Tomatoes/Tomahtoes...45º

However you pronounce it I say delicious...This time of year, I eat tomatoes for every meal, as well as tasting them warm from the oven after they are sprinkled with garlic, basil, salt, oil and roasted in the oven until they are soft, squishy, sweet, dark red morsels of yummy goodness!

I had 100 lbs. of roma tomatoes delivered from Imnaha and have over half of them roasted and in the freezer for sauces this coming winter...Also we are eating fresh, a box of peaches as they ripen, plus beans, cabbage, carrots, beets and cucumbers from our garden...Love this time of year!...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Below are photos of roasted tomatoes ready for the freezer.

tomatoes being ladled through a homemade funnel,

into a sandwich ziplock.

A delicious deep red.

Imnaha/Blackberries/Tomatoes...54º

Our smoky drive to Imnaha yesterday was uneventful...The Magic Garden is slow this year, maybe due to the weather, as it is hot one day, only to turn cool the next...We did some weeding, visiting and picked cucumbers before turning to the blackberry bushes and then sat on Janies porch to eat lunch...Back home I turned the cukes into pickles, the berries into one of my favorite pies, before heating leftover stuffed peppers for our dinner.

Later I sorted ripening tomatoes for an early start on roasting this morning...Smoke still surrounds us and we get brief sightings of our beautiful mountains through the lingering haze...Herb continues to hang our laundry outside to dry and our noses have gotten used to the ever present smell of smoke that permeates everything...The weather remains hot and dry, with a slight chance of thunder showers and maybe a sprinkle later in the week...The end of August is near, everyone is hoping for a rainy September...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Blackberry Pie

One more jar of pickles

Smoky...50º

Didn't cool off much last night, smoke settled in...Pat and I are off on an adventure to Imanaha this morning and check out the magic garden...As if we don't have anything to do at home...Must have fun while she can...Hugs to all..OWav:

My Friend Bud...45º

As I wrote about the Grizzly Bear Fire yesterday, another fire had been reported only a short distance from Joseph...Falls Creek Fire in the Hurricane Creek drainage was spotted early Saturday morning...The latest reports are that it was given high prioity and has been doused with water from high lakes...Two helicopters worked throughout the day...The Grizzly Bear fire has burned over 60,000 acres...No updates yet this morning...Our valley is still filled with smoke...But we count our blessings.

Yesterday Herb and I along with over 300 people (my estimation) crowded into the thunder room to celebrate the life of Bud Botts...Bud grew up in Wallowa County, worked at the Joseph Schools for nearly 30 years, was a mentor and a friend to kids in 4-H and FFA, as well as many others that he took under his wing, teaching them to ride, rope and work...He had friends in the county from all walks of life, he was a friend to all, a stranger to few...He was a cowboy, a rancher, a man of many talents...His priority was family...He loved kids, animals and most people.

I worked with Bud at Joseph Schools for 17 years, I counted him as a good friend...Kind, steady, quick to find the humor in most situations...You never had to wonder where you stood with him, he told it like it was, no pretense, no bull...We haven't seen much of each other the past 20 years but when we met over lunch or on the street I always got a big smile, a bear hug and his greeting of, "How you doin', Stella?" That nickname was his for me and it always made me laugh as we shared the private joke...I will miss his smile, his laugh and his bear hug...I will miss this friend.

My heart goes out to his family who are struggling to fill the void, following his death...Their lives have changed forever, but Bud leaves then with a legacy, to remember and take pride in...They will never forget his smile, his laugh and his arms surrounding them...Hugs to the Botts Family...OWAV:)

Thinking, one year ago at Margaret's

90th birthday party.

A Grin

The full blown Laugh

Grizzly Bear Fire...46º Smoky

The fire burning only 40 miles north (approximately) of Joseph, has our valley filled with smoke this morning...We are lucky as we deal only with the smoke, while others, in the path of the fire, loaded possessions, and animals to flee from the advancing flames...Others still wait to get evacuation orders, hoping that the fire will be abated and eventually controlled, before it reaches them...Emotions run high in our valley as the fire rages out of control...Over 20 years ago now, logging was a major occupation in this county, supplying family wage jobs in the woods and the local mills...Fires both lightning and man caused were immediately suppressed and put out.

Environmental practices closed the mills and much of the woods to logging, leaving only private lands available to harvest...Now thousands of acres of designated wilderness surrounds our valley, where fires are left to burn as the "natural way of things..."Forest Service timber sales were squelched with the process of environmental analysis and the many appeals by environmental groups...Basically forest management also came to a halt, no logging, no thinning...Nothing...Now our forests are filled with diseased, dying trees, that with the tightening of regulations, cannot even be salvaged for wood...Our forests in this dry year of 2015 are a tinderbox waiting for the dry lightning to strike and strike it has.

Will we learn from all of this?..What can be salvaged after the fires are finished in October, when snow comes to the high mountains...Is there a middle road?..Why does it always seem to be all or nothing in the USA?..First the logging was fueled by "lumber barons" amassing their fortunes and now the shut down of forests, fueled by "trust funds" of "save the planet greenies"...No one wins in the end, the trees are gone, the landscape is blackened and everyone cries...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Annual Physical...46º

Today is that sort of dreaded day...Although I've been feeling good, is there something looming on the horizon for the doctor to find, something that I am not aware of?...Mostly I am an optomistic person, but sometimes I look at the worst scenario and then when it turns out not to be, I am much relieved...Today I see a new doctor because my "Primary Care Giver" (doctor) is on a years sabbatical...Dr Witt is new to the county but I have been reassured by two friends, that I will like her...She is kind and caring and will listen to what I have to say...Time will tell.

Yesterday morning I worked outside cutting down flowers that have gone to seed...About noon I got a call from Janie needing help to finish canning her sauerkraut...Back home about 2pm to fix our dinner...The afternoon flew by and 5pm found us at our usual place at the Gazebo listening to music.

A huge smoke plume rose up in the north as fires in the Wenaha area mushroomed, jumped the river and caused the Troy, Eden Bench and Grouse Flat to be evacuated...Not a huge population of people or houses in that area but still very tramatic for the ranch people and their animals, who are in the path of a wild fire...A Red Cross shelter has been set up in the Enterprise School and local people are volunteering trailers, trucks and pastures for cattle and horses.

We have sunshine here on Barton Heights and very little smoke this morning...We are lucky so far to have only smoke from the fires and will not complain...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Photo Blog...50º

Food from the garden...Flowers all around.

First quart of dills

Carrots, tomatoes, cukes and potato salad

all from the garden...Elk roast from the grill.

Flowers on the deck

Flowers circling the yard

More lovely blooms.