Coyote

I missed last week's posts because school started on Wednesday and I had homework do on Saturday. (online classes are great and terrible.) I am very angry with WCJC right now. I like to get my books together before the semester starts. I got one version of the book from the school and an older (cheaper) version on Chegg, there were exactly three pages that were different so I copied the pages and decided I would take the more expensive book back to WCJC when I went. Unfortunately I forgot my receipt on Thursday, my first day of in person classes, and they won't take the book back after the first week of school (I had to bring it back by Monday). Despite the fact that they didn't have people working there until Tuesday of that week. Their week is apparently 3 1/2 days.  

Whats worse: I totally forgot that the book store closes at Noon on Fridays and missed them. So I decided to mail the book back, the website said they would count it if it was post marked before the end of the week. No word yet on whither it worked or not.

I am also mad at WCJC because the school cut off half of one of the parking lots so I'm having an even harder time finding a parking space than I normally do during the fall semester (there seems to be fewer students in the spring). 

I have several other reasons for hating WCJC, but these are the most recent.

  

Here is a picture of the coyote I saw Monday when I got up. That is my back fence. I took this picture from my back door. He was very frightened and obviously very young. He couldn't seem to figure out how to get home without getting too close to the "scary" horses in the neighbor's pasture. No idea how it got their without passing them in the night. 

Harvey

I live Southwest of Houston. Thankfully we're fine, just a little water damage where the roof leaked and the green house roof got ripped up a little. I heard at least 3 different tornadoes go by when Harvey made landfall, I have a feeling one of them did pulled the shingles off. But other than that we're fine. I know a lot of people cannot say the same...
   I am very thankful that while I spent all Friday and Saturday moving things up off the ground we did not get flooded. Now Mom and I are going to go through everything playing "keep, sell, donate".

 I hope everyone out there stays safe and dry.

Booties

I decided to get creative and try to make up a new pattern for booties. So far all I have is the sole.
  I'm not even sure about the colors. My mom says they look a like a carrot. But at least you should be able to find them if you're in a hurry.
I was going for something gender neutral so I could give the prototype to whichever family member has a child next.

  Why make a new pattern, you ask? Because the other one took too long to make. My cousin had twins a few years ago and I wasn't able to make both pairs before the shower; I ended up having to ship them a week later. I'd rather not have to do that again.
  I've been stuck trying to figure out what type of stich I should make the top part out of. I think I'm going to have to just bite the bullet and make one. I'm leaning towards a slip stich pattern like this pair of socks I made that my mom loves.

Sorry I didn't post for a couple of weeks, I've been working on getting ready for school. Classes start on the 28th assuming we're not underwater. Hopefully it won't be that bad.
      Have a bat-tastic day everyone!

Wire spider

The other day I got bored and decided to see if I could make a spider out of some scrap wire. In my defense my Pinterest feed was full of pictures of them. I didn't like the way the ones I made following any of the web tutorials came out, so I made up my own.

 I think it needs a larger bead for the abdomen, but I like the way the wire looks.  What do you think?

.

 If I can find more larger holed beads I might make some to sell.

      Thank you for reading. I will Please have a bat-tastic day!

Watermelon

    Yet another in my series of volunteer plants we couldn't grow when we purposely planted seeds. This time it's watermelon. Earlier in the season, right after we had filled the middle bed with cucumber and pepper plants, we found a clump of unidentified seedlings. It turned out they were watermelon vines that would grow so aggressively I had move one of the jalapeno plants out of the bed because it was covered in vines. Completely covered, I had trouble finding it. 

  The real surprise was that the melons we've eaten so far actually tasted good.    

   Lesson learned: always toss seeds in the garden, because composting pays off in more ways than one.

Here is a picture of one of the five, yes five, small watermelons the vines were able to produce before they died. 

   Side note: I have no idea why the died, but I suspect it was the heat and lack of rain, it's killed just about everything else, despite daily waterings.

We've been freezing the rinds and giving them to the chickens as a nutritious and cooling snack. Because it is too hot.

