A Full Day of Rain...44º cloudy/sunny

The rain seldom stopped yesterday, sometimes it was torrential, sometimes gentle but steady, but always coming down...Pretty much did away with the poppy blooms and laid the peonies flat on the ground...I braved the storm, late afternoon to rescue another big bouquet of peonies and had to hang them upside down to drip dry before filling the vase...The good thing about the rain, it was just in time to give the pasture and lawns a good soaking, won't have to irrigate for a few days...The sun is peaking through this morning, everything is sparkling clean and many shades of green.

Yesterday should have been a good day to bake, make soup, clean etc...But I managed to do none of the above...I guess it could be called a recoup day.

On Sunday I had harvested most of the garlic scapes and put in a call to "The Dog Spot," (a local cafe) to ask if he wanted them again this year...We connected yesterday and I came home with a huge serving of his "Mac and Cheese." for our dinner...It made a great addition to our finger steaks and fresh asparagus for dinner, all very yummy...I like bartering for food. 😀...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Just out of the oven.

Ready to eat

And The Rain Comes Down...44º

Maybe I should brave the storm, go outside and turn the drip irrigation off in the garden or maybe not...I have it on the garlic and it is so close together that in the middle rows the rain has a hard time getting through...I cut most of the scapes off the garlic on Saturday, it is about a month before harvest.

Yesterday morning Herb mowed the lawn before breakfast, to beat the rain and I spent a couple of hours pulling the fading forget-me-knots, hauling them across the road to the "overflow bed" and spread them on the bare spots...Maybe they will take hold there and can spread and bloom to their hearts content, for many years to come...As soon as the rain quits, there are more forget-me-knots to pull...I picked a big bouquet of peonies yesterday, because this rain will ruin most of the heavy blooms.

Looks like a day inside, cooking, cleaning etc before the girls arrive on Thursday, for a few days...Sun is supposed to shine for the 4th of July weekend...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Lovely Bouquet

Hosta's with pretty foliage.

Kinda Slow...45º Cloudy

Herb and I had a safe trip to LaGrande and our eye appointments...No noticeable change in our eyes after 6 months, so Doctor advised us to make appointments for 4 months from now, but if eyes change at all, give him a call...Depending on what Covid-19 does in the next few months, kind of shapes our lives...It was a quick trip for us, no shopping...We did stop in Elgin on the way home for an early lunch...Sat outside in lovely weather to eat our bugers, fries and pepsi...Back home, it was actually nice not to have to unload the card and we both just unwound for a couple of hours.

Our days have been warm and sunny, so we spend most of the time outside and now are looking ahead to some cooler days and possible rain...Everything continues to grow and bloom on schedule...I cut the garlic scapes yesterday, harvest is about a month away.

We are looking forward to a visit from Bobi, Cienna and maybe Rusty, this week...Sending Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Irises and Peonies

Irises and Poppies

these Peonies get prettier everyday.

Have a Happy Day...50º

Will write tomorrow...Hugs to All...OWAV:)

Keeping up...52º

When the weather warms, we are outside everyday, keeping up with the watering, deadheading and weeding...Along with that laundry needs to be done, house cleaned and meals prepared...And we take time to sit on the deck enjoying the view...What doesn't get done, just has to wait.

We have eye appointments in LaGrande on Friday and are in a quandary, about canceling them, due to the big covid outbreak there...Hard decisions to make...We are looking forward to a visit from Bobi and Cienna and maybe Rusty, next week...Its been almost a year since we've seen them in person.

Herb was up early this morning, he has irrigation water going on the back lawn and i'm going outside early this morning to work in the cool of the day...Life is good on Barton Heights...Hugs to All...OWAV:)

It was a lovely day...41º

Herb and I made good use of the morning hours on Sunday, he had sheets on the clothes line by 7am, under cloudy skies...The forecast promised us sun by 10am...We had a 2pm date with friends on the Imnaha River for a quiet/peaceful afternoon...Roasted wieners were on the menu, all we had to bring was buns and dessert...I put outside work on hold, mixed a batch of light bread, then shaped it into fold over buns for hotdogs...I measured everything out for brownies, and had them ready to go in the oven, while the buns raised.

