Recipe of the Week, #2

I could feel it coming.  It's been an undercurrent all of my life.  This fall, when I found the nice fresh raviolis in the deli section the pull became stronger.  A delicious quick meal.  Saute up some onions and garlic, throw in a can of diced tomatoes and tomato paste, some oregeno and basil and dinner is served.  Then the guests staying at our house sent a picture of their lovely daughter, Lilyjean, eating raviolis.  The ones grandpa makes every year for Christmas.  It's a family tradition.  

I had all of the ingredients and a full free day.  The 00 Flour, eggs, oil.  The green ball above is the ravioli pasta ready to chill and colored up in kale powder green.  

There is no pasta maker in our lives.  Remarkable.  Mike is certain I have every kitchen gadget known to man and woman, however, I have no pasta maker.  This pasta dough was rolled with a rolling pin.  I may very well use this year's Christmas money (thanks Mom & Dad!!) for the Kitchen Aid attachment for pasta rolling.....

Each rav was filled with things I found.  Some burger left from tacos the other night - seemed weird, but what the heck!  Some parmesan cheese.  Some pumpkin seeds.  An egg.  I whirled it up in the food processor, ready for filling the ravs! 

I will say, this was a success!!  They are simply delicious!!  One recipe made about 30 ravs; enough for dinner and enough to freeze.  My oh my.  

It was bound to happen sooner or later! Manga!  (Or however you spell that!!)

  

Happy Holidays 2020

 As you get the last details ready for this holiday weekend coming up, Mike and I wish you a healthy and safe holiday season. 

We love this picture taken of us at Todd & Janet's fall wedding this year by friend Debbie Meagher.  If you were getting a mailed holiday card, this would be the picture on the front!  But, you are not getting a card in the mail!!  

Life changes.  Challenges come, opportunities sprout.  We miss family terribly.  Through all this, we have felt the amazing support of our parents, helping us stay mentally grounded and well.  Thank you Janet, and Jean, and Ken for being there when we need to talk or like to listen, for sending texts that make us laugh, and just, well, for being such a huge part of our lives - even though we cannot be together. 

I have watched FEAR take ahold of friends.  Fear is an ugly thing.  COVID hits pocket books (and the worse may be coming....), affects life styles, and infects loved ones.  News, TV, and social media breeds on fear.  Lots of other things out there breeding on fear too.  It's a fragile time.  The COVID triangle.   The virus, the financial impact, and the mental impact.  Again, I bow to my parents' and friends' support in helping me stay strong and well mentally.  I work hard every day to not let Fear permeate my being.  Positivity and optimism are my choice in life.  

For those of you who read this greeting, we wish you good health and a positive and optimistic outlook for your life, the things you believe in, and the way you want you life to be.  Every morning we make personal choices.  You let the things come into your life that you allow.  Live the life you want, sing, be happy, celebrate life.  It's still worth living.  Even with a mask on!! 

Meet Moose

 Mike's mule Cosmo had to be put down earlier this year due to an injury that was something which could not be fixed.  It was an incredibly sad day.  We love our livestock.  We patiently put up with their quirks, their sometime rebellious moods, we laugh about their personalities, and we are proud of their strong work.  They become friends we trust with our life and that's a pretty big deal.  To say goodbye to a trusted friend is never very easy.  Rest in Peace at the Walton Ranch burial hole, Cosmo.  You were the ugliest good looking mule we've ever owned.  You looked like a Milky Way bar with your chocolate spots and creamy colors filled around them.  You made Mike swear more than once, you let Ruby ride on the saddle, and your adventures with Trumbower gave us so many good stories to remember and share around the campfire.  You were a good mule. 

So the search began to find another.  And a search it has been, indeed.  We almost made a trip to the northeast corner of Wyoming seeking a potential mule until veterinarian friend, Ken Griggs, took one look of the picture of the mule's teeth and advised us this mule was much older that was being advertised.  Then friends Seth and Alden took a four-plus hour road trip to find a mule with an ugly abscess on its face (clearly the side they did not photograph) and left with an empty trailer.  Thank you two, that was really nice of you to do that for us!   

Seth kept looking.  For us and for himself.  He found our mule, he announced.  And it looked like a real candidate!  So we went for a drive yesterday.  I took the day off and we drove south to Utah. 

