We Sure Are Eating A Lot!

Not much going on around here, yesterday was Beryl’s birthday and we enjoyed a delicious dinner—they provided the groceries—I cooked.  Steaks, corn on the cob and fresh asparagus.  Apple Sharlotka complete with a birthday candle for Beryl. 

And speaking of Apple Sharlotka—here’s the recipe I use—it’s a really, really moist cake and does not need covering after baking—I just lay a sheet of parchment paper over the top.

Apple Sharlotka from Smitten Kitchen

Butter or non-stick spray for greasing pan

6 large tart apples such as Granny Smiths

3 large eggs

1 cup sugar

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

Ground cinnamon and powdered sugar to finish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Butter the paper and the sides of the pan. Peel, halve and core your apples, then chop them into medium-sized chunks. (I cut each half into four “strips” then sliced them fairly thinly — about 1/4-inch — in the other direction.) Pile the cut apples directly in the prepared pan. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, using an electric mixer or whisk, beat eggs with sugar until thick and ribbons form on the surface of the beaten eggs. Beat in vanilla, then stir in flour with a spoon until just combined. The batter will be very thick.

Pour over apples in pan, using a spoon or spatula to spread the batter so that it covers all exposed apples. (Updated to clarify: Spread the batter and press it down into the apple pile. The top of the batter should end up level with the top of the apples.) Bake in preheated oven for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a tester comes out free of batter. Cool in pan for 10 minutes on rack, then flip out onto another rack, peel off the parchment paper, and flip it back onto a serving platter. Dust lightly with ground cinnamon.

Serve warm or cooled, dusted with powdered sugar.

The guys solved the world’s problems, Beryl relaxed and I worked in the quilt studio a little.  I’m trying to sell some stuff—fabrics, kits, etc. and spent time taking photos.  Once posted I wasn’t happy with the photos so will try again. 

Today we piled in the car and headed to our favorite Livingston restaurant—the Rib and Chop where we enjoyed  outstanding meals—Beryl had a huge plate of mussels, Ainslie and I had the best fish tacos and the cowboy had his usual—chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes.  We ran a few errands in Big Timber before coming home.

As if we needed any more food—Ainslie decided to make clam chowder—oh, my!!  Once tasting the soup I decided I was hungry enough to have a serving—some of the best clam chowder we’ve ever eaten.

Our fall colors are outstanding this year—beautiful!!!

 

Crafty, Cooking, A Close Call

All the chores are done—the ones you have to do when you husband and dog have been home alone for a few days and I’ve been in the quilt studio.  I made these really cute bags—easy and quick!

I finished another small quilt of my own but it’s a gift so photos will have to wait.

We have friends from Coos Bay, Oregon visiting so I made dessert—something I don’t usually do unless we have guests!  I used the apples from our own tree to make apple sharlotka—a very moist fruit filled cake—delicious!  Ainslie and Beryl arrived this afternoon with their fifth wheel.  We enjoyed a marinated sirloin, roasted potatoes and sauteed spinach.

 

Yesterday Emmi and I went outside to play ball—I was looking at all the golden aspen trees.  In a matter of seconds I saw out of the corner of my eye Emmi jump sideways and heard the rattlesnake.  I quickly skirted the rattlensake and grabbed Emmi while yelling for Michael.  She didn’t appear to have been bitten by the snake—it was a small rattlesnake with only three tail buttons.  We have lived in this house by the creek for 14 years and have never seen a rattlesnake around the yard or house.  We have seen many snakes in the hayfields, just not here at the house—I’m not thrilled!

We are enjoying glorious fall weather, we even dined on the deck this evening!

Home With The Cowboy and Emmi

Even though it was almost midnight when I walked in the door last night there was one excited little pooch dancing around to greet me!  And the cowboy was glad to see me too!  Flights going to Austin were perfectly on time but the return flights last night were both running late.

It is always a joy to spend time with Shirley, Elaine and Kelly.  Our friendships evolved over the years while the four of us worked for Kimberly-Clark as nurse consultants.  After retiring the four of us vowed to keep in touch and we have—gathering at least once a year to catch up. 