By noon, the sheets were dry, a small cooler was packed with drinks, buns and brownies, cooled, packaged and by 12:45 we were on the 39 road headed East to the Imnaha river, where groves of towering yellow pines are everywhere..This was always my favorite spot to camp, years ago when, first we tent camped with Bobi and Rusty and later years, we camped in our RV, when Cienna was a toddler...We ate our simple meal, visited the afternoon away, river sounds in the background and a herd of elk nearby, calling back and from, cows and their new calves...It was a very nice day...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

PS. While the guys build and tended the fire, Pam and I made a quick trip to Hells Canyon Overlook in search of wildflowers...The bloom is fading now but we took in the views of the Seven Devils and the Snake River Canyon.

Looking East into Idaho

Indian Paint Brush

Another View!

Deadheading/cutting down...54º/Cloudy

Looks like a good day to work outside, cloudy but warm, with only a slight chance of rain...I love the sun, but it really saps my energy, if it gets too hot...I followed the shade yesterday, deadheading, trimming and weeding...Mid afternoon, we decided to go to the head of the lake for a takeout hamburger, that we ate at our favorite spot along side the Wallowa river...HB was good, fries disappointing...Lot of tourists, campground and RV parks and both beaches were full.

I took advantage of the evening light to play with my iPhone camera...I have no idea how to use all it has to offer, but I ended up taking, what I call, glamour shots of our house...Hugs to All...OWAV:)

From afar

Close up.

WOW!

Animals are Entertaining...50º

About a week ago Debbie and Tim pulled into our driveway towing a horse trailer with assorted animals...We now have a llama, a goat and 2 lambs eating away in our small pasture...Debbie has names for them but we always forget and do our own...We have Mama Lama, Billy the Goat, and the lambs...They are easy to care for, green grass, water, salt and an occasional treat keeps them happy and content...When watching them we can forget what is going on in the world around us.

Another sunny day, the flowerbed are calling me and the lawn mowing is calling Herb...We have leftovers for dinner and no appointments or any other reason to leave our home on Barton Heights...I haven't looked at the new this morning...Hugs to All...OWAV:)

Mama llama and Billy the Goat

hang out together .

Our view when watching the animals.

The two lambs are buddies.

Billy the goat, checking out the

water (old bathtub) or the 

salt, (in the tire)

Too Many Words...46º

Most of the time, my blog is a happy place for me, and hopefully my readers find joy in the photo's and subject matter, as I continue writing about everyday life on Barton Heights...Occasionally I get on my soap box, when I feel strongly about something.

Yesterday when I referenced "Love Thy Neighbor" on my title on FB, I was referring to the Covid-19 outbreak in Union, County...So many words are gong through my head, such as "What were they thinking?" But I know that I don't have enough real facts to go into a rant.

Our State and our Country are navigating uncharted waters...We don't know if "social distancing, wearing masks, staying home," is the way to slow this virus, but we were asked (mandated) to try it and it has seemed to work in other Countries...We have no road map, so all we can do is try what has helped others...For one group to ignore the mandate and go on with their own rules, seems wrong to me...Did they think of the consequences to their own group or to the community, county, or state that they are privileged to live in?..I think not.

Again the unknown, slaps us along side the head, what is the right thing to do now?..Where do we go from here?..I have no answers...Right now I'm taking deep breaths, and trying to think good thoughts and looking forward to a day spent outside, digging in the dirt...That is my therapy...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Yellow roses, climbing over

our fence a gift from 

our neighbor.

More Garden Photos...44º

I managed to get two photos of irises in todays blog, before "photos" locked up and I have to force quit...Guess I have to be happy with what I have...One more day of clouds, then we are going into warm weather, that will give us something different to complain about.

We have a big outbreak of Covid in the neighboring county, seems to be connected with a church that followed their own guidelines, with no respect for others...Very sad and very scary...Hugs to All...OWAV:)

 

After the Storm...40º Cloudy

Before going outside, I started a pot of clam chowder and left it to simmer, then headed outside to the flowerbeds...Working on a warm/rainy day can be productive...With a lull in the rain showers, I spent about 2 hours cleaning up the mess from Sundays snow and heavy rain...Poppies, irises and peonies took the worst of the storm...They are heavy with buds this time of year, and snow on top of those buds cause them to break and bend over...I trimmed what had to be trimmed and left the upright ones to continue on to bloom...It was also time to give the forsythia bush its after bloom trimming and the lovage plant also got a good haircut...Now I have piles of refuse to haul away, but the beds look better...Thursday looks like we will get sunshine into next week...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

We have decorative quail as

 well as many live ones.

