Frosty and Cold...4º

Up early this morning, surrounded by fog and frost...Our kids are at home in Portland and Bend (Rusty had things to do so also went home yesterday.) Herb did laundry yesterday and more this morning...I heated up leftovers for dinner and was mostly lazy.

Now it is back to the picking up, putting away and sorting drawers, cleaning corners, all that fun stuff...We can watch all the other people scurry around getting ready for Christmas, smile smugly and say, "We are all done with Christmas, but hope yours is a Merry One!"

Had a long visit with Pat this morning via telephone...They started their Christmas Season on Saturday, gift shop open, trees for sale with a nice turnout of people...Hoping for good weather the next few weekends, when people come for a fun family outing before Christmas...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Time to head home.

Nov. 30

Lots of frost.

Winding Down...8º

Before bedtime on Friday night Bobi filled enough jars for Saturday mornings early start...Herb had the first canner "perking" away by 7am, and settled in for the first shift, I was in charge of cleaning more jars and Rusty took on the task of filling the next set of jars...Before Bobi and Ci took over for Herb on the second shift, we had enough time for all of us to sit and have breakfast of bacon/sausage, hash browns and eggs...Fueled for the day, by 2:30 two pies cooled on the counter, two pairs of pajama bottoms had been sewn, a tri tip was cooking on the traeger, and three canners done for a grand total of 7 canners totaling 147 jars of tuna...All the pressured jars are wiped down, labeled and boxed, enough tuna for our families for about 4 years...Pam joined us for dinner, Becky and John called in sick (flu symptoms,) bedtime came early again.

Amid all of the chaos the "kids" did a jigsaw puzzle, we played a few games of cards, looked at Ci's photos of her year in Thailand, talked, laughed, took turns being cranky, ate amazing food, opened Christmas packages, got over being cranky, drank glasses of wine and had a few relaxing moments.

Now it is Sunday morning, I've had two early morning hours to reflect on the last three day, count our blessings and wonder how the time can fly so fast...Ci and Bobi will be on the road home today, Russ will stay for a couple more days, then it will be an empty house for us, Herb and I will settle back into our routine...Below are a few random photos...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Bobi and Ci in a tussle.

Ci giving Oma a new "look."

Dinner

Pies

Fashion Plate, Rusty, modeling

his newest outfit.

Sun Melted Chocolate...9º

When life gives you lemons..Make lemonade?..What about when the sun melts your chocolate?...Our Thanksmas Turkey sat proudly, decorating the kitchen table...We went about the morning, Ci doing homework, Bobi and I prepping for dinner, Herb and Rusty getting jars ready for the tuna canning on Friday...Super cold outside but the sun was shining through the sliding doors and into the kitchen.

Chocolate Turkey

I noticed Tom Turkey listing just a bit and took a closer look...."Oh No," I yelled, "The turkey is melting!"...Instead of crying over melted chocolate, I pulled fondant rolls from the fridge, cut off small pieces and with smiles on our faces we dipped the fondant into the melted chocolate...So another cliche, as on Thanksmas 2015 we ate dessert first!...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Thanksmas on Barton Heights...1º

Thanksmas morning, just waiting for the rest of the family to wake up...The celebration started last night when "the girls" arrived (bare roads all the way) about 7pm from the West side...Rusty, Herb and I had been busy; sliced, diced and grated, until everything was ready for our Thanksmas eve supper of nachos...Then we visited until 10pm, watched the full moon illuminate the Wallowa Mountains, counted our blessings and headed for bed.

It is very cold and crisp outside, temperature not supposed to get above 27º, we have pies and dressing to make and a leg of lamb to cook...Wishes for everyone to have a wonderful Thanksgiving on this day November 26 2015...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

What List...30º

The list I had for Thanksmas was mostly in my head and now that dooms day is only 2 days away the images that keep running through my mind are like a fast forward in a home movie...In the blink of an eye everything is done, ready, and I'm sitting down, feet up, drink in hand...Dream on!

