Cranberry-Orange-Oat Bread

I made some bread for my friend today. It has cranberries in it though and since I believe I'm allergic, I can't eat too much of it. ( I have had cranberries twice, both on Thanksgivnigs and both times, I ended up really sick and throwing it all up.) I like cranberries though so I couldn't resist trying some of it. I liked it but was too afraid to eat too much. Maybe I'll try it again this Thanksgiving to see if I get sick. When we were first married, I was drinking a fair amount of cran-grape juice with no side effects.

Cranberry Bread with Orange and Oats

2 eggs

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 medium orange, diced with skin

¾ cup orange juice

1 cup quick-cooking oats

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole-wheat flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

¾ teaspoon salt

1½ cups dried, sweetened cranberries

2 cups hot water

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9-x-5-inch loaf pan.

2. Combine eggs and brown sugar in a food processor and process until smooth. Add oil and diced orange. Process until orange is minced. Gradually add orange juice.

3. Mix oats, all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Stir in orange mixture until just blended. Let stand 15 minutes.

4. Combine cranberries and water in a medium bowl. Let stand 10 minutes. Drain well, shaking off excess liquid.

5. Fold cranberries into batter. Pour loaf pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes, until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean. Cool 15 minutes in pan and remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Serves 16.

Monthly Challange with Charmay

My friend, Charmay, from Lawrenceville and I came up with a plan. We're both very interested in the same things (self-sustaining/reliant living) but don't really practice it enough. So what we're going to do is to each choose one thing and for a month, work on that one thing and take notes. At the end of the month, we'll pass on the things we found out about it, how well it worked, what didn't work, tricks we found to make it easier, that kind of thing and send it off to each other. That way, we'll stay motivated to at least work on one thing a month. She's going to work on building and using a solar oven. I don't know yet what I'll be doing...there's so much to choose from! So, if anyone would like to join our challange, just let me know! :o)

Lunch at Betty's

I have a friend from church, Betty. She was the one who inspired me to grow my tomoatoes inside. She has a garden that is very productive and since I couldn't grow anything outside (the owners won't let us), I grew them inside in pots. I told her about it and sher, in turn, was inspired to grow some inside for winter use. She is twice my age but she's very friendly and a lot of fun to talk to. She had me over for lunch today. She met me at the exit and she took me on a drive around the mountain to see the colors before we made it up to her house. We saw a moose and tried to get a picture of it but it kept running out of view until it finally went into the trees and disappeared. She had told me about her house before. She said it was very small and that all 4 of her kids slept in the loft. I wasn't quite expecting it to be as small as it was. You walk through a small, closed in porch which is open to the rest of the house. The laundry room is in there. You walk through the hall. Bathroom on one side, bedroom on the other. Then you're in the main area. There' a one-butt kitchen on one side and a small living room with a wood stove which is the only heat for the house. On the end of the kitchen is a small dining area. There's a glassed in porch beyond that. The stairs to the loft are in the middle of the walkway to the porch. There's enough room for all four beds with bookcases between each bed and then almost double that across from the beds. The loft is almost the length of the house, plus the back porch. It was very cozy but I couldn't believe she was able to keep 6 people living in ther for the past 16 years! She lives up in Tollagte Canyon. The views were amazing! I wish I could live there.

Disgusting!!!

Today I worked on cleaning things around the house so when we get everything packed into the trailer, there won't be too much cleaning to do. I washed the walls in the kitchen, dining room, living room, entry hall and hall. I'm not worrying about behind the furniture they left here. I cleaned the bug guts off the ceiling. I scrubbed down the cabinet doors and the drawer fronts (excluding all of the island). The curtains in the extra bedroom are maroon and you could see the dust on them so I wiped it all off. I cleaned out the dog food basket (It will just be kept in a portable storage bag until the basket is brought back out in Boise). I vacuumed the rugs and will be rolling them up tonight.

