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December 8, 2002

 

Another weekend is about to come to close and I always wonder anymore...where does the time go?!!  With the holidays coming up, I am even more busy than normal and tend to lose track of time and days!

 

Friday I spent the day getting all the boxes ready to mail to everyone that lives out of state.  It was a very trying thing to do.  Mostly because I had trouble getting the right size boxes for the gifts!  My poor hands were swollen by the time I was done.  Probably due to pulling the roll of duct tape.  It was very stiff!  But it was a nice feeling to finally get them ready and Jay mailed them for me the next day.  I almost fainted when I saw how much it cost to ship five boxes that were as light as I could make them!  We are going to have to do something different next year.  It was over $50!  I always try to make everything but when I have to pay that kind of shipping, maybe it would be better to get subscriptions or gift certificates.  Jay thinks so too!  So next year is definitely going to be different!

 

We woke to a skiff of snow yesterday morning but it is all melted now.  The fog finally burned off and all I saw was clouds!  Jay is talking about starting to do some cleanup around here since there isn't any snow on the ground.  He started to dismantle the temporary pig pens a few months ago and didn't finish the job.  Now that the fog has lifted we can burn and it will go up instead of hang around at ground level!  If we continue to have an open winter, we may get a head start on spring cleanup!!  I like working outside when it is cool weather.  I have to have a nerve block done on my back next week so hopefully after that I will up to doing some outside work.  I love doing it but right now the pain isn't worth it!

 

December 11, 2002

 

So far, this week has been a very busy one!  Monday I had to go to the dentist to get a tooth ready for a crown.  A simple procedure turned into a major ordeal!  The assistant gave me a shot in the roof of my mouth and the numbness went clear down into my throat.  I have asthma (mild) and I guess I panicked because it felt like I couldn't breath from the shot so I had an asthma attack.  It was pretty scary!  They put me on oxygen and talked about calling Jay to come and get me.  I told them I would be fine in a little while so they let me drive home.  But the dentist did some deep drilling (my old dentist had done the crown buildup but left decay underneath) ,and it made me feel sick so I had quite the miserable day!!  Jay had to cook dinner because it was our turn for Monday night football!  He made hamburgers and did a really good job!!

 

Yesterday I went with my daughter to her ultrasound appointment and it was so great!  My sister, Wendy, who lives in Spokane met us there and went in with us.  She was so excited!!  The guy that did the ultrasound said he thought it was a girl...Jenni wanted to know.  He said he was 90% sure!  Jenni really wants a girl so she was all excited.  I don't care either way...I just want a baby to spoil!  She got pictures and we took in a video tape too so the guy recorded about five minutes of video for us too.  Jenni gave me one of the ultrasound pictures so I am going to frame it so everyone can see.  Of course, it's hard to tell it's a baby really.  But you can see the spine and head pretty clearly.  After the holidays, I can start working on baby things!!!

 

Our weather turned ugly yesterday!  We got about an inch of snow overnight and that was just enough to ice up the roads good.  Jay said the roads were really slick in the morning and he almost hit a parked car with the bus.  The rear end started to slide!  Can you imagine?!!  Those school buses aren't small!  His afternoon run was just as bad.  He couldn't get any traction on one of the hills so he had to have the kids all move towards the back to get more weight on the rear wheels!  I can imagine how they acted!!  He came home beat!  The roads going to town were just wet but we hurried home as soon as Jenni's ultrasound was done...just before dark!  It snowed some more since then and now we have about two or so inches of snow.  The roads aren't too bad though.  The county has been out with the sand trucks!  It is still snowing now but is suppose to turn to rain.  If it freezes, the roads will be a mess.

 

I finished the Christmas cards today!!!!  That was a daunting task!  This is the most I have ever done in a year.  We had quite a few business ones we sent out.  I send cards to all our customers with new business cards inside.  Jay likes that idea!  I am still working on Christmas presents...I have six more to finish.  Most of them won't take long!  I haven't finished Jenni's yet but should be done within a week or so.  Jay is sick so she isn't coming up to the house so maybe I will have a little extra time to work on it!  He came home from work tonight with a 100.8 fever and chills and aches.  I pray I don't get it!  He looks miserable.  Poor guy!!

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November 29, 2002

 

According to the news, today is the biggest shopping day of the year!  And if the traffic in town was any indication, I would say the news was right!  We went into Spokane so that I could get another driver's license (I lost mine!!) but to our disappointment the dept. of licensing was closed.  So Jay took advantage of being in town and went to Napa to buy a master brake cylinder for Jenni's car.  It sure wasn't cheap!  He asked if I had anywhere I wanted to go but you couldn't have paid me to go into any stores in town!  The traffic was backed up and parking lots were full.  I even saw a family unloading a Christmas tree already!  It seems a little early to me.  All I wanted to do was go home!  I will have to go back into town sometime next week and I will go to Costco then!

The weather in Spokane was sunny but cool.  I saw some people doing yard work and it seemed more like early spring than late fall!  We still didn't get above freezing today here but it's not as cold this evening so maybe it will warm up some!

November 30, 2002

Today is the last day of November...where did the month go?!!!  Christmas is in less than four weeks!!  This morning the ground was covered with heavy frost.  At first glance it looked like a skiff of snow.  Even the windows on the greenhouse were covered with such heavy frost that you couldn't see inside.  It was kind of pretty!  It warmed up to about 35 degrees today but the sun doesn't hardly reach the driveway or middle yard so they are both still covered in frost.  I sure hope we get some snow for Christmas!!

My friend, Sandi, came over today to help me with a project that I was working on for Christmas.  She is really good at sewing and makes the most beautiful quilts!  She has a HUGE quilting machine and puts together all my quilts.  We spent a couple hours working on my project and then laid out the quilt pieces to Jenni's quilt to see how many more I need to make.  I am almost done!!!  I only need to do 12 more squares and then I can start putting it together!  I am getting excited now!!!  This will be my first quilt like this and I am anxious to finish it.  It looks like I will probably get it done in time for Christmas!!!  I couldn't sleep last night so I stayed up working on the embroidery for Jenni's other present.  I am starting to make progress on that too!

I was behind on my baking so made a loaf of fresh bread and a batch of cookies today.  Jay is enjoying the cookies!!  I haven't felt like baking so he was out of goodies!  Now he will be happy!  It doesn't take much to make him happy!!! 

Hard to believe that Christmas will be upon us in 22 days!  Now the rush is on for me.  We have decided not to put up as many decorations this year due to the kitty that loves to get into everything.  He is a real terror!  Jay is going to tie the tree to the wall... since the cat loves to climb the drying racks, I'm sure he will go for the tree too!  I usually decorate with a lot of garland around the house but that is just too much temptation for a cat! I am also leery of putting up my good breakable decorations!

Jenni and I went to a yard sale this weekend and had a blast.  The lady had such low prices on her stuff and she had some baby items too!  It was weird though to go to a yard sale in 24 degree weather!  But there were a lot of people going to it.  She didn't advertise it...she just put out a bright colored sign.  It worked great for her!  I wouldn't have known about it if it wasn't for my neighbor, Vickie!  I got two huge sacks of curtains.  Enough to replace ALL the curtains in my house!  I am looking forward to working on that.

I had a busy day today.  Besides all my regular housework (who makes all these messes anyhow?!!!) I managed to get a couple things done outside too.  The wind had blown down the cover for our propane regulator (it's a little wooden house) so I went out and propped it back up.  It should be okay until the next big wind!  Another project for next spring!  The birds have been out of food since yesterday so I filled their feeder again.  The deer aren't bothering the little feeder anymore.  I filled it up a couple days ago and it's still full.  Guess the birds haven't figured out to use it again! I also did laundry and made a loaf of bread.  I worked on Jenni's Christmas present for a while this morning while I was sitting against a heating pad for a couple hours (overdid it on my back yesterday!).  I finished my grandma's embroidery picture finally but then I washed it in cool water and the ink ran from the red thread!  I almost cried!!  But I decided that I am going to give it to her anyhow.  It just left a light pink hue around the outside of a rose and doesn't look too bad.  The perfectionist in me though hates it!  But I have too many hours in it to just throw it away.  A hard lesson learned well though!  I will probably never wash another project again!  The directions said it could be hand washed and I have done it with other projects before.  But this time it turn out so well!

