Sunday Snow

Emmi decided she needed to go outside about 1am—something she rarely does—and it was snowing then.  We woke to about 2 inches of snow, icing on the trees and grasses.  When we went out for our hike the ground was slick and some of the trees had ice clinging to them—so it rained last night before it snowed.  All the moisture made for a beautiful walk this morning—the wind was awful!!  Nasty, cold, bitter wind for most of the day.

Michael is working on emptying an old horse trailer he used for storing plumbing parts—the parts are being transferred to newly built shelves in the new shed and hopefully the trailer is being transferred to a new owner if we are successful on Craigslist!

I spent the morning baking cookies and making lunch for Nat—Big Timber received no snow.  We enjoyed pork tenderloin, baked potatoes, salad for the guys and sautéed veggies for me.  Both the ole ranchers are not much on veggies.  I also baked a loaf of bread—Nat really, really likes my homemade bread.  Here’s the recipe for the cookies—I’ve baked these same cookies for years and years—I found the recipe on the back of one of those round cardboard Quaker Oat containers.  If I attempt to try something new with Nat and Mike they both remind me how much they like these cookies!

BEST OATMEAL COOKIES

1 ¼ cups Margarine (I use real butter)

¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar

½ cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

3 cups Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)

Heat oven to 375. Beat together margarine or butter with sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, spices; add to margarine mixture, mixing well. Stir in oats. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 9 minutes for a chewy cookie. 10 to 11 minutes for a crisp cookie. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet; remove to wire cooling rack. Store in tightly covered container.

VARIATIONS: Add any one or combination of two of the following ingredients: 1 cup raisins, 1 cup chopped nuts, or 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Yesterday I finished a quilt for Jeane—she helped her granddaughter PJ (10 years old) make this quilt and I must say, PJ did a great job!  Today I finished another one for my Mom—all of Mom’s are ready for shipping off to her. 

Thank you all for the kind comments on yesterday’s blog—Michael and I are both fully aware of our blessed life, fully aware!!