Stylish Princess

The Princess has new shoes. The Bag Lady bought these as a bit of a joke, because the Cowboy kept saying the Princess needed boots to keep her feet warm. The Bag Lady thought there was not a snowball's chance in hell that the Princess would even allow the boots to be put on her feet, let alone keep them there...

Imagine her surprise when the Princess not only allowed the boots to be put on her, she wore them quite happily without any attempts to kick them off.

The only problem is that they are slippery in the snow, and the Princess runs everywhere! She adapted, though, and seemed quite happy. The Bag Lady will have to attempt to add something to the soles to give the Princess better traction.

Isn't she stylish?

Early Riser

The Bag Lady had an exhausting day yesterday. She had to be in town early in the morning to go for blood tests, etc. and had several appointments and some errands to run and shopping to do. When she finally returned from town, she had chores to attend to and all those groceries to put away. By the time all that was done, she was played out, but she still had to make supper and clean up afterwards. She isn’t sure why, but going to town wears her out more than building a quarter-mile of fence!
She was in bed fairly early (OMG, whatever happened to Friday nights?) which was a mistake. The Princess, who is accustomed to getting up with the Cowboy when he gets up at all kinds of ungodly hours to go to work, woke up at 4 am today and insisted on waking up the Bag Lady. The Cowboy actually has the day off from his regular job (which does not mean that he isn’t going to work today, just means he gets to sleep until whenever he wakes up), so the Princess didn’t have to get up with him at 2 am. Consequently, she felt she had to wake up the Bag Lady to let her outside so she could do her customary barking to warn off any (real or imagined) intruders.
So the Bag Lady got up and stumbled around, waiting for the Princess to want back in. Of course, the dog was ready to play after her invigorating foray into the -30C temperatures outside, and the cats decided that since everyone else was awake, they might as well venture outside, and pretty soon the Bag Lady realized there wasn’t a chance in hell of getting back to sleep, so she turned on the (new) coffee pot and caught up on some reading. Right about the time everyone else in the civilized world will be waking up, the Bag Lady will be ready for a nap!
In one way, it’s a good thing the Princess woke the Bag Lady because the woodstove was almost out and it gets pretty cold in the house without it. Of course, the dog has subsequently gone back to bed – in fact, that was probably the plan all along! She had to get the Bag Lady up so the Princess could take her place on the bed, rather than get back on the chair she spends the night on.
Truthfully, the Bag Lady doesn’t mind being awake so early in the morning. She has always been an early bird and enjoys the peaceful quietness of the house. She putters around, catching up on her reading, drinking coffee and thinking deep thoughts. Well, okay, maybe not so deep.
But there are still a couple hours before the sun comes up, and the Cowboy wakes up and will want to do some work around the ranch. He said something yesterday about wanting to wean the calves, so that may happen today. And if it does, it’s certainly going to spoil the peace and quiet around the ranch for a few days! Weaning is not one of the Bag Lady’s favourite times. The mothers, in spite of the fact that it must be tiresome to still be feeding calves who are tall enough to practically lift the cows off their feet, will stand at the corral fence and bawl for their babies. The babies will stand on the other side of the fence and bawl back, deprived of that nice, warm milk. This will go on for at least a couple of days, and no-one will get much rest! As soon as the cows stop producing milk, they will settle down and stop calling for their babies, and the babies will get accustomed to eating only hay and a little chop (rolled oats, or barley) and things will quiet down again.

Kidnapped Coffee

The Bag Lady had a very strange experience yesterday. She woke up early, as usual, but not as early as the Cowboy (he had to drive 2 hours to his work site, so got up at 2 in the morning). She stumbled out to the kitchen for some coffee and her coffee maker was gone! That early in the morning, it takes the Bag Lady awhile to get the fog cleared away, and she generally uses coffee as an aid, so imagine her distress.

It didn’t really take her very long to determine what had happened, though. That particular coffee maker, although it made some damned fine coffee, had a little problem. It was one of those coffee makers that you press a button with your cup and it fills the cup. No carafe. This was the third such coffee-maker that we had gone through, and, in some ways, the worst of the bunch. It had a nasty habit of intermittently allowing the coffee to run down the back side of the cup, which then ran onto the counter top and down the front of the cupboard. Annoying as hell, but because it didn’t do it all the time, the Bag Lady hadn’t gotten around to replacing the coffee-maker.

