SHADOWS

Shadows in bright sunlight, not in darkness or in fear

Little shadows, big protective shadows, reflections of ourselves

Linear shadows in good order standing straight and motionless

Shadows with a meaning, shadows with a purpose smiling at us outside

MONTANA WINTER SUNRISE

Frigid mornings are typically cloudless and bright. The sun peeks above the Elkhorns to the south, inching its way north now that the winter soltice has passed. Shutter speeds and lens apertures provide differing views of the same landscape. JIR

Baking... yummy.

Dad baked some blueberry muffins from

Rose Levy Bernabaum's, "The Bread Bible", his Christmas Gift.

More Jaker Tails

Jake does not have a clue that the fun is riding ON the sled, not 'running' next to it.  We will never tell him the difference.

Jaker Tails

Jaker looks at Jorge, "Are you ready?"  Then they both look at me, "Here we go!"

Angled winter

landscape

Two-faced rock

A cloudy snowy winter day lends itself to some decent photography. The woodpecker shot is through a glass door, which explains the blurry reflection from the flash. Jake's picture took a couple of minutes; of course, you must have noticed the frozen drool on his chin. JIR

DOGS, CAKE TASTING, EARLY CHRISTMAS AND A ROAD TRIP

Brewer: "I didn't do it, I swear, and I can jump so high you'll think I'm cute and you won't blame me anyway"Gidget: "I am so cute and loveable you will not be able to resist my repeated requests for you to pet me"

 Guiness: "Leave me alone, I am cool and can be loving, but I don't get too excited about the childish behavior of my brother and cousins"Jake: "I like everyone and love to see my cousins, but I am so big, people sometimes misinterpret me"

We celebrated Christmas early with Steve and Christina on our way to Montana. Mama Linda came prepared with 3 types of cake and 3 types of frostings/filling so that Steve and Chicky could taste and start thinking which one they want for their wedding.
Between the Black Hills and Helena, we must have seen 10 bald eagles and a multitude of raptors. Other than the eagles, the most majestic was a red tail hawk who took off from the median in front of us and piroutted up fanning its bright red tail. The Beartooth range was gorgeous in the distance, blanketed with lots of snow; but the Crazies and Absarokas were no less beautiful and a lot closer for our viewing.
We miss the family being together for Christmas, but rejoice on the memory of the recent fabfam reunion in August, as well our visits with Lindsay, Danny and Chicky in October and Steve and Chicky for Thanksgiving. JIR

Let the fun begin!

  Since it has been so long since I have made the 'good buttercreams'  and cakes from The Cake Bible, I thought I better make a few batches and get my skills honed up so we can have the best wedding cake in the Black Hills. 

This is the mess in the kitchen, mostly due to the fact that I am gimping along and cannot stand for as long as I need, so I work a little, then rest the leg a little, and clean up comes at the end.

What good is baking if you don't watch the cooking channel while you work?

The final product.  It doesn't look like much for all the time it took me to make it, but that is the best frosting you have ever tasted.

Some homemade raspberry and strawberry puree to flavor some of the frosting for the cake filling.  That is a vanilla bean in the middle, just for artistic license. 

Warning...parental suppervision suggested.

I thought this was yucky and was going to send it in an e-mail, but Dad thought blogging it was okay.  So here goes, my foot one and 1/2 weeks after surgery.

Jaker Tails

 This is Jake with his new 'squeaker toy.'  It is about the size of a soft ball.

We were excited to have a ball that wouldn't fit in his mouth and have us worry he could choke on it.

Wrong...he actually closes his mouth around the whole thing.  So goes the way of good intentions.

