January?

(Apologies to Mr. James Russell Lowell…)

Built a snowman on Monday.

Splashed in puddles on Saturday.

The joys we discover, when we take the time to look…

“Let’s put your boots on, Angel.”

“We gonna go run around in the grass?” (One of her new favorite things to do…)

“Not quite…We’re gonna go play in the SNOW!”

“Uncle James, you come with me.”

Note that this is NOT a request.

“Grandmom! I runnin’! I runnin’ in the SNOW!”

“OOF! I fall down.”

“I ok.”

“Uncle James! I want you to help me UP!”

Lather. Rinse. Repeat. For one hour, or until your new friend is finished:

Sadly, by 3 pm, it was so warm that our New Friend had gone away…

And Sweet Cleo had decided we were all completely insane.

With all the mayhem around here at Christmas, I never got a chance to tell anyone about the really cool stuff I got…

Trail cameras had been on my list for a while now. I’m fascinated by the wildlife that roams our property, and I know I only get a tiny little glimpse of the show they put on from my vantage point, so setting up a few automatic cameras (like hunters use) is a good way to learn more.

These today are the first batch from the camera in the back field.

There are lots of these guys (girls, really):

And this character puts in appearances:

Yeah, the time stamp is over his face, but you can all tell who he is…the mask doesn’t help, either.

Sometimes, there’s a shot that will take your breath away:

This is Big Boy, the Alpha Male of our little coyote pack. His coat and his size seem to indicate that he’s not all coyote…or not from around here. All the others have that German Shepherd coloring, and are much smaller.

He’s beautiful.

Come back and pose for me again, wouldja?

(With any luck, and more than a little organization on my part, Wildlife Wednesday will become a semi-regular feature around here…let me know what you think.)

No doubt about it, this kid’s Irish…

Even though I’m firm about the Two Dinners rule, that doesn’t mean that Angel Face is going hungry on nights when we eat more Grown-Up fare. There’s always a toddler-approved back-up when something doesn’t go over well.

Or for lunch. I’m not a fan of hot dogs and mac and cheese from a box…

More often than not, that means potatoes – her favorite food, bar none.

While there’s nothing wrong with plain old leftover mash, I’ve found a way to dress them up a bit, and punch up the protein.

One egg. One cup mashed potatoes. A bit of fresh parmesan…

Mix well. Pour into a small buttered baking dish. Smooth out the top…

Bake at 350F  for 25 minutes, or until it looks like…

This. (Your time may vary based on your oven, and how much cream/milk you put in the original mash.)

Serve warm. Save in the fridge for later. Make a big batch for your next dinner party – in a jumbo muffin tin, of course. Adults love them, too!

But first, you’ll have to drag the Girl out from under the blanket!

Be careful what you wish for…

The promised storm arrived about 7 am yesterday, and didn’t let up until after 3pm. At some points, it was coming down at a rate of two inches per hour, and blowing hard.

That makes for frustrating plowing and shoveling….

Hubby perservered, and got our road plowed-out. The town doesn’t come down here, so without him and his trusty green steed, we’d be stuck.

Looks like we got between 10 and 12 inches. Hard to tell with all the drifting.

So, I’m done with snow now, Winter. You can stop.

Please?

Pretty Please?