The Throw down that didn't happen yesterday

 Let me give you a little back ground information. I'm working days which means it's dark when I leave for work and dark when I get home. So, I feed early in the morning with a light strapped to my head- by the light of the full moon complete with coyotes howling in the distance (hopefully far, far away you know how sound carries in the mountains).
Dixie and Oscar, follow me out every morning. Dixie is quite the protector- all nine pounds of her. Nothing is allowed to come near me without her approval. Not the cats, not the horses, not the other dogs, and certainly not any of my hens.
That's where the problem started.
Miss Friendly is a Rhode Island red hen that runs out to greet me each time I feed. Lately, she's come closer and closer trying to get a glimpse at life outside the chicken coop. Maybe she's curious about the coyotes or why this idiot has a light on her head? Apparently she got a little to close to me without Dixie's approval and Dixie charged like a dog with a mission. Had she actually made contact with Miss Friendly, Cogburn and Romeo (aka roosters) would have merely been doing their job (protecting Miss Friendly) by getting Dixie. Then, I would have had to conk them on the head with the shovel normally reserved for snakes.
 Here's where I amazed myself.
By executing a ninja move that would have made Chuck Norris proud, I picked up Dixie and pushed Miss Friendly back to the stoop in one quick move only dropping an empty egg basket.
My dog, hen,the eggs, and roosters are all safe.
Then I gathered the eggs and went inside for a well deserved large cup of coffee.

It's a Pinterest weekend

It's been really cold outside. The high doesn't even reach freezing so I'm staying inside and I had a bunch of over ripe bananas to use. This is the picture of my first Humming bird cake

Note to self-let butter sit at room temperature for a while so you don't overwork the mixer.

This is what you need to make it:

Produce

• 3 2 cups) ripe bananas, ripe
• 1 (8-ounce) can Pineapple

Refrigerated

• 3 Eggs

Baking & Spices

• 3 cups All-purpose flour
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• 1 tsp Baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon, ground
• 1 Cream cheese frosting
• 2 cups Granulated sugar
• 1 tsp Salt
• 2 tsp Vanilla extract

Oils & Vinegars

• 1 cup Vegetable oil

Nuts: one cup of roasted pecans

and it was so cold out I went as far as to make homemade cream cheese icing.

Then I went on to try a meat dish (you know I didn't use stew meat right?) It was really tasty and looked like the picture.

Dump all of the following in a crock pot and slow cook for about 8 hours.
Serve over rice.

Meat

• 1 Beef bullion cube
• 2 lbs Beef stew meat

Produce

• 1 Onion, small

Canned Goods

• 1 (10.75-ounce) can Cream of mushroom soup

Baking & Spices

• 1 (1.61-ounce) packet Gravy mix, brown

Liquids

• 1 cup Water

Then I painted a gord on it's way to becoming a bird house.

Dwight still wasn't home from work so I decided to try a hair conditioner. Coconut oil in the hair-wrapped with a warm towel for thirty minutes. Another note to self: towels don't do well in the microwave.

wave.

New Recipe number one Rasberry coffee cake

I made this using lemon instead of lime and it came out great. I didn't add the large sugar crystals on top and it was sweet enough.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 tbsp. lime zest
• 7/8 cup sugar
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp. lime juice
• 2 cups flour (set aside 1/4 cup of this to toss with the berries)
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 3 cups fresh raspberries
• 1/2 cup buttermilk*
• large sugar crystals (for sprinkling on top)
• *To make homemade buttermilk, put 1-1/2 tsp. of vinegar or lemon juice in a liquid measuring cup. Fill cup with milk until it reaches the 1/2-cup line. Allow to stand for five minutes before adding to recipe.

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan (or something similar) with butter or coat with non-stick spray, and set aside.
2. Cream butter with lime zest and 7/8 cup of the sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add the egg, lime juice and vanilla; beat until combined.
4. Put the 1/4-cup flour into a large storage bag. Gently toss the raspberries in the flour, then whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder and salt.
5. Add the flour mixture to the batter a little at a time, alternating with the buttermilk. Gently fold in the raspberries.
6. Spread batter into pan. Sprinkle batter with large sugar crystals

Stary eyed ...feeling the love

Every one knows I love dachshunds, and it appears I'm not alone. There are some very famous people that love/have loved them too. Here's Marilyn Monroe giving one a smooch.:

Then there's Picasso having a serious discussion 

with his dachshund.

A young Clint Eastwood looks as if he's taking a clue from Marilyn-it looks like he's

getting ready to pucker up.

 Then, there's John Wayne holding his Blankie. Blankie had his ten minutes of fame when he woke up John's wife during a house fire allowing her and their baby time to escape.

Here's another reason to love Adele.

Apparently, dachshunds love tough guys too. Check out Danny Trejo getting a smooch.