There were some early signs that pointed to how our day might go.  The thermos of coffee dumping all of the coffee out into the lunch bag.  The bag of dogfood ripping as Mike tried to transfer the food into the mouse proof container.  I had bad feelings about taking the red diesel Dodge and said so. The failing air condition at end of summer and the funny knocking sounds during hunting season gave me a strong feeling we should have hooked to the old green Ford.  

We arrived at the mule's owner's house around noon on a blue sky, breezy and mild winter day, red Dodge diesel towing the trailer.  Mike saddled up the tall, dark mule, anxious leaving his two girlfriends in the small fence paneled yard.  

Off they went into the open flat field to the south of the mule's home.  Wagging his head and crow hopping a couple of times, it was clear he was not at all pleased about leaving the girls.  Mule Owner and I watched with anxiety, wondering how long before Mike ended up in a heap on the ground.  Further and further they rode off, Mike at the reigns of a mule that doesn't have a very good steering wheel, Mule Owner and I holding our breath as he rode further and further off into the distance (Mule Owner quietly proclaiming with a low and ominous tone,  "I've never ridden him that far away before").  He turned the mule to cross to the other side of the field.  Back and forth, round and round, crow hop or two thrown in, and back he came, a measured and calm walk, returning to his girls.  Mike liked him.  The mule's name is Moose. 

So all seemed to be going well.  Mike did not get dumped, he liked the mule, we bought the mule, and followed Mule Owner to vet to get health certificate.  Off to the gas station to get fuel for the Dodge.  Fueled up, we pulled onto the side road to take us to the interstate and then suddenly, another funny sound and the rubber smell of burning plastic sent Mike making a dramatic U-turn with trailer back into the parking lot. Gray acrid smelling smoke was billowing out of the hood and especially on my side.  I was pretty sure we were about to watch our Dodge burn to the ground and I was thinking "get your purse, get the dogs, get the mule out of the trailer, and call 911".

Fortunately, it was just a major belt smoking to it's final breaking point.  I guess that is better than burning up the truck, but it was a big deal.  Mule Owner came to the rescue, brining a new belt, calling a mechanic friend, spending the remainder of his afternoon helping Mike replace the compressor (a new one delivered by a couple of young kids in an old beater Buick, cost of said compressor charged to Mule Owner's credit card - I would later repay him on his Venmo account) and figure out how to thread the serpentine belt in a very limited work space with a very limited tool selection.  Another friend of Mule Owner showed up in a red flatbed pickup.  Where did you come from, I asked.  I saw JT over her under the truck and thought I might be able to help!  Amazing, said I. 

As Mike crawled into the truck to turn the key three and a half hours later, I asked how we might repay them.  Both lowered their eyes and gave and "ah, shucks, we don't want any money" response.  Pay it forward, one said.  I can attest, there are still good people out there in the world!!  They will get gifts of gratitude. 

The sun dropped below the horizon and Mike started the engine.  The belt stayed in place.  We were on our way home!!  We arrived in Freedom before 8:30pm with a tired mule, two tired dogs, and two happy passengers!  Moose bayed his mournful mule holler, missing the girls left behind, under a starry sky with a bale of good alfalfa hay for eating.  He was happy to get some grain from his new owner this morning and this afternoon will be meeting his new buddy, Gus.  

Welcome to our Family, Moose.  We will love you and take care of you just like we did with Cosmo and that we do for the others in the family.  We know you will have quirks, strengths and weaknesses.  We will do our very best to insure you have a long and healthy life.  I think you will like it here.  Please take good care of Mike. Thank you for not dumping him onto a field in Utah yesterday! 

And the Dodge goes to the shop on Monday. 

  

Recipe of the Week

 With good intentions, I begin a series called "Recipe of the Week".  

Mike says it is the best Cesar salad he has ever eaten.  The dressing, whipped up by hand, has just the right mix of fishy, salty anchovy and garlic.  Below are the directions.  

Take three slices of oily, smelly, salty anchovies out of their can and onto a cutting board.  Don't worry about the drops of oil that coat these delicious morsels.  Chop the fish meat into small pieces. 

Peel a sumptuous clove of garlic (if you have garlic from my garden, your clove will be fat, juicy, and spicy) and coarse chop alongside of the chopped anchovy. 