It was a busy four days as it always is—a night out on the town in the booming metropolis of Schulenberg with live music and pizza started our celebration.  Thursday we braved the heat and walked through parts of the Round Top Antique and Flea Market.  I am a southern girl but there is absolutely no way I could live in the south again—the heat and humidity zap my energy so quickly.  Thursday evening some of Shirley’s friends joined us for a happy hour.

Friday we lunched/shopped and in the evening drove to Columbus, TX for TexMex food.  Saturday we enjoyed a leisurely morning and lunch before loading our bags into the rental car and heading for Austin and the airport.

At least six years ago we planted three apple trees.  This is the first year we’ve had apples and only on one tree, the State Fair apple tree.  I picked all the apples this afternoon and will try them out in a dessert.

It’s good to be home!

All Packed

It’s hard to pack for one climate—chilly with rain—when you are landing in 92 degree sunshine with icky humidity!  I think I’m ready.  I’m not taking a laptop, only my iPad, so blogs may be non-existent until I return on Saturday evening.  This “event” is a yearly gathering of four nurses who worked together for the Kimberly-Clark Corporation.  Shirley is our hostess this year and lives near Austin, Texas.  Elaine lives in Kentucky and Kelly lives in Kansas City. 

Today was a Billings day and I think I’m done being poked and prodded for the year!—today was mammogram day—have all you lady readers out there had your mammogram this year???  I also visited the hairdresser for a trim.  And, we ran the usual assortment of errands—one of those errands will make life around the motorhome a little easier on the ears!  Our bay doors—heavy doors—are held open by gas cylinders.  Some of those cylinders were old and had lost their “hold” causing the air to turn blue when the bay door hit the cowboy on top of the head! He had a credit at the RV store and was able to purchase six of the cylinders with his credit—one happy dude!

Last night sunset was gorgeous when Emmi and I walked--

Emmi and Michael will hold down the fort while I am gone.  When I get back we have company coming from Oregon—Ainsley and Beryl!

Our house in the woods.

Double Comments

Halleluiah!!!!!  Remember when this computer inept blogger tried to move her blog from Blogger to WordPress?  It was a lesson in how computer inept she actually was!  HTML code—holy smokes!!  Well, since that time when some readers would leave comments the same comment would appear twice.  I buried my head in the sand and assumed it was a reader issue and not my issue.  Well for some reason, I decided to try a fix on Saturday morning.  Mr. Google to the rescue once again.  I found this article, How To Reset Blogger Templates, gritted my teeth and changed the HTML code as the writer suggested.

I then sent Sandie an email asking her to post a “test” comment on the blog.  Sandie was one of the readers whose comments would appear twice.  It worked—finally!!! 

When I see this particular scene I know our southern migration is about to be soon!

I have an upcoming girlfriend trip this week—our high on temperature on Wednesday is a predicted 55 degrees—high temperature where I am headed—91 degrees!!

Sunday we went into town and spent the afternoon with Nat.  Michael and Nat enjoyed discussing the diary cousin Pat gave Michael, the diary belonging to Nat’s father. 

Fall colors are appearing rapidly—last night when Emmi and I took our last walk the sun was hitting this patch making the colors pop.  This hillside above our house was part of a “back burn”—an attempt to keep the 2006 Derby fire from reaching us. 

Not much going on around here—just everyday happenings.

Missing In Action

After missing the deadline by 10 years and being hounded to death by various healthcare providers I gave up and had my first and only colonoscopy Thurday.  First and only!

We’ve had some beautiful fall days lately and today was too lovely to stay indoors.  We loaded Emmi and ourselves into the truck heading toward Fishtail and Nye, Montana.  We were a little early for fall color but the scenery still takes your breath away! 

These mountains are part of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness area and are about two hours from our home. 

We saw deer and ducks—no other critters, dang it!

In Fishtail, Montana—don’t blink, you will miss it—there is a restaurant called The Cowboy Bar.  Today we enjoyed one of the best meals ever—both of us ordered the prime rib sandwich.  When the waitress brought the meals we were amazed—a huge slab of beef on each plate with homemade french fries—the meat was fork tender and delicious!  Well worth the whopping price of $11 they charged for the sandwich!!!!

After lunch we headed out the road to Mystic Lake which is located in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness accessible only by foot or horseback.  There are two other lakes before reaching the end of the driveable road—Emerald and West Rosebud.  Huge mountains iced in snow, mountain lakes, a hint of fall color and 60 degrees equals a perfect day!

