So I may have taken the “I have a dream” part of MLK day a little too far when I decided to rip out 2/3 of my lower cabinets and counter tops this past Monday. After watching Dr King’s infamous speech on YouTube and doing a project with the kids for school that morning; I realized that I, too, have a dream! That I don’t wake up to 2 or 3 mouse droppings on my kitchen floor! That I don’t feel the north wind on my feet as I cook dinner! That I don’t have to wonder just what kind of nasty lies below where I store the things we eat on! It’s not like we don’t have enough projects started, but I had hit the limit on this issue. Anything else we tried wasn’t resolving things, so time to get destructive. At the very least, the endeavor would get some aggression out on that kitchen! And just a week later, I have no regrets! Nathan came in and made a perfect temporary kitchen that I KNOW is clean and operates better than the previous set up. Here’s a photo progression of an impulse desicion gone wonderfully right.

Mom came over and assisted/supervised my controlled chaos as I removed the cabinet and countertop that was furthest away from the plumbing. Those pipes are sensitive in this house.

It took a small amount of prying and banging and a few “sumbitches”, but it came out piece by piece. The adjacent countertop was going to need to be jigsawed alongside the sink, because we were hoping to do this without pulling the sink as well. What we revealed under just this section was enough to convince me we were doing the right thing!

That would be a freaking nest where all the stuff is piled up on the left side. Apparently mice and (ugh) rats like to “decorate” with treasures from around the house. Some of that stuff belonged to us! Grrroooooossssssss. With lots of gagging, I got it swept up and that old linoleum lifted right off the floor. Nathan came home and got the cut done on the counter top and we were able to remove the second section of cabinet right at the edge of the sink.

I’m kicking myself for not getting a picture of the huge crack that we revealed between the floor and the exterior wall, but there was an obvious “highway” back there.  It was getting late, so Nathan quickly cut some 2×4 to place over it. He was able to slide another board behind the sink cabinet as well, so that doesn’t have to come out right away.

Look how clean and mouse poop free we are now! I just don’t have any countertop or storage and I only prepare 3 meals a day in this kitchen…. 😳 I was prepared to work off of card tables for quite a while, but Nathan was able to construct some incredibly sturdy workbenches and this girl just got her “butcher block” wood countertops she’s been wanting! 😆 A trip to Target fixed the storage dilemma and within 5 days I had a kitchen again!

We’ve been mouse poop free since! Call me crazy, but I LOVE this little set up! Nathan says it’s because it’s reminiscent of camp/cabin kitchen and I feel like I’m at a vacation spot. Haha! I’m super excited to experiment with the wood countertops before the real thing goes in. Honestly, this little sidetrack from all the other projects has kind of encouraged us to look into DIYing our kitchen renovation! After the mudroom, of course. Yea. Go ahead and call us crazy.

-Lindsay

Don’t expect 2 State Parks in a week to be the norm, but we just had to seize the opportunity to visit another nearby park on the first clear day after 5 straight days of rain.  From what I read on the place prior to going, a winter time visit was more ideal. And for two reasons; the constantly warm lake water due to the nearby power plant discharge and BALD EAGLES(cue the patriotic music)! We got all star-spangled eyed and loaded up for the hour long drive.

The park ranger at the entrance was super helpful and guided us on the map where we could find the best viewing place for the one pair of eagles they currently had living at the lake and also where their few hiking trails were located. It was close enough to lunch time that we headed to the eagle location first and set up our viewing picnic. We were warned that they are only most active in the early morning and evening, but we were hopeful. We were hopeful for a whole hour. We did spot their nest across the lake fairly easy. Excuse the poor quality of iPhone zooming, but the blob in the middle of the leafless tree is it. The foggy day wasn’t helping, but how cool would it have been to see one come swooping across that lake from the mist?!

After deciding we would just have to be satisfied with the viewing of their nest, we drove on to check out the beach and fishing pier. We were all curious about just how warm that water was. And holy moly! It felt darn HOT compared to the 50 degree air temperature! I put it at 70 degrees. When I asked the ranger later what the actual temp was he said it was in the upper 60s. But in the summer is can push into the 80s when the plant is at peak production! The kids were just pissed I didn’t bring swim suits for them. Ashlyn collected a sample to make a slide later for our new microscope. I’ll have an update on that soon.

We then drove to the other side of the lake where the campsites and 2 small hiking trails were located. There is a trail that follows the entire perimeter of the park, but mostly recommended for horseback or biking. First, we walked he birding trail and found a cool natural blind that let you sneak out on a peninsula into the lake.

The kids still managed to flush a flock of mallards up out of the water. Which, of course, they loved. After some time at the playground, we walked a 1/4 mile loop that was part of a 2 mile nature trail through post oak trees.

