a gardener, i am not

i am going to try my hand or thumb with a little gardening this year. i suspect it won't do too good considering...it is me. i am going to attempt to grow some veggies in raised beds rather than a plowed row garden. here are a couple of pics of how i have done so far....

how have i done? i have done very little, that's how. i do have then lined with weed block and that is about all. those mums you see in the last box, compliments of travis. they won't stay.

it is suppose to rain this weekend, so i expect i will get done even less....more. i will keep you posted. enjoy.

compost.... poop happens

and lots of it especially when you have chickens, so i want to start composting. i want to not only compost  the chicken poop, but all my kitchen scraps, etc.... so i want, scratch that, need both a compost kitchen pail and a compost tumbler. now, the kitchen pail ain't cheap, but i found one at lowe's reasonably priced. i like it. it is plain, but pretty.

there are fancier ones out there, but this serves its purpose, i just need it to haul my egg shells, coffee grounds, veggie scraps to the tumbler outdoors. it beats the old cool whip and coffee containers i had been using. now, the tumbler, dang, those puppies are expensive. the few we looked both at the local home store and online were over $150!! each. i don't think so. jamie's wheels started spinning and he got to making me a homemade jobbie.

first he rounded up a scrap barrel, wood, saw blades, steering wheel, pvc, etc... to get it going. so far, cost=free!

i think i might need a horn on that sucker....beep..beep!

then he bought two bearings=$16 not bad.....

awww, he tried to personalize it, no not really, it is part of an old road sign he used on the inside for support.

then he bought two cans of special plastic paint, in black, to draw the heat=$12, still not bad, so $28 later i get this!

i love it!!

it beats $150 any day! thanks honey. now we can churn some black gold for our raised veggie gardens. what? raised veggie gardens, wait till you see what he is cooking up for that one. stay tuned. meanwhile....

you girls get to pooping!! yea, like you need my encouragement. enjoy.

cheater's chocolate cake

cheater's chocolate cake is what i like to call this super moist, easy and delicious treat. cheater's because well, because you are simply taking a boxed cake mix to new heights and it will also blow you diet right out the water! chocolate, well, because you start with a devil's food cake mix and add chocolate pudding and dark chocolate chips! cake, well,  because it is cake! let me tell you this is sooooo good. i mean dang tasty, especially after sitting over night. it needs no adornment , no frosting, glazing, sprinkling, nothing, unless you have a dollop of good vanilla ice cream or freshly whipped cream. oh how that would be scrumptious.

okay, here is the stupid easy, but stupid good recipe. yes, i know it is full of not good for you kind of stuff, loaded with calories, not to mention fat, and so on, but what is your point?

cheater's chocolate cake

preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a bundt pan

in a bowl mix a devil food's cake mix( duncan hines), one cup semi-sweet chocolate chips(hershey special chips), one box of instant chocolate pudding(store brand, small box), one tbsp of instant coffee crystals(folgers), two eggs(backyard birds), one tsp of good vanilla extract and 1 3/4 cup of water. that is it. mix till mixed. pop into your pan and bake for about 45 minutes. if you do the toothpick test, don't be fooled by the melty chips in the cake, so don't over bake. use your nose to smell and look to see if it has pulled away from the pan.

enjoy!