Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Summer Adventures


These would be raspberry muffins. The first batch was eaten before I could take a picture which goes against everything I've said about nobody eating any bake goods that I make. The second batch...that would be the batch that is pictured was eaten by the dog this morning.
Paper and all!
I learned a great tip from Martha years ago about muffin baking. Twelve or more muffins can be a lot for my family. So I bake one half and freeze the other. I place the batter right in the muffin tin, freeze for a few hours and then pop the frozen muffins out of the tins and into a freezer bag. Add a little extra baking time and you have six fresh muffins in the am.
That is if your dog doesn't get to them first.

Yes, this is my cat...way up high! I first heard him crying in the woods so enlisted my oldest and his friend to help find him. I was afraid a fox or a coyote had injured him. To get to this tree we needed to walk through pricker bushes, overgrown grapevines (which I made a note of, since I'm always looking for grapevine in the Fall) and over fallen trees. Finally, Matt's friend spotted the cat in the tree. As I quickly looked to see if he was all right I told the boys that he would come down on his own. No problem they said as they took off for the house( they were loosing precious gaming time) leaving me in the prickers. Coming out of the woods I had to climb over an old root ball of a fallen tree. (note: I was not a happy mom at this point and the cat was crying hysterically as he watched me walk away.) I looked back, under the rootball and thought to myself what a great place for a rabid fox, raccoon or skunk to live...that's when I fell! Falling at age 46 is a whole lot different than falling at age 26. Swearing, I picked myself up and headed to the house, not caring what happened to the cat!
Ten minutes later I checked the tree and the cat was down...but not at the house. He didn't show up until 9:30 last night! It was if he had vanished into thin air. In fact, I actually googled "can hawks or eagles eat cats? ( I had visions of that scene in the Wizard of Oz when Toto gets carried away by the monkeys) "Which at this point I was hoping they did...and you know what they can! But our cat seems to have nine lives and came home to provide endless entertainment for our dog.

Enjoy the hostas! The deer have been good to them this year. My lilies..not so much!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

That kitty pic is too funny. (You can laugh about it now, right?) Ours has been doing disappearing acts as well. Great tip on the muffins! Who knew? Wishing you an uneventful evening. :)

sheepish one said...

wow Jane! that is an adventure. glad your cat is back home and safe.
i see your muffin tip and raise: i do the same thing with my cookie dough. i shape them, freeze them on the sheet, and then dump into a sealing bag. i'm sure you already know that one, though.
and we have a dog notorious for eating anything he can. if you leave cookies in a zip bag overnight, you can expect that he'll eat it, even the baggie. i've left sticks of butter out to soften for baking the next day only to find them later out in the lawn, you know, with additives, but still halfway wrapped. oy, that dog!
your post resonated with me, obviously. like kerstin, i wish you a calm evening!

Jane said...

Thanks Kerstin! I'm laughing and I wasn't sore today from the fall so I felt good about that! But boy did I feel old yesterday!

Anonymous said...

pets are overrated!
glad you weren't hurt during the fall. i hear you on the age thing.
our black lab, who has since passed, ate everything. oh, the stories! hope today was better.
btw, first project runway is on. do you watch?

MadMad said...

Whew! This is why I don't go outside... ;) Glad the kitty - and you - were OK!

a friend to knit with said...

well. i should have known to come over here for the cat story!!!
and that sounds like a doozie. i hope you are feeling okay!!
like melana. i freeze cookies like that. but never muffins. thanks for the tip!!

Jane said...

Hey t- thanks for reminding me about Project Runway. Love it and I caught the last half! Should be an interesting season!

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