Kimberly A. Cook

Military Romance Author

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Signs of Spring?

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by Kimberly A. Cook               (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Spent part of Sunday dragging things out of the house into the garage between football games; some folks call it cleaning, I call it pile management. On one such trip I heard a chorus of birds that sounded like an invasion. Looking up I tried to find geese, but no birds.

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A reminder of one of my favorite roses, the Double Delight. These blooms will return right after Spring!  

 

Following the cacophony around to the front of the house, I spied a bird convention taking place across the street in a very large tree. Birds were packed in like sardines; which is an odd visual if you think about it.

Too dark outside to grab the camera, I fished the camcorder out and tried to focus and get the sound. Got a few clips, but still couldn’t tell which kind of birds. Maybe crows? Either way, it’s a sure sign of Spring when the birdies start to return and congregate.

I noticed the heads of daffodils peaking above the ground over at my Mom’s house on Saturday. Since she’s in a warmer area her daffodils always beat my daffodils out of the ground. Her yard maintenance folks had also trimmed the roses, which I wait to do until President’s Day. Yet another sign of Spring.

Since we were drowned in December with 17 inches of rain, any sign of the round yellow orb causes us to rush out of our homes like Meerkats and squint at the sky. Monday was a no rain day and I had to scramble to find my sunglasses. That sun thing is bright!

Of course, according to the retail world, Valentine’s Day shopping started two days after Christmas. I kid you not. I went to the store to find holiday bows and wrapping on sale.

The bows had vanished and the only gift wrapping paper left was the weird designs, you know the ones, grumpy Santa’s, odd elves and goth reindeer. I walked around the end of the holiday treats on markdown and smacked into the Valentine’s Day candy. Rows of it. On December 28th!

While I can’t wait for Spring, my favorite time of year, I think I’ll pay attention to nature’s calendar and ignore the retail buying calendar. On Jan. 4th we had snow and ice. This past weekend the retail ads had bikinis on sale. Stock up on flip flops now!

Got signs of Spring?

Got A Squirrel Snow Plow?

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by Kimberly A. Cook               (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

Sunday before last on Jan. 3rd we all woke up to snow. It was quite the surprise since we were expecting freezing rain at 4 p.m. not snow at 7 a.m. But Mother Nature doesn’t like to disappoint, so we got freezing rain later in the day too. Fantastic!

Us Portlanders who listened to the weather reports swarmed the grocery stores on Saturday; one must not be iced in without snacks and junk food. I’d filled the bird and squirrel feeders too, just in case they had those YakTrax non-slippy things for their feet.

Spotted bird tracks in the snow, but no squirrel prints. Until I saw this video, little did I know he might have been out working the power lines with our PGE crews. How good is this squirrel at plowing? Would you do this for peanuts? He did! Bet his nose was cold too.

Have a great weekend and Happy Quirky Friday!

Is That A Rock Or A Sheep?

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by Kimberly A. Cook                (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

Photography is one of my true passions and I was thinking about the photos I didn’t use in my blog last year. Thought I’d give you a peak at a very fun experience I had with my buddy Joann, aka Gate Girl, while we were on our way out to the thunderegg beds last September.

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What I saw from the car.

 

Gate Girl can spot any animal at 1,000 yards, I swear. She can also tell me what fashion accessory they might be wearing. A hunter and country girl, she is always asking me to see stuff I can never find with my challenged eyeballs. So concentrating fully on the rutted dirt road to get us to the mining beds, this was my first alert.

“Sheep! Big Horn Sheep!”

Since I didn’t see any standing right in front of me on the road, I turned to see her pointing directly left.  I could see a desert slope, some trees, rocks. No sheep.

“Look, right there!” she exclaimed.

I pulled Subie over to the right side of the one-lane road and proceeded to scan. Nothing. Then I grabbed my first ELPH camera and went full zoom. Maybe a brown something, Might have legs. Dug around in the other bag and grabbed out the newer ELPH camera with the longer zoom. By jiminy, brown sheep things!

