Fall Time so far

I really need to get better about blogging more often - rather then saving up 10-hundred pictures to show off.
Okay - so here we go.

Happy Fall in Wenatchee!
Harvest time in the "Apple Capital of the world" has been awesome. It's going to be really hard to get produce at the store when we're used to apples for 50cent a pound - like Honey Crips! Yah.

Seasonal Decorating has been fun. We have an old house and a pretty creepy large yard on the corner of a busy street. So I don't send the dogs outside unless they are dressed up. :)

I saw this in the Oct. Martha Stewart Living. It's chunks of card board cut like board planks. They look pretty good. I think the big window needs another one.

Pumpkins. Carved with the beehives with my favorite one in the back. The one that plugs in...

This is more like September - but did some pretty serious peach bottling from an amazing u-pick orchard. I already told you about that...

Alright, I can't seem to change the order of my pictures.. So I'll be saving my favorite part for the ...middle.
I've had this idea to be a 'creepy guy' in our yard. We have a lot of over grown bushes, tall and droopy trees, weeds... you get the ideas - we don't really keep it up. But PERFECT for a mysterious back yard.

So I Frankenstein-ed this guy together.
This is the view from the side walk.


He's about 9 feet tall with a back bone made from a pole a scavenged from my weird back yard, 2 black sheets, old shirt, card board and duck tape.

I stuffed the shirt like a scarecrow and constructed cardboard-like football guard pads. He's also got like a card board hood - and all wrapped in a plastic baggy/poncho style. I do live next to the Cascades after all...

This is the view from my kitchen window. My favorite view. BECAUSE I can watch the jr high kids come slowly down the side walk, laughing and clinging to each other... then SPRINT up the road.
Yah, I've seen it several times.
wwwwhhhhaaaaahhhhaaaa

On to lighter news. Apples. Beautiful.

And finally. Ben's traditional butternut squash soup with sausages and blue cheese. Oh man. I know it looks scary enough - but it's awesome.

U-Pick

We are seeing the first of the harvest in Wenatchee - the Apple Capital of the World. This weekend we visited the 'Taste of Harvest Festival' - which was just a big farmers market. Then went to a U-pick farm. Ben was walking around in dream land :) Not only were there rows and rows of peaches, nectarines, grapes, apples, but chickens, pigs, goats, cows.... and a pumpkin cannon.

We brought home the mother-load. My favorite part (other then fresh-picked fruit at my house) was the beauty of the orchards. It was cool, cloudy and quiet. :)

Final product was bottling. Something we're still working on....
Tips and advice are welcome...

a FAIR-ly good weekend

Yeah! It's fair season! Turns out in Washington State there is no 'state fair' like Salt Lake has a 'state fair'. However the largest fair in the state is in Puyallup (pronounced pew ALL up) - about 2 1/2 hrs west of us, near Tacoma.

Here are just a few of the fun things we saw in the 8 hrs we were there!

Always a favorite - Mutton-Busters! I like this and don't like this. It's fun - but kinda insane that we put kids under 6 yrs old on a running wild animal. (yeah the sheep is not wild.. but has pounding hooves!)
There were even 3 year olds doing it! Tough kids!

This is for my brother Mike :) Chain saw wood carver.

Yeah, you know piglets are cute. Ben wants a piglet..... that's still under discussion.

This was really cool. Kind of a acrobatic act. Really really fun!

Ma! This was the grand champion winner

So this was cool and kind of a bummer. It made me realize that I probably won't win anything at the fair with my knitting until I'm a granny - and have 50 more years under my belt.

Ben studies the entries for next year.

This was the favorite part. This little girl was snuggling with a small cow. We watched her for a while and she looked just like she was saying to her 4-H cow "you can do it! Just do your best!"
I'm sure that I saw a little glimmer of tear from Ben at this little girl.

...he says as we walked away - 'our kid will have a 4-H cow'.

Cute Ben.

I wonder where (in which state) we will go to the fair next year?

Closer to Harvest...