There was a thermos carafe sitting on the counter, which had coffee in it, so the Bag Lady wasn’t totally caffeine-deprived. She didn’t have time to sit around drinking coffee for long that morning anyway, as she had appointments and errands to run in town. So she drank some coffee, then jumped in the shower to prepare for her day.

After her shower and breakfast, when the sun finally came up, the Bag Lady discovered what happened to her coffee maker. It was lying in several pieces in the snow in the middle of the yard! The Cowboy had previously threatened to “throw the damned thing out the door”, so the Bag Lady wasn’t too surprised to see it lying there.

When he got home, he told her that it had gone crazy that morning (she wondered whether it was the coffee-maker or the Cowboy…). Apparently, after he filled his thermos, the coffee wouldn’t stop running; out of the pot, across the counter and down the front of the cupboard! He had grabbed the extra thermos carafe and filled it, then took the coffee maker and threw it out the door as promised!

The Bag Lady had to laugh – and thank her lucky stars that she doesn’t live in a city with neighbours who would wonder why on earth her coffee maker was lying in the middle of the yard!
So the Bag Lady has a new coffee maker. With a carafe. Enough, already.
Just another day on the ranch.

Birds

The Bag Lady thought she'd share a couple of photos with you of some visitors she had last winter. These are not especially good photos, unfortunately, because the Bag Lady has just a little, inexpensive camera.

These are Pine Grosbeaks, who spent a good portion of last winter hanging around the Bag Lady's bird feeder. Unfortunately, there was also a herd of about 20 white-tail deer who also hung around the Bag Lady's bird feeder, so there was often nothing much left for the birds! There's also one of the evil Chickadees in one photo...can you see him?

Three Weeks and Counting

The Bag Lady just looked at the calendar and realized there are exactly three weeks until Christmas. She finds it hard to believe how fast the time is slipping away. She has it easy this year, though, because her sister-in-law is hosting the family for Christmas this year, and another sister-in-law always hosts the family for New Year's Day. The Bag Lady may not even decorate her house...well, she probably will, because she always has before, but she won't do very much. Probably just a small tree with a few ornaments. Somehow, without having to make a big dinner and have a large group of people in the house, it doesn't really feel like Christmas.
With the Cowboy's work schedule, the Bag Lady doesn't see a lot of visitors.
What about the rest of you? Do you host big Christmas parties? Do huge amounts of baking? Do you always go to grandma's house for Christmas Eve? What are your traditions?

CartSmart Bags

The Bag Lady knows that some people still aren't exactly sure what her CartSmart Bags are all about, so she has decided to do a little pictorial explanation (a picture is worth a thousand words, right?)



The feature that makes the CartSmart Bag different from all other tote bags is the fact that it can be hooked over the handle of the shopping cart, thereby helping to protect your hands from the germs found there (e-coli, salmonella, etc.) In addition to the main compartment, it has 3 interior pockets that can hold your wallet, cell phone, etc., and has an attached key ring. While you are shopping, you can keep your purse and/or extra cloth shopping bags in it, which frees up room in the cart.






There are quite a few different colours and fabrics to choose from, and the Bag Lady tries to add new colours periodically. She knows that most of us don't want to carry exactly the same thing as everyone else is carrying, so most of the bags are available for only a short time. Here are some that she has in stock right now.

You can carry quite a load of groceries in these bags:

This looks a little on the Christmasy side:

Here is the newest fabric, one that has quickly become the Bag Lady’s favourite. She was going to release this in the spring, but loves it so much she wanted to share it right away.

So there you have it. This is what the Bag Lady spends some of her time doing - in between feeding cows and taking care of the ranch and bookwork and housework and feeding the wood-stove and blogging!

Oh, and by the way, the Bag Lady designed and created these bags so she owns the copyright.

If anyone is interested in ordering a bag, email the Bag Lady at the address on the sidebar. She still might be able to get it to you before Christmas.

Got the Munchies?

The Bag Lady has come up with a new munchie mix for the Christmas season. Here's the recipe for those of you who would like to give it a try. It's a (little bit) healthier version.

Bag Lady's Blend

4 Cups Spoon-sized Whole Grain Shredded Wheat and Bran
4 Cups Multi-grain Cheerios
4 Cups Multi-grain Baked Ritz Chips
4 Cups Pretzels
1 pkg Original Bugles
1 275 g can mixed nuts

Mix in large roaster.

Mix together:
1/2 Cup melted butter
2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion salt

Pour over mixture in roaster. Bake at 275 for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes or so.
Cool on paper towels. Store in covered containers.
Enjoy!