When you tire from chopping these two ingredients into tiny pieces, flatten out your knife and press down on the two, working the mixture into what looks more like a slurry of combined goodness.

In a small bowl, place the yolk from the egg you just went out and gathered from the hen house coming in and separating out the white into the sink garbage disposal into the bowl.  (If you have no chickens, I am sorry for you).  Beat it up with a wire whisk. 

Add fresh lemon juice.  About half a lemon was right - around 2 tablespoons.  Wisk.  Add a squirt of very good mustard.  Wisk.  

Now dribble, ever so slowly, good olive oil into this mix whisking, whisking constantly.  The mixture is going to thicken.  I added a few drops of water when I was getting pretty tired of whisking.  

To finish, add the anchovy/garlic slurry and some shredded Parm cheese.  Whisk and be ready for a real taste bud treat. 

I cheated with the croutons and was delighted with the results.  Took some older bread (whaaaat, bread in our house??!!), cubed it and put it in a pan with olive oil.  Heated, threw in some seasonings and done!!  Croutons made without a cookie pan and/or oven!!  

Mix the dressing into your chopped Romaine, divide into serving bowls, top with croutons and cheese.  Be prepared for the best Cesar salad you have ever eaten. 

Today is a Big Day

 Today is a big day.  Today, Mike sells his Hoback home.  

I'm sorry I do not have a picture of the house as we prepare to sign the paper work to make it so. 

In the works, a hope to get some farm land just west of our place in Freedom and the hope to buy a house in the area we could rent for that needed retirement income......

There should always be a picture in a blog.  Here you can see a slice of the land Mike is hoping to buy, just on the left of the frame. (The markings on the picture is to direct the Harvest Host guests where to park).  

Dirty Socks

 Mom sent me a GREAT book (Nose Dive), inspired from my excited sharing of smells.  Which, amazingly, I have been able to smell.  It is a sense which disappeared years ago.  I figured of all things, losing one's sense of smell can't be the worst thing a human body experiences.  

Anyway, I will spare you the details of how, but my smell is back.  Mike finds my joyful proclamations funny as I open the jar of dark roasted coffee beans and take a giant smell in shouting out how goooooood the coffee beans smell.  But exactly what do they smell like? 

And that's what inspired the book.  Mom heard the author on NPR (because she listens to it non-stop!) and new I needed the book. 

Did you know smells are volatilized atoms?  AND, here is the really cool part, many atoms are similar to others.  

This is a picture of ALL the kraut I have sitting on the counter, happily fermenting away.  Some of it is waiting to be jarred up, some of it is bubbling away.  Our house smells like dirty socks!!  And now I know why!!  The atoms the ferment throws into the air are certainly similar to those of dirty socks!!  And I'm just 20 pages into the book!!  

I need adjectives!!  Incidentally, I have plenty of kraut!  Some of my Fans have discovered that this stuff is not only delicious, but good for you too.  Mike and I eat it on our eggs, our sandwiches, and our steaks.  Certainly a good addition for building up immunity - not a bad idea right now!! 

It has been snowing.  A bunch!

This is a picture out the back door yesterday morning, before it snowed another half foot.  Winter came early this year!! 

Happily, we found my elk before the big storm came. 

Thank you Miss Elk for standing still so long so I could make a good shot.  Your meat will be relished and appreciated!  We are so lucky to have a freezer packed with lean, organic meat.  This year, I have asked the processor to put aside the burger (with some pork fat mixed in) and I am going to make a variety of breakfast sausage.  Please send me your favorite recipes!!  

I love the smell of breakfast sausage sizzling in a pan but I have no clue of how to describe that smell......the greasy smell of pork fat filling the air and making me hungry!!  

I Never Thought of That!

As Mike awaits the final sale of his Hoback house, he threw out the idea about a month ago that we should look for some snowmobiles.  I was all in!  Of course, as life goes, once you start thinking about something, you start seeing that something.  One of the guys we snowmobiled with back in the day had this sled up for sale.  His son was selling the other.  A person we totally trust, they were purchased without hesitation.

And as we loaded them, Mike quipped, I could have bought a couple of mules for what we paid for these things!  I never thought of that!!  