There has not be one farmers market I have NOT enjoyed. From Salt Lake, Portland, Seattle .... but Wenatchee. Wow. You WON'T BELIEVE the produce we've seen. Local and really good. Cherries have come and gone - peaches are on they way out --- here comes apples and pears!
We picked up out biggest haul this Saturday - 20 bucks got:

- 1 Melon
- 2 Peaches
- 2 Nectarines
- 9 corns
- 9 garlics
- 3 onions
- 2 large tomatoes (different varieties)
- 6 apples
-12 peppers
-2 lemonades
- 1 pork taco (not shown - eaten)

YEAH! Eat that Albertson's produce section......

PROOF

I tried to add some little edits.

That says Trogdor Arm - http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail58.html



Family - will print off better and mail home :) To put on the piano.

Master Chef

I'm learning that when you are pregnant - food is no longer a treat but a chore. I'm past the tossing-my-cookies stage (I believe). I can eat more or less - with out any negative side effects. However, not very much and I've lost a lot of my appetite. Which makes eating a chore - because I know I need to be consuming x-amount of diary/veg/grain/fruits/water/etc. ACK!? No human can eat that much! (who is not an Olympic athlete.) The chore being what can I eat now that won't stunt the growth of my blueberry?

One thing we have invented is this: Smoothy: oj, cranberry/pomegranate juice, frozen pineapple/mango/blueberry/raspberries, yogurt, cucumbers, kale leaves, and fax seed. WOO! Check. :)

Have you hear of Master Chef?



(Skip to 4:22 for challenge)
Yet another cooking show. Part of the game show, is the 'mystery box challenge'. They are surprised with a set of ingredigents and one hour to make it into something. Other then I want to punch Gordon Ramsey in the face - it's fun show. I decided Ben should do a mystery box challenge!
I skipped ahead to the next episode, gathered the ingredients and said "Ben - you have one hour to create something STUNNING" (what stupid Gordon Ramsey says). (the video above is the 1st episode.)


His ingredients were potatoes, rice, ground beef and pork, carrots and celery, peas, and peppers. (plus some other cooking stuff).
Master Chef!

Ben made amazing meat balls/plus bell peppers stuff with the same yummy meat, Parmesan cheese crisps, peas puree', and excellent potatoes.
On another subject - Been playing board games the last couple days because B and I have colds. This is my agricola high score :) Agricola is ben's new obsession :)

AND! I wonder whose christmas present this is!? :)

America

Ben and I have been calling Costco - "America". Because it seems to represent the "American dream" of bigger is better. We rarely went to Costco in SLC - but before leaving Ben acquired us a Costco card and now we feel like adults. When ever we go-- we spend most of our time laughing and making fun at the size of the mustard bottles and the quantity of things. This gave us a good laugh.... prego sized bucket of pickles.

But every once and a while at Costco - you strike gold. It has been no secret that I want a wagon and we have been on the prowl for one for several months. And then... saturday.... we found it!

GLORIOUS. Yes, the main reason I wanted one was so I could pull Reg around in it. He's just not up for walking any more. BUT! The best part is it collapses in the middle to be no bigger then a stroller making it SSOOO portable. It has cup holders, extra pockets on the out and side, handles 100lbs, and is a smooth ride. Reg was right at home. Like taking a senior citizen a walk in the park in his wheel chair.
He wasn't jittery or wiggle around...he prolly thought this is his how nature intended it.
We did of course get him out to enjoy the scenery. This is the Columbia River, very high in August. Less then a mile from our house.

8 Weeks along now, and I've decided this is me and baby's new theme song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDwOFThiNnA

Free Time

Happy Friday. I've been able to get the morning sick- mostly under control. Haven't barfed in like a week! Praise the pepto! Taking morning slow, eating ahead of schedule and cold things seems to do the trick. But still feel that car sick - ...like right now.
So. Have more free time - all of us.

Reg's new favorite past time is to sunbath in the dirt patch in the front of the house. Only for an hour in the morning or so.

Oh, this dog...

Ben has got back into his experimental cooking again. These are pickled carrots.

... Myer lemons soaking in salt

Homemade noodles

... and meatballs! I do hope he makes these again.

This is interesting. He's working on duck jerky. Right now it is hanging in a cheese cloth from the ceiling.

And mine... christmas :) Christmas pressie's always start in July. Also - math. In trying to finish some education - math. I haven't taken math since my junior year in high school. Which means 11 yrs later - I'm at like a 5th grade level. :( Math, pressies, not barfing, and cleaning up after Ben's experiments.