Happy Halloween!

The frost knocked the pumpkin vines down about 2 weeks ago - the big orange orbs have been moved into the greenhouse to "rest a while" before processing.

Several people have asked me about the buttermilk pumpkin pound cake that I made a couple of weeks ago. I'm sorry to say it was very disappointing. Despite having two cups of pumpkin in it , there was very little "pumpkin flavor" - and you couldn't taste the spices (until it had set around for a couple of days, and by that time, it was kind of dry...)

Better to make Farmgirl Susan's Spicy Pumpkin Muffins (BTW, I have started making it them with ONLY ONE STICK OF BUTTER - or 1/2 cup of margarine - which ever you prefer) - On her original recipe, she notes that you can do that for a "low fat" version of the recipe - I think it makes them taste fresher and they are not quite so greasy.

My other favorite Pumpkin Cake recipe is from the Cake Mix Doctor cook book.

Pumpkin Spice Cake
1 pkg (18.25 oz) of your favorite spice cake mix
1 pkg (3.4 oz) vanilla (or cheesecake if you can find it) instant pudding mix
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup water
3 large eggs
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Place rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray a 13 x 9 cake pan or bundt style pan

Place the cake mix, pudding mix & pumpkin pie spice in a large mixing bowl. Stir with a whisk to blend all the dry ingredients. Make a well in the center where you put your pumpkin, oil, water and eggs. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for one minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed. The batter should look thing and well blended. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it out with a spatula. Place pan in the oven.

Bake the cake until it springs back when lightly pressed and when a toothpick inserted int eh center comes out clean, 32 - 35 minutes for the 9x13 pan or 55 - 60 minutes for the bundt pan. Remove pan from the oven and place on a wire rack to tool for 1/2 hour. Frost with yoru favorite frosting or just dust with powdered sugar.

Store cake, covered in the refrigerator for up to a week (if it lasts that long)

I only use good quality ingredients - Jello brand Pudding mix - Pampered Chef Cinnamon Plus - and a good quality cake mix - your cake will thank you for it.

P.S. Sinda continues to rally - she is actually eating better (and more) than she has in a while - and she is getting spoiled with the "tuna fish water" that she drinks right up. Dr. Perry has been out of town for a week - I'll talk to him tomorrow about a course of action.

Hug a Sheep Day

I saw on Tammy's blog that it is National Hug a Sheep Day. So here is a picture of The Shepherd with one of his snuggly girls. It always pays to hug your sheep












- that way they don't give you the dreaded "laser eye" when you come in the barn!

A quick update

Sinda has started to drink water again and ate most of her dinner last night (well she ate about 2-3 tablespoons out of the bowl - which is a bunch for her lately) -

I realize that she is not going to "get better" but this buys us a little more time, huh? Thenks to everyone for their kind thoughts, purrs and purrayers. T.

Oh, dear......

Sinda here - I haven't been feeling particularly well lately - so Mom stuffed me in the PTU (Prisoner Transport Unit) on Thursday and took me to see Dr. Perry.

"Mom" here - Sinda wouldn't eat ANYTHING I put out - stuff she has been eating for years - chicken baby food, which she loves - she just turned kind of queezy looking and walked away - then I realized that she wasn't drinking very much water either - and had gotten very dehydrated (which kind of caught me by surprise because I watched her so closely all summer to make sure that didn't happen) - yes, you who've been here before know that her kidney's are failing.

Todd said that when animals get dehydrated, they sense of smell and taste goes off and everything makes them queasy, in turn they don't eat and get worse. He suggested that they do a Sub-Q re - hydration - actually, that they do two - so I left my baby girl at the V.E.T.'s office and "with a heavy heart", went to work - They did blood tests before and after the re-hydration and the numbers changed so much that he was really encouraged - and when I got her home, after first using the kitty box, she acted very hungry - so I made up some ocean whitefish with tuna and she chowed down. same Friday and Saturday she ate some chicken & gravy - so I was encouraged - but today again, she won't eat and doesn't seem to be drinking much water either -

She's 21 1/2 years old - I can learn to do the sub-Q hydration - but will she stand for that every three days? I practically have to call out the National Guard to give her a pill -

My heart and mind are not on the same page with this - I thought I was prepared, but apparently not.....

Well, here I am -

...sitting at the computer, at a quarter after 11 (p.m.) waiting for a Pumpkin buttermilk pound cake to cool so I can turn it out of the pan - If it turns out to be good, I'll give you the recipe - if not, I'll take it to work - those people will eat anything -

I can't believe that it is the middle of October already - I just did my "Colors of September" - (barely made it in September!) and now it's almost time to do the "Colors of October" already.

"Well, what have I been doing??" you ask...

Mostly I've been doing LOTS of spinning - I've finished a bump of Kathy Green's "potluck roving" for my church auction - & I'm working on an 8 oz package of superwashed Merino and alpaca blend to put in the auction as well. Last year I spent a lot of time spinning the wool, and crocheting a hat and set of fingerless gloves for this event (it is an annual event) and it only went for $25 in the live auction (the wool alone had cost $28!) but my silent auction item of 8 oz of handspun yarn went for $40 - well, that's a no-brainer - two sets of handspun wool coming right up - (I'll take pictures after I get it all washed up and pretty) - and spinning takes up my late night time that I usually use for blogging - something had to give - but I have lots of things to tell you, so keep an eye out for new posts -

Right now, I'm going to go try that Pumpkin Pound Cake!