Our Fire Story

As I sit here writing this it still doesn't seem real.

I can remember every detail of the barn inside and out, I remember where every screwdriver and and nail was. I could basically take care of the chickens and goats with my eyes closed. And as much as I don't want it to be true, it is. On Monday March 25 2013 at 8:30 in the morning my big sister woke up to see our barn engulfed in flames. She immediately woke me up and ran downstairs and while opening the door decided it would be a good idea to open it directly into her face and get a bloody nose. While she called 911 I woke up my dad and he immediately ran outside in his underwear (TMI?).. Me and my big sister stood on the porch sobbing our eyes out while watching our barn burn down along with 4 goats (3 of them were little babies) and all my chickens (besides the 3 that were in our basement 'hospital ward" and single duck.

Here is out building set up:

Made by my sister.

The corn crib is the building that burnt down. The side of the tool shed that is closest to the corn crib caught on fire but the firemen put it out. If it had fully caught on fire all of the other buildings would have eventually gone with it (including the house.)

An awesome lady we know was driving up on the highway and saw the black smoke and texted us to see if we were all okay and when we told her what was going on she texted her mom who came over and took me and my lil sis to her house to get us away from all the chaos. She told me this story that one of her daughters told her and I really liked it. 

The story was:
There was once a Chinese man and his stallion got out and ran away, his neighbors said "Oh what bad luck!" the Chinese man said "It is neither good luck nor bad luck, anything could come of this."

A few days later the stallion came back with a whole herd of stallions with it. The neighbors said "Oh what good luck!" The Chinese man said "It is neither good luck nor bad luck, anything could come of this."

One day his son tried riding one of the stallions but got flung off and broke both of his legs. The neighbors said "Oh what bad luck!" And he said "it is neither good luck nor bad luck, anything could come of this."

A couple days later the Chinese Army came looking for all able bodied men to join the army, but since his son had two broken legs he did not have to go.

So basically it was kind of like the barn burning down was bad luck, but the chickens that we had in the basement was good luck.


Here are the before, during and after photos of the barn:

I have been out there several times and there is basically nothing left. I found a few tools and the toolbox. But literally nothing.

You may have realized that I have kept blogging since the fire like everything was normal. It has been a bit of a welcomed distraction. I will keep blogging but maybe just missing a few posts a week.

I am already planning a new chicken pen, and will be getting some new hens. I want at most 10 total.


Thank you so much for all of your support :)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Surprises

YUM! If you saw my SHS post this weekend you know that I was looking forward to posting this recipe.

And the day is finally here! I want to get right to it so you can hopefully go make them!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup granulated sugar (plus more for rolling)

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup creamy peanut butter, divided  into 3/4 and 1/4
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used extra)

1 egg

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1. Mix 3/4 cup powdered sugar and 3/4 cup peanut butter until fluffy and combined. Roll small balls and freeze on a cookie sheet.

2. Preheat oven to 375.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. 

4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together sugars, butter and 1/4 cup of peanut butter until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and egg, beating to combine. Stir in the flour mixture and stir to combine, blending well. Set aside.

5. Pull off a heaping tablespoon of cookie dough and flatten with your hands. Take 1 peanut butter ball and place it in the center of the chocolate dough. Wrap the chocolate dough around the peanut butter center, pressing to seal. Roll the cookie into a ball and roll the cookie in the sugar. Place cookies on the prepared baking sheet 2 inches apart. Using the bottom of a glass, flatten each cookie to about a 1/2 inch thickness.

(note if you let the peanut butter balls freeze completely you will most likely not be able to successfully flatten them.)

6. Bake in preheated oven for 7 to 9 minutes. Let stand on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then remove to a wire rack.

Recipe adapted from Sweet Pea's Kitchen

Rating 5 stars. These were AMAZING!