Preserving Food...33º Mostly Sunny

 It wouldn't be summer without making pickles, roasting tomatoes, maybe jarring some meat!...It started with dilly beans and zucchini relish, after my friend Rene, dropped off a bag full of beans and two really big zucchini...Herb started his summer routine hauling jars, lids, and canning vessels, not only up the stairs but then hauling it all back down the stairs after I have filled them with pickles for the winter.

Next came dill pickles and mustard pickles in jars and roasted tomatoes, bagged and frozen...Also is isn't summer without eating as many BLT's and fresh sliced tomato/mayo sandwiches as one can possibly fit on the weekly menus...One of the benefits of those hot summer days!

Dill Pickles

Roasting tomatoes

Tomato sandwich for breakfast.

We took advantage of Rusty's visit home and enlisted him into, setting up the gas stove, hauling up jars, lids AND the pressure canner to do 18 pints of canned pork, one of his favorites...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

90 year old pressure canner

Mustard Pickles

Sweet Pickles

Garden Produce...30º, Sun predicted...

 As I've mentioned before, the heat and lack of rain, made for a different summer on Barton Heights...No matter what the weather is our garlic crop is one that we can always depend on...Maybe they weren't quite as big but we still had good yield...Potatoes and onions did okay and the carrots are the big winner and really surprised us!.

Over the years I have found my own way of planting carrots, (I mark off a 4x8 plot, mix a package of seed with sand, then broadcast this on the plot, lightly rake over them, sprinkle with straw and water every morning)...I have to cover this plot with netting because the quail love the soft moist dirt and will come in the night and rearrange all the seeds!..I have very little thinning to do and once the carrots start growing, there is no stopping them...We had a bumper crop this year...Bobi took a bag full home with her, I have a crisper full for us for winter and I took a 5 gallon bucket full to water therapy and shared with everyone there...You would have thought I was handing out gold coins, they were delighted to get carrots that smelled like carrots!

Carrots were amazing

Gardens are a lot of work, but compared to the joy we get from eating and sharing, it is a great way to pass the hot summer days...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

A new garden addition, baby pumpkins

Flowers...50º light rain.

 Next year will be our 49th year in Wallowa County...Herb transferred from Duchesne, Utah (after 7 years) to Joseph in 1973...Normally with the FS back then, you stayed in one place anywhere from two to 6 years before moving on...We found the only house for rent in Joseph and settled in...We had no intentions of buying a house or living here very long...Little did we know.

I started this, thinking about the passed summer and that it was the hottest and driest summer we have experienced, in my memory anyway...We struggled all summer to keep the lawn and gardens watered...The flowers were less than spectacular and at one point, Rusty said, "Mom you have many shades of green, but where are the flowers?"

We did have a few flowers...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

   

Wedding Day...45º

 After many years together, Becky and John exchanged vows on July 3 2021... Family and friends gathered at their own private spot next to the Wallowa River for the ceremony...A BBQ was set up and copious amounts of food was kept cold in ice filled wading pools and drinks were on ice in "watering troughs."...The hot, humid day didn't stop guests from celebrating this occasion...Voices and laughter could be heard over the rushing water and the party went on into the night.

Becky and John are like part of our family and we wish them happiness in the years to come...Hugs to All...OWAV:)

Just a Normal Windy Day...34º

 Was I disappointed in the wind storm?..Just a little because we were totally prepared for the house to shake and rattle, the lights to blink off and on and finally the power to go out and we would have to huddle around the wood stove and heat up leftovers for dinner.

But what really happened and made us both happy was, just a normal windy day...It blew all the leaves off of the big maple tree in the front yard and Herb and I were able to go outside and rake leaves onto the grass, where Herb "mowed" them into a nice leaf mulch for the veggie garden this winter...We have 4 huge black bags of chopped up leaves.

Our maple tree in all its autumn glory was quickly rendered naked by the wind...We look forward to springtime when it slowly leafs out and gives us shade for another summer...I'm happy that we didn't get the "Big Windstorm."...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Autumn Glory

Winter Naked

Possible High Winds Today...50º

We have weathered many storms in our 48 years in Joseph and this is the first one that we have known about ahead of time...Will get wood stove fired up, laundry done, showers taken, hopefully before the power goes off...(If it does?) Off hand I remember the Thanksgiving storm, (people cooked their turkey on the BBQ)...The Christmas storm, (blew the roof off of Joseph School cafeteria)..The Veterans Day storm (blew the neighbors lean-to roof into our pasture and demolished our storage shed)...We have thought many time that we might end up flying away with Dorothy and Toto, but so far we are still on Barton Heights...Hugs To All...OVAW:)

I think this was the Veteran's Day storm of 2007 and the storage shed.

Spring Days in February...51º

A warm wind and no rain early yesterday morning, gave Herb time to give our lawn one last mowing and also gather some leaves (chopped through the mower) to use as mulch in the vegetable garden...We would love more chopped leaves but it is iffy with rain and wind in the forecast for the next week...Will have to be satisfied with what we get.

Our apples from Imnaha arrived yesterday...Three 40# boxes (one for a friend) of Cameos', A newer variety, good keepers, sweet and juicy...We keep them in "cold storage", a small insulated garage...If temps get below freezing and stay there for several days later in the winter, we move them to our basement...Our chore for this week is peeling, slicing and drying this years garlic, our house will smell wonderful, but not as good as bread baking day!

