Cowgirl Goods

National Holiday

Today is National Chocolate Cake day.  I know I discussed this with you all last year too.  WHY it's not a day off from work kind of holiday is beyond me.  I know we get days off for old presidents who did amazing things but think about it.  CHOCOLATE CAKE!  It has been a part of American history and celebrations for years.  It makes every birthday complete, it is the reward you get for sitting through the gift opening session of a baby or wedding shower.  It is true love.  It is what's for breakfast, lunch or dinner any day or every day.  So break out your bowl and beaters, I don't care if it comes from a box, make a chocolate cake today.

 

A big Happy Birthday to my littlest neice Ruby Jane, she's 2 today, oh she'll be lovin chocolate cake!

 

Giddy Up Mate

My friend Jean picked this up at her local thrift store the other day.  She knew I would want to scan this cover and share it with you all.  What a gem.  I was going to post it this weekend but I just discovered today is Australia Day.  It had to go up now.  So CHEERS to all our cowgirl friends down under!  Thanks Jean!

Ya never know....

......what your day is going to bring.  I kind of felt that way when I pulled out of the driveway this morning. 

Someone else was thinking the same thing.

I had this whole story I was going to tell about the gym and things I think about at the gym and get all reflective and crap.  WELL when I saw the key chain size buffed smarty pants with the perfect workout costume have a FIT because her treadmill didn't record her calories and she wasted "FORTY FIVE MINUTES RUNNING AT 6.5mph..." (she lied she was only on it 13 minutes I could see her clock) and get all pissy at the gym worker I decided to talk about THIS instead:

Lucky Pet stories are WAY more fun to talk about.  I worked the afternoon shift so I got to see the little ones that were spayed and neutered in the morning.  On Monday we had this litter of malamutes come in. 

I'm not sure if they were 100% malamute but who cares.  I wanted all of them and a sled!  If any of you ever have read The Beans of Egypt Maine I think the owner walked right out of the book.  You know how some people are "cat people" and some people are "dog people"?  WELL she was a "DOG PERSON" for sure. She said they had 9 dogs at home, on their 60 acres in the woods.  I tell you the things that come through a rural vet clinic; end up on a blog. LOL!  Seriously though, these pups were pretty amazing.  It was their first visit out in public and they were so kind and gentle.  She did tell me she was, "a dog whisperer" by the end of the appointment and seeing how relaxed they were she might of been right.  She gave me a hug, it was a nice hug. 

Today was a little more subdued, we lost a long time favorite and very old dog Jack.  He was 16, my boss said he was old 5 years ago.  He was one strong farm dog.  Mom is a "horse person" a fellow cowgirl for sure.  She knew when she walked through the door what needed to be done, she called her girls and one flew right over.  It was the happiest and saddest euthanasia I've been part of.  They were laughing and crying at the same time and telling great Jack stories.  How they brought him home, Dad got mad, they didn't care they wanted another dog.  We were all lovin' on him and I thought to myself, "wow to die with people laughing and holding you and telling great stories. It doesn't get any better than that."  Happy Trails Jack, you blazed many.

And over in the next room was a new puppy for it's first visit, I can't tell you how many times that happens.  So you blow your nose, wipe your eyes and go get puppy kisses. 

I hope you had a good day, they're precious aren't they?

mmmmmmmmmmmm pork.  I think the one to the far left wanted to take us down.  My buddy J~ and I were running by on Sunday and stopped to say hi.  They had a lot to say back, something about ham and bacon and pulled pork.  Sorry I know, not PC, but hey this is what an organic farm looks like.  Matter of fact this organic farm will be moving in April and the owners of Stoneyfield Farms (yep the yogurt people) are bank rolling their new venture. I'm happy for them but I'll miss running by all of it on Sundays. 

On a different topic my Mom and a few other people have asked if I have been on Pinterest  I really didn't pay much attention.  You know how that goes when your Mom tells you to do something.  hee hee.  WELL holy crap!  I've spent the last two afternoons on the damn site.  You have to be invited and all of that if you want to create your own and pin stuff up.  Let me know if you need me to invite you because my buddy Jen invited me.  Her mother told her about it too.  Once again Mom's are usually right.

Happy Frigga!

I'm going to stick with the Happy Frigga theme from last week.  This is lovely Bonnie above, she is full of attitude but her looks let her get away with it.  Wooly beast.

Every now and again I pull out this book and read a few excerpts from it. I may have even blogged about it a long time ago. Anyway, I tend to pull it out in the winter to remind myself how cushy my life is.

It is an anthology of women pioneers.  It is full of stories from "kitchen skivvy to ambassadors' wives: emigrants who settled the wilderness....."  I opened the book to this one the other day:

During this very cold weather I was surprised by the frequent recurrence of a phenomenon that I suppose was of an electrical nature.  When the frosts were most intense I noticed that when I undressed, my clothes, which are at this cold season chiefly of woollen cloth, or lined with flannel, gave out when moved a succession of sounds, like the crackling and snapping of a fire, and in the absence of a candle emitted sparks of a pale whitish blue light, similar to the flashes produced by cutting loaf-sugar in the dark, or stroking the back of a black cat.  

Catherine Traill, The Backwoods of Canada 1836

The author of this book is Jane Robinson What a fascinating woman and I just added a few more of her books to my list.  We have that same crackling phenomenon going on here because it's so cold and dry but what is loaf-sugar?  Sure enough I found the answer HERE

I'm sure most of you have a little spark going on.  Stay warm.

