August Summer Heat

August is shaping up to be a month of heat it was 101* here today and will be 104* Sunday. We have fun and celebrations on the calendar some of the festivities will include jet boating, I have a new fishing pole to try out too. Corvette car show in Spokane, Washington. Christmas shopping birthday shopping a retirement party for a biker friend some school chums might be there too that's in Post Falls Idaho, the place they have outlet malls I'm trying to decide if I still hate shopping or not LOL! Hot Aug. nights, classic car show. Toss in two birthday parties, and add to the mix wake the snake wake boarding clinic for our son again and harvest collage is starting. Getting ready for the new fall carpool schedule will be a bit easier this year, more fruit to pick and pick up. Then another birthday, (mine) Labor Day weekend, I'm already dissy just thinking about it. I’ve not even began any sewing, and there is school shopping. This will be one fast month. I've been feeding the freezer fruit I've picked for smooties.

Son in law is building another house and dear daughter will be helping do a concrete pour and I'll be doing granny duty in the afternoon. She is no longer a novice at this and her helping is no longer optional. ;D

Black Hole

I did not make it to the new Star Wars movie but I’ve been to the black hole and back also known as the under bed zone!

Have you ever been there?

I was looking for a gel pen for my new holiday journal it’s black and I needed a gel pen to write with. Dgds borrowed back the pen I had borrowed from them and I was looking for it to use.

In my journey to the black hole I found some things to toss and some things they had out grown some; craft things in the craft wagon under bed storage container and the holder for some rubber stamps. We need to get to that next month. We have been having so much fun with outdoor fishing, berry and the fruit picking, playing in the kiddie pool, for a pool party at granny's there has not been much time for crafts this month.

Note: I have a new blog for photos at this point on yahoo link is in the tile of this entry.

Harvest Heat

Harvest week here I’ve been picking apricots,
and apples here they are ripening pretty fast in the heat we have had.

Our son said they were done cutting peas at work,
and they are cutting wheat now.

There was a big wind storm that ripped through our area
on Fri. and uprooted trees, and knocked big limbs off
of trees all over town.

Bike Week

It’s bike week here our son has been working on getting his motor cycle going, and he was successful in doing that last night took it out for a spin.

I ran dear hubby’s motor cycle 1,100 yamaha for thirty minutes to get his battery charged up, he asked me to do that they other day if I got time this week. I drove along the river and it was a beautiful drive the water was smooth as glass.

I went for my artist date on my motor cycle after I got back on my motor cycle also an 1,1100 yamaha. I drove across the new bridge Red Wolf Crossing Bridge and drove on the other side of the river past the saw mill and on past Chief Timothy Park to a Y in the road it’s is a pretty good turn around point. I came back and went up the street with stores next to the bike shop is a scrap-booking store. I got some fall and Christmas theme stickers and papers for my note books these were fun!. I was the only one there on a motor cycle there ;D. This took up most of the morning. I saw a blue harron in the bass hole we fish in a lot and pair of deer on the way home!

On a sad note: Scottie from Star Trek died this week. I used to watch that show every week when I was a kid!

Finds

Finds

Picnic blanket
Small oak basket
Christmas books for children
Sports basket
Tote free
Sponge bob pillow
Wedding bubbles with ribbons & silk buds
Snow man tray free
Holiday magizine free
Soap dish Free
Tea tin
8x10 hand painted water color pic framed
Large framed canvas of beach hut scene for basement

Sat. Shopping Adventures

I went out shopping in the morning hitting several yard sales first thing beating the heat. I got some pretty cool stuff. The it was off to the grocery store I was amazed at how un-busy it was for a Saturday morning I usually do my shopping on Fri. before the weekend but after vacation our cupboards were unusually bare! I got home unloaded the car put the food away. Dh was out washing the small bass boat. I left after having cheese and crackers for lunch. I bee-bopped back over town for some fishing gear and some fun cook books. Dh had come home and had been out washing the big boat at the car wash this time and was looking over my tackle after he said I had to get my own he was not going to share, that what I heard he said that is not what he said (yea right)! LOL!

Then we decided to go out to a show, there is a new movie theater in town that has been here about eight or nine months and we have been trying to get time to go to it. But first we had to go by his work he washed the car to get the bird poo off of it one of the disadvantages of having the biggest shade tree on the block! mean while I sat in the ac and read a novel. After that we had to fuel that car, he was looking for a belt buckle his broke on vacation nope none at the truck stop, none at the bait and tackle shop I asked them if they missed me they said yep! I’ve been there every day for the past four days now! No belt buckle at the mart store either so I was looking for a picket knife for my tackle box guess what find? A belt buckle! I gave it to Dh and he is using that, and got a new belt so he can trade off now.