The weather is still very cool and foggy.  It was so foggy and slick that an airplane slid into the landing lights at the Spokane International Airport!  I have never heard of a plane doing that before and we have had some slick winters!  No one was hurt but it sure messed up all the incoming flights.  It was a fliers nightmare!  It doesn't get much above freezing during the day and is real bleak and gray.  Tonight we have a possibility of snow.  I would love that!  

December 5, 2002

Today I spent the day in town getting the last of the Christmas shopping done.  Jay's mom and I made a day of it!  It's a nice feeling to be done but now I have to wrap all of them!!!!  I started getting the boxes ready to ship out last night but only got two done.  I still have three more to do!  I won't be able to send the Alaska boxes UPS so will have to send them regular mail.  UPS doesn't do truck delivery up there...only air delivery and it is more expensive than the mail.  Too bad!  I was hoping to save some money on shipping this year!  I need to have the Alaska boxes in the mail by Saturday to make sure they get there on time.  Usually I mail them right after Thanksgiving but was behind this year.

We still don't have any snow.  Just fog and gray skies.  It was raining in town today but Jenni said it tried to snow here.  It didn't stick of course!  I hope the mountains get snow this winter or we are going to be in drought situation next year from lack of moisture.  Local ski resorts are hoping for snow too!

Our neighbor called today and informed Jay that Bubba, Jenni's pup, has been over at his place again.  This time our dog, Woody, was with him!  He said he shot his gun up in the air and they took off for home but he shouldn't have had to do that.  Our dogs need to stay home...not wander.  Jenni has Bubba tied up now and our dog (he's ten) won't roam if Bubba doesn't so that should take care of the problem until we can fix up something else.  Woody is going deaf and I don't want him on the roads for fear of him being hit by a car.  We have heard reports of our dogs being as far away as a quarter of a mile or more.  Too far.  They are going to end up in trouble!  I feel terrible for my neighbors.  I know I don't like stray dogs over here!  Bubba is a really friendly dog and wouldn't hurt anyone but he needs to learn to stay home!  Bad dog!!!

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October 28, 2002

 

October 29, 2002

 

We got our first snow last night!  It is still on the ground tonight too!  It wasn't much...just enough to barely cover the ground.  It was bitter cold today...the high was only 25 but with the winds it was around 7 degrees!  It was the kind of cold that makes your joints ache!!  Especially people like me who have rheumatoid arthritis!!  Thankfully we have the woodstove so I could open it up and get the heat flowing.  The winds were so high that I could see the curtains move in the living room!  This trailer isn't exactly air tight but the woodstove makes it bearable.  We had an artic flow from Alaska come through and it is suppose to be very cold tomorrow too.  Feels like winter is on its way!!

 I spent the afternoon going through some cooking magazines that Jay's mom had given me.  I love to collect recipes that require basic ingredients.  I have quite the pile to put in the recipe files tomorrow!  I am about half way through the magazines so will probably find some more tomorrow.  They are all Taste of Home, Quick Cooking, and another one by the same publishers...Light and something!  I can't remember the name of it!!  I like Taste of Home better because most of the recipes just need basic ingredients.  The other ones use a lot of prepackaged foods that we can't afford to buy.  A couple times a week I try a new recipe.  If we like it, I put it back in the recipe file and if we don't, then I throw it away!  Meals are always interesting if nothing else!!  I mark the recipes that we have tried and put comments on them.  It helps when I make them again!

October 31, 2002

I can hardly believe that tomorrow will be the first of November!  Where has this month gone?!!  Christmas will be here before we know it!!

 Last night we broke a record for low temps.  It was 2 above!!!  Very cold!  The high yesterday was only 25 and today was 30.  Tonight is suppose to be in the single digits again!  This is not usual weather for this time of year.  But it does hint that winter is just around the corner!!!  What little bit of leaves that are left on the trees are definitely dry and brittle!  I can hear them crackle in the wind!  The tamarack trees are turning yellow and I love to look at them!  They are probably my favorite tree in the fall. 

I spent the day doing laundry and housework.  Thankfully my mother in law bought me a couple more drying racks at a yard sale so doing laundry is a little easier now.  I had two racks before now but I could only do one or two loads and didn't have enough room to dry the whites.  But now I have lots of room!  I love it.  It helps to put moisture back in the air since it is so dry from the wood stove.  I have a tea kettle on the stove but it just isn't enough.  I have allergies so when I start suffering from being congested and dry sinuses, then I have to plug in the vaporizer.  I will be having to do that soon!

 Our neighbor shot an elk on his property yesterday morning!  It was his very first one!  He is a very avid hunter and even has a lot of mounted animals on his wall.  Now I'm sure he will have an elk to add to them!  He said he got around 500 pounds of meat!  That's a lot of meat.  Jay hasn't been out hunting since the last time.  Maybe this weekend!  The dogs brought home a deer head that they have been chewing on.  That is one of the draw backs to living out here!  People drop off the deer remains and our dogs bring them home!  Jay said it was a buck and that the horns had been cut off.  He tried to take the head away from the dogs but they just pick it up and run from him.  It seems that we always have bones in our yard but we don't feed them any so they go get their own!!  I try not to think about it too much!!

 Jay bought a bunch of candy and took it to work today to give to the kids on his bus route.  He still had quite a bit left when he got home!  Our neighbor who shot the elk brought his kids down to trick or treat.  They are the only ones we get!  They looked really cute.  Their mom makes their costumes and does a really good job of it!  She is multitalented that's for sure!  She works but also finds the time to can, garden, make apple cider, homemade soap, sells decorated cakes, etc. etc. etc.!  I really admire her.

Happy Halloween!

October 18, 2002

What a beautiful fall day it was today!  The sun was shining beautifully but we had a breeze that put a chill to the air.  It was 60 degrees today but the nights are still in the 20s! Brrrrr!!  The leaves are almost gone from the Mountain Ash tree but our mystery tree still has most of its leaves!  At least we don't have a lot of leaves to rake up!  We only have two leaf trees in our yard and neither one of them are very big.  One less thing to do!!

 I baked chocolate chip cookies this afternoon and made a taco soup.   I also cleaned the house and started working on some paperwork that I have let pile up!  Hopefully tomorrow I will get the business book work done!  I have been putting that off for about a week now!  It is so nice that life is at a slower pace now.  I enjoy taking care of the house and not having to worry about the outside too!

 Our laying hens aren't doing a very good job this time around.  We just bought them the first of May as day old chicks and they should be laying now.  They will be six months old in two weeks.  We turned the lights on for them a couple weeks ago but only one hen started laying and she doesn't lay daily.  I have never had trouble with laying hens before!  Hopefully they will all start laying soon!  I fear if they don't, Jay will say that we are done with raising chickens!!  He has threatened before because he thinks they are a hassle!  He bought them some layer feed so hopefully soon they will be in full production!

 

October 19, 2002

 Jenni and I went shopping at thrift stores today looking for baby things.  We found some cute clothes for a very reasonable price!  Jenni even found a front baby carrier that she was wanting.  We went to town looking for some yard sales but there was only one that we could find and the clothes and baby carriers, etc. were very dirty and full of animal hair.  We passed on those!  I got down Jenni's box of baby clothes that used to be hers many years ago and she had a blast going through them!  She is making a nursery out of her back bedroom so she will be taking all her baby stuff down there soon to her trailer!

 A friend of ours from the coast came over to visit and work on his son's car tonight.  I only saw him for a very short time but Jay stayed out in the shop helping him!  It's a guy's domain out there!  I stayed inside and worked on our niece's Christmas present.  I am almost done with it too!  I want to start getting more presents done so that I am not in a huge stress hurry at the end trying to get everything done!!

