batten down the hatches
looks like northern weather coming to the south
free ecookbook, yummy

Creatively Simple ~ how to Make Homemade Enchiladas
We moved from Southern California to Tennessee in the late fall of 1993. It was a wonderful new place except for one thing. We had grown up on Mexican food. Not American style fast food Mexican but authentic, miles from the border California style Mexican food. There was no good Mexican food in Tennessee. So I made it myself. Then I taught my daughters. Then we had more daughters and they learned to cook better than me. And they got better and better. And now that there are plenty of Mexican restaurants in Tennessee, we still can’t find one that tastes as good as our daughters cook. So I followed Georgia around the kitchen with my camera just to get this incredible information for you!
follow this link to my bookstore where you can get this free!
oh and more
you can get the last freebie of the day at my bookstore
http://pennyraine.com/bookstore
new news
I have been posting mostly at my other blog http://pennyraine.com/blog but i wanted to make sure I got you in on things here. I had a new ebook released a cuple weeks ago on www.HomeschoolFreebieOfTheDay.com and have another coming this Friday. And next Monday starts my Big Blog Party Giveaway Week!
So don't miss it, I will be back with more details and some new posts later. :)
Nashville is out of gas
Well, someone, nobody knows who, started a rumor yesterday that Nashville was runnng out of gas. That sent folks running to the gas stations, and now Nashville is out of gas. What is it about Tenneseeans and gas rumors? After the last scare that sent prices through the roof (and now the attorney general is checking things out), you would think we had learned our lesson around here. But no folks, lets try it again just to make sure. So, even though we are an hour away from Nashville and the tank is near empty, I think I will still stay home and wait it out. After all, we got horses if it gets really bad. Which brings up another bit of sad news. It's raining. After consulting the weather schedule and seeing 10 days of sun in store, we cut hay. And it is on the ground. And it is raining. Hay that gets wet after cutting is pretty much worthless. 
a better weather report here in mid TN
we have been rationing water again, so I was glad to see this today if you have ever had to ration water, you know it is no fun, we have several springs, actually usually too many, but during a drought it can get bad, the spring that fills the pond/lake stopped, there is still one watering spot in the back pasture, and a very good spring that flows into the creek nd watering hole in the front pasture but the one that serves the house has slowed to a trickle, which means we use iy only for drinking water, all washing and bathing water must be toted from the creek, everybody is getting strong :) but help is on the way!
...HEAVY RAINFALL IS EXPECTED ACROSS PARTS OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT...
ABUNDANT MOISTURE ASSOCIATED WITH TROPICAL DEPRESSION FAY WILL BRING THE POTENTIAL FOR HEAVY RAINFALL TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT...MAINLY TO SOUTH AND EAST PORTIONS OF THE MID STATE. RAINFALL TOTALS IN EXCESS OF 4 INCHES WILL BE POSSIBLE FOR LOCATIONS SUCH AS CROSSVILLE...MCMINNVILLE AND MANCHESTER.
THE CENTER OF TROPICAL DEPRESSION FAY WILL REMAIN OVER SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI THROUGH MOST OF MONDAY...THEN IT WILL ACCELERATE NORTHEASTWARD. THE REMNANTS OF FAY WILL CROSS TENNESSEE...AND MOVE INTO EASTERN KENTUCKY BY WEDNESDAY MORNING. AS FAY CROSSES THE REGION... BANDS OF SHOWERS WILL DEVELOP...WITH HEAVY RAINFALL AT TIMES.
ACROSS THE MID STATE...RAINFALL TOTALS ARE EXPECTED TO RANGE FROM ONE HALF TO 1 INCH IN THE NORTHWEST...TO 4 INCHES OR MORE IN THE SOUTHEAST. THE NASHVILLE AREA IS EXPECTED TO RECEIVE 1 TO 2 INCHES OF RAIN.
THIS RAINFALL WILL PROVIDE SOME WELCOME RELIEF TO DROUGHT CONDITIONS THAT HAVE IMPACTED MUCH OF THE AREA. HOWEVER...HEAVY RAINFALL IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME CAN CAUSE FLOODING... ESPECIALLY IN URBAN AREAS AND ALONG SMALL STREAMS. PLEASE MONITOR UPDATED FORECASTS AND STATEMENTS...WHICH WILL CONTAIN MORE DETAILS ON WHERE AND WHEN THE HEAVIEST RAINFALL WILL OCCUR...AND THE POTENTIAL FOR FLOODING.
hot hot hot

