Friday, July 3 –
Carolina’s miracle cake and some birthday gifts for Carolina and Stockton make for a fun evening. We even managed to surprise them with some new bikes.
Category Archives: Carolina
Friday, July 3 –
This is the story of a birthday cake that shouldn’t have been edible, but somehow survived a very unusual baking process.
It begins with a broken stove. My stove went out and we decided not to try and repair it because I didn’t like it that much anyway. I’ve only been using it a short time because the one I really like has been out of commission for a while.
This is the stove I really like. I paid it out little by little until I had paid the full amount to a man with a little antique/salvage business on FM 1585 in Lubbock. That was about 15 years ago or more.
It’s an O’keefe & Merritt gas stove from the 40’s or 50’s. You can see there’s a lot of history here.
Anyway, until I can repair this big stove, we bought this little apartment stove that has a charm all its own.
So, back to the cake. Now that I had a stove again, it was time to bake Carolina a birthday cake. Unfortunately, after only about 15 or 20 minutes into the baking, my propane ran out! I called Nathan to see if propane could be delivered, but being Friday, July 3rd before a holiday weekend, they were already out of the office. So I hurriedly kindled a fire in the wood cook stove and hoped it would get hot before the other one cooled down too much. Once it was hot enough, I carefully moved the jiggling half-baked cake to the woodstove and continued the baking.
Here I am with the nicely cooked cake and the hot, hot stove in the background.
Well, there you have the miracle cake. I wouldn’t recommend this method, but I’m glad it worked out this time.
So was Carolina.
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Happy about Summer!
Aspen took some pictures of Carolina throwing up some blooms from the desert willow tree. I visited makeagif.com to turn them into this funny gif file.
Friday, June 12 –
Tonight we piled in for a quick ride to the mailbox and back. The skies were overcast. Rain was headed our way, but just now the elements were perfect for a jeep ride.
Still pictures just don’t do this fun ride justice. Jump in and experience it for yourself first hand.
Friday, June 12 –
Nathan and his mom were able to pick apricots from a tree in Matador. It had been pretty well picked over, but with a tall ladder, Nathan was able to reach some real beauties near the top limbs. He and Carolina made quick work of halving them and getting them in the freezer.
While in Tennessee for Alan’s birth, we went to an estate sale. I bought this marvelous metal dry sink.
I found this picture on pinterest (follow me@Shannon Ranch). I loved it and used it as an inspiration.
Cim offered to paint it for me one day last week. I’m so in love with it. I’d like to use it someday in a real sink application somehow.
We also made a few other changes. We painted the coffee table a similar color and then distressed it a bit.
We also recovered a lamp shade. We ripped off the red material and replaced it with our color. Carolina is also sewing us some new curtains. I’ll post on that later when they’re all finished and installed.
Thursday, June 4 –
Sunday, May 31 –
Nathan, Stockton and Carolina went riding this afternoon. It had been a while since they had all gotten to go together. Nathan said his horse especially needed a lot of “schooling”.
These pictures were taken when they returned.
Monday, April 20 –
This morning’s sunrise is a special treat for anyone.
But look at the extra-special surprise I got after I took these pictures and started back to the house. Carolina had left a message in the sand for me and Nathan.
Stockton and Carolina have been having a blast using Jordan’s forge. They’ve been making hooks, S-hooks, and small fire pokers. They take turns pounding metal and cranking the blower.
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Aunts & Uncles
If you sneak into Carolina’s room, this is what you might see:
She’s started writing her own paper called “The Northfield News”.
It’s all typed up on a vintage typewriter. We’ve had a lot of fun reading it. If you’d like to subscribe (.25 per copy), get in touch with Carolina at carolina@shannonranch.net