From the Garden

If you know me at all, you know that I love to cook. And using things from the garden is just an extra special treat. The first thing ready from the garden this season is the swiss chard and last year I tried this recipe which was a hit.

Baked Pork Chops with Swiss Chard
1 lb Swiss chard, cut crosswise in 1” pcs 3 T olive oil
1/2 t salt pepper
4 pork chops, ~ 1” thick 1 1/2 T grtd Parmesan
2 oz grated fontina or mozzarella, about 1/2 c
Heat 450°. Oil 8-by-12 dish. In bowl, toss chard w 1 T oil, 1/4 t salt, 1/4 t pepper. Arrange in dish. Rub chops w 1 T oil, 1/4 t salt, 1/8 t pepper. Put on top of chard. Drizzle 1 T oil over chard, around chops. Sprinkle cheeses over chard, around chops. Bake til chops just done, ~ 18 min. Let stand 5 min before serving. Serves 4

It was wonderful again, so I thought I would share. Use as much of the chard as you want to - it cooks up a lot. I turned my chops about three quarters of the way through the cooking because my chops - from Costco - were really thick. They were moist and tasty and the chard was delicious.

The zucchini is coming on, the strawberries, too, but hope I can get to them before the mysterious "critter". The corn is about waist high, the bush beans and tomatoes are flowering. Let the bounty begin!

The exciting happening of the week occurred on Friday when former blogger friend Lori and her partner Shari dropped by.

I say "former blogger friend" because now that we've actually met - face to face - I feel I can call her "friend" now. What a joy it was to chat with them for a while. They are on a road trip through Oregon - came from Sacramento to Bend the first day, then up to Bonneville Hot Springs to spend Friday night in luxury! Wow - am I jealous! Then, they're heading over to Astoria and down the coast. I sure hope that they are able to spend a night at my favorite beach spot - the Sylvia Beach Hotel in Newport.


I just had to put this photo in

We've been plagued with flies this year in the garage and some of them make it into the house when a door is left open :>) Dean's solution was to suck them up in the vacuum. Pretty funny to see - use your imagination!

Shannon and Dean have been working on the "guest house" formerly known as a shed. I think that Shannon will be able to move into it tomorrow!

Part 3 of ...............

If you're just getting back to my blog (like I am - ahem..) as few words of intro
We recently returned from a 2 month trip and I have finally managed to get my photos ready to post. I am doing the trip in order, beginning from a couple of posts back. Hope you enjoy our "vacation" even a little as much as we did :)

We spent another night at our favorite little RV park in Quartzite again - the usual - laundry, showers, dump, and fill. Then we met up with Jim and Janet again headed for gold country - we hope!
We spent a rather "interesting" night in a camp spot near Stanton, Az - home of many gold claims. That's the problem - there is probably gold in the area, but everything is pretty much claimed up. The dirt road to get there was - bumpy, to say the least, so we were somewhat disappointed to find - nothing! Our campsite for the evening was loaded with spent and not spent shells of many sizes. I picked up probably 15 pounds of spent and at least a box of unspent 22 shells and various others. It gave me something to do.......... Strange, I know.
From there, we climbed, and climbed, and climbed some more - gained maybe 3000' through some very interesting country on our drive to Prescott. That's Pres'-cut - - not Pres-cot. Through town - no bypass in this area - and out to Lynx Lake. This area has public mining, similar to that at Keysville, managed by the Forest Service and BLM. We found a site at one of the 2 campgrounds on or near the lake and settled in - we thought for a couple of days, but ended up staying for a week! Obviously, they guys FINALLY found some gold!!! Here is our campsite - a double site with a shelter, nice tables, a fire pit, and dumpster, water and restrooms nearby. Paradise!
The guys are hard at work

