Weeks Fly By...32º

We are creatures of habit, stuck in a rut and when our routine is changed, it takes awhile to get back on track...Rusty came to spend the week in Joseph, working on our "Honey Do List," and also volunteered a couple of days at Jim Creek, for the Forest Service...In his spare time, he was at John and Becky's, helping with, getting in the way of a remodeling project.

While he was here I cooked more than usual, making pies and rolls, we celebrated a late St. Patricks day with the usual corned beef dinner, with friends...While here, Rusty and Herb took out the old, over the range, microwave (almost 30 years old), that was making a "bad rattling noise," with a slight possibility that he could fix it...He loves tearing things apart and soon had parts and pieces in a pile on the kitchen table...It soon became apparent that it was not going back together.

I had been struggling for a few weeks, knowing the microwave, needed to be replaced, but found that one similar to what we had was super expensive and wouldn't be what I wanted, even at that cost...So I settled for a small portable microwave, with the possibility of building a shelf over the range for it to sit on...For now it takes up space on the counter, waiting for me to make a decision.

Moving on, Rusty left for home last Monday and we are almost settled back in...Near the end of March, it was time to change from winter tires to summer tires on both of our vehicles, Herb took care of that and also hauled a pickup load of wood, from the back lot to the wood room in our basement...We also had a trip to LG to the eye doctor and two appointments in Enterprise, for him to order and get fitted for new hearing aids...I also had water therapy and food alliance to fill my days...Our meals have consisted of leftover pie, crock pot soup and creamed chicken over biscuits.

Also happening at this time, Cienna was flying home from Chile (we tracked her flight on the computer) and readjusting to life with Mom and Dad in Portland...Now we have a quiet weekend and our rut is again almost comfortable...AND springtime is coming to Wallowa County...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

New microwave

Lemon Meringue Pie

Cherry Pie

Full Moon Disappears...23º

Another beautiful sunrise in the East, as the full moon slides behind the Western Mountains...Maybe this is one reason we wake up early...These views only last a few minutes and I caught the moon before it totally disappeared...A full moon and the first days of spring are somewhat encouraging, but we still have several inches of snow all around us, it has a week to melt before April arrives.

Cienna text us this morning, "Arrived in Huston." After spending the last 11 weeks in Chile, she is on her way home, landing in Portland around noon today...She is enrolled for the spring term at OSU...We are anxious to hear about her adventures...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Carrot Crop...27º

Last summers carrot crop was plentiful...I dug at least half of the bed in Oct. scrubbed them clean, stored them in 3 gallon ziplock bags (lined with paper towels) in the basement fridge...We have enjoyed them all winter...I covered the remaining carrots with two bales of straw and left them for the winter...Now still covered with several inches of snow, Rusty (home for a few days), moved a bale and found lovely carrots waiting to be dug...This is our winter/spring bounty, he left some in the ground for me to dig, when the snow melts...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Last of the Photos...21º

The following photos didn't make the cut, to enter in the contest...It was hard to decide, especially because I don't know how photos are judged, just what I like...After trying to enter five photos electronically, (reduced the size) I still got an error message...So as per the Chieftains instructions, I sent them full size in two emails...So far they have not been posted....Grrrr...Whatever happens, it has been fun getting reactions from my readers and here are more photos taken last summer/fall, for your enjoyment.

We still have over a foot of snow on the ground, but spring weather has arrived for the next few days...Daytime temperatures in the 40/50's, fingers crossed that the snow melts slowly and is absorbed into the ground...I'm ready to take more photos, as soon as the spring crocus are brave enough to show their faces...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

A Bunch of Peonies.

Garlic Harvest

Sunshine Yellow

Lusciousness 

First Snow

More Photos...14º

A few more photos, as I continue trying to enter 5 of my favorites from the last year...I have no idea if they are good enough, just that I like them and that I like to share...Bobi gave me directions to "reduce" my photos to below the acceptable 1MB that the contests wants...The contest still rejects my attempts...Hmmmmm...So here are 3 more for your viewing, at least it gives me something to write about and I will keep trying.

