It's been a busy week . . .

We've been working really hard getting things organized in the pole barn. But I'm not ready to show you pictures yet, because we're still in the "ugly stage!"

But while we've been working the inhabitants of the Hoop House next door have been busy growing taller and fuller. Here are some pictures for proof. The Hoop House was built last summer and planted this spring and does not allow any four-legged animals inside to devour the garden. And we all get to join in the harvesting!

Hoop House entrance—doors open but fenced to keep critters out!

Peas are on the left (so you can have something sweet to munch on upon entering), then string beans, lots of greens and lettuces in the front, yellow squash and zucchini, potatoes, onions, and tomatoes.

The back end is planted with twelve tomato plants. Each one has blossoms, and one of them actually has four tomatoes.

This tomato plant is one of three "orphans" we brought with us. We have no idea what kind of tomato it is, but it was about ten inches tall when we planted it, and it is the one plant that has four little tomatoes on it.

These peas are almost ready to shell.

D-CC is digging holes and putting in the poles for the fence to keep the deer out of the future orchard. We're going to buy a fruit tree honoring each of our grandchildren, and the C's are going to put in one for each of their grandchildren plus a couple extra so I think the plan is to have a dozen trees! Geeze, that's a whole lotta fruit!

Blueberries planted in back of the Hoop House. This is the first year there are berries, and they are delicious!

I love this time of the evening when you can see the reflection in the water.

Fish pond on the front side of the dam, where the stream runs into the river.

R&R in Newport with Friends

We took a couple of days to catch our breath after the Varner visit. We headed over to the coast and rented a trailer at the Thousand Trails reserve called Whaler's Rest. While there we visited friends, Lou and Judy, who also have a lot at Park Sierra. They have a unique setting, to say the least. They've found a place to rent in a warehouse district of South Beach, Oregon. They can just squeeze their 34' motorhome in the warehouse as long as they park catty-wampus and still be able to close the door. The landlord built a loft with stairs, and a small room on the lower level to use as an office/dining room. Lou and Judy are fabulous hosts and we had a great time just catching up with each other, while dining the first day at a tiny local restaurant "Fish Tails." The second afternoon we spent lunching at their place (some yummy clam chowder, sourdough bread, an awesome salad and fresh strawberries for dessert—and then took a drive around the area. We got out and strolled around near the aquarium just spending time with good friends. When we returned to their place we met some of their neighbors: two women who work in wood making beautiful furniture out of burls, another couple of women who love making quilts who also quilt their own using a to-die-for long-arm quilting machine. There are stained glass workers, beaders, and an assortment of artists working in the warehouse area.

Beautiful weather, wonderful friends, good food . . . life is good!

Lou and Judy outside their Oregon home base. They love it here all year—even the very stormy winters!

This picture was taken as we sat on their backyard deck.

The dining area—once an office where they were in the process of writing another book.

Now we're back in Cascadia with two weeks to get this place in ship-shape for our friends, the Thompsons, to come and get to work making Pegs and Jokers games!

Pretty fun to be able to get this shot of our little hummer who is spending more time chasing other hummers away than nourishing her own body!

No wonder we're pooped!

The V-Party-of-Five minus one left yesterday after church. We've been just vegging since they left, although we did get up enough gumption to go and pick some more blueberries! But as I'm thinking of all the fun we've had with them, and amazed at how fast the time flew by, I realize that we've just been through ten very busy days. They arrived Friday late afternoon and on Saturday we hung out at Camp Cascadia and made plans for the rest of the week, and played with the neighbors next door we've known for over thirty years. If I can remember them all, this is kinda how our days went:

• Sunday, after church and lunch, the kids and JJ went with the CCs on a hike to check out the indian caves. They got to within 20' from the caves and ran into a wasp's nest and several got stung, but little CD got it the worst. When they returned and eased the pain with a bit of meat tenderizer paste, they had fun with a piñata over at the CCs.

• Monday was berry picking day - two farms and lots of berries, with lunch in between. Then, after dinner, we hosted a campfire with singing and smores. Mr. C enjoyed his very first-ever S'more! KL and JD led some "follow along" songs they learned at a family camp they had attended a couple weeks prior to coming to Oregon. They were a real hit and we all had fun!

