Of Coyotes and Quiche

First and foremost, I wish to extend my thoughts and prayers to the victims, families, and friends of the midair crash of last night. My heart is broken for all those who must carry this loss in their life. My prayers also for the first responders and other crash recovery crews that are involved and their safety.

Welcome back dear readers! Howdy to all the new folks joining us! If you’re cold, the sheep will be happy to snuggle with you!

We got over the recent cold spell, thankfully, and Mother Nature has given us a break from that absolutely bitter cold. It does, however, look like we are going to be getting more next week. I hope it is not as bad as we did have. While it’s always posssible for more bitter cold, I have my fingers crossed that we will be leveling out here soon! It’s so nice to see the longer days arriving.

All the critters came thru with flying colors. I do have Miss Spota limping and it appears that she may have slid on the ice and injured her hoof. It’s tender when I touch it but no swelling, bleeding or other stuff. We have her on a bit of anti-inflammatory meds and are keeping her walking for food and water to a minimum.

I had to go out and rescue Miss Nike from a stuck head in the feeder yesterday about noon. Silly girl seems to think she is still tiny and can fit wherever she wants to go. This has become multiple rescue missions on a daily basis with her.

While I was out I heard a pack of coyotes just to the south of my property. Sound about a mile-ish away. After last week and weekends cold, I think a lot of their food supply has been absent until now. So they are moving around again, not to mention, it is also breeding season for them.

Anyhow, I was not too worried about them being a mile away. But not a half hour later, I got a call from a friend who happened to be driving by and saw one run across the road into my side yard.

Ugh.

I sat outside watching for a while. Thankfully, the sun was out, no clouds in the sky, just a little bit of a breeze blowing, and it was quite nice to sit out there. We actually hit 42 degrees!

Said coyote did not appear before my eyes, and after a bit I figured he may have moved off towards the pack I heard just prior.

Since it was so nice, I decided to open all the windows and let some of the stale air out of the house. Plus, I could also hear the guard dogs if they blew up over something infiltrating the flock.

I went out for midafternoon chores to see everyone munching their hay in peaceful repast. On my way back to the house, I heard a lone coyote howl which was a little too close again for my taste. I suspect he/she was less than a foot ball field away from me, just inside the tree line.

I grabbed my trusty firearm, and sat back out on the retaining wall in the sun where I could watch the sheep and the trees. The only things moving were my critters. And nobody was spazzing out over anything. Brandy is a great indicator of a problem; her head and ears are wonderful for pinpointing something that is wrong. She was just eating her hay. Additionally, the dogs never even let out a growl.

I’ve said on here before that I have a sorta understanding with the local wildlife here. They leave my sheep alone, and I leave them alone. Once again, that understanding was upheld by both sides.

Since the pack or packs are on the move again, there will be extra vigilance on our part to ensure the safety of the sheepies. My main job as a shepherdess is to keep my flock safe and I take that responsibility seriously.

I have been playing around with some food this week. Something that I enjoy, but the boy child not so much. He thinks it feels funny in his mouth so he won’t eat it. However, I’ve been craving it and that craving needed to be satisfied.

Quiche

What’s not to love about egg, cheese, and bacon pie? It’s all good!

Rather than make one pie sized quiche, I opted for using the little springform pans along with puff pastry to make up some individual sized ones that I can grab for work. Thus, I am not subjecting the boy child to food he dislikes.

I made two different kinds, one a standard quiche Lorraine, and the second using left over roast chicken and ranch spices.

Quiche filling

2 C heavy cream

4 Eggs

Chopped onion

Garlic, salt and pepper to taste

For the ranch one, I added 2t of dry ranch dressing and did cut back on the salt.

Whip up those ingredients until smooth.

I used 8oz of shredded Swiss cheese per batch, plus enough cooked bacon for the first and roast chicken for the second. Additionally 2 packages of frozen puff pastry sheets.

I cut and lined the springform pans with the puff pastry. Added in a small layer of the shredded cheese, then the bacon or chicken, then more cheese. The liquid filling was divided between the four pans in equal amounts.

Bake at 425 for 15 minutes then lower the temp to 300 for an additional 30 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

They came out super puffy! And they did overflow the pans a bit. Once they cool off they do shrink down. I froze them once completely cool.

The one I did take to work, I popped into the air fryer at 300 to reheat it, and it came out beautifully. The crust was crisp and the filling nice and soft. Might want to put a bit of foil over the top part way thru reheating to keep the edges from burning.

Enjoy!

By the way, I did also try one of the Christmas left over pies I made, and oh yes, these will be made again! Super delicious!!! Not dried out or yucky!

I was reading on Substack notes this past week of people discussing the option of tipping writers. The general consensus was that substack did not offer a way to tip a writer if you are unable to afford to pay a monthly subscription fee.

I am one of those people who can’t afford to pay each writer that I enjoy reading and I would like to show my appreciation for their work when I am able to do so. And I know the sheep and I would be grateful for any additional income I can generate from writing here. Every bit does count!

I am not sure if substack is going to ever offer this kind of an option and other writers were discussing using the buy me a coffee app to present this to their readers.

I am going to put this out here now and I hope other writers on here will give it a try also. The button below will take you to my page.

Thank you for your ongoing support!

Blessed Be