Word around the valley - north and south - is that snowmobiles are a hot commodity.  No one wants to be in a tram car on the ski hill and many are thinking snowmobiles are the perfect social yet isolated winter activity.  The trails will probably be busy. 

Don't they look a bit like bees??  These are two stroke sleds.  Pull the cord and blap blap blap they growl!  An 800 and a 600 engine size.  Get stuck once, and you have your daily workout!  

Yes, it's a bit redneck, however, once we spend the entire winter in Freedom, these toys could be a very nice distraction to impending boredom!!  

Raising Funds

It is a tragic story.  One of a 9 month old in his stroller.  Mom runs into the tent to grab a coat while dad leaves.  Dad see the back of the stroller and figures all is well, gets in his truck and backs over his nine month old son who crawled out of the stroller. Tragic, heartbreaking, and an event that brought the community together to do something.  Something for this young couple that lost their beautiful baby boy.  Someone started a Facebook page and they did a community fund raising event through an auction.  Local people donated a ton of things.  I think they had close to 800 items donated.  I donated a sour cherry pie.  It fetched $90 and was delivered this last weekend.  

I also donated a case of wide mouth pint jars with lids and rings.  It fetched $55.  Those are almost collectors items this year!! 

The family is overwhelmed with the love and care from the community.  They have more money than they need, so I have heard, and will help out other families when needed.  

I doubt there are many more things more difficult to endure.  I hope they find some very good counseling so they can go on with life.  

Still Hunting

Well, Mike is still in camp.  Turns out, big horn sheep are as elusive - if not more - than elk!  Weather played a part as well as a few other things.  It's all good.  He loves it there.  And so did I!  I relaxed.  I remembered what it feels like to relax!  Read an entire book in a day!  The Bear was a great read and I liked it a bit more than its counterpart, The Road  Both are stories about the end of the world - I know, right?  Still, both were great reads.  I always like Cormac's writing; even though it is dark and frightening!  I read The Road when Mike was in camp a couple of weeks ago, lying in bed, gobbling up the words, imagining the destruction and terror until after midnight one night!!  Crazy.  Very unlike me!! 

And I relaxed more.  Days with long naps.  A ride to look for sheep.  Nights of constant patter on the tent, rain and more rain.  When silence came, you knew the rain had turned to snow.  And I wrote.  I wrote pages and pages.  Mainly about camp.  If I ever scribe a book, it will be titled "The Best Chapter in Life" and it will be about wilderness/hunting camp.  Below, you will find Part I. If you have time to read it, I warmly welcome and invite your thoughts in review.  

Stories.  There is time for stories in hunting camp.  And when they are told, everyone listens!  It's remarkable.  Nothing is pulling anyone's attention away.  Stories and good listeners. Wow. 

Here are some photos.  I never take enough pictures. 

The ride into camp (and Gus's ear, bottom left!)

Mike's Taj mahal Tent!  It's huge!! 

And a great location for an afternoon nap! 

The Shark's Tooth!  Cool, right?!

Heading back into camp, crossing the Elk Fork River. 

Good grief, Seth, SMILE!!  Alden, Seth, Mike and Kathy

Part One

Nothing, yet everything is remarkable about this morning. 

I sit basking in the morning sun in a camp deep within the Washakie Wilderness.  I am the sole human being in camp.  The other living warm blooded animals include four watchful dogs, sixteen head of stock - horses and mules - two loud chattering and somewhat obnoxious squirrels, and an occasional bird song.  A flicker yak-yak-yaking in the distance off my left shoulder.  A stellar jay squawks a commanding cry in the valley below. 

Cabin Creek sings its mountain stream song, the omnipresent white noise of camp.  Ned, the wrangle horse, wanders around weaving through the canvas tent landscape, eating the late fall grasses, the bell strapped around his neck sounds his location each time he moves. 

The early morning fires, set to make coffee and warm tents, are mostly out.  A breeze, gently wafting about, in no particular direction, carries hints of smoke from the stoves, still warm to the touch. 

On the portable radio, the NOAA weather channel forecaster chatters on about a wet cold front bringing rain turning to snow for this evening.  This long-lasting dry fall with 20 degree mornings and 75 degree days have parched the landscape.  The trails are dusty, dried, and trodden.  The dust is micro-fine, light in the air, surrounding the horses and their riders in a haze of floating dust.  Some moisture would be a good thing for this water-starved landscape. 

