The ALL TIME best bread ever! Seriously, I can't stop baking.

I am in the pits.  Dark dark days in my personal life.  So, what do I do?  I Bake!  I've make 12 loaves of this bread in the past 3 days.  Good thing we have an extra freezer.  Guess what everyone is getting for Christmas.  Yes, bread.  Hey, at least I'm not eating them all.  Weird thing though, tonight I was at a meeting and talked w/ someone after the meeting who has similar "darkness" going on.  Guess what she did all weekend?  Yep, she baked.  Also, her husband piped up and said, "And she made big delicious meals each night too".  Guess her stuff is darker.  Pray for us.  Meanwhile I'm Baking On! Simple Whole Wheat Bread

Rated: Submitted By: Nita Crabb Photo By: LynnInHK Prep Time: 20 Minutes Cook Time: 30 Minutes Ready In: 3 Hours Servings: 36

"This honey wheat bread is proof that wonderful flavor, texture and aroma can be had if you just follow a straightforward game plan."

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C) 2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast 1/3 cup honey 5 cups bread flour

3 tablespoons butter, melted 1/3 cup honey 1 tablespoon salt 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour 2 tablespoons butter, melted

DIRECTIONS:

1.	In a large bowl, mix warm water, yeast, and 1/3 cup honey. Add 5 cups white bread flour, and stir to combine. Let set for 30 minutes, or until big and bubbly.
2.	Mix in 3 tablespoons melted butter, 1/3 cup honey, and salt. Stir in 2 cups whole wheat flour. Flour a flat surface and knead with whole wheat flour until not real sticky - just pulling away from the counter, but still sticky to touch. This may take an additional 2 to 4 cups of whole wheat flour. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to coat the surface of the dough. Cover with a dishtowel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled.
3.	Punch down, and divide into 3 loaves. Place in greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pans, and allow to rise until dough has topped the pans by one inch.
4.	Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes; do not overbake. Lightly brush the tops of loaves with 2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine when done to prevent crust from getting hard. Cool completely

   

Inadvertantly Funny Store Name

Hello all!  We've had a super busy summer and I am still out here.  I read and love all of your blogs!  We were in Tabor, Iowa gassing up and I saw this funny name of a Drug Store, funny to me anyway.

Stoner  Drug, yep!

And then, here is one from Central Nebraska.

The Love Mortuary

We had gone over to the tiny town of Riverton, Iowa to see a former foster puppy, Chuck.  He was my first and all time favorite.  Well, that is until we got this fat Third-hand dog to foster (we were her known 3rd home) named Lily.  I loved Lily so much, I couldn't imagine her being away from us.  So we adopted her!
Chuck is BIG and very active now.  A far cry from the sick little puppy he was when we had him last year.

And then, here is our Lily, who cost me $130 yesterday on account of a split nail.  AND, we were good dog owners and just had her nails cut two weeks previously.

I love my WeeWee (Lily) but, she's not wee...she's 82.5# as of yesterday.  

So, more later, sooner than later I hope!

Dumped Puppies Betsy and Tacy

We live by Omaha, if you haven't heard, it's flooding.  Large sections of I80 are closed as the Interstate is underwater!  Unbelievable!  We can only cross the Missouri River at downtown Omaha and at Sioux City Iowa (which is 2.5 hrs. north of here).  Anyhoo, there has been some opportunistic dumping of puppies and kittens by Hwy75 which  is now a very slow/bumper to bumper road.  At least these little creatures are getting picked up and saved.  

We normally foster larger dogs so, it was a treat to have these two.  Betsy (black) and Tacy (black and white) are a Chijuajua/Rat Terrier mix.  I adored these two.  

 They were 8 wks. old when we got them and TERRIFIED of people.  But, when we'd bring the big dogs to them, they went nuts....loved the big dogs.  After two weeks they are adopted or almost adopted.  In the time we had them, they grew to love people and wanted to be on our laps all of the time...well, IF they weren't exploring the back yard.  Not to worry, there are no hawks around right now.

Jim said, "we should've named Tacy "Bessy" instead.  She looks like a little Holstein cow".  I sure do miss them.  So, our newest foster is an 8 month old Doberman puppy.  And he is huge...but a big clumsy puppy.  We're actually watching him while that foster family is on vacation in Colorado.  They took their family dog and the other dog which is also a foster.  But, this guy is way to young and needy.  I really had no idea that Dobermans were this huge.  Well, time to go and love him up!

Summer and It's Real Meaning.

Nowadays, our free time is tending to and nurturing a foster dog here and there.  The black one int he back is Brodie, he belongs to my friend Helen.  We had him for two weeks whilst she and her husband were back in Scotland.  She's a recent transplant.  I was happy when she came back after 2 weeks and was happy to be home.  Brodie is a 2 yr. old lab/pointer.  The puppy in front is my all time favorite foster, Sophie.  Sophie is 12 weeks in this picture.  She may go to her forever home in the next couple of days.  I heard she was full pitbull, uh NO.  She's boxer and horse or Great Dane.