One step at a time, deep breath and stop trying to make it all happen in a nanosecond...First step is to get dressed and get moving...It will not matter if everything gets done, just that the kids have good roads and arrive safely.

Snow is falling here this morning, write group will go on without me, water therapy will either energize me or wipe me out, time will tell...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Get Moving Monday...14º

One batch of fondant and one of fudge, more to do....Herb has the leg of lamb thawing in his fridge, depending on weather, kids will arrive on Wednesday...Sun shining today, storm moving in tonight...Grrrrr....Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Countdown/Thanksmas...12º

The days are slipping by, celebration time is near...I must prioritize my list: 1...Make chocolates, and if I make enough, I can probably forget the rest of the list!

Yesterday morning I froze at the "Good Book Sale," but managed to come home with a stack of books...Can't turn me loose in a room full of books, without feeding the addiction...The afternoon was spent in the warm company of Margaret and Janice as we started the winter with our first soup lunch/dinner...Instead of soup we had sauerkraut and sausages, visited and laughed past dark with a promise to meet again before Christmas.

Cold days will continue through Thanksgiving and the Allens/Walls will celebrate, work, laugh and play the days away...More details to come...Hug To All..OWAV:)

"Huckleberries in November..." 9º

Huckleberry jam that is!..About 9am Friday morning, the sun was shining full force on the deck, wearing just a light jacket I cleared the snow away...The day remained cold but sunny and I remembered what my project for the day was.

Huckleberries in the freezer, and assorted juices (frozen or jarred) and a new kind of pectin were waiting to be used...Using 1 qt of huckleberries, 1qt of juice, 2/3 cup of "lite all natural pectin" and 6 cups of sugar, I soon had 10 jelly jars of jam...I did this 3 times yesterday morning and ended up with 30, 1/2 pints for the cellar shelves...This is much less sugar than the usual recipe and it was easy...Juice and berries in my deep 6 quart kettle, add pectin, bring to a boil for 2 minutes, add sugar, return to boil for another 2 minutes...Ladle into jars, seal and voilà, huckleberry jam in November.

I've been buying pectin in the bulk for several years now, much less expensive than at the grocery store...Kauffmans' in Island City sells bulk items and the last package of pectin I bought was called "Dutch Jell" and had a pamphlet with all the instructions...I bought lite so I could use less sugar...If you used "boxed" pectins for this much jam, the cost would have been over $15.00...I paid $5.13 for Dutch Jell pectin, for 3 double batches!..I like saving money.

Late afternoon I attended the retirement party for longtime Joseph Librarian Jannine, a steady stream of loyal customers wished her well after 30 years of faithful service...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Stormy Day...26º

It snowed off and on yesterday, added up to about 4" in Joseph, temp stayed right at 32º all day...Water therapy was warm, wonderful, energizing...Lunch at the Thai restaurant was fun, visiting with old/new friends in a different setting...From there we crossed the street and helped Dandelion Wine get an early start on their opening...Jody gave us a tour of this long, narrow room, painted sunshine yellow with an added sky light trimmed in blue...She graciously opened two bottles of wine for our tasting.

Before I went to WT, I got on a cleaning frenzy when I looked for some icing in the fridge freezer and couldn't find it...I pulled everything out of the freezer, sorted it into piles (sort of) throwing away obvious mystery packages, cleaning, washing and rearranging...Herb made the mistake of coming into the kitchen to see what all the crashing, banging, swearing was about and found himself at the sink washing shelving and empting jars of science projects, (because by that time I had moved on to taking everything out of the refrigerator as well!) Two hours later the fridge was sparkling clean and naked looking with room for all the food that comes with "Thanksmas."

