If It Doesn't Move, Can It!

The garden is through for the year, mostly. Two weeks ago we experienced a freak freeze that killed much of the vulnerable plants. 25 degrees will do that if it lasts for just a few hours, and it did. We lost the zucchini, tomatoes, sweet peppers, green beans, butter beans, a couple of cucumber hills that weren't covered and the pumpkins and cantelope were punished. The corn crop was a week or two from being finished and it was killed outright. Such a waste. But there is a bright side...

Canning! We have put away more produce than ever before. Pickled beets, bread and butter pickles, sweet pickles, dill pickles, dilled green beans, cherry preserves, cherry jam, pickled jalapenos, zucchini pickles, pickled plums, plum preserves, plum chutney (YUM!), gosh I could go on and on. This stuff is yummy and we will be wading through it all winter.

So we have now entered the fall phase of recovering any produce that survives into the cool weather. Last 3 nights have dipped to 31 or so for a few hours but the plants go grudgingly into the great beyond. Here is what I picked today:

Amazing that I could still be picking jalapenos after the cold spells we've had. Under the corn are a few tomatoes that wouldn't give up and there is even a few cucumbers that have toughed it out. And the Corn! It continues to fill some of the kernels even though the plant is brown, blowing like paper in the wind!

Our onions, carrots and swiss chard continue to grow as if they are possessed. I expect these carrots to be about 12 inches long and an inch in diameter. The onions are bigger than the biggest ones at WalMart. Everyone here says to leave the onions in until the tops die. I need to check that out - but they sure are happy! We have about four decent sized pumpkins in the patch, one is larger than a basketball. The melons are diminutive, about softball size and hard as rocks. Will they ripen? I harvested the remaining beets today, they are beautiful. I love them pickled, plain not so much...

On another note, we have plunged back into kitchen renovation once again. My friend Pat Dillon (from Virginia) visited us last week and put 3 days worth of work into rewiring some of the electrical here at casa Streagle. Turns out (as I had suspected) our main 200 amp house breaker was worn out, so Pat pulled the meter and installed a new one. All I had to do was fork out over 300 bucks for it. A new panel was about the same price but lots more work. Besides, the old panel was actually heavier duty than what is currently available at the big box stores today.

We fished wires in the kitchen, installed a bedroom ceiling fan and light kit, restored power to our upstairs guest room, fixed a hall light circuit, and installed a generator plug and breaker for emergency power. While all this was taking place our other guest visitor, Betty Cochran cooked up some yummy treats for the evening meals. Betty also checked out Karren's new (to her) sewing machine and gave her a quick lesson on making it whirr.

This has been the season for mice. I haven't been able to mouse proof the basement yet, as it will have to wait until I do a complete demolition of the space. Well, they found us in a big way. I have fed them a steady diet of D-con and trapped a few. I have been through 3 boxes of poison and they ate it all. I have not seen much sign of them in the last few days. Maybe they are feeling the effects? Not much smell yet, hope they find their way outside first!

Since we had such a boost in morale from our visitors, K and I decided to tackle the kitchen cabinets. They have been a nasty shade of light avocado and lime for the last two years and it was time to say adios to the grossness. We began by disassembling the drawers and cabinet doors, then painting the carcasses white. Next came the drawer fronts and the drawer interiors. These drawers have had a raw (nasty) interior that had never seen paint. Here is a few of the completed drawers:

Now all we need to do is get some new countertops and we'll be able to live with it until we find a money tree. BTW, the doors are still being painted. What a pain to paint! I hate painting. What do you think of the flat dark red interiors? Cabinet interiors are still waiting for their treatment. One day at a time...

It seems like winter will be on us fairly soon and we have much left to do to get ready. The remainder of the wood must be split and stacked, the front porch stocked with firewood, the chimney cleaned, the garden tilled under, a new door installed to the barn, etc. We have a lot to do and not much time left.

Idaho is the wettest it has been in over twenty years. Our grass is green and needs mowing. There is dew every morning and frost frequently. It has been primarily rainy or cloudy for the past 3 weeks. I have seen rain, sleet, hail, and snow within a 2 hour time frame. This weather is crazy. The old timers here are shaking their heads and are at a loss as to what the winter will be like. I have a bad/good feeling about it. Bad - that there is likely to be a ton of snow, and good - that it will mean lots of plowing, i.e. overtime for work : )

I promise to punch out a few more of these blogs as things get colder. Keep checking back...

Smoked Up in Sequioa

The long anticipated break from work has come and gone. Back to the Salt Mines for us! However, let me tell the story of our epic journey to land of fruits and nuts and back again...

