Spring Valley Farms Trail Ride For Two

August 15, 2019, marks the 4th anniversary for Husband and I. I don't know how but we made it. In that time we have visited about as many countries together, have bought a house, at least 3 trucks, (that is a story for another day), managed to keep our jobs, keep the dog alive, I've survived all the harassment from Lockness Monster, and all the other things in between that happens in life.

Like true us style we had to go celebrate with some kind of waver signing that if we die our family cannot sue XY and Z company. This time, it was a horseback trail ride for two at Spring Valley Farm located in Moneta, VA.

To sum up everything in one sentence I would have to state that our anniversary adventure was a wonderful time.

I left work early to pick to swing by the house and pick up Husband. We drove out to Moneta on a nice 89ish degree day with a breeze, blue skies and huge white clouds with just a tiny breeze.

With the help of the GPS and great signage, we were able to successfully locate Spring Valley Farms. Driving out into the middle of now where for things like farms, breweries, wineries, and distilleries are always fun but always make me a little nervous since I tend to get lost very easily.

We met our guide for the day as I write this to my chagrin, I cannot remember her name. I do remember that she was amazing the entire time. She was fun to talk to, super friendly, very laid back, great at helping us be reacquainted with riding horses and told us all about the farm. She was best described as wonderful.

We signed our waivers and then met our noble steads for the day. I had a lovely lady named Sprinkles and Husband had a lovely mare named something. Wow, I am really bad with names today.

We soon walked them over the ring, were soon in the saddle and going over basic handholds, commands, and how to make them move one way or the other. Soon after we were off.

The last time I rode was a horse was in 2015 when Husband and I were in Arizona for our Honeymoon. During that trip, one of the things we did was take a trail ride BY the Grand Canyon, not in it with donkeys.

This trail ride was very pleasant for us. It ended up just being Husband and the guide. We essentially just walked the fence line of their beautiful farm. We went up and down rolling hills talking and laughing the whole way.

The sky was so blue and the clouds so huge and fluffy. I love clouds, like not a little but for a while, I would give Husband a cloud rating of the day. That day would have been an 11. The scale, in general, is zero to ten. Zero being no clouds in the sky and ten being an amazing assortment of clouds. One of the coolest clouds we saw had a hole in it that was in the shape of a heart. Aww! And on our anniversary? How super lucky were we?

On the trail ride, we saw other horses in the other fields, cows, a zebra, a zebra horse hybrid, and I think a donkey. I told Husband and our guide that what could be better than wandering through a field, staring at clouds, no worries about bugs or ticks biting you, and without having to exert any energy? At this time in my life, I would say nothing is better. For about an hour we wandered this way and that way and over this hill and over that hill until returning to the barn. Our fun little adventure had ended.

The three things I did learn about this trail ride are as follows:
1. If it is 89 degrees you should wear the darkest jeans you have because you will sweat and make it look like you peed your pants.
2. Wear jeans or long pants. Why would you not I have no idea but according to our guide people show up in shorts. Your legs are going to stick to leather, why would you want that?
3. If you're wearing a smartwatch you'll earn steps that you didn't take. Thanks, Sprinkles for helping with my 10,000 step goal! Winning!
4. Listen to the guide. They know what is best because they do this all the time. If you have questions ask them and do what they tell you, not your friends or mom, do what the professional tells you to do!

Now walking funny from the ride both to the weird sweat ring and being the saddle for the first time in forever, we headed back to the car after a kiss.

Has anyone else taken a trail ride at Spring Valley Farms? What did you think? Do you suggest any other trail rides in Southwest Virginia? As always thanks for reading and feel free to leave a comment below!

Nailed It - Mud Bath for Pigges

I am currently going through another baking phase in my life right now. As you know I love the show Nailed It on Netflix and I am currently now watching The Great British Bake Off also on Netflix. Well, this week I decided to have my own little competition with myself. I needed to bake a cake for Husband and I's 4th wedding anniversary and so why not make it harder than it needs to be with a timer?

Now, let me first start off by saying this was not exactly the same from the show and how their competition works and what I did. First, I don't have the cooking supplies they do in their kitchen. They have multiple mixers, and bowls, a freeze blaster chiller thing, a convection oven, and a huge pantry filled with all types of supplies. They don't care about cost they just get in there and bake a cake.

I only have one cake mixer and attachments, a regular oven, and a budget. Did you know fondant costs so much? I had no idea. 

I also had the pleasure of watching this specific episode Nailed It!  Season 1 Episode 3: "Head Under Water" multiple times. 

Since I didn't have the above items mentioned I also did a little prep work. I used fondant that was already colored to save myself from buying both white fondant and coloring. I had never made buttercream before so that recipe was also pulled up on my phone.  I bought a box cake mix, and I staged everything out on the counter. 

