Catching up....

Has been a few days...OK months.... since I posted something new here.   

Was a busy summer... hubby was gone a few times for his Logistics Chief duties on Incident Management Team #5.  And he missed a couple fire trips in order to attend the annual family reunion, and a special trip to the Oregon coast.

Had a great summer of gardening.  Hubby did most of the work, and I got to harvest the goodies.  Love it!!

I planted a crazy row of Zinnias.  You don't have to harvest them; 

we just get to enjoy the colors!

Volunteer sunflowers grew 10-12 feet high. I love the happy sunflower faces!

Looking west in mid-July.  Pumpkins in the foreground, 

with zucchinis next, sunflowers, tomatoes and more!

We enjoyed a great few days at Seaside with our daughters and granddaughters.  For hubby's 60th birthdayr, our girls booked a nice rental home a few blocks from the ocean in our favorite area on the northern Oregon coast. 

The weather wasn't great, 

but the time with our kids and grandbabies was marvelous. 

Both the little girls love to read, 

thanks to mamas and daddies who read to them every day.

We used to camp at Ft. Stevens, and had to make a nostalgic trip 

to the south jetty.  Was WINDY and cold, but still a wonderful place.

The day before we left, the weather broke and we got to dig in the sand, 

walk the beach and enjoy the beauty of the Oregon coast.  Awesome!

Now the holiday season is in full swing, and I have several fun projects queued up.  Can't share cuz someone might see... :)

My outside white lights are up, but not turned on. I do think it must be time!!

And we had our first dusting of snow... snow shovels are out and firewood is waiting on the front porch.

Thanks for visiting!!


  

Garden's turning green....

Things are looking pretty healthy out in the garden.  A few little tomatoes, and a couple baby zucchinis. If we had a few days of warm sun.... we'd could be harvesting!

I started zinnias from seed back in mid March...First bloom! Yay!

Potatoes catching the last of the evening sun!

Potatoes in the foreground, then onions and leeks, then a few more tomatoes,
swiss chard, tomatillas, and zukes, cukes , cants and Big Mac pumpkins.
Three rows of tomatoes, peppers and zinnias were behind me when I took this pictures.

Up close at Wild Horse Windfarm!

We had a mini-adventure today.  


We drove east of Kittitas on the old Vantage Highway, and toured the Ellensburg Wild Horse Windfarm. Learned a lot and even got to inside one of the towers.  


Pretty impressive view from the visitor center... elevation 3,500 feet - higher than Snoqualmie Pass!

Pretty futuristic!

You could see for miles!

The shrub-steppe vegetation included flowers like these and some cacti!

The blades are 120-some feet long, and each weighs seven tons!

Looking up from inside the base of the tower....220 steps in the ladder!
We could see the top section of the tower flexing in the wind!
A computer read-out tells you the wind-speed and how much electricity is being delivered.

Worth the trip!  Bring your jacket, though! Was windy - duh!! - when we were there!

Community Days...

Once again, we helped out at the Community Days parade by checking in floats, antique cars, clowns, high school bands, dancers, military tanks, etc etc.  A busy morning, and then a quick hike down onto the parade route to sit with our daughters, and granddaughters.

Saturday night we got together with a bunch of the kids our girls grew up with, and enjoyed chasing after the next generation!  How blessed we are!

Sunny mother's day...

Got tons of things planted today... temps were in the high 80's, and I am pretty tuckered out!


Here is the view looking through our ash tree at the bright blue sky.  I was lying on the deck bench, taking a rest.

HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY!!

Fun app!

Here is a "sketch" version of an apple blossom photo, using my PS Express free app.


I think I like it :)

Getting dirty!

The vegetable gardening is in full swing!


We have planted two rows of Walla Walla sweets, a row of red onions and leeks (first time for leeks!), and three rows of potatoes - red, white and Yukon Gold.  No weeds yet :)


We have four full flats of flowers and more tomatoes than we need that we take out in the morning and bring in at night  Two days ago there was frost on my windshield when I headed out to work at 6:30 a.m.  Brrr!


The days are warm and the spring temps means the flowering trees and the orchards are bright with color and buzzing bees.  


.

The Golden Delicious apples next door are in full bloom!

When you duck into the orchard you can hear the  bees, 

busy doing their pollinating thing!

Later!!

~M

Still looks like summer...

Last year on Sept. 24 the daytime high temp was 60 and the low 38.  This year is got to nearly 90. Missed setting a new record high by one degree!  Zinnias are happy to keep growing!



I am preserving summer by freezing tomato soup...yum!  Found the recipe on SouleMama's blog.

It's hard to tell, but there is a fence in the background.  The birdhouse gourds have taken over half the garden.

They start right behing the zinnias, and have gone up and over the fence, and across the woodpile.  Some of the gourds are as big as basketballls...

WHAT are you going to do with them, you might ask.... hmmm.. not real sure!

Sunrise...sunset

Beautiful day!!

The beginning....

...and the end of a beautiful day.

Great garden eats

While the nights grow longer and COOLER, the days are still quite warm, and the garden keeps on giving!

We steamed and blanched fresh (white) corn today....YUMMY!  Will be great to take a package of sweet home-grown corn out of the freezer when days are short, and the air is cold.

Today we picked two gigantic bowls of tomatoes, and more just as ripe in the garden. May be making some fancy bruschetta sauce tomorrow...will see...just one more day til I am back at the office, up to my eyeballs in work.

The odd-colored ones are Cherokee Purple....an heirloom that doesn't look that great but is excellent eating.

Sometimes when I am rinsing fruit in the sink, or taking hot jars out of the dishwasher, I think about how different it must have been to can or make jam over a woodstove. I just have to turn on the burner, and I have reliable heat that I can turn up or down as I need it.  I am canning food mostly for fun...certainly we will eat it, but I am not struggling to put up enough food  to feed my family all winter.

Grandbaby's been here!

Great sunshine-filled weekend with younger daughter, her hard-working painterly husband, and happy, happy grandbaby.   Miss M, her mom, and I hung out in our just-barely-warm-enough pool....her blue full-length swimsuit is SPF 50 :)

One... two... three.... JUMP!



Hollywood!  :)



Grandpa is introducing Miss M to a big black steer,
who is slightly curious, and mostly stand-offish.

Family time at Ocean City

Can't get enough of that grandbaby!  She looks squished but was loving the ride :)



Lovin' that little girl!



Meg, Nick, Mark and Cashman sihouetted in the sun

Gimme that spoon... and that yummy apricot!

summer blooms...

A couple asters brighten up my containers on the back walk... 

Sunflowers - at least 12 ft tall - silhouetted against the evening sky.

Even the hostas take their turn at blooming!