A couple of days before we were to leave, the guys met John, a real nice kid from Flagstaff who was up doing some panning for the weekend. He learned from his grandfather and wanted to try his luck. He spent our last day there with us and we had a great time getting to know him. John is in the white shirt in the photo below - Janet to the left and Jim to the right.
While the guys were out finding our fortune (NOT!) Janet and I took Abbey for a walk along the lakeside trail. Again, fishing piers extending out into the lake. I think the fish here would be fine to eat :)
After Lynx and a night in an RV park to refresh, we said our goodbyes to Jim and Janet. They were headed back to Vegas to see the house they bought - a whole story in itself - and Jimbo. We were on our way to see Shannon - Dean's youngest - in Overgaard, Az.
I had no idea how beautiful the area would be. Up on the Mogollon Rim at about 7000' in elevation, the scenery is much like the pine forests of the Pacific Northwest. The night we spent camping on our way to Shannon's was a little chilly, so Dean was looking for his favorite flannel shirt . It was here that I realized that I had left it - and 2 pair of his jeans and one of my favorite shirts - in the dryer at the RV park in Prescott. Woe is me - it is hell to get old and forget things!! I'm sure that none of you have ever done anything stupid like that!

So, we get to Shannon's and get set up in his front yard. Nice! The next day, we went out to see his property which is about 45 minutes out of town - seemingly in the middle of nowhere. He is buying 82 acres of fairly flat land and has great plans to build an earthship someday, so has collected hundreds of tires for the foundation. He has actually lived in the trailer and in the schoolbus you can see on the property as well as in a teepee - since removed.
Dean and Shannon replaced the front brakes on his car while we were there. I think they did as much talking as working though.........
Shannon's dog, Sage, and Abbey became good friends - thank goodness - because Shannon is coming up here to stay with us for the summer as soon as his mother visits him in Overgaard. We are looking forward to having him around - and having his help around the place for some projects that Dean has planned. Dean - projects? Always!We went for a ride one afternoon up Black Canyon and hiked up to an old Indian dwelling that Shannon knew of. Apparently someone else had found it because most of the walls had been knocked over :(Whoever it was, however, left the matate and grinding stone. Someone must have used it a lot because it is very deep.We were fortunate to have been able to get to know several of Shannon's good friends. Twice we went to Betty and Wayne's for dinner. Photo below was a birthday dinner for Betty's Dad - James Bond. Really - that is his name!This is Betty and JamesGeorge Bond, Betty's brother, Shannon, and James. They've adopted Shannon, I think! George and James live near Shannon's property.Betty, James, and Dean. Since Dean's birthday was coming up in a few days, Betty even made him a cake, too!
Betty and Wayne
Thanks to all the Bonds - we had a great time getting to know you all and hope to see you again!

Gee whiz!

Wow, it has been a long time since I've posted. I don't have any excuse, really, except there were other things which occupied my time!
That being said, here goes a post - of sorts.

We had some pretty good snow before Christmas. The birds were at a loss for food - other than the feeders, of course, so I made up a batch of suet. We tried different ways of offering it to them - since we couldn't locate the suet feeder - I stuffed pine cones - gone in no time! I filled little paper cups on the deck so we could watch them - also gobbled up. We filled a pan with water for them, it froze in minutes. We had a heater for the bird bath, but the wires broke - not the best solution.
When the sun returned, it was absolutely gorgeous!!!
While the weather kept us indoors, Dean went to work on projects in the shop. His brother, Larry, bought his lathe and has been creating pens and bottle stoppers, so Dean designed and made a display rack for him. I think he will have to design a bigger one, though, because he has too many to fit in this one all ready!
Dean also made a trivet out of the wine corks we have been collecting over the years. This one was a Christmas gift for Janet (and Jim)There is a story behind this next project. Dean made a name sign for Colin's door when he was a baby. Colin is the son of our good friends Deb and Jill and they are now caring for 3 of the cutest little girls and hoping to adopt them soon. Dean made each of them name signs and also for Larry's grandchildren, Zane and Avril, and our neighbor's granddaughter, Cydnie.
Autumn especially enjoyed her new name sign because, at 7 years old, she was a bit jealous of Colin's. Now she has her very own!! Here, Dean is having fun reading to Colin and being read to by Autumn.
We were in Vancouver for the holiday, during their foot of snow. This is in front of Jim and Janet's house - there is an open skylite above the Japanese maple that created this huge icicle.