On the way home through the town of Absaroka the homecoming parade was in progress—not sure why those girls were on the sidewalk with their horses but they sure were taking a lot of ribbing from the football guys on the floats.

A perfect day!

Quiet Days At Home

Lots of rain overnight with snow on the foothills and mountains surrounding us.  Our temps haven’t been above 40 degrees today—we’ve had a fire in the wood burning stove all day.  Not totally unusual for September but certainly not the norm—we will take the moisture, every little drop.

Cousin Pat left on Saturday morning.  The cowboy and I have enjoyed a couple quiet days at home—he has been painting and I’ve been quilting.  We’ve taken walks every day and I’ve practiced some yoga, Emmi has chased her new ball all over the yard—here she is with the old, almost destroyed ball.

Like Al and Kelly, we are starting to plan our migration.  I have a girlfriend trip on the horizon and a yucky medical procedure coming up—once those things are behind us, the packing will commence. 

Life is good!

Quilts Finished, Visitor, Little Indians

A friend has started a new website and while searching for photos for that website, I ran across this one--two wild little Indians—now all grown up, my nephews.  Trenton the oldest is now 22 and Clayton is 20.  When we lived in the other ranch house, my brother Ross, his wife Vicky and the two boys came to visit.  Michael thought the boys would enjoy playing in the teepee but they were scared to death of it—they were sure the “Indians” were coming to get them! 

A Facebook message about lunch time led to our visitor for the night or two—Michael is an only child as was his mother.  His only living relatives are three first cousins and four second cousins—no one else.  I on the other hand have 14 first cousins, 23 second cousins, four aunts and two uncles.  Michael’s cousin Pat was in the neighborhood and came to visit—here are the two “old” guys looking through family history.  Pat brought Michael a diary written by their grandfather—pretty amazing!!

Here are some photos of the quilt I just finished for my dear friend Jeane—it was a small one and the custom quilting was fun—I love this one and almost didn’t give it back!!

 

 

Here is a link to our good friend’s new website—Terry is an artist—he takes new stuff and makes it look old, he takes old cabins and brings them back to life and he takes new buildings and makes them look as if they’ve been around for centuries.  TBaird Construction—check it out! 

A gorgeous day in Montana, a little breezy but sunny! 

And one happy Brooks!!!  Isn’t he adorable!

A Good Day

Tuesday Michael had a routine doctors appointment in Billings—some days we wonder if we should just move to Billings!  We enjoyed lunch at Jake’s, made a really quick (cheap) stop at Costco and were back at Nat’s by 2pm—pretty good for us!  Our stop at Petsmart for dog food/toys/treats made us think the dog eats better than we do—geez!! 

Wednesday Michael was off to town hoping to finish Nat’s shower project—he was successful!  I stayed home and finished a quilt for Jeane—it is absolutely stunning if I do say so myself! 

The UPS man brought me a mystery package this afternoon—beautiful flowers—but no card.  When I called the company they refused to divulge the sender’s name.  My Mom called later in the afternoon and I asked her if she had by any chance sent me flowers—“no, but I know who did.”  Chuck sent them to me as a thank you for being in Arkansas with he and Mom during his illness.  Made my heart feel good!—and it didn’t hurt they arrived on my birthday!

A chilly morning turned into a windy but beautiful day.This time of year we usually see lots of bear scat loaded with these chokecherry seeds—we had a bumper crop of chokecherries this year and have seen not one bear and only one pile of poop—what’s up with that??

Lots of birthday phone calls, Facebook messages and cards—it’s not so bad to be one year older and one year closer to social security!

Hope You Had A Great Labor Day Weekend

Did you know the first Labor Day celebration was held in New York in 1882 with a picnic and a parade?  Oregon was the first state to set aside an official holiday, in 1887, and in 1894, President Grover Cleveland and Congress made it a legal federal holiday for everyone. Outside the US, especially in Europe, the first of May, also known as May Day, is the day the labor force is honored.

