Buttermilk Pie

Have you ever had Buttermilk Pie or even heard of it? It reminds me of something truly from the heartland of America. I found this recipe ages ago in the newspaper and clipped it out and made it. My husband and son loved it. I placed the recipe in my drawer and forgot about it and decided it was time to make another one yesterday.



I have a slower oven, so the baking time for me was a good hour to get it browned up and set in the middle.



Here's the recipe if you'd like to try it:

1 stick melted butter
1 3/4 cups sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 beaten eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 unbaked 9 inch deep-dish pie crust

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all the ingredients into a bowl and whisk until nice and smooth.

Pour mixture into unbaked pie crust and bake anywhere from 45 - 60 minutes OR until it's nice and golden brown and set in the middle. Place a cake tester in the center to make sure it comes out clean.

Cool and then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Hope you enjoy it!

A Road Trip to See the Grandkids

Yesterday we drove down to Bakersfield to see Spencer's last hockey game of the season. It wasn't exactly a real game because that was last weekend, so yesterday's game was a father/son one.



We waited inside the little coffee shop to keep warm before the game began. Here's two year old Carter and 7 year old Mitchell.



Here's Spencer (#44) standing next to his dad. Let the fun begin!



Spencer's 10 years old and is absolutely amazing on the ice. He's been skating since he was about 3 and just loves the sport.



After doing some quick grocery shopping, we began the trek up the mountain.



The mountains got a dusting of snow the day before but the roads were all clear. Today the clouds are making their way eastward and tomorrow starts the springlike week. We're supposed to be almost 70 by Friday!

And now, it's time to make some more socks............

Twice Knit Mug Rugs

Thought you'd enjoy seeing the next pattern that I'm working on. These "Twice Knit Mug Rugs" use a technique that is new to most of us. With this method, the mug rugs will be more dense and appear woven instead of knitted. What a great way to use up leftover sock yarn and have some unique gifts! As soon as I have the pattern ready, I'll be sure to leave a post.

The sock order is coming along nicely. More yarn is due in, but I have 9 more days of some serious cranking and the yarn that has been shipped will be used up and made into lovely socks. Some people ask me how I can possibly make 150 socks! I always say, "one sock at a time!"

We had a dribble of snow overnight up here in the California mountains and a smaller system is due in tomorrow and then guess what? The weatherman promised that spring will bloom with full sunshine. Next week is storm free and the temps are going to climb. I simply can't wait!

Well, back to my socks and some housework. I hope your weekend is fantastic!

It's Finally Ready............

I've been promising this pattern for our 9 x 13 felted casserole warmer for ages, and it's finally up and running. I just listed it in our Etsy Shop. Later today, I'll also add it to our Ravelry store.

And now, it's time to get back to that sock order!

Spring Took a Detour.....

The weekend forecast was bleak. Yet, as you can see, Saturday morning didn't look all that threatening. A few clouds around the mountains, but that was it. Yet, we've learned to take heed when they call for high winds. So, before calling it a night on Saturday, we turned off the wind turbine. At 2:00 a.m. (the first official day of spring) the winds began. They were in excess of 75 mph, so trying to sleep through all of that was useless. My husband thought that maybe a noreaster must sound like that. I offered that it sounded more like an F5 tornado!

Then the heavy rain began and it howled and poured for 14 solid hours! Even Mac refused to go out the door, so he had to be carried to his favorite "spot."

All day Sunday it was a mix of snow and rain and by nightfall the snow started sticking to the soggy ground.

This morning we woke to this gorgeous sunrise and 3 inches of snow!





The little chicken wire fencing that was around our garden area couldn't take the weight and finally collapsed.



Remember Friday's picture of the Lilac bush? It's a bit buried this morning!

Last night Mac decided that he needed a potty break at 1:30 a.m., so I opened the front door. He took 3 steps out and realized it had snowed and froze in his tracks! Right then this huge owl came out of nowhere to check out Mac. With that I stepped outside and waved my arms to frighten the night visitor away. I think too, the owl decided that Mac was just a bit too big to swoop away with!

Today I need to try and get into town and mail off a batch of socks. Remember the order of about 80 socks? It's become 150 with more yarn due to arrive! I'm thrilled and so thankful for the work.

Hope your week ahead is a good one.

Knittin' and Cleanin'..............

Fridays I always like to do some serious cleaning so that there's less to do over the weekend. So, I crank out a sock and then take a break from knitting and then do about 30 minutes of housework. This cycle just repeats itself until the day is finally spent. That way I have the best of both worlds - completed socks and a clean house!



A blog that I visited a while back was focusing on one outside plant and the changes throughout the year that it went through. I thought that was a marvelous idea so decided to show one of our lilac bushes and what's going on with it right now.
I'll try and take a picture weekly so that you can see its progress.

It's a bit coolish outside today but the sun is shining and the winds are perfect for the gliders. For those of you who are new to our blog, we live very close to one of the world's greatest glider airports. They take off right overhead and it's simply fascinating to watch them. I doubt that we'll ever get tired of the show!

The space shuttle pilots have even trained here and the Air Force keeps a glider at the airport and frequently brings some of their pilots up for a day of training.

