Confessions of a Food Hoarder

Cold weather and short days push everyone inside.  Being on duty on Sunday, usually a quiet day, I tackled the back room.  The animal room, the storage room, the miscellaneous room.  The back corner has a food storage shelf.  I found four bags of brown sugar as I sorted and organized.  You never know when you might have to bake 25 batches of chocolate chip cookies!  An unreasonable amount of canned tomato sauce was sorted and noted.  Time to make spaghetti!!  I am a food hoarder.  It is true. 

Then I cleaned the room.  Dog hair, cat hair, cat litter, and dust were wiped away, vacuumed away, and swept away.  The vacuum bag was stuffed and changed.  The floor got mopped.  Much better, thank  you.

Meanwhile, cooking ensued.  Two batches of really great lentil soup from my go-to Insta Pot site Lentil Soup Recipe which fed the Family at work on Monday.  Three loaves of sour dough bread as I continue my quest to conquer this bread type.  A loaf of bourbon banana bread from a great recipe go-to site  Food 52 Browned Butter Bourbon Banana Bread Recipe  This site is my unraveling for kitchen gadgets.  Mike noted the other day that I had every kitchen gadget made and although this is not 100% accurate, it is close!  My latest can be viewed here Coolest-Ever Spice Grinder

We hunted on Saturday.  This was before the cold snap swooped into Jackson Hole, shivering even the toughest hombre.  The day was comfortable, however, only elk tracks were found.  Still a great morning and a nice ride.  So nice we share this love for the outdoors.  And we have the truck and trailer and stock to make it happen. 

An unusually cold front is coming through the valley sending morning lows in the minus readings.  So much for planting any more bulbs in the ground!  Trick or treating will be cold come Thursday night.  And we all moan as we prepare to lose an hour on Sunday, turning our clocks back.  I always feel cheated that day.

Tuesday night after-work activities included un-crocking a variety of ferments made from my garden cabbage.  They have been bubbling away, turning into various flavors of deliciousness.  Here are the flavor combinations:

Johnny's Kraut.  Named after Johnny Robinson - who loves this recipe - this is green cabbage, dill, and thinly sliced lemons.  Tart and a bit bitter from the lemon rinds, this just tastes healthy!  Great on a burger.
Holiday Kraut:  Fresh cranberries come around this time of the year.  I was pretty sure it would flop when I created this recipe last year, but no, it is delicious!  Green cabbage and sliced cranberries make for a subtle flavored mild kraut.  Lovely in its color and delicious all on its own.
Baseball Kraut:  A bit of green cabbage and a lot of onions and red pepper, this kraut is a home run every time!  It's Mike's favorite.  Spiced with paprika and mustard seeds, it tastes and looks awesome on a brats! 
End of the Season Kraut:  This new recipe is my 2019 Winner of the Year!  I literally cleaned out the refrigerator on this one.  Cabbage, carrots, zucchini, red pepper, red onion, garlic, and caraway seeds.  Wow!  This one throws a pack of flavor and deliciousness.  I'll be making another batch soon!

Fermentation draws me these days.  Every week, I bottle a new batch of kambucha, fermenting away in half gallon mason jars in the bathroom, building their SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast) layer by layer until there are so many layers I have to throw them away.  My sourdough culture bubbles and brews almost jumping out of the container waiting to be folded into another loaf of sourdough bread or sourdough pancakes.  Here is my most favorite-ever recipe for pancakes; these things are amazing ever single time Best EVER Sourdough Pancakes    Am I going to make beer next with my prolific hop crop?  Probably not.  I doubt I will be making wine either.  Still, there are lots of multiplying bacteria in my life adding flavor and health benefits to those who partake. 

Handy Man

Here is how it usually works.....I find something so unbelievably cool at the ReStore, and well, I just can't leave without it.  It's usually very unique, but I know it will require The Handy Man's  some way or another.  I buy it anyway, with hesitation and consternation.  And then I wait until the Handy Man is in a relatively good mood...."hey, Darlin', I have a small project for you."  He huffs and puffs.  He has to make a zillion trips back and forth getting the right tools, things don't fit, pieces are needed; all the time, I'm feeling like a real imposition in the Handy Man's life.

