September 26, 2016 My Dream Tree and Eggs Under the Bed

My Dream Tree!

RJ's cabin in progress.

Fireweed along our road
sporting its Fall colors.

Friday 9/23. I left for Down There in a misty rain that continued to fall all morning.  Fortunately it stopped a few minutes before I left for home, so I didn't have to get wet while picking Elsie's tomatoes.

After taking the summer off, Belinda decided to lay an egg again so we got five eggs yesterday.  We are averaging three a day, with sometimes four and occasionally two.  The refrigerator was overflowing with three dozen, so I have begun to put them under the bed.  As we get down to one dozen in the fridge, I will pull another dozen out.

Our high for the day was a wet 54.

Saturday 9/24. The day began with a temp of 43 and partly cloudy skies.  I bought longer concrete bolts yesterday for my Dream Tree, so that was our major project for the day.  We really did not have the right type of bit for the drill, so drilling a hole through each leg and then into the concrete took longer than we had anticipated.  But we got it done, and now I can enjoy my tree.

It was well into the afternoon when we finished, then JB started cleaning out MAX while I went down to visit RJ and see what he has been doing on his cabin.  Just went I think his place is amazing, he does something to amp up the WOW factor.  He has completely rebuilt his stone fireplace and extended his living room to include a door to his root cellar that had been accessible only from the outside.  And he has started another addition.

In talking with Elsie this evening, we learned that their little dog had a run-in with a skunk last night.  So she was up at 11:00 pm scrubbing him and trying not to puke.  I guess the smell was exceptionally nasty. . .

Sunday 9/25. It was 50 and partly cloudy this morning, with a few warm days in the forecast.  But I had a lot of indoor things to do, and JB was taking the day off from straining his elbows and knees yesterday working on my tree.

After dishes and more laundry (trying to get it all done before I leave on Tuesday), I made sauce from the tomatoes I picked at Elsie's on Friday.  It turned out very good, but with all the work involved and so little to show for it, I think this will be my last time doing so.  I am going to freeze this batch, like I did my first one.

I did get out in the afternoon to enjoy our high of 73.  I gathered some more kindling from down the west ridge and took the dogs on their walk.  And then took a lovely nap before dinner.

The wasps were swarming today, a week or two late.  I hope they don't discover any new cracks.  We only had a very few get inside last year.

Monday 9/26. It is 54 with some high, thin clouds.  Time to pack.

This will be my last posting until next Monday, 10/3, as I will be visiting my Aunt Nene on the other side of the mountains.

Thought for the day: One of the sad signs of our times is that we have demonized those who produce, subsidized those who refuse to produce, and canonized those who complain. Thomas Sowell

September 23, 2016 Splitting & Stacking Fire Wood on the Porch

More wood on the
porch.

Wednesday 9/21. I split two of the last three rounds.  The third one was still way too wet to do anything with.  I'll split it in the Spring.  Took another load of too-long wood to the shop and one load to the porch.  We used the chop saw to cut half of the long wood and took it in two loads to the porch and stacked it all.

Of course, all this was after washing the dishes.  I don't really mind doing the dishes by hand, it's just that it takes up time that I could be doing something else. . .

JB finished re-wiring the trailer.  Now it is better than ever.  We will make our Fall garbage run when I return from visiting Nene.

Our propane was delivered today by the new company.  We took exactly 500 gallons, which is about average.  Our propane refrigerator is what really sucks it up.

I am a real breadaholic, but gluten really does me in if I have it more than once a week.  So I bought some corn tortillas at Costco (there's probably 1000 in that double bag!).  Now I just fry a couple up in olive oil my small cast iron pan, add some butter and cinnamon sugar or melt cheese on them, and I am good to go.  JB's homemade gluten-free bread is wonderful, but we would be going through the two loaves he makes in two or three days if I ate as much as I would like.

We had quite a cloud-burst a little before 9:00 pm that lasted about twenty minutes.  More would have been nice, but even this was great.  It cleared the air and tamped down the dust.

Thursday 9/22.  The actual first day of Fall began with a temp of 44 and mostly clear skies.  RJ came up for breakfast and JB made German pancakes.  Yum!  