 

October 24, 2002

Another beautiful fall day but very cold.  Our high today was only 40!  With the breeze it was even cooler!  Our lows have been in the teens but no cloud cover.   Just clear skies with tons of stars!!  When it's cold like it has been, the stars look crisp and shimmer!!  I love to watch stars at night.  I feel sorry for people who live around a lot of  lights because they miss out on God's spectacular show!

 I went with Jenni to the doctor on Tuesday and we got to hear the baby's heartbeat!  It was so exciting!!  In two months she will have an ultra sound and then we will get to see baby!  I might go with her to that one too!!  We have been pricing baby furniture and it sure is expensive and not very well built.  They even make a plastic one now!  It was pretty tacky looking!  We will continue to look for a used one in good shape.  Jay picked up the free paper so I will look in it later.

 Today I spent cleaning house and trying to get caught up.  I hadn't been feeling too well so fell behind in my house work!  I even got the dusting done and that's usually one I like to put off!  I already made breakfast for tomorrow morning....a blueberry french toast casserole.  It's a recipe that I have been wanting to try but didn't have all the stuff.  I have been looking for breakfast recipes for Jay.  He can't drink milk so having cereal for breakfast is out of the question.  It has definitely been a challenge! 

The hens still aren't laying very well.  We have lights on in the hen house but it has been terribly cold at night lately.  Sometimes we will get three eggs but mostly only one or two.  I sure hope they start laying soon....I hate buying eggs from the store! 

Jay is just about finished with all his winter preparations now.  He spent the weekend cleaning up his shop and picking up lumber and getting it under cover.  He is talking about building some back doors on the barn part of the shop...sliding doors that is.  I think it's a great idea!  So that might be a winter project for him to do.

 Jay had a run in with a guy that definitely had a problem with road rage!  Jay pulled the school bus out onto the highway when there was no more traffic coming and proceeded to go to the first stop to pick up kids.  When he turned off the highway and stopped for the rail road tracks, the guy pulled around him and parked sideways in the road as Jay was crossing the tracks, blocking Jay from going forward and stranding him on the tracks!  The guy got out of his white box truck and was yelling and cussing at Jay saying he cut him off.  The guy's headlights were really dim and Jay said he couldn't hardly see him.  But he didn't pull out right in front of him either.  The guy was very belligerent and Jay finally told him to move or else he was going to call the police.  The guy told him to go ahead, that he owned the truck he was driving and the company!  All the school buses are equipped with cell phones but the guy finally got out of the way.  Jay's boss called the police and what the guy didn't realize is that all the buses are also equipped with audio/video cameras that automatically come on when the bus is started and don't shut off until after a few minutes when the bus is shut off.  So the whole encounter was on tape!  That man is in a lot of trouble!  But the scary part is that even school bus drivers aren't safe.  There was no way that guy could have known that there weren't any kids on the bus...he endangered Jay's life by pulling the stunt that he did!  Thank God there weren't any kids on the bus!!!  People are angry nowadays and have no patience.  I can't believe someone would do what this guy did.  Thankfully he wasn't carrying a gun!

 I finished our niece's Christmas present today and started another one.  I am finally on a roll!  Christmas isn't very far away and I need to get the ones finished that have to be mailed!  I have a couple more sitting on the table that need to be glued and then put together.  So I am coming along with the gifts!  It's a nice feeling to complete them.  I have several projects still that are incomplete.  It will be nice to get them all done.

October 12, 2002

 

We are having some very chilly weather the past couple days.  We even broke a record the other night for an overnight low of 17.  Someone from our area had called the local television station and said it was 12 above.  So we could have been that low too I guess.  It was only 55 yesterday and the sun was shining  but the wind was blowing and definitely had a chill to the air!  Today was 60 and windy so still chilly but pretty with the sun shining so bright.  I still have a couple pansy plants in planters on the porch that are surviving these very cold nights.  I wonder how long they will continue to thrive?!

 

We had company show up yesterday that we haven't seen in years.  They moved to Oklahoma several years ago and just recently moved back here.  They had dinner with us and watched a movie.  Jenni even came up here to have dinner with us!  It was nice.

 

I spent the day today helping Jenni organize her trailer.  She is clearing out the back bedroom so she can turn it into a nursery.  I get to make the curtains and other "cute" baby things.  It will be fun!!  I already picked up some patterns for crib stuff at a yard sale.  This will be a fun project for the whole family.  My aunt does wall papering and we are going to see if she will help us do the walls!  It will be a learning experience that's for sure!

 

Hunting season is now open here, and the amount of traffic has picked up again.  I have to wonder though why they drive up and down the road real slow.  They certainly aren't going to get a deer that way!  Jay hasn't had a chance to go out yet.  He has been busy moving lumber under cover so it doesn't get ruined this winter.  Maybe he will be able to go out sometime this week.  The dogs have been barking like crazy all day long.  I assume there must be some hunters across the road on the state land that are being too noisy!  One year my dogs treed a hunter!  I didn't find out about it until after it happened but thankfully the guy didn't shoot them.  I suppose he probably could have if he wanted to.  Instead he told my neighbors about it and they laughed!

October 16, 2002

 

Another beautiful fall day.  It was almost 70 degrees today!  Unbelievable!!  One week we are breaking record lows and now this warm weather.  A lot of people are taking advantage of it though and spending time outside.  I have all my outside work done so sometimes I just go outside and walk around for a while.  It feels good to be outside!

 

We had company again for Monday night football.  Poor Jay is so tired that he really doesn't want to do it anymore but doesn't have the heart to tell his friends.  I wish he would!  I don't mind cooking and the extra dishes but the game gets over so late that Jay doesn't get enough sleep.  I worry about him.

 

Tomorrow I have to go into town.  One of the grocery stores is having a huge sale on candy and Jay wants me to pick up a bunch for the kids on his bus.  He wants to give them some Halloween candy as they get off the bus on Halloween.  I thought that was really nice of him!  Some of the bus drivers even dress up for Halloween but I don't think Jay is going to.  He hasn't said he was anyhow!!  We don't have to have a lot of candy for trick or treaters because we live so far out.  My neighbor, Vickie, brings her two boys down so I can see their costumes and give them treats.  But they are the only ones.  So they always get good stuff!!

October 17, 2002

I did the shopping for Jay today and bought ten bags of candy for the kids!  That should be more than enough!  I met some friends in the store and they were teasing me about putting it in Jay's lunch!!

 

I went out and visited Jay's parents for a while today and went and saw my good friend Cyndi for a while too.  I spent all day just running around!  I spent over an hour at the library replenishing my reading material.  I love to walk around and look at all the books and magazines!  I could spend all day in a library.  I love to read and now that the outside work is done, I can spend more time reading.  Jay took me to lunch at the Mexican restaurant and it was nice to have someone else do the cooking and dishes!!

What a beautiful fall day we had today!  It was 70 degrees outside and the sun was shining so bright!  It was a little windy but that was good because I did a couple loads of laundry and hung them out so they were dry in just a couple hours!  We spent a lot of time outdoors today enjoying the sun knowing that soon all that will change!

 My uncle came out today from Spokane with his nephew.  He wanted to teach him how to shoot a rifle.  So Jay and Jenni got their guns out too and everyone was target practicing.  Jay has some targets hung on trees out in the pasture.  It was fun to watch everyone shoot.  I took pictures with my camera but that's all the shooting that I did.  My neck has been bothering me so didn't feel like shooting.  It's been a while since anyone around here has done any shooting.  We used to target practice more.  My sister and her husband used to come out and bring their rifles to target practice too.  After today, I realized how much I missed having company come and shoot.  Might have to have a chili day and invite people to come!

 I finally got my flower gardens cleaned out and ready for winter.  Jay still hasn't gotten the straw but will soon so I can cover things.  With the cold, long winters we have the plants need protection from the elements.  I still need to do the strawberry patch but that's all besides mow once more.  Then EVERYTHING will be done and ready for winter!!  

I went to some yard sales yesterday with Jay's parents.  It was fun but didn't find as much baby stuff as I was hoping to find.  There doesn't seem to be a lot of baby stuff at the sales this time of year.  There is probably only going to be another week or so of sales before they are done for the year.  I might have to wait for the spring sales!