These projects have included the hanging of many lights.  This one, is, by far, the most unique light I have ever seen!!  When the whole escapade was over, I think even the Handy Man was pleased!!

It was a relaxing weekend, for sure.  The weather was snotty.  Cold, rainy, windy then snow.  Nothing to do outside unless one wanted to be miserable.  Which is how the horses and mules looked as gale force winds threw sheets of stinging snow eastward bound.  We watched from the comfort of the inside, wood stove crackling. I always feel bad for our stock when winter arrives.

Saturday morning, just at daylight, Ruby growled.  We figured she was growling at the passing mules and horses.  We were up and about shortly after and there, in the hay field, just out from the house, were at least 100 grazing elk!  It was so cool!!  We snuck out on the deck and slipped into the hot tub watching them graze down the cut plants.  The horses grazed nearby.  And then a coyote came along hunting the pocket gophers.  What a treat!

Chlorine Gas

It doesn't take much chlorine gas to kill you; only 10 parts per million.  When we got called to respond to a gas leak at the Town of Jackson Public Works well house, the risk to mitigate the hazard increased exponentially when we learned that gas that was leaking was chlorine.

Thankfully, Teton County has a team of highly-trained hazard mitigation members and because they are local, they were able to respond quickly.  The tanks were turned off within two hours and the hazard abated.  No evacuations were required. 

This high risk, low frequency event reminded us, once again, the value of good training.  This team trained on a scenario just like this real-life event last year.  That training was put to good use yesterday and everyone has a happy-ending story. 

Well done, Team!!

The End of the Summer Season

Fall can be such a beautiful time of the year.  Lows in the teens, highs in the sixties; the days are blue skied and glorious. 

Time for bulb planting.  Thank you Friend Janet for the box full of bulbs.  They are nestled in the dirt waiting for spring.  Your generous gift makes me certain many will be a surprise when they poke their spring ware up out of the ground.  I did not map where I put these bulbs....!

This weekend, I planted another 50 cloves of garlic.  That is 150 cloves of garlic waiting to make full bulbs ready by next August.  A local gardening coop sells one head of garlic for $2.  With some luck - and some sacrifice to our personal garlic stock - another 50 will get planted this weekend and finish out the year. 

Be Generous

I've been working on acts of generosity.  Last night, I made a batch of chili to bring to work, but it did not turn out as I wanted and I nixed that idea.

So today, I donated some hair!  I've been in need of a trim for awhile.  All it takes is 8" to donate one's hair. 

Here is the lock that was cut.  I hope it will help someone.  I wish it was thicker, but it is what it is!!

I keep my hair pulled back and in a braid 99.9% of the time.  The ends are good.  The whole lock should be useful for someone.  I hope so....

Here is what is left!  Taking bets.....when Mike returns from Cody, will he notice?  I'll be $20 he won't notice for weeks!!  Haha!

Optimistic Opening Day

We arrived as the moon, weighted down by a waning crescent, sunk to the eastern horizon.  The constellation, Orion The Hunter, stood out boldly in the southern sky.  As we heaved ourselves atop our trusty steeds and headed down the trail, Sassy - the white pack mule - glowed in the morning darkness ahead.  She and Cosmo carried pack saddled; just in case we got lucky.  A sparky-red meteor zipped straight down through the sky in front of us.  It seemed like very good luck and I had on my boots I always wear when I kill an elk, my black silk scarf, my camo pants and coat, my binoculars, and my riding helmet.  Not that I am superstitious or anything!! 

Up and over the ridge and down the other side.  The yellow aspen leaves shuttered in the morning diurnal breeze, cold and in our faces.  Things began to light up as the sun pushed over the horizon's edge in the same place the moon sank.  The forest was quiet. 

Our optimism for the day translated in a nice ride with our stock!  Nothing showing today.  There will be another time, another opportunity.  For today, it was a good hunt and a great ride.  We were ready!!

Really Great Salad!!

The thing about Swiss Chard is it isn't really Swiss.  No one seems to know how the word "Swiss" got associated to this plant.  The other thing about Swiss Chard is you have to kind of love it.  Most people saute it in a bit of butter with some shallots and it turns out to be a spinach-like side dish.  Good for you, for sure!!

Last night, I tried the below recipe with great success!! If you happen upon, or have some out in your garden, try this out!  Delicious!!  I want to have this salad every night with dinner, please!!