We are usually in the midst of beautiful weather this time of year but not this Labor Day—we even saw a little snow Sunday when we took a drive to Neihart, MT to visit friends Royal and Nancy.  Please excuse the blurry photos!  As we traveled along yesterday, there appeared to be a mass exodus of RVs heading for home and who could blame them—it started raining Saturday night and was literally pouring rain on Sunday—not good camping weather!

And not good weather for the annual Neihart Days celebration.  Those folks are hardy and strung tarps in among the trees to give shelter from the rain but it was dang cold too!  Royal is a world class pig roaster and provides the meat for this yearly party—we sampled a bite or two before heading for home.

It was back to town for the cowboy today where he labored on Labor Day—making good progress with the shower install.  Emmi and I held down the fort here at home.  I’m custom quilting a small table topper quilt for my friend Jeane—custom quilting is hard on the neck and shoulders so I take frequent breaks and Emmi is glad—more ball playing!

Again, not much blog worthy going on around here.

Pop Goes The Weasel

While making the bed a couple mornings ago, I heard a noise at the glass door and looked up to see some sort of critter jumping at the window.  He jumped and jumped—I ran to get the camera stepping out onto the deck in hopes the little guy was still around.  He was but my goodness he moved fast—thus the blurry photos.  A weasel which Michael tells me is a good thing to have around—cute, isn’t he!

The shower enclosure was finally delivered on Friday morning.  Michael has started working on the project and hopes to be finished soon.

I’ve stayed home and tackled projects—detailing Nat’s truck which we purchased from him as he’s not driving any longer, mowing the grass (could I hope this is the last time for the season???), laundry, vacuuming dust bunnies and even quilting.  Sarah brought me a bunch of tomatoes the other evening when we all went to dinner—they were ripening faster than I could eat them.  The cool weather made me hungry for “comfort food” so I used all the tomatoes in a batch of spaghetti sauce—YUM!  Homemade macaroni and cheese was on the to do list also.

Not much blog worthy going on around here—just normal stuff. 

Fall Weather Is Approaching

And none too soon as far as I’m concerned.  Since my internal thermostat went wacko I am very intolerant of the heat and it’s been dang hot around here the last few days—in the 90’s!  And remember, we don’t have air conditioning!  We open the doors and windows at night letting the cooler air circulate through the house.  In the mornings around 9am I shut the doors and windows—the house stays very cool until about 2pm when the southern sun starts to shine into the house.  By about 5pm, it’s HOT in here!  I’ve been tempted to purchase one of those portable air conditioners but we have so few really hot days in Montana it just isn’t justified.  Now, if I lived in Billings where it was boiling hot today, I would have to have air conditioning!

Tomorrow is our last warm day then we are heading in to a long stretch of 50’s and 60’s—heavenly!

Today we made a Billings run—I had a dentist appointment which was a rude awakening!  I needed a cleaning plus it was way past time for a full set of x-rays.  Seems I need some dental work as in a LOT of dental work meaning a LOT of $$$$$$$!!

In Nat’s home there is a walk in shower in the master bath and a tub/shower combo in the guest bath.  His companion, Barb, uses the master bedroom suite and Nat decided it would be safer for him if another walk in shower was installed in the guest bath for his use.    The cowboy, aka his son, will be the carpenter/plumber, etc.  So—Amazon to the rescue!  Michael ordered the shower enclosure from Amazon Prime on August 19 with the understanding that shipping/handling might take an additional 2-3 days longer than the usual Prime 2 day shipping.  It’s a large package weighing almost 300lbs and was sent by a freight carrier, not UPS.  The original carrier turned it over to a local small time carrier in Billings.  They received the package on Monday and still haven’t delivered it.  So yesterday and today I rattled cages—the shower enclosure will be delivered tomorrow morning and Amazon issued a $75 credit to our account for the inconvenience!  That’s another reason why I love shopping with Amazon!

Wednesday evening we traveled to Livingston to have dinner with Sarge and Sarah at the Rib and Chop House.  The owners of this Wyoming/Montana chain of restaurants are Baton Rouge natives—where all the massive flooding has occurred.  On August 31, the owners of these fabulous, incredibly busy restaurants donated 25% of their sales to the Baton Rouge, Louisiana clean up effort.  We had a marvelous meal and great conversation!  Thanks Sarah for the tomatoes—they are delicious!

The forest fire smoke creates some beautiful sunsets!