busy and HOT!
it is going to be a VERY busy day here in blogland, on my Penny Raine blog I have several more bloggy give aways, and abig sale for those who didn’t win and still want to get in on those goodies, and Crystal’s sale is $3 more but still a VERY god deal, like 85% off normal, and I have all of these contests to get organized, and one of the things I do every morning is check the weather report, and I got this
A LARGE AREA OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD ACROSS THE TENNESSEE VALLEY OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS BRINGING A PROLONGED PERIOD OF VERY HOT WEATHER TO THE REGION. THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK…AFTERNOON TEMPERATURES WILL RUN BETWEEN 4 AND 8 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL… WITH HIGH TEMPERATURES TOPPING OUT IN THE MIDDLE TO UPPER 90S. THESE ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES…COMBINED WITH HIGH HUMIDITY LEVELS…WILL MAKE FOR EXCESSIVELY HOT AND POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS CONDITIONS FOR THOSE WITH EXTENDED EXPOSURE TO THE OUTDOORS. AT THIS TIME…IT APPEARS THAT THE HIGHEST HEAT INDICES WILL OCCUR ON SATURDAY WHERE READINGS MAY RANGE BETWEEN 105 TO 110 DEGREES DURING THE AFTERNOON.
ohhh pluheease!
What is this?
Did I tell you what I found growing in my horse pasture? Here is a picture, see if you can tell what it is. 
There are at least 7-8 patches of it with several plants in each patch.
oops, this was the last post, only part showed up
I am having an income/outgo party on my other blog, please come visit!
101 ways to save money and 101 ways to make money
http://www.pennyraine.com/blog
high prices hurting ya?
I am having an income/outgo party on my other blog, please come visit!
101 ways to save money and 101 ways to make money
http://www.pennyraine.com/blog
current Raine events
just in case anybody is keeping up with such things….. it is 10:13 Monday morning, 85 degrees and 65% humidity… the high today is supposed to be in the mid ’90’s …we have 1100 square bales cut, baled and picked up, about another 150 to pick up…… then we pray for rain :)
God is already in agreement …. the forcast tomorrow is a high of 83 and scattered thunderstorms …. oh that will feel good
oh, and Angela, before you cook a chicken in the car you have to gut it and either de-skin or de-feather it, then stick in a pan with seasonings and …. uh ….. cook away, love you girl! and I would have paid YOU to take those orphan socks!
and somebody tell me …. what is the point of Twitter?
hay hay heyday- the harvest is ripe
It is hot, hot, hot here. Did I tell you it is hot? And humid, and stuffy, typical TN summer weather. But Is it summer yet? I thought it was still spring. Oh well. And we got hay hay hay! I didn’t think this family would ever be tired of hay. You know how ya do something so much you see it when you close your eyes? Well, yep we see hay. After last years drought we prayed there would be so much hay this year that the greedy farmers who were so rude last year wouldn’t be able to sell it all this year. And you know what? God heard us. Now if the price of deisel would go down it would be nice. I was thinking the other day how much work it is to bring in a harvest. It doesn’t matter what kind of harvest it is, you have to get it while it is ripe. There has to be workers and there has to be barns. Or it will be wasted. And only God knows when it will be an over abounding harvest. This is a fruitful year here. More fruit than we can process, more hay than we can cut and put up. And it is only June 7. You cannot rest during harvest season. You cannot prepare. All of that has to be done in advance. There is no planting or pruning once things are ripe, by then, what is done is done.
Are you ready for a harvest in your life?

