Apple Pickin'

I mentioned last year that we have an apple orchard right here on campus. It has over 100 varieties of apples, all ripe (and cheap! fifty cents a pound!) for the picking.

So we made our annual trip to the apple orchard with some friends. This time around, the kids were less interested in playing and tasting apples and more interested in getting their bags as full as possible. Which meant they were far too busy to pose for photos. Which means there are more pictures of Rob than the kids. Lucky for you, he's pretty cute, too!

Next up: learn to make and can applesauce. Anyone have a delicious, no-sugar added recipe?
Have a delightful weekend!

Harvest Time!

 We have had a woeful garden experience this year. Like last year, we got a plot in the community garden. Unlike last year, someone has been seriously out to kill our plants. First, someone kept taking the sprinkler that fed our plot and several others and moving it over to their plot. Summer+lack of water= very sick plants. We did manage to bring them back from the brink (or in the case of the cucumbers, replant in time). After that, Rob got a drip hose, which he hooked up to a faucet that was unused by anyone else. We wove the drip hose through the garden and made sure it was watering everything, and we were set. Things looked fantastic for a couple of weeks. Until someone started randomly unscrewing our drip hose from the faucet, even though there was another completely empty faucet next to it. (Who DOES that?)

Though we managed to keep most of it alive, the damage had obviously been done on several of our plants. The onions are way small. The zucchini and yellow squash put out two and one specimens each (and for anyone who has ever attempted to grow zucchini, you know that is not only not a bumper crop, but simply unheard of). In fact, when I tried to cook the squash and a zucchini, they were both as tough and seedy as can be, even though they were just the right size for picking...I think that the water shortage must have stopped them from growing, but they were just getting tougher and tougher on the vine.

That said, we did have a few things that were hardy enough to survive a little water-sabotage.

The carrots did remarkably well, especially given their water shortage. Happily, I think they fell in the path of another plot's drain-off, and benefitted from it. We planted a typical carrot, as well as "Parisiennes," which I chose for their hardiness in tough soil and cold weather. They did well, and I am looking forward to throwing them in a pot roast. Carrots are among Squirrel's favorite foods, and so it was all I could do to get her to wash them before eating them. I am honestly really excited about the carrot situation.

Here are Squirrel and Little Bird washing the carrots and taters: 

And here they are, all shiny and clean. Along with a couple of taters (I forgot to get a picture of all the potatoes...but we should have another big harvest of these, and more carrots, in a couple weeks.) 

A few Roma tomatoes from our little plants. 

They didn't get too big (maybe the water issue?) but are still tasty! 

Honestly, our zucchini, squash and cucumbers were so sad, they aren't even worth showing you. 

I have better hopes for next year... *sigh*

We did, however, get some amazing ears of corn from a friend. We didn't have enough space to grow our own this year, so we were super glad to receive this oh-so-succulent batch. So far, my favorite flavor is when Rob grills them up with chili powder and other spices. Mmmm....

Did you grow a garden this year? What did well?

Happy Harvest, all! 

Yellowstone!

Howdy, howdy!

We are moved and mostly settled in--just need to hang the pictures on the walls! It is so nice to have all this space (our home has nearly doubled in size with this move). And a new place is like a clean slate. Even though it is a similar apartment, it feels so different here too. I will post pictures of the new place once everything is totally IN place.

Oh, P.S. to my last post. Sturgis did not happen. Poor Rob's hopes were dashed with a roadside breakdown just past Jackson (Black) Hole, WY. I told him I am going to sew a patch on his motorcycle jacket that looks like this:

He wasn't real fond of that idea...

ANYway...While my family visited, we spent a day over in Yellowstone National Park, driving and seeing the sights on the south loop. I haven't been to Yellowstone since I was just a kid--maybe 7 or 8. We went just a year or so after the fire that ate so much of Yellowstone. As a result, my memories were of a very other-worldly place--sort of apocalyptic. This time, I was struck by it's beauty and diversity.

Here are a few pictures of us enjoying the day:

{Grandpa's Buddy}

I can't decide if I like the color or black and white better...what do you think?