After all that work, I was hungry. I reached into the fridge and grabbed the salad dressing, the tupperware of salad and the breadcrumbs. I threw it all on a plate and bit into a big forkful. The taste was really weird to me but I couldn't figure out why. So I tried another forkful. That one tasted really bad! As I was trying to figure out what was so wrong, I tried to fork a crouton. It was very soft and that's when it hit me. I had poured the dog's liver treats on my salad instead of bread crumbs!!! Those were the liver treats that were made with the leftover liver sausage which I thought was gross. I scrapped the salad off my plate while I was trying to hold everything in. That was just the most disgusting food I have ever tasted!!!

Freezing!

When I woke up this morning, the thermometer outside read 20 degrees! There was fog rolling off the river so I threw on a jacket and shoes and went out there to look at it. The frosted grass crunched under my feet as I walked. I could see my breath. When I was done, I asked the dogs who wanted to go inside and they all ran to the door as fast as they could.

Last night's adventures

I went down to help Jared and Debbie move their things out. Everything went smoothly enough until we got to the storage unit. They have to use special locks and the storage place people didn't put their lock on the door. So after everyone loaded it up, Jared and I went to find a solution to his problem. We found a trailer lock a Walmart. It was perfect...until we got back to the unit and found out that the hole was only accessable when the door was closed and latched. So we went back to Walmart and looked for the right kind of lock. They didn't have one but suggested we go to Lowe's.

We went to Lowe's and a very muscular man was trying to help us find the right thing. He was incredibly slow and we were in a hurry so we could get back before the storage place closed for the night. In the end, they didn't have what we needed so we came up with a McGuyver plan. Jared bought what we needed and we got to the storage place as it closed.

We parked in the parking lot across from his unit. When we were unloading the truck, the fence seemed a lot shorter than it did when we were faced with climbing it. Climbing fences is much easier when your feet are small enough to fit inside the holes but that wasn't the case for either of us now. To top it off, the chain link fence is the kind that has the metal prongs on top. We found an area that the prongs were just about even with the top tube so it was much less dangerous. We found pallets nearby and used them as ladders.

Our plan took some work to actually make happen. I taped a padlock to the inside of the door, a loop of zip tie was later attatched. Then, we were able to stuff the zip tie behind the hole so when the latch was closed, we could reach it with our fingers. Jared latched onto it with one finger and refused to let go and he somehow managed to pull the zip tie through the hole. It was finished up with another padlock attatched to the zip tie sticking out. Not the most secure lock ever but it was more secure than it was before we got there.

We climbed back over the fence and got rid of the evidence of us being there (the pallets). Then, we both ate pizza at his house. I left much later than I had planned on but it was a fun evening.

Fall drive to Orem

When I went down to Orem on Sunday, I noticed this flock of sheep on a hillside and a man standing nearby with two sheep dogs. So when I saw them again on Tuesday, I drove by them. The same man was there fixing the same bit of fence he was standing by the day before. I've never seen a real life shepherd before but now I have. He waved at me as I was driving away.

I love the drive to Orem. There are so many beautiful things to see all year but fall is one of the most beautiful seasons with all the colors. The reds are more vibrant this year than I remember from last year. I just had to stop and admire the beauty of nature.

True Blue's in physical rehab

True Blue (my bike) had to go to physical therapy after her accident. She needed her derauiller hanger set, her stem changed and her rear wheel needs some minor truing. So I had to drop her off and won't get her back until next week. Once I get her back, I won't even be able to ride her until I fix the flat. I need to get new tires too but I'll just have to keep using the old ones for a while longer. The tires I use used to be $35/each but they've changed the tires a little bit and they are now $75/each!!! I'm not willing to spend that much on a single tire no matter how good they are! I'll have to find something else.

Croutons for my salad

I just had a simple garden salad for dinner. I had to use up some veggies before they went bad. One of the things I love in salads is croutons. One of the things living out here has taught me is that since I can't just run to a store whenever I want something, I can easily do without or figure out something else. I pulled the bread heels out that I had thrown in the freezer when I finished off the last loaf. I turned the oven on at 250 and left the bread in the oven while I took the dogs for their walks (short ones this time). When they came out, they were dry all the way through. I cut them into chunks. I learned that it's best to cube them before they go into oven. It's much easier to cut when it's still moist and it doesn't waste so much bread either. The croutons added the needed crunch to my salad. :o)

I had chef's salad at Mom and Dad's last night and it was really good. Then my salad again tonight was really good as well. I don't have salads very often. I always forget how much I love them! I need to eat them more often!