We are good friends with the owners of this camp.  Their third year here.  Seth and Alden work hard to bring a bit of civilization to their tiny spot in this enormous wild country. 

The ride into the Elk Fork Camp is a pleasant nine mile ride.  Ambling along the trail above the Elk Fork River, cottonwoods make their final season exclamation, shimmering in fluorescent yellows.  The warm afternoon chinook wind peels off the leaves and makes a confetti show, leaves piling up on the dusty trail. The season of rest is coming soon. 

Junipers appear along the trail, laden with purple berries and the smell of good gin.  This landscape is surprisingly diverse; aspens, cottonwoods, junipers, pine, sage, grasses, wild roses make their living from the water the Elk Fork delivers.  The river rolls down this wide canyon carving its way to meet the Shoshone River, the confluence down by the parking lot and the road.  The road that makes its way to Cody or to Yellowstone National Park, depending on which way one turns.  This road, a river of its own. 

The work here is not work for the weak of body or spirit.  The season begins mid-summer when the Elk Fork is big and roars carrying the winter's melt off downstream.  Deep and fast, the river is dangerous.  This river is crossed six times traveling into camp.  The frigid spring run-off can push a horse and its rider off balance or tip a mule and her load plumb over into a torrent of fast-moving and powerful current.  The river's spring time cacophony demands attention.  Stock work to keep their footing as they make their way across stream, over unseen boulders, large and small, rounded by the river's persistent hands.  

Fabric tents are erected under the support of logs cut and carried to the tent sites.  Topped off with a canvas fly, these cloth four sided structures will shelter the weary and cover the dining table while coffee and meals are prepared and consumed. In all kinds of weather events. 

To heat these fabric structures requires copious amounts of firewood.  Dead trees must be felled using a crosscut saw.  This saw, long bladed and shark toothed, is operated by a two person crew - one person pulling the other doing this same effort, come their turn.  A push, rather than a pull, renders the saw into a flexible useless piece of equipment and the effort must start again.  Pull, rest, pull, rest, pull, rest. 

With this great effort and time, trees are dropped, rounds are cut, rounds are split, split wood is gathered and stacked.  It is impossible to appreciate the work invested in a single stick of firewood until you grab the handle of a crosscut saw, spend an afternoon splitting rounds into firewood, pickup those enormous piles of wood and stack them in various tents. 

Nothing here is simple.  The oven does not just turn on, it too is heated by wood.  Careful burning and flue adjustment is required to turn out a cake, a pan of brownies, or morning biscuits to sop up rich sausage gravy.  Illumination is provided from fuel-fired Coleman lanterns, their silky mantel socks filling with fuel and glowing bright white in the darkening tent.  The outhouse sits over a hole which must be dug and re-dug every spring.  Water is fetched from Cabin Creek in galvanized pales.  Sweet, cold water.  

The day winds to an end.  Lanterns are cranked off, stoves are dampened down, and sleeping bags are zipped up.  Breath in, breath out.  Wind rustles overhead in dead trees which seem far too close to the tent.  The night sky is black and brilliant with stars and planets; the paintbrush-swath of the Milky Way traces through the sky.  A meteor scratches a line across the sky landscape.  One night while in camp, it is warm enough to sit with chin up, gazing into that great abyss above, pondering wild places and the frightening enormity of it all.  

Planning, Packing, and Panic-ing!

Mike and I are headed to Seth and Alden's hunting camp.  On Thursday!  Yikes!  Today is Tuesday.  I have been pre-making dinners.  Time to pack.  Time to plan.  Time to panic a bit, still lots to do!!  

The break will be very good.  Last week was super-stressful with staff members testing positive for COVID, more staff members being sent home to quarantine, and those remaining showing distinct signs of the COVID Jitters. 

But don't worry, it's not a big deal, per some authorities.  What a dumb ass.  Tell that to the >200K people who have died.  I'm sorry, this is a big deal and those of you whom I love, keep being careful.  You do not want this virus, it is real.  But, hey, that's just my opinion!! If you are going to be careless and get it, please don't hang out with those who do not want it.  Just sayin'.....