Thanks again for reading. I hope you have a bat-tastic day! 

Fourth of July Jack-o'-lantern!

I did not post last week because of the 4th of July and a root canal that started on Wednesday afternoon and still isn't finished. Apparently, I have twisted, calcified canals. Ugh.

  Anyway, right after I picked the pumpkin, I found this hole in it like a worm had chewed into it. I put clear nail polish over the hole, hoping it would smother the little bugger if it was still in there or at least prolong the pumpkin's shelf life. It didn't work. The hole just got bigger. I doubted the pumpkin would last until October, even without the worm. So, here it is: Forth of July Jack-o'-lantern!

  You know, I couldn't find that stupid worm. We ended up mulching the seeds, they were shriveled and flat, no good for roasting. I don't have much hope that they will sprout. But we finally grew a pumpkin.

   

    Thank you for reading, and have a bat-tastic day!

  

It's too hot!

Ringo is in the house right now. Normally he is an outside cat, but he's been looking very poor lately, acting like he wanted in side, and we thought that some time in the AC would help him. 

   It hasn't been that hot, mid 90's, but the heat index has been over 100 for a few days. (You know it's hot when an afternoon shower just makes it sulty.)

He's really lost a lot of weight and just looks like he's suffering. He started looking better for a couple of days when it wasn't so hot but it didn't last.

   

   I decided to bring him in today when I saw that he had pink gloop in the corner of his eyes and wasn't very frisky. He doesn't get along with the inside cats, or most cats really, so we set him up in my room. He started looking better within an hour or so. The other cats better watch out! He might be able to go out later tonight or tomorrow.

   A few of the other outside cats have been looking bad so we might have to rotate them inside so they can cool down as well.

   We are going to get more proactive about putting ice in the cats water, at least twice a day from now on instead of once a day.  Mom's going to start tossing ice around where the cats like to lay, to try and cool them down. Unless that seems to annoy them, of course. 

   We have been dumping ice in the chickens water and spraying the run with cool water nearly everyday for while now, but I didn't think we would have to worry so much about the cats since they have so many trees to lay under. I guess that just go to show that you need to watch everyone in the heat.

  Thanks for reading, I hope you have a bat-tastic day and stay cool. 

P.S. Happy 4th of July!

Summer Pumpkin

My mother and I love pumpkins. Every October we buy a pumpkin for each of us, roast the seeds, and carve faces in it for Halloween. 

  I'm not ashamed to admit that I stopped by Walmart on my way home from school on the day after last Halloween to buy a couple of one dollar pumpkins, or that I filled my trunk with pumpkins a few days after that when we went to Kroger and saw they were giving away leftover pumpkins. Or that I have a few bags of roasted pumpkin pieces in the trianglular shapes used to carve out Jack-o'-lanterns in the freezer, because the chickens were tied of pumpkin and I didn't think the mulch could handle any more. (Side note: the meat from carveing pumpkins tastes just as good as smaller pie pumpkins to me.)

  For several years we tried to grow our own pumpkins from seeds, but after a couple of years of buying seeds and, at best, only getting a few vines on which the female blooms would rot off, we gave up on trying to grow our own pumpkins.  

Que this year, in which somehow we must have missed one of the delicous seeds, and it not only grew into a vine but did what the store bought seeds could not: produce a pumpkin! A pumpkin in in the summer. It's a miracle!

  As always thank you for reading and have a bat-tastic day!

Absence

    I'm sorry it's been a long time since I posted, and I don't think I will be posting on a regular schedule anytime soon, but I am going to try to get back to work on Bats Bizarre. I have been going through a lot in my personal life over the past couple of years.
    There have been a lot of changes in my life since my last post; I have gone back to school. I am half way to an associates degree in general studies.
   I don't really want to talk about the other issues right now.
     Well that's it for now, have a bat-tastic day!
     
 

What's up now

I wasn't able to log on for more than a five minutes on Tuesday, and it didn't get any better Wednesday, so here is the post I would have shared on Tuesday.

