Poor Little Deer

 
It is still cold.  Yesterday we received about three inches of snow throughout the day.  At dusk I noticed a small sized deer under our bird feeders.  We think it is one of the twins who come regularly.  The mother and the other young deer were off near the edge of the woods.  Eventually they walked off together, but I noticed one of the young deer was limping.

Today that was confirmed.  The little deer came back to bird feeder and then went over to our perennial garden.  He or she was limping badly.

It is so sad to see.  Today I didn't see the mom or sibling.  I hope she didn't lose them or worse yet, I hope they didn't abandon her.  I took a number of photos before she left.

I zoomed in and it looks like a puncture wound behind her right front leg.
  I hope it isn't a bullet hole.  There is another wound on the right back leg.

She was looking over her shoulder for something.

Then she looked directly at me.  I wish I could help her.

After she had eaten several dried leaves and seed pods, she walked away in the opposite direction. 

For those of you who read my blog, you are familiar with another deer we call limpy.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2014/06/our-little-white-tail-deer-we-call-limpy.html  She made it through the brutal winter we had last year.  She had a fawn this past Spring and we see her with her young one often.  She has a hind leg injury or malformation, but this little one may have more problems with the front leg injury.  I hope she doesn't get an infection.  I will put extra food out for her and hopefully she can heal.

Throwback Thursday Remembers Groceries Express

Today it is snowing a little, and it's still very cold.  The birds are so busy eating anything they can find.  We don't cut back our perennial garden in the fall because on days like this the birds spend a lot of time pecking at all the dead flower heads.  They must be finding something because we have a lot of birds on the feeders, on the ground and in the flower garden.  At one point we had 7 male cardinals and 3 females, 20 mourning doves, 6 bluejays and more junco's and purple finches than I could count.

This finch looks kind of miserable.  I believe he has the grumpy cat look.

Besides a snowy January 8th, it is also Throwback Thursday.  I was cleaning out a closet recently and came across a memory from the past.  It was 1997.  That seems like yesterday, but it was 18 years ago.  My friend Vickie and I worked across the hall from each other.  We were having a day where it was hard to imagine doing our jobs until retirement.  Her job was much more stressful and important than mine, but some days a person is just ready for a change.  We conjured up a plan to open our own business.  We figured we were on the cutting edge.  Our business was a grocery delivery business. We thought that people would line up for miles around to have us deliver their groceries.  We got set up with a phone line, a computer, car signage and even special hats and jackets.  We offered an email ordering system as well as phone or snail mail.  We charged a small fee plus a percentage of their grocery order.  We used coupons and shopped sales.  We thought we had everything covered.  We did not take into consideration that people are basically cheap.  They complain about working all day and not having time to shop for groceries, but didn't want to pay for the service.  Gradually we acquired a few customers.  They became friends.  Vickie had a daycare and became very fond of the children.  I had a few lonely senior citizens who were willing to pay a little for a visitor once a week.  I ended up staying for an hour talking and even writing checks out for them to pay their bills. 

My friend Vickie's husband even created a logo for us.

Eventually our business fell by the wayside.  We moved away to Princeton, Wisconsin.   Vickie continued with deliveries to the daycare until it too went out of business.  Groceries Express wasn't a failure, even though we didn't make our fortune.  We made some friends, and we have some good memories.  We were on the cutting edge but just a little before our time. 

Knit A Helmet Hat

After a fairly mild, snow-free December, we are having a bitter cold start to January 2015.  Below zero temperatures are common throughout the area today and many schools are closed.  My middle grandchild, Sam, asked if I would make him a knit helmet hat.  I needed a project for our car trip to Michigan, so I grabbed my knitting needles and some yarn.  I put the supplies in the front seat with me and started to knit shortly after we began the trip.  Knitting in the car makes it easier for me to travel.  I am not a good traveler.  If we listen to a book and I knit, I can handle it.  I get car sick if I read, but for some reason I can knit.  A while ago, I blogged about making a skull cap.

 http://www.thecabincountess.com/2014/03/ribbed-knit-skull-cap.html

I took the ribbed skull cap pattern in the child size and modified it a little.  With a worsted weight yarn, I cast on 92 stitches.   I used a size 8 twelve inch circular needle but four double pointed needles would work.  I put a marker at the beginning of the row and knit 2, purl 2 around for seven inches, slipping the marker when I came to it.  You can adjust this length depending on how far you want neck coverage.  Next I made the face opening by knitting 30 stitches, binding off 31 stitches and finishing the round by knitting 31 stitches in the rib pattern to the marker.  The next row, I knit in the rib pattern the 30 stitches after the marker, then cast on 31 stitches (the same number I just bound off) and then finished that row.  Again I knit round and round on 92 stitches keeping in the rib pattern for about five more inches.  The piece is about twelve inches.  Now it is time to decrease for the top of the head.  This is not ribbed, it is just plain knit.  If using a circular needle you may have to switch to double pointed needles to finish the decreases as the number of stitches becomes less.