A birthday surprise

I was getting ready for church this morning. I haven't realy plucked my eyebrows since before the accident and they're getting kind of overgrown. I leaned into the mirror and there was my brthday surprise, a white eyebrow hair!!! I plucked that sucker right out. Yikes...I'm not that old! I'm only 29! I can handle white hairs on my head. I've never pulled one of those out. I don't like them but I let them stay. For some reason, the eyebrow hair really made me feel older. Mother nature played a bad trick on me today. :o(

Wheeler Historic Farm

One thing I wanted to see before moving was Wheeler Historic Farm. I've been once before but I didn't get to tour the house. The house turns out to be a museum and so you can't touch anything or even take pictures. Too bad, it was really beautiful inside. I stayed and walked around for a couple of hours after the tour. There was a baby calf but he wasn't facing me and he never stood up the whole time I was watching him so I didn't get to see his face. They have lambs, turkeys, chicken, ducks, geese, horses, cows and at least one cat. There are lots of different buildings but most aren't open to the public. I much prefer the farm Adam and I went to last month over this one.

Rag curlers

I was cleaning out my master bathroom when I found my rag curlers. I made them by cutting strips of fabric. I put my hair in them after I washed it and slept in them. They are much more comfortable to sleep in than the curlers with the hard plastic clips. But I haven't figured out how to make them tight on my head.

For the time that I was awake, I had to wear a bandana to keep my hair out of my face. After I woke up, I took them out. It's really hard to undo a knot when you can't see it. I combed my hair out to undo the knots which really frizzed it out. I have never figured out how to make your hair look good after taking out the curlers (these or store bought) and combing it. I put it up to corral it. I felt kind of ridiculous with all the frizzy curls on my head but I had already planned on going to Wheeler Historic Farm today so I went anyway. By the time I got back into the car, it had relaxed some and looked better. I love having curly hair because it feels like I have so much more! And it's something different.

Breakfast plate

This morning, I made apple breakfast patties. Once they were done, I fried up some potato chunks in the sausage grease still in the skillet and used leftover tomato gravy instead of ketchup. I've had the patties before and I really like it.

Apple Breakfast Patties

1 egg white slightly beaten

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

1/2 cup apple, finely chopped

3 tablespoons quick-cooking oats

2 tablespoons fresh parsley snipped

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground sage

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 dash ground red pepper

1/2 pound ground pork or ground turkey breast

1.In a medium mixing bowl combine egg white, onion, apple, oats, parsley, salt, sage, nutmeg, pepper, and ground red pepper.

2. Add ground pork or turkey . Mix well.

3. Shape the mixture into eight 2-inch wide patties.

4. Spray a cold 10-inch skillet with nonstick coating/cooking spray. Heat over medium-low heat. 5. Cook patties for 8-10 minutes or till meat is no longer pink and juices run clear, turning once.

Makes 8 patties.

Tomato Gravy

2 tbsp. bacon drippings

1/4 cup chopped onion

3 tbsp. flour

1 bay leaf

1 1/2 cups tomato juice

1/2 cup milk

2 tsp. brown sugar

1/8 tsp. celery salt

1/8 tsp. black pepper

1. Melt drippings in medium saucepan, over medium heat. Add onion, and cook until onion is yellow.

2. Add the flour and bay leaf and continue to cook until flour is deep gold, 4 or 5 minutes.

3. Add tomato juice and then whisk mixture until smooth.

4. Add the rest of ingredients and cook until mixture is completely thick, 4 or 5 minutes longer. Remove bay leaf.

Gracie 1st Vet visit

Adam tried to not take Gracie to the vet because of money but her eye has been giving her problems and he found a worm in her stool. We first weighed her 2 days after we got her on a kitchen scale. She weighed1 lb 4 oz. She's now 3 lbs 4 oz. They told Adam that she's 3 months old. She has tapeworm which is easliy treated with a single dose and she's on antibitotics for her eye infection. She's is fully litterbox trained now and she's not a fan of being outside. Adam takes her out but she just runs back in. I'm not so sure she'll be happy about living on a farm...maybe we'll have to rethink that. Oh, and they said that she's not a calico, she's a tortise shell. I don't know what the difference is, I guess.