Delicious Recipe!!

Enjoy!!

For the Love of Swiss Chard and Rifles

Every year I plant rainbow swiss chard in at least one of my gardens.  It comes up in plants sporting yellow, red, pink, and white stalks.  Their big green leaves tower over the garden and practically sing out, "I am full of goodness!"  And so they are.  This relative of the beet is full of antioxidants and vitamins.  Slice it thin into a salad, add some pine nuts and thin sliced onions, top with a just-made vinegar/oil dressing and call it good and good-for-you! 

But I plant it for the visual effect.  The yellow stalks are especially noteworthy and the pink laced stem a real show piece in the garden lineup. Keep the slugs away and you will see giant leaves, firm and lush.  What a delight.  Here is tonight's harvest.  What they don't take at work, I'll turn into something good and good for us!

 

This garden harvest happened tonight as the sun dropped below Munger Mountain and the day grew now shorter.  Welcome fall.  There are so many things to like about this time of the year.  The manic life style becomes tolerable.  The days become longer.  The promise of white snow, cold air, and sharp blue winter skies lures one into almost being ready for the next winter season.

Thursday is opening day for elk season.  Mike and I renew one of the fundamental pieces of our relationship and meet at the shooting range to ensure our rifles shoot properly.  This building block of our attraction toward each other - starting a way way long time ago - sparks that ol' feeling and we are happy and shooting next to each other.  I shoot.  He looks through the scope.  I shoot again.  He looks again, examining the target.  An adjustment is made.  I shoot again.  He looks in the scope.  I aim for the metal platter at 200 yards.  Shoot.  Wait.  "Pling" goes the target.  We cheer!  I have hit the target and am content.  My rifle is ready.  And so am I.  He shoots.  Checks the target through the scope.  He shoots again.  Checks.  He shoots the 300 yard metal platter.  Shoot.  Wait, wait.  "Pling"  We cheer again, together! It is the little things that bond us together.

I tried being a vegetarian once in my 30s.  When I continued to get turned down to give blood because I didn't have enough red blood cells, the light finally turned on.  Hey, no one is really that smart at 30!!  As a meat eater, I would much prefer a freezer filled with wild, organic meat.  We consider ourselves extremely lucky to have this opportunity to hunt in Wyoming.  To seek the elusive wapiti, and to simply be out in the back wild country. 

I took a vacation day on Thursday and hope it isn't pouring rain when the alarm clock goes off (far too early, I'm sure).

Happy Hunting, Friends! 

One Twelveth of a Teaspoon

One hard working honey bee will collect and process 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime, contributing to the survival of the colony and the continuation of the gene pool.  New bees will chew out of their waxy room and carry on after her work ceases with her death, six maybe seven weeks later.

Last year, I harvested about 3/4 cup of honey from my first hive.  I wanted to be sure the colony had enough supplies to get them through the winter.  They survived while many other local hive owners opened their boxes this spring to see no living bees.  It was a long hard winter.  If a colony does not have enough stored, they starve. 

This year, the girls gave us six cups of honey.  Think of how many bees that takes to make six cups of honey.  A local bee keeper - one equipped with many hives and is afforded the luxury of more than ample funds - harvested 50 gallons of honey this year!  Wowzah!

I have learned much about bees this year.  One colony lost to disease.  The Freedom colony wraps up its second year.  Two colonies here in Hoback and I am not certain how to get them through winter - more learning.  They are amazing creatures.  As the aspens turn yellow and the mountains white, I hope my bees have a good winter supply in their boxes.

Apologies

Dear Fans:  I sincerely apologize for my lack of blog postings of late.  Tis the end of the season for so many things!!  Mike's brothers and their gals all came west for an awesome Labor Day Weekend visit.  We had a great time of drinking, eating, fishing, and relaxing. Here is a rare photograph of all three Trumbower boys having their eyes open for a photograph!!

Mike and I have enjoyed fishing the Salt River down by our place.  Last weekend, Friend Janet joined up and we made a great 4 1/2 hour drift.  It was great!!  I was making the last cast of the day when this happened!! Caught myself with the fly on the end of my line!  Mike got to practice some EMT skills - his first try was not so good.  We worked a different method and the fly was released from the very big Fish!!  Too bad the barb had not been flattened.  Extrication of the black ant fly might have gone a bit easier.  I am happy to report there is not infection and I am healing well.  Now I know how those little fish lips feel.

