Happy Turkey Birthday

The problem with a four-month hiatus from your blog is you have a lot to catch up on. I realize I could just start from today and move forward, but then you'd miss out on all the excitement of the last few months. I mean, don't you want to know why we didn't have water for six weeks and about the 35 gallons of paint?!?!? I know I would...

So what do you write about today? Versus tomorrow?

I decided since today is the start of the countdown to my birthday I'd update you on that. What? A countdown to my birthday? Yep...I turn 30-something 11 months from today. I think that counts as a countdown.

At least my sister E, when she was about 12, thought the day of each month counted. She wrote on every "18" on my mother's calendar a reminder that her birthday was 8 months away...7 months away...6 months away...1 month away. So Mamacita...put it on your calendar...my birthday is in 11 months from today!

My birthday is the week before Thanksgiving, which was a travesty when I was little. My sister's birthdays were both close to Valentine's Day, so they had pink and purple and sparkly stuff in the stores around their birthdays. Me? Ucky yellows and browns and silly Pilgrim hats. (This was before stores decided the Christmas decor needed to come out mid-summer.)

Ironically, Thanksgiving is now my favorite holiday and I like oranges and yellows and all those fall colors. And since I got the turkey platter (more on that in another post) Thanksgiving is at my house. We split up the holidays and Turkey Day is all mine.

So this year my family descended on The Farm to eat up a 22 pound turkey, stuffing, pie, and turkey birthday cake.

What? You don't have turkey birthday cake during your Thanksgiving meal?

I mean, how could you pass up this?

Now how to explain...

So when I was little I promise I had my own birthday party. Good ones. Great ones. We're talking Willie Wonka parties complete with chocolate cake for breakfast while dressed up as Oompa Loompas. 

But when I got older and moved out of the house, my birthday sorta merged with Thanksgiving. Now on one hand a party is a party, and to pair my birthday with turkey and mashed potatoes seems like a pretty good deal. But it also brought up those memories of Thanksgiving birthdays of my childhood where all I wanted was sparkly pink hearts and all I got was pumpkins and gourds in that horned shell thing-y. I mean who wants to dress up like a Pilgrim in 3rd grade and make butter by shaking a baby food jar when your sisters get to make Valentine's mailboxes to hang on your chair around THEIR birthdays.

I'm not jealous or bitter. Really.

So...turkey birthday cake.

A few years ago my sister E decided to turn the tables on the whole thing and she made me a birthday cake shaped like a turkey. Her children, L and K, were so excited about the cake; I remember there was lots of jumping around. They couldn't wait to show me. 

And now, five of six years later, the tradition is that I get a turkey cake for my birthday. It makes me smile just thinking about it. Because who wants a plain ol' cake when you can get a TURKEY CAKE?!?!??! 

In case The Farmer is reading this, please note that I loved my lemon cupcakes you got me on my birthday...special order!

Every year we've had a different cake for the celebration and this year...cake pops! Yep...those things that seem to be everywhere now. My sister M made them for my nephew's birthday and they figured out how to make turkey cake pops. 

And as usual, the process was the most amusing.

Exhibit #1: M brought along the cake pop decorating book, but didn't realize it didn't have a cake pop recipe in it. What sort of cookbook is that?!?!? It just kept referring to the "basic cake pop recipe". 

Very helpful, Ms. Cookbook.

So she sat there on her iPhone trying to find a recipe that looked familiar. 

Meanwhile, Mamacita started mixing things up.

With my hand blender. 

I do have an actual stand mixer, in case you were wondering. 

After we found a recipe that seemed reasonable, nephew M2 had to taste the batter.

Yes, I know you shouldn't eat the batter. 

But I know you eat it too. 

To make these turkey cake pops you frosted the cake pop, then added fall candy corn for the feathers in the back, a tip of candy corn for the beak, and a piece of Swedish fish for the waddle. And don't ask me where E finds things like candy eyeballs, but she does. 

Of course quality control can be questionable at best.

And when you are three and you lose your cake pop off your stick...

...it looks like this.

And the claws...with a pout...come out.

Don't you wish your birthday was a week before Thanksgiving? 

1,000 Geese A Laying

We do live on a dairy farm, but right about now we have a different sort of animal also on the farm. Normally in my backyard I look into the eyes of a heifer who is guiltily eating my rose bushes and eyeing my yard. Yes, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, even for a cow.

But now the cows are inside for the winter and I have a different view out my kitchen window.

What are you looking at, you ask?

Let me get a bit closer...

Still not sure?

Yep...the farm is a stop-over for geese on their way south. Lots of geese.

And when they fly, it's pretty magnificent to watch.

As I walked to the barnyard Saturday morning they were flying around and I did a quick estimate count. We're closing in on 1,000. 

Minus a few...as we also have a half-dozen hunters in our backyard too. We are also quite popular with that crew, if you can imagine. 

