Pickling Beets...45º a bit foggy.

 Making beet pickles brings back memories for me, memories from long ago...

In 1966 Herb was transferred with the Forest Service to Duchesne, Utah, 500 miles from his parents and my Mom...Bobbi was four years old and Rusty just one year old...A UHaul truck was rented, loaded with the help of friends, Bobbi rode with Herb...Rusty and our dog Pooh, rode with me, in our Volkswagen Bus...We made our home in Duchesne for the next seven years.

So what does this have to do with "pickled beets?" Most years for the next seven summers, (Herb was always fighting fires or on standby waiting to be sent on a fire,) so I loaded up the kids and we returned home for a visit with Grandparents and on the way to and from, we stopped (sometime overnight) for a visit, with my Aunt Carrie and Uncle Harold in Twin Falls, Idaho...They were gracious hosts, a meal and a bed was always waiting for us...AND a ride in Uncle Harold's Plymouth car to get a  watermelon...On the way back to Utah, we stopped again and this time we went to a local farm to get beets, to take with us to Duchesne and make pickled beets...Herb and I loved pickled beets, don't think either of the kids really cared about them. 

Those early trips were the highlight of our summer, until we bought a boat, then we spent all our spare time on the newly built Starvation Reservoir...That brings up all kinds of memories...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Beets, soon to be cooked,

peeled, sliced and made

into pickles.

A Job Well Done..39º Still dark outside

The garden was calling again yesterday, chilly but sunny, perfect working weather...Actually I stayed in the warm house and separated cloves of garlic from their main stem, placing 20 of the largest cloves in a berry basket, filling 10 baskets, equated to 10 rows of garlic, 200 garlics next summer.                     

Berry Basket

While I was doing this, Rusty was in the garden, taming the squash vines, chopping them up to go onto a garden bed, so they can mulch into the ground for next years planting...He also loosened some of the soil in the soon to be garlic bed, (recently vacated by the potatoes)...Planting the garlic has always been my job, (Herb, for many years hoed the furrows to plant in)...Since my balance has gotten worse and I can't get on my knees, these jobs have been passed down to Rusty...I'm just there to watch and make sure the rows are deep enough and straight, just like my Mom taught me...Rusty takes my bossing in stride and makes the furrows, plants the garlic, scatters it with alfalfa pellets, covers it with mulched straw and covers that with fencing panels, so the quail can't dig everything up...Whew, I'm exhausted!

Hugs To All...OWAV:)

I've just spent an hour trying to get a berry basket photo to post on this blog...My neighbor, Jane, told me the proper name was a Halleck, Hallock, something like that...It seems to be a western term.

Changing Weather...35º /a bit of sun.

 Crazy weather yesterday, sun in the morning, wind, rain, sleet by noon, then changed to sunny and warmer by 5pm...It gave me a chance to take out the trash and the compost (fruit flys have made themselves at home in the kitchen)..While I was outside, the empty potato patch looked like it needed to be leveled before we plant garlic in that spot...It gave me the chance to play in the dirt for awhile.

Rusty texted me after 6pm, saying they were back in town and that he would see me tomorrow...(today).

I did laundry yesterday, fixed myself a bowl of chili for dinner, to ward off the cold and kept a small fire going in the basement wood stove...It was a lazy day...Hugs to All...OWAV:)

PS....Always amazed at the size and amount of potatoes that are hiding under the straw and in the loose dirt and they are so easy to harvest.

Yukon Golds

A lazy day for me...43º possible light rain.

Yesterday, 9:30 found me on the acupuncture table for a regular treatment...Terry works quickly, asking where I have achy spots, needles go in without a pinch, she is a master at her profession and we are so lucky to have her in our county.

I spent the rest of the morning doing errands and arrived back home, visited with Rusty for a couple of hours, then left him to doctor the frozen pizza for our dinner and made it to balance class on time.

Pizza was just going in the oven, when I walked in the door, wiped out from bouncing, throwing, chasing balls, doing stretching exercises to help our balance...Its was a nice lazy day...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

The latest jigsaw puzzle,

that I did on the computer.

Fun to do. 

Days and Months are flying by...47º soft rain

Where did September go?..Days, weeks, months go by in the blink of an eye, but "we" are getting things done, here on Barton Heights.

Birds eye view of Sundays sunrise.