I didn't get home until 3:30, so it made for a short afternoon/evening...Herb kept the home fires burning and the house was toasty warm, so nice to come home to...6:30am and the sunrise is just starting on Barton Heights, gonna be cold with sun/clouds today...Not sure what the project for today is but I know that cleaning snow off the deck will be one of them....Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Baking 101...26º

It was a perfect day for baking...Three loaves of zucchini bread (recipe from Janice,) four double loaves of sourdough bread and enough meatloaf for several meals.

A week or so ago, when I pulled the sourdough starter from the fridge, added flour and warm water, It didn't take off...Just sat there, no matter what I did...So I saved potato water added flour and a few grains of yeast and in three days I had a new sourdough starter bubbling away...It took about a week to get the good sour flavor and yesterday I added a good portion of it to a batch of bread, for good measure, I added yeast to make sure it would raise, (is that cheating?) I suppose it is, but it worked...Herb and I sampled it before dinner, had it with our dinner and I had a small meatloaf sandwich last night...It has a thick, crunchy crust and tasted oh so good!

Snow is falling this morning, haven't looked at the forecast, will just wait and see what the day brings...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

False Alarm...32º/partly cloudy

A few strong gusts of wind before we went to bed last night, but definitely not the major wind storm that was predicted...Even if the outcome is good, it is always a letdown when you try to prepare for something that never happens, but also a relief...Does that make sense?

Busy Tuesday was a bit busier, when Herb and I found ourselves taking advantage of the 55º temperature mid afternoon...Our leftovers were warming on the stove, while Herb climbed the ladder, I handed up a bucket for the leaves that he pulled from the rain gutter before we hooked up the hose to give it one last flushing of a summers worth of debris...Now we shouldn't have to worry about the rain gutter plugging up and overflowing this winter, as the snow and ice build up, then thaw in a winter chinook.

Herb is working on laundry, I have sourdough starter rising...Making meatloaf for our dinner and mixing a batch of bread...Looking out the East window it looks warm, but Herb says the breeze is coming off of the "polar icecap" atop Chief Joseph Mountain...Good day for baking...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Wind Warning...30º

I'm in a quandry this morning as to, is it better to expect a bad wind storm or just go on about your day without a clue as to what is coming?...Thinking back over 40 years ago when we first moved to Joseph, no computers, so we relied on TV/radio for local news and weather...Both coming from Spokane, so were anything but local...We paid (payed?) little attention to either...Sometimes our first clue to wind/snow/rain was waking up in the middle of the night, with the windows rattling, house shaking/shuddering and crashing, banging sounds, as loose items became airborne...Over the years we have insulated, replaced windows and roof on the house...Some wind storms have blown over trees and sheds, not to be replaced...I doubt that we will ever be totally prepared for an approaching windstorm...Today it is forecast to start around 1pm and last off and on for about 24 hour...Check out the link or come back tomorrow for an update, in the meantime, "hang on to your hats!"...Hugs To All....OWAV:)

Pie and More...25º

Pie in the oven, sauerkraut/sausages/porkchops in the dutch oven waiting its turn to slow cook, scalloped potatoes also waiting, salad chopped...Pam, Becky, John (and Tater) are coming for dinner...A tradition of ours to share meals, they doing the outside meals in summer when we gather around their fire pit for BBQ and roasted marshmallows...As always, it was a good time sharing not only food but conversation and laughter...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Estate Sale/Bernina...45º/Breezy

This ad in last weeks newspaper caught my eye...Not often that you see a Bernina sewing machine for sale and since it was an estate sale my thinking is that it might be really old, like 40 yrs old...Of course in a small town you take the chance that someone will call before the sale and get "the deal." Pam was game to go with me and we were there just before 8am with only a few people ahead of us...I enquired about the Bernina and of course it had been sold before the sale (all kinds of reasons why) and I was immediately "cranky," but we continued to wander through the house, each picking up a couple of items...When I paid I asked, "how old was the sewing machine?" Answer, "Oh it was at least 10 years old, but had hardly been used." I was relieved, I didn't want a 10 year old computerized sewing machine, but hope whoever bought it is happy with their purchase...I am still of the opinion that if you advertise an item to be sold at a yardsale, it shoud be at the yardsale...Just one of my little pet peeves.