Yurt ~ Winchester Lake Vacation

We enjoyed the park and the cooler temps. I was able to just sit by the lake in my lawn chair fish read journal rest relax and enjoy that day while the guys were out on the lake fishing, I had a turn too. It was great big tall pine trees surround the lake. I got some sketching done. As I listened to the sounds I heard the Canadian geese honking, and I saw an eagle fly over head, and a loon dive under the water to get a fish, we saw a deer when we first came in the park and I saw a chipmunk scamper up a big tall ponderosa pine tree as I went in to the camp ground office to check on renting a cabin or yurt. I liked the sky light at night you could look up and see the tops of the pine trees and the stars through the roof. (Sh-h this is me not telling about dh backing the boat into a tree when he was trying to park it in the dark.) The one thing we did forget was a flash light that would have helped!

I discovered that they had a Dutch oven camp cooking class in the evening and outdoor movie on Thurs. nights. They were having a community event a paddle fest I think that meant canoe races. We were lucky to get a Yurt for the night. We enjoyed it I slept well dear hubby said that’s because I stole covers all night! LOL! He did not sleep as well! We had sleeping bags and did not sip them together thought we would be too hot boy were we wrong! Br-r ! It was cold up there in the night. A yurt is like a Mongolian tent and we got the smaller one. The bigger ones come with a canoe bbq and pedal bikes.

Dear son got some great pics. of the smaller bass boat that he will be putting up on the website later on {he came up during the day} dh looks like he has been on vacation he has quite a tan, I got burnt again and had to get out of the boat and go sit on the bank in the shade, it was too hot in the sun and too cool in the shade. Not that I’m complaining. There was quite a bit of road construction. The understatement of the year the are putting in 4 lane from Boise (southern part of the state) to Canada so no matter where you go you find it! We took the old grade on the way home to by pass the construction and enjoyed the scenic views coming off the grade seeing the fields in various stages of ripeness it looked like a post card view!

Rattle Snake in the Berries!

Audrey our son’s friends mom has a great blackberring story.

She takes a board a half sheet of plywood [4’ x 4’] and puts it down in the middle of the patch. She picked five gallons in forty five minutes it was a good patch she thought. That was until she picked up the board to leave; there was a big old timber rattler that has been trapped under the board and it was mad! She takes a 38 caliber pistol with her now when she goes out to pick berries now.

Trout Fishing in Idaho

We went fishing tonight at one of the guys favorite spots I loaded my new gear in to the tackle box and we were ready to go. I love the sound of the water coming in to the lake. We caught our limit in about two hours. I caught a crappie too the biggest one I’ve caught. I broke my new pole. I was glad I had a spare, with the two pole permit Idaho has was wonderful!

Hubby caught his limit in about 20 min. then he spent the rest of the time trying to “coach” me. I had to tell him to stand on the other side of me or squat down he was going to get hit in the face with a fish! And bam I had a fish on got it to the bank and it came off the hook and landed about 6” from the bucket. We had a great time! I caught the biggest ones today!

The Black Berry Patch

One summer when I was in my teens I picked a gallon of black berries for my granny from the berry patch by her Arkansas garden , mom, granny and I headed out in the cool of the morning with wide brimed straw hats, pails tied to our waist and hoes, and sticks for protection against snakes, and to help reach luscious berries just beyond our grasp. That Christmas granny wrote in the Christmas card that she made pies and thought of me when they ate that pie.

When we are out fishing I always keep my eye out for the good berry patches. I have picked three and a half gallons of black berries this week on three different trips to berry patches. The weather was perfect in the low to mid - eighties a nice breeze was blowing off the water we were by the river next to the fishing pond. I saw a deer when I was leaving on two occasions what a delightful surprise that was.

One of my favorite blackberry picking experiences was when we were boating while dear hubby was fishing and I swam to shore to pick them. I took a gallon size zip loc bag and I got it almost full, then floated the bag of black berries back on a piece of drift wood as I swam to the boat.

I took the granddaughters with me last year and we had fun picking we used a back pack and sand pails and zip bags for collecting these big black luscious fruits. The grand children ate more than they put in the bucket and the liked the experience and they were able to ride their trikes on the paved walking path we were next to.