Shopping bags

This morning I wentout to pick some more hawthorne berries. I picked for 3 hours and 15 minutes and got just under 5 pounds. I found a tree that wasn't nearly as big as most of the others and had more berries ripe then not. I was able to pick whole clusters instead of one by one. The down side to this tree, however, was that it had many more thorns and they were bigger than in the trees I was picking in yesterday. I have lots of little cuts on my hand that sting when I wash my hands. I went to move a branch and poked myself a good one in my index finger!

The wind was really picking up and gray clouds were moving in pretty quickly so I packed it up and called it a day. It never actually rained but we did get a pretty fierce thunderstorm that had Bear francticaly looking for a hiding place. He finally settled in in the cabinet under the sink. He stayed there well after the storm was over to make sure it was safe.

In the evening, I made a trip to Kimball Junction for some milk (and got a milkshake while I was there). I've been eyeing the reusable shopping bags. I keep telling myself that I'll make some and even come out ahead on the price if I use the $1/yd fabric at Walmart but that hasn't happened so I broke down and bought 7. I never remember to bring old plastic bags but I have this thing that if I pay for something, I'm more likely to make the effort to use it. Now I just have to make a habit of unloading the bags and taking them back to the car.

Harvesting Hawthorne Berries

I had a goal of collecting 5 lbs. of the hawthorne berries today but I didn't start early enough and the sun went down before I finished. I tasted a few of various colors to see which ones I wanted. It basically tastes like a green apple, but not quite so tart. I was pleasantly surprised. I thought it might be a little tart or bitter. None of the colors tasted bad but the darker ones were slightly more sweet. There's not a lot of meat in the little berries because there's 5 seeds, that take most of the inside. The sun has to be shining on the fruit or you can't tell what's red and what's purple. It was hard enough distinguishing with the sun. I kept getting stabbed by the thorns on the limbs though no scrathes, stabs were too bad. In the end, I only got 2 1/2 lbs. I think I picked for 2-3 hours, I'm not realy sure.



While I was out picking, I had dinner cooking in the crockpot, split pea soup. I had a meaty ham bone in the freezer for a few months from the last time we had ham. I always cube all the ham we dno't eat that first night and use it in recipes that call for cubed ham. It tastes much better than the bagged ones you can buy. I save the bone, with meat still attached, for soups. I've never had split peas soup before though and I had a bag of split peas to use up so thought it would be perfect. It filled the whole house with a good smell! I thought it was pretty good, not great, but it was good.



Crock Pot Split Pea Soup

1 (16 ounce) package dried split peas, rinsed
1 meaty ham bone
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, plus leaves, chopped
1 garlic cloves, minced
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon sesoning salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh pepper
1 1/2 quarts hot water

1. Layer ingredients in crockpot.
2. Pour in water, so don't stir.
3. Cover and cook on high 4-5 hours or on low for 8-10 hours.
4. Remove Bay leaf. Remove bone & meat from soup.
5. Sperate meat from bone, shred into small pieces and return to pot.

The dogs and I went for another walk tonight. They were only half as long as their first walks but they were all so grateful that I took them. Now, everyone is sprawled on the floor asleep.

Coalville History Museum

Today I went to Coalville to visit the historic museum in the basement of the City Hall. It was quite cluttered and their notes were repeated all over the place but I really enjoyed seeing some of the items they had on display. They had a room for the kitchen, a bedroom, a mining/agriculture room, a creamery, a parlor (I think), a general store, seems like there was one more room but I can't recall what was in it.