The Mailboat/Jetboat trip

It was a cold and foggy morning - 8 AM - when we left Gold Beach for our Mailboat trip up the Rogue River. Here, we just left the dock and are headed towards the ocean - before turning up the river. You can tell that people are bundled up pretty well - our "driver", Jon, even handed out wool blankets.
When we broke out of the fog, it warmed up quite a bit. Here are some live oak (as opposed to "dead" oak?) trees on the hillsideWe were able to see a lot of wildlife - harbor seals, bald eagles, osprey, even "Rogue River moose" (cows...) Here is a blue heron that posed for us.
We were able to see a little white water. Jon did several rapids more than once to get us good and wet. We sat at the very back of the boat - in my opinion, the best place. We were able to talk to Jon and get more tidbits of information and the seats are slightly elevated, so the view was pretty good. But the BEST part was that we could stand up for the white water, which made it even more fun. I didn't want to get my camera wet, so this is the only photo I took - not very big rapids, but it was fun.
We stopped for lunch at the little town of Agness. The Rogue sometimes "overflows" it's banks during spring runoff - actually, it ALWAYS does. But back in 1964, there was a warm spell during December which wreaked havoc on the area. A new bridge had just been built over the Illinois River where it flows into the Rogue - it was washed out. There was a suspension bridge to the town of Agness - it washed out - which means you now have to go upriver about 4 miles, then cross ANOTHER new bridge and down a narrow windy road to the town, because "they" decided to not build another bridge. And this wasn't even a "bridge to nowhere"........... The high water marks for various years are indicated on signs on the trees visible as you walk up the path to the Singing Springs Resort which is nestled in the trees in the photo below. The high water mark for 1964 is on top of the roof of the cafe - at the bottom of the arrow. Now, that's some high water!This is Jim and Janet and our driver/guide, Jon.
Jon pointed out many things on the trip, but of particular interest was this section of the river which had a natural "sluice box" in the rocks. Evidently, miners in the early days got quite a bit of gold from the cracks between the rocks. I was on the wrong side of the boat to get a good picture, but hope you can get the idea in the photo below.
On the way back down the river, we finally got to see the otters playing in the sand on the river back. When we pulled over, they scampered to the left and disappeared under some rocks, but I got a couple decent photos - even one in mid-jump!We enjoyed the trip, but it made Janet and I wanting a real whitewater rafting trip. Maybe next year....... From Gold Beach, we went up the coast to Bandon and stayed in a campground with hookups for a night to charge the batteries and take care of all those trailer things (dump and fill) From there, it was over to Roseburg and I5 and the previous post.
The next post will be from the Chetco River out of Brookings.

The 2nd Summer Vacation..........

I'm back again......... Been a long, but good week (OK - more than a week, Becki......) Jim and Janet arrived on Sunday, the 13th and we were lucky that Gary was on a layover in Redmond, so he and Nikki came out for dinner. So, I had (wanted....) to take a 3 generation picture. Nikki is almost 16 and is a pretty neat girl! We're sorry that Teresa couldn't join us because of a previous commitment, but looking forward to their next trip through town. Monday morning, we packed up and went up to Elk Lake. Found a good campsite at a small campground and pretty much had the place to ourselves. Except for Tuesday night when a band of partiers decided to invade. They showed up around 11 and had a good time till about 3 AM. Dean was so tired he slept through it all, but the rest of us were trying everything including covering our heads with pillows and stuffing cotton in our ears. Nothing helped! The next morning, the campground people came through and filled 2 large trash bags with cans and bottles. Arrrggghhhh!! But that was the only "rain on our parade", thank goodness. The mosquitoes were not even that bad.
Roasting peppers on the campfire - veggie packets on the coals. Yummmm!
Little Miss "I'm afraid of water" Abby had a pretty good time, too. She likes to wade and try to drink the lake dry, but anything past her belly is a no-no. Dean coaxed her into his kayak and, though he has some scars from her nails, she was pretty proud of herself!
Way out there in the lake!
She is smiling
Janet and I kayaked every day. In the background (Neecer) is South Sister. Janet is paddling toward the Elk Lake Resort where we tied up next to the sailboats and read for a while, then went "ashore" and got an ice cream cone. Ahhh, the life!Stretching out and getting the feet tanned.
The guys spent their time fishing, but the results were not too encouraging. They did take a pretty good sized fish home for their neighbors. All in all, a VERY relaxing trip. More in the next post.

