Aqua

We finally got city water up on the Ridge last week.  It has been a LOOOOONG and expensive process.  JP has been hauling around 750 gallons of water about twice weekly for the last 3 years since our 3rd well failed.  We have amazing water pressure considering that it is coming up the hill about 250 feet in elevation!  The downside (which I hope and expect is temporary) is that it smells and tastes terrible - likely from the water coming through miles and miles of new plastic pipes.  We have installed a new filtration system under the kitchen sink for drinking water and we deal with the rest.  What a relief!!

Once spring has sprung for real, we can work on landscaping the side yard that JP has been driving through with over 6 tons of truck, trailer and water, as well as where the new water lines were buried all the way down the hill.

So, what else has been going on all winter, you may ask?  Good question!  I feel like things got so busy for a while that I didn't know which direction I was going half the time!

J came home from college for about a month.  It was wonderful having her here!  She and her roommate came home with a puppy that none of their parents were expecting!  It sounds like she has been a nice addition to their little "family" in OH.  She and I did some Christmas shopping and decorating together, including carving "Hannukah Lanterns" out of pumpkins from the garden on Christmas Eve (since we never got around to carving Jack-o-lanterns over Fall Break!)  I did a snowflake; J did Gonzo as Charles Dickens from "A Muppet Christmas Carol."

L has stayed very busy with homework - so much so that she doesn't have time to do much else.  She and I did go on some college visits before Christmas, and she has also been working on College Application Essays and some scholarship essays as well.  Right now I believe that 2 colleges not too far away from home are in her #1 and #2 spots:  Chatham in Pittsburgh and Slippery Rock.  She did have time to help decorate the Christmas tree and make Christmas cookies.

Stella was the only one that I could convince to pose in front of the Christmas tree this year.  Very suddenly over the past 2 weeks, she seems to have lost pretty much all of her hearing, so that's been interesting.  We lost all of the other fuzzy pets over the past year - both kitties, and the bunny.  So I finished making personalized grave markers for everyone out in the Pet Cemetary.

We were able to celebrate Christmas with JP's sister, BIL and niece.  We made tamales again for Christmas dinner, which were delicious!  We will be neighbors with these folks in the future in VA, and it's always fun to hang out with them.

My big Christmas present from JP this year was another Lego set - this time Diagon Alley.  I started by deconstructing the Titanic (my gift from last Christmas.)  And then spent evenings building 8 buildings in Diagon Alley from the Harry Potter movies.  I also used some Birthday money to buy another Lego kit, which was a Japanese Garden and Tea Room.

Titanic...RIP

Diagon Alley

We got several inches of snow mid-January that actually stuck around for several days.  It was enough to disrupt school a bit, but L never got time to play in it with me, and J was already back at school.  I basically just enjoyed the beauty of it, and of course, shoveling it!

We have celebrated several birthdays (Mom, J, L, and myself) and 3 holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year) since I last reported, and I already sent out care packages for Valentines Day to the college girls last week.

I have continued to do my refrigerator bulletin boards weekly:

Fridge Facts - Cold Edition

Fridge Facts - Success Edition

Fridge Facts - Darkness Edition

I also managed to finagle a food exchange between myself and a friend who is an amazing pastry chef:  I baked him a quiche, and he baked me a dozen amazing cinnamon rolls!

L is now adding musical theater rehearsal to her schedule.  She has landed the role of Snoopy in "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" at school.  Their first show is late March and they still have not received scripts, so rehearsals have been a bit sketchy.

Right now, I need to go make some guacamole and jalapeno poppers for Super Bowl supping.  Hip hip hooray!

Just the Facts Ma'am

It's been a long time since I've posted - it's been a busy season.  I have also been trying to whittle down the 3000 photos on my phone to a reasonable few hundred, but since JP and I share an apple ID account, the ones I have been deleting are somehow being deleted out of the cloud and his account as well.  I ended up putting back almost 1000 pictures and videos that I deleted.  It was super frustrating.

Here are a few pictures that I actually deleted...from my phone AND the cloud:

Fridge Facts - Pets Edition

Fridge Facts - Thankfulness Edition

Fridge Facts - Knowledge & Learning Edition

Fridge Facts - Coming Home Edition

Fridge Facts - Winter Edition

Fridge Facts - Christmas Edition #1

Fridge Facts - Christmas Edition #2

Fridge Facts - New Year's Edition

Fridge Facts - Candles Edition

A Fresh Grave

I dug another grave today out under the big oak tree, where our Pet Cemetary has grown to include 6 of our pets.  We found L's bunny, Chaz, stretched out in his favorite spot in the grass, but no longer living last night.  He was 10 years old, which is at the upper end of their typical lifespan!

He started out as a 4H project for J when she was in 5th grade.  She did show him at the Fair in 2015, but then lost interest first in 4H, and then in having a pet rabbit.  When I finally got tired of taking care of him, J was given the ultimatum:  find a new home for him.  This is how L adopted him, and she has taken excellent care of him for the past 6 years or so.

Chaz was sweet and super soft, but not super smart.  He loved dandelion leaves, carrot peels and apple cores.

He would walk on a leash albeit tentatively.

He was interested in his visitors.

I enjoyed taking him treats and chatting him up while he nibbled.  He will certainly be missed.

Oregano, Rosemary and Thyme

I harvested the herbs from my herb bed near the house and spent close to 3 hours prepping it for drying.  This is the 2nd time I've harvested the thyme this year, and the 3rd time for the oregano.  I am trying to preserve my own herbs ever since I learned from Consumer Reports that there are high levels of heavy metals in many dried herb products, ESPECIALLY oregano and thyme.

