It's Finally Spring!

Spring has finally come to the Black Hills!

Jan here, taking you on a visit to Wind Cave National Park.

We went before the rain showers showed up late last week, so the grass is still pretty brown (it's last year's dormant grass,) but you can see the new green shoots in places, like in this prairie dog town.

No, those aren't prairie dogs...

This time of year, the bull bison hang out together in small groups while the cows are off in their own large herds having cinnamon-colored babies.

Isn't this guy impressive? He's filling out on the fresh green grass and shedding his winter coat. He's building his muscles, getting ready for the rut that starts in late July. But until then, it's wallowing in the dust, sleeping in the sun, and watching the occasional tourist.

We went hiking on this lovely spring day, and chose a trail we've driven past but have never hiked. No puppies this time, though. Dogs aren't allowed on the back country trails in the national park.

Our hike took us from the national park service road and trailhead parking lot, across rolling meadows (where we saw plenty of bison in the distance) and up to the top of this ridge.

We had topped the ridge and began walking down the other side, when we heard a sudden snort and scramble.

We had surprised one of those small groups of bull bison.

You never, never want to surprise a bull bison.

I zoomed in on one of them. See that raised head? Those ears turned our way? The eyes zeroing in on a couple foolish people who dared to invade his space?

We were at least 200 feet away from them (a safe distance is 100 feet,) so we turned around and walked back down the trail toward our truck, talking all the way so they could hear us leaving.

We didn't have any problems with them, but we didn't continue any farther along the trail. And I wouldn't even say it was a close call...but it could have been.

Later in the week we came across this guy walking along the road in Custer State Park.

As we got closer to him, the top of his shoulders reached nearly to the top of the window on our truck. I wanted to get a better picture of him on this narrow road, but as we drew up next to him, he turned his head, backed up a step, and looked at us with that huge, dark, intelligent eye.

And I got a very good look at the set of very pointy and very large horns that were tilting toward us menacingly.

No picture. No chatting. We just drove on by.

Man, those are formidable beasts.

But with all of this, we did get our first glimpse of South Dakota's state flower.

These are pasque flowers, or prairie crocus. They bloom around Easter every year (hence the name) and are so beautiful.

Closer to home, we have at least a dozen western meadowlarks nesting around our house. Their song is thrilling!

Turn the volume up!

Yes, spring is finally here.

Jan Drexler is an author by day who is addicted to counted cross stitch and sauntering through the Hills with her dear husband and their puppies - goofy corgi Jack and growing-fast border collie Sam. You can find Jan's books and other fun things on her website: www.JanDrexler.com.

The Quickest Salads for Lunch

Jan here, still crunching my November deadline. Even though I have a two week extension, whether I meet it or not is still pretty dicey.

It's a good thing I work well under pressure!

And again it means that I have done no cooking this week. We have leftover soups in the freezer that I heat up in my Insta-Pot on cold evenings...and yes, once this deadline is over, I'll talk about freezer meals that don't take an entire Saturday to prepare, but we'll have to wait for a couple weeks.

Meanwhile, my lunches are quick and nutritious. I either heat up leftovers from the night before, or I make myself a salad. I need to get more of these salads I discovered a few years ago. They've saved my lunches more times than I can count!

The Quickest Salads for Lunch

I think you might know by now that I love spending time in the kitchen, cooking for my family and friends...

...but occasionally I have a day when time is a premium.

Like when I'm in the middle of rewriting a proposal for the third time.

Or when inspiration hits and I just CAN'T step away from the computer, even though my stomach is telling me my time on this earth is going to expire if I don't send something down SOON!

On those days, I usually resort to a spinach/cheese omelette (about 15 minutes prep, but very satisfying), or PB&J (about 5 minutes prep, but not satisfying at all).

And then I found these at Sam's Club last week:

I usually pass by items like this, but that day they were giving out samples (don't you just love those samples!), and I thought, I think it's time for some convenience foods....

I started with the Asian mix (yes, I bought one of each!). When I opened the package, this is what I found:

The veggies are a blend of cabbage, carrots and cilantro (mmm, I love that cilantro...). The dressing is an Asian style sesame/ginger dressing (with no MSG - I checked), and then there were little rice snack thingies and slivered almonds to use for a garnish.