Jenni and I got our hair cut today and we both went short!  My hair is really short!  It doesn't even touch my shoulders.  The lady cut 9 inches off!  With my rheumatoid arthritis, it is hard to brush my long, thick hair and so I decided to cut it and take the weight off my neck and see if that helps.  I have natural curly hair and so the short cut really brought out the curls!  Jenni's hair looks really cute too and will be easy for her to style and take care of.  I haven't seen her hair this short since she was in kindergarten!  Jay is still trying to get used to it.  He has never seen my hair short!!  It sure will be easy for me to take care of now. Just wash and go!!

 

October 7, 2002

Today was a typical busy Monday!  It was another beautiful day so did more laundry today and hung it outside.  It didn't take long to dry!  I had a day's worth of housework to do...cleaning, sweeping, mopping, and vacuuming.  But I got all of it done and even had time to do the ironing.  Now I have the major housework done for the week!  With it just being Jay and I now, I don't have to spend all my time doing housework.  I made venison soup for dinner in the crock pot, and Jay said it was the best soup he has ever had.  I must have done something right!

 My good friend and neighbor, Bert, stopped by today and brought me some more zucchini.  This is the last from her garden!  I am going to miss the fresh veggies that's for sure!  She has been so gracious in sharing her garden! 

 It was sunny but cool today...62 and windy.  I did two loads of laundry and dried them outside in the wind.  It didn't take too long for them to dry!  I baked peanut butter cookies and made a meat loaf for dinner with baked potatoes.  It was pretty cool in the house (we let the fire go out) so I turned on the oven to help warm it up.  Worked great too!!  It froze last night and is suppose to freeze again tonight.  It was only 55 degrees in the house this morning.  Brrrrr!!  We may have to start the wood stove again because it is suppose to be very cool the next four days...highs in the low 50s & 40s and lows in the 20s and low 30s.  Definitely fall weather!  Jay put the two walnut trees that are in five gallon buckets in the green house for the winter.  One of them was already losing its leaves but the other one hadn't started losing them yet.  I stored them in the green house last winter too and they did fine.  Next year we will plant them in the garden!

 I saw the Stellar Jay again this morning at the bird feeder.  The chipmunk got chased off by the Stellar Jay!  I haven't seen the Mourning Doves lately but they usually stick around all year so they are hanging out somewhere close by I'm sure.  The birds are very busy getting ready for winter too.  They don't stay long at the feeders and some of them are taking the feed back to their nests for winter storage!  There are still deer signs in the garden...very Large deer signs!  Jenni thought she heard either a moose or an elk the other night.  It startled her!  But these prints in the garden are definitely deer.  I heard the turkeys in the woods today but didn't see them.  The neighbors feed them through the winter so they won't have to worry about feed this year!  I have several neighbors who feed the deer too if the snow gets too deep.  We have spoiled wild life around here!!
 

What a day!  We have been busy all day finishing up the winterizing around here and just about got it all done!  What a great feeling too.  I talked Jay into helping me so things went much faster.

 All the windows are washed--inside and out and the storm windows are all put on too.  Jay had to wash a couple windows for me because I can't reach them!  I planted the garlic but didn't have enough straw to cover all of it so Jay is going to get me some more next week.  I put the insulation back in the green house so it is all sealed up until next year.  I still have a couple pansy plants on the porch that haven't died so I won't block the green house door just yet.  The pump house vents are all insulated and the heater turned on.  I even put the dried onions in their sacks!  We have been adding stuff to the truck for a dump run which we may do tomorrow or Monday.  The big garden is cleaned up and put to rest for the winter!  I breathed a sigh of relief!!  We cleaned out the woodstove in the house so in case we want to start a fire, it's all ready.  We are both very tired but relieved too.  Jay bought stuff today to vent the dryer to the outside so that the moist air doesn't blow under the trailer.  It encourages mold and mildew and with my allergies, that's not good!  There are still a few things left to do but the majority of it is done now!  Yeah!!!!!!

 The weather has been cool and tonight the clouds started coming in.  It is suppose to rain tomorrow afternoon or evening.  The temps are suppose to be cooler too.  I noticed the leaves are starting to fall from the trees and bushes.  Fall is definitely in the air!  Everywhere we go we see people getting their yards and houses ready for winter.  Before we know it the snow will be coming!  The news predicted snow above 5000 feet tonight.  Our elevation is around 3500!  No snow for us but we could have our first snow fall before Halloween!  That's only a month away.

 Last night we went over to Jay's parents house and visited for a while.  They had gone to yard sales and bought some clothes for me and Jenni.  They also picked up some craft materials that were brand new or like new for me!  Amazing sometimes what good deals you can get at yard sales!  One of the craft things ended up being a baby quilt that someone had started embroidering and didn't finish!  How convenient for me.  Now I am going to finish it for my grandbaby!!  Another project for this winter!

 

September 29, 2002

Our weather took a drastic change today!  It was only 59 and rained this morning.  Thankfully we got a lot of the work done yesterday!  Tonight we are suppose to have 30 mph plus winds.  Hopefully we won't lose our power again!  Tomorrow is only suppose to be 50 so we will probably be firing up the woodstove either tonight or tomorrow since it is our only source of heat!  I took the chill off the house tonight by making biscuits to go with our supper.  Kind of cheating!!

 Jay rerouted the dryer vent today so that it vents outside instead of under the trailer.  I don't use it very often but when I do at least it won't send warm moist air under the trailer!  I have been wanting him to do that for a couple years now so it's nice that it's finally done.  It didn't take him very long either...only about a half hour total!  I am very grateful for it too!!  We went to the dump today too so that's another thing off our fall list of things to do!  We had more recycles than garbage but that's good!!  We probably won't go again until mid winter or later.

 I spent part of the afternoon working on a cross stitch gift for my son in Alaska.  I finished a couple of the small projects that I had going so thought I better get started  working on the cross stitch again!  I had started it back in March!  I have to mail his package before the first of December to make sure it gets there in time so I try to make his stuff first!  I need to do some sewing this coming week too.  I have to make a pillow for our two year old niece and maybe sew some more on Jenni's quilt.

I can hardly believe that today is the last day of September and that tomorrow will begin October.  Where did the time go?!  The weather is starting to change with the calendar and today was definitely wild weather!  We had downpours of rain, wind, hail, and a high of 50 degrees!  Jay actually had to start a fire this morning because it was only 55 degrees in the house.  It was so cold that I had a hard time getting out of bed this morning!!  Too cold for me too!

 I had a typical busy Monday morning.  I tried to hang a load of clothes outside but had to rescue them when it started pouring rain!  I got about half the load dried though so threw the other half in the dryer.  We had company for dinner tonight so I was in a hurry to get all my housework done!  A friend of Jay's came over to watch Monday night football.  Two other guys were suppose to come too but called at the last minute to cancel.  I already had dinner in the crock pot--venison stew and had a loaf of herb bread on so we will have left overs  that's for sure!  I also made a peach cobbler for dessert.  Jay and Tim chowed down on it though!  Jenni came up and had dinner too but when Jared got home from cutting wood he wasn't hungry so he just visited instead. 

The Stellar Jays have been hanging around a lot lately begging for sun flower seeds.  I usually don't see them too much this late in the month but they must be hungry.  I need to fill my feeders again tomorrow. The birds and chipmunk are eating like pigs!  After the heavy rains this afternoon we had six HUGE robins in the yard and taking baths in the puddles.  I hadn't seen any for a week or so and I figured they took off but they are still around.  I was glad to see them!  I also saw a huge flock of wild turkeys this morning in our pasture behind the shop.  There must have been 20 or 25 of them!  The other day I walked outside and one flew out of the tree in our front yard!  Scared me half to death!!

 

October 3, 2002

Well, it's officially October now!  The days are getting shorter and cooler and soon we will be on day light savings time again.  Where did the time go?!