Pink Oriental Poppy

A field of wildflowers at Hat Point.

An old plow surrounded by daffodils.

The second day of daylight savings time has dawned...I wonder what great event I will spend this saved time on, come November...It seems to me if it is a savings, it should be drawing some interest, did I have the option to put it in the stock market, or a CD?..My friend Pat sent me a clipping about daylight savings time...It was started over 100 years ago and studies have been done, with the results that it actually has no real benefit...Why do we keep banging our head against a brick wall?..Everyone I talk to says "why don't THEY just leave it one way or the other?"

Yesterday afternoon was spent up the Lostine, playing games/cards with the Hot Springs Bunch, as we keep in touch and plan another trip this fall, don't want someone else spending time in our little cottage in McCall...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Photo Contest...10º

The local newspaper has an amateur photo contest every year, so this year I decided to enter some of my photos...I picked out what I think are the best and filled out the entry form and clicked send for the first one....It came back with an error message...I looked more closely at the guidelines and saw that photos of 1MB works the best...Hmmmmm, mine are all about 3 MB each!

Being only moderately tech savvy, I will just post my photos here and forget the contest, maybe another year, I will figure it out...We still have a bunch of snow on the ground but spring must be close as we switch to "daylight savings time" tomorrow...Just in time for us, as we seem to be waking up at 3am instead of 4am...I still have trouble with this concept, as I don't understand how it is saved, unless maybe it's in that "Cloud," that everyone keeps saving things to...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

3 of the 10 I picked out, more to follow...:)

I think this looks like a Charles Wysocki Painting

Shasta Daisys

"Funny Farm" Llamas standing guard.

Memories...16º

Measuring the flour for pie crust on Wednesday, I double the amount to 4 cups, sliced up two cubes of butter and added that on top of the flour, along with 1 1/2 tsp. salt...I hit the start button on the, 14 cup, cuisinart, then pulsed it a few times...Then I measured out two scoops of soft lard (approximately 2/3 of a cup) and added it to the mix, pulsed a few times...I dumped all of this into my extra large, yellow tupperware bowl, added about 1/2 cup of ice water and stirred with a fork and then with my hands, squeezing butter/lard/flour into one large chunk of dough...Divided it into 5 equal pieces and shaped into discs...I used two for the cherry pie and usually I would freeze the others for another time, but in the back of my mind, I had another use for pie crust.

Many years ago, when our kids were toddlers+, during the summers in Utah, Herb was always ready and willing to go on forest fires...While he worked, we had a mini vacation, we had no set schedule, eat, sleep, play, in whatever order we wanted...I took full advantage of this in the cooking department...A tiny drive-in cafe only a block from our house was a favorite place for burgers, fries and milkshakes...$2.00 bought our dinner...Mac and cheese made from a box, might appear on our table, as well as frozen pot pies, cooked for about 1 hour and turned out on a plate, the first bite guaranteed to burn ones tongue, it happens every time.

Yesterday morning with pie crust, leftover pot roast and lots of fresh veggies in the fridge, I had a brilliant idea...Home made pot pies, simple...I had slept late that morning, but stuck to my routine of shoveling the snow off the deck, one more time, before I started dicing and slicing, potatoes, carrots (from last summers garden) celery, onions, red pepper and beef...I simmered the veggies in broth, to cook, before adding the beef and gravy...I left this in the pan, put on the back porch in a snow bank to cool, showered, dressed and made it to water therapy on time!

Back home at 2pm, we usually eat about 3pm, I turned the oven to preheat, rolled dough, lined small pyrex bowls with the dough, added the veggie and meat mixture, covered with a small piece of crust and "popped" them into a 400º oven, baked for 30 minutes and reduced heat for 15 more minutes...Yes we still burned our tongue, did they taste as good as the ones that I bought 50 years ago, 3 for $1.00?..Not really, it was a lot of work and sort of anti-climatic, maybe because I was exhausted...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Pot pie tumbled onto a plate, I

forgot the before photo.

Cienna brightened my day with a

chat and sunset photo.