What We Did On Our First Summer Vacation

My, oh, my! Has it been a long time, or what!
Well, I have a BUNCH of catching up to do, don't I?
The last time I blogged, we were going to be taking off for Moscow. This is a photos from the trip up - the rolling wheat fields of the Palouse region in Washington. Beautiful at this (or any!) time of year. Some of the fields has been cut, but most not. It was a nice and uneventful trip up.
We connected with friends, Gordy and Faye, and got set up in the "RV park" (ing area....). It was a gravel area next to the road going in to the real parking area at the Kibbie Dome at the U of Idaho. They stuck us waaayyyy out in the hinterlands. But it was a nice (long) walk back and forth to sessions 2 or 3 times a day. The biggest reason I was there was to represent NHTS at the ministry fair. There were 60 - 70 tables set up for everything from individual churches, to an orphanage mission in Africa, to Reconciling Ministries. Lots to see.
Conference was good - legislative and informational sessions, worship services, honoring retirees, and saying goodbye to the Bishop who is moving on - and up - in the organization. He will be missed - what a great guy.
After closing session on Friday, we headed out for Wallowa Lake. Gordy and Faye went to Coeur d' Alene, Idaho to watch their son participate in the Iron Man. The road from Clarkston south - the ONLY road without going 100-200 miles out of your way - wasn't exactly designed for RV travel!! Miles and miles of switchbacks up 1500' in elevation, then down, then up..... you get the idea. Because we weren't making very good time, we decided to stop for the night rather than go all the way. There was a quaint little state park on one of the upper elevations, so we stopped there. The campground host told me about a nice trail to Puffer Butte, so the next morning, Abby and I took a "little" walk. Very nice trail. Here is an animal habitat tree that I came across.
At the top, you could see forever! The photos below actually make a panorama - try and use your imagination........
The area gets a lot of snow - the trails are marked for cross country skiing. The hosts said they had to shovel out their campsite just a few weeks previous. This is a Forest Service shelter, complete with a wood burning stove and lots of firewood.
Going down the other side, I was able to take a photo showing a little bit how the road was. Dean said there were corners that you could read your own license plate.
When we got to Wallowa Lake, we worked on building a cabin for our retired minister. Rather than double post all the photos, you can here to see what we did. The reason that I hadn't updated this blog is because it took me over a week to put together that blog! It was fun, though. I hope people leep checking it because I hope to have more photos, and we are planning on going back this summer to do some more work.

Before we left for Moscow and Wallowa Lake, Jim and Janet came over for a week of R & R. We appreciate them coming because it keeps us from overextending ourselves (and our bodies....) like we usually do. The R & R is for us! We did finish up the garden and watering system while they were here, though.
Jim knows that I am not much on desserts and he had a sweet tooth, so - he baked a cake! Luckily, I had all the ingredients on hand.
Janet had to help, of course.Well, Dean helped, too - cleaning the beaters!Janet is helping again........The finished product - was VERY yummy!!!!!!Janet got to see the full row of irises in bloom. They were gorgeous this year. This is a volunteer in the back by the garden. Does anyone have any idea what it is?
These are some of the cactus in back, just beginning to bloom.
These are in front - some of the ones we brought back from Nevada last year.Remember this plant from the June 2nd post? (I would link to it, but I haven't learned how to link to my own post, yet....)

We have been having off and on smoke from the fires in N. California. This was one of the bad days when we could small it, too. Our mountains are gone! The smoke was actually worse than when they had the fires up by Sisters.And this is what Dean has been doing. He has been trying to get out there in the morning before it gets too hot. Bill had been bringing pickup loads of firewood back from along the road on his job in the valley, and we had to get it cut and stacked. There is now quite a bit of wood for this winter. We still want to get out and get more so we can keep a year ahead. Only problem is - where to put it!So, that kinda catches us up. Jim and Janet are coming this weekend for the big fishing trip to the high lakes - now that we can get to them. They sure were late becoming accessible this year! I will try to post again before we go, but if not, you can look forward (?) to lots of photos when we return. Special thanks to Nora and Neecer for giving me kudos, and to Em for the love! I shall return! Again!