We finished cutting the long wood with the chop saw and took two tractor bucket loads to the porch and stacked it.  So now we are about 2/3's done with those two rows.  We usually don't even start putting wood on the porch until around the first of October, so we are way ahead of the game this year.

JB also used the tractor to move two benches back to the south ridge that we had brought down for the BBQ.  We also brought back a big bucket load of wood.  The wood cradle is full again, so I may cut that on Saturday.

Dark clouds moved in during the afternoon, and by our 3:30 pm walk the sky was almost overcast.  Our high for the day was 65.

Friday 9/23. It is 44 and overcast this morning.  Might be a wet day Down There.

Thought for the day: I think, therefore I've had my coffee.  Author Unknown

September 21, 2016 Snits & Firewood

A nest we discovered
in MAX.

Fire wood stacked on the
porch so far.

Monday 9/19. This morning there was a doe and a fawn across our driveway.  The dogs were going nuts, wanting to get out.  But they didn't see the deer walk up to the south ridge, so when JB let them out they went straight across the drive and followed the scent from the direction they came.  So while the dogs were going north, the deer were just sauntering south!

JB worked on rebuilding the trailer today, while I spent most of the day inside with dishes, laundry and making a big pot of chicken soup out of the carcass of the BBQ chicken from Costco.  

Before our afternoon walk, I did make a couple trips to the south ridge and each time brought back a big armload of wood and dragged big branches.  This from the leftover wood we had dragged up early this Spring. 

Our high for the day was 60, but with the cold wind, it didn't seem that warm.  We got a few sprinkles from some little clouds that passed overhead, but that was it.

Elsie still has lots of tomatoes on the vine and invited me to pick some.  I will do that on my way home from Down There on Friday.  Hopefully I can make enough sauce from them to can.

I used to be a world-class snitter.  I could put myself into a snit that would last for days.  But I thought that since I have been living at Rose Camp, I had gotten over that.  Apparently not.  In the past week I have worked myself into a snit that my Aunt Nene has helped me get out of.  Such a waste of time and energy.  My reactions are my choice, whether I want to admit it or not.  I can just as easily choose not to let something upset me, and I really think I ought to do that from now on.

Tuesday 9/20. It was a chilly 40 this morning with clear skies.  JB put a fire in the stove when he got up at 6:30 am, so it was nice and toasty when I got up at 8:00 am AND the coffee was made.  So nice to have him home. . .

JB worked on the trailer again today after he moved one of the huge rounds to the splitter for me.  I spent most of the day splitting that and several other "smaller" rounds.  It felt so good to be doing that again.  We took three bucket loads of wood that was too long to the shop so we can cut it with the chop saw.  JB also took five loads of wood to the porch where I stacked it.

Our high for the day was 60 again with just a light breeze.  A perfect day to be working outside.  This is our ninth September living Up Here, and definitely our coolest.  But not as cold as a Labor Day weekend we spent up here camping some twenty-five or so years ago.  We woke up in the middle of the night freezing and our water in the coffee pot had frozen over.

My Aunt Nene has been wanting me to come over to visit, so I am going to do that next Tuesday and will be back home on Friday.  Ergo, I will be taking a week off from writing my blog.

My brother and a friend are at his cabin this week.  He called about 7:30 this evening, obviously pumped, to say that his friend had been out raking when he suddenly started yelling.  RJ looked over to see him yelling and waving his rake at a large cougar who was within twenty feet of him and obviously stalking him!  RJ started yelling also.  The cougar looked at them both then took off up the mountain.  Neither of them was packing.  Needless to say, we will all be packing when we step out the front door from now on.

A little later, Larry and Elsie drove up for a visit.  It is so wonderful when good neighbors become such good friends. . .

Wednesday 9/21. It is 44 this morning with clear skies.  We plan to get my dream tree secured into the concrete today, and maybe split the last three rounds.

Thought for the day: One day she finally grasped that unexpected things were always going to happen in life.  And, with that, she realized the only control she had was how to choose to handle them.  So, she made the decision to survive using courage, humor and grace.  She was the Queen of her own life and the choice was hers.  Queenism, Facebook

September 19, 2016 History & JB Returns Home

Pine cones that the squirrels
have been feasting upon.