Ok...I like this one best:

Waiting for Old Faithful...

{Thar she blows!!!}

{Waiting for lunch...}

{Near Dragon's Breath Cave...and look, a very rare picture of Myself...}

{Dragons have stinky breath...}

{Buffalo}

{The kids were crazy about having their older cousins there. And we are keeping our fingers crossed that the visit made this high school senior think hard about Idaho for next year!}

"I have always cultivated a garden..."

While the rest of the world has already started harvesting their summer garden goods, we are only just planting. (We aren't frost free until at least the end of May or early part of June, but even in June, there were a few nights I had to haul in my pots.) Here are some shots of our little garden, or at least part of it. We have a plot in the community garden, but somebody keeps stealing our water, so it's suffering. I think we have finally brought it back from the brink, but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed.

At any rate, I've been keeping several things potted here at the apartment, and I'm grateful, as my little potted garden is currently doing better than the larger plot in the community garden.

I've got onions, cherry tomatoes, larger tomatoes, bell peppers, and strawberries.

This is a makeshift strawberry jar Rob created for me. I wanted something with extra space for the strawberries that might give them the chance of surviving through winter, so we came up with this idea of a larger pot with drilled holes for the strawberries. So far, they are enjoying their little home! 

And even finally started sprouting. Keeping my fingers crossed that we see some 

scrumptious berries soon! 

Are you growing anything this year?

Old Scratch

Has it really been nigh on a month since I posted? For shame...I have a good excuse...well, I have a good excuse for part of that. Our computer had to go to the hospital. It suddenly wouldn't start up and I thought all was lost (and was suddenly even more grateful I'd been keeping a blog, because at least those memories would have been kept safe)! Luckily, it was a wire that came loose between the hard drive and the...well...I don't know what. But a wire DID come loose, and one end of it was to the harddrive, and it made our computer not turn on, which required a lengthy stay at the Computer Medical Center (real name) to have surgery and get better. But it's back now, so I can finally upload some pictures and updates. :)

Totally unrelated to any of that, I would now like to introduce you to someone. He doesn't really have a name, though after our most recent encounter, I have started calling him Old Scratch...as in the Devil. That's right, I'm pretty sure this guy is Lucifer himself...

{Look at that EVIL...}

What? You don't believe me? Allow me to elaborate. This squirrel, Old Scratch, is probably the fattest, most well-fed, and BRAZEN squirrel in the lower 48. He lives in our garbage room of the dorm. Which means that he feeds off the scraps of 120 college girls with kitchens. {READ::::BAKED GOODS}

Not only does he have a constant smorgasbord from the garbage rooms at the dorm, he defends that territory as though the girls are going to go digging through the bins to reclaim their discarded goods and reduce his feast. More than once, I have passed by the garbage room and nearly been given a heart attack as this little demon shoots out the door and stares me down, just waiting for a sign of weakness so he can eat my eyeballs out of their sockets. 

Even worse, he has also taken to begging for scraps. 

Now that the weather is nice, many of the dorm girls are spending time eating out on the lawn in the courtyard: "Oh look!" they cry innocently as the serpent approaches. He cautiously comes over, batting his false eyelashes at them and pawing his tiny claws in the air. "Awwwww...he's hungry," I hear. There is usually a pause at this point, as the girls offer him a little snack....and then, the screaming begins. It begins because once you give Satan a foothold, he is there to stay, and as soon as you toss this heathen beast a crust, he leaps onto your lunch and makes off with it! 

The picnics are becoming less frequent. As such, the monster is escalating his attacks... 

Yesterday, on my way back from the laundry room with my arms full, I walked past the open kitchen window and heard a little scritch-scratch. My immediate instinct was to wonder what sort of trouble my children were getting into. Instead, as I pushed open the door, I saw Lucifer himself dart across my path, leap onto the recliner and climb up the back so that he stood at nearly eye level with me. He opened his beady eyes wide, stood on his hind legs and pawed the air as if to say, "Out of here woman! There is nothing to see! Go on your way!" 

