Afternoon in the Rio Ruidoso

We took a trek into town one morning for the kids to enjoy a pony ride. They had a wonderful time! That is, they had a wonderful time until our turn was over. The Piglet screeched like a mashed cat when we had to remove her from her pony! Oy, it was a sad state affairs! Luckily there was a playground across the street, but sadly, the swings were broken and the slides were hot. More crying ensued! But alas... there was a stream! A river actually, the Rio Ruidoso to be exact. Last year that river flooded, wreaking havoc through the town and leaving me, my mother and my two kids stranded in the upper canyon for 3 days! But on this warm summer day, it was a cool, clear, trickling stream, perfect for wading and exploring!

The Monkey Man was the first in, of course. He had his shoes off and was in up to his knees in seconds flat! And not to be outdone, the Piggy was right behind! They played and splashed, found rocks and shells and shockingly stayed dry from mid-thigh up! I love watching them together. The Monkey Man is such a good and patient big brother, well, for the most part. He holds her hand and helps her along when she has a hard time keeping up. It gives me great joy to know that they have each other and I hope they will always look out for one another. It's a bond that I will never understand being an only child, but even I can see that it's strong and growing stronger everyday. They are so lucky to have each other, and I think sometimes, even they get that!

The problem with young people...

Redneck Mother just turned me on to one of the funniest damn blogs I've read in a long time. Take a quick detour over to:

http://crabbyoldfart.wordpress.com/

And enjoy!

Ruidoso--Best shot

This is a photo of the Monkey Man playing my dulcimer. I absolutely loved this photo, my favorite of the trip!

Ruidoso or Bust! Restaurant recommendation, or not so much!

Needless to say, we didn't eat here!

Ruidoso or Bust! Critters around the cabin

Although I try to get out and do stuff while in Ruidoso, I also just like BEING in Ruidoso. There is no place more relaxing than the front deck of our little cabin! We see squirrels, chipmunks, beetles, hummingbirds, deer, lots of birds and sometimes BEARS! This trip was just full of animal visitors and we loved it! We were seeing so many birds, I finally had the Monkey Man pull out his field guide to "Birds of North America"! I wish I could have snapped some pics, but let me tell you, birds are HARD to photograph! Every single pic I attempted was crap! But here is a quick list of the birds we identified in the 6 days we were there. It really is quite an impressive role call of birdies in a single location! We possibly saw an owl, it was early morning and something very large, very white and very quiet sailed through the tall pines across the street. Couldn't get a really good look, but I know for a fact it was no egret. So if anyone knows of a large, white bird that would soar fairly high up, let me know! Anyway, here's my list:
Steller's jays
Dark-eyed Juncos
Acorn Woodpeckers I LOVE woodpeckers! They look like little comedians with funny red hats!
Black-headed grosbeaks
Various sparrows
Turkey Vultures
Swainson's Hawk
Ruby-throated hummingbirds
Rufous Hummingbirds
Western Tanagers This was a STUNNING bird, such amazing colors! There were two chasing each other around, I thought they were maybe males fighting over territory or females.
Yellow-rumped warbler
Flickers I also adore Flickers! Absolutely gorgeous!

We were visited by a couple of cool moths, I've yet to identify them, but we are always fans of moths! This little guy may not look too impressive, but there were several each morning around the light and on the door, they measured about 2" in length. Their fuzzy faces were just too cute!

This little moth was an odd one. It reminded me of a fox's face!

But our most prolific visitors were the deer, mule deer to be exact. We had small herds traipse through the lot next to us daily. They were very curious about us and intrigued by the peanuts and seed we had set out for the birds. They were slightly skittish but not at all scared of us, in fact, there were several times I thought one of them was going to walk right up on the deck!

Bucks are not too common, so we felt privileged that he was comfortable enough to lay down and rest about 20 ft. off the deck!

A group of evening visitors!

This sweet girl looks more like a kangaroo than a deer! Get a load of those EARS!

And the most adorable young buck I've ever seen! What a looker!

We never saw a bear, but we found evidence one morning. Hummingbird feeders were ripped off the deck and pulled open and there was quite a bit of scuffled dirt to one side of the cabin where it obviously lumbered down the hill. I would have loved to have seen it! It's always the biggest thrill to see one of these amazing animals. Oh well, maybe next time.

Most of the visitors were quite welcome, however this bunch wasn't so welcome! At first I worried that it was termites, but never fear, just a swarm of winged ants!

The drought is taking its toll.

My poor little garden is giving its all, but the 100+ degree temps and no rain in sight is just taking its toll. The flea beetles are wreaking havoc on my poor eggplant, and it is to taxed from the heat it just has no defenses. I managed to get one tomato each off of the two heirloom vines before they succumbed to the wilt. It was so sad ripping them out. They all got over 5' tall before they went down. The tomatoes that I did manage to salvage were HUGE and gorgeous! It would have been such a luscious harvest and I'm so bummed! The black-eyed peas have been out of control, but now are starting to turn yellow. I don't know if it's the heat, the lack of rain, a wilt of some sort or if they just quit producing and turn yellow when they're done. It's my first time with peas, so I'm pretty clueless! The green beans are a disaster, I don't think I will get anything out of them this season. And I'm wondering if I'm going to have to clear and treat all the beds for wilt before I can plant again, which may mean I miss the winter season. This garden kicked my ass this summer and I'm feeling slightly defeated! Oh well, on the bright side, basil is still out of control, okra is really starting to kick in, I have jalapenos and pimento peppers ripening, and even though the beetles are causing problems, I do have one little eggplant that is trying so hard! Maybe they'll kick in for a late harvest. I will keep my fingers crossed. Turns out, summer gardening is just NOT easy in Texas!

French Breakfast Puffs? Oui, oui!

A few weeks back, I mentioned on my Facebook page that I was making French Breakfast Puffs. I received many comments and emails asking for the recipe, so I figured I'd have pity on those desiring the ultimate in cinnamon-y, sugary goodness! The recipe comes from my Mimmie's old Betty Crocker cookbook circa 1950. As you can tell, my Mimmie, my Mom and I have used the hell out of this cookbook, it's definitely a classic! And from the look of this page, we were all pretty fond of French Breakfast Puffs!

So, here's the recipe!

French Breakfast Puffs

1/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1-1/2 cups flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup milk

Topping: 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 cup melted butter

-Heat oven to 350*F. Grease muffin tins (personally, I prefer to use the mini muffin tins, they are perfect for little fingers and you can pretend that since they're smaller, it's OK to eat more!)
-Mix shortening, 1/2 cup sugar and the egg thoroughly and until fluffy. Stir in flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg, alternating with the milk. The batter is a fairly sticky batter. Divide into muffin tins.
-Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown.
-Mix the other 1/2 cup of sugar and cinnamon together and melt the butter. Remove the hot muffins from the oven and carefully pull them out, roll them in the melted butter, then roll them in the cinnamon/sugar mixture. Serve while still warm.

Here is the finished product... feel free to drool!