Thursday Already?

Where has the week gone? No pictures today but I finally have tomatoes on all my plants now. I feel like it's ok to say I have a tomato crop. Three new bell peppers have started and my basil is doing great. Our watermelons seem to be slowing down, the DH is disappointed but after asking a few experienced gardeners he's determined they are doing fine. They sprout fast, then slow down and then fruit should start forming soon. I have some sunflowers that growing so huge. I'm keeping my fingers crossed I have flowers by mid-June.

This past weekend I made this:

Mexican Monkey Cake*-There's a pic on my camera but my camera is missing at the moment. I'm sure it's in a bag around here somewhere. This cake was so good that before I could take a picture of an individual piece of it, the cake vanished. It has now been put on my family's top ten list of favorite desserts.

I also made this:

Chocolate Cake Emergency*-This disappeared before I could take a picture of the cake! The kids liked it, it was like brownie bread. They scarfed it down hot from the oven. I kept telling them it's supposed to be better the next day. They didn't care.


* should have checked the links before publishing. If you go to the link provided, click on farmgirlfare.com in the right hand column, then you will see these recipes in the side bar under previous posts or recent posts. Believe me they are worth the trouble.


Stitching News?

There has been no stitching around here the last couple of days. OK, I put in a few stitches here and there on House #2 on Houses of Hawk Run Hollow but not enough to really count. So much for getting this project completed by the end of May. I've moved my goal to the end of June.

I did finish all 14 blocks for the afghan for my mom, but haven't had a chance to sew them all together. Once I get them all sewed together I can then start working on the three DC panels which should go rather quickly. I hope to be able to get it to her by Mother's Day.

Current TV Obsession

1876 Texas Ranch House on PBS. Is anyone else watching this show? If so are you as disappointed as me that the ranch family on the show are completely and utterly clueless about life back in those days?

A few issues I have with the show:

The wife makes sure that the ranch hands know that she and her husband are making decisions together(the husband is whipped if you know what I mean). I believe from everything I've read about that time period that husbands probably did make decisions with their wives input but never in a million years would the husband let the ranch hands know that.

The girl of all work(maid) insists on wanting to be a ranch hand. The girl placed in this role never ever wanted to be a maid. She always planned on being a ranch hand. I haven't had a chance to research how many women rode on cattle drives back then but I think it's safe to say there weren't too many and only extreme circumstances would have brought that about. The ranch hands are all working well together but the wife is insisting that the husband let the girl of all work be a ranch hand. One of the daughters commented that things have been a lot happier in the house since the girl of all work has been off at ranch hand school.

The Ranch owner fired the cook, he gave the position to another one of the cowboys. It seems to me that when they lost another ranch hand, that the girl of all work would have been sent to cook for the cowboys twice a day and then this hand would have been given his old job back but instead the wife wants to keep him in the cook position and allow the maid to become a ranch hand. I don't think there's any way that would have played out back in 1876. The women keep talking about how sexist it is. That's the point. Back then women's work was women's work and man's work was man's work you. The woman who is the girl of all work is an anthropology student and you would think she would have a clue about life during those times and more respect for the role she is supposed to be portraying. She said in an interview that while they are living in the 19th Century they are 21st Century people and she should be allowed to ride with the ranch hands because they are shorthanded(feel a need to point out that they cowboys are doing just fine even with losing a couple of people and the owner knows this and has been wanting to not put the girl in the cowboy position because things are good and everyone is getting along-the wife insists-he's so whipped). She's wrong. The whole point of the experience is to live according to society's rules during that period in time.

A few other things that I found interesting, when they met with the Native Americans who were holding one of the ranch hands until they could make a trade for some cattle, the Ranch owner said he won't deal with terrorists. Dude you are living in the 19th century could you get a clue? He didn't want to trade cows for the life of one of his ranch hands, I believe that a ranch owner would have done anything to secure the freedom of one of his employees. Also the women were allowed to sit around with the Native Americans there and I don't think that would have happened either. The women would have served the drinks or food and then went back in the house. Once again I could be wrong.

Oh and this really pissed me off, when the cook was fired, the owner started providing meals for the cowboys until they could work something out. They treated the cowboys like they were doing them a favor providing their meals. Are they serious? Do they not think that any ranch owner would have made sure that the men rounding up the cattle were well fed if there was any way possible? I may have missed some parts of shows but I've never seen the family offer eggs or milk to the cowboys, much less any food from the garden. The cook that was fired said he felt like he was begging when he would ask for an onion or any supplies he needed.

So my conclusion is the Ranch Family is a family of jerks and the guys who are the ranch hands are sticking to their roles pretty well. One commented that if this was 1876 and they could leave and find work somewhere else they all would walk.

Tonight is the series finale and I'm looking forward to it. We've had fun watching it this week.

New Family Guilty Pleasure?

Heaven help us, it's Deal or No Deal. Why do I feel like such a moron when I watch this show? Don't answer that.