I, however, did what I had to. In the face of evil, one has only a single option. And that is to scream like a sissy-girl, drop the laundry and run right back out the door....

He apparently knew he was defeated and that I would NOT be tempted to join his legion of darkness. He grabbed himself a pink cupcake and darted out the door. And this, my friends, is where he really played dirty. Did he run back to his garbage room to eat my cupcake? Hide his sins in darkness? NO. He hopped out the door, and climbed up three of the stairs that are immediately outside of it, and used his tiny little demon-paws to eat that cupcake in plain view, as if to further taunt me. In fact, he even ate the wrapper (hedonistic glutton!), which he is finishing in the above picture. 

What Old Scratch doesn't know is that I have the number to animal control on speed dial, in case he ever tries to make his way in again. 

Get thee hence, Satan....

{Close Encounter of the Moose Kind}

The weather the last few days has been positively spectacular. We suddenly went from freezing rain and wind to warm, sunny days.

Squirrel, Little Bird and I took a celebratory picnic to enjoy the weather at our local Nature Park. It has a play area and a creek, as well as a pond system with lots of ducks and geese to pelt with feed bread.

So the kiddos ate:

And then we headed for the ponds to feed the ducks. As we were putting our own picnic leftovers in the car, this little fellow came dashing out of the brush and stuck his head over the ridge. Luckily, I had my camera slung over my shoulder. He and I shared a moment, neither of us particularly keen on getting any closer to the other. He was just a young little guy, but the North American Moose isn't exactly known for its patience and friendliness with people he happens upon...

He crossed over to the stream, which he climbed into... 

...and then he thought long and hard about going over towards the playground to 

nibble the juicy green grass. After a minute, he decided he didn't like the looks of all the 

people, and headed back from whence he came. 

We finished our long afternoon tossing out bread for the ducks and geese, who seemed rather uninterested. My guess is, with the weather as nice as it was, that we were far from the first group of people with the same idea. Maybe next time their birdie bellies will be less full! 

{Winter Deep}

Hi there!

I talked to my sister the other day, and apparently, my last post made her pretty certain I was about to drive my family off a cliff.

For the record, I was not.

In fact, after I wrote that post of utter despair, I came to realize this: the weather is just the weather. I can't do anything to change it, and just need to make the most of it.

So, I went out and did the one thing that forces me to see things as beautiful, whether I think they are or not: I finally took some pictures.

Last week, just before the really INSANE temperatures rolled in, we got hit with an amazing amount of fog.

{I can, most days, easily see waaaaay up this hill.}

{Directly across the street from the water tower, usually easily visible, including the writing on the white portion. You can see how heavy the fog is, when I am less than 20 yards from it.}

{Okay, this picture is actually from a while ago, but here for comparison. This shows the farm land cater-corner from the University, and hopefully, you can see that there is a lot of visibility on most days. Way off in the distance is a house (actually a farmer's MANSION complete with hangar for his helicopter) on the horizon, about a mile away.}

{Here's what the land looked like on our foggy day. It was so crazy and just like staring at a wall. 

I'm standing in just the same spot as I was when I took the first photo.}

Cool, huh?

Here are a couple more from that day, just for kicks.

{This next one is actually a picture of the sun. You just can't see it. Because it's always hidden.}

Thankfully, the fog gave way, but with it came FREEZING temperatures. We, like the rest of the country, got some cold weather, and we sat in the negatives for a few days. I think the lowest we got was about -18, with a windchill of -35 or -40. Pretty impressive. (And also, rather painful to step outside/breathe in.)

The beauty of the weather was that it was TOO cold to snow. Meaning we got clear skies and SUNLIGHT!

In fact, we even got a few lovely sunsets, and night before last, a lovely little silver moon rose up in a gloriously blue sky:

And Rob found this on the seat of his four-wheeler (the towel he uses to cover the seat when he isn't riding it):

Frozen solid. Just like the rest of us! :) 

So glad it's February, regardless of what Punxsutawney Phil saw.