  

My Bearded Iris bloomed again this year, and then bloomed again! For a total of four blooms. There probably won't be any new posts until at least June, may longer we'll have to play it by ear. I'm going to be very busy. Talk to you then.


                     Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day! 


   

Fourth of July Red, White, and Blue Fireworks Earrings

    I was going to post this on Thursday, but the wind was so bad I couldn't get a connection in the house and it was misting so I couldn't sit outside to get online. Not that I'll be doing that anymore; too many close calls with dropping my laptop. And last time a bird pooped on my monitor. 
  But better late than never right?

    Here is my latest item : Fourth of July Red, White, and Blue Fireworks Earrings. They are based on my Rain drop earrings but with round beads so they look more like three fireworks in the night sky. They are nicely patriotic and a elegant reminder of summer nights spent on a quilt watching fireworks paint the sky in a Kaleidoscope of colors. 


 Soon I will have a pair for every season. I just have to pick out the beads for the Autumn one.

   Each earring is made of three small (6mm) red, white, and blue glass beads (one each) on three separate strands of hand curved stainless steel wires. The entire piece measures 2 2/8" from the top of ear wire to the bottom of the longest bead line. The ear wires are hypo-allergenic stainless steel.

  Buy your own here:  https://www.etsy.com/listing/189074728/fourth-of-july-red-white-and-blue 

  Mother's Day is Sunday and today is the last day to use coupon code MOTHERSDAY for 5% off your entire purchase.

              Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. have a bat-tastic day!

Cucumbers

   The chicken wire seems to be working. The cucumbers out in the garden aren't growing very well, but they haven't been eaten. Yet.


   The cucumbers I bought are doing well too. Six survived. I'm afraid to plant them out in the garden; they will be staying in the front. I transplanted them into bigger pots the other day, they look ok.

   This is shaping up to be a terrible year for pests. Or a great year, depending on your view point. The kale have nasty green caterpillars on them. Some of the caterpillars are on the squash too. Speaking of which, if you have squash you should be checking for borer worm eggs on the under sides of their leaves and stems. If you don't sqush or otherwise remove the tiny red eggs within three days of them being laid they will hatch, bore into your plant, and eat it from the inside.

   The wind is terrible still. Ruining my internet connection, beating up the plants, and drying out everything.


  Bats Bizarre's having a mother's Day sale! Use coupon code MOTHERSDAY for 5% off your total purchase from today 4/29/14 through 5/9/14.

                     Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical post. Have a bat-tastic day!

Blue chick

I finished working on a blue version of my chicks a couple of weeks ago. The blue really goes well with the yellow beak and feet. I'm going to add it as an offical option for the chicks later, but I wanted to debut it on my blog first. I could decide on which photo to use.

  
  One of these days I'm going to have to try taking group photos of the chicks in my old Easter Basket. Don't forget about Bats Bizarre's Mother's day sale. Use coupon code MOTHERSDAY for 5% off your entire purchase until 5/9/14.

Don't forget Cinco de Mayo is Monday. Mom and I will be having cheese enchiladas; here is our recipe: http://batsbizarre.blogspot.com/2013/05/fantastic-cheese-enchiladas-happy-cinco.html   

                     Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!

Internet Connection and General Update

The last few days have not been the best for my internet connection. I broke my laptop stick on Saturday and got the replacement today.
 It was kind of nice. I think I'm going to have to take one day a week off from now on.  It's so windy I'm having to write this post outside. My Laptop keeps trying to blow away. Which is very distracting to say the lest.

  I found two hornworms on two of the tomato plants today. It's officially pest season. But there are bunches of ladybugs out there breeding and eating nasties. Too bad they don't eat hornworms, but I guess you can't have everything.   

My black iris about to bloom. And it looks like it will be a double at least! And the rose is going great guns. I don't know if it was this winter's freezing temperatures or the recent rains, but everything's blooming nicely here.




Man I wish this wind would die down.


  Bats Bizarre's having a mother's Day sale! Use coupon code MOTHERSDAY for 5% off your total purchase from today 4/29/14 through 5/9/14.