 I haven't been as busy lately and it feels good to slow down!  I have started working on presents for Christmas even!  The outside work is pretty much done so we can relax a little more and enjoy the slower pace.  Jay has been busy in the shop today.  Three jobs came in just in the past two days!  It's either feast or famine but more famine than anything.  But work seems to be picking up and that's good!  Puts him closer to his goal of working strictly from home!!  Tomorrow I am going to yard sales with Jay's parents looking for baby items for my daughter.  The yard sales are slowing down for the year so hope to find a couple good deals tomorrow!

September 24, 2002

 

It is now officially fall according to the calendar!  It also marks this month almost over too.  I can hardly believe how fast time has gone by this month!  Our weather is still holding onto warm weather this week.  Today was 72 and windy and the rest of the week is suppose to be similar.  Mild weather indeed!

 

This morning my neighbor called from work because she forgot to feed the calves before she went to work so Jay and I went to her place to take care of them.  They have a beautiful place!  Her and her husband just built a new green house and it is nice.  Now we both have green houses!!  She is a great neighbor and a very nice person.  It is nice to know that you can depend on your neighbors to help you out when you need it!  We don't mind helping out others either!

 

Jay got the clothesline moved this weekend and I love it!  I don't have to battle the hill anymore carrying heavy clothes.  Now the clothesline is right outside the living room window and all I have to do is carry the clothes part way around the house.  Much easier on my arthritic back and neck!  I can also keep an eye on it so that Jenni's puppy doesn't rip the clothes off the line!  He got caught yesterday and got in deep trouble and he didn't bother the clothes today.  Maybe he is learning!!  I can only hope!!

 

Hunting season has started with bow hunting.  Across the road from us is state land so we get a lot of hunters and a lot of wounded animals that the hunters don't bother to track.  We have also had hunters shoot towards our house and one lady trespassed on our property (our property is marked no hunting or trespassing) with her son and he shot at a deer...towards our house early in the morning.  Jay went racing down to the corner of our property and her and her son were just crawling back over the fence.  She told him she didn't know it was private property!  You would think the fence would have been the first clue and the signs the second!  I hate hunting season because of all the problems we have with the hunters.  But to be fair I have to say that probably the majority of them are responsible but it's the minority that we have to deal with.  Last year I had a drunk man shooting on our property and had to call my neighbor to help because Jay was at work.  Jay has had to shoot several deer that were shot by hunters and then never tracked.  It is sad!  Jay hunts on our land but he doesn't hunt with bow so it will be a couple weeks before the rifle hunters start showing up and before he can hunt too. 

 

I FINALLY got around to cleaning the garlic that I harvested from the garden this year.  I kept all the big cloves for replanting and set the rest aside for drying and cooking.  I also got the Walla Walla Sweet Onions cleaned and ready to use.  I had them both drying in boxes in our spare room and got tired of tripping over the boxes!!  I still need to get the ones that are in boxes in the pump house cleaned and bagged!

September 26, 2002

 

Today was cloudy and cool and by mid afternoon it was trying to rain.  Quite a surprise since the weather man had predicted 72 degree weather and sun!  But I enjoyed it and actually got to snuggle into a sweatshirt today!! 

 

Jay had another job come in so he spent the afternoon welding on a log loader of our neighbor's.  He finished it tonight after his bus run and dinner.  Business has been slowly picking up for him and it is exciting to watch it grow.  Hopefully someday in the near future he will be able to just stay home and work.

 

I bought a 25 lb. bag of quick oats yesterday at the health food store so had to bring gallon jars up from the pump house and fill them with the oats and put a bay leaf on top to keep the bugs out.  It filled 7 gallon jars and the extra went into the jar I already had in the house.  It will last a year for us!  I also put mouse poison down in the pump house and under the trailer.  That helps keep the mouse population down!!  I have to do it several times a year but if I forget, they start coming in the house so I usually am really good about keeping the poison out for them.  I hate mice and their droppings!!  I even did a little baking today...a crazy cake for Jay (his favorite!).  After I got the house cleaned then I spent the afternoon reading a book!  I was a lazy housewife today!!  I made homemade chicken soup in the crock pot so had extra time today due to the rain.  It was wonderful!!

September 17, 2002

 

I just got home yesterday from visiting my mom so I had to recoup before beginning this week's diary!

 

I had a relaxing weekend in Buckley, WA visiting my mom and her husband.  We didn't do a lot but my mom did take me on a nice drive in the country.  I got a couple good pictures of Mt. Rainier...it was actually clear instead of being cloudy!  It is an awesome sight!  I always get so turned around in that area so I just enjoy the sights instead of trying to figure out where I am!  The weather was cooler but felt too warm to me due to the high humidity!  I don't handle it too well!!  The day I came home it was raining so was much cooler.  It was nice to get back home too.  Jay even had the house all cleaned up for me too.  That was a nice surprise!!  My daughter had a little black kitten for me when I got home.  My other cat disappeared so I had been wanting another cat.  This little kitten is black and very cute!  But he doesn't sleep so good at night yet so it's just like having a baby!!

 

Our five month old laying hens laid their first egg yesterday.  Just one but it was so cute and small!!  But today there weren't any so it will be a while before they are laying continuously.  But at least they are starting!  It was exciting!!

 

It rained last night and today so things are very wet!  The high today was only 63 and it was pretty chilly outside tonight just before dark.  I wouldn't be surprised to see it freeze tonight again.    It is definitely cooling down but I enjoy it.  It makes working outside so much easier!!

 

While I was gone, Jay and Jared got the roof finished over Jenni's trailer and part of the supports for the porch were up already too.  They were busy!  The power pole is up but Jay hasn't run the new wiring yet. 

September 19, 2002

 

We have been busy getting things ready for winter.  Jay helped me dump the buckets out that I had in the greenhouse and hauled the dirt and old plants off.  We got the hoses drained today and put away for the year.  Jay took off one sunshade because it got trashed by the wind.  I have been loading things into the truck to take to the dump.  We should have a load soon!  The greenhouse is all cleaned up and ready for winter.  I just have to put two pieces of insulation back in and it will be done.  I cleaned out one of the flower beds and planted some miniature irises in it that my neighbor had given me.  The deer have eaten everything around here so cleanup was pretty easy!  I cleaned out the herb garden today and planted the sage plant that I had in the greenhouse.  Hopefully it will make it through the winter.  The last time I planted sage it died!  Now all I have to do is get some straw to put down in the gardens.  Our winters can get pretty rough so I make sure there is plenty of insulation for the flowers and herbs.

 

I spent the afternoon collecting seed pods from the holly hock plants.  The deer ate ALL the leaves off of them so it was pretty easy to see the seed pods!  I have four different colors now.  When I first planted them, I had three colors but they must have cross pollinated because now I have a very pretty pink that I didn't have before!  I am hoping to get the plants cut down tomorrow so wanted to be sure to get some new seeds to share with neighbors and friends!

 

The weather is definitely fall weather now.  Today was nice...70 but very windy!  The rest of the week is suppose to be cooler but no rain in sight.  Thank God we got rain the other day...1/4 inch!  Better than nothing!!  The mornings are very chilly but no more frost.  My daughter said she was driving on ice though the other morning at about 3:30 a.m.!  It was just really foggy here.  But fall is definitely approaching quickly and I personally welcome it! 

September 7, 2002

Today was a typical Saturday for us.  Lots of work and company!!!  Jay got three new jobs today and was already working on one before that so his weekend will be spent in the shop!   This must be our feast month!!  Because the income in the shop is either feast or famine.  It has been pretty steady though the past two months.  That's a good sign!

I spent the day cooking down two boxes of apples to make applesauce with.  I got one batch canned (23 half pints) that is for my new grandbaby next year!  The rest of the sauce is in the fridge until tomorrow or Monday.  I ran out of time and energy!!  I also spent the day doing laundry.  Jenni had to tie up her puppy though because he has a real bad habit of tearing the laundry off the line.  Must be a fun game!!  He can even get the socks, and he has to jump to reach them!!  So now he has to be tied up until the laundry is dry or else the ground looks like a war zone.  I also cleaned out the oven.  I hadn't intended to do it but when I turned it on this morning to bake banana bread, the whole house filled up with smoke and it took me a long time to clear the smell and smoke out of the house.  But it's all ready to bake in tomorrow.

