Funeral Service

My sister's father-in-law, Mike McMackin, passed away on July 16th at the age of 74. After 20 years of attending various family functions where Mike & Donna also attended (birthday parties, 4th of July, Thanksgiving), they are just like family to us too. He will be missed. Besides being a very kind man and great story teller, Mike taught agriculture at SCC for 30 years, was a crop insurance adjuster, and was an avid gardener and train buff. After his service, Donna had an open house at their home. We were honored to help out. John set up the refreshments and watched the home during the memorial service and then I joined him to help serve. Their backyard was in full bloom, highlighting his love of gardening, and the train track he had built in the backyard was manned by his grand kids during the open house. Kathy asked to borrow some of our serving dishes and then asked if we had a good punch recipe. We gave her one that my sister-in-law had shared with me, so we refer to it as Nancy's punch.

NANCY'S PUNCH
10 cups water
6oz can frozen lemonade
6oz can frozen orange juice
1 ½ cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. almond extract
1 quart 7-up
Mix together, add ice & serve

Cherry Picking Kitty

We have a cherry tree in our back yard. John and I went out to pick cherries and kitty enjoyed batting one around for about 20 minutes.

ER for John!

John started having pains a few days ago and finally went to the doctor, who prescribed some antibiotics. He felt better the next day, but then woke up this morning with excruciating pain. It hurt to stand up, lay down, or sit. Pretty much everything was uncomfortable. While at work I got a phone call from Audrey telling me she was taking John to the emergency room. I immediately left work and met them there. John was in a lot of pain, but then they gave him Dilaudid via IV. The next thing we knew he was happy and relaxed and saying things like "Groovy" and "Oh....that's nice" and "This feels really, really cool". He decided it was a good thing he had never tried drugs before.... One of the staff came in & then wheeled him away to take a CT Scan. They brought him back and the doctor came in with the diagnosis = kidney stones. The doctor said that if they were bigger than 5mm they would zap them, but John's were only 3-4mm (he had two), so he would "GET" to pass them. They sent him home with a screen and a couple of prescriptions. He's now on the road to recovery.

Independence Day

We spent the morning making our Beth's Barbecue Beans, Flag Rice Krispie treats and the Flag Cake. Then we headed up to mom's for her 4th of July potluck. And true potluck it was! This year a lot of folks thought desserts sounded good, I guess we were all in a sweet-tooth mode. It was a nice turnout of family and friends. The day was beautiful, the yard looked great and the pool was cool - What more could you ask for? A nice way to celebrate the birth of our country!

BETH'S BEANS
1-2 pounds hamburger, browned & drained
1 green pepper, diced
1/2 onion, minced
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. ketchup
1/4 c. vinegar
1/4 c. maple syrup
1 TB prepared mustard
2 big cans Pork & Beans
1 can Texas BBQ beans

Heat on stove or in crock-pot.

Flag Cake

We also made this for the potluck. It was a lot of work, but worth the effort. It was delicious and pretty!!

It's a FLAG CAKE!!

BAKE:

• Red Velvet Cake: Mix according to directions on box. Bake 2-(8 inch) tiers
• White Cake: Mix according to directions on box. Separate batter and use 1/2 of batter to bake 1-(8 inch tier) in the white.
• Blue Velvet Cake: Use remaining white cake batter, add 1/2 TB cocoa powder, 1 tsp royal blue paste food coloring and a toothpickful of violet paste food coloring. Bake 1-(8 inch tier) in the blue.

Cut the white layer in half, lengthwise, so you have 2 layers.

Cut the red layers in half, lengthwise, so you have 4 layers.

Do not cut the blue layer.

Take a bowl (approximately 4 inches), place on one of the red velvet layers and cut so you have a 4 inch cake instead. Use the same guide and do this for 1 of the white cake layers. Now do the same for the full blue layer, except instead of pulling away the outer ring, you will pull out the middle.

At this point you should have: 2 (8 inch) and 1 (4 inch) red velvet cake layers, 1 (8 inch) and 1 (4 inch) white cake layer, and 1 hollow (8 inch) blue velvet cake layer that is twice the thickness of the other layers. You will have extra cake too.

Prepare your frosting. I used this recipe:

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

1 (80z) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar, make sure to sift
1-2 tablespoons milk
Dash vanilla

Place an 8 inch red velvet layer on your plate. Frost the top of the layer, place an 8 inch white cake layer on top, frost that, place a red velvet layer on top of that and frost the top. Place the Blue cake layer on top of the cake. Frost the inside of the blue ring. Then frost the 4 inch white cake layer and lower it into the middle of the blue velvet layer. Lower the 4 inch red velvet layer onto the top of the white layer in the blue velvet circle and ice the cake. Frost the outside of the cake (crumb coat) and put it in the fridge to cool before frosting the top coat.

Flag Rice Krispies

We made these to take up to mom's 4th of July potluck.


FLAG RICE KRISPIES

You will need to make three batches, using the recipe below:

2 TBS butter
2 cups marshmallows
3 cups Rice Krispies

Start each batch by melting down the butter & marshmallows:

BLUE: Add blue food coloring, stir in the Rice Krispies and press into a 9x9 pan (Line with wax paper and spray with Pam first).
RED: Add the red food coloring, stir in the Rice Krispies and press into 1/2 of a 9x13 pan. (Line the pan with wax paper and spray with Pam)
WHITE: Add the Rice Krispies and press into the other 1/2 of the 9x13 pan.

Once the Rice Krispy Treats have cooled, turn them out of the pans onto a cutting surface. Using a bread knife, cut the white and red into long strips about an inch wide. Cut a square from the blue treats and press into the top left corner of the larger pan. Add the red & white strips, alternating. Cutting & pressing where needed. Use a star shaped cookie cutter to cut a few stars out of the leftover plain Rice Krispy Treats, and then add them on top of the blue section of treats.

Note: John called it pink, beige and aqua treats since I did not use a lot of food coloring. Feel free to kick it up a notch so they are actually Red, White and Blue!!

Interview & Internship

Audrey decided she wanted to get a job or internship that would directly relate to her future education and career. Besides applying to movie theatres and those type of businesses, she sent some communication to the Rockin' B Ranch. Emails were exchanged right before our road trip and an interview was set up for today. They offered her the (unpaid) internship at the end of her interview and asked if she would start tonight. So between the interview and when she had to be back, we went shopping for some cowboy attire - boots, hat and a shirt. She will be working alongside the light and sound person. She'll be getting a lot of good hands-on experience this summer that she can use in the future. Plus she gets to have a bit of the yummy meal each night she works! To see where she will be every Thursday, Friday and Saturday, you can go to their website - http://rockinbranch.com/


The Cowboy Supper Show $39

5:30pm - Doors Open with local musicians playing.

6:10pm - Outdoor entertainment including an authentic fake Western Shootout!

7:00pm - Supper Served, including:
• BBQ Beef roast
• BBQ Grilled chicken
• BBQ Pork spareribs
• Cornbread with butter
• Pinto beans
• Baked potato
• Applesauce
• Spice cake
• Lemonade
• BBQ sauce

8:00pm - The Main Stage Show: Riders of the Rockin’ B include musicians Scott & Pamela Brownlee, JayDean Ludiker, Sam Mazzola, and Gordon Grove. "And special this year: watch out for Dusty – he’s back with Rindercella, a tale for the kids in all of us, loaded with high def spoonerisms!"