Peas and ........Rabbits!

Rabbits have been our focus recently.  I helped DD clip toenails on 5 of her rabbits Thursday evening.  Her Californian bunnies are really cute, but haven't enjoyed the heat.  It's fun to watch them snuggle up to a frozen milk jug of water to stay cool.  We are also taking care of the neighbors rabbits for a few days..........I counted tonight and there are 110+ whatever babies are in the nesting boxes.  My favorites are a pen of 8 babies with their mother and they are so excited when you feed them, they sit on top of the food and you have to keep moving them aside to put the feed in.




My DH helped me pick the last of the peas early this morning (we know it's the last because we pulled the vines).  I'm not sure where all the Granddaddy Long Legs will reside now.  There were so many crawling on me that I felt like I must be in the second Harry Potter movie where Harry and Ron encounter the colony of spiders in the Forest.  I kept looking around for a huge one like Aragog in the movie.  Was glad to get out of the pea patch this morning.  Here are the 2 buckets we picked.

I spent all afternoon shelling.  I have about 10 pints washed and ready to cook and put in the freezer tomorrow.

At least it wasn't too hot this morning.  It was a nice morning to be out.  I have to brag that I have some beautiful flowers in front of my deck this summer.  My dad built the arched platform for me a few years ago.  The little hanging bucket was my mom's milk pail that she used when she was a little girl.

I spent yesterday morning in the sewing room finished some blocks for a curved log cabin quilt using Castlewood fabric.  The pattern is from a Block magazine.  Once I got them done, I packed them to take to our guild work day tomorrow.  

Since it was so hot yesterday afternoon, I moved from the sewing room in the upstairs to the basement and started weaving a basket for me!  It will be a casserole basket with a wooden base and swing handles.  I'll post a picture when it's finished.

DD worked at Walmart the last 2 days where she is a cashier and said that tacos must be the thing to cook when it's hot since everyone who came through her line was purchasing taco ingredients.  I recently started making my own taco seasoning and we love it.

Taco Seasoning

1 T. chili powder

1/4 t. garlic powder

1/4 t. onion powder

1/4 t. crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 t. dried oregano

1/2 t. paprika

1 1/2 t. ground cumin

1 t. sea salt

1 t. black pepper

Just mix it all together.  I usually double or triple it and store the rest in the pantry.  We like about 3 T. per pound of hamburger, and I add 1/4 cup water to the browned meat.

We've been doing lots of grilling.  Tried pork chops in a Hawaiian marinade for lunch and had pork burgers one evening.  I love pork burgers grilled and then briefly dipped in DH's marinade recipe.

Marinade

2 cups soy sauce

1/2 cup vinegar

2 T. garlic powder

2 T. brown sugar

1 T. black pepper

You can also marinate pork chops about 4 hours before grilling in the same marinade and they are delicious.

Christi