I then set my timer for 45 minutes and went for it. Now, this was the first time I have ever done something like this before. Yes, I've baked and made cakes but never with the items I was using. 

The first was the buttercream icing. I've seen it made on both baking shows but never have I ever made it before. When I was making it I tried to add powdered sugar to the mixer, hit the mixer paddle and threw powdered sugar all over the place. 

I had never made chocolate ganache before. Through this experience, I did learn that it is super tasty and super easy to make. You just heat up heavy cream and stir in chocolate pieces. Depending on what type of consistency you want out of your add or take away cream and chocolate. 

I had never played with fondant of any kind before that day. I had eaten it on cakes or pulled it off of cakes but never ever had I ever played with it. It tastes just like gummy sugar and feels like stickier playdough. It is as if playdough and silly putty had a baby that you could eat.

I, like most of the bakers on the shows, started off by forgetting something. I started off with making my cake batter and was like, why it is a big gray ball? It should be fluffy and nice by now? I checked the recipe and I had forgotten to add water. I fixed that and started to butter my cake pans, which was way messier than most shows let on. At one point I gave up on the butter stick and just used my fingers to get it the edges of the pan. 

I then did the classic mistake of overfilling my cake pans. In the show Nailed It! most of the time the cakes over flow and are raw. Mine did not do that. For mine, one cake finished before the second cake. I was able to take that one cake and put it on a cooling rack and in the freezer but the second one had to continue to cook for another like 8 minutes.

While my cakes were cooking and cooling I made the chocolate ganache with like 1 1/3 cups cream and a whole 8oz bag of dark chocolate. I made it and was like yeah look at me! But then it was like, now what do I do with it? Unsure what else to do I put it in the fridge to cool while I made my piggies and their parts. Once I made those parts I moved on to the Kit Kat bars. 

They were another fail because though I had bought 3 king-size bars, I lost about one half of the king-size bars worth because the pieces were cracked horizontally. During my assembly, I did end up needing to use like 5 of these broken ones but I had no choice. 

I don't know how or why but I also dropped an egg on the floor. I just remember thinking, "Are you kidding me?" 

So now I have like 6 minutes left, the second cake is in the freezer with the first one and it is time to assemble everything. Husband calls and wants to let me know he is on his way home. We talk for just a few moments and then I tell him I have to go I have less than 5 minutes left.

Now, this is the part where my heart for real starts to pound. I'm running around my kitchen pulling out knives to make the cakes even, putting on buttercream that is melting like crazy because the cakes are still too hot. I was adding the Kit Kats to the side of the cakes. Putting in the chocolate ganache in the top of the cake and my timer goes off. 

Beep Beep Beep! That's it, 45 minutes have passed in a blink of an eye. 

 Now what? Well, I finish up my cake, and it takes me about a full extra minute to add my piggy parts and put the bow around the thing. 

My sink is now filled to the brim, their powdered sugar still all over the place. However, I have a cake, it looks pretty cool even if some of the chocolate is leaking out. 

  

It took me 46 minutes to make the cake and 30 minutes to clean up after. While I cleaned up and waited for Husband to come home I put the cake in the freezer. 

Once Husband arrived home I told him what went right and what went wrong with the cake.I pulled it out and he was very impressed. We then sat down with a glass of milk each and had a slice. It was so sweet! Like, immediately turn your teeth fuzzy feeling sweet. You would only be able to eat a small piece. However, it did look good, I am super proud of it and would make this cake again. I would change somethings like my buttercream recipe and use milk chocolate instead of dark chocolate for the ganache oh, and not use a timer. 

Has anyone else tried to time themselves like this before? If so, how did you do? Did you make the timer? Let me know with a comment below!

Smoke!!! - Part 2 of 2

Used fire extinguishers and wheelbarrow

Now back to our riveting part to of Smoke!!! 

I ran upstairs and grabbed the first big container that I could and started filling it with water. I checked on the dog, he was still outside doing okay. I saw the cat, inside again, and scooped him up and put him in the least smoky room and locked him in. Stupid cat. The container was now full, I started walking down the steps, spill it a little bit and then threw it on the coals.

Again, another stupid thing to do, being that close to the fire the water instantly turned to steam and steam is hot! It hurt, no burns but I feel stupid about being so close. I handed the container to the Broha, he filled it up and added more to the fire until it was out. I was outside breathing fresh air again and pulling the hose back threw the window.

At that point, all the windows in the house were open, the fans were going, the fire was out and that was when the stupid heat pump kicked on. Perfect, just suck up and blow the smoke around the house for me. I hit the off button on the thermostat but for some reason, it took 3 minutes for it to stop running. Why does it do that? I have no idea.