Pam and I had a good visit before I came home to make noodles for our dinner of chicken and noodles...Later in the day Becky called to say she had been grocery shopping and had two big turkeys, did we have room in the freezer for one?..So over a glass of wine, we visited with her, hearing all about the coast trip and her busy life at the court house....Hugs To All...OWAV:)

PS...Had an early morning text from Pat, she and Brian were on their way to early Mass and a breakfast of scrapple and eggs, two of the things they like better, found in the East...:)

Chex Mix...34º

Second batch out of the oven, total of 6 gallon ziplocks full, stashed in the cellar...Enough left over for Herb to snack on for a month...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Lazy Exercise...35º/Cloudy

Water Therapy; buoyant, effortlessly, relaxing and fun...The 45 minutes spent in warm water mostly bicycling around the pool, riding a noodle, speeds by with little effort...Dripping wet as I climb the stairs to exit, all the body weight returns and fatigue sets in...10 minutes in the hot tub and it takes all my strength to climb the stairs, shower and dress before I return home...If I was ambitious before leaving the house that morning, dinner would be simmering away in the oven or almost ready and with a few zaps of the microwave it would be on the table..If not I would be racking my brain all the way home as to what the next meal will be.

On water therapy days I have big plans for the afternoon, sewing, cleaning etc...But most of the time seems to be spent on the sofa or in my recliner thinking about doing!..By 8pm I'm falling asleep reading my book and last night I slept a full 8 hours...It must mean that water therapy is not as effortless as it seems...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Turkey Time...23º

Buy one turkey, get one free, if you buy an additional $35.00 worth of groceries...(no alcohol, dairy, cigarettes) that's what the ad says...I have my list, mostly chex cereal, pretzels, nuts, to make the annual, quadruple batch of holiday "chex mix."...The two turkeys will be stored in Pam's freezer, until next year when I get the urge to do some more pressure cooking...Becky will also have her list and add two more turkeys...four is enough to can, if they are 20 pounders.

This turkey canning is a tradition my mother started when she lived in Utah in the 70's/80's...In those days before ground turkey came into vogue, "turkey hinds" (leg/thigh portion) were cheap...Mom, always looking for a bargain and remembered the days, before freezers, when she canned chicken, would stock up on turkey hinds to can or jar (as they say now.)

An interesting sidenote here...Years ago(50s/60s) whole, canned chickens could be found in grocery stores, priced reasonably, they made a quick meal for the busy housewife or for some of the first career women...Maybe the start of convienence food....I just did a search and found that Amazon still sells them.

I never know where, on any given day this blog is going to go, but think for today it has gone on long enough...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Stories and more...32º

Instead of writing my blog yesterday, I dug into my "word files," on the computer...After a two year break I was ready to resume editing, rewriting and sorting all the essays I've written about my family and my life in Lake Fork, Idaho...For three years I wrote 15 pages a month and sent them to Katey for her critique, she sent them back, I made changes and filed them away...(sometimes I sent them to Katey more than once.)..So now in my "word" files I have Della's essays, Sent to Katey, Katey's replies, to name just a few....There are multiples of everything and no easy way to tell without opening the documents and trying to compare to see if it is the final one or the first draft or somewhere in between...Damn, I started out writing a few simple stories for my kids, so they could see what life was like in the 1950's and now I have a quagmire to sort myself out of...Yesterday it felt like I was slowly sinking in quicksand, trying to keep my head from going under...Taking deep breaths was not recommended.

Yesterday I did manage to find what I think is the latest draft of "Dumpster Diving Mama." I printed the 17 page document so I had a hard copy to read at write group, make corrections, before I move on to another story...This morning my head seems cleared, and later today I will look for the final draft of "Whistlin Joe."...Deep breaths and one step at a time.