Friday 9/16. Cleaning the hen house and run took about an hour, but it was a very dirty and energy-consuming hour. After raking up the poop in the run and cleaning out all the old straw and shavings in the hen house, I sprinkled diatomaceous earth around the edges of the run, in all the nesting boxes and on the floor of their house.  Then I put down fresh, clean straw on the ground and pine shavings in the nesting boxes.  When I was done, I immediately went in and took a shower.  The girls spent the rest of the day rearranging the straw in their house.

The new straw and shavings smelled so good!  I wish there was an air freshener with that scent.  Pretty sure it would be a hot seller, especially in the country.

The temperature hit 80 today, but that was before noon and the ensuing cloud cover.  The rest of the day was in the mid 70's and a bit muggy.

Our canyon is quickly becoming dotted with Fall golds, oranges and rusts.  Seems to be a bit later than usual, but it is beautiful.  I have seen upstate New York in the Fall, and the colors there are almost overwhelming, even painful to the eyes, because they cover the entire landscape.  I prefer Washington, where the brilliance of Fall is on a backdrop of evergreen.

In the past week, Larry and Elsie have had a rather large bear near their house feasting on the choke cherries.  The fermenting choke cherries.  I gather it is quite an entertaining sight to behold.

With 9/11 came many articles in all the newspapers and magazines about the event itself and the following years.  One article mentioned that with it having happened fifteen years ago, this year's high school freshmen were not yet born, and do not remember it.  Which makes me realize that they are also yawning their way through history class and lectures regarding so many other events that happened during my lifetime.  Possibly the way I did when hearing about the events of my parents' lifetime.  The history of my parents came to life for me years later as I listened to their first-hand stories.  

It is amazing how much life changes from generation to generation in the past century.  Many things our children and grandchildren take for granted weren't even invented when we were growing up.  And so it goes.

Saturday 9/17. It was 55 and overcast this morning, and obviously raining in the mountains.  JB left Seattle at 9:00 am in the pouring rain, and it didn't stop until he was about five miles out of Wenatchee.  The dogs and I felt a few raindrops on our morning walk, but that was it.

JB was home by 1:00 pm with lots of Trader Joe's gluten-free goodies.  By then the wind was gusting to 21 mph, trying to blow the rain over to us.  By 2:00 pm, it was gusting to 25 mph, but the rain never arrived.  Once again, it went to the north and south of us on its way east.  Our high for the day was 62.

Yesterday I started on one of the books I bought at the Dollar Store, The Apocalypse Codex by Charles Stross.  Very entertaining!  His writing style reminds me of Jim Butcher.  This is Stross' twelfth book in the Laundry Files series, so I've got a lot of catch-up reading to do.

And speaking of ketchup, Elsie is still making and canning the stuff.  Got to use up all her tomatoes somehow. . .

Sunday 9/18.  It was a brisk 46 this morning with mostly clear skies.  So nice to have JB home.

After breakfast JB wanted to get my Dream Tree secured in the ground where I wanted it.  The two bags of concrete for this project have been sitting in his Jeep for about a month now.  So we dug the three holes for the concrete and got it poured in and mixed.  By Tuesday we should be able to drill and place the bolts in that will secure the legs of the tree so the wind won't blow it over.

Then we jacked up MAX onto large pieces of wood, so he'll be ready when Larry can come up and fix the one chain that has stretched.  If we get a lot of snow again this year, MAX will be our main vehicle.  We don't want to use the snow plow that we got with Miss Kitty when we bought her used, as it is really too heavy for her and is probably the real reason her gears got stripped.  The plow that is especially made for her is a bit expensive and we will have to wait until next year to buy it.

We all went on both walks today.  I really need to get out for both of them instead of just the afternoon one.  Need the exercise.

It was another beautiful Fall day with a high of 68.  Didn't really feel that warm as the breeze was a bit chilly.

Monday 9/19. It is 46 and mostly cloudy this morning.  Looks like there is some fresh snow on the mountains.