The other reason for the trip was to go to the extension office. There are lots of berries/fruit growing around here and I wanted to find out if they are edible and what they are so I know in the future. I brought in 5-6 different fruits but he could only confirm two of them (and one I found out for sure on the internet). Can you guess what they are?







1. night shade (lethal if swallowed)
2. teeny tiny crab apples
3. hawthorne berries (notice the thorn on the limb, it's just a small one)

I had already decided those were hawthorne berries but I just wanted to make sure before spent hours harvesting the berries. It's supposed to be really good for your heart. I'll just freeze them and take them to Boise where I have all the tools I need to process it into syrup and can it. :o)

Liver Treats & Walks

Every night for the past week, Bear stands by the drawer where I keep their harnesses and leashes. He doesn't stop whining until I go to bed. I didn't think I was ready to be walking them but I thought I'd give it a try one at a time. Bear was first since he's always at my side. We had 2 little dogs spending the weekend run out toward Bear. I picked him up and took a few steps and set him down. He looked at them but was so excited about being on a walk that he just moved on. We went around the block with a side trip to the river in the campground. Each dog took the same route.

Jasmine was next. She loves to run on walks so I tried it but only got a few steps before the shaking of my hip brought too much pain. I had to tell her to "easy" many times on the walk. I think her excitement was getting to her too. She didn't really care about the three dogs that guard the horses and bark as you walk past.

Jack had barked himself hoarse while the other two were on their walks. But as soon as I traded Jasmine for Jack, he became very quiet and Bear, thinking it should be his turn again, started his high pitched whining and I heard him through almost the whole walk. The little dogs came running after Jack and me and got so close that I could reach out and touch one of them. I had a hold of Jack's harness just in case but he was so calm and didn't even bark at them. Has someone switched dogs on me?? We crossed paths with another black lab named Jack. He was just walking down the street. At first, Jack pulled at the leash, but I pulled him over to the other side of our one lane road and he walked past him without pulling at the leash. He really surprised me!! I was so proud of him!!

I did better than I thought I would. My leg was a little sore from the pants rubbing me but that was it.

I did alot of coking for the dogs today. I make liver treats for the dogs ocasionally and had bought chicken livers so I could make some for them but I had forgotten that I have to puree the livers and I don't have a grinder or food processor here. I have a lot of left over liver sausage that I know I won't be using anymore so I used that in the treats instead. While that was baking in the oven, I cooked the livers on the stovetop. I froze the treats for later and I will be adding the liver to their food bowls and also as treats. They really like liver in any form. I liked this recipe for treats that I used. The one I used to use really smelled awful while cooking!! This one smelled ok and they make great training treats when cut very small.

Liver Bread

· 1 lb of any kind of liver, pureed
· 1 cup of any kind of flour
· 1 cup of corn meal
· 2 Tbsp of Garlic powder (amount optional)
· 1 Tbsp of oil

Puree the liver and mix in the other ingredients. Spread on a cookie sheet or jellyroll pan (I line a pan with foil and oil it). Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes. Cool and break in pieces. I divide into bags and freeze. It thaws very quickly or the dogs will eat it still frozen. They care not.

Visits & soup

Yesterday, I loaded the trailer with all the things to be recycled that I have been gathering for about 4 months. It filled the trailer and it even filled the trunk. After I unloaded all but the things I was taking to Jared and Debbie's, I headed down to Spanish Fork and visited with the Mendoza's. I taught them how to play graces but I don't think they liked it as much as I do. Valerie scared me by saying there was a fire in the grill where she was cooking. It just turned out to be a lot of smoke. Valerie, Alex and I carried the mattress and box spring to the trailer. I drove up to Heather and Tom's and Heather helped me carry it into the house (I hope you were able to get it into the bedroom, Heather). I visited with her for a couple of hours before heading over to drop off a bunch of plastic bags and some newspapers for packing fragile things. I stayed there for about an hour before heading home.

