Rebecca introduced me to the new baby donkey, not even a week old.

 

 

C’mon, just climb over the fence and meet them, they’re friendly.

 

 

So over the fence we went and met mama and Jackson Jr.

 

 

Please don’t ask me what mom donkey’s name is I forget. Oh wait maybe it’s marshmallow Or this might be Valentine. Marshmallow might be the white one come to think of it.

 

 

Once we were in the pasture they hurried over to us.

 

 

Little 7 day old Jackson loves Rebecca. She says “He thinks I’m his mom.”

 

 

Pet him, he’s so fuzzy.

 

 

He likes to nuzzle on my shirt

 

He also likes to suck on my fingers.

 

This is when I got a little nervous that she was going to invite me to try. I gripped my camera more tightly and prepared to explain how I didn’t really have a free hand…

 

 

But I got lucky, she’d moved on to show me that he has teeth and only bites softly.

 

 

See?

Uh yeah, I guess they’re nice donkey teeth.

 

 

None of this seemed to bother Jackson Jr. he get’s this kind of stuff from mom grooming him all the time anyway.

 

 

Then he got tired and sat down for a rest.

 

 

Then she started saying something about being a grandmother already.

Huh, what?! You mean that donkey is a grandmother? I asked.

No, me. I’m a grand mother. See, that donkey over there, I’m it’s mom, she had that donkey right there, and that donkey had this donkey, so I'm it’s grand mother! And, it’s pregnant so I’m gonna be a great grandmother too!!

I laughed. Now that I under stood all the donkey genealogy properly. 

 

 

And that’s the news from the pasture.

 

I went out looking for a sunset. I thought the sun was going to peek out from under the moody clouds and light them up with glowing colors.

That did not happen.

But I did find plenty of colors right at my feet!

 

 

Sunflowers,

 

 

The wild Passion flower just growing at the edges.

 

 

A photo bomb from Harry. No he didn’t die, he just got a summer cold and got in  something horribly greasy  that he tried to lick off his coat and completely lost his meow for 3 days and was brought back to life with lamb fat, raw liver bits and a little charcoal on the off chance that whatever the greasy stuff was, was something poisonous.

Then he got the baths… He didn’t like that. Not one bit. But he was nice about it. Just very dejected that I’d treat him that way.

 

 

He’d rather not talk about the two baths.

 

 

Gladiolus.

 

 

Purple cone flower. And, I was just told by an adorable little girl in a homemade crocheted dress with a tulle skirt “They’re not purple!” I had to agree. So we decided to call them Echinacea.

 

 

Cleome

 

 

Zinnia.

 

 

Petunias.

 

 

More Zinnias.

 

 

Cosmos

 

 

More.

 

 

Marigold.

 

 

Delphinium.

 

 

Double checked for a sunset, nope, not tonight.

I went camping with some friends, Roger and Puma. We were cooking pancakes from a box mix from probably the dollar store with wild blueberries I’d picked the previous day. And yes, fake syrup. Nothing against Aunt Jamima but she just doesn’t know about real Maple syrup. Maple syrup isn’t part of this story so never mind that for now.
This was on a little camp stove in a little camp pan and a little plastic spatula. Roger cooked some for us. Then Puma offered to cook some so Roger could eat. She carefully checked and rechecked to see if the bottom was cooked enough. I took a turn to let Puma eat.
Instead of turning the pancake over with the spatula, I think I couldn’t remember where the little spatula was I flipped the pancake over in one motion with just the pan. Puma said “Ooo, Pancake Ninja!”
That’s the story of the beginning of PancakeNinja.
Oh, we ate with plastic sporkifes or foonifes or knoroons or whatever camping spoon, fork and knife combos are called. Just knew you wanted to know about that part.

 

For anyone with zucchinis overflowing from the garden this gluten free zucchini chocolate chip cake is a perfect way to eat more zucchini!

 

 

Start by grating some zucchinis.

 

 

In a bowl add eggs,

 

 

sugar,

 

 

a splash of vanilla,

 

 

and oil. Then mix.

 

 

Add flour, xanthan gum,  cinnamon, ginger,

 

 

baking powder and soda.

 

 

Then mix thoroughly. It took me a few minutes to get all the lumps out. Maybe it would be different if I actually sifted my flour first …but that ain’t  gonna happen.

 

 

Next add grated zucchini,

 

 

chocolate chunks or chips,

 

 

or big chocolate chips, whatever you have. And mix.

 

 

spray the Bundt pan with cooking spray. I’ve tried oiling it by hand but the spray is so much faster and goes on so evenly.

 

 

Dust with flour.

 

 

Pour batter into pan and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes.

 

 

No photos of making the glaze, my hands were sticky and I think I just forgot.

 

 

brush on the lemon glaze.

 

 

Hopefully you will do a better job than I did.

 

 

Then you must have a slice to see if it’s any good.

 

 

Yum.

 

Zucchini Bundt cake~ Gluten free

ingredients

• 2½ cups grated zucchini, excess moisture squeezed out
• 6 ounces of dark chocolate, chopped or chocolate chips
• 2 cups gluten free flour
• 1/2 t. xanthan gum
• 1 t baking powder
• ½ t baking soda
• 1 t salt
• 2 t ground cinnamon
• 1 t ground ginger
• ½ t ground nutmeg
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup oil
• 2 t pure vanilla extract

Lemon Glaze:

• ¼ cup lemon juice
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
  

Preheat the oven to 350 °F.  Grease a 10-cup Bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray and dust it thoroughly with flour.
In a bowl  beat the eggs, sugar and oil until light and fluffy, then add the vanilla and beat.  beat in the dry ingredients all  until they are thoroughly combined,  Add the zucchini, and chocolate and mix  until they are completely incorporated.
Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan. Bake for 45-55 minutes,  test with a toothpick, if it comes out clean the it’s done and when it has begun to pull away from the sides of the pan. 
The Glaze.

In a bowl, mix together the lemon juice and sugar, then stir in the confectioners’ sugar until the glaze is smooth. 
Using a pastry brush, immediately brush the glaze onto the warm cake.  The glaze will set as the cake cools. Allow the cake to cool completely, then transfer the cake to a stand or serving plate.