Fall 2014 and almost Summer Solstice

According to a quick internet search Trinidad, CA will have its earliest sunrise tomorrow June 13 at 05:43:32, the longest days will be June 19 & 20 at 15h 8m 6s, and the latest sunset will be on June 26 at 20:53:07. The sun will reach its northern most point above the equator on June 20 at 21:24 PDT: Summer solstice.

I am truly looking forward to the start of summer, but it's also bittersweet. After that the days will start to get shorter, warmer too. I will forever remember this past Winter of 16/17. Maybe that's why I'm trying to hold onto these coming warmer days before they even happen.

The garden is coming along. Some of it is not growing noticeably and other plants are exploding!  We added some soil amendment, but I may add more.

Craigans awesome artwork on the hard boiled eggs. We mark them so we know the difference between the un boiled and the hard boiled. Hahaha!!!

A type of crazy Columbine flower. Probably a horticultural variety rather than a totally native species. I love the color. I want my hair that color.

This is my first attempt at bread in about 10 years. It was going great until I spaced it during the rising process. It rose to the saran wrap and stuck; I tried to carefully remove the wrap. I now realize I should've let it rise again before putting it in the oven to bake. It's delicious. Small rectangular bread slices about 2" high and 6" wide.

A small photo update of the garden. The peas are going crazy! The brassicas are growing but almost stagnant. Below that two of the chard are slowly dying back but making a valiant effort at life. And you can see some "volunteers" from the compost. We added compost into the soil before planting. The "volunteers" are probably winter squash or maybe a pumpkin.

Here are some photos from the rest of Fall 2014. Many things happened that season: my sisters wedding, road tripping through Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California at warp speed and of course the pumpkin patch where I worked a week, left to be a part of the wedding and then raced back to to resume employment.

Coal train. Pretty amazing to see these trains. We use tons of coal and I'm glad I got to see how much in person because otherwise it's hard to imagine.

I wish I'd stopped to take a better picture of this. http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2230

Lassen Aleworks of Susanville, CA

My co-worker Midge at Warren Creek Farms Pumpkin patch

The wedding venue and my nieces.

My nieces grabbed my camera and started goofing around. Some of the best pics resulted :)

I received this package as part of a beer/yarn gift exchange. This was back in 2014 and I still don't know what project to use the yarn in. I love the yarn and don't want to use it in just anything. I've been thinking about it all these years. It's so beautiful, thick and locally made from the east coast.

After reading this post I've come to the conclusion I need to put more love into this. This one felt rushed yet it brings back good memories and a fondness & appreciation for my current life.
Be Well!

Gardening, Knitting and September 2014

Spring is sticking around! I'm absolutely thrilled. We'd run out of propane for the past couple months which is why I was so cranky and cold. However, the lovely propane man was able to make it up because: the rain stopped, which allowed the road to dry out a bit, which made the road a bit more solid & stable for a heavy propane truck to drive on. No more heading to town for a sauna and a shower. Although I will miss those saunas; they are SO wonderful. The first day we had propane back I baked cookies and made pizza in the oven and I boiled water on the stove top. I actually became quite the expert on making nutritious meals in the toaster oven. Toaster oven chicken pot pie from scratch was my specialty. Now that we have moved on to a Spring with propane I can laugh and let it all out. HaHaHa!!! But I have to tell you I concocted a solar shower & used my camp cook stove during those dark days. The solar shower ( as you can imagine) wasn't usable until the sun came back. So I showered outdoors anyway to celebrate. The next day we got propane :)

Today it's blustery and sunny though not warm. It's keeping the slugs away from my garden. This year I decided against tomatoes and went with broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, chard, basil and snow peas, green onions, chives, parsley and cilantro. The thyme we planted last year is doing fabulous.

Plus there are a few native plants from last year that have come back in their pots. New knitting projects abound. Here are a couple pics of a new project.

Mostly it's a bunch of knitting to obtain my gauge. Then after that we shall see what I create.

Now back to September 2014

A taster tray of beers from East of the Rockies. I can't remember which ones I tried. Wish I'd noted that somewhere. I do know that I was at the brewery in Cody, Wy.

Some Sept. snow for you. Views from my deck of the East entrance station Yellowstone NP.

Sleeping Giant covered in snow.

??? and Ultra Vans 1968 corvair powered. Sweet!!!

Serious cricket.

On the way to Cripple Creek :)

Taster Tray from

Heading over the Rockies. Sorry I wish that pic was not blurry! I made it to Utah!!!!

Alright, maybe one of these days I'll close that gap from the past to the present.

Winter has gone. Yay Spring!

This past winter was brutal. We've had rain (so much rain) since October and there's no end in sight. This spring has been pretty wet too and I'm getting tired. I don't want to complain too much though. We needed that rain. This winter my car actually grew lichen. It was my chia-car for a bit. I was going to wait until the rains stopped to wash it off. Seemed logical. But it hasn't stopped raining. Gads. The freezing cold temps hung around longer than I'm used to and I was an angry person for about 2 weeks because of it. Over the years I've found that I react to numbing cold with anger. If I walk through a creek in my water sandals and the water feels like it just melted off a glacier I get angry and become belligerent to whomever is nearby. Poor Craigan. We got through it though and today it's sunny! But the rain will be back tomorrow.....sigh.....

My camera is about dead which is why I haven't taken & posted many pictures recently. I'm still holding out on getting a smart phone. People get nostalgic when they see my flip phone. It puts a smile on peoples faces so I see no reason to get a new phone. I think even my friends grandma has a smart phone. BUT since we have no internet on the property I'm thinking of getting one solely to use as a hot spot. No internet is starting to make me cranky too.

So here's an update on my knitting! A t-shirt in the making and a blanket. My wonderful addiction :)  My friend April showed me something that said: "If knitting was crack I'd have no teeth"

We recently tried growing mushrooms. It worked, but not quite like I envisioned.  But I cooked them up and we had them with pasta.

We saw many animals on the game cam this past Fall. Fox, Racoon, Deer, even some cats, but this momma and her cub was the best!!!

Ok so I know it's TBT but here are some more pics from Yellowstone 2014-August

 Lander Brewing Company

 I found Bob in the middle of a Wyoming field!

This is where the Boiling River enters the Gardner River. The Boiling River temps are scalding. Wonderful soaking temps occur where the 2 waters mix. It was awesome!!!

 Lake Yellowstone

Life is awesome :)