I've been trying to be more creative with my leftovers so I don't have to eat the same thing 4-5 nights in a row. I bought country ribs to use in the scrapple but I only used half of them. I cooked up the rest of the ribs and ate those for a couple of nights but I got sick of it. I went online and found a recipe for soup using leftover pork. It was really good!! I don't generally like anything too spicy but I loved this soup.

GREEN CHILE CHILI

1 pound cooked pork, cubed
1 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup choped onions
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (16 oz) can tomato sauce
1 (7 oz) can diced green chiles
1/4 teaspoon oregano
salt to taste
2 cups water

Heat oil in a large skillet. Add onion and garlic and cook until onion is tender. Do not allow garlic to brown.

Add flour and cook until golden.

Add cooked pork and remaining ingredients. Simmer, covered, 1 to 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Remove cover. Simmer, uncovered, 5 to 10 minutes to desired consistency.



Also, I've been trying to be as conscientious as I can about what I throw away. I recycle all the plastic that is recycleable here, glass, cans, bags, paper & newspaper but one thing I haven't been doing is saving food scraps (or rotten food) to throw into the field. Ideally, it would be put in a compost pile but I don't have one of those right now so the field has to do. So today, when I found the dogs treats had mold growing on them, I started saving the scraps and cleaned out the fridge. I'll be dumping it before I go to bed tonight. When I get settled in Boise, I'll see if I can find any red wigglers to start a compost bin.



On a sad note, Adam's dad fell from a ladder this week and broke a rib and his arm. He'll be going into surgery to have a steel rod put into his arm on Tuesday. I'm sure he could use everyone's prayers for a fast recovery.

Fall weather is here

Well, this fall weather came on quicker and earlier than I had planned on it to. Today didn't even get up to 60 here in this little valley. I've been using the wood stove to warm up the house in the morning and turning on the heated mattress pad at night to say warm. I don't like being cold but I do love fall. The cool weather makes me more active. I have to move more to stay warm. The air smells so good and fresh and the colors come out in the trees. Luckily, I was able to find a couple pairs of pants in Kimball Junction the other day.

The last couple of days, it's been so rainy and I was on my last dish cloth (washing by hand is easier when there's only one person and not enough dishes for a few days to fill the dishwasher) and was thinking that I would have to use the dryer instead of hanging it out on the line. Today the sun came out again. First thing this morning, I threw a load in the washer and hung them out to dry. I rushed inside to warm my hands by the wood stove. It felt so cozy. My setup for hanging the clothes is not ideal but it has worked for me. I just tied rope that we already had (too thick really) to the tree and tie the other end off at the end of the rope. It blocks the deck door which is annoying for me but the rope is high enough that the dogs can fit underneath everything. Maybe the next one will be better.

I also cleared out the office. It's empty of all our things except for a few larger items that will just be packed as is. I washed the walls down and scrubbed the baseboards. It's ready to have the carpet shamppoed. It's the first room to be finished. Of course, now alot of the items from the office are now sitting in my living room to be sorted and packed. With it in the living room, it's more likely to get packed quickly.

Teaching Jack to roll over

I decided that it was time to tech Jack a new trick. I never would have guessed that he was so trainable but he is the one most willing to learn new things. His all time favorite is still shaking hands. I laughed hysterically when he caught onto that one. He still makes me laugh and he's so good!

I brought out the treats and put Jack in a down, then lured his head to the side and pulled the treat away so that he had to roll over to get the treat which he did. We worked on it for only a few minutes and he did it over and over again. We did one other session for about 2 minutes but he still needs the lure, he hasn't connected the action to the cue yet but he's doing pretty well.

I tried it with Jasmine and it scared her so she ran away and stayed in her kennel for a couple of hours...she's so wimpy. Even though she doesn't like her feet being touched, she will shake hands and let me grasp it for a second...she even offered her other paw when I asked for it the other day. SHe's making progress.

Of course, there's no way Bear would roll over so I didn't even try it with him. Instead, I tried working with him on shaking hands. He doesn't like to do it and when he does, it's pretty pathetic. He doesn't bring his paw up and out to meet mine, he lightly lifts it off the ground and that's it. But I have noticed him doing it sometimes when he wants something that I won't give him...trying to appease me, I suppose.

