Tuesday

It was another beautiful morning with just a few more clouds than yesterday. The temps were in the low 60's and the steady drip of dew onto the roof top from the dormer was evident. There was such stillness in the air. The forecast is for rain and cooler temps up and throughout the weekend. After our quiet times, Nancy mixed up some buckwheat pancake batter with a banana and fresh blueberries. Wow, that was great eatin' especially with a fried brown egg on top. I smothered mine with Amish butter and honey for a change.

After breakfast Nancy got a load of laundry on the line and I worked in the garden pulling weeds. I weeded my garlic bed and finished removing old tomato plants that have died and are no longer producing. We were ready for our morning hike and headed up the mountain. We made it all the way to the top without any rest stops. The top is pretty much a "ghost town" except for one household. Joe is redoing his porch and deck by stripping and re-staining. I think that is such a waste with pressure treated wood, Oh well it does look good for one season then it begins to peel and crack.

After our hike we had a ham sandwich with tomato, lettuce, onion and mayo on toast. I mentioned to Nancy I like buying the smoked whole ham and slicing it your self better than buying sliced ham from the deli; its about 1/5 of the cost, plus you know what your eating. This smoked ham was $1.27 a pound and deli ham is at least 6-7 bucks a pound and I think it is pressed meat. Oh well!!!

After lunch I planted some frilly ferns around the lower border of the the wooded back yard, dug up and planted volunteer wine berry plants below the lower garden, and then dug fresh potato's from my spud patch for supper. I had 3 that were at least 1/2 a pound each plus lots of regular size taters. Man are they ever good tasting. Nancy rolled these spuds in olive oil after slicing them lengthwise several times like large french fries. She then chopped parsley and rosemary and dipped the spuds in olive oil and coated the spuds in the fresh herbs and baked them in the oven while baking chicken thighs. That along with a fresh garden salad all of which I grew was delicious. We love eatin' what we grow and if we lived here year round we would grow our own chickens and have our own fresh meat and eggs.

We took off to get the mail on the golf cart and stopped to watch a logger who is clearing nearly 40 acres near our area. Wow what a mess they can make out of a pristine piece of mountain land. It usually takes around 7-10 years to hide all the destruction they do while logging a mountain side. The afternoon was about gone by the time we got back to the cabin as rain clouds moved in. I managed to spread some lime on the new grass I sowed a couple weeks ago as we are expecting rain and clouds for the next few days. That should be good for the grass and with the changing of the leaves.

Well I cleaned up the dishes as Nancy cooked and by 7:15 it is already showing signs of darkness. It's now 8 PM and pitch black outside. I miss being able to be outside until 9:30. Looks like we will not be taking our side trip this weekend to my home town in Winchester. Hopefully we can get up that way later on this month. Nancy took a few pics while I was liming the back yard. Check out the spider on a cone flower, the lack of Shasta Daisy's and the garden without plants, also the neatly manicured yard.LATER