Knowing that yesterday, was our last nice day for several days, Rusty got out the electric hedge clippers, Connie arrived, for her regular day to do, whatever I have scheduled and the three of us, went to work...Three hours later, the flower gardens are now ready for winter, soon I hope a blanket of leaves will cover them before snow arrives.

After a break, Rusty and I harvested the potatoes and onions...Rusty drained pumps, and rolled hoses, ready to store for the winter...He does it so easily, what Herb and I struggled to do in the last couple of years.

A nice potato crop,

(funny looking table grapes)

Luckily we had leftovers, to heat for dinner and  pie for dessert.

Cherry/apple pie 

fresh bread to go with

leftover spaghetti.

We are well fed, well loved, busy and blessed to live here on Barton Heights....Hugs To All...OWAV:)

PS...Update on Cienna as she will soon finishing up a month of intense schooling (teaching English as a foreign language) and is now looking for an apartment and will soon be applying for a job in Czech Republic...Positive thoughts are with her everyday on her latest adventure...Love and Hugs flying across the world to her!

Sweet Pickles are finally done...43º possible rain.

 I thought I would be done when I finished the sweet pickles, but I have some nice cylindrical beets still in the garden, that will make yummy pickled beets...So will put out the effort to make a few jars and once again say I'm done canning/jarring for the season...Later in the winter I will open jars of juice and packages of frozen fruit and make them into delicious jams and jellies...Most of these are shared with family and friends as gifts for birthdays, Christmas or just because they might brighten someones day.

Rusty had a good trip working with John, even thought they had some rainy weather...He always comes home tired and a bit sore, but happy that he made the trip and always looks forward to going again.

Will fall in full season, jobs need to be done every where we look...Pumps and hoses put away for the winter, lawns and pasture fertilized before the snow comes, flower gardens cut down, squash vines pulled out and mulched (they have taken over half of the garden), potatoes and carrots harvested and garlic planted for next years crop...Always looking ahead!

With cooler weather for the past week, I start looking for comfort food to fix...Spaghetti and meatballs simmered in the crockpot yesterday, and today bread will be baking and the house will smell wonderful.

Hugs To All...OWAV:)

1 dozen pints of

sweet pickles.

Wrapping up the Getaway....40º Rainy

 After being home for 5 days, i'm finally settled back in, not feeling sleep deprived and getting the last of the canning done...4 quarts of pears yesterday, 5/6 quarts of peaches today, and tomorrow I will finish up with the sweet pickles...I'm back on schedule with balance class on Tuesday and a massage yesterday, it felt so good!..Rain is in the forecast this morning, cloudy the rest of the week...Rusty gets home tonight after an overnight pack trip with John and this weekend we will probably be harvesting potatoes and planting next years garlic crop...While I was gone last week, Rusty thatched both lawns and fertilized them, so this rain is coming at a perfect time, as we get ready for winter.

Sunday morning in Boise, found "the girls" busy packing, and returning everything to its proper place in the vacation rental...Dishwasher loaded, a load of towels in the washing machine, (as the rental company requested), everyones bags loaded into vehicles, hugs and thank you's all around, we were ready to return home.

Sue and I made one last stop at Winco for groceries that we don't readily find in La Grande...Again we talked nonstop for 3 hours...I did a bit of leisurely shopping at the non crowded Bimart and Grocery Outlet, before leaving La Grande...All in all, the trip had been a wonderful time for me, since they did all the planning and I just joined in, to do whatever I wanted to do...I enjoyed getting to know Paula and Amy, a bit more, since by the time they were born, I was married and lived in Utah...My thanks to all for including me in their "Sisters Getaway." Hugs To Everyone...OWAV:)

PS...Now for the last photos:

Fondu, the last supper.

Paula and Amy starting the craft.

Sunflower wreaths to decorate 

our homes for fall.

Sunny Fall Morning, Rain possible...37º

Looking back through the photos I took on our Boise trip, reminds me of other things we did...The "Girls," had planned a few activities, such as; Diane treated all of us to a chair massage on our second day, followed by breakfast out, shopping followed...Thrift stores, craft stores, grocery shopping, occasionally a drive thru for drinks, and finally the huge mall, with every kind of store imaginable...I hadn't been in a major mall for at least 15 years, all the stuff and all the people, boggles my mind!

