weekendcowgirl.com

TCU Football Season Begins Today

weekendcowgirl — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 17:32:44 +0000

I am hoping my TCU Frogs have a great season and live up to their # 6 national ranking. Go FROGS. I love my college team. We are very proud of our school and our football team. Nothing better than collegiate sports. Enough said. SPIT BLOOD!

Last Summer Fling

weekendcowgirl — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 00:11:35 +0000

Just got back from a quick girl’s trip to celebrate the last of summer. I love the water and love summer. One of the things I miss most in the winter is not being able to lay by a pool and swim. Took a few days to get in the last summer swim with friends and enjoy great food and fun. I am glad to have enjoyed these last few days as it is now back to the daily grind. Fall is approaching and with a blink the holiday season will be here. I really have had a lovely summer and sad to see it quickly slipping by…

The pool was terrific. Had a lazy river, slides, waterfalls.

The Hot Tub was not bad either!

We stayed in a very cute cabin!

Fall Apples

weekendcowgirl — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 12:35:31 +0000

As I am sitting here enduring this heat my friends in Montana are all getting ready to pick apples. I am usually there to help pick cherries, raspberries and sometimes even blueberries and blackberries, but have never been during apple harvest. I always look forward to the fall because I end up with a jar or two of special homemade applesauce and I can assure you it tastes like nothing you can buy. I am not a applesauce fan, however give me a jar of homemade and a little cinnamon on top and I can devour the entire jar.

I took this photo right before I left to come home in August. The apples really make a beautiful photo.

My Last Read…

weekendcowgirl — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:09:18 +0000

I just finished reading Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, The Most Powerful Tribe in American History by S.C. Gwynne. If you love Indian history and the old west this is a book you might enjoy. Compelling yes. Controversial yes. Brutal yes. When reading this book you get a real grasp of the west and how difficult it was for those venturing westward. The book also goes into detail about how the Comanche Indians lived at that time. This book is direct and really tells about the brutality of Quanah Parker, not only in actions to settlers, but also his actions to other Indian tribes. I always feel a bit defensive when I read books on Indian history as I generally think they got a raw deal. Quanah Parker lived in his time and his way. He was a powerful man in the 1800′s. White man moved in and slowly took away his life. Although his actions were sometimes quite horrendous, I can only imagine things from his point of view. From a historical point this is a good read. If a history book can leave you sad this one sure did for me…

Friday Flowers

weekendcowgirl — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 04:49:46 +0000

Took this photo in Montana. The flowers were gently falling from a hanging basket and I thought they were some of the loveliest I have ever seen. I do not have any clue to their identity, but decided to blog them anyway! They are simply beautiful.

Thanks to Katy I now know these lovely flowers are Fuchsia!

Spicy Saltines

weekendcowgirl — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 13:22:41 +0000

This recipe came from a good friend of mine, Diane, who passed away last year. She was a terrific cook and always had the favorite food at every party she attended. She used to bring this recipe to many functions where we just had snacks and everyone always clamored to get to these crackers first! When traveling on road trips she brought these and we would graze our way through the entire trip! Diane was a Delta Gamma and brought these crackers to many DG events. She was famous for these crackers!

Empty 1 box of saltine crackers (4 sleeves) into a Hefty jumbo bag.

Combine in a pyrex measuring cup–feel free to adjust seasonings to your taste

       1 pkg dry ranch mix
       1Tbsp garlic powder
       1 Tbsp red pepper flakes/cut this in half if you do not like spicy!
       1 tsp salt
       1 cup oil

Pour mixture over crackers. Turn the bag several times to coat them. Turn again
about every 20 minutes several times. Stores well in the bag.

These crackers are great by themselves or with chicken, tuna salad, or just about anything.

Montana Vintage Red Barn

weekendcowgirl — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 15:20:18 +0000

Today’s photo is a beautiful barn that I love because it is old, big and red. I also like the character of the old white fence that surrounds it. I took many barn photos this summer and will be sharing them with you this year. I find old barns and old fences irresistible. I adore when I find a barn to photograph and it obviously has been cared for. I also know how hard money is to come by for many farmers and ranchers just trying to hold onto the land that has been in their family for many generations. Although they probably value their barn the money is not available to preserve it. I love barns in any form of repair or disrepair and each is a joy to photograph.

This barn had fresh coat of red paint and had a new tin roof. It will be around for many years for everyone to enjoy in the future. (Click on photo to enlarge)

No Full Blown Arachnophobia Here

weekendcowgirl — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 14:22:01 +0000

I am not a big fan of arachnids, but do not suffer from full blown arachnophobia either. I just choose to ignore they exist with the exception of keeping my house, well house, and other farm structures sprayed to ensure I do not get a nasty bite. In our area we have plenty of spiders, but the only two I try to keep out of my path are the black widow and brown recluse. Now, if I found either of those in my house I would totally freak! Let’s just say that I am on very good terms with my bug man. This year the brown recluse spiders were abundant and I was “so about” having my bug friend come spray early in the season!

I remember when growing up one of the first horror movies I saw was an old horror movie called Tarantula. It pretty much ruined any love I might have ever had for spiders. As an adult I watched a TV movie about a small town in the west where toxic waste had been dumped. All the ranchers and farmers started getting attacked by large glowing spiders and their horses too (that’s just wrong). The spiders spun a huge web around the town and no one from the U.S. could save them. By the time I finished that movie I certainly was not sporting any love of spiders!

When visiting a friend this weekend I was taking a few photos of her place and literally nearly ran into this little beauty. I know in the spider world this must be considered a beautiful gift of nature, but I am still not crazy about spiders. This will probably be the only post you will ever see on this topic unless I get bitten by the big bad one!

This is a Yellow Garden Spider, Argiope aurantia. This was a large female which is about 3-4 inch span.

Sunflower

weekendcowgirl — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 12:11:22 +0000

Snapped this shot of a sunflower at a friend’s ranch yesterday. It has been so hot even the sunflowers have been wilting. I love sunflowers! In July I went to town one morning to grocery only to return to find that the donkeys and goats had “let” themselves into our yard. The first delicacy they went for were my sunflowers. By the time I moved them from the yard I just had several plants left! I have enjoyed the few we had, but will not be forgetting to lock the corral gates next year!

Bird Feeder…Not

weekendcowgirl — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 13:38:25 +0000

In Montana my friend has a bird feeder hanging outside her kitchen window. We usually have the opportunity to see a nice variety of pretty birds. This summer we had a little friend and he is who we saw most mornings. When we tried to tap on the window to shoo him away this is the reaction we received. I took this photo through the glass so although not the best quality picture you get the jest of this cute little squirrel. If you click on photo you can more clearly see his expression!