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Matthew 9-37-38
hay while the sun shines
When you live on a farm in the south most things depend on the weather and what is ripe. Well, the other day we were all ready to go look at a couple of Arabian mares that were available for trade. There have been plenty of horses for free around here the last year especially since the drought. Often we will get them and train them and then trade or sell them. But Arabians we would love to get to keep. Well, we were all ready to go when our favorite neighbor calls to see if we can help him get some hay up. We are always on call to help him with anything. For one reason he is elderly and it is right to help your neighbors. For 2 he is the smartest farmer we have ever met and he has a wealth of wisdom he will share with anyone who is willing to learn. And we are eager to learn. He is in his late 80’s and his wisdom is worth more than a college degree and besides he is a really neat guy and we love him. So we dropped our plans and instead of looking at Arabian horses we looked at this. Hay. Fortunately I was the one who got to drive the tractor and the strong youngins behind me were loading and stacking hundreds of bales of hay on the hay wagon we were pulling. There is no prettier site to a TN farmer the year after a drought that this.
We eventually got to go see the horses. They were very sweet but looked like they might be “hard keepers” meaning high maintenance and we realy hadn’t made up our mind on that yet. Who knows if they have ever been ridden but Beau and Georgia of course jumped right on. A horse can sense if a rider has fear and will respond, but if you are a sure rider they draw off of your confidence and feel secure. They felt very secure.

my daughters wedding

you can read about it at http://www.faithlovehonor.com/ click on the tab at the top that says “the Wedding”
Southern Fried Catfish
catfish — eggs- beaten — cornmeal mix (cornmeal and flour) — Tony Chacheres creole seasoning
hot vegtable oil in skillet or deep fryer
mix some of the seasoning in a plate of cornmeal mix, dip catfish pieces in egg then in cormeal mix, then fry till crispy

what egg and mix you have left can be all stirred up together and dropped by spoonfuls into the hot oil to make hushpuppies
Hannah’s correction- (she cooks better than me) put some of the seasoning in the egg mixture also
holiday eatin
Well hubby thinks it is illegal to eat anything other than hamburgers, hot dogs, and homemade potato salad on any kind of American holiday. So guess what we are eating today? After we put up hundreds of square bales of hay. You guessed it, hamburgers, hot dogs (sausages really) and homemade potato salad, along with Georgia’s famous homemade ice cream made with our farm fresh milk. But our dear neighbor called yesterday as he often does from his boat on the Tennessee River, (praise the Lord for country folks with cell phones!) telling us to stop by later. This guy knows how to fish. He brought home 260 pounds of catfish. And shared more than half with us. There are over 30 fish and they are 2 feet long. Most of them we cleaned and put in the freezer.
I was going to share another gross science lesson with you since some of the fish were full of eggs but my camera ran out of battery power so that will have to wait till next time. But for now, yes today we are eating burgers but can you guess what we are eating tomorrow? Southern fried catfish. Mmmmm.
Arabian Horses
Well we are off to check on another great find. This was not through freecycle but actually through the website “swap n shop” of a local radio station. I was checking on something for someone else when I saw an ad for 2 Arabian horses. My family will convince you that the Arabian is God’s original horse, and obviously their very favorite. Well the ad went on saying great things but then when I got to the end I became everyone’s hero as I read out loud, “asking such and such OR WILL TRADE FOR PONIES!!!” Well ponies I got, lots of them! These very kind folks came by yesterday and are of course in love with my ponies, I mean who wouldn’t be, they are adorable. So we are going to look at these Arabians, I will take my camera and report back later.
when I get a front spot in the parking lot at Walmart I always exclaim, “God loves me!” we’ll see if my youngins are saying the same today, I have a feeling they will be 
uuugghh coyotes
I got no sleep again last night. The coyotes are coming closer than ever. our dear Great Pyreneese dogs are working overtime. They sleep in the pasture and guard the horses. we still have more foals coming so when I hear howling I get concerned. Last night I could tell they were right at the fence, the fence between the house and the pasture, the dogs ran them off pretty fast but we can't figure out why they keep coming back.. We have plenty of neighbors not far off that don't have dogs guarding their livestock, so why do they keep coming here only to get beat up?
next in line - Dixie
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