Jaker Tails

Today we took the Big Man on errands with us.  First to Hobby Lobby, where I went in to check out wedding votive holders, and Dad took Jake for a walk, and then they 'hung out' in front of Hobby Lobby greeting everyone.  Obviously the people bored him (I think it is because he gets yelled at every time he tries to sniff their crotch), he laid down and just ignored the humans.  The humans saw this as him being a good dog.  Then he got to hang out in the car with me at Lowes (I cannot even think of trying to walk him with me on crutches..), and he was very nervous and looking for Dad, crying with his big head out the window.  Of course everyone who walked by either panicked and walked as fast as they could, or they said, "Oh, look at this cute dog," and petted him. The only person he paid any attention to was a lady who asked me his name and when she called him by name, he was all 'ears.'
Off to Pet Smart after that.  He goes in full bore Hound Dog.  Nose to the ground, sniffing side to side, tracking the dozens of dogs that walk in their daily, checking out all the scents.  The people are all crazy about him, but he could care less, their are way too many animal scents for this hound dog to notice a few humans.  Then some wierd looking hot dog with long hair ATTACKED HIM!!!!!  LOL, Jake just scooted away from that little mosquito and sniffed else where.  I think the owner panicked because he understood if Jake had decided to bite that dog back, the hot dog would have been a snack for the Big Man.  From that time on the owner was carrying the hot dog. Well we walk around the store and pick up one toy (a giant tennis ball that squeaks, he loves the squeakers), and head to the check out.  Jake still nose to the ground, working like a good hound.  As soon as we finish paying, he sits up straight and looks at the cashier!!  Ha, ha, he knows that in Pet Smart when you buy something, you get a treat.  The nice cashier gave him an extra large one. 
Then we went to Safeway.  Dad couldn't get Jake in his kennel, so he left him loose in the car, and put the kennel to 'block' his entry to the front of the car.  What a joke, he not only moved that very big kennel, he took his treats out of their location, but didn't eat one.  He just sat in the front seat, drooling all over the window waiting for us.  Letting us know he can do anything he wants and we cant do a thing about it.

A real party cake!

In my constant consumption of learning all I can about cakes, particularly wedding cakes, I come across some very interesting places.  This was one I came across this morning, what a great blog.

http://amerrierworld.wordpress.com/2009/06/22/rainbow-cake-and-unicorns/

Live entertainment, provided by Jake...

Well, first I must tell everyone that my sister Alice's comment in an e-mail after seeing our latest blog said, "That is one big dog,"  says alot.  He is not only big physically, but his presence is enveloping.   The Gentle Giant has several soft stuffed toys that he absolutely loves, he carries them from room to room, and chews them, making music with their squeakers.  His favorite, a giraffe, that stinks to high heaven because it cannot be washed (I don't know what would happen if his 'baby' lost its music) but he loves it carries it all over, and to show you affection, loves to drop it in your lap, especially when it is all wet.  Yuck!!  Today while I went to go down the stairs, I started to slip, so I picked my recovering foot up in the air and let myself gently slide down until I was resting completely on the stairs.  Jake, seeing something was wrong, came over to check it out, then went and got his 'baby' and dropped the wet drool covered giraffe, right on my face!! 
I did make it safely downstairs, and started to work on my grand neices quilt.  Trying to keep my foot rested, I would sit periodically with my foot up, and watch TV.  The Dog Whisperer was on, so Jake and I settled in to enjoy an episode...  Oh how funny that was.  The TV downstairs sits at his height, and he is very tuned in to dogs barking, even on TV.  This show was about a pit bull that sorta went nuts, and it would start barking, growling, biting, just being a bad dog... But not to the Big Man (Jake), he goes over to the TV, and starts sniffing the dog, head to tail, and is excited, it looked like he was trying to get the dog to calm down!!  It wasn't until the portion of the show where Cesar gets the crazy Pit Bull to really calm down, that Jake then walked back to me and laid down, looking as if he wanted to say, "Ok, now we can all rest."  I love this dog, I will always be so thankful he found me. 

The view from the couch...

Recovery is going well mostly due to  the super support that I am receiving from Jorge and all he is doing for me and because of everyones well wishes and concerns.  On top of that, I get to look all day at these beautiful flowers that my sister Alice sent to me, they are not only gorgeous, they are still looking healthy!  Thanks everyone for all your concern.  I would like to get up and get going a little quicker but learn that too much of putting the leg down causes pain, keeping the leg up is no pain. Easy solution. 