I went and visited one of my neighbors who I have been meaning to go see.  She is a nice lady in her 70s who is fighting cancer.  She is having a hard time but she sure is a fighter!!  I truly admire her for her spirit and courage.  She spends a lot of time crocheting and that helps keep her hands busy!  I took her a zucchini and some jam.  I was going to take her some banana bread too but didn't get it made!  Another excuse for me to go visit her again soon.  I hope the other neighbors continue to check on her and I plan to be more diligent about it too. 

The weather is definitely cooling down and makes canning a whole lot more pleasant.  Today was only 64 and partly cloudy.  Perfect weather for me.  I am enjoying just running fans and having the windows open again.  I think the worst of our hot weather is gone now.  We have had a couple frosts now and the leaves are starting to change colors due to it. 

September 8, 2002

We finally got the chicken coop done today.  We had the old laying hens butchered last week and didn't want to move the new laying hens into the coop until it was cleaned out.  So we tackled that nasty job first thing this morning.  It took us three hours to complete all of it and move the hens but was well worth it!  Jay hauled some gravel to put under the house because the hens had been digging and making dusting holes and almost undermined one side of the hen house!  I didn't know they could dig so good.  But now they are all snugged in for the winter and we won't have to clean it out again until spring!  I hooked up the lights so that all we have to do is plug them in next month too.

We went to Spokane for a family BBQ at my uncle's house.  It was mostly my aunt's family there but they are nice people and we had a good time.  Jenni didn't go because she has a cold and wasn't feeling good.  My uncle has a girl from France that comes and stays in the summer and she is leaving to go back home.  So the BBQ was a send off for her.  She is a real interesting person!  She is studying to be a lawyer and comes to the United States and works for a judge and attorney as work study.

September 11, 2002

It doesn't seem like a year since our country was attacked by terrorists.  I haven't been able to watch TV all day because all I do is cry when they talk about what happened.  I didn't know anyone who lost their lives that terrible day but I feel for their families and friends.  It is an overwhelming feeling of sadness and anger. 

I went to town today and did some shopping.  I haven't done any grocery shopping in a while so thought I should pick up a few things.  I went to the health food store and ordered quick oats and picked up spices that we will need this winter.  I even went to the library and looked around for a while.  I usually order all my books online and then pick them up at the library so I thought I would look around while I was in town!  I am going to the coast this weekend to see my mom so tomorrow will be spent getting ready to go and getting the house in order. My good friend, Bert, and I are driving over to the coast for three days.  It will be good to have a mini vacation!  I have a ton of work staring at me and it's overwhelming sometimes.  So I'm looking forward to getting away for a bit so that I will be ready to tackle my jobs when I get home!!

 The deer have been coming into the yard and eating EVERYTHING.  They are even eating the leaves off the Mountain Ash trees!  They ate all my flowers and strawberry plants too.  I had taken the green pepper plants out of the green house and set them outside and the deer have eaten those too!  It isn't like they don't have anything to eat either.  There is still grass around for them.  But they must need their flowers and veggies too!!

 The weather has been warming up the past couple days.  Yesterday was 78 and today was 86!  I even had to turn the air conditioner on again.  It has been dry with no rain and very little wind.  We sure could use some rain soon.  The whole state of Washington has closed down with no wood cutting or camp fires allowed.  Too dry this year.  It should open again soon though to wood cutters.  People need to get their firewood!  Jay already has ours in so we don't have to worry about it!

 Until next week....may God always smile upon you and yours!!

I can hardly believe that it is the last day of August!  Fall is just around the corner!  We will be starting to get our fall chores done soon in preparation for winter.  It's always my favorite time of the year...things slow way down! 

Yesterday I went into Spokane to do my winter stocking up at Costco.  The place was a mad house!  I forgot it was Labor Day weekend!  But I got all the things I needed for the winter like flour, sugar, salt, bread flour, ketchup, peanut butter, butter, oil, and bouillon.  It's a nice feeling to know that we have everything that we will need to get through the winter without a lot of trips to the store!  Our winters here can get very snowy and we don't want to have to worry about whether we have enough food or running out of stuff.  It is a 20 mile round trip to the nearest grocery store!

I took my daughter to the dr. yesterday and the due date for her baby is April 28.  That's a good time of year to have a baby!!  And it gives me time to get some baby quilts made!!  I have been working on her queen size quilt quite a bit lately....I hope to have it done within the next month or so!  It is the biggest quilt I have ever made and it has been a lot of fun.  I won't have to hand quilt it though.  I have a friend who has a HUGE quilt machine and she does all of that for me!  It's kind of like cheating!!

We got some much needed rain Thursday night and into Friday morning.  It only measured 1/4 inch in the rain gauge but it was very welcomed!  The air smells cleaner now and all of the lawn and gardens got watered!!  It was only 70 here yesterday when I headed into Spokane but it was 80 in there!  Big temperature difference!!  I suspect that we will have a hard frost by the end of next week.  According to the news, it is suppose to cool down into the 60s and be 43 for a low in Spokane.  We will probably freeze here.  But I don't have anything to speak of in the garden now so that's okay!  The tomatoes in the green house are starting to ripen...I picked four of them the other day.  Jay's favorite is the patio tomatoes.  They are so sweet and juicy!  The green peppers are doing pretty well but are almost done.  Soon I will be cleaning up the green house too!

Jenni and I went to a couple yard sales today.  We found a baby quilt, a newborn outfit, and some books for her.  There weren't very many sales...must be because of Labor Day weekend.  We are hoping to hit some next week!

September 1, 2002

It is now officially September!  In my mind, fall starts now!  I took down the hummingbird feeders today...I haven't seen a hummingbird for two days now.  Another sign of fall.  I miss them when they leave...it seems empty without the buzzing of their little wings!  I washed the feeders and put them away until next year!  I am going to store them in the house this year.  I usually store them in plastic totes outside but I suspicion that it makes the plastic brittle and therefore the feeders only last a couple years.  Maybe this way they will last longer.  I am hoping to replace a few next year with glass feeders!

The Mountain Ash trees are loaded with bright orange berries now.  This is the most berries I have seen on the trees in years.  An old neighbor of ours used to say that if the berries were abundant on the Mountain Ash trees, that meant that we were going to have a long winter with a lot of snow.  There may be some truth in that statement!

September 2, 2002

Another beautiful day today.  I woke up at 3:30 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep so it has been a long day already!!  But I did get a lot accomplished that's for sure.

I washed all of our bedding this morning, vacuumed the mattress and box spring, and turned the mattress.  September and March is usually when I like to clean all the blankets and have the bedding cleaned.  Fall and spring!!  I threw the pillows in the dryer on air for about 20 minutes to help suck all the dust out of them and fluff them up.  Works like a charm!  The evenings are getting chilly so an extra blanket feels wonderful now too!  I also cleaned our Blazer out and that took a couple hours!  But it is all wiped down and vacuumed out and ready for winter.  Jay will wash the outside for me later!  I helped my daughter clean out her car too.  It just seemed like the perfect day for cleaning out cars.  The weather wasn't too hot...only about 75 and a little windy with clouds.  Perfect combination for outside work. 

September 3, 2002

I started working on my fall to-do list this morning.  It usually takes me a couple weeks to get everything done.  This morning I pulled all of the plants out of the green house and took the tomatoes and peppers off them.  I didn't get a lot but I was happy to get some!  I still have to remove the plants from the buckets and containers and dispose of them but that will have to wait until tomorrow.  Jay and I sorted potatoes and got them all bagged up in gunny sacks and taken to the pump house for winter storage.  The onions aren't quite dry but hopefully will be within the next week.  I gathered up my lawn ornaments and garden ornaments and packed them away for the year too.  I cleaned out the porch cupboards and reorganized them and they look so much better!!

Since the weather was cooler today, I was able to bake some chocolate chip cookies this afternoon and put a tater tot casserole in the oven for dinner.  It was overcast and only 70 degrees.  Good working weather!  I am getting anxious to finish my fall chores so that I can call it a year!  I want to start working on Christmas presents!!   I have a couple started but not finished.  Once the garden and yard are out of the way, I will have lots of time to concentrate on the crafts and holidays.  I always like to get a jump on things!! 