Yesterday was busy Tuesday; write group, water therapy and home to make tomato soup and pizza for our dinner...Herb put the snow plow on the 4 wheeler, cleared our driveway and the neighbors of hard crusted snow from Mondays storm...As I drove to Enterprise the snow ended at Egglesons Corner, sun shining, it seemed almost balmy when I left the swimming pool...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

PS...Thanks for the check marks, up to 11 yesterday...:)

Wintery day...34º/snow falling

Snow overnight and supposed to continue off and on for the next 4 days...If it will just let up when the kids come home for "Thanksmas," that would be good, and after that it can snow all it wants, we need snowpack in the mountains.

Had kind of a lazy day yesterday, Herb did tri tip on the grill and I made salad and mashed potatoes...The time change, dark earlier, makes the evenings seem long, might have to change our dinner time to 3pm and see if that helps.

Thanks to my friends/followers who are checking the "reactions" box at the bottom of my blog, gives me encouragement to continue writing...I've had 6 check marks for each of the last few days, more are alway welcome!...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Winter

Tri Tip

Salad

Day Out...34º

Early morning went quickly as I mopped floors and cleaned the bathroom...Spending extra time cleaning water spots off the glass tile that surrounds our shower...Our three year old shower is a piece of cake to keep clean compared to the old tub/shower that we installed in 1982...The tub/shower was a step up from the original bathtub that came with the house, but was difficult to get in and out of, as our knees/bodies grew older and it was a beast to keep clean for over 20 years...I won't go so far as to say I "love" cleaning the bathroom now, but certainly tackle the job with less dread than before...Plus I was looking forward to a fun afternoon, and that always makes cleaning easier.

Herb made oatmeal for our breakfast and said he would "dine" on sausages/wieners for his dinner, I fixed a tuna salad for my dinner, eating early, so I would be ready to pick Janice up for our trip to the Elgin Opera House and the matinee performance of "Annie."..After a lovely drive we arrived in Elgin, greeted with a cold wind blowing and hurriedly made our way through the crowd to the will call window...As always the production was wonderful, played to a full house and the time flew by...I wasn't looking forward to driving home in the dark, but the roads were bare and dry, traffic light and with Janice for company, we had no problems.

6pm and we were both hungry...I sliced a few veggies, quickly browned sirloin tip steaks, and Herb and I sat down to a mini meal, before we relaxed/unwound before bedtime...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Girl Talk....30º

Had a nice FaceTime with Cienna yesterday...It takes a bit of prompting from her Mother and me to get her started...She said there are pros and cons about the college setting, but then talked about the pros, so got a good feeling that she likes it, for the most part...Saw a painting that she did in "Paint Class" and heard about the marks from her professor...Seems that Cienna is enthusiastic and I believe she got an "A."...Waiting for the second project to be graded and returned, as well as her second essay that was turned in last week for "Writing 121?".

We talked about the "Boy," and she said, eyes sparkling, "He is a Cutie, Oma!" Then she said, "I have another date tonight, going to the last football game and then out to dinner." Last week she went to a Halloween party, that included ice skating, where she managed to stay on her feet...Of course Austin, made sure he was holding her up...Hard to believe that she has grown up right before our eyes, in what feels like a blink of the eye.

Sentimental Saturday (one of my favorites)

With water polo over, she has a couple of weeks before swim practice so is relaxing a bit with just classes, lifeguarding and dates to fill her time...Sunshine and cold temperatures, here on Barton Heights...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

First Snow...33º

A skift (first I typed skiff, looked it up and found it to be a small boat, then changed to skift and came up with a blog post written about the two words, I found it interesting)...of snow covers the ground this morning...November is late for our first snow fall and this is hardly measurable, hence a "skift." My spellcheck wants to change skift to skirt or shift.