They say this is a big fish for the Salt.  I have been the big-fish catcher on most of these trips.  They are fun to catch, for sure!!

Off to Big Sky, MT tomorrow for a presentation on Wednesday!  Stay tuned; I'll try to post more often!

Big Deal Fire

Not much time to write for me!  You can read the news.  Big fire in town yesterday.

Saddle Butte Fire

Sun is Shinin'; Make Hay!

The sun has been shining.  As the landscape dries, so does the hay.  Mike is finishing up the 2019 hay crop today.  It has been a good year. 

Second cut hay is known for its green and vibrant color.  Mike says, "this is what cows eat in heaven," describing the protein-packed bales of animal food.  Thankfully, our ground has water very close to the surface and this three year old alfalfa (some of it is that old), has roots tapped down to that water source.  This is good because Farmer Mike has yet to figure out how to make the shiny new diesel pump work for the tinkle of water running through our ditch.  "Houston, we have a problem."

Looking for a Meal

In the end, we are all looking for our next meal.

Mike went back and forth across the field, raking hay.  Picking it up, turning it over, letting it dry out to prepare for baling.  The hawks circled above.  Three red tail hawks and at least three rough legged hawks.

I drive the New Holland with the baler and accumulator behind.  A mouse scurries out of the way.  Next round through the field going the other way, a rough legged has this mouse pinned on the ground, ripping it to pieces with its sharp curved beak.  I approach and it flies off, mouse in talons. 

We work the field of grass.  This is our first batch of grass hay and it looks good.  I jump out of the cab to check the bales forming up below the chute.  The hay is dry and slick, almost soft to the touch, compared to the rough alfalfa hay.  We will sell this hay for less than others in the area.  But it is our first crop.  And it is income.  Just looking for our next meal.

By this week's end, with good luck, the second cutting of alfalfa will be cut, baled, and stacked.  And the Farmer will tend to his machinery.  Cleaning and greasing, fixing what needs to be repaired.  Another year.  The harvest will be completed. 

Having stepped away from farming and now back in, I recall again how the weather and the seasons play such an important role in a farmer's life.  This long dry spell has been awesome for haying.  How nice to have this positive perspective as we, in fire, begin to think of fire restrictions, watching the grass cure, the energy release components rise, and the forecast predicts day after day of dry.  Sitting in my office, this weather is frightening.

I work, planning for fires.  Mike works, putting up hay.  The hawks soar above.  We all look for our next meal.

One More....

One more great picture from the Museum Fire.  I found this on the National Wildlife Museum's Facebook page. To find their page, search Facebook @WildlifeArtJH  There are some cool pictures. Right now, some sculptures done by Herb Albert; the below are not his, however.

Last week culminated in the big team effort by Hoback Station 3 in pulling off one of the best yet Annual BBQ picnics ever!  Nice crowd, but smaller than usual.  Many of our Hoback friends were attending a funeral that day.  Here are some pictures to document this event.  3000 pounds of pork racks of ribs were cooked in the smoker, a giant caldron of beans cooked to some of the finest beans ever, and some new coleslaw that hit the mark!  It was a good day - and we don't have to do it again for something like 360 days.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words!

More pictures from Sunday's fire.  Nice double rainbow!  See if you can get this movie to play; it was taken less than 10 minutes after the lightning strike. Might be sideways, but you get the point.   Working on the mountain of paperwork now!

There was a Fire Here

My former boss, Rusty Palmer, now Fire Chief on Whidbey Island in Washington State, used to say, as he strolled up to a fire scene and people were barraging him on what happened - he would ponder there perstering inquiries, pause, and calmly reply, "There was a fire here."

I use this phrase now all the time!!  It started on Sunday afternoon, ignited by a lightning strike and it was a big deal.  Next to a high-traveled road, creating a visible smoke plume, throwing 20' flames up at times and threatening the treasured Wildlife Museum, and causing an evacuation of a high-value subdivision, this one got some attention.  Of course, I was on duty!  Our Emergency Operations Manager sent out the public notification, reaching everyone's phone within a local distance as evacuations were announced.  He noted that the five times he has sent these public notifications, I have been incident command each time.  Hmmm....