September 5, 2002

Yesterday morning we got a killing frost in the garden.  I think I was the only gardener around to get frost!  So now the squash plants are history!  It froze down in the garden but didn't freeze up around the house.  Must be the dip that the garden sits in.  I pulled the rest of the parsley today out of the herb garden and it's drying in the oven again.  That about takes care of the herb garden too.  I have some sage that I want to harvest but the rest is done.  If the weather holds, I will get it cleaned out tomorrow.  It feels like frost again tonight.  I went out tonight and harvested all the pansy flowers that I could for pressing.  It will probably be my last picking.

We rounded up all the old laying hens and took them to the Amish to be butchered.  Now we are down to just the new layers but they haven't started laying yet.  Probably within the next month.  I always have people lined up to buy the fresh eggs.  I thought we only had 12 layers but I counted 13 the other day.  Surprise!!

I have started washing windows and curtains and getting the storm windows on.  I will leave a couple screens on though just in case it gets a little warm.  The air conditioner is still up but I usually leave it until October.  It has been cool the past couple days and we haven't been using even the fans.  Tomorrow is suppose to be cool too.  I love this time of year! 

Hope this finds all your gardens in full production and life is being good to all of you!  Until next week....take care and God bless!

  

August 24, 2002

 

Today started off with a massive water mess in the bathroom.  I had mentioned to Jay that the cold water going to the washing machine only trickled into the washer and that I thought maybe the screen was plugged up.  So he pulls out the washing machine (it doesn't pull out all the way...we live in a mobile home!) and attempts to clean the screen.  As soon as he loosened the hose water started running everywhere.  For whatever reason, the water wouldn't shut off all the way going to the washer.  So we were both running around trying to get bowls to catch the water and tools to stop the leak!!  What a circus.  Then after we got the screen cleaned out and the washer put back in place, I tried turning the cold water on going to the washer and it STILL just trickled!  Jay was fit to be tied by then!!  I left and then I heard him yell that it wasn't even the screen, it was a hose that was kinked!  He drilled a hole under the sink to reroute the hose and now it works like a charm!  Before he unhooked the hose this time he shut the water off completely to the whole trailer.  Smart man!!

 

Yesterday I spent the day making pizza sauce that I freeze and taking care of six HUGE zucchini!  The pizza sauce only takes about an hour to cook down and then another half hour or so to cool.  So that wasn't too bad.  I sliced half of the zucchini and blanched it and put in quart freezer bags for soup this winter.  Yummy!  The rest of it I chopped up in my little food processor and measured it for patties, cake, and bread.  We give away zucchini bread for Christmas presents!  I came home from town the other day and there were five zucchinis sitting in Jay's chair.  That's what happens when you leave your doors unlocked around here!!  But I'm not complaining.  Since we don't have much of a garden this year, I really appreciate what others are sharing with me.  The freezer down in the pump house is nearly full of vegetables and sauces.  I took most of the berries out and made jam with them!  I wasn't up to climbing hills this year to pick huckleberries so we won't have any this winter.  I will miss them that's for sure.  Huckleberry pie is one of Jay's favorite pies!

 

Today I have been busy with housework and laundry.  I even had time to do the floors which were in need of a good scrubbing!  With back problems, mopping and sweeping are the most painful things to do!!  After finishing my housework, I went in the garden and pulled up all the garlic.  We got a good amount this year and some nice sized bulbs for replanting!  I was very pleased.  I cut the tops off and left about a four inch stem.  Then I placed them in boxes (single layer), covered them with paper sacks, and placed them in our spare room.  It sure smells potent in there!  I also pulled up all the onions and got a wheelbarrow full.  Not too bad!  Jay cut the tops off for me and we put them in boxes in the pump house to dry.  After they dry good I will put them in onion sacks. 

 

It is warm out...88 and very windy.  But not windy like it was last weekend!!  Just good and breezy...enough to dry clothes in very little time!  We are suppose to have a chance of thunder and lightening later this afternoon and that's not good when it's so dry out.  Hopefully that storm will pass us by.  Friday we even had a little rain.  Very little though as it hardly registered in the rain gauge!  But I was thankful for what we did get.  I think the fires that were started last weekend are all under control now and two of them are out completely.  Thank God!  The leaves are starting to dry up and fall off some of the bushes and trees due to lack of moisture.  I did notice in Spokane though that some of the trees and bushes are turning color already!  I was shocked!  We usually start to turn before they do.  Some things are slowly changing but I am waiting for the vivid colors that come only with Fall and the first hard frost!  Fall is one of my favorite times of the year.

 

August 26, 2002

 

Today is overcast and muggy.  The news said it may rain up north (that's us!) but so far only a few sprinkles.  It is cooler though...mid 70s this afternoon.

 

Jay and I went into the garden first thing this morning and started digging potatoes.  We were finally finished almost three hours later!  We got well over 100 pounds of potatoes but were disappointed in the red ones.  They didn't seem to do too good.  Of course the gophers seemed to like them better than the white ones so maybe that's why there weren't as many!  We had several volunteer plants come up this year and we just left them to grow.  I think they did better than some of the ones that we intentionally planted!  We filled two wheelbarrows about half full each and put them in the barn with heavy sheets over the top so the sun doesn't shine on them.  They should be dry in the next week or two.  Then I will brush them off good and put them in gunny sacks for winter storage in the pump house.  Our garden is winding down for the year.  All that's left is a zucchini plant and a couple spaghetti squash plants that probably will freeze before we get any squash!  At least we got some stuff out of the garden though.  I am already planning next year's garden in my head!!

 

Today was a good day for baking so I made a chocolate crazy cake and a fresh loaf of bread.  The sun came out for a bit so I also put out a jug of sun tea!  I was being domestic today!  I enjoy baking but in the summer it is usually too hot to turn the oven on!  Now that it is warming up with the clouds gone, I'm glad I did it while it was cool!  We are going to have tacos tonight so that won't heat the mobile home up too bad!

August 28, 2002

I can hardly believe that the month of August is almost over!  Where did the summer go?  It has been a hot one for our area and I am sure looking forward to cooler temperatures!  Today was almost 90 and tomorrow is suppose to be the same.  Too hot for me!!  Jay's mom gave me a rooster oven to cook in and so I'm looking forward to making a tater tot casserole in it.  I can put it outside and it won't heat up the house.  It belonged to Jay's grandma so it's old.  Somewhere around 35-40 years old I think.  But it still works like a dream according to my mother-in-law.

 

I have been busy working on my daughter's quilt...I have 16 squares done now which is quite an accomplishment!  She informed us the other night that we are going to be grandparents so now I have all these baby quilts to make too!  I thought I better get hers done first.  We are all excited!  She goes to the dr. on Friday so will know a little more about the due date, etc.

 

Jay started back driving school bus today.  He finally got his own route so he is now a full time driver.  He only works four hours a day though so he still has time to work in his machine shop.  Right now he has a horse trailer sticking out of the front of the shop....it had a recall and he is doing the repairs.  Business has been pretty good the past couple months and hopefully his goal of working strictly from home will be realized within the next year or so. 

 

Tomorrow is our anniversary...21 years!  It almost doesn't seem that long but other times it seems longer!!!  We are going to BBQ steaks and have corn on the cob and ice cream.  Jay might even stop and rent a movie on the way home from work.  Usually we go out to dinner and a movie to celebrate but things are tight this year.  Our income has dropped so drastically that we have to change things to fit it.  But I sure don't feel like I'm missing anything...I would rather stay home for dinner and watch a movie in leisure with my husband.  The material things aren't important....I have a wonderful friend and husband, a beautiful family, good friends, and a great place to live with everything a person could ever need.  What more could anyone ever want than that?!

 

Have a very safe and fun Labor Day weekend...until next week....God bless!!  

