Ware the Falling Bison?

There's a national park an hour from our house and we finally got around to going up there.  Why is it you can never find time to go see things near home that others drive hundreds of miles to see?  Anywho, I was rather appalled at the lack of a certain type of warning sign.  There were the commonplace: 'don't feed the prairie dogs, watch for falling rocks, and don't get trampled by bison,' signs, but there was certainly a dearth of vitally needed signage.  The park was gorgeous and well worth the visit, all hills, cliffs, and deep gullies.  The problem was that the ubiquitous bison like to perch precariously on said cliffs, often over the road, while trying to reach a certain desired bit of greenery.  Forget the rocks, watch for falling bison!  In this world where every plastic bag must be labeled as deadly to children, I thought this oversight rather amusing, not that said buffalo have likely ever fallen on anyone, but it was rather impressive looking straight up and seeing a buffalo grazing twenty feet overhead.

How not to treat the stomach flu...

My toddler has had a rather remarkable childhood: he almost made his third birthday without acquiring worse than the common cold, but sadly on the eve of this all important birthday, he broke with a 101.5(F) fever.  Being the wise and thoughtful parent that I am, I immediately diagnosed it as appendicitis and began deciding what to pack for an ER visit, but thankfully I took a few deep breathes and calmed myself by reading a few dispassionate paragraphs in a medical text devoted to pediatric medicine, discovering that the third birthday is vital to the severity and treatment of fever-inducing maladies, thus I rounded up by a few hours, seeing as fevers in children 36 months and older are less fraught with interesting and scary diseases than in those less than 36 months of age.  This indifferent and unemotional text banished my bout of 'mommy panic' and brought me back to the stunning conclusion that we were in the throes of either a GI upset or an upper respiratory condition, rather than an acute abdominal crisis.

But that is where my wisdom gave out, for even in his overly warm state, said patient demanded footie pajamas and 3 large fuzzy blankets, here after to be referred to as mistake number one.  Then at 2am, he wanted some water, and after repeated draughts, we then decided maybe he should sleep with us (mistakes two and three respectively).  Thus our overly hot, questionable stomach full of water, small person moved into our bed, only to regurgitate said water (and some undigested cheese from supper) all over the people involved in this little drama.  This was also when I discovered he was red as a beet and pushing 103 on the heat index…hmmm.

We removed layers, filled up the washing machine, cleaned up all persons involved, and administered a child approved anti-inflammatory, allowing us to sleep the rest of the night and amazingly dropping his temperature about 4 degrees!  This is what happens when you let your sad/pathetic small sick person override your wiser self.  Bad mommy!  Today has been better, now that I remember who is actually in charge around here and no longer let my toddler make his own medical decisions.

On parenting and theology

I ran across this article and thought it was spot on as both a parent and a child of God, way to multitask!

Peach Puffed Oven Pancake

In the age of the internet and those 'every recipe you can ever imagine' sites, I wonder why I keep such a collection of eclectic cookbooks, everything from a 4-H cookbook from the mid-90's to which I was a hopeful contributor to an inherited cookbook from my great-grandmother's church in the early '80's, perhaps it is mere sentimentality but I find these recipe collections both interesting and sometimes inspiring, after all when you have 10,000 recipes at your fingertips, how do you decide what to make when you can simply page through one of these little books and discover something new every time.  This recipe is adapted from said 4-H cookbook.  You can use a different type of fruit and it doesn't seem to matter if it is fresh, frozen, or canned.

Preheat over to 400 (F) and place a round cake pan or cast iron skillet inside, when heated through, add 1/4 cup butter and allow to melt.

While over is preheating, mix together:

3/4 c flour
3/4 c milk
4 eggs
1/4 c sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla

(I did halve the batter recipe as I was making this for one person).

Once the butter melts, pour in 2-3 cups of peaches (I used a small can of sliced peaches), sprinkle generously with cinnamon, and then top with batter.  Bake until puffed, golden, and set in the middle.  It will have almost a custard consistency and be a little crunchy around the edges.  Enjoy!