Life at Willis Creek Ranch: March 2023

Friday, March 31, 2023

Corn and Zucchini Pie

March 2023

Corn and Zucchini Pie

4 Tbsp. butter

half an onion, diced (I used more)

2 ears sweet corn (I used frozen corn because it is what I had this time)

2 large zucchini, sliced very thinly (about 4 cups)

8 ounces mushrooms (I left out this time but will use next time)

1 Tbsp. dried basil

1 tsp. dried oregano

½ tsp. salt

12 oz. shredded cheese (mix of Mozzarella and Swiss or whatever cheese you prefer)

4 eggs, beaten (I just used 3)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Heat butter in a large, deep skillet over medium high heat. Add onions, zucchini and mushrooms and saute. Cut corn off cob and then add to the pan of veggies. Saute for about 5-10 minutes or until they reach the level of softness you want. (not too much) Remove from heat.

Let the mixture cool for a few minutes, then stir in the basil, oregano, salt, cheese, and beaten eggs. Prepare a pie pan (I just used a casserole dish) and pour the mixture in the pan. You may arrange a few remaining zucchini slices on the top so it looks nice (I clearly didn't do this). :) Top with a little extra cheese if you like, then cover and bake for 20 minutes. Remove cover and bake for an additional 5 minutes to brown the top a bit. Let stand for 10-15 minutes before cutting into.

We served this with Baked Flounder with Parmesan Crumbs

Random March

Photos that haven't made their way into any other post for the month of March 2023.

March 3, 2023

Jackson got a new tattoo in Columbia. While I may not be the biggest fan of tattoos overall, this is very artistic. It was designed by a friend of his.

March 6, 2023

Daddy went to this concert on his own. I am so glad he was able to attend. Julie had planned to go with him but she ended up leaving town earlier than expected. I was pretty sick at this point so could not have gone. But Daddy texted me this photo when he got home from the concert. He really enjoyed it. Dominic is the son of one of Daddy's best friends so he had extra reason for wanting to attend.

March 14, 2023

Goose loves his new fluffy pillow!

March 16, 2023

Kerry got his Harry S Truman Stetson Open Road hat. Looks good on him!

March 23, 2023

Daddy went for a walk at Truman and sent this selfie. He was near Magruder Hall. I love that! He sure looks good!

March 23, 2023

This is the skid steer that is coming to Jackson's place after Jeremy bought it at Lolli's. It is used by in good shape and with low hours so hopefully will be really good.

March 27, 2023

I was finally doing the big clean out of the hall bathroom closet and came across these old chair covers that Mama made for me many years ago. They truly worked so well! We could put them on the chairs and they looked nice and then we could throw them in the washing machine. They got us through the younger years of the boys! I was so torn on keeping these but finally realized that I have to let go of some things... so hard when it is something my dear Mama made. So I took some photos (more than shown here) and then let them go. I love and miss Mama so very much. I was so blessed to have her.

I was (and still am!) super excited about how organized the bathroom closet is now! I took every item out of that closet (good grief there was a lot stuffed in there!) and then sorted what to keep, what to toss and what to donate. Then organized the items I determined should go back in the closet. One of my favorite things is sorting all the sheets into these bins. Sheets have been the bane of my existence! I think it should be a law that ALL sheets are labeled with Twin, Full, Queen, and King. Not just measurements or no information at all! :) So now they are all washed and sorted and organized and I am so much happier already. :) Plus, we ended up with several sets of sheets to donate.

It may not look like much to you, but trust me... if you have ever opened this bathroom closet you will KNOW how different this looks! :D Everything is organized and in its place. (oh, I love those bins!) Kind of like when I organized our pantry, I keep walking in the bathroom and just opening the doors to admire it all. :D

March 27, 2023

Jonathan noticed there were a bunch of deer at Julie's garden. I guess their favorite organic buffet is now open for the season. sigh... I stepped out and they did at least run away, but that let us see there are about 10 of them. :) Good grief!

March 30/31, 2023

These photos were technically taken on March 31 but it was just after midnight. :) I love having visits with Jonathan (and Goose) no matter the day or time!

March Weather

March 11, 12, 31, 2023

Weather - why do I love it so?

March 2

Hope of spring

March 11

We started seeing snow flurries mid-afternoon - about 3:45 pm. yuck. You can't really see it in these photos, but it was there.

Then by 6:00 pm it was really coming down. Large flakes of snow blowing all around. And very wet.

Granted, we haven't really had much snow this winter - and this one didn't amount to much. But it was technically a tracking snow. I have a friend who keeps track of all the snows in the season and compares it to the date of the first snow- that old wives tales that you will have the same number of tracking snows as the date of first snow. I never remember what it is supposed to be, but follow her to keep up. We are on track to have a few more snows - and it looks like maybe we will fulfill the old wives tale this year!