Scrapple on a woodstove

It's been pretty chilly here since Labor Day when it went down to 40 degrees. The middle of the day hasn't been too bad but the last two days have been rainy and chilly again. I stoked up a fire in the woodstove and the house is cozy and warm again. I love that wood stove.



I've been working on making scrapple. It's an Amish dish that uses the pieces of pork and organs that aren't used by the butcher. Well, mine is a shortcut. I used liver sausage and country style ribs as the meat. It's a kind of mush (with cornmeal) that has taken part of three days to make. It's pretty time consuming for one person but if you were making it for a big group of people, it wouldn't be so bad. You fry it up and serve it with other breakfast foods. I made hash browns and scrambled eggs. I cooked the eggs and hashbrowns on the wood stove and started the scrapple on the wood stove but I just couldn't get the top hot enough to fry it up so I had to move to the electric stove and finish it up there. It didn't take too long after that. After tasting the liver sausage, I wasn't sure I'd like it all. I like liver but the flavor of the sausage was way off and had an awful after taste. But the scrapple really wasn't too bad and I'd like to try it again sometime using real liver (and onions to pan fry it with).

Trimming the oil lamp wick

I have a few oil lamps but I only had enough oil to fill one up when we got here. After filling it up, I got rid of the bottle so I have to use up as much as I can or get rid of it before the move. So I brought it into the bedroom and have been crocheting by it at night. My light was getting really dim even though I kept bringing more and more of the wick out. I read about how it used to be a daily chore to trim the wicks and wash the glass chimney. I decided it was time mine got a trim. I have only trimmed it once before. I almost didn't have to cut it, it crumbled right off. The hurricane really needs a washing but I haven't done that yet. The light is much brighter now. Lesson learned. Yeah for fresh wicks!

Leg Update

I took off my bandages and cleaned off my wound. It's shrinking and looking pretty good. I like the orange color much better than the green it used to be. The purple skin is all the damaged skin (my future scar at work). I've heard that scar tisse has a reflective quality so my leg may rival and glow stick soon. I drove out to Orem on Saturday and by the time I got home, I was really hurting. I think it has more to do with the shape of the seat. It really puts a lot of pressure on my hip/thigh knot. My calf was fine though.

Petting a wolf

I went to the grocery store and noticed a striking dog in the back of someone's pickup. As I got closer, I realized it was a wolf hybrid. I was going to take a picture with my phone camera but my camera was too full and I couldn't figure out how to empty it quickly so I gave up on the idea just as the owners came out. I walked over and talked to them. I asked if I could pet him. They said I could if I stood still and let him come to me. So I stood still until he walked over to me. They handed me a couple of snacks to give him. He let me pet him after I fed him. I asked them a few questions about him abd found out that he's a full wolf that they raised from a puppy. He sat and downed on command but he will not respond to come. He was beautiful and the softest animal I have ever touched. So now I can say that I have petted a wolf...I can just leave out the part about him being raised by humans. ;o)

I can sit and roll over

I am definitely getting better. I can sit for a short amount of time without any blankets or towels to elevate the unhurt parts. I can sit elevated for as long as I have to...20 hours in the last couple of days alone. I have woken up the last two mornings as I am rolling over onto my right side. I can't stay on it, which is why I wake up but I can stand it, it's not excruciating anymore. Even my calf seems to be doing better now. It is shrinking. I didn't think it was getting any better but then I remembered that when I first put on the 2nd skin, it almost didn't fit the length of the wound but now I can overlap the two bandages and there's still a little room. I haven't been putting the ace bandages on while I sleep or am sitting down, just while I'm walking around since my pants rub my skin and irritates everything. My leg appreciates not being constricted now. It may be taking a long time, but I am getting there.