Karren and I left home late that hot July day after performing an act of community service for a friend in need. We didn't leave until 3 PM so my goal was simply to get out of Dodge asap. The first night we opted for accommodations in St. George, Utah, at the local Super 8 Motel. It proved a wise choice, as the temperatures had risen dramatically with every foot lost in elevation as we descended out of the Colorado Plateau. By the time we reached Las Vegas, NV it was 106 degrees in the shade. People actually live there! The city is a weird oasis of concrete and electricity in a desolate void of sand and mesquite. We didn't stop and couldn't wait until we reached our first destination: The house of Sarah and Kevin Hopkins in Manhattan Beach, CA. Driving across Los Angeles was like a bad dream - just when you think you have reached the Pacific Ocean, there is yet another freeway to navigate. I have never seen so much development across a flat landscape. It is really odd to see such a large metropolis lacking vertical buildings.

Anyway, we arrived there to find the Hopkins' house was sandwiched in between other monstrosities, lost in a maze of development and sprawl. They are situated not quite three blocks from the beach, and the area actually has a slight resort feel to it, even though it is like living in the middle of a file cabinet. The salt air and humidity brings the beach into the home with its mild climate. Temps never got above 80 degrees, yet inland just 5 miles it was brutal. Here's a view of their period beach cabana, which has a period flavor. I would like to have seen it back in the day...

It is amazing that real estate there is priced by the square inch, not foot! Their place is deceptive in that it fills the entire lot from front to rear, road to alley, and features a wonderful courtyard. Their house brings me back to memories of beach houses on the Outer Bank of NC, until I walk out the front door and see the other stucco high rises that predominate the hillside. Here's a view from their front porch down to the water:

And watch where you step! The density of people is only rivaled by the density of dogs. Why do people have so many pets in such close quarters? I'll never understand the need for urban dog or (insert favorite pet here) worship, especially when there is no place for the critters to roam, bark, defecate, or otherwise antagonize others in high density living. I love dogs, but giant ones in the city? Really?! End of irresponsible pet owners rant.

After three glorious days of visiting Kevin and Sarah, we steered ourselves onto the drought ridden highways of California toward Sequioa National Park, the first stop in our NP tour. Sequoia is lovely and the roads are sometimes impossibly narrow, but they do not quite rival Mesa Verde in terror factor. The trees are magnificent.

It was there that we first began to notice the haze that was settling over the high Sierras. SMOKE!

Evidently there was a complex of fires burning in several places. I inquired as to where these fires were at the Sequoia NP visitors center. Yosemite!?! Why that's on our itinerary! Great... how bad can it be? Resolved to the situation being what it would be regardless, we continued our trek.

The trees of the sequoias are massive. The human brain does not register the immensity until hours have gone by. Then it really has an impact; these things are as big as ships! The trunks easily block half of your vista and have a feeling of ancientness and antiquity reflecting their age. After a while one begins to pick out the younger members of the species apart from "regular" pines and cedars.

Yosemite was mostly shrouded in smoke. Needless to say the views were not what we had anticipated, however we managed to find some clear camping above 8000 ft. This is the domain of the bears. These critters have their way with anyone foolish enough not to heed the warnings, which are pervasive throughout the parks. One night I woke to the sounds of an entire section of the campground being pillaged by ursa major and minor. The morning light revealed the signs of the struggle between creature and man. Total destruction of coolers and everything else that smelled of food that was not locked up in the bear boxes (provided). City dwellers - MEH!

Our time in Yosemite was tempered by the incredible press of crowds and vehicles. I will not attempt to enter the valley again in this lifetime, but will probably revisit the Tioga Pass area. Lake Tenaya is pristine and spellbinding. The entire eastern area of the pass is spectacular. So there we are, driving along in barely 60 degree temps and Karren says, "Stop the truck!" Within minutes she is daring me to take the plunge. You know a glacier feeds that pond don't you? A whole new meaning to the word "cold."

We left the high country to descend into Mono Lake and Nevada. That state is a jewel. I think most probably see Nevada as a barren wasteland but I see the solitude as a gift. Mountains that no one is climbing, high lakes that see few visitors and roads that beg for traffic.

We ended up staying the next night on top of a mountain near the north end of Nevada at Angel Lake, a nat'l forest campground. The weather was windy and wet, and the mosquitos were fierce, so we ducked into the tent quickly for the sanctuary. This CG was above 9000 feet and the road up is not for the faint of heart either. I had to take a five minute break on the way up to get my breathing squared away because it rose so rapidly from the desert floor below.

The next day saw us taking in the sights at the Golden Spike National Monument in Promontory, Utah. A wonderful exhibit and two actually working steam locomotives made the visit memorable. Then home. Trying to get the blog moving so on to the next post!