Log Deck...53º

Herb and I worked on the log deck yesterday, bringing home a small load as we decided to not overdue...Up early this morning and moving slow but not really hurting...We celebrated our hard work with a steak dinner accompanied with fresh veggies from the garden...Creamed peas and potatoes, fresh cole slaw and sliced cucumbers.

On todays agenda is cleanup in the garden and yard, everything is looking quite dead...Warm fall days this week with thunder storms thrown in...We could use some rain but don't need any more lightning...Enough forest fire for this season...Enjoy your day, hugs to all...OWAV:)

Flash Back Saturday...40º

 Pam, Rachel and I are going to LaGrande today...Going out to lunch before attending the musical "Oliver" at the Elgin Opera House...Hugs to Cienna...OWAV:)

Flash back to Cienna on the beach in Hawaii when she was about 8 years old and then at 16 years old when she arrived in Thailand.

Cienna in Hawaii

Cienna in Thailand

Frosty nights/Warmer days...34º

Not much to write about today, I will keep busy around the house this morning and this afternoon will find me playing cards...Something I enjoy but have been busy on the other dates I've been called to join them...Looks like a sunfilled day, with warmer temperatures.

Just a note from Thailand, Cienna's host family has announced the arrival of a new baby boy...Much excitement and celebration for them and a new experience for Cienna...I will do a flashback photo tomorrow...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Frosty/Brrrrrr...33º

Herb reports icicles on the sprinkler heads as he started irrigating this morning...I suppose that means that the cucumber, beans, tomatoes and squash got nipped...Now I have to get really serious about cutting down perennials and getting the flower beds ready for winter as well as the veggie garden...We have 16 new bales of straw stacked neatly in and around the garden, for winter mulch.

I baked bread yesterday, nothing to can (more tomatoes coming on Friday) so what shall I do!..I need to make pie crusts to freeze, make another batch of garlic paste, clean more garlic or clean house?

We had yummy pork chops and sauerkraut for dinner yesterday and have lots of leftovers for todays dinner...Will it be pizza, sweet and sour venison, or pork and sauerkraut?...More decisions to make...Time is wasting, guess I better get busy...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Easy Day...43º

Caught up on bill paying, shuffling papers, sorting and filing...UGH...Don't really know where the morning went but all of a sudden it was time for my PT appointment and nothing was planned for dinner...PT appointment at 1pm, how do I have dinner on the table no later than 3pm?..Had a little shopping to do at safeway, so stopped by the newest pizza place in Enterprise, Main Street Pizza and ordered a take and bake, half and half pizza to pickup at 2pm...Called Herb to start the oven heating as I was leaving Enterprise and by the time I arrived home, put pizza in oven, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers we were happily eating a yummy pizza at 3 o'clock...It was a nice change.

Have some random photos taken last week, showing the changing season...Fall is definitely in the air...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Crab Apples

Gravensteins

Mountain Ash Berries

Black Eyed Susans

Beet Pickles

Full Moon/Indian Summer...45º

"They" are calling it super moon now, we called it "Harvest Moon." I like that much better...I was up about 1:30am and it was like broad daylight outside, then I couldn't go back to sleep...Tossed and turned for over an hour, finally went back to sleep and not moving very fast this morning.

I had a good day yesterday, starting with sweet pickles...Twelve new jars are ready to store away...I was itching to get outside so had Herb help me get about 6o of the dried garlics down and I cleaned and trimmed them before bunching and securing them with zip ties...The garlic heads are big and full this year and I love cleaning them up and admiring our harvest...Have several people that we will gift with a bunch...Will also fix a box to send Bobi so she will have some for her roasted tomatoes next week...I plan to make another batch of garlic paste as I've used or given away the first batch...Found out yesterday that garlic paste makes yummy "garlic green beans..." Come mid October we will separate all the heads that are left, using the largest cloves for seed and Herb will peel and slice (using the cuisinart) the rest and make into dried garlic.

We had a vegetarian dinner yesterday (unusual for the Allen Household)...I harvested zucchini, green beans, cucumbers and cherry tomatoes from the garden, added fresh corn on the cob and we had a feast..The zucchini was grated, mixed with eggs and quickly fried in patties...Corn and beans cooked and the rest was crunchy and juicy straight from the garden...Makes me think that I like fall better than spring...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

One Task a Day...47º

Thinking yesterday that I could do both beet pickles and sweet pickles was wishful thinking on my part...I started out going great guns, scrubbing beets and putting them on to cook, while Herb and I worked at rearranging the cellar shelves to make sure that we use up last years bounty before starting in on this years...We also took inventory of empty jars, lids, etc to make sure we have plenty for jarring later on in the winter, when we pressure cook, turkey and deer from the freezer.

It was nice to get a text from Pat saying that Bev would be docenting tomorrow,  giving me a free day...Aaaah now I could do sweet pickles on Monday...Things do have a way of working out.

We finished the beet pickles about 2pm, just in time to fix venision steak and harvard beets for our dinner, leftover potato salad, fresh cucumbers and tomatoes filled our plates...Late evening we shared a small portion of apple pie also leftover from Saturday...Just for the record, a total of 3 pints and 20 oyster jars of beet pickles, stored for the winter...Hugs To All...OWAV:)