Row 1: Knit around
Row 2: Knit 2 together, knit 21, knit 2 together, knit 21, knit 2 together, knit 21, knit 2 together, knit 21. (4 decreases-88 stitches)
Row 3: Knit around
Row 4: Knit 2 together, knit 9, repeat across row (80 stitches)
Row 5: Knit around
Row 6: Knit 2 together, knit 8, repeat across row (72 stitches)
Repeat in this manner knitting one less stitch between decreases until 12 stitches remain.
Knit three together across leaving four stitches.  Cut yarn and pull tail through those 4 stitches and secure.  

This is NOT my grandson, but it is a really cool dude.

Side view of the helmet hat

Here Sam is modeling his helmet hat.  The reason he wanted it was that he was invited to a fisheree birthday party.  The term Fisheree may not be a familiar term for those who live outside Wisconsin.  A Fisheree is an ice fishing tournament.  Many communities who have a nearby lake host fisheree's in the winter when the ice is frozen thick enough to be safe.  They cut holes in the ice and fish.  I guess this kids birthday party will be an ice fishing fisheree party.  Sam is very excited about this and now his face will be warm.

Baked Chimichangas and Chicken Pockets

I admit it, I have been a blogging slacker.  I took the last week off.  In fact, I have written only two blogs since Christmas.  This is the third in two weeks.  We were busy most of that time, and I am lacking in subject matter.

My dad spent the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday with my sister in Michigan.  He was happy to visit with them, and it gave him a change of scenery.  Then, on New Year's Day we went to bring him back to Wisconsin.  The trip there was great.  I was a nice day with no snow and very little traffic.  The trip home was another story.  We had some pretty icy roads and blowing snow.  Going through Chicago is a challenge for us country bumpkins no matter what, so snow and ice made it miserable.  I could have blogged about that but I was so nervous, I didn't even think about taking pictures.  I will try to get back on track now.

Today for supper I made a recipe similar to another I have blogged about.  Many of you probably missed that one as it was included in another post, and it wasn't on a Tuesday.  It was a recipe for Baked Chimichangas.   http://www.thecabincountess.com/2013/08/where-has-summer-gone.html

Baked Chicken Chimichangas

8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
8 oz. pepper jack cheese, shredded (I used Mexican blend cheese)
1 1/2 Tbsp. taco seasoning
1 lb. cooked chicken, shredded (I used browned ground beef)
8 flour tortillas (Don't use the extra large ones or you will have too much tortilla to fold and they will be dry).  I tried all sizes and I liked the small to medium size best.
cooking spray
shredded cheddar cheese
green onions, for garnish
sour cream
salsa

Stir together cream cheese, pepperjack cheese and taco seasoning.
Fold in chicken.
Divide among flour tortillas.
Tuck in sides, and roll up each tortilla.
Lay seam side down in a sprayed 9x13" baking dish.
Spray tops of the tortillas with cooking spray.
Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.
Turn the chimichangas over, and bake an additional 15 minutes.
Serve with cheddar cheese, green onions, sour cream, and salsa.

 
Tonight's recipe was also made with cream cheese and shredded chicken.  I didn't make my own biscuits, I used crescent rolls.  My husband thought they needed more filling and less crescent roll.  I will have to figure that out, if I ever make them again.  I didn't try them and have never made them before.  I took some of the filling and added some noodles and peas.  I thought my version was good, but I like that type of thing.  I'm a noodle-holic. I like anything with noodles or rice.

Chicken Pockets

6 oz. softened cream cheese
4 T. melted butter
2 cups of cooked chicken, chopped or shredded
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
4 T. milk
2 T. chopped onion
Homemade biscuit dough or 2 packages of crescent rolls

Mix all of the ingredients together except for the dough.  Roll out the biscuit dough into 5 x 5 inch squares or divide the crescent rolls into rectangles, sealing the perforations.

Spoon chicken filling in the center of the square and seal the dough.  I didn't do a very neat job.

Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until brown.  These freeze well.
Recipe is from http://moneysavingmom.com