Old boots and succulents.

My Mom's old ladder keeps the 

golden glow upright and

makes a handy place

to prop a shovel.

No snow, so far...41º

Another rainy spring day, with sun breaks...I think we lucked out with the garden and the snow storm yesterday...I still have tomato plants and cucumbers covered with gallon jugs, so they are still alive...Other things (squash, beans, potatoes ) are not through the ground yet...Sometimes it pays to not get in a hurry, when planting in Wallowa County...My long time neighbor, Bill Williams Senior, planted a garden every year, sometime after June 1st...His garden produced right along with earlier gardens and seldom got frost bitten!..He was a wise man in many ways, I miss him and Jane.

I'm posting a couple of random photos today, this new "Blogger interface," is not as friendly to my photos as it was before, another learning curve for me...Also FB has changed to the new "FB," us old folks don't like change...GRRRR...But I will keep trying and by the time I get proficient at it, they will come up with something new, that is bigger, and more wonderful than the last!

Becky and Tate stopped by for a visit last night and in our conversation, FB came up and I think it would be wise to get rid of "Social Media," and start over with "Friends loving Friends" and leave the Politics, hate driven lies, to the big TV stations, that many people seem to thrive on!

Enough of my blathering, Herb and I have a quiet week ahead, supposed to have sunny days by mid week and soon we will be complaining that everything is so dry and we will be moving water on a regular basis...So goes life on Barton Heights...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Our dinner of chili over baked potato.

On a recent drive to Wallowa Lake.

Changeable Weather...41º

I slept late this morning and woke up to a beautiful sunny day at 6:30am...At 7:15 the clouds crept in and now it is dark, windy and snowing...Sure changes my mood!...Hugs To All..OWAV:)

Front Porch Flag...56º

Our flag became faded and tattered and I mentioned that I missed it flying our our front door...A surprise package arrived with a brand new flag...Thanks Pat and Brian...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

PS...Herb puts it up every morning, because he knows I like it...Thanks

Birthday/Anniversary...51º

It has been a busy week with puncture on Monday...Tuesday I had my annual physical and Herb had a follow up...Health wise we are about the same as before the Pandemic...We celebrated Herb's 83rd birthday on Tuesday with a takeout pizza from the local "Embers Brew House" picked up on our way from Dr's appointments...I still find it amazing that I can sit in the car, dial my iPhone, and 20 minutes later on our way home, the pizza is ready and waiting for us, to pick up...At home we add a salad and beer to compliment the pizza.

A new iPad had arrived on Monday and we spent some time, tentatively setting things up, so Herb has games to play and FB to peruse...I connected with our internet service (Jim at eoni) and reconnected H's email...H's cellphone had quit working about a month ago, so I finally called Consumer Cellular and thanks to a very nice lady, have it up and running again...I swear, these electronics are going to be the death of me!

Wednesday was a huge milestone for us, 60 years ago we met and 59 years ago we got married...No big celebration just a quiet day at home, keeping busy and enjoying a sunny day, after about a week of clouds and rain showers...Herb mowed lawns and we took turns doing laundry and hanging it out for the sun to dry...We talked to both Bobi and Rusty and the day before we had a long FT with granddaughter Cienna...She has her student teaching assignment (maybe schools will open) in second grade at a Corvallis school, this fall...She also had applied for a managerial job with "safe ride" and starts on that next week, in her own office...She is very excited and has a great positive attitude, in spite of Covid-19...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

                                             

                                                  October 1959 (we met in August 59)

                                  

Married 59 years (1961)

Irises...36º

Finally with Catalina and the new Blogger format, I have figured out how to get the 3 irises on here from last week...They were too pretty to miss and 3 of my favorites.

Over the weekend we simmered turkey wings to make broth...Broth has been strained, cooled and will now go in the freezer until later, when I jar thighs and breasts to process in the pressure cooker...It was a good thing to do on a rainy weekend.