Welcome to Fall Travel Season

OK, well technically it is over but "welcome to Fall Travel Season" as my life sorta takes a completely different turn and I live off a 23-page itinerary of my own making, heading off to exotic locations like Culver City and Beaverton...and Honolulu and Santa Barbara, but don't remind The Farmer of those locales. Just remind tell him I'm in Culver City and Beaverton.

But this is my bad excuse for not posting since August 23rd. Yes, August 23rd. Pitiful.

It's been so long that then you start to feel sheepish about getting back so you postpone things because, well, you are tardy on your postings. And then you are tardier. And then it's December 8th and your Christmas music is playing and you realize it's not getting any better. August 23rd is getting further and further away. So just bite the bullet and reintroduce yourself to your blog.

Hello blog! Good to see you again!

So what has been happening since August 23rd? A few things...

I got busy.
The Farmer stayed busy.
We stayed on a first-name basis with the folks at Lowe's.
We established a new record of three Lowe's in three counties in one day.
But we finally found the shower door.
We bought our 35th gallon of paint.
We got our occupancy permit in early October.
We moved in the first boxes in early November.
Yes, that was a four week delay.
Note the first two lines of this list.
We moved in most of the boxes in mid November.
My family arrived for Turkey Day and spent the night.
My brother-in-law literally had to make his own bed and put the frame together.
My sister got to sleep in our new bed that we had yet to sleep in.
We still haven't slept in that bed.
My mom bought us curtains.
We still are waiting for the curtain rod to be installed.
It has to dry.
It's hanging like a trapeze in our garage.
It's two pieces of plumping pipe fitted together.
Because while we found the shower door, we did not find a 157 inch curtain rod.
Hence, no sleeping in bed.
We have Christmas lights on the front of our house.
We are eating and living in the house.
We are not sleeping in the house.
Yet.
Because of that dang curtain rod.
And the fact that we haven't had water in half the house since October 31st.
Oh, did I forget to mention that?
Yep.
But we have a back-hoe parked on our front lawn.
If it doesn't rain hopefully we'll have water on Monday.
If it doesn't rain.
We've had triple the normal amount of rain in the past two months.
So cross your fingers.
And me?
I'll be in New York on Monday.
Because, well, Fall Travel Season isn't quite over.

Obligatory Farmer & calf photo

We're Becoming THAT Neighbor

On Tuesday The Farmer was late for breakfast.

So he drove home.

In case you were wondering...yes, that is his tractor.

On the lawn.

The Farmer says as long as nothing is up on blocks in the front yard, we are fine.

We have to have standards, you know.

Tombstone Willie

The last weekend of July (I know, I'm a bit late but hey, we've been remodeling a house. No, a Jungle House) is the Burk****** Family Reunion. It, second to Thanksgiving, is my favorite holiday.

It's fairly easy to get to the Reunion. You turn at Willie's Tombstone. (Then you turn at the barn, but this post is not about that turn. It's about the first.)

Willie's Tombstone? Who's Willie? And why does he have a tombstone?

First, there's the tavern.

And why does the tavern spell Willie wrong? Willey? Really...

But across the street from the tavern, is the real Tombstone Willie. The Willie you probably have never heard of, unless you live in SW Washington.

This is the "turn here for the Reunion" heritage marker.

So, Willie, along with Lewis & Clark (who dominate the plethora of other heritage markers here in the area), came West.  

A bit morbid, for sure, but here's to you, Willie...

You made it West to this spot.

 

And you are the annual marker for the Reunion. My second favorite holiday of the year.

Painting By Moonlight

First things first...I'm not sure I like the blue color of The Jungle House. But for the moment, we are stuck with it. But stuck with it does not mean we aren't working on it. Because yes, we are repainting the house...blue.

The blue I do not like. But I'm learning to like it.

Part of why I don't like it is because it's peeling and faded and just sorta blah. But as we've painted new siding with brand new paint (yay for the ability to match old paint with new paint) it's growing on me. Really what the problem is is that it's peeling and faded and just sorta blah.

New paint seems to fix it.

Last week in anticipation of the new front porch we needed to paint the bottom section under the overhang that surrounds the front door. We needed the siding that was being covered up to have a fresh coat of paint. Why you ask? Well, it needs to not rot...and paint helps that. (The things you learn when you remodel a house and actually pay attention to every inch of where you live.)

And in typical Farmer & Brunette style...we don't seem to do much typical...we painted by moonlight.

Good thing The Farmer got me a lantern...actually, a CUTE* lantern...for Christmas last year.

*Cute was key. The Farmer makes fun of the fact that I frequently ask if something is cute or say I want something cute. So my lantern...it was red...and cute.

Gettin' Jiggy With It

I did a jig on my front porch last night. Well, it might have been a jig. I'm really not up on my dance genres. In any case, know that there was lots and lots of joy to be had.

Because this was what we started with:

This was what the in-progress has been:

This is what things looked like last week:

And this was yesterday:

Yep...You are welcome to dance too...