What a day!  Last night we had a terrible windstorm and woke up to no power.  The news said the wind gusts were in the 50 m.p.h. range!  I believe it!  Our trailer was howling like a freight train, and thankfully we had cut all the trees away from it so there was no danger of a tree falling on us!  Our power came back on by mid morning though, and I sure breathed a sigh of relief!  We have two freezers with food in them, and I was worried about how we were going to keep both of them from defrosting!

I canned strawberry/rhubarb jam today and the house sure smelled good.  It made 8 pints plus a little left over that we will eat now.  I defrosted more berries and will make another big batch tomorrow.  I am trying to get all the jam made while the temperatures are a little cooler.  My neighbor brought me some fresh lettuce today.  Just in time too because I was almost out!  She is such a sweet person and willing shares the bounty of her garden.  She has kept us well supplied in zucchini and lettuce.  Dinner was crock pot tonight, and that sure helps a lot when I'm busy doing other things!  Spent the day doing laundry and cleaning so had a busy and productive day!  Just the kind I like to have.  The weather wasn't too hot either...right around 80 degrees.  Perfect!  Baked a batch of peanut butter cookies tonight since it cooled way down and hubby appreciated that!  He has been hard at work in his machine shop working on an order that a local logging company brought to him.  It is nice to have him home working instead of doing the 9-5 grind.  Hopefully soon we will have enough customers that he doesn't have to drive school bus and can concentrate on working in his shop for a living.  We don't need much as we own our home outright and don't have any bills to speak of.  Our life is busy but simple.  Just the way we like it!

August 19, 2002

We had quite the weekend!  I'm still trying to recover from it!  Saturday we lost our power again but luckily I had already finished all my work and was sewing on my daughter's quilt.  At first I thought my husband had thrown the breakers because he was welding out in the shop.  But when I went out to check with him, he was sitting there with a confused look on his face and said he didn't do it.  Power was out 10 miles away too.  I don't know how far reaching the outage was.  It was only off for about an hour and a half so that wasn't too bad.  After it came on I noticed we had some nasty looking clouds headed our way and prayed that it would rain.  Well, no such luck.  Instead we had 30-40 m.p.h. winds that sparked three fires in a 60 mile radius!  One of the fires was only a couple miles from us but fortunately the wind was blowing the other way but it sure scared me half to death!  When you live in the woods, a wild fire drives fear straight to the heart!  It made me take a good look around and see what changes we may need to make to protect ourselves in the event of a wild fire.  We are pretty prepared though.  We had one patch of dried weeds that need to be taken care of but for the most part we have a pretty good sized fire break around our place.  I went to my neighbor's house to watch the PBY scoop water out of the lake and dump it on the fire.  It was amazing and a little scary!  My neighbor's husband has his own logging operation and so he was busy filling his two water trucks...just in case!  Good idea!!  I was a nervous wreck all night long, worrying if the fire would change course and come our way.  Needless to say, I didn't sleep very good!  The next day I spent all day watering the yards so they wouldn't dry out.  I had been being a little lax lately with the watering but realized I probably better keep the lawns from drying up.  The fire danger here is extremely high right now.  Our rain levels are 3" below normal for this time of year and everything is crispy dry.  Perfect fire conditions!

I canned more jam this weekend...strawberry and tri-berry.  I have five more pints of strawberries to take care of and then I will be done with the berry jam unless I find some more raspberries in the bottom of the freezer!  The pump house where I store all our canned goods is filling up quite nicely already.  Today we had to go to Spokane for pipe and fittings so that we can hook our daughter's water up to the underground pipe.  Right now we just have a garden hose running to her trailer but the pipe needs to be buried so she won't freeze up this winter.  We bought her a 40' travel trailer so she could be close to home.  She loves the country and wanted to move back but needed her own space.  The travel trailer was the perfect answer.  It doesn't have holding tanks so she doesn't have to worry about the tanks freezing in the winter and it's just the right size for her.  We are glad she's back home so we know she's safe and if she needs help, we are here to help.  After Jay gets the pipe buried, he has to put a metal roof over the trailer.  With all the snow we get out here, a metal roof is the way to go.  The snow slides off good and it protects the trailer from water damage.  All our roofs on all the outbuildings and our trailer have metal roofs.  I think most of our neighbors out here do too!

August 20, 2002

Today was a very busy day.  First thing this morning I got the laundry washed and hung up to dry.  Jay was busy working on Jenni's waterline so I had to hurry up with the dishes so he could shut the water off to the house.  He had done the dishes once this morning for me but I washed a bunch of jars for the jam.  I got the strawberry jam cooking while he shut the water off.  Jenni's puppy, Bubba, pulled my sheet off the line and of course stomped all over it with his dirty little feet so Jay brought it up to the house for me to wash again.  Sometimes I think puppies are more work than children!  Jay finally got the waterline hooked up and our water turned back on in hardly no time at all. I spent most of the day doing cleaning and still didn't get it all done.  I still have dusting to do tomorrow! My neighbor stopped by to buy a dozen eggs from me.  She is one of my regular customers and picks up her eggs every Tuesday.  I look forward to her coming as I love to visit with her!  She is an artist and has a studio in her home where she works. She does mostly sculpture work and some pottery. She is usually always busy working on something new and going to art shows to display and sell her work.  A very interesting and wonderful lady! After she left, I canned the jam and got 11 1/2 pints.  A very productive day!!  Just the way I like them. 

August 21, 2002

Made one more trip to Spokane for supplies and now the waterline is hooked up and the hole is filled in!  All that's left is to insulate the pipe!!!  That will be a huge relief and worry off Jay's shoulder.  Jenni's boyfriend, Jared, has been helping Jay today.  While Jay worked on the waterline, Jared worked on putting the skirting on the trailer.  Now about all that's left is to get the roof on and bring her porch down!  Those are the only major projects that needed to be done by fall.

I checked the garden tonight and found fresh deer prints in it!  They already ate all my cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and sweet onions!  The fence was down due to the heavy snows from last winter and Jay hadn't gotten around to fixing it.  Well, he finally propped it back up but they are still getting in!  Now they are eating the tops off the weeds...wish they would just pull them up and eat the whole thing!  Jay thinks it's because of the water on the weeds.  We used to have water troughs out that they drank out of but we haven't had them out for a couple years.  Jay talked about filling them up again for them.  But they are both being used right now...one is the new chickens house and the other one we haul the butcher chickens in! 

Our weather is cooling down into the 70s now.  I am enjoying it.  But the bees are so bad that you can't stay outside long without being attacked!  I had a yellow jacket land on my hand last week and take a BITE out of my finger!  He didn't sting me, he bit me!!  We have some traps up and found a couple nests but they are really bad this year.  Everyone around here is having problems.  We haven't had a really cold winter in the past couple years to help keep their population down!  Hopefully this year we will.  The onions look like they are ready to be pulled and dried for winter storage.  I might get the potatoes dug too.  The garlic is dying down and needs to be taken care of too.  Looks like I will be busy this weekend! The garden is starting to wind down for the year. 

Until next week.....take care and God bless!!

Due to the heat, I haven't been doing any work outside but have been busy working on crafts for Christmas presents inside.  Dinner has been consisting mostly of crock pot meals so that I don't have to heat up the house during the day so that frees up a lot of my time.  I enjoy staying busy and making things.  Since I haven't had a lot of canning to do this summer, I have been able to get my fall cleaning and organizing done much sooner than normal and that frees up more time too to work on projects.  Even my husband, Jay, is ahead of schedule this year.  He already has our winter supply of firewood in!  Usually it's October or so before he gets done!  But since he has to drive school bus soon I think he decided to get it out of the way!

The hummingbirds are really consuming a lot of nectar and I have to wonder if maybe they aren't getting ready for their long fall flight.  It always seems so quiet around here when they leave, and I always look forward to seeing them again in the spring.  It is so dry here from all the heat and wind that the birds are running out of food to eat so they are really eating us out of house and home of sunflower seeds!  I fill the feeders every three or four days and I have five feeders!!  But I enjoy watching them so much and during the winter they are the only signs of wild life that I get to see besides an occasional wild turkey or moose.  So they are worth the cost of seeds!

I hope this finds all of you prosperous with your gardens and lives!!  Until next week.....have a safe and happy summer!

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