Shasta Daisy Barrette

Happy Earth Day!

 I was going to post my Shasta Daisy Hair Barrette for sale a few days ago, but my internet wouldn't go along. Not that it wanted to work today either.  Oh well... 

   I modeled the daisy on my mom's Shasta Daisies. The real ones have more petals, but other than that I think they look close. I'm rather proud of myself, I crocheted the flowers and it only took a couple of tries to get the stiches right. If you recall I'm just now learning to crochet.


I may have mentioned this before, but I really like these types of barrettes. I prefer to use it to keep my hair up, but it makes a pretty (and surprisingly secure) ponytail too.
 I have three different barrettes planed, maybe even one that's the back part in different colors without any embellishments.
   I had trouble securing my hair at first, but after a bit of trial and error I learned to put the end of my hair to the right of the other part and that I have to twist my hair to the left when putting it up. I don't know why but it works that way and only that way for me. Before it would fall out of the barrette  very quickly.
      
Here is a link to the listing: https://www.etsy.com/listing/186671893/shasta-daisy-hair-barette?ref=shop_home_active_1


                        Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!

 P.S. I won't be posting Thursday. I apologize for any inconvenience.

Cucumbers And Other Garden News

I planted a row of cucumber seeds where the snow peas were this winter. When they didn't come up my mother and I planted two more rows, one of either side of the trellis. Some came up. And then something ate them. And mom's squash seedlings! There were dig marks were it grabbed one that hadn't sprouted yet. I'm thinking it was a skunk.

  I bought seven seedling from the store. (I will be keeping them in pots on a shelf on the porch.) Not long after that Mom noticed some more seedlings coming up. We covered them with chicken wire. They look like convict cucumbers. Wish us luck the wire works.

  I can't believe I had to cover the plants the night before last. I was afraid I was going to lose them all.



    Oh yeah, I also can't believe there are two tomatoes on one of the plants in the garden. Must be the chicken poop.

  
Happy Easter!

    Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical post. Have a bat-tastic day!

Yellow Cake with Strawberry Filling and Chocolate Frosting

   We're getting into strawberry season so I thought I'd share this great recipe. The cake is the Egg and Butter Cake recipe I shared earlier, but instead of a cream cheese frosting I used my favorite chocolate frosting recipe, because chocolate and strawberries go pretty well together add some pecans and you've got a great dessert for a spring get together.

                                  
                           Egg and Butter layer Cake

1/2 pound butter                                       1/4 teas. salt
2 cups sugar                                              1 teas. vanilla
5 eggs                                                       1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teas. baking soda

Cream butter and sugar well. Blend your dry ingredients together. Add 1 egg then a small amount of the flour mixture. Continue alternating ingredients until all are used up. Beat in vanilla and stir in nuts, if using, then pour into two 9" cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.

Here is a link to a printer friendly version: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_M5jUvgW_JMJk_KdEk2pJIhSj6zYlTpoiy-t6zf9B-8/edit?usp=sharing


    While your cake is baking you can make your filling. This was originally a lemon filling recipe so feel free to add whatever fruit you like.

                                               Strawberry cake filling

    3/4 cups sugar                                  3/4 cups water
    2 Tbs. cornstarch                              2 egg yolks
   dash salt                                            1 cup of strawberries
   1/2 teas. cinnamon                            1 Tbs. butter

     Stir together sugar, cornstarch, salt, and cinnamon in a sauce pan. To the dry ingredients add water, egg yolks, and strawberries and cook over medium heat until thick stirring constantly. Once the sauce drops heavily from the spoon remove from heat and add butter. Filling will thicken as it cools.

   Printer Friendly version here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oWsU1uoj4VqgVXyMSzMwxcis0RMPmCVM5USaSzygpv0/edit?usp=sharing

                       Then make the frosting. 

                                     Luscious Chocolate Frosting

   4 sq. unsweetened chocolate                                    2 unbeaten egg whites
   1/2 cup butter                                                            
   4 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
   1/3 cup milk


      Melt chocolate and butter together. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Place the bowl in ice water and beat with an electric mixer until it is thick enough to spread.