I said hi to Teach, and we played a little. I think Teach was either stressed by this or sensed my stress because he was doing his welcome home greeting. We played a little and then Husband got home. He was of course at work this entire time because when shit gets weird or weird weather happens he has to be at work. During all of this madness, running around, I called his work three times. The first time I gave up before I could talk to him. The second time I called I was able to talk to him, and the third time after the fire was pretty much out I called back and his work told me they didn't know where he went. That was when he called me on his cell and said that he was on the way home. By then the house looked more like a misty morning, I let Teach and started to get ready for work.

As I left for work Husband took over. He worked on reattaching the pipe, cleaned the stove, cleaned the area around the stove, put a creosol log on the fire, checked all the joints connections, started to rewash some clothes that were in the basement, and got new fire extinguishers. Then like a champ, he went back to work.

Due to the chemicals that were used in the attempts to put out the fire, the house felt like it had a film over it. Mostly in the living room where the vent from the basement/stove is connected. Once I returned from work I swept the floors, and then mopped everything. The mopping was overdue anyway, but that was like an hour and a half to get it all done. The next night I dusted, wiped down the couches, and countertops. It made things feel a bit better but the house still smelled like smoke.

If the other day's excitement wasn’t enough, we got to enjoy another house clearing in the morning. This time, it was way less dramatic, but still a pain. The wood stove’s door doesn’t always latch the best. If it wasn't checked before walking away it can sometimes open up just a crack. However, a crack was all that was needed to slowly fill the house, yet again with smoke. This slow-moving smoke wasn’t noticed for two reasons. Broha added the last wood to the fire before he went to bed and our smoke alarm didn’t have its batteries. They had been taken out previously because of bacon being cooked or something. Well, it is now 4:45 in the morning and Husband got up and was as angry as a bear. He was the first one to realize the house was filling with smoke.

We assumed the drill, opened all the doors, opened all the windows, all the fans were on, it seems like every light was on in the house. Huabdn woke up Broha and told him what he did wrong. When Broha comes upstairs he apologized for trying to kill us. By this time I was back in bed and told him it was his turn to try and kill us all.

Husband finished getting ready for work and shut all the doors and windows and heads out. I opened a few things back up and laid down for a few more minutes before getting ready for work.

Now, I realize that after reading the last two posts it looked like our house would have no business with a fire. I would like to make it clear that we were not at risk of burning down our house. Also, even though there was smoke in the house I don’t think we were at risk of causing any real issue only because the fire was going to burn out and was nowhere as bad as yesterday’s smoke. We also would be paying way more attention to the stove door and more importantly the smoke detectors.

I cannot wait until we can get a house with an external wood stove. Both of these problems would be negated. Or at least that is what I tell myself.

Any thoughts? If so please leave a comment below. 

Smoke!!! - Part 1 of 2

I wrote this post a while ago, but I lost it. I couldn't find it, but I found it the other day and I was super excited! However, it is a pretty long post so I'm breaking it up into two parts. If you don't like that please let me know in a comment below or on Facebook and I'll post the second part before Sunday. 

Before I dive into this tale, please take note that living in SW Virginia, I have two heat sources. One is a heat pump and the second heat source is a wood stove that is in our basement. 

Some days just are not yours. Monday, January 14, 2019 was one of mine.

It started off like most Mondays, with my alarm going off a few more times than I intended. I then got up, did the normal dog and cat checks, letting them in and out, getting the food and water dishes filled up, and filling the whole house humidifier. Once that was completed I settled down to meditate for 20 minutes before I turned on the news hoping work would be delayed for at least an hour or two. After seeing the alphabet run across the bottom of the screen twice and work not listed I knew it was time to get ready to go. I walked downstairs to add another log to the wood stove and to gather up socks and underwear that live in the basket by the dryer. My downfall was the extra stick of wood.

I had I heard Husband add some earlier but wanted to add another one since I didn’t know the Broah’s plan for the day. I put on work gloves, added the log of wood, struggled with closing the door, it keeps not latching, and then shit got weird.

My woodstove itself, sits in my basement, inside a metal shell that helps keep the heat, more together so a little fan can blow the hot air into the main house through a hole in the floor.  A pipe that connects the wood stove to the chimney is L shaped, and a piece just falls right off. Now, that is a big problem. If the smoke isn’t being routed out through the chimney then the only option for it to go it out into the rest of the house. I tried like 3 times to reconnect the pipe to the stove chimney. The problem was the fire was going REALLY good. So all the smoke and fumes are being pushed into that little metal shell. While trying to reconnect this pipe, the issue wasn't the smoke in the lungs as much as straight burning to delivered to my eyes.