March 12

While I am not really a fan of snow at this point in my life (I find I like cold, snowy weather less and less as I get older), I have to say it was a beautiful morning after. The light and clouds played perfectly off the scattering of snow as it was quickly melting. Truly, we haven't really had any snow to speak of. And I am okay with that. :D

March 17

We awoke to snow. Not a lot, but a tracking snow (so it counts toward the old wives tale). :D I do remember seeing some caterpillars back in the fall that had black on each end and yellow in the middle. I took note of that and wondered - and I would say they have been accurate. Hard winter on each end (bitterly cold temps in Dec and unseasonably cold in March/spring) with mild winter in the middle. I am ready for full on spring, though. Warm weather, green grass, budding trees... :D

a bit of snow on the ground this morning

March 31

March went out like a lion! Our main focus this day was the weather. It had been predicted that we could have very strong to tornado storms that would blow up quickly. So we all had eyes on the sky. These photos were taken about 1:00 pm.

Then here we are about 4:30 pm. I just love the big skies we see in stormier weather. All those beautiful clouds - and the light mingled in makes it all so fascinating to watch. I truly do enjoy watching weather. We were pretty lucky this day - the storms all went around us. Tornadoes formed all round us and 'should' have gotten some severe storms. But they all went around - north or south of us. These remaining photos were taken mostly after it had all gone on by. We had a few minutes of strong hail/rain and some winds, but really nothing too severe. However, horrible tornadoes hit northern Arkansas - just awful. They also hit up in Iowa and did terrible damage. Those tornadoes originated near Trenton. There was a lot of destruction and damage and even death in the midwest on this day. :( But our area didn't see anything bad.

5:00 pm - Once the cold front blew in we had sustained high winds (but what else is new, right?) They weren't severe but I think people were still jumpy about them (I get that). At that point I was no longer worried because I knew the cold front meant the severe threat had passed. And at this point, I was just so drawn to the magnificent skies - with that glorious rainbow blowing through.

Beautiful partial rainbow - always look for that! And of course, Jonathan spotted it first for me. :)

such an interesting sky

Snow - March 13

March - Out like a Lion - March 31

March Puzzles

Preview of puzzles from the month of March 2023 - see more detail at Puzzles, Books and More blog...

Puzzle #18 of 2023
Finished March 1, 2023
Buffalo Games Charles Wysocki Whistlestop Christmas - 500 pieces

Puzzle #19 of 2023

Finished March 11, 2023

Vermont Christmas Company Streets of Pisa - 1000 pieces

Puzzle #20 of 2023

Finished March 14, 2023

Falcon Corner Shops The Greengrocer - 1000 pieces

Puzzle #21 of 2023

Finished March 14, 2023

Springbok Old Western Town - 500 pieces

Puzzle #22 of 2023

Finished March 20, 2023

Buffalo Games Beach Holiday Day and Night - 1000 pieces

Puzzle #23 of 2023

Finished March 24, 2023

MasterPieces Travel Diary Venice - 550 pieces

Puzzle #24 of 2023

Finished March 31, 2023

Falcon Corner Shops The Florist - 1000 pieces

Puzzle #25 of 2023

Finished March 31, 2023

Bits & Pieces T Bird Summer - 300 pieces

Maverick - 5th week of March

March 29-30, 2023

Wednesday, March 29

Mav was still sick on Tuesday (along with his Dad) and so didn't come to our house (except to see the new colt that was born!) :D So we were happy to see him Wednesday morning. :)

Started the morning with a little cowboy music. :)

Howdy Ma'am!

GranGran helping get those pants over the boots -
boy needs some bootcut jeans, for sure!

You know are in this household if you are playing cowboy and your 'rope'
is actually the breathing tube from the nebulizer... sigh. :D Ha!

But it works pretty darn well, I have to say.

Now he is measuring things. :)

Grandma, help me fix my rope again?

He thought GranGran looked like he needed a buddy so he walked over there and gave him Rainbow Puppy to hold. :)

Got to watch the flashlight on the wall a bit...

back to check on GranGran and Rainbow puppy. :)

He is getting interested in this old puppy - after really not wanting to play with it much. You press different buttons and it goes through colors and directions and various other prompts.

giving it a kiss :)

He has spent a lot of time with it this week -
after finding it on the shelf in the basement.

Doing some water painting - left handed again!

This was such a good toy when the boys were little and is still a good toy now. You can stack and sort so many different ways - by color, by shape... make patterns...

or just build tall towers!! :)

ta da!

clap!

Thursday, March 30

Mav was a hard working boy again - the weather was so nice and we went to the barn to see the new stud colt. Mav got right to work helping his Dad clean stalls. Thing is, he really does the work! And he loves it! Reminds me soooooo much of Jackson when he was little. Same mentality of wanting to do useful work. So proud of both of these 'boys'.