Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Count Down Begins

Like all of you out there, Prairie Cairn Cottage has begun the countdown with only one week left. I just got my packages to out of town relatives in the mail yesterday and cards sent off Monday. Whew! I am cutting it short as usual. Anyone out there besides me vow to make next year stress free? I've already figured out what I want to create and give as gifts and the timeline necessary to accomplish that goal. Let's just say that as soon as this Christmas ends, I'll be starting on next year's gifting. Mr. Tabby and Little Black Brindle are looking forward to Christmas this year as well. A visit to our local pet store for treats should have their presents all wrapped up. The stockings that I made them last year have been hung and are adding that special touch to the decorating at Prairie Cairn Cottage. Thanks for stopping by the Cottage for a Christmas visit. We hope you find the joy of the Savior's birth to be at the heart of your holidays. Audrey

Monday, November 4, 2013

Weekend Crafting at Prairie Cairn Cottage


What's on my needles?
knitted dishcloth
What is under my needle?

Lil' Rascals quilt kit
What is on my hook?

crocheted skillet cozy
What is on my reading shelf?

A Cairn treat for you


Sunday, October 20, 2013

Skunked

Blech!  My Mom say I gots skunked this mornin, wha-ever dat means.  I just knows all a sudden I smells really bad and it was makin me crazies!  One minute everting is normals and da next I's feels like I gots this stuff all over my furs and I's couldn't wipe it off!  I's tried everting a Cairn could think.  I tries ta wipe it off on da grass, I tries ta wipe it off ona straw bale but nottin worked.  All 'cuza dat new kitties I's sees this mornin.  I don't gets it, I like kitties, whys this one gotta spray that stuff all overs me? 

My Mom den gives a boy a bath with dis fizzy stuff.  I's didn't cares, I's wanted dat stuffs offa mys furs.  My Mom says ta tells yous it was:
   1 quarts hy-dro-gen per-ox-ide
   1/4 cups bakin sodas
   1 teaspoons Dawn
She gets a boy wet in da tub an den rubs dis stuff all overs ma bodies.  Den I's just gots to sit der for awhiles.  Den she gets ma shampoos and goes overs ma bodies agains.  Den I's gets sprayed down reals good and den I's gets a toweling. 

I's feels much better but now I's gonna go take a naps.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Where do your dreams take you?


 I dreamt that I was in a tornado and got swept away to a distant land.  My Mom and Dad where there with me, thank goodness, and we saw lots of strange sights:

There were large bodies of water.

I walked miles of shorelines.

Saw strange sights like an abandoned goose egg.

More sights like ornate churches.


Mom kept disappearing into things called quilt shops.  Lucky for me she kept reappearing.
  
blech!  I gotta quite eating the cat's food.

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Finally Summer Fun

As busy as June was, July proved to be a bit more relaxed.  We hosted a few overnight guests for Cheyenne Frontier's Day.  These were friends of our friends so I got to "play" B&B proprietress.  I've often thought that would be a pleasant occupation so this gave me a chance to host strangers in my home.  I must say it was a lot of work but I enjoyed it.  Who knows, we may just put Prairie Cairn Cottage out there as a B&B or perhaps an event location.
You know you live in the West when this is the site that greats you as you open the front door.
 In the garden there has been a lot of green bean planting, endless weeding and frequent watering.  The garden shed is coming along with the roof finally being put on and the door and window installed.  The new wind break is growing like gangbusters.

I have also managed to find some time in the sewing room.  Two years ago on my birthday my husband bought me a serger.  I had wanted on for a long long time.  We went to the store and looked at all the models and decided on an Elna mid range machine.  I brought it home and set it up right away.  And there it sat.  For months it sat.  Seems it intimidated me.  This was not like sewing on my sewing machine, this was faster, more efficient.  And a lot more threads!  I gave myself a swift kick in the rear and decided I needed to learn to use this wonderful gift.  So I got the book out and decided I would make an example of all of the stitches it would do.  Figured out how to thread this intricate contraption and stitched out my samples.  And then it sat there.  For months it sat.  I was still intimated!  What could I use this wonderful gift for?  How could I ever learn to actually use it?  Did anyone teach a beginning serger project?  Sadly, I couldn't find any class like that.  And there it sat.  For even more months it sat.  Until last week!  I realized I had some extra flannel that I would probably never use again.  I needed some rags that I could dust with, mop up spills with, all the things you use rags for.  Hmmm...why don't I take this flannel, cut out some rags and use the serger to stitch them up?  Brilliant!  I found a tutorial on the internet on how to serge square corners and I've been happily making myself a useful rag and learning to use my serger.  My serging is still pretty wonky but these are rags for goodness sake!  Who cares what they really look like?  Who besides me is likely to see them?  And so my newest Elna is beginning to bend to my will not I to hers!
Life is good sometimes.  And when life is good, people need to eat.  I got to spend the entire day yesterday in the kitchen baking and cooking up a storm.  When you don't have to get a meal on the table for ravenous appetites but can cook and bake at your leisure it becomes a pleasurable experience for a lot of us.  And so it was at the Cottage yesterday.  I first made bread, my favorite loaf I shared here.  After that I decided I wanted to make Oatmeal Whoopie Pies.  I had never made them before but after reading someone else's blog about making them, I have wanted to try my hand at this treat for ages.  I used the Pioneer Woman's recipe here.  These are wonderful!  I now want to try chocolate whoopie pies!


Sorry, I didn't remember to take a photo of the finished treat, but trust me.  They won't last long!

