CRACKED HEELS
You may have already figured this out. That little thingy they use for professional pedicures is basically useless. They best thing to use is the guys triple blade razor.( I think it's Gillette) Use it wet or dry. It's great for removing the dead skin on cracked heels. The best lotion is Gold Bond Cream for Cracked Heels. My heels were really suffering this year and this is the best result I've had yet. Roughness all gone.

T&M are doing great. We planted muscadine vines, blueberry bushes and apple trees today. We spray painted the branch for our Easter Egg Tree. Needless to say, we stay busy. Looking forward to this weekend when all of our "chilluns" arrive.

As far as the "Templar" book, it was actually pretty good. Pretty controversial stuff - may be offensive to some.

Lulu is on far right.

Kids are doing great. The weather co-operated yesterday (snowed at the higher altitudes) and we got some more pictures. I'm having trouble uploading them. So I will try again, it may be tomorrow. We have a busy day today. T&M are going to help up string wire for the muscadine vine and hopefully plant a few trees before we go to the Spring Fling BBQ. Got to go - got to make that Cobbler.

Poppy and Fanny

It worked on 3rd attempt. Poppy and Zee.

OK, here is my attempt at uploading pictures.

We now have our wonderful grandbabies (T&M). Needless to say they are keeping us very busy. We have some good pictures and hopefully, I can figure out how to post them in the next couple of days. We have pix of horses too.

In answer to a comment on Chili Bake, the idea of using it as a stuffing is an excellent idea - I will definitely try it.

We made cupcakes for T&M and made a Fudge Frosting. The recipe is very good and easy. Here is the recipe - also one for Caramel Frosting.

HOMEMADE FUDGE ICING
In a large saucepan, stir together:
2 cups sugar 2 heaping tablespoons cocoa
1 stick butter 1 cup evaporated milk.
Bring to boil. Boil for one minute. Add 1 tsp. vanilla.
Stir in, 1/3 at a time: 1 pound of SIFTED confectioner sugar
Stir until smooth. (I use a hand held electric mixer), work quickly, icing thickens as it sits.

CARAMEL NO-FAIL ICING
1 stick butter ½ cup evaporated milk
1 pound light brown sugar 1 tsp vanilla (add after icing is cooked)
Cook on moderate heat until boils; then cook only 2 minutes. Put in mixer and beat until consistency to spread. (2 minutes)

CHILI CHEESE BAKE
1 pound hamburger 1 cup chopped onion & peppers
2 cups beef broth 1-6 oz. can tomato paste
1 tsp garlic powder 2-3 Tablespoons chili powder
3 cups cooked rice 1 cup cheddar cheese
Saute beef, onions & pepper. Blend in other ingredients. Add rice, put into casserole. Sprinkle cheese last 5 minutes of cooking. Bake @ 350 for 20 minutes. If you want a more intense flavor, add 1 tsp cumin.

Well, the great mystery is solved. I put my blogspot into an icon on my aol toolboar. It doesn't update automatically. I just kept going back to day one. No wonder, I couldn't see my updates. Duh!!!!!!!!!

CS's baby finally got here. She had to have a C-section. He weighed 7#2 0z; 191/2 inches long. Born on his greatgrand father's birthday. How cool is that.

Our new puppy is doing great. Poppy finally has his "hound dog". She follows us everywhere. We get some pictures of the horses.

I will now try to add some recipes to the blog. Loud's Sangria looks great.

Well, I'm still tryng to figure out this posting and editing thing. For some reason Loud can see my changes, but they don't show up on my blog. Will write more later. Poppy needs the Internet.

Loud sent directions for furhter editing; I need to sit down and figure out how to do it. As I sit her with my coffee and computer, I have 3 additional helpers. We now have couch hounds. They are already spoiled and quite social and lovable. They are definitiely noisey when we put them in the kennel for the night. Didn't howl all night, but made intermittent noise. They follow us everywhere. Tweedle is not a happy camper and Prissy has her noise out of joint. We will take whichever one Mouse doesn't select to the vet and let her try to find a home for her. We just can't keep 2 more. Ripley doesn't look good. She has really lost some weight and hind leg dragging is worse.

LOUD sent me detailed instructions on how to set up family blog links. Flew thru them with no difficulty. So now I have your links on my blog. How cool is that. Always knew she was smart.

Poppy has been busy doing community/campaign stuff today. Now he's out working the horses. They'll probably ignore him since he's been ignoring them lately. I've had a nasty cold and have gotten behind on everything. Did we tell you that I'm the campaign treasurer for a local commissioner candidate. No, I did't volunteer, Poppy Dear actually volunteered me.

All of your blogsites look great and Mariposa did a great job with the pictures. I have to learn that now.

How do I do the stuff for books I'm reading, etc?

Well, it's off to Weight Watchers and I'm supposed to go to Knitters Night Out, but I may not make it tonight. A blanket, NCIS, and Boston Legal look awfully good tonight.
Gamma Dolittle

Hello All,
This is my seond post - don't know where the first one went. I've just amazed myself, by setting this thing up. Hope to be organized and soon post some recipes. Oldest daughter "Loud", twisted my arm and suggested I start the Blog - she thought it would be a good way to share our family recipes and to stay in touch. She also suggested the Dolittle part of my name. Dolittle for my love of animals. I threw in Gamma - it's what my Grands call me. Now lets see if I can make this go to the right place
Gamma Dolittle