If you live in southern California, it's definitely worth the trip to Tehachapi to see this in person. They also have a small cafe there with some terrific chili!

Hope your weekend is a great one. We may have two storms coming in and the second might even bring snow!

Spring is Busting Out All Over..........

It's a gorgeous day in Tehachapi and I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the sights around town. This is a picture looking south towards the mountain that we live on.

Aren't the trees amazing? I'm sure this is happening where you live, too.

It's such a great day, that Rick and I are about to take our 1.2 mile hike. Then it'll be time to get back to cranking socks for the rest of the afternoon. A perfect day for sure!

And the grand finale will be BLT's for dinner. YUMMO (good thing I'm taking that hike!)

A Few Remaining Pictures of Calico

I haven't gotten around to any new pictures this week, so I thought that you wouldn't mind seeing just a few more from our trip to Calico.

Here you can see an open mine shaft that they have behind protective wire fencing.

One of the mines you can tour and they fill them with period pieces of furniture so that you can see what life was like in the 1800's.

For $1.00 you can pan for gold and Rick enjoyed this very much!

Now for some knitting news: We just got a large sock order to make 80 socks! My goal will be to crank 4 socks a day now and hopefully have them completed by the end of March. That's about 6 hours of work each day, so I think that'll be pretty do-able. I can close the toes and weave all the ends in at night watching a good movie.

So, I better get cranking!

More Pictures of Calico

There's a lookout point above the town that gives a wonderful view of Calico and parts of the California desert. That small mound in the distance on the left is an extinct volcano.

Visibility this day was as far as the eye could see.

This is just such a fun place to visit for families and you really do feel like you've stepped back in time.

This is the famous bottle house.

As we were leaving, I took once last photo looking up the main street. Goodbye Calico! We'll definitely be back!

A Trip to the Wild West..........

Just a few miles outside of Barstow, Ca. is the historical town of Calico that once bustled with prospectors searching for silver. In March of 1881, Calico was a booming mining town producing 86 million dollars in silver and 45 million dollars in borax.



Calico is one of the last original mining towns in the old west, mainly because of Mr. Walter Knott who founded Knott's Berry Farm. In 1966 Mr. Knott donated Calico to San Bernardino County who now operate it as a county regional park.



There's so much to see an do - like taking this little train that runs above the town.



Many of the old buildings still remain intact and some are re-created.

Original mine shafts still exist, so children should be watched carefully so that they don't enter them and there are some serious cliffs around, so care does need to be taken.

The weather was absolutely perfect. We decided that March is a great time to go because the summer heat in this desert is not pleasant!

More pictures on the next post!

Ask Mac..............

My mom said that I received only one question this week, but that's ok because it means that I still get to blog today!

Heather J: Ask Mac if he has a favorite flower or time of the year.

Mac: I like any flower that smells good or looks pretty. We like to grow Mexican Primrose up here because it seems to survive our wintery snow storms and then regrows in spring with lots of pink blooms. I can tell you that winter is my least favorite season because I don't like to walk in the snow! Spring, summer and fall are all my favorites.

Because you were the only one that wrote in to me Heather, my mom said that your name was automatically drawn to be the winner of a little treat just from me! She will place it in the mail for you on Monday.

Well, guess I better turn the blog back over to my mom. If you have any questions for next Friday, just leave me a comment for a chance to win a little surprise. One lucky name is drawn every Friday.

Thanks Mac! Tomorrow our family has decided to take a little road trip out to the desert near the town of Barstow. It's about 90 miles from our house and our destination is the ghost town of Calico. The weather should be wonderful and we haven't been there since our kids were small. Should be a very fun outing and I'm sure pictures will be forthcoming on the next post.

I wish you all a wonderful weekend ahead and maybe the weather will be nice for you to take a little road trip, too.

March Giveaway................

I thought it would be fun this month to offer something different for our monthly giveaway. Instead of me making the item, how about if one lucky winner gets to knit their own! All this month, just leave a comment on this post for your chance to win 2 skeins of Schoeller + Stahl's Fortissima Colori sock yarn along with a set of U.S. Size 2 double pointed needles. Wow! Everything you need to knit two pair of socks!

On April 1, 2011, we'll announce the lucky winner. Good luck and I look forward to reading all your comments. It's really such fun to hear from you from all around the country and sometimes the world, too!

It's Mitten Day..........

March 1st has arrived and I promised that someone would win a pair of women's handknitted mittens today. The lucky name that was drawn is Anke who has a wonderful blog called "Our Little Piece of Heaven." Congratulations Anke! If you could please email me (address shown above) with your mailing address and the size that you'd like, I'll get these right off to you. We have one pair that is a women's average and the other pair is more like M/L, which is slightly longer and wider. Both are made from Cascade 220 worsted yarn which is 100 percent wool.



It did snow Friday night into Saturday morning, but we didn't receive the 6 - 12 inches that they predicted.



Actually, it was just the right amount - enough to play in and then it quickly started to melt.



Tomorrow's post will be all about our next giveaway, so please come back for a visit.

Today I'm home alone, so I thought it would be a great day to just crank out some socks. We have a craft show in early April to get product made for, so this is the perfect day to start.

See you all tomorrow..............