Life at a less hectic pace at Prairie Cairn Cottage.  Won't you come join us for a spot of tea and a Whoopie Pie?

Audrey

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Summer is in full swing

Have you found yourself busy as the bees that visits your flowers?  We certainly have.  Lots of new happenings here at Prairie Cairn Cottage.  Lets see if I can catch you up.

A bit of a garden got planted.  Peas planted back in April gave us some delicious snap to our salads.  Lettuces and radish planted didn't sprout even one leaf but we are having some moderate success with tomatoes.  All of the plants here are very short and we've decided it's due to the ever present winds.  Plans are in the works for some hoop houses and we also may put a wood 6 foot fence up to block the wind.  We got some pumpkins planted late so now it is a race against the frost.



The chicken coop My Ever So Handy Husband was building has been moved and will become a garden shed.  Some progress is being made but he has been working on so many other projects this one keeps getting put back on the back burner.  A much larger shed was purchased off of Craig's list and we have plans to make that into the coop.  It will hold many more birds than the original.  One major problem with this project is when the shed was delivered, it got dropped about 3 feet and damage was done.  Side walls needed to be taken down and the framing needed to be repaired.  It too has taken a back burner as of late.

Speaking of chickens we are sadly down to 2 .  Poor Miss Pearl was found dead one afternoon.  Again, no known cause.  The remaining two are happy as can be and I suspect there may have been some fowl play in Pearls demise.
The big project that has taken our time and attention has been planting 250+ seedling trees in shelter belts around the Cottage.  Between site preparation, planting, drip irrigation and such, we have been busy as Johnny Appleseed.   In probably more years than we have left, the Cottage should be protected by Ponderosa Pines and Junipers in the winter and Ash trees will provide shade in the summer.
Friends of ours have bought a vacant parcel in our neighborhood and are in the process of building.  Since they had no place to live we offered to let them set their bus turned RV up at Prairie Cairn Cottage.  It's really nice on the inside, she even has an old claw footed tub in there.  They have been great helping out around the cottage.  She owns a tractor and was kind enough to prepare the shelter belt site for us.  Yes, that is her on the tractor.  She is a dear person and a fellow sister in Christ.  We've really enjoyed having them this summer.  They have a Rat Terrier who has become Little Black Brindle's best friend.  They also have 3 cats, one who is very old and has taken a liking to Tabby and being in the house rather than the RV.


 

Another project that has consumed much of our time has been painting our old house in Colorado.  We are down in Colorado often enough that we never sold the house or rented it out and we needed to paint the exterior.  There was some damage to the siding on the kitchen bump out so we tore off the old siding and replaced it.  Next up is to get the roof replaced.  Colorado is known for hail and the former Cottage suffered some damage last year.

Goodness!  That is more than enough business for this gal.  I plan on taking things a bit more relaxed for what is left of the summer.  I hope you find your days with plenty of time built in to enjoy the summer sunshine and gentle cooling breezes.

Thanks for taking a break with us at Prairie Cairn Cottage today.  Come back again and we'll drink some Lavender Lemonade and watch the breezes blow the grasses out on the prairie. 

Audrey

Monday, June 3, 2013

A Resident of Prairie Cairn Cottage is Famous

Happy June to you all.  Little Black Brindle has some very exciting news to share with everyone!  He is on youtube in a video made by his rescue group, Colonel Potter Cairn Rescue.  Watch it and see him 14 seconds into the video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4ZyVj2ehu4&feature=youtu.be

Make sure to look for this picture

His foster Mom took this picture the day she put him on the plane so he could come live at Prairie Cairn Cottage.  He knew he was on his way to his forever home and couldn't wait!  It was a sad day for his foster Mom but a very happy day for me!  A day that changed my life for the better. 

Colonel Potter is also doing a fund raiser auction.  I just got this email today:

Col. Potter is proud to present the first annual Father's Day Festival.

We are happy to be able to show all our little boy dogs who spent so much time in unsavory conditions, that we love them. So we are taking this opportunity to honor our own volunteer father's and raise some much needed money for Cairn Rescue at the same time.


The Auction will end Sunday June 9, 2013 starting at 5PM EST. You can see all the wonderful items at:




Please feel free to cross post far and wide. Please send this to anyone who has a dog or who ever had a father!!
Colonel Potter is the best!  Thanks coming to see the happenings at Prairie Cairn Cottage today!
Audrey

Thursday, May 2, 2013

How to Entertain Your Cat




Cat TV
 
The Nature Channel on Cat TV
 
Notice the snow caves they are making to keep them out of the wind.
Doesn't this fellow look like he's commuting to work?


Meadow Lark with Horned Lark in background

Junco

Sparrows
Killdeer
 
Flicker
Mourning Dove

White-Crowned Sparrow

Brewer's Blackbirds
What a time we had a Prairie Cairn Cottage yesterday!  May 1st and we had yet another snow storm dumping an additional 15"!  This storm didn't have the winds with it so not near the drifting problems we've had with the other two storms.  I noticed that in the bare spots of the back yard the Horned Larks were coming in droves to shelter themselves and find food.  As the day progressed more species arrived.  I haven't seen this variety of birds in a very long while so Tabby and I had a great time watching them and picking out the new arrivals.  I even went out and spread some bird seed on the ground for the seed eaters. 

I am ready for spring to arrive though.  The seasons seem to be mixed up this year on the prairie.  We had a very dry winter so the moisture in these last 3 storms have been very, very welcome.  Soon the color will burst forth on the prairie and we should have a spectacular wildflower season.

Thanks for visiting the Cottage today. 

Audrey