We had a very nice day. D&T were up for the weekend. Mama is still suffering from side effects of Aricept. Drug info says to expect this for a few weeks but should subside.

We have been definitely bummed out about Shay and she is in our prayers.

Poppy and D rearranged the round pen and the back yard. Lack of rain has diminished fresh grass for the horses so we turned the back yard into a pasture. The horses can now come up to the deck and visit. It's so cool. They discovered their reflections in the windows and thought they had visitors. They whinnied and kicked up their heels. It was hilarious. At first we thought it was the Jimmy Buffet coming from the speakers in the chimney - but then we realized they could see themselves and they were fascinated.

I finally put my grandmother Gotschall's potato salad in writing. I only make it for special occasions( because it's not diet friendly) - so, I never make a small amount. You will just have to calculate for smaller amount. I take this to pot lucks or large family gatherings. Well darn, I just realized, I downloaded the salad in Poppy's files. So it's late and I will sign off, transfer files and repost it tomorrow. Hopefully, by then I'll have the homemade peach ice cream written down. We made it today and it was awesome.
Luv,
Gamma

Well, it's been awhile since my last post. The laptop crashed and my arm and neck suffers terribly when I spend lengthy blocks of time on the desk top. The Moms have had their ups and downs. Poppy's mother had a trial of Aricept (Alzheimer drug to slow disease process). She had so much nausea and dizziness we were afraid she would fall. Dr. says there is another one to try - however, it will just have to wait til after some of our trips. Gamma's mother is now on the drug. She is having some nausea and dizziness ( supposedly that diminishes after 2 weeks), so I gave her some Meclizine.

Gamma is taking Physical Therapy for her neck and shoulder. Also started with a Tens unit - it really helps.

Mama made these cookies and they are easy and really good.

CHOCOLATE TOFFEE BARS Family Circle
Makes 24 bars
2 sticks butter at room temperature 1 cup sugar
1 egg yolk 1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour ½ teaspoon slat
1 package (6 ounces semisweet chocolate pieces
1 cup pecans
Heat oven to 350. Generously coat 13x9x2 baking pan with cooking spray.
Beat together butter, sugar, egg yolk and vanilla in medium size bowl until well blended. Mix in flour and salt. Press mixture into even layer in bottom of prepared baking pan. Bake 20 minutes or until top is golden brown. Remove to wire rack. Immediately sprinkle chocolate pieces over top. Let stand 5 minutes to melt. Spread chocolate with metal spatula smoothly over top. Sprinkle with pecans. Cool completely. Cut into bars. All of the puppies and the Mama dog that we fostered are in homes in New Hampshire. We have 2 more - collie mix and one that looks like a toy white wolf. It's pretty obvious she has been mistreated, but is coming around.

Gamma's House
It was so great having all the kids here and we sure hated to see all of you leave - very quiet without T&M. The crawfish boil was wonderful. Almost forgot how good they taste - We now know how long they will survive in a cooler.

Mamma's sister and husband arrived Monday to stay with the Moms. Poppy and I headed for Isle of Palms Tuesday for a much needed "getaway". Isle of Palms was perfect in that it was "at the beach" and just a 30 minute hop into downtown Charleston. Next time we'll stay longer. Crammed a lot of just riding around, taking in all the changes 40 years make. Went to the only tea plantation in the US. We were awestruck over the new Cooper River Bridge. Really a beautiful structure. The food was excellent. First night was The Boat House in Isle of Palms. Still very crowded at 8pm. Really good food. Wednesday night was at Magnolia's - again excellent food. Thursday night at 82 Queen, didn't do seafood - excellent again; gorgeous setting. Poppy was happy - did Jimmy Dengates for lunch and the Deviled Crabs were as good as he remembered. I love crab, but shy away from deviled crab because of too many fillers and not enough crab, but these were really good and I'd definitely order them again.

Got home yesterday. M&L left this morning. We're so grateful they stayed so we coould have some time away.

Poppy is excited about his upcoming fishing trip. We all head for Gordon and Bobbies Tuesday. The guys will go fishing in Florida and us girls will just hang out for a few days.

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