I am keeping busy by reading, thanks Alice for the Ken Follet recommendation, it is the second book I am reading.  Due to it's almost 1000 pages it will take me a while to finish. Jean, the book you gave me is next, I'm looking forward to reading it.

 I've spent an extraordinary amount of time reading and researching 'wedding' cakes since I will have the pleasure of baking the cake for Chick and Steve's wedding.  My favorite cake cook book is The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum, so I went right to that and read the whole section she has on baking cakes for 150 or more people.  She also has a websight: http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/ that has been a wealth of information, and I've already posted on the forum to get some support.  Chick and Steve will be able to have a little taste preview since I will bake a couple small sample cakes before we stop by on our way to Montana City.  There is a lot on the web so if anyone ever plans to bake a wedding cake, ask me, I can tell you aaaallllll about them.  Also check out the very funny blog: cakewrecks.blogspot.com, look through it and give yourself a hearty laugh.

I have also had the fun of begining the process of ordering the supplies to make Chick's veil.  After finding her dress (yeah Chick, she spent a little, but wow, did she get a stunner for her money), our conclusion was they charge way over the top for veils, and that I know I could make a nicer one.  I also do not like the cheap 'net' they use, so I've found some beautiful secret fabric that will be stunning!   I'll let everyone be surprised when they see her.  It has been a blast 'meeting' people all over he world who work in this field, and everyone is always so helpful and supportive.  I can't wait to have the items in my hand and begin the work on it. 

POST-OP

Mom had her first metatarsal-phalangeal joint fused today and the accompanying bunion shaved down. The podiatrist said she had a lot more arthritis than he anticipated. Jake is keeping an eye on her, sensing she is hurt. I am the nurse, cook and bottle washer-gladly. JIR

The secret side of dogs.

You always hear about dogs that can 'sniff' out illness or a human in distress, and I am not talking about dogs trained to do such acts. I saw some of it in Teddy Bear, who always knew to stay close to whom ever was sick in the house, and when Genevieve died, Guinness showed a human like comfort when I was crying, and now I received my experience with big Jake.

Jorge and I both were nervous about the wild behaviour he can display, and swinging that baseball bat tail around, so we had everything 'all planned out' on our safety steps we would take with him when we returned from the surgery center. We didn't need to worry. I got out of the car with my crutches and that jumping, twisting, tail swinging monster, completely calmed down, sniffed my foot and has since, walked three or four steps very slowly behind me. He occasionally sniffs my foot, then will lay down where ever I am, not standing or laying in the way, off to the side. He is not going nuts with his tail, he stays calmly near me.

While I sit on the couch, of which I have to do much in the next few days, he seems to just want to lay on the floor besides me. He has slowly gathered his three favorite 'babies', and every once in a while when I am not noticing, he drops one at my side. He often sits in his 'regal pose' and stares at me, or comes next to me and lays his head on my lap (right now it lays on the computer).

I'm sure he'll get over all this and the crutches in the next few days, but for now, he knows what is expected of him, and is doing it.

I'll try and remember this the next time he totally misbehaves, as he did when his 'three amigos' were here and he became an insane, mindless nit.

SKY ON FIRE

Early morning colors contrast the silhouettes of pines, still darkened by dawn's obscurity. Nature awakens us abruptly, showing us its bright pastels for only a few moments. Darkness is promptly replaced by new light. The greeness of the pines suddenly appear, as their silhouettes vanish against the background of blue sky. The day has begun; if only dawn could last a little longer. JIR

ART WORK

Linda is too modest to admit the superb quality and beauty of the quilts she makes. Her latest is a bedspread, which we have draped over the bed in one of our guest bedrooms. I have also posted the pictures of one she made me a few years ago, which harmoniously adorns our great room in South Dakota. JIR

Thanksgiving: its all about the dogs...

The puppies just love food. Here are the four beasts being fed turkey. For that they will obey.