Postings from camp when we get out.  Snow coming.  4-6 inches Saturday night in the high country....

October is Fire Safety Month

 You might just enjoy the Chiefs' messages on fire safety!  Fire Inspector Bobbi Clauson put this together to get to our kindergarten kids for Fire Prevention Month!!  Take a look at the video by clicking on the video below! 

Mr. Fitzgerald and Mrs. Palermo!

 Gray clouds and drizzle brought in the fall afternoon as guests of Todd and Janet made their way to the river side setting at Broken Arrow Ranch.  Pop up tents covered hay bales (Trumbower hay, of course) and an arbor stood front and center.  The bride dressed while the gathering of dearly beloved waited.  

Pictures may best reflect this great afternoon.  The rain quit.  The sun actually came out a bit too.  A wonderful time was had by all as Todd & Janet finally tied the knot!  They've been together for 20 years!!  I think their relationship has stood the test of time! 

Red Cabbage

 It was harvest time last weekend in the Freedom garden.  Thanks to the generosity of Heather, the gal who runs Riverside Greenhouse in Thayne, I ended up with 49 cabbage plants; two of which turned out to be cauliflower plants.  

The cabbages were lovely in the garden, their giant palmed leaves backlit by the sun.  One of the great things about having copious amounts of dirt, is doing something frivolous like planting 49 cabbage plants.  I watched the white butterflies flitting around knowing that the cabbage worms were right coming soon.  For some reason, the cabbage worms do not like red cabbage. 

I did not count how many cabbage heads were harvested for 2020.  Not all plants made a head worth picking.  But there are plenty, for sure.  

The first batch of kraut included zucchini and onions from the garden.  I threw in a few caraway seeds as well.  Another batch of the same ingredients minus the caraway seeds.  The red cabbage was combined with peeled red beets (one only makes the mistake of not peeling the bitter, acrid skins away once!) and ginger.  This is a nice combination which I have done with great success already.  In two weeks or so, the fermentation will have done its magic and the bright-tasting kraut will be ready to enjoy on a burger or an egg. 

Did you know you can use red cabbage juice to check for the pH of your soil?  I noticed one of the outside red cabbage leaves was a bit green, leaving me to think that this might mean our soil is a bit more alkaline.  Hmmm. And, turns out, red cabbage is very high in vitamin C and vitamin K, which incidentally, is an important vitamin for blood clotting.  Who knew??

Here are some garden shots.  More chopping to happen soon.  Any suggestions for kraut flavors?  

  Wheel barrel of cabbage heads. 

After the harvest, below. 

Meet Lucky

There is a new often-seen critter at K Lazy M Ranch.  Meet Lucky.  This black rabbit showed up a couple of months ago and continues to surprise us that he still is alive.  Hence the name, Lucky!! 

Often seen around the corrals, in the hay barn, or hippitie hoppitieing out to the giant manure pile (why, we do not know), this once-pet rabbit amuses us and entertains the mules and dogs.  

Guessing Lucky was someone's pet and they got tired of the rabbit.  Dropped him off.  No way to know if he was deposited here or roamed over from somewhere else.  But, he seems to like it here.  Lucky left my garden alone or Lucky would not have been so lucky!! 

The hard frost of last week left the sunflowers and cosmos dead.  The cabbages may continue to grow, we shall see. 

A big harvest of honey was made and prep work for winter on other hives.  Count on getting honey for holiday gifting!! 

Changing Seasons

 We worked hard over the weekend.  Temperatures on Sunday soared at a 93 degree high with winds and low humidity.  The hay on the field was drying out.  A storm, promised to arrive on Monday, was our threat for success.  We need to bale and pickup a whole lot of hay before the storm arrived. 

Thanks to very few breakdowns and some help from neighbor Lou, we succeeded.  I took this picture as we were pulling the rest of the equipment out of the field, lightning bolts flashed to the north. 

It was quite a storm.  Jackson experienced a blizzard followed by a hurricane.  Trees toppled down all over the place in town.  On brand new Subaru cars, onto powerlines, blocking driveways, and causing all kinds of havoc.  The event was a strong cold front which terminated any further discussion of summer or zucchini picking from the garden. 