Everything is in the dehydrator in the garage, and the whole place smells like pizza!

Over the past couple of weeks I have tackled a few other projects as well.  I made and froze 12 pints of my special ingredient apple sauce (fondly known around here as "Mommy Sauce.")

I stained the potting bench and produce sink that JP built for me.

I put together a couple of Christmas trees, built out of sea glass that I have found (and made in the rock tumbler.)

I painted a new grave stone for Daisy Dog.  The girls and I painted one for her 10 years ago, but the paint has all worn off.  I searched and searched for the photo of that, but couldn't turn one up.  Mom and Dad couldn't remember her birthday, so I had to be vague.  It will join the others out in the Pet Cemetary once it gets a couple more coats of clear sealer.

I have kept up with the Fridge Facts:

Music Edition

Friends Edition

Life Edition

In the meantime, L finished her 1st 9 weeks of school - that was a mess since she left a LOT of assignments until the VERY LAST MINUTE.  Dad was cleared by Neurology to drive again.  They came and buried water lines from our houses down to the road in preparation for the city water that is DEFINITELY coming!  Things are messy and muddy around here now, and my pussy willow bush was an accidental casualty of the project, but I'll deal...as long as we get reliable water out of the whole process!!

I've also taken some time to watch the sun set on Poplar Ridge.

Happy Fall, Y'all!

Closed For the Season

Fall is slowing winding down into winter.  The first freeze is forecasted for tonight.  I think that this is the first year in a very long time that I actually had everything out of the garden ahead of time.  I went down and removed the last few cherry tomatoes and watermelon this afternoon.

I had been trying the give the watermelon extra time to ripen, but even though it weighed in at more than 8 1/2 lbs, it still wasn't ripe, so the chickens are currently enjoying it.

This is the latest that I have gotten the pool closed up for the winter.  The downside to this is that all the wet bits are sitting on the veranda in the cool, damp weather, and will take a long time to dry before I can finally put everything away in the barn.

I emptied out the potted plants outdoors and found this huge sweet potato from my ornamental sweet potato vine.  I am considering putting it in the curry that I have planned for dinner. There are a few of the pots that I bring into the garage for the winter, that will be in and out until it's finally too cold to stay outside, and I have starts of the coleus and silver falls vine in water in the kitchen window that I had outside which I would love to have for my planters next year.

Yesterday, JP and I put together these racks for split firewood and moved the remainder from last year in preparation for receiving more in the near future.  I think we are in good shape as far as winter prep goes.

And finally, the Fridge Facts for this week, the Wisdom Edition:

Almost a Gross...

Yesterday I realized that I had over 11 dozen eggs in my refrigerator, so since this was a cool and rainy weekend, I decided to do something about that!

We started with breakfast burritos yesterday (4 eggs) and then I made a double recipe of lemon curd (12 egg yolks) and a recipe of blueberry scones to eat it with (1 egg.)  I made an angel food cake to use up the remaining 12 egg whites.

Today I made egg salad out of 12 eggs and had another egg for breakfast.

I used a grand total of 30 eggs this weekend and took another dozen over to my parents. (And found this in my flower bed on the way. 😊)

I collected 10 eggs from the hens this weekend, which is actually fewer than normal.  However, I still have more than 7 dozen eggs in the refrigerator...

I Think It's Fall!

The temperatures have been nippy in the evenings for the past couple of weeks, and the leaves are falling from the trees...I think that means that Fall is here!

We have had some hustle and bustle going on up on the hill (and off it) in the past month.

L got her driver's license!

The dreaded minions of stink bugs are back - another sure sign of Fall...

...and the black walnuts have been pelting the barn and the chickens!  I picked up an entire trailer load of them from out of the chicken yard so that I wouldn't turn my ankles rolling around on them when I took out food and water for the hens!  They also did a number on the chickens' outdoor shelter!

I did some canning - these are kidney beans and black beans (I did not grow these, but they sure are nice to have in the pantry when I want to make a quick meal!)  And JP has been baking bread again.  (This one is from The Blue Zone Kitchen.  It is made of sourdough, whole wheat flour and semolina, and is very hardy and delicious.

The garden is basically done for the year.  This week I pulled out everything except the 2 cherry tomato plants (they still looked ok) and this watermelon...I don't think it's quite ripe yet.  And I've been bringing in and covering things outside little by little.

All of this (plus 2 more pumpkins) were from 2 
pumpkin plants and 1 squash plant!

This rose was left after I cut off the chard!

My dad had a minor stroke a couple of weeks back, and spent the better part of the week in the hospital.  He is home now and doing very well, but certainly gave me a scare!

J was home for her Fall Break last week - she came home on the train this time.  It was 2 1/2 hours late leaving Toledo in the wee hours of the morning last Friday, and got into Pittsburgh at 7:20 or so.  It was only 20 min late going back to school on Tuesday night.  She is taking an Art Installation class this semester, and worked on a project while she was here.  I'm not sure if she's titled it or not?

I am continuing to do my Fridge Facts every day:

Book Lover's Edition

Courage/Strength Edition

Harry Potter Edition

Lord of the Rings Edition

Napoleon Dynamite Edition

JP also had the idea to install this bulletin board in the kitchen so that we can all be cognizant of the fresh fruit and veg in the house that needs to be used...no more finding a soggy cucumber in the bottom of the veg drawer!!

Well, Happy Fall to you all!