This morning Herb and I go for our regular acupuncture appointments, always something that we look forward to...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

More Rain...40º

Rainy days in June are not unusual for Eastern Oregon, only problem is, sometimes they get started and forget to stop...There are always inside chores to do and yesterday I moved house plants to the front porch for the summer and washed more windows before I was back in the kitchen cooking...I would rather do that any day than clean.

With leftover roast beef, that needed to be used, I again sliced and diced veggies, sautéed onions and garlic, made gravy, rolled our the pie crust and came up with my latest pot pie...It was the best so far and I will be happy if the next one turns out as good.

With a small amount of pie crust left over, I made a small apple/huckleberry crisp for dessert...It was also pretty good, but forgot the photo...Wonder what I will figure out to do today...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Missing Days...46º rainy

Since my last post, Herbs iPad totally crashed, new one ordered and should be here mid next week...In the meantime he is having fun playing solitaire on "my iPhone"...I've loaded the new operating system "Catalina" on my Mac Air, so have been dealing with the changes that, that brings...Plus the Scrabble game that I have played with several other friends for many years, is no more and they have come up with a glitzy, crazy replacement...Not wild about that...We have resorted to another "scrabble like game" called Lexulous, that is more like the old scrabble...We are now in the second phase of Covid-19, and to top it off, our world is in a Helluva Mess!!!

All I can do to keep what sanity I have left, is to concentrate on what I can change, control or fix and keep our daily lives on an even keel and keep a positive outlook, about the future...The garden is finally planted, watered, and fertilized, most things are through the ground and we are eating onions and asparagus from the garden...Herb is keeping our irrigation system running, doing laundry, and tending to the animals, a goat, 2 lambs, and a llama, that arrived this week...We mostly enjoy their antics, they bring laughter and joy into our life.

Last week we had dental appointments and while in Enterprise, did our weekly grocery shopping...Have I mentioned that not only has Safeway been on Covid-19 restrictions, it is also doing a "scheduled" total remodel of the entire store!,,Aisles are being realigned, vinyl ripped off of the floors and floors sanded smooth, one corner totally blocked off, that might become a deli or a bakery, no one is really sure..We were very glad to get back home.

Here on the home front, I have the front porch ready, with its summer look (photos to follow), some windows washed and outside new blooms appear everyday...It is peaceful here...Hugs To All....OWAV:)

Sunny Morning on Barton Heights...47º

What little news I see tells me that most of the US is in chaos...The Covid-19 pandemic, still unknown how it will all play out and now riots, looting and burning over racial discrimination has our nation in its grip...Fear, anger, hatred and frustration fuels the fire...Where will it end?..We must, somehow, keep love in our hearts, be kind, caring and patient in hopes of better days to come...Hugs and Love to All...OWAV:)

Hope springs eternal as trees

bloom and bear fruit.

Frustration Plus...44º

Sunday, when Herb's facebook page insisted that he had to put in a password to access his page, I spent hours trying to figure out what was going on...We did a new password, put in a code and the heading of the page would come on but it wouldn't load the rest of the page...We shut the iPad down, restarted, multiple times and still it was there but it would not load on his iPad...Finally after hours and hours of frustration, searching the internet for a solution and looking at what they bill as the "new FB," on my Mac book Air,  I think that it doesn't work on his old iPad, ( that they automatically decided he was supposed to use!) and they don't seem to give him a choice...On the Mac book air, I can click a little arrow and go back to the classic FB, but I can't find that option on the iPad...I have an enquiry into support, not much faith in getting an answer from them.

The only other thing I did on Sunday was make a rhubarb pie and cook a beef roast, while Herb vacuumed and did laundry.

Pie ready for the oven,

it was delicious.

Needless to say I don't have all the garden planted yet...One of the things i've never liked about gardening is "thinning" as the new seeds sprout and come up in overcrowded rows...Several years ago I started mixing carrot seed with sand and broadcasting them into a 4X8 rectangle, that works well and we harvest lots of nice big carrots, with no thinning...Other things, I like to have in rows...So last night I decided to make seed strips of chard, beets and arugula...Tissue paper cut into strips, Elmers glue and seeds.

Seed packets and 1st strip of beets.

Seed strips

I will get these planted today and hope it works...I have the ground ready for the carrot rectangle, which after I broadcast the seed, I have to cover it with mosquito netting to keep the quail from digging in it and rearranging the seeds!..Did I say, I love to garden? 😀...Hugs To All...OWAV:)