~Marjorie~

Have you noticed the days are getting a little bit longer?  Before I know it I'll be back on the lawnmower.  In the meantime I'm loving hybernation mode.  There is no pressure to do a lot.  It's even slow at Lucky Pet, well except Sophie the cat ate a gigantic piece of foam mat, it got stuck in her small intestines, so she cost her parents $1300.  Ouch, but she is much better now. 

It seems like every January I buy some kind of Japanese craft thing.  For several years I would buy Japanese fabric, I still might.  But since I'm loving paper and pens and fun little craft projects I found some other cute things. 

I'm just going to do a list of cool things that I have come across while surfing my favorite blogs.  Here we go:

How About Orange She has a wicked cute Valentine's download she is offering, not Japanese but so much fun.

Angry Chicken I have been following Amy at Angry Chicken for several years now.  I always find fun stuff from her.  She has links to new and different things, like Jet Pens.  I just placed an order, I'm such a sucker for Japanese office supply stuff.

Leaf Cutter Designs Now this is adorable.  If you like miniature stuff check out Leaf Cutter.  But also go HERE to her projects page.  Then check out her clothes line project and what she has done with clothing tags.  Years ago when I was waitressing I had a regular customer that would always fold my tip money into origami designs.  I still have them tucked away somewhere.  He would always leave me little $1 shirts.  Well Leaf Cutter has the pattern on her site.

Tokyo Milk I had picked up some of this lotion the last time I visited my family in Michigan.  I forgot I did and I found it last week.  HOW I did that I'm not sure but if you are a sucker for lotions and potions and packaging.  Watch out!  This stuff is beautiful. 

I don't know what it is about Japan and January for me but it happens every year.  I think I'll swing by the Asian market today and keep the theme going.  It might just be the simplicity of it all or just some stay at home travel.  Sayonara.

Every January 17, Mexicans celebrate the feast day of Saint Anthony the Abbott, known as the protector of animals, by accompanying their favourite animals to Mass for an annual blessing.

Hug your furry, feathered, wooly and fiber friends today.  I can't imagine our world without them. 

Warm tunes for a cold day

Brrrrrrrr winter kicked in, it's a whopping 11 degrees out and it was -2 this morning when I went out to feed the sheep.  So it's been a great day for indoor projects.  Hubby is total brew master today and brewing our Russian Imperial Stout that is going to sit and age till December.  More on that later, like 11 months from now.  I'm sure by now most of you have heard or use the music app Pandora?  You create your own "stations".  We created a Django Reinhardt station today.  It has kept us warm and happy all day, nothing like gypsy jazz to keep your mood up and moving.  It's perfect.  Another one that my sister turned me on to is Pink Martini.  That is fun cooking music.  I also have a Kid Rock and Three Dog Night station.  LOL, yes seriously!  The stuff that comes up on that is off the wall.  But I'm also going to create a Burt Bacharach station.  That's what is so cool about Pandora your taste can be all over the place and a station to match each one.  Stay warm.

While out walking this morning we noticed that the local swan who lost it's mate several years ago might have a new friend.  It was pretty cold and windy so they were all hunkered down on the ice. On the left is a Canadian goose sleeping and the swan was sleeping or doing what birds do when it's cold, that weird neck thing.  I'm going to keep an eye on this little friendship, pretty cool if that is what it is.  Geese are flock birds so this will be an unusual friendship.  I've felt so bad for the swan hanging around all by itself, so a new friend is good.  Get outside today, that crisp air feels good.

Happy Frigga

Frigg or Frigga was the name of a major Norse goddess that Friday was named after.  Since today is Friday the 13th  you might want to say, friggatriskaidekaphobia.  That is what you call someone that is afraid of Friday the 13th.  I didn't just pull that out of my trivia loving brain, I just saw it on the morning show while waiting at the diner for the guys I have breakfast with once in a while.  Breakfast at Leahny's.  It's your typical breakfast joint, the coffee burns a hole in your gut and the food is homecooked by someone who cares and you leave with the smell of hashbrowns and bacon on your coat.  The weather is crappy out but all the guys show.  I'm talking retired guys.  My buddy Bob was there. I helped him hay his fields last summer.  He's a great guy, loves life, loves people and LOVES to tell stories.  He's a retired lineman for the power company.  A few of Bob's neighbors showed up today, retired guys, and Peter showed up.  I could pick Peter's brain all day.  He's a retired museum curator, I just Googled him and this came up:

"Peter Cook, Co-Chair of the Tate House Museum Board and an Adjunct Professor in the Graduate School of Education at Lesley University. Cook is a retired museum curator and director who has taught architectural history at Boston University and the University of New Hampshire. He has led architectural tours in England and New England for museums including Historic New England, Smithsonian Institution, The Bennington Museum and Plimoth Plantation."

See why I could pick his brain. He's teaching at Harvard this semester. OH and he grew up in Michigan. So I tested his Stormy Kromer knowledge. TODAY I find out he is best of friends with the barrel cooper at Strawberry Banke.  Hmmm that cooper thing keeps popping up.  But most of all to sit and hear these guys tell their stories, they throw in A LOT of "BS" and pick on each other and of course talk about the weather.  I'm almost the fly on the wall but if I'm not there for a few weeks I hear about it. 

~Happy Frigga to you~