Thought for the day: I have started drinking coffee out of a clear mug so people know where my tolerance level is at.  Author Unknown

September 16, 2016 Time & Seasons Fly By

Cows on the road
Wednesday morning.

Wednesday 9/14. Such an incredible Fall day!  The seasons usually begin before the calendar announces their arrival and this Fall is no exception.  The middle of September already!  At this rate, Christmas will be here in a couple weeks.

I met the cows on the way Down There.  Got all my shopping done and them some.  Just took my time and enjoyed the day.  I went to the dollar store and found six books!  At $1 each, they are even cheaper than the thrift store, and they are brand new.  Also found some napkins with slot machines on them that Nene had been looking for.  Was home around 2:00 pm.  And our high for the day was comfortable 74.

Funny how life changes from day to day, and it usually has to do with our perspective and attitude.  I have learned a lot about perspective living on the mountain.  We have south, west and north facing ridges quite close to our house and they all have completely different views.  You take one step to the left or right and part of the view is hidden behind a tree.  Another step, and there it is.  Just like life.  You have to move, whether physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually, in order to change your perspective, and possibly your attitude.  It's all a part of growing and living.  My Aunt Nene is much better at seeing, understanding and accepting other people's perspective than I am.  I just don't have the patience to be around those whose presence I don't enjoy.  Whose perspective is so opposite of mine.

I watched Guardians of the Galaxy this evening for the umpteenth time.  Still love it just as much as the first time.

Thursday 9/15. It was 57 and clear this morning with possible rain in the forecast for next week.  JB will be home on Saturday and he may have a wet ride over the mountains.

Today I just puttered around the house cleaning, sorting and doing laundry.  Started one of my new books.  Took a nap.  It was another wonderful day with a high of 73.

On our afternoon walk, up on the south ridge, I heard a rattle snake but couldn't find it.  Then later, while watering the tomatoes (all that's left in the garden), I saw a good-sized green racer.  They must be out enjoying the last of the warm weather.

I haven't put water in the bird bath for a couple weeks now, as it attracts a lot more yellow jackets than birds.  The wasps usually swarm around mid September and I have been seeing a few more each day.  Lovely.

Friday 9/16. It is 57 with a few thin clouds about.  My project for today will be to clean out the hen house and pen, and lay down new shavings and straw.  A semi-annual event.

Thought for the day: Life is an occasion.  Rise to it.  Author Unknown

September 14, 2016 Eggs, Eggs, & Tomato Sauce

Rain falling to the west
of Rose Camp on Monday.

Monday 9/12. Custard for breakfast!  What could be better?!  JB wasn't here to frown at me, and anyway it's mainly eggs and milk.  I usually have eggs for breakfast, so I just had them in a different form. . .

Drove down to the "tunnel" and cut some more branches.  Didn't have to do as much as I thought I would, and was back home in about an hour and a half.

It was obvious that there had been cows on our road yesterday or early this morning.  Our neighbor to the south and east of us has cows, but I am not quite sure how they would have got Up Here.

Had another nice chat with Randy today.  He is having a real problem with roof rats.  We had a problem with them when we lived in Kirkland, west of the mountains.  The only way you can get rid of them is to seal up every possible crack in your house.

Also had a nice chat with Nene.  She is back from her trip with my cousin and they had a great time.  Actually came back a day later than they had planned.

Since we are not going to have enough plum tomatoes ripe at one time to make and can sauce, I used the one pound we did have.  I have never made tomato sauce before, but I was quite pleased with the way it turned out.  I ended up with about 1-1/2 cups and it should make great sloppy joes.

Our high for the day was 62 with big, dark clouds drifting in during the afternoon.

Elsie told me this evening that people were stealing Trump signs and burning them in the park!  I guess Hillary's supporters think just like she does - they don't have to follow the rules.  JB had told me that driving between Blewett and Snowqualamie passes he saw a LOT of Trump signs.  And not just small ones.

Tuesday 9/13. It was 45 with clear skies this morning, with warmer weather in the forecast.  I sat on the porch with coffee just contemplating the Universe before going into the day.