“I think that’s a rock,” she added at the large clump next to one of the sheep in my viewfinder. “It moved!”

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Aka the rock, Barbary Coast Sheep. Not moving.

 

Besides almost throwing the camera over my head at that outburst, I tried to find the moving brown rock with my Canon Powershot ELPH 340HS point and shoot. Given the camera is the size of a deck of cards and doesn’t have a zoom lens to balance in my left hand like the 35mm, I tried not to get seasick at the same time.

I managed to find the rock, er sheep, focused and took several shots. They started to move; sheep are such unreliable models that way. At the end of the short time before they ran off, I took 23 photos and waved three cars past who were blocking my view. They had no clue there were sheep.

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Big guy and one of his harem. Wow.

 

Back at the Richardson’s Rock Ranch gift shop we asked about the sheep. The family brought six of the Barbary Coast Sheep over from Africa about five years ago and now they had close to 200. They are not for hunting, just amazing animals on the ranch.

And I got to see them because of Eagle Eyes Gate Girl and my zoom lens. Never leave home without it. Priceless! Got zoom?

Must Have Clean Bunnies?

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by Kimberly A. Cook                   (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

Since we started 2016 with baby bunnies, what better way to move into the rest of the year than with a cat who cleans bunnies. Fur is fur, I guess.

Have a great weekend and Happy Quirky Friday!

P.S. For those keeping track, I didn’t post Tuesday due to a potato chip hangover from New Years. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

Happy Baby Bunny New Year!

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by Kimberly A. Cook                  (Twitter@   WarriorTales)

Happy 2016! Starting a New Year always gets me excited about possibilities. One favorite ritual is putting up all my new calendars. I have a set group I buy every year from Garfield to Tea Pot Collections and 365 Cats to Greek Isles and Islands. Love the photos.

So on this first Friday of the New Year, what better way to start than to enjoy some snoozing baby bunnies. None of these baby bunnies were harmed at all by sitting in the wine glasses and most of them are napping. Pretty hard. Especially the second bun.

So regardless of what you’re doing and where, maybe following the baby bunnies is a great example for the New Year. Let’s slow down and smell the naps! Have a great weekend and Happy Quirky Friday!

P.S. Thanks to my sister for showing me the Baby Bunnies!

 

Want To Bake A Cookie Forest?

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by Kimberly A. Cook             (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

On Christmas Eve I decided I wanted to bake an old family favorite, Lemon Holiday Cookies. Now the only way I touch anything with lemon is with lots of sugar added, so these little treats fit the bill. We made these growing up using the manual turn cookie press and I love the scent of lemon in the air when they bake.

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Original recipe being held by Baking Bear. I always use my beat up Sunbeam Mixmaster I bought at the Army PX. It’s vintage, but it works. 

 

Its been several years since I’ve made them, but I’d been given the cookie press by my Mom and using it always brings back great memories. So to pass on this gem of a recipe, here goes.

Lemon Holiday Cookies

Combine thoroughly in large bowl:

1 1/3 Cup soft shortening (half butter may be used, I do)

2 Cups sugar. (Was not kidding about the sugar)

Food coloring of your choice for color. (Green for trees!)

Add:

2 eggs, unbeaten

1/4 Cup Cream (or milk)

2 tsp vanilla

2 tsp lemon extract

Sift together:

4 Cups sifted enriched flour

2 tsp double-acting baking powder

1 1/2 tsp salt. Add to blended mixture; mix well.

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets. Flatten slightly with spatula or fork. (Or use cookie press)

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The cookie press and fabulous accessories.

 

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Cookie Press loaded and almost locked for action.

 

 

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A fabulous forest of naked Christmas trees.

 

Add colored sugar sprinkles for decoration. I like green and red.

Bake at 400 degrees F. for 8 to 10 minutes. Cool and store in tight containers. Makes about 12 1/2 dozen small cookies.

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Decorated cookies. Obviously I need more practice, the edges are a little brown; Smokey the Bear would not be happy with me. But the cookies still taste great! 

 

What family holiday recipes do you cherish? Bake on!