The package said there were 3.5 servings, with 120 calories per serving. I split the contents in half - which gave me a humongous salad for Thursday and another one for our Father's Day picnic yesterday.

The view during our picnic on Father's Day :)

And it was delicious.

How much time did it take? About 3 minutes, including stopping to take photos!

And then I revised another scene of my new story while I ate my lunch.

I'll be eating the Garden Salad version this week - probably Tuesday and Thursday.

:) I love it when I have lunches all planned out!


And, of course, Monday wouldn't be complete without a gratuitous puppy picture!

Thatcher, 11 weeks

* * * * * * * * * * 

Back to 2017! Isn't that picture of Thatcher adorable? I can't believe he grew up so fast.

Working on a tight deadline can be stressful, but having meals planned and prepared removes a LOT of that stress.

So does a Saturday afternoon hike in the Hills....

Sunset in Custer State Park

...and a drive through a couple of our local parks.

What is your favorite stress reliever?

Jan Drexler loves her family, her home, cooking and just about anything made by hand. But she loves her Lord most of all.

Stop by Jan's website to learn more about her books: www.JanDrexler.com

Easy Deep Dish Apple Pie

Jan here, and yes! I did name this post EASY deep dish apple pie.

Easy as pie :)

Here's the recipe:

Easy Deep Dish Apple Pie

Ingredients:

4 or 5 apples - I used Granny Smith and Braeburn, but you can use your favorite

2 teaspoons cinnamon
3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar

pie crust for a double crust pie, homemade or whatever :) (make it easy!)


Okay, start here: preheat your oven to 350°.

Next, get your pie crust ready. If you're using a ready made one, you're all set. If you're making your own, roll out the bottom crust so it's ready to use.

Find your favorite deep pan. I used my 10" cast iron skillet, but you could use a 9" x 9" baking dish.

Cut your apples into 1/2" chunks.

I use this handy gadget to slice and core the apples:

And then I cut the slices into chunks. Put the chunks in a bowl of water mixed with a couple tablespoons lemon juice until you're ready to use them.

Next, heat the 1/2 cup butter in your skillet until it's melted, add the 1 cup packed brown sugar. Heat the brown sugar and butter together - stirring constantly - for about one to two minutes. Remove from heat.

Remember, if you're baking your pie in a baking dish, cook your butter and brown sugar in a separate skillet!

Lay the bottom crust in the pan, on top of the brown sugar mixture.

Yes, you read that right. The crust goes on top of the brown sugar/butter.

Drain the apple chunks, and mix them with the 2 teaspoons cinnamon and 3/4 cup sugar. Pour the apples into the crust, and then top with another crust.

And yes, we went all rustic with this pie.

Pop it in the oven and bake at 350° for 1 hour to 1 1/4 hour. Cover the pie loosely with foil for the last several minutes of baking to keep the crust from getting too brown.

And here's what it looks like fresh out of the oven. Beautiful, isn't it?

And we served it after church Sunday night. Everybody loved it :)

So, why the pie?

Because it's time to celebrate!!!! How many of us had deadlines on Friday or Saturday? I turned in my book right on time, so I made pie, and we spent Saturday enjoying the Hills.

We drove south to Wind Cave National Park. It was a beautiful day, and we saw plenty of wildlife.

Here are a couple of the Wind Cave bison:

That grass is pretty brown, isn't it? One thing about the short grass prairie is that the grass goes dormant about half way through the summer. Not dead, not dried out - it just stops growing. Because it isn't dried out, all the nutrients are captured in the grass and provide fabulous nutrition for the animals who depend on it all winter long.

Another thing about the Wind Cave bison is that they're more genetically pure than their neighbors in Custer State Park, just to the north.

I'm sure you know that the bison were nearly extinct in the late 1800's. One of the practices used to save the species was to breed them with cattle.

Any wildlife biologists out there? Genetic diversity is key to a healthy population, and that was the idea behind the cross breeding.

So some herds are more pure bison than others, and the Wind Cave bison's purity is somewhere in the high 90% range.

Look at the difference:

Wind Cave bison

Custer State Park bison. Don't mind the specks on the
picture - I took this one in May, and the bugs were
out in force!

From the shape of the horns to the depth and color of the mane, you can tell a real difference between these two. Just look at the front legs - see the heavy coat on the Wind Cave guy?

But differences or not, bison are bison, and I love watching them, wherever they live :)