Only two dinner meals had been planned, Chinese food and Fondue, with enough leftovers for snacking...Most days included a crafting project, to be finished by day 5...One day we worked on painting a few hundred clothes pins yellow, then put them out to dry on a disposable table cloth.,,Diane, Paula and Amy spearheaded this project, Sue and I occasionally chimed in with a suggestion, but mostly just watched.

Our last breakfast out was at "The Hut," a diner that has been in Boise for at least three generations. Memorabilia was everywhere, tables and chairs were from the 50's/60's...We stood in line, waiting for a table for 5...Wait staff moved quickly between tables,  and also to an outside seating area, huge platters of food on their arms...Omelets and scrambles filled a platter, pancakes in the shape of Mickey Mouse, overflowed the platter, no one left hungry.

Early mornings and evenings, were spent either in the hot tub or looking through old family photos and recipes, reminiscing about the "Ashton Girls" growing up in McCall, Idaho and LaGrande, Oregon...To Be Continued...Hugs to All...OWAV:)

Yellow Clothes Pins.

Omelet

Mickey Mouse Pancakes.

5 Days are a blur...42º

 After two good nights of sleep, i'm back to reality this morning...I'm happy to be home, fall is officially here, temperature is close to freezing, garden is on its' way out...I have one canner each of peaches and pears to finish either today or tomorrow...Rusty finished roasting the tomatoes, so thankful!

Now back to the trip...I was gone for 5 days, 2 of those days are basically travel days so Diane, Paula and Amy had 3 days for shopping, Sue had a short shopping list and I was mostly just along for the "ride" and company and food and craziness...The girls brought food, we ate some meals out, shopping was done mid morning to mid afternoon, then back to the house for afternoon pool time...Floating in the sunny pool and the hot tub for evening soaking.

We did a noontime trip to downtown Boise and the "Basque Area," where we stood in line to get our portion of Paella that was cooking in a huge round kettle as the "cook" added more ingredients and stirred to make sure it all got cooked...The pan full of Paella feeds 100 people, it is only available on Wednesdays and Fridays at noon.

Paella, rice with lots of 

peppers and seasonings.

After eating our Paella, we walked to a coffee/gift shop for drinks...Amy was our driver, her 4 door truck held all of us plus the bed was covered and held all the shopping bags...She did an excellent job of navigating the city! To be continued.  Hugs To All...OWAV:)

The Hut, a diner

that has been in

Boise for years.

More about it tomorrow.

Day Two, Albertsons...62º

 The "Girls," call it the Mother of all Albertsons and after visiting it yesterday, I think they are right...Just to give you a clue, think of "Safeway/Albertsons" in Enterprise, I believe you could put 10 of those in this store...It is gigantic, it has a food bar/salad bar similar to "Whole Foods," with actual seating/tables to sit and eat and next to it is a "real Bar."..Moving on to produce, seems like it goes on for miles, then I turned into the beer aisle, with candy on the opposite aisle and after several beer aisles, it moves into wine and that is a whole other story, with a wine cellar, that is in its own room...The meat section goes from Deli to huge display cases of all kinds of raw meat...Looking ahead, I cannot see the other end of the store and it also has a balcony...The entire place is mind boggling...I bought chocolate to share...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Boise Bound...54º

 Leaving Joseph, 7am I'm on the road to LaGrande to meet with Sue and start our trip to Boise... Construction in the canyon, stopped me but didn't make me late, loaded up, we were on our way but needed a coffee to really start the day...Talk was non-stop for the next three hours (it flew by) and we met Diane, Paula and Amy at the "THE EDGE BREWERY"...It was Wing Wednesday, and they were delicious...A couple of hours to kill before we could get into the vacation rental, so we perused "Savers" second hand store.

3pm we met at the house, everyone finding a bedroom and making themselves at home...Dinner was appetizers and drinks, then the hot tub and swimming pool were calling...Bedtime was soon to follow...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Jarring done for now...50º

 The last two days have been a flurry of jarring and roasting, trying to get it all done before I go on vacation...100# of tomatoes are roasted and in the freezer, 11quarts of peaches and 9 quarts of pears have been processed in the water bath and are ready for the cellar shelves...The rest of the fruit is in cold storage until I get home Sunday...Next week it should be pretty easy to finish this years bounty...I haven't decided yet if I will do zucchini sweet pickle relish, big zucchinis are still growing in the garden...I have a dozen jars of sweet pickles to finish...Sure am happy that Rusty got the cellar remodel finished, so we have a place to store everything.