   Printer friendly version here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16UI8mfvvJDm7EDGoZXak4eA3AmZX08bnpd19COm5doQ/edit?usp=sharing


                   

          Thank you for reading bats Bizarre's official blog. Have a bat-tastic day! 

 

Hair Barrette

  I've become rather enamored with the type of hair barrettes that use a hair stick and a piece of metal or fabric to hold your hair back. Right now I am trying to make my own with knitting. I have three versions in mind - I don't have the yarn for one right now, but I hope to remedy that soon.- I have the prototype for the 'original' done and have finished alpha testing it.

  The hair sticks are holding me up. I tried to dye them by soaking them in green food dye, water, and vinegar; thinking it wouldn't rub off that way, and that it would be easy to dye a bunch at once. But while it did dye them and the dye was a beautiful shade of green, the sticks are little weird looking. The are a lot paler in person then in the photo. I'm not sure if I want to go with it or not. 


P.S. I finished the shorts. They are a little long. But I only plan on wearing them around the house. Not bad considering I didn't have a pattern. Next I will be making pairs out of some fabric I bought. (The shorts I showed you were made from some fabric my grandmother gave me.)  But I won't be using a invisible hem for the others. Such a pain!    
 

                Thank you from reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!

Nothing Much

   I don't have that much to talk about today. I wish I had some new product to tell you about, but I've working on a lot of things instead of foucusing on one and finshing it. Everything has to be done in the garden right now or it be too hot for anything to grow. I'm making a pair of shorts and a hair barret prototype. I haven't been able to work on that blanket I told you about. And my engravings have hit a snag.

  I started out with a large resin bead to engrave, but unlike glass a resin engraving doesn't stand out against the rest of the bead so I'm looking into ways to make it stand out, paint and a sealant? A different color of resin? This calls for a trip to the craft store.

  I'm using a blind hem on the shorts; I've never tried it before, but then I've never had a machine that could make it before. So I thought I'd give it a go. I hemmed one leg last night and I'm not sure how study it'll be. I guess we'll just have to see. It also seems like a lot more trouble then it's worth.



                            Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!

Sourdough Bread Bowl

    This is my favorite recipe using sourdough hands down. That's why I saved it for last in my sourdough count down. (There are recipes for sourdough pancakes and rolls, but I haven't made either in years.) It's so good Mom and I had it for New Year's Eve, her birthday, and mine. It was inspired by the Red Lobster appetizer, but only loosely. Like most of our made-up recipes the amounts are all estimates and you should feel free to add or subtract anything to suit your tastes. This is really just a rough idea of how to make it. We never make it the same way twice, but it's always delicious.   

  First make your sourdough, recipe here: http://batsbizarre.blogspot.com/2014/03/make-your-own-sourdough-bread.html, but after the second raise place one loaf in a round pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray instead of a loaf pan.

   While that is baking you can make your sauce.  

   Sauté chopped garlic, onions, and fresh mushrooms, if using, in a pan with butter for a minute or two. Add 1 cup cubed, peeled and deveined shrimp. Once the onions and garlic soften add about a tablespoon of flour and cook until the flour no longer tastes raw. Add enough milk to make a thin gravy, salt, pepper, a dash of hot sauce, kale, and or spinach. Stir. Test your seasonings and add your cheese,  Monterey Jack and processed cheese loaf together are great in this, add caned mushrooms, if using, one can of crabmeat, and squid. If you are adding fish now would be a good time. Cook until the cheese melts and your seafood is cooked; if the sauce gets too thick add some water or milk.

   Once the bread is done cut the loaf in half and hallow out the halves with a fork. Toast the innards you removed in a toaster oven or on broil for a second or two in the oven. (Watch it carefully if using the oven.) Spoon the sauce into the pie and enjoy. (If you make enough sauce you can fill both the top and the bottom and get two meals out of it.)        

              

          Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's offical blog. Have a bat-tastic day!