The boys taking a nap...

Manufactures are now making dog toys without stuffing (except the head) which is good for our boys who love to "pull the squeaker." So Mary took all the stuffed animals, pulled the stuffing (expect the heads) and sewed up the bodies - What we will do for our boys! Mom - I am thinking about making jacket next.

We did find some of these new fangled stuffed animals at the store in Seward but they were bigger than our boys and we got scared...hence the making them ourselves.

Bruno waiting patiently for the "new toys" to be finished.

Christmas present from Heidi and Bill...love them! If you have been following the weather - it is cold, cold, cold up north. We came home to the longest cold spell on record. Seward (with the wind chill) has been sitting about -25!


Heidi gave me three vanilla beans from Tahiti and said something about rum and making vanilla. After checking "the web" here is my vanilla in the making. (in a dark cupboard of course)



Here is the scoop on Vanilla making...

3 whole vanilla beans - sliced length wise but not all the way through

1 cup Rum (you can use Vodka or Brandy but Rum makes for sweeter vanilla)

Combine the two (best in a glass jar), place in a dark place and in 8 weeks you will have vanilla extract. The vanilla can be poured off into smaller bottles and given away as gifts.

Leaving a vanilla bean in the bottle allows you to continually replenish your supply. (Or putting one in each gift bottle) When the bottle is half empty, fill with rum and wait a couple of weeks for the vanilla extract to rebuild its flavor.

Check out this website for more information - best source I found!http://www.kitchenproject.com/vanilla/4FoldVanillaExtract.htm