We all had fun as KL and JD led follow-along songs. They brought back memories from when their mom and auntie were their age sing around the campfires.

His first s'more!

• Tuesday started out with yummy blueberry pancakes and bacon for breakfast, cooked on the new griddle on the barbecue. Then the kids practiced with their new archery skills, having just learned this sport a couple of weeks ago and are already pretty good.

Such form! The one on the right is a neighbor boy.

It was laundry day in town, then dinner at the local Mexican restaurant after which we took in the movie "Transformers." The best part of the movie, for me, was the air conditioning as it was in the high 90s today with mega-high humidity, too!

• Wednesday was spent at Foster Lake. It was a warm day so the water was perfect to cool off, plus the CCs came over with their boat and provided some boating fun.

• Thursday K took JD fishing and came back with six nice Kokanee. We barbecued them for dinner! KL and CK painted in the art studio while JJ and I worked on our quilting projects.

JJ put on the finishing touches to the quilt binding. Now it's almost ready to hang in her living room, and it will look gorgeous!

• Friday included more quilting for JJ and I and the kids spent practically the entire day next door (they love the CC's kids, and they all get along so well). Then the Sweet Home Rodeo in the evening, What fun! CD participated in the "Mutton Bustin'" earning a trophy, while KL and JD joined in the Calf Scramble and they each came back with a new t-shirt showing that they participated!

Here we are waiting for the rodeo to start.

The rodeo-style drill team from Washington state. They were fabulous and rode those horses very fast!

• Saturday CD woke up smiling because it was his turn to go fishing with K. JD was going to go but he woke up not feeling so hot. It was going to be a hot and muggy day so JJ and I decided not to go to the quilt show and just stay inside working on our own quilts. The fishermen didn't have any luck today but they sure had fun anyway! Saturday evening we tried our skills at Dutch Oven cooking and made a delicious berry cobbler. We'll definitely do some of that style cooking, because it's such fun.

• Sunday morning was spent getting ready our contributions to the church potluck. The dedication of the new parish hall at church brought in over 90 visitors. Tears welled up in my eyes when I heard all the harmony while singing the hymns. Normally there are only 8 parishioners who live here all year, and with our extended families during the summer we'd bring the congregation count up to 18!

Saying goodbye is always a hard thing to do when either of our daughter's part, but we always look forward to the next time.

Here is KL after a hot afternoon of berry picking—and she doesn't even like blueberries!

Here's JD coming in for lunch from swimming in Lake Foster. He has an amazing appetite and loves any kind of food!

CD had a great time this summer. Here he is at Monday's campfire.

Today the tent came down, and the goat next door has been busy munching away at the grass around the perimeter of where the tent has been, and it's pretty quiet around here. We already miss them and look forward to another visit next summer!

Life is Good!

And now we wait . . .

A week ago yesterday we stepped out on to our deck where our "herb garden" grows in pots. I noticed that something had eaten the top right off of a lovely bunch of parsley. As I scanned down the stem the culprit was discovered. And CD decided we needed to put said culprit into a jar and feed it, keeping it as a pet!


The beautiful catepillar had quite an appetite and seemed to be quite content in the jar as long as we tossed in a sprig of parsley a couple times a day. Lucky for CD I have two parsley pots so one (the one the catepillar started munching on in the first place) became the "feed the catepillar plant." She was named by CD—he called her Kitty the Catepillar. Over the next five days Kitty became bigger . . . and bigger . . . and bigger. Actually we were all captivated by her appetite and growth and would check in on her several times a day, making sure she always had fresh food.

On Thursday (only five days from when we found her) Kitty was found under the lid of the jar amongst a web-like substance. The lid was screwed on so I was afraid she wouldn't have the air supply she may need to exist. When JJ got back from town with the kids, she (the one in the family who was totally fascinated with Kitty) unscrewed the lid and put a few holes in it, and at the same time, found a few more twigs for Kitty to anchor her chrysalis.

Yesterday JJ watched the chrysalis change right before her eyes from a brown-green to a camo-color matching the twig on which it was anchored. Amazing!

