As always, we try to stay on the cutting edge of new products, so here, for those times when your neck just seems too short, is the new and improved “Cervical Traction Kit”. 
You don’t have to go to one of those professional neck stretching places now – use it in the privacy and convenience of your own home!
Tried and tested by medical professionals in white coats with name tags and stuff:
Now – safe for women too!
It may not look like it
‘Cause they are all fierce and bitey
But Riley and Daisy are friends again
It will be awhile till I see the real deal out in the garden, but Ellyn brought these home last week and they are a pretty good substitute for now:
A tufted titmouse out by the feeder:
I would have liked this to be a touch clearer but it is still not bad:
It makes me ridiculously happy when a bird lands in my little crabapple tree – and no bird makes me happier this time of year than a robin:
And just in case you thought I was kidding about the boots:
I have fiddled around with this recipe for years and I still tweak it a bit by changing up the “additions”. The nice thing about it is that it’s a great drop cookie recipe but if you are in a hurry, you can line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper and just spread the dough evenly and bake them as bars.
Preheat oven to 375
Cream together, until light and fluffy:
1 cup butter
1 & 3/4 cups dark brown sugar
2 eggs
Stir in:
1/2 cup buttermilk
Add and mix thoroughly:
2 cups all purpose flour
3 cups quick oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup coconut
1 cup raisins
1 cup butterscotch chips
1 cup toasted walnuts
1 cup raisins
Drop from tablespoon on greased sheet and bake about 8 minutes. Baked as bars, they take about 18 minutes.
I am still alive, more or less. I seem to have sprained the muscles in my head that are used when one blows one’s nose. I had no idea that these muscles were even there until this past week, but I did something bad to them and now they hurt like heck every time I blow my nose, which is now approximately every 7 minutes. A huge improvement from every 3 minutes.
I think I am back to regular blogging this week. That is my intention anyway, though there are a lot of impediments so we will just have to see how it goes. I still feel horrible, my house is still over-run with short people with sticky hands [I like that part actually] and my father in law is seriously ill. So, we will get along as best we can. I have a recipe, some photos and maybe even an interview toward the end of the week.
Thanks for all the good wishes last week – I appreciated it very much.
Oh yeah – head over to my friend Jules’ blog to see what she has to say about pug rescue!