Berry Syrup Story
Later that fall we made black cobbler with the berries that they had helped to pick later that weekend they were having pancakes and dear grand daughters were bemoaning that fact. I said “no were are not” and I spooned the “syrup” off of the black berry pie or cobbler that had turned out way to runny, they were amazed and delighted to get the purple syrup! Dear son gave me a look of gratitude for rescuing breakfast on that morning! LOL!

Getting Ready For Large Mouth Bass Fishing

1. License small bass boat put new tags on boat.
2. Go fishing with spouse to pick berries for lunch.
3. Help load branches to be hauled off from front yard so we can get to the boat.
4. Thaw out huckleberry, & cranberry orange bread from freezer for lunch.
5. Get out of state fishing license & worms, order new fishing gear bag.
6. Go to camping store & for fishing tips tackle etc. and cook books and how to fish book.
7. Load and restock gear bag. Take zip bags for berries in tackle / gear bag.
8. Load gear & poles in boat.
9. Hook boat up to trailer clean out and wash boat, out seats in boat help put electric motor on.
10. Pack lunch & change of clothes.
11. Drive up to mountains to get away from heat ac is out, dock, launch small bass boat at lake check on cabin to rent.

Getting Ready For Sturgeon Fishing

1. License boat put new tags on boat.
2. Call friend to set up time to go schedule and plan trip.
3. Go fishing with wife so she can pick berries for lunch to eat, go for walk with and haul off branches in front yard to keep spouse happy.
4. Have spouse get worms on trip to the store.
5. Go to camp store for fishing weights & tackle.
6. Get fish thawed out of freezer to use as bait.
7. Go fishing with son for more bait fish at local small trout pond.
8. Load and restock gear bag. Take zip bags in tackle / gear bag.
9. Load gear & poles in boat.
10. Wash & fuel boat.
11. Pack lunch.
12. Drive up river to dock launch boat drive boat up river to go fishing.

Fishing

Today feels like vacation it was a great day we picked fruit in the back yard, this morning the grand girls love the opportunity to get on the ladder and help me pick apples and apricots in the back yard.

This afternoon we went fishing I saw a snake, a deer, and a marmot with long hair, caught three fish, and had the excitement of falling in got one foot wet. I used up a whole container of worms fishing they were biting good. I did not fish that much spent most of my time picking berries.

I was delighted to find blackberries ripe, I scrounged around the fishing hole and found two pop cans, and two beverage cups, and two plastic beverage containers and cut the tops off of those and was able to pick a gallon of blackberries.

Today’s exercise was climbing around on the rocks and waking back and forth up to the truck. Dear son said he fell in [He was fishing Idaho and we were fishing Washington.] He was in up to his neck wet all except for his arm because he was holding his pole he said I caught more than he did. The dear granddaughters were impressed with the berries. Hubby caught more fish than I did he did not pick any berries.

I had an idea for a dinner cruise one was a café with a dock we had dinner there after fishing it was great. No boating today.

Royal or Commoner

When I was child I remember granny always was saying we might be related to the queen and have royal blood. She got these books on table service and place settings of the white house, she got a set of silver ware that was like some on in the white house used in the Nixon era. Pretty stuff to go with her yellow rose china we used during the holidays.

After I was grown up my aunt did some family tree research and found out that our ancestry were common pub owners no royals in our blood we were just comoners it’s funny now to think about that.

Post London Trauma

Yesterday I was very weepy as I learned of the events in London. I have heritage in that area. Londoners you are on my heart and in my prayers.

It certainly made me rethink some of the things I’d been upset about in my own life. It made me think I was whining about trivial daily things, I got a much needed change in perspective.

I’m grateful for even the daily problems now and having a regular day. And thinks like dealing with walking early or late to avoid the summer heat, and how to schedule in cleaning my floors between errands and plans for our week puts vacation stress back in to perspective for me.
I’m feeling very grateful to be alive on this Friday morning.

Raspberry Patch & other fruit picking adventures:

I was thinking about this after getting the raspberries at the farmers market yesterday. We used to have a raspberry patch on the small ranch where I grew up, these were not those newfangled thornless ones either. These were the old ones with thorns. We had a 20’ by 12’ or so patch and there were three or four rows of berries in it. We strung wires in on the posts for the grape vines that had originally been there, the wires kept the canes off the ground we could get in to pick between the plants. We put the berries in a shortening can and picked berries several times a week when they were ripe and in season. Mom made jam not one of my favorites I must admit we enjoyed one of her flops the best a batch that turned out more like syrup, it was great on pancakes and other breakfast breads.