Once I realized I wasn’t going to be able to reconnect the pipe I went into Broha’s room and was like hey…hey, hey, but he was snoring away so I was like never mind, I got this. I ran upstairs, covered the vent that leads to the rest of the house from the woodstove box with some towels to try and keep some of the billowing smoke from going upstairs, and then went back to the basement to try and reconnect the pipe again. By this point, fans were set up and blowing, all the doors, and windows that could be opened in the basement were, but the smoke was quickly filling the room. Since I still, no luck reconnecting the pipe I was like I have to get Broha up to see if he could help.

I did get him up and was like the pipe fell off the stove, he being just woken up and the brain wasn’t geared up was like what fell off of what? I was like the pipe that connects the chimney to the stove fell off, I need your help to try and reconnect it. At this point understanding hit his sleepy brain and he was up and coming over to assess the situation. He, like me, tried a few times to connect the pipe without success. I was like we have to just put the fire out. He was like yes, and went to go find a gas mask. I went to find a fire extinguisher.

 With a fire extinguisher in hand, I opened the woodstove door, hit the fire, used the whole tiny thing up and 1 minute later the fire was back to full force. Shit. That was stupid. So now there is smoke, fumes, and chemicals filling the metal shell and the rest of the basement. I went upstairs to grab the other fire extinguishers and realized the entire upper part of the house was now filling with smoke as well. It looked like someone was shooting a street seen in London because the smoke was getting so thick I could not see clearly across the room.

At this point, I have no idea where Broha was and hit straight smoke management. I started by putting Teach outside the on the front porch, opened all the windows I could, and turned on all the fans to hopefully push the smoke outside. I started to open just the kitchen's screen door window and was I didn't have time for that and propped the whole door open. That’s when I proceed to have a Fred Flinstone moment with my cat. Knowing the dog was safely outside the front door, breathing fresh air I decided the cat should do the same thing. I scooped him up, put him out the front door, and then while I checked the other rooms, I saw the cat walk back inside. My first thought was where did you come from? The second thought was like get outside! I scooped up the cat again, put him out the front door, and then worked on getting the fire extinguishers that I was originally upstairs for and saw the cat walk back in through the open kitchen door. Whatever man, it’s your choice to kill yourself.

Now that I was armed with 3 fire extinguishers I walked down into the now super-duper smoke-filled basement. I didn't know where Broha was and I know that I had to put out the fire. That was the only option at this point. When I had tried to put the fire earlier with the fire extinguishers it had not worked because the fire was too hot and had too much wood. I was worried that my 3 remaining fire extinguishers would not have enough power to put out the fire either. My only thought at that point was to remove the wood from the woodstove. And that is exactly exactly what I started to do. We had two bigger leather gloves that looked like gauntlet that both happen to be left hand, yes two gloves both for your left hand, and started pulling out logs from the fire. I then quickly walked outside and threw the logs into the grass. SW Virginia had just had a weird snow/ice storm so the backyard is luckily cold, wet with a snow/slush mixture. This was helpful in keeping the logs from catching things on fire. I was able to remove about two logs without issue but the third log, of course,  it was crumbly and halfway to becoming ash and hits the basement floor. I then get to take a few minutes to stomp out the embers. The last remaining logs were like really, really on fire, so I threw them in the wheelbarrow (the wheelbarrow is used to bring in wood and it happened to still be inside the basement at that time), rolled it outside with the still-burning logs, dumped the whole thing in the yard and just left the wheelbarrow on top of the logs. My hope at the time that it would help smother the logs on fire. 

Now that inside the woodstove is just a bed of red hot angry coals. I take a minute to breathe fresh air and call Husband, who is at work to give him an update, before trying to hit the coals the first of the three extinguishers. It helped, but now the wood smoke is mixed with chemicals that burned the eyes and the lungs. I went back outside, threw the fire extinguishers outside, got some clean breaths of air, hold my breath, and headed back in.

Broha comes back into the fray and had his gas mask on, (don’t ask why he has one, it is just something that is likely to be found in our house), and even though it isn’t rated for smoke, but it was apparently helping with the burning of the eyes. I took the second fire extinguisher and handed Broha the last one. I told him he had to figure out how to get it to work. I hit the fire again with my last extinguisher but it didn't do much as it and craps out halfway through. I guess those things really do expire. As I went back outside to throw the now useless thing outside and get air Broha hits the fire with the last of the extinguishers.

Why did I keep throwing things in my yard? I have no idea but I kept doing it. 

Going back into the basement, the fire inside the wood stove was still not out. All fire extinguishers have been used now what? I was like, well we have a hose right outside, let’s try that. I pull-pushed it threw one of the windows, pulled it over to the stove, turn on the water and nothing came out! It was dripping and not helping put out the file. I could have spit more than what was coming out of the hose. 

What do we do next!?!? How does this riveting story end? You'll find out next Sunday Funday!!!