Connie worked in the flower gardens yesterday, cutting down some of the drooping, dead flowers and Rusty will use the hedge clippers on the rest of them, as we get things ready for winter...Yup, it is right around the corner!..Hugs To All...OWAV:)

More zucchini and patty pans.

Peaches and Pears

Remodeling the Cellar...55º

 Over 50 years ago, when we moved to Joseph, a "fruit room" cellar was first on the list of many things to be done...A small room in the basement, needed a door, insulation and shelves...It wasn't the best but served its' purpose for all these years.

Rusty took on the job (he called it a day job) to remodel, upgrade the cellar, now 4 days later, it might get finished today...Then begins the job of moving everything back into and on the cellar shelves...While Rusty has been stuck down in the basement I have been filling more jars to add to the cellar shelves and now i'm leaving for 5 days, and he can hardly wait, so he won't have me asking for his help with the jarring and maybe he can get the cellar finished...That said, the tomatoes, peaches, and pears are calling me, I must get moving...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

PS...Between the two of us we always manage to put a meal on the table about 4 in the afternoon.

Chicken strip, potato salad, tomato, peach and pear.

More of the Same!..53º

 The next three days will be a repeat of the last three days...Roasting, jarring, roasting, jarring, trying to get as much as possible done before I leave for a 5 day getaway in Boise.

My nieces asked me to join them for their annual "Sisters Getaway," this year in Boise...Several years ago I joined them in McCall, Idaho...I'm looking forward to a few days away and all I have to do is pack a suitcase, drive to LaGrande and sit back and relax, joining them in whatever they have planned to do...I think a house with a pool is included.

On Wednesday morning I drive out the driveway leaving Rusty to spend time between our two houses, taking care of everything, now it will be his turn to relax and sit on the deck, eat bon-bons, (drink beer) while i'm on vacation...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Lounging in the hammock

Roasting Tomatoes 101...49º

 I arrived home from balance class to the wonderful aroma of roasting tomatoes...Every fall for many years now, tomatoes are roasted and frozen for winter meals of spaghetti, pizza, tomato soup and more...We brought home 200# of tomatoes from Walla Walla...Some for other people, some to roast and others to make into tomato sandwiches and BLT's...This is the time of year to eat all kinds of fresh fruit and fresh veggies to last you for a year and then we do it all over again.

This morning more tomatoes will go in the oven, and while they roast, I will peel pears for jarring...I'm trying something new this year, the pears and maybe peaches will be jarred using the grape juice that Rusty and I juiced just a few days ago...Thus I won't be adding sugar to the newly jarred fruit and this winter we will have fruit to eat and juice to drink, no sugar added...Hope it works...No time to waste, I must get busy...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Tomatoes covered with

fresh basil, and garlic

ready for the oven.

All About Cienna...49º Lovely fall days.

For those of you new to my blog, Cienna is my only grandchild, now 25 yrs old and embarking on a new adventure...She has always lived with her parents in the Portland area, 350 miles away from Joseph, but from a very early age was shuttled to Oma and Papa's house for a week or two, summer and winter...Of course those visits were less when she entered her teen years.

At the age of 16, August 2014, she flew off to Thailand, spending almost a year there on a Rotary exchange and got infected with the traveling bug...Back home she enrolled in her junior year of high school AND as a freshman at a jr. college, two years later she graduated with a high school, and an associate degree...Four years later June 2021 she graduated from Oregon State University with a degree in elementary education...In the meantime she had traveled back to Thailand for 3 weeks, spent a term of college in Chili and in February 2023 flew with friend Justin to Costa Rica...And the past two years she used her teaching degree, substituting in the Beaverton school district and earning enough money to travel...She has been a very busy, determined girl.

All this time she had a goal in mind...She wanted to teach English in foreign countries...Sept 6, 2023, she boarded a plane at PDX and about 12 hours later landed in Prague, Czech Republic, where she will attend a school to get certification to teach English in Foreign Countries.