I picked a bunch of pink cosmo flowers to put on the counter as a tribute to the summer that really was productive.  Ten cabbages were lopped off their stems, onions harvested, potatoes dug, and peas, well, I've had enough peas for this year.  They froze!

This morning's low in Hoback was 19 degrees.  Killing frost.  

Now, the maples are turning colors down Snake River Canyon.  The temperature at noon is warm and luxurious bring back memories of hunting camp with huge breakfasts followed by deep-sleep naps in tents warmed by the afternoon summer sun.  That was a good chapter!

Fall can stick around awhile, methinks.  But, snow is on its way.  This we know.  

How Does Your Garden Grow

 It's full-swing garden time in Star Valley!!  This year's main attraction are the weeds; the scourge of all gardeners.  Taking a walk in the garden in the cool morning air is medicine for the mind and soul.  

A few of the 75 cabbages are cauliflower, I have come to observe.  Cauliflower is a waste of time.  Maybe there is something I do not know, but reproducing the compact snowy white heads like one finds in the grocery store is, so far, not possible.  You will only find cauliflower in my garden when one shows up accidentally in a free four-pack from my nursery friend!!

I have harvested 50 garlic plants.  There are 50 more to go.  And 50 harvested in Hoback.  The garlic did well, again, this year.  I've got garlic down!!  

The fava beans are shooting out their fat, squishy pods filled with the delectable fava bean.  Goes well with liver and Chianti.  What movie did that come from?  Anyone know?  They are a lot of work for a very little amount of reward, but oh so good......

The sunflowers are starting to bloom which makes the bees and me so happy!!  The sunflower plot is right out the front window - what a great thing to gaze upon in the morning!!  I will be planting red clover as a ground cover next time I have time. 

And there is that amazing petunia.  It has grown to touch the ground.  Amazing thing.  Worth every penny!!  

I hope your garden grows well this year too.  

Grandma June Collected Antiques

 It occurs to me, as I write this piece about Grandma June - which we never called her, she was just "Grandma" to Sandy and me - that I do not remember Grandma's middle name.  

Grandma (June) was Dad's mother.  She lived in the house that Dad and Linda now live in.  Once there was an apricot tree out the front door.  I have a vague memory of a dark night when their garage burnt down.  She cut Sandy's and my bangs.  She enjoyed filling the front room up with family.  I had to work hard for it, but I now carry on her delicious fresh lettuce salad dressing recipe.  I know her maiden name was Bagley, but I do not recall her middle name. 

Mom's mother's middle name was Minerva.  Mom donned her brace with that name.  The brace she had to wear for months after we rolled down the hill in Oregon and she ended up quite injured.  It was a big deal. 

Grandma (June) was a collector and seller of antiques.  Tables ran the east-west length of the out-of-service old dairy barn.  The tables hefted the weight of old items; glass fancy painted kerosene lantern, dishes, cups, salt and pepper shakers, jewelry boxes, and more.  She had a neat collection of old stuff and made sure we kids knew we were not to be poking around there by ourselves.  There were items there rumored to be worth quite a bit of money. 

I have a porcelain musical jewelry box from Grandma's collection.  It is lovely and looks to be hand painted.  Sadly, the hinges have broken and what was once one piece is now two.  The music will still play.  

Some things seem so genetically inspired.  My interest in old things is most likely a genetic thread I acquired from my father's lineage as my DNA formed in Mom's womb.  

When I got a call from a friend who had conversed with another friend and determined her old furniture pieces should be up for me to consider, I (of course) went to her house for a look.  No one was home, but in the place she described sat a nice heavy oak desk chair.  A serious upgrade to the dingy POS chair I have at my sewing machine.  The other piece looked like a large end table with something galvanized attached.  What was it, I pondered.  No room in the work truck for such a thing, I opted to grab it the next day when Mike came to town with a truck. 