On our way out, we drove through the campsites and I determined this really isn’t a place I would be interested in camping at. The sights are super close together. It looked like a parking lot with trees. In just one section of sites, there were 63 and only 2 bath houses. Not my cup of tea. I wouldn’t mind coming again for the day and trying the fishing, though!

-Lindsay

Well you just have to love Winter in Texas, don’t you?! Last weekend was down in the teens and I only darted outside long enough to tend to the chickens. This weekend was in the 60’s and I was ready to go hiking! So we took advantage of the closest state park that we haven’t been to yet.  Which worked out to be just on the other side of Athens in Eustace, 30ish minutes away!

It was overcast and raining off and on, but we packed a picnic lunch and the kids’ new camelbaks hopeful for agreeable weather. And luck was on our side! We were able to hike a near 2 mile trail that took us by primitive campsites and the lake.

A drizzle started as we came back to the trail head and we easily found covered picnic tables and enjoyed our lunch.

This park is fantastic! Full hook up sites, primitive sites and water only tent sites are all available and all located on or nearby the large lake. The fishing on the bank looks legit considering the catfish we saw on a guy’s stringer, but the park also allows motor boats and has a nice boat ramp. Large mouth bass are catch and release, but the rest can be dinner.

After experiencing the ease of use and the wide variety of function this park offers, we decided it will make for perfect “shake down” trips. We can guinea pig the kids on some primitive camping before hitting the big trails and try out new gear (the camelbaks were winners).

And most importantly, snagging a quick staycation would be a cinch. We’re definitely taking the pop up on her maiden trip here.

I’m happy to be back on the State Park trail. We renewed our pass for the year while at Purtis Creek, so stay tuned for more new parks! 

-Lindsay

Howdy everyone! How was your Christmas and New Years? We enjoyed lots of time with family, good food, and got spoiled all in shorts and tshirts!  Which is crazy to think back on considering the constant state of cold I’ve been in all day. Our temps haven’t gotten over 27 today! 😳 And we don’t even have any snow to show for it.

But when the temps have kept us indoors, we’ve found ways to keep busy. And thanks to a big haul of oranges and lemons from PawPaw’s trees, it’s been easy! We’ve had such success with our experiments, I thought I might as well share. This falls under the homesteading category, after all.

Most years, it seems only one type of citrus produces at a time in abundance. This year, each tree went bananas! We got as many oranges as we did lemons and, frankly, it was overwhelming at first. Usually I get just enough oranges to make juice for a week or two. Or squeeze lemon juice into ice cube trays to use in my water or in cooking. With this haul, I wanted to get more creative. This is what I STILL have left of a FULL box after all the fun. We started with lemonade and I finally found a recipe that works perfectly. The kids aren’t exactly thrilled the “chunks” (tiny bits of pulp) in their drink, but mama don’t have a strainer small enough yet. They’ll survive.

The Recipe for Our Perfect Lemonade:

• 1.5 cups lemon juice
• 2 cups water
• 1 to 1.5 cups sugar (I usually scale back the sugar in almost every recipe I find, so 1 cup keeps it sweet but definitely more tart)

Method: bring water and sugar to a boil until sugar is dissolved. Pour into a heat safe pitcher with the lemon juice. Fill pitcher rest of the way with more water.

We made two batches and stored both in the fridge; one in a washed out orange juice container and the other remained in the pitcher. I still have left over lemons to make freezer cubes as well!

The oranges had me take to Pinterest to find a way to preserve them. I’ve never liked marmalade and that was the only thing that came to mind until I found you can make just plain ol jam with orange juice! No chunks for my weird texture thing to get grossed out by! 👍🏻 I’ve been finding mason jars everywhere in this house and in the barn, so with a purchase of lids and pectin I was ready! It took a lot of oranges to make 5 cups of juice, but that was kind of the point, right? The process was super easy. I’m storing mine in the fridge because I don’t own a processor…yet. But due to the heat and the jars themselves, they all self sealed while cooling on the counter. But to ease my nerves, they will remain in the fridge. This is the recipe we followed. On batch one, I scaled the sugar back by a cup. After tasting batch one, the second batch got scaled back by 2 cups. I like tang more than sugar 😉.

Both batches turned out so good! The consistency was great after cooling, which surprised me considering how liquid it was going in! I am definitely hooked on this canning gig. I can’t wait for these fruit trees on our property to produce! Hopefully I can go canning crazy on peaches, plums and pears!

I should add that while typing this post, a cute flurry of snow showed up and we hurriedly enjoyed as much as we could before the cold was too much. I can still see an occasional fleck float by while I sit here and thaw. 😄

-Lindsay