Missing Our Martin-Cat

We lost a very important member of our family on Monday night. After 5 months of dealing with kidney problems, invasive surgery, a handful of complications, and a whole lot of ups and downs, Martin died on Monday night.


There aren’t quite the words to express what Martin meant to us…

Decorating for Fall

I love fall. It’s my favorite season! The weather here in Indiana turned to fall about 2 weeks ago, and then it warmed right back up again last week. (Dani came to visit from New Hampshire, and thought it was still summer here!) This morning, it was pretty cool, and I’m hoping it stays that way for the rest of the season! (It gives this 9-month pregnant lady a nice break from the heat!)

Last year, my fall decorations were all about the mums. This year, we had a phenomenal year for pumpkins in our garden, so it’s all about the pumpkins!

Stay or Go Burritos

The fall tends to be a busy time for farmers. It’s harvest season! This means lots of long days, complete with very early mornings and very late nights. No matter when harvest starts, it always seems as if farmers are in a race against the weather to get the crops in and stored before it gets too cold or too wet.

Lucky for me, Farmer Doc and I don’t raise crops. We raise cattle, and run a veterinary practice. So this time of year isn’t quite so busy for us. But, we do get hit in the spring and summer when it’s time to work the cattle (vaccines, deworming, artificially inseminating, checking for pregnancy, and later working the calves) and harvest and bale the hay all at the same time!

Butternut Squash Soup

One of the yummy vegetables we planted in our garden this year was butternut squash. (Actually, technically, I think these are a fruit? Ah well. It doesn’t really matter.) Our butternut squash plants didn’t fair too well… they got attacked by some strange wilt disease. But we did manage to get about 6-8 squash to play with. I tossed one into this Garden Veggie Stew, and made most of the rest into soup!