When the cherries we would travel to the orchards where we could pick our own after driving forty five minutes or so we were in for a day of it or half day depending on the type of fruit. We picked three lugs (boxes) of cherries and then all regularly scheduled chores would stop and we would commence (My southern mom and granny’s word for begin, it took me years to figure out a commode was a toilet! LOL! )

Anyway moving on we would wash, and cull out damaged fruit and pit these cherries, filling jars to the proper amount, then mom would put the sugar water in them and cook them in a hot water bath cooking them on the stove top steaming up the house. No one had indoor air conditioning in those days and the small Northern Idaho town not very many people have it still for the three to five days of 90+ weather that happen in August during harvest. Dad helped with this process too, pitting cherries was a messy job.

Peaches was an all day event because the peach orchard was further away. We would pack a lunch and travel pick three or four lugs of peaches and stop all regular chores and get peaches canned up for the winter. We all loved mom's home canned peaches our grandparents would come with us on these peach picking outtings and I had a great time climbing the ladders and trees for these huge fruits!


Picking huckleberries in the woods while we gathered fire wood was an annual event too, that was one dusty dirty chore that I did not enjoy. As I grew being the oldest and no brothers, mom’s back went out I was the work horse of the family getting wood hauled in from the wood shed was one of my regular chores.

Mom worked part time at the library to pay for our swimming lessons and season tickets at the pool. Summers were a very busy time for us. I ran the ‘tiller and helped to can in season vegetables too.

I learned to sew at home and in 4-h when and when I took home economics in school I aced those classes. Now I enjoy picking black berries with even more thorns with the grand children when we are boating and hubby is fishing.

www . hells canyon tours . com put these with out the spaces for link to see!

Today

Today as I get dressed I was looking out my bedroom window as I do every morning, combing my hair I look out at the tree and see a mother robin sitting on and tending to her nest.
That reminds me a conversation hubby & I had last weekend about tossing old nests
and if they reuse them or not, he said he got up on the latter and was doing to do some pruning
in that tree and saw the robin and decided that he needed to wait. It looks like we were wrong about them reusing the nests!

The robin has to guard her eggs from the squirrels that make rounds raiding the other trees nest eggs in the yards. We see these on-going feuds between squirrels and robins in our yard
from time to time.

It’s farmers market day again, and having a short week some of the chores at home will have to wait. Granny duty is almost over for the week. And we did not get all of our playing done! It will have to wait.

I think I need a week at the farm no make that a month. We can play, fish, read, paint, and enjoy nature. Grandkids can run, play collect pine cones, help with the orchard up keep, and ride the mini bike.

Local link. www.hellscanyontours.com

Bubble Day

It’s bubble day around here today, dear grand daughters are going to be having fun playing with bubbles, and getting wet in the sprinkler and playing in the kiddie pool now that the hot weather has arrived. And then we will be feeding the squirrels nuts later today and watch them scamper up the tree with them that is fun to see out the window as I type!

I’ve walked 2.5 mi. did that when I got up at 5:00 today, these cool early morning walks are a great time for me to think, pray and gather inspiration.

We got a lot done at the farm sharing with the grandchildren the fun
and they enjoyed the room to roam. We all seem to need that from time to time a little room to roam. I worked on pruning the small family orchard and the guys mowed dear hubby used the brush hog machine, dear son ran the riding mower. I did get a turn on it, some branches I trimmed off and put them in the trailer that can be pulled behind the mower or the 4-wheeler. Grandkids love to ride anything with wheels up there!

Dear Hubby decided to let me pick the spots where to fish,
when he picked this weekend we did not catch anything.
He loved the new reel I got for his ann. gift.
My new red reel and pole are working good I caugh a bass with it!
Killed the biggest hornet I've ever seen and used a stick to get it on the hook and the fish picked that hook clean!

Today on my goals list is to get a baby and new mom basket together.
Four a couple their first baby he is in his 50’s and she is in her twenties, much joy for this couple the first for both of them!

What I’m reading: A Good Yarn By Debbie Macomber
A link about the author link in blog entry post title. I’ll be savoring this one and reading some when we are on vacation this month.

I also picked up Family First by Dr. Phil from the book shelf
and I am reading in it where I left off from last time had it out.