Today I'm posting photos' from last spring, most of them you have already seen, but I'm having trouble loading new photos from phone to computer...Hoping to get that figured out in a few days...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

PS...A warm, sunny day in February 2021, Pam joined us for a visit to the "Funny Farm," owned by our friends Tim and Debbie...Goats and Llamas were very friendly on this day...Days like this make winter go faster.

Baby Goats

Ready to Cuddle

So soft and sweet smelling.

Llamas on alert.

Herb and his friend Macho

Pam with a newborn.

Changing Weather...58º Balmy

 An unusual overnight temperature in the high 50's, with rain and cooling in the forecast...Our maple leaves are turning fast to all shades of gold and yellow...We are hoping to rake them up and then run through the lawn mower, then put on the garden for winter mulch...I'm afraid the rain and wind will come and the leaves will be blown away!..Not much we can do about that.

Wednesday found Pam and I on our way to LaGrande for shopping and my doctors' appointment...A sort of leisurely day and Chinese food for lunch...Yesterday we did water therapy and quietly celebrated my birthday, no cake and candles, didn't want to burn the house down with all those candles...LOL...I got many "Happy Birthday Wishes" and that  made it a great day.

Another summer event was a few days in July when Pat and Brian arrived to visit Wallowa County...We spent time visiting, eating and reminiscing about life when they lived here...The days flew by and soon they were back in Maryland, where we keep in touch with text messages and FaceTime...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

PS...Appetizers from this summer, when I got kind of creative.

Off and Running...53º

 A busy day today, so a quick blog with photos of spring/summer activities...We don't have to work at keeping active, just follow our noses and keep moving.

Spring brings flowers and animals to the forefront, with a trip to "Gilberts Funny Farm" to see the llamas and baby goats...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Baby Goats

First bouquet of daffodils

Herb and his favorite llama, Macho

Spring day in Imnaha 

Babyhood to Teacher...31º

I'm sure most of my readers have heard me mention Cienna a few times over the years, she is our only Grandchild and we are so proud and love her very much!...A few random photos capture moments of her life...

Cienna as a baby, then a swimmer.

Learning to ride a bike.

Lover of all animals.

She learned to fly in Thailand

Came home from Thailand to find a boyfriend.

Now she is Miss Wall to 22 students.

When Cienna returned from her Rotary exchange in Thailand, she enrolled in her junior year in high school and her freshman year in college...Two years later she graduated from high school and Junior college, and now has graduated from OSU to become a full fledged elementary teacher.

 She worked the month of July, teaching/socializing 2nd graders, getting them prepared for in person learning in September...In September she started as a substitute in the Beaverton School District, teaching 3rd graders, while their "real" teacher is on maternity leave...Her lifelong dream is to teach English as a second language in foreign countries...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

PS...I tried to get the photos in order but I have a lot to relearn, after 5 months off...😀

Oma Returns...38º

 I'm not exactly sure when my "blog world" turned upside down, but it was either November or December of 2020...For some unknown reason I couldn't sign into the page, where a draft is typed...After writing there for almost 10 years, I was locked out...I finally figured out that I could type and post a blog on my phone, but that was very tedious, and it was impossible to add photos...So for 5 months I wrote my daily blathering in "notes," then copied and pasted it into the page on my iPhone...It worked but I still couldn't do photos and it was very frustrating, as it would leave out words, or sentences, leaving me wanting to scream...Finally I just stopped writing and made promises that I would start again soon.

Five months later I had finally made up my mind to start a new blog and go from there...The perfect opportunity happened this week...Bobi was coming to spend quality time with Herb and I was supposed to go on my annual hot springs trip to McCall..The trip got canceled, Bobi still came and we had several days to enjoy a visit with her...She mentioned several times, "Mom we have to see if we can fix your blog or start a new one," and we finally did."..After about an hour of intense frustration, she finally figured out, by comparing the iPhone blog to the computer blog, that the wrong address had gotten put in the computer blog, so my password no longer worked to let me in...We will never know how or why this happened but it is now fixed and I better start writing or i'm going to be in big trouble with our daughter.

                                                                                            

Some of the highlights of the past 5 months are: Rusty came for a visit in May, bought a house, 6 miles away from us in Enterprise and plans to move back to Wallowa County, maybe next year...In the meantime, he must sell everything in Bend, paint and repair things on the Enterprise house and continue with his job as a butcher/sausage maker.

Our granddaughter Cienna graduated from Oregon State University, in June, with honors and degrees in Elementary Education and Sociology...She is a delightful young lady and we are so proud of her!

                                                                                      

Life goes on for Herb and I, here on Barton Heights...It was an unusually hot and dry summer, so our days were spent, working outside in the early morning and shading up for the rest of the day..Our gardens struggled, while we worked hard to keep them watered.

                                                               

Bobi, Cienna and Rusty all came for a visit in early August...We BBQed, spent time at the lake, and tried to stay cool, as the hot, dry days continued.

I will stop here, and for the next couple of months will add more details to our summer highlights...Hugs To All...OWAV:)