Here's Sophie by my groovy lower oven.  I love her so much, I hope her new family would let me dog sit if they ever travel!

We are Family Reunion nuts.  This photo is from a small town in Nebraska called Creston.  It was the Rolfs/Glandt Reunion.  There was a 7th generation kid there.  Mostly pretty old people but, ohhhhhh the stories!  And pictures.  I took a scanner and got quite a few.  We meet every other year so, will scan some more.  We're committed to getting as many photos copied and stories recorded.  For instance, Wilhemina Rolfs Glandt had 14 children.  Seven lived to adulthood.  The 5 little boys are buried up there and the two little girls are buried by Omaha. Interesting to me, and a few others I guess so, we'll keep doing it.

Seven of us traveled to Creston for this Reunion.  My Mom and Dad, me and my 18 yr. old son, my brother's 28 yr. old son, my sister and her 8 yr. old daughter.   Oh how we love road trips.  On the way home, Brandon (my nephew) got this to nosh on.

If you read the Ingrediends on the Tijuana Mama it says "Mechanically Separated Chicken, Pork...did that make for some hilarious guesses.Three days ago was another Family Reunion in Our garage.  This one was for the Koch Family in Nebraska.  Again, another fun and interesting day.  We pulled out all of the vintage tablecloths for this one, good idea, huh?  Well more later.

Bye, bye Gall Bladder!

Happy Days!  My gall bladder is gone and I am feeling so much lighter.  After a year of pain, confusion and fatigue, I'm suddenly made new!  I'm typical for our family, not self aware and a high pain tolerance.  We just keep on keepin' on and end up in the ER on account of an acute attack of something.  Sigh.  I'm healing from the surgery and am grateful for  the life I can have ahead of me.  A life of balance, single tasking, awareness and doing the next right thing.
I heard something funny on the radio the other day.  A mother had called in to some political show talking about all of the taxes taken from her and given to others.  In her case, she wished she had the $ to do with as she pleased, to give it to her choice of charity.  Her daughter turned up pregnant in the girl's Soph. year of college and this mother said that she went and got three jobs to deal with it.  But, I thought she said three "dogs"!  In my mind I thought, perfect.  Having three dogs would keep my $ and attention tied up and my pregnant adult child would be responsible for herself and the baby if she decided against adoption.  Well, that's not what that mother meant at all.  She meant she had to have those jobs to help her daughter and grandchild.

I smiled as I thought of my own circumstance.  We have a young alcoholic in our family who has left quite a lot of destruction in his path w/ his addiction.  Before Al Anon, I was killing myself trying to make things right.  Eventually I realized I had loads of love and nurturing to give and it was like poison to my alcoholic son.  What was best for my son was for him to be responsible for his own life and consequences.  So, to do what I love most, I started fostering dogs.  I give the sympathy and care to a truly needy creature that is helped w/ my attention.  Thank God for growth.

BRING ON THE PUPPIES!

Our Latest Foster Dog, Halle

Halle was our latest foster pup.  She's a 6 month old Rotti and we were her temporary foster home.  Somehow, we had her several months, but we didn't complain.

She was completely unsocialized when we got her. She was quite a bully about finding her place in the pack.  But, I guess that's typical of Rottweilers.  She was also frightened of people.  After a few weeks, she was perfectly socialized and we grew to love her.  These photos are from the day we took her to the Omaha Dog Park.

Lot's of greeting going on!  Halle was especially interested in this puppy, probably because she's a puppy too.

And more greeting!

When we were fixin' to leave, we had to retrieve Halle from this group, every Rottweiler at the park was there...and a Doberman.  Interesting to me, how like breeds do associate with each other at the dog park.
Last but not least, Halle w/ two of her new masters, she was adopted last week.  We miss her but, they are the perfect home for her and were so excited!

And, tomorrow I get my lousy gall bladder out.  I look forward to feeling like a healthy human being again!

Still Kickin' It In Nebraska

Yes, I've been a little isolated or lazy or something.  I'm still here, reading your wonderful blogs.  That's the very best thing about blogger, YOU guys!

We had this really awesome foster pup named Otis.  We got him when he was 4 weeks old.  He was found in a landfill of an adjacent county.  He was the only living one of some dumped puppies...literally dumped.  We had him for 11 weeks and it was very difficult to let him go.

He's the first foster pup that Zoe let bond w/ her right away.  It was sort of a God thing in my opinion.

Oh yeah, my dashboard Jesus is really happy the Packers won the Superbowl and will probably sport his Cheesehead for the rest of the year...or two.

When you foster dogs, there is never a shortage.  The dog on the left is my folks elderly lab.  Lying next to her is Lily.  She's a 2 yr. old lab mix.  She was adopted out a year ago and last week the family turned her back in.  I'm not exactly sure why but, YOU GUYS!...she is the nicest foster we've had to date!  I love her!
Such is life in our neck of the woods.  Oh, and I have a neat project that I've started...

I'm painting this old dresser of mine.  True to form, couldn't decide a color.  But, have settled for the white.  I'm leaving the dresser top as it is and painting the rest white.  Good Times!