If you look closely you can see the string of web-like substance acting as a sling to hold her in place. Isn't her camo-coloring awesome!

We are all anxious to see what Kitty becomes . . . a beautiful yellow butterfly such as the many we've seen flying around, or an ugly brown moth! So now we wait . . .

Dutch Oven Berry Cobbler

We finally tried our Dutch Oven techniques we learned during Stagecoach Days, back in April. From the Tay Berries and the Marion Berries we picked on Tuesday we bagged and froze six quarts—one of which we enjoyed in this recipe! This is the cobbler we consumed after dinner tonight! (Well, there's a bit left over for K and I to have tomorrow night—but not much.) Yummo!

KL adds hot charcoal to the Dutch Oven.

Just needs a bowl, spoon, and scoop of vanilla ice cream!

A Budding Tole Painter

KL and I had lots of fun today. She wanted to paint a box with flowers. After browsing through a few of my favorite books she chose a design which I roughly sketched to fit her box. After very little instruction on my part she became quite comfortable manipulating the brushes to create the different strokes.

Her painting is fabulous, especially for her "first" serious tole painting effort. I think you can tell she is pleased just by her smile!

Way to go KL, I'm so proud of you!

Kokanee King

Papa and JD took off early this morning to Green Peter Lake to go Kokanee fishing—our favorite fish while staying at Camp Cascadia. They launched the boat by 6 a.m. and were off to catch the big ones! Now catching these fish are sometimes tricky because you never know how deep they are, depending on the weather and the fish finder was unavailable. So back at the ranch we were just hoping they'd come back with at least one nice one. There have been several times when K has come back skunked!

Well, about noon-time I could hear the truck coming down the street, which is about normal timing for their return, because it gets pretty windy around that time at the lake and impossible to troll. Check out their catch—six great big ones! When the first fish surfaced, JD exclaimed "Wow, that's the biggest fish I've ever seen!" They are all 12 to 14 inch-ers.

K said that JD was a fantastic fisherman, and able to help bring them all in. He was on the net most of the time, but also reeled some in! what a great memory-maker day. Saturday, CD and JD get to go fishing with their Papa on Foster Lake.

Can't wait for dinner—yummo!

Life is good!

A day at Camp Cascadia

Today was a beautiful day with clear blue skies and white puffy clouds, a bit warm in the morning but was pleasant in the afternoon. We had a good time at the little Cascadia Bible Church. With the CCs, the Cs, the V-family, and K and I attending, we brought the attendance up to 18 (of which we were 12)! After church, and a barbecued hot dog lunch the kids and JJ went with the CCs on a hike to the nearby indian caves at the Cascadia State Park. It's a nice and easy mile hike but just 20 feet from the caves they came across a wasp nest, and little CD was bitten eight times! KL had two bites, and the wasps seemed to ignore JD, but JJ got bit too! So that ended the fun outing real fast. All JD wanted was to "go home" . . . but soon after he announced he wanted to not miss out on the piñata the CCs had left over from the fourth of July celebrations. They had promised the kids that they could break it open when they got back from the hike. So we fixed him up with some meat-tenderizer-paste (something that "Dr. CC" had recommended) and it seemed to relieve him from pain enough to enjoy the piñata!





When we arrived in Cascadia the first part of June we walked over to the Cs nextdoor to check on the hoop house which was built at the end of last summer. The purpose of the hoophouse is to have a place to plant a summer garden that the deer can't destroy. And it's working great. The first picture was taken on June 18 . . .




And here it is today! Now mind you, we've been harvesting salad greens since we've been here. There are a half dozen or so varieties of lettuces, and several kinds of "greens" which KC loves to cook up with garlic and bacon! Plus peas, beans, potatoes, eight varieties of tomatoes which are from special seeds for short growing seasons (that's our department in the garden), zucchini, crook-neck and patty-pan squash. What fun we're having, and there's nothing better than fresh from the garden! Thanks neighbors!

It's Smokin' Time

Marinate it all night in a brown sugar & salt brine . . .

Smoke it a few hours . . . and . . ta-dah!
Smoked Salmon . . . Yummo!

Life is Good!