April has flown by

Spring is such a busy time...it just flies by with weekly mowing, sprucing up flower beds, washing windows, and so forth.

I had started some seeds indoors...a few things for the vegetable garden, some hyacinth bean vines and seeds from a couple of different trees.

A couple of days after I had the seeds in their little cups, I came down stairs one morning to find dirt scattered and seeds missing.

It had to be the work of a mouse!

I found the hoard of seeds behind my stand mixer...some chewed open.  I just tossed them out, sanitized the whole area, replanted my seeds, and set mouse traps.

I caught two of them. I think that's all there are for now.

The pool guys were out and opened up the pool...

None of us have taken a dip yet, but I did have to scoop a poor drowned opossum out of there later that week.

I threw him over in the field not really thinking about it, then a couple of days later we had vultures flying low through the yard as they came in for a landing to have a tasty possum feast.

One was this black vulture, which I'm pretty sure is the one that was hanging around last summer. He seemed to remember that he could get a drink at the birdbath...

Then he studied the pool for a long time...    Please, no swimming!

Well, sorry to show you dead animals and scavengers!  Here is a cute baby squirrel to change things up. There's been about 4 or 5 of them scurrying around eating helicopters (maple tree seeds).

Not much time spent in the sewing room lately.

In the kitchen...a couple of new recipes.

I made these bars twice. Once for dessert on Sunday, then again for Lonnie to take for a potluck dinner at his bible class.

The recipe came from a Land O Lakes butter box so as you might imagine - it takes a lot of butter.

Really good though, sort of a toffee flavor.  Probably would be a good Christmas time treat too, but I think it's better to spread out the goodies throughout the year! 

And,

I bought a 10 pound bag of frozen chicken wings at Sam's, then searched the internet for ways to make Buffalo wings/hot wings.  

I knew I didn't want to fry them so I decided on this recipe " Crispy Oven Baked Chicken Wings ".

Basically, you toss the thawed wings in a mixture of baking powder and salt. This helps to draw the fat out of the skin so it will crisp up.  Bake at a low temperature for a while then at a high temperature for longer.

I wouldn't exactly say mine came out crispy but they definitely weren't soggy or greasy.

I had to order wire baking racks to use for this recipe.  I balked at buying a new kitchen item...I've done without them all this time.  But now that I have them I'm sure I'll find other uses for them.

We had the wings for Sunday dinner. Just before serving, I tossed them in a mixture of Frank's RedHot Sauce and butter.   My family liked them and there were plenty left over to send home with Chopper and the Sasquatch.

So, that about winds things up for April.   Rain in the forecast this week so maybe I will do some sewing.