Canning Season

So we get back from a wonderful vacation and it is time to work. Jeff started early friday morn picking green beans and we worked on botteling them until we had 43 pints completed. Then saturday I got up at 0530 and started with the apples for apple pie filling. I also made bread and my mom came later to help with more apples. We bought these apples in Oregon and the lady told us they are the best for apple pies. They are gravensteins. One apple filled your whole hand. They are beautiful. You will all have to try these pies. The great thing is you don't need pie dough. Just put filling in a pan and put the crumble mixture on top and bake. Who needs the calories of the crust when this will do. They say 75% of the calories come from the crust anyway.

So needless to say we ended with 20 quarts of pie filling and hadn't even used half of the apples. So next week we will do more!

We also did pickled beets and red potatoes and there are 4 loaves of Zucchini bread in the freezer. Jeff has been so helpful this year with picking, watching the canner and pressure cooker I couldn't have done it without him. It was great to have my mom come and help too. She said she is doing so much better than last year. She was stirring the syrup on the stove and said last year she wouldn't have been able to stand and stir 'cause she was too weak. I don't think any of us can appreciate what she went thru over the past two years. Thanks Mom!!!

Oregon Trip '09

This was our third trip with Global Travel tthis year and wow are there some pretty places in the world! We went to the Whispering Woods resort at the base of Mt. Hood and stayed in this great 2 bedroom condo. One day we went to see the scenic route and saw five beautiful waterfalls. Most were easy access but the last one we tried to climb I let Jeff and Dan go ahead and later found out it was several trails that would have been an all day climb.




























These were just massive waterfalls. They were all so grand.




































On Sunday they had a Saturday Market with a Bite of Oregon going on. The market is a swap mee/flea market and the Bite was with vendors charging admission for the Special Olympics. The fee let you in a fenced in area and there were demos on food, cooking and people playing music. There was also a mountain man talking about the expeditions of Lewis and Clark. But the best part was the Wii Resort. We understood they are doing these all over the country. It is an area where the company sets up TV's and Wii games and you can play for free. That is where the leigh came from. He looks pretty good, huh?!














We also heard about this trout farm where you go and fish in different ponds, depending on the size of trout you want to catch. Of course Dan had to try it at the biggest pond to beat Jeff with this years fishing tournament. 17" and 2 pounds. It tasted mighty fine. Of course the fee is per inch and that cost Dan $15, he said it was worth it!





















The scenery is so beautiful in the area that you just can't help but feel romantic. Ahhh!!! Next vacation area is in Florida in January. Come for a visit where it will be warm, I hope. Panama City then onto Ruskin. I love to travel!!!!

Huckleberries '09

I was viewing our old posts and noted that I blogged about last years huckleberry picking and here we are again with this years post. This first pic is of our first patch of picking, combined. Not too many in this patch. The second pic is of a bear scraping. I thought it was pretty remarkable. Haven't seen any bear in this patch, ever, but the bushes had been picked over by them. It was pretty cool to see.

This was my pick for the day.

Pretty depressing. Like I said the bears

had stripped the bushes. And I'm stickin'

with that story!

Of course what would a woodsy outing be

without Jeff looking for THE PLACE. You know

the one. All men have to do there duty and

leave their mark in the forest! I had another pic

but he didn't think it was appropriate. It's

saved on the computer though! Ha Ha Ha!!!!

Mining for Opals

My mom and Dan and I went to Spencer Idaho today to mine for opals. I read this great article in sundays newspaper about the mine in Spencer and that they have some of the best opals in the world. I was pretty impressed. So I talked my Mom and Dan into going, too. Along the way I saw this awesome boat and thought how much Jeff has wanted a boat! He could load this fixer upper onto his trailer and there you have a sailboat. I bet he could figure out how to put a motor on the back too!!! Well I was excited so we just had to take a picture. If you look really close you can see two parrots in the top. HAHAHA

















And this is us mining for opals. They have a tent so you can cob the stone in the shade and that makes it a lot nicer. You rinse the stones off and see the sparkle of the opals much better. Well, this is one of many things to do in Idaho. I bet you are all so excited for your next trip to Idaho to go opal mining.
There is also a cafe' next to the rock pile and they serve the best idaho fries with fry sauce. A must have.

Our Family 2009

The Boyz & Me. Where's Dan? What a bunch of handsome fellows!















Our family pix for '09. Next time we'll take in the evening for better convenience of not being blinded. It was hot out there! Unfortunately Taryn and Ashley didn't make it.

Of course wiffle ball is always played at Nana & Papas house. Even the younger ones know how it's played.

Of course the 4-wheeling is a must do too.

And this year there were fireworks for the big kids. Whoever took these pix did a great job.

Papa was such a great sport with the grandkids and was kind enough with all the dads to allow the girls to go and have a spa day. Of course that is what us girls live to do when we all get together.

This was such a fun time for us I hope you all enjoyed it. Let's do it again next year! I love you all!

More pix @ Family Gathering

Lance is the instigator with the kids. He loves to rassle! Of course so do the kids!














The Big BBQ dinner was a hit, I think. And the cake with its wonderful filling was mighty fine. Happy Birthday Bryce (31). Yeah.














Me and The Boyz. Of course they didn't hook up my controls so I couldn't play. They knew I had been practicing and would have whipped their hineys! Ha Ha














Me and Sarah.














And what a trip it was to the Carousel.

Who Are You?

So I tried the background thingamajiggy and wow it worked! YaHooo! So for this blog I would like everyone who looks here to sign in and leave a comment. Doesn't matter if I know you or not. Last year someone from the Philippines wrote a comment. I had no idea others could look at the blogs that weren't the people signing in specifically to my blog.

Anyway, let's see how many people actually look at this blog. Now if I don't get any response I am gonna feel really bad and probably quit blogging. Does anyone look at this blog? Sign in and let me know.