As things sometime roll, he was not able to meet me the next day with a truck.  I ventured over to the friend's house, committed to figure out a way to get it stuffed in my work rig.  Many of you don't know what my work rig looks like.  Imagine a Chevy 1500 with a topper.  In the back under the topper, there is a pullout (very handy).  On that pullout are "Accident Ahead" traffic sign; a set of collapsible traffic cones; a personal flotation device (PFD); a tool box for fire investigations; two 5 gallon buckets filled with sand (for weight in the winter; which clearly should have been removed months ago, but will remain because winter is right around the corner!); a container with a bag of incident vests and a wildland pack; a container with jumper cables, helmets, and filter mask; bunker gear (pants and jacket); SCBA bottle; fire extinguisher; a box with a bunch of miscellaneous stuff; and a broom, a flat shovel, a round shovel, a scoop shovel, and a wildland tool called a combination tool. There are times when it can be a bit of a junk show back there, but it all works for me and that's all that matters.  

The cab of the truck is an extra cab.  The seats behind the two front seats have the following on top or along side them.  BLS (basic life support) bag, open tool bag with radios, batteries, programming cables, sunscreen, incident guide books.  A USPS box (sorry, I'm just "borrowing" it!) filled with more local information, guide books, binoculars, and incident job descriptions.  A box of N95 masks.  A box of BSI (body substance isolation) gloves.  Extrication tools in a hanging pouch behind the driver's seat as well as a MCI (mass casualty incident) kit (we had it out on Monday for the balloon crash).  A nomex jump suit.  Bags for the grocery store.  It's kind of cluttered there too. 

Anyway, with a little work, I got most of the stuff stuffed into the cab and was able to load the piece of furniture that Lori told me when I arrived was an egg incubator.  Wow!!  Now I was even more inspired to get it loaded up in case she changed her mind about giving it away!!  This thing was made by a company called Buckeye.  

Here is a picture of what it looks like off an internet search. And this is a pretty much what it looks like in person.  The round thing is the water chamber.  The tube that sticks into it goes inside and around the box to heat the eggs.  The long piece of metal wire thing has a round cap on it that cover a hole through the water chamber.  When it gets too hot inside, there is some mechanism that lifts the wire with the lid up so the chamber will cool off!  How cool is that?!!  The research I've done leads me to think it is made of redwood.  This is such a unique piece!!  

Here it is in our Freedom bedroom with the incubator and the super cool copper fire extinguisher lamp.  I have now been given two of these lamps by people in this valley which really warms my heart!!  

So now that I am here in this story, I realize a lot of people have given me some pretty cool things!!  The egg incubator and the two fire extinguisher lamps. Grandma would have been impressed with this antique piece, I am certain.  

 

We Didn't Do it For The Money!!

When Mike brought the paper home advertising the Star Valley Barn Quilt contest late last summer/early fall, I did notice there was a big prize money award.  Although, I promptly forgot about the prize and went to work planning and scheming.  Mom, being a big quilt maker, was who we wanted to honor with this effort.  And one of the quilts she has made me, my very favorite, is the Sunflower Quilt.  We plant sunflowers on the farm every year, so it seemed like a good pattern choice! 

Then the research started.  How to design it - the 8"x 8" square was magnified to an 8' x 8' design. Priming, painting, assembling framing, and then - the hardest part of all - hanging, the latter, not for the weak of heart. 

I was finished with the painting pre-COVID and took on another 8' x 8' to keep my mind off COVID, that barn quilt ending up in Jackson.  

We learned we won first place about a week ago.  Shirley and Donna from the Star Valley Quilt Guild arrived, with check in hand and first place banner, to take our picture and do a short interview.  Our Star Valley moment of fame will come out in next week's paper - a full feature on the barn quilt competition.  

And the prize money was big, it turns out.  Big enough to make three more barn quilts!!  We were presented with a check for $1500!  I didn't get the exact details, but the Guild got the money through some sort of Lincoln County Business group that funded the endevour.  Barn Quilt trails are popular across the United States.  The hope is that people will travel around the county going to look at the quilts, stopping along the way to spend their money while gaping at the artwork.  

The whole thing was started by Donna Sue Clark who wanted to honor her mother's quilt making.  She started a trend and we became part of this neat, national public display! 

There is one sad part to this story.  It was my hope that Mom could stand below our barn quilt holding her Sunflower quilt for a photo.  With COVID, that has not been possible and it is the one disappointment to our Barn Quilt Story.  

Like Donna Sue, Mike and I too want to honor the amazing woman who has done so many awesome things in her life and who made the Sunflower Barn quilt back in 1998, cursing and swearing every stitch of the way.  Thank you Mom!

Things Are Not Improving....