November 1st was the official day to have studded snow tires mounted on our subaru...Since we were making a trip to Lewiston this week and I am making a trip to Elgin this Saturday, Herb went early morning to Schwabs with the studded snow tires that I purchased this summer off of "free classifieds" on FaceBook...(Thinking I got a good deal) The trip to Lewiston was uneventful, the tires all held air, BUT the tires definitely had more wear than advertised by the seller, plus they were extremely noisy, rough riding and the car just didn't handle as usual...What to do?..Herb has always made sure that I have "better than good" rubber on the car, so it was decided to, "cut our losses" figure that the wheels/rims that came with the not very good tires were worth the money and yesterday, while I was at water therapy, Herb was back at Schwabs buying new non-studded (snowflake) winter tires...The six mile ride home was quiet and smooth...Time will tell but I feel safer already...Hugs To All... OWAV:)

PS...P & B spent the night in Boise, Idaho, after a blow out on the boat trailer slowed them down, still not bad for the first day...Send positive thoughts their way.

Costco/Winco...28º

Winco ends with "co" because the original States of this business were Wyoming, Idaho, Nevada, Colorado and Oregon and that is why it was named Winco (at least that is what my son told me.) I don't know where Costco got its "co" from but I think they should change the name from Costco to Costalot...The Clarkston Costco started business several years ago and we have made the almost 200 mile round trips there 2 or 3 times a year since its beginning...I immediatly named it the $100.00 an hour store and it has steadily increased to the $300.00 an hour store...We can only get so much in our car, and it is loaded on each return trip home...So are we buying more expensive items, have the prices increased that much or is Herb becoming a better packer?.. I keep asking myself is it worth the trip?..I like to go to Lewiston in the spring, flowers blooming, warm temperature, it is a good getaway from the Wallowa County spring weather.

Winco is not really an alternative to Costco, whole different kind of store but it has a "bulk" section that we like...Also not a really good choice because it is in Idaho and we have to pay Idaho sales tax, where in Washington, Oregonians are exempt from sales tax except on alcohol...Trying to weigh all of the odds is mind boggling and there is really no good way to compare......Would it cost us more to stay home and shop (better for the county, but I get less enamored with Safeway every trip,) or would our gasoline, dinner out and impulse buying at "Costalot" negate any other savings?..What to do, what to do?...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Ribs on Sunday...34º

Shrouded in plastic, wrapped with strapping tape, many large "packages" were stacked in P & B's  usually clutter free living room...The boat is packed and the truck half loaded as P & B continue to check off their list...A major moving project has been happening for several weeks now and Thursday is Move-it-Day...The year will be split in half...Half in the East and half in the West...Amid all of this we were invited for dinner...It was a lovely evening, visiting and eating, before we bid our friends safe travels.

Yesterday found Herb and I preparing for winter (Herb got the winter tires on,) I cleaned the last corner counter before moving upstairs where I'm sorting, cleaning and rearranging before Thanksmas arrives and "The Kids" will be home for a few days.

Today I have Write Women and water therapy, Tuesdays are alway a busy day...The nights are cooling off and the geraniums must be moved inside and upstairs before they freeze...I must get moving...Hugs To All...OWAV:) .

Non Event..45º

A warmer Halloween day than usual, a bit windy but not blowing a gale...Many planned events in Wallowa County were held for the young trick or treaters...Trunk to Treat in Enterprise, a Merchant sponsored Trick or Treat was held in Joseph, another event was held at Cloverleaf hall in Enterprise...Late afternoon I melted chocolate wafers added peanuts and voilà we soon had peanut clusters...I made up snack bags with peanut clusters, sandwich bags with freshly popped/buttered popcorn so our tricksters would have a choice...Herb was treated to a small portion of both that didn't fit into the allotted bags...Porch light on we waited...No one showed, what to do with our treats?..I don't think that will be a problem.

The weekend storm didn't materialize, sun is shining today and I have more papers to sort, dirt to chase, corners to clean...In my next life, I will have a round house....Hugs To All...OWAV:)