Three months of planning this latest adventure, she is now in a studio apartment, where she will be joined by a roommate for a month of classes starting Sept. 10th...Closing with positive thoughts as Cienna, once again spreads those wings, who knows where this latest adventure will take her, and soars up and away. Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Thailand

Beautiful Fall Weather...46ª

 The weather is great for jarring and we have the perfect (next to an outdoor kitchen) setup...Outside the sliding doors, sits our old Coleman gas stove, that Herb changed over to  propane, and we have used it for many years, first for camping and now for Jarring.

Rusty catches on to the process quickly and seems to enjoy it...I mentioned that to Bobi, when we Face Timed on Monday morning and she said, "Of course he does, because it is fun."..So I guess that, even thought jarring is a lot of work, it is fun and rewarding and in our blood!..I come from a long line of people that "canned" food, to sustain them through the long winters.

We finished with juicing yesterday and got 9 quarts of beautiful plum juice, that will be made into jelly this winter...Enjoy this beautiful weather...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Plums are juiced.

Pears are ripening.

One Busy Day after Another!..48º cloudy

 When we moved here 50 years ago, Imnaha was a great place to get many kinds of fruit...But your name had to be on a list, because there was a limited supply...We opted to go to Walla Walla for our fruit and veggies for canning/jarring...About 4 years ago, neighbor Dave, brought apples from a new orchard in Imnaha and asked if we might want a box for winter...Thus started our winter boxes of Cameo's, that keep all winter and taste wonderful...We also get grapes to juice and this year one box of pears to eat and jar...Rusty and I spent yesterday juicing grapes and today we will juice plums from the Santa Rosa tree here on Barton Heights...Plum jelly will be made this winter.

We have a busy week coming up, trip to Walla Walla for tomatoes to roast, more clean up in the veggie  and flower gardens...Maybe we will harvest the potatoes, the carrots like to stay in the ground until a day in October!

So glad Rusty is here to do all the heavy lifting that Herb always did, because it wouldn't be getting done without him...Fall is a busy/productive time of year, it makes me tired but happy as well...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Stemming grapes

Grape juice

Makes the job easy.

It Was a Good Day...55º

 When you fall into bed at night and don't remember your head hitting the pillow, it's been a good day!

The aroma of freshly baked rolls filled the house most of the day...I started the first batch early, called it crusty rolls, because it had bread flour, whole wheat, cracked wheat, flax meal, yeast, a bit of salt and molasses to give it more color and just a taste of sweet...It is somewhat healthy. 

Then I forgot about healthy and went to decadent...Flour, eggs, butter, sugar/honey, salt, yeast, a dough so soft, when it comes out of the oven, it almost floats from the pan into your mouth... Add real butter and on the second or third one, homemade jam is a good addition...My kids have always called these "Gramma's Rolls," and insisted that I need to keep practicing to get them perfect.

Rusty poured the wine, we sat on the deck, ate another roll and called it dinner...Yes, it was a good day...Hugs to All...OWAV:)

PS...I posted all the roll photos yesterday, below I have violets in the carrot patch...Mom called them "Johnny Jump Ups", yes, they jump up in the most unlikely spots.

Getaway Day...48º possible rain

 It was a getaway, celebrate, memory day...I fixed the sandwiches and veggies, Pam brought the drinks and chocolate...We left Enterprise about 10am headed for the Lostine Canyon...Over the past 35 years, we have picked huckleberries, looked for mushrooms, took our grandchildren there to play in the river, cooked hobo dinners in the campfire. toasted marshmello's for S'mores, and just enjoyed the serenity of the canyon, along side the river.

The last few years changes have been made up the canyon, major thinning along the road to open the views on either side and reduce the fire danger...It is a beautiful canyon with many campgrounds, as well as trailheads, where people can hike or ride horseback to explore the high lakes that are secluded in the Eagle Caps...For eight years now Pam has worked summers (with different crews) for the Forest Service maintaining and cleaning campgrounds from Bear Creek, Lostine, Hurricane Creek, Buckhorn, Red Hill, Hat point, the Imnaha Corridor and Twin Lakes...She knows the names of all the camping spots and trail heads.

Lostine River, with its improved road, (much smoother ride) seemed the perfect place to celebrate her birthday...We drove to the end of the road, stopping at view points along the way...Coming back down we found our favorite spot, sitting next to the river to reminisce, drink a toast, eat our lunch and soak up the sunshine...It was a stellar day...Hugs to All...OWAV:)