There are two articles in this week's Jackson Hole Newspaper.  Here is one on the Museum and how the folks reacted to the fire which was, literally, right out their back door.  You can read it by clicking on this link Museum Fire  I will try to get the other link as well.  It's a much different type of story.  Oh, here it is!!  I think the opening paragraph will make you laugh!  Making Jam!

There are some great photos from the fire.  I snapped this picture as I helped jump a dead pump on the wildland truck.  It was a short, but impressive fire storm that Firefighter Cranston and I weathered; wind gusting so strong it was difficult to open my truck door, the heat radiated hot on my unprotected face, ash and embers pummeling our eyes and face, smoke choking our airway.  We were safe, but we were close and it was impressive.

This was a good fire.  There was one minor injury, no structures loss.  The fire was kept to 80 acres.  Because of its visibility, the fire provides a great opportunity for the public to become more educated on wildland fire.  It shows them, a fire can happen pretty much anywhere around the valley and it can take off fast. 

It has also been a great opportunity for those of us who worked the fire to learn.  This fire was very collaborative and highlighted the solid interagency relationships we enjoy in this valley.  Working alongside Forest Service Andy Hall, he and I managed the fire in a collaborative effort that was seamless and effortless.  A strong relationship has emerged for our work together and I look forward to our next Unified Command experience.  There are details and accounting and a pile of work to do now, but the fire is contained, a rain is predicted tomorrow and we are all better for this event. 

There was a fire here.  And it was a good one! 

Oh Beautiful....

For spacious skies.

For amber waves of grain (barley around our place).

For purple mountains, majesty...……

And for all the flowers pushing upward in the Bee Gard'n.

 

 

 

"What Did You Do Today, Kathy?"

Well, they have kept me running today, for sure.  Cardiac arrest, smoke in an office, car crash south of town, and just finished this - certainly the most impressive of the day - RV fire.  I am saying this fire was most possibly caused by a rechargeable lithium ion battery recharging on the front seat of the RV.  The truck next to it was totally consumed as well.  No one was hurt and the grass fire didn't race up the nearby hill.  All in a day's work.  We'll see what the evening hours bring. 

Living A Full Life

The other day, I advised my worn-out overworked and exhausted friend Jason to not let life pass him by.  Sharing the story with Mike, he commented that perhaps I was not one to give out this advice; implying of course, that perhaps I too might be worn-out, overworked, and exhausted. 

It is true.  We have been insanely busy with overloaded plates.  At work and at home.  Still, it feels like a very full life not a life running me over.  When I get overwhelmed, I celebrate the many things I can get done in a day and am physically able to do.  No, life if not running by me.  I'm living it very very fully.  Mike might feel a bit overwhelmed.  He has no water in his irrigation ditch.  The new diesel pump sits quite next to a dried out irrigation ditch.  The water seeps into our neighbor's field creeping every so slowly our direction.  Today he is meeting with someone about the potential to pipe the ditch.  I think he has some moments of overwhelm-syndrome!

Our pack trip was wonderful, excluding a brief moment of terror as we watched Mike and his floating mule bob down a very swift section of the elk fork.  Call Mike for the story.  Everyone on the pack trip was relieved Mike did not drown, Cosmo the mule did not float away or drown, we all were able to cross the raging river, and there were no further near-miss events.

Summer is full-on now.  A week of heat has prompted the fire danger to elevate into High Fire Danger.  A couple of fires dink around forest acres; carefully being monitored by Forest Service personnel.  With the cool and wet spring, there are heavy fine fuels (grasses and the sort), to take a small ignition and translate it into a raging wildland fire.  We will have a long fire season, I fear, this year.

Here are some pack trip pictures from my camera. 

CHECK LIST FOR A PACK TRIP:

Leave the comforts of home.  This picture taken from Seth and Alden's front deck at their lovely home near Cody, Wy. 

Pack up, weigh out, and lay out loads for mules to carry to camp. 

Load the four legged workers.

Travel down the trail.  Nine miles to camp!

Breath a sigh of relief.  Site of the near-drowning for Mike and Cosmo.

Arrive at camp.  Relax and enjoy.