Instead of rice pudding, I made egg salad.  Not sure why I hadn't made it sooner, as I love it!  And there is no sugar involved.

I was going to split two of the smaller rounds that are left, but instead I just puttered around inside and outside.  I gathered a large bag of kindling down the west slope, and dragged up a few large branches that I then cut up and stacked.

After an early dinner of an egg salad sandwich, the dogs and I went for a walk down the road.  I haven't gone for a lot of long walks this year, and I really should.  I think I said that last year, too.  It felt good and was so enjoyable.

Am going Down There tomorrow for grocery shopping and more loading up for the winter.  It is supposed to be in the high 70's in town.  Our high for today was 67, but I thought for sure it had at least reached 70.

I finished watching the first season of Arrow this evening.  Very entertaining.  Looking forward to watching it again with JB.

Wednesday 9/14. It is 55 with blue skies this morning.  I'll be on my way after JB's 9:00 am call.

Thought for the day: Boredom is a self-inflicted wound.  Stuart Woods, Santa Fe Edge

September 12, 2016 Cooking, Canning & Reconnecting

The bull snake

Friday 9/9. I was on my way Down There at 9:30 am, as I absolutely had to get to the post office today.  I ran a couple other errands and was back home again by noon.  Driving through the "tunnel" it seemed as though all the little trees that were behind the ones I had cut yesterday had begun to lean over the road!  I definitely have to cut them back, but not for a day or two.

After lunch I split the junk wood that I had left to dry and one small round, then rearranged the porch so I could stack it on the south end.  Since it would be only one tractor bucket full, I just carried the wood to the porch in several arm loads.  Got it stacked and thought I would just relax for the rest of the day, but then remembered that the wood stove really needed to be cleaned out.  Always such a lovely chore.  Doesn't how much I concentrate on not touching my face, I always end up with black smudges on it. . .

Our high for the day was 69 with a light breeze, and the sky remained clear.

Saturday 9/10. It was 60 and clear this morning, which is really much warmer than it has been.  After JB called at 9:00 am, I called Sandy and we had a nice, long chat.  A perfect morning for sitting on the porch and talking to her.

On our morning walk, the dogs and I discovered a bull snake on the south ridge sunning himself.  He was about two feet long and in no mood to move.  Both dogs sniffed him, realizing that he was not a rattler.

There has been a large flock of grouse in the bushes of the south ridge for the past several days.  Every time we walk up there the dogs flush them out, and quite often right in front of me.

Wanting to give my muscles a rest, I spent most of the afternoon making and canning seven pints of apple pie filling with the apples I picked from Elsie's tree.  They are fairly tart, but the filling turn out quite delicious and will be perfect in JB's Mom's recipe for fruit coffee cake.

The wind swept in this afternoon, gusting to 16 mph and supposedly bringing in a cold front.  But our high for the day was 81 and the wind was quite warm.

Around 4:00 pm my phone rang.  It was a cousin with whom I had lost touch in the past several years!  She had found me on Facebook a couple weeks ago and I had given her my phone number.  We had a wonderful chat, catching up with each other and various family members.  

Sunday 9/11. It was 49 with clear skies and a cool breeze gusting to 12 mph as this sad day of remembrance began.

With three dozen eggs in the refrigerator, and more on the way, I made custard to use up some of them.  It is, after all, my favorite of desserts.  As soon as it came out of the oven, I ate two little dishes of it!  Tomorrow I think I will make some tapioca or rice pudding.

By noon clouds were drifting in from the mountains, and our high for the day was 69.  A very comfortable day that I spent mainly inside.  I got started on Nicholas Sparks' A Walk To Remember and could not put it down.  Halfway through I knew how it was going to end and my tears splashed on the last of the pages.  Phenomenal!

However, I did take time out for a nap.  Oh, how I love my naps!

The flock of grouse were gone today.  Probably got tired of being rousted and moved on.

Monday 9/12. It is 47 and mostly cloudy this morning.  A bit chilly inside too, so I put a fire in the wood stove.

Thought for the day: Stay away from negative people.  They have a problem for every solution.  Author Unknown