leaf.  This was probably the best Halloween costume I had come October after one of the shows.  I was usually dressed as an Indian in a gunny sack.  Let me just say there is nothing itchier or worse than wearing a gunny sack that was once full of grain.  I was such a tomboy that my Mom insisted I wear a dress every chance there was.

When it came to food in the house, everything was made from scratch.  Of course I'm so old, that was before boxed cake mix and TV dinners were ever invented.  There was lots of bacon and eggs for breakfast ... we raised the bacon and I gathered the eggs ... which meant everything else we ate was fried in bacon grease.

I don't know how we survived with all that cholesterol!  Fried potatoes and gravy were served with every meal, no matter what it was.  As for something to drink, it was coffee made by dumping grounds into boiling water.  There's nothing like getting a mouthful of coffee grounds.  Hot tea was also served (made the same way) at every meal, because my grandfather who lived with us was English ... and required it.  

Cowboy beans were also served at every meal, sometimes having been reheated five or six times until they were finally gone.  There was no pizza, no frozen dinners, no smoked ribs and no Costco muffins.  Mom could however, make a mean Mac n cheese casserole that I could eat at every meal.  Once in a blue moon, we had chicken because one died or got run over.  NOTHING was wasted.

So when I whip up something for lunch, like these smoked ribs, or the blueberry muffins below, I eat every single bite!!  I have to admit though, butter nowadays, no matter what they tell you, doesn't taste the same at all.

We never had enchiladas or an enchilada casserole like this one I baked yesterday, mostly because we couldn't afford cheese.  We did however, have a green chili egg casserole for Christmas every year.  That was a big treat.

Oh and pies ... Mom could bake a great apple pie.  I don't remember her making any other kind because at every PTA meeting at the school, she was asked to bring that pie.  That was back when parents actually took part in their kids education.  I have no recollection of what they talked about, but we had to go once a month ..... for PIE!!

Mr. Cooper isn't too happy with me not getting on the floor to play with him.  He sulked in the living room for almost two hours before coming back to the couch to snuggle up.  I tried getting on the floor to pop my back, but almost didn't get back up ... so I nixed that idea for the time being.  

I'm in search of a chiropractor that used the drop table, or whatever you call it.  I'm not about to let this keep me down.  

In the meantime, I have a few more cow camp pictures I'll go through and post tomorrow.