I went out and pulled weeds for awhile today. I got to the poppy bed and decided that they would make a good decoration so I was pulling them out as softly as I could so I wouldn't break any stems. (By the way, did you know that poppy seed oil is the best oil for oil lamps? It burns clean and odorless.) I got a nice big pile of them laying in the driveway. While I was pulling them out, I noticed a large swarm of bees on the pump house next to me. They were crawling all over each other. I glanced at them every few seconds and they never seemed too bothered by me. I would watch one fly away and make sure it wasn't coming after me before I would get back to work. I didn't have the heart to kill them...I just can't do it knowing the problems bee colonies are having in recent years. And besides, someday I may have a bee skep or two of my own so I may as well get used to working close to them. Oh and in the process of gathering the poppies, I got lots of teeny, tiny little thorns stuck in my arms. I had to soak them in hot water to get them out. I already learned my lesson last year while pulling them out but it was hot so I thought I'd just be as careful as I could be....and I was. Somehow they managed to find me anyway.

Since my injury, I've been relying on the tv to alleviate boredom and every waking hour, it has been on. It got really bad. There really aren't many good shows on, ever. So, today I decided that unless there was something on that I actually cared about seeing, I would keep the tv off. I reintroduced the radio into the house. Adam found a good radio station that we could get in the house while working on the suburban this past week. Since we've moved here, I haven't been able to listen to the radio. All the clear stations I found were not my kind of music. It's so great to have the radio back again. I love music and it's so much better than the tv. Right now though, I have neither on.

I cleaned the living/kitchen area this week. I haven't done much cleaning this past month and a half and it has been driving me nuts but I just couldn't motivate myself to tackle it. I set a timer for 20 minutes. I got as much done in those 20 minutes as possible then moved to another area for anther 20 minutes. I cleaned 4 areas that way. Everything that didn't belong in those areas, I put in one big pile. The next day, I gave myself 20 minutes to put everything away. Now I'm so pleased (Adam bought and replaced the belt in the vacuum while he was here, it broke the same time I did). Even the carpets have been vacuumed and rugs have been beat clean. And since I'm alone right now, it's very easy to maintain!

This weekend didn't turn out quite like we thought

Yesterday, while Adam and I were working on the car, a kitten walked over to us. It had started storming and we were rushing to finish up. The garage door was open. She kept meowing at us then finally walked into the garage. The rain started coming down so hard that we just threw everything into the garage and decided to let her wait out the storm in our garage. We got her some food and water and made a small bed for her. The storm never let up so she spent the night in there. We’re pretty sure she’s our neighbors but I don’t know if they let her inside or not. This morning, I thought the storm was done. I let her out and she wouldn’t go back home so I closed her in her back yard. We came back out in 30 minutes to try to beat the rain that was moving back in and the kitten showed back up as it started to rain. Again, our garage door was open so she meowed at us from inside the garage. It started hailing! It’s Sep. 1st and it’s in the 40’s outside! I told Adam we were going to have an early winter. Anyway, she’s curled up in the bed in the garage again…I don’t know when this storm will actually be over and they don’t seem to notice that she’s gone.

While Adam was here, he replaced the bushing, link ends for the sway arms, the front brakes, the idler arm and bracket and a pitman arm. He was going to drive back to Boise with Gracie (the kitten from the farm) on Sunday but the storm wouldn’t allow him to finish. He was hoping to leave around noon today but that hasn’t happened. I don’t know if he’ll actually get on the road today either. He hates car work so I know it wasn’t very fun week off for him.

Gracie keeps getting more active and adventurous. She ran off twice yesterday when we took her out to go to the bathroom so we bought a collar and leash. She doesn’t really like the leash (most cats don’t) but it keeps her from running off. She doesn’t really run away, she just loves to be underneath things, in cozy places and so she’s just looking for a cozy place to lay and she’s content to stay there. Her stomach has really grown. We’re hoping the rest of her body will begin to catch up quickly. What’s really funny is that all three dogs have finally figured out there’s something alive in the house. Jack is scared to death of her. He trembles all over and gets so fixated on her, everything else disappears.

I was released from my primary teacher position on Sunday. I finally got my class to be reverent…it was great! I just wished that I had figured it out before my last Sunday. I actually enjoyed teaching them for the first time.