Autumn

Well, Fall is almost over and while we've been busy with schoolwork, we have also had time to do plenty of fun things this season!  Here's some of what we've been up to:

Elija Bristow State Park!

Clint "holding up" a tree.

Me tossing leaves in the air.

Daisy running through a tube at the dog park.

Pumpkin Walk at Hentze Farm:

My head on a platter. . .

Spooky Clint. . .

Some fun pumpkins from the walk!

Pumpkin Patch at Thistledown Farm:



Goat eating a pumpkin : )

Flowers!

Clint playing on the pumpkin cart.



With our pumpkins!



Our beautiful Oreogn!

Keeping the pumpkins safe!

Spending the afternoon at Fall Creek:

The beautiful fall colours!

B-E-A-U-TIFUL!

Daisy had fun, too.

I fell and lost the camera, so we
went back and Clint found it.
This is me celebrating his find.

We carved pumpkins, too, of course!

It was difficult to get through the top.

We watched Charlie Brown earlier, so we decided that
would be a good theme this year!

Well, that's been it so far this autumn, but we still have a couple things left to do, like hand out candy tomorrow night and go to Utah for Thanksgiving (and hold a baby!), so we're looking forward to that!

Apples, Part 3

Yes, we still have apples.  I know, it's been forever, but they've been persistent in sticking around.  It's been so long since we picked them, though, that they've turned kinda mushy (not too appetizing), so I made an apple pie, and we've been drying them.  Clint chopped them up nice and small so we can put them into our cereal (mmm. . . apple cinnamon oatmeal : )

Apple Pie Yum!

Clint chopping apples for drying.

The dried apples.

The pork tenderloin Clint made for us with apples and onions.

We still have more to dry, but we're finally getting toward the end of our apples. . . Yay!

Disaster Dinners and Cleaning the Pot

This week has been one of disaster dinners.  I don't know what's wrong with me, but I can't seem to cook anything worth eating lately.  It all started a couple weeks ago when I tried to make some risotto for a recipe group I'm in, and it burned really, really, really, terribly.  After a few days of work, we got the pan cleaned out (thanks to Karen's baking-soda and vinegar trick!), but I guess it just burns easily now (that's my excuse, anyway).  After that, we burned our first batch of apple-sauce (it still tasted okay, so we went ahead and canned it anyway), and I almost burned tortilla soup earlier this week.  Then, I tried a new recipe for some enchiladas, and it turned out horribly.  We couldn't eat it, it was so bad.  A total waste of avacados and cheese.  Then today, I tried to make potato soup, and it burned.  At first, I didn't think it was that bad, so I put it in a different pot really quickly, but it was too late, the burn flavor had infected the whole pot.  So, we threw that away and Clint helped me make some spaghetti sauce.  Anyway, that's my sad, sad, tale of disaster dinners . . . Well!  To make up for having to hear my sob story, I'll tell you about how we triumphantly cleaned out our burned pot!

First thing you do is put some baking-soda and vinegar in the pot (or pan or baking dish, what ever it is that has suffered your cooking mis-haps) and make a volcanoe, as Clint puts it.

Burned pot with baking soda in it.

Adding vinegar.

 Then, over medium-low heat, heat the baking soda and vinegar solution until it gets warm.  There's not really any science to this part that I know of.  I just know the smell is awful, so beware.

Heating the pot.

 Then, while the pot is warm, scrape at the burned-on stuff until it comes off.  This might take awhile, as it did with my risotto burn.  It took a few days in fact; the burn and vinegar fumes would just get to be too much for us and we would have to stop until the next day.

Scraping the pot with a metal spatula.  See the noxious
fumes?!

We also used steel wool to clean the pot out.  I wish I had a picture to show you of our nicely cleaned-out pot, to prove that this method actually works, but I don't (because it is currently covered in burned potato soup).  So, you'll just have to take my word for it.  But, I will say beware, because after this initial burn I have burned almost everything I've tried to cook in this pot.  So I don't know if I'm just getting worse at cooking or if the pot is now cursed for time and all eternity.  Its a mystery to me.

School and Chickens

Well, friends.  School has started again for me, and it is pretty much as gross as school can be.  So, I'm looking forward to this time next year, when I'll be done with school for ever!  However, in the present tense, this means that I won't be able to post nearly as much as I have been. . . which is too bad, cuz I really enjoy it.

Anyway, on to happier things!  Yesterday we (got, earned, made . . . what is the right word here?!) five dozen eggs from our chickens, which means that, at $3.00 a dozen, they have paid themselves off!  Now, we figure another four dozen eggs, and they'll have paid off their bag of feed.  After that, we'll be saving money with them.  Until we have to buy another bag of feed, that is.  But, they're only about half way through their first, so I think we really will save money in the long run.  Plus, we know the chickens live happy lives and our eggs are as fresh as can be and probably healthier, too.  So, here's some pics of our silly chickens!

Strolling in the yard.

No, she's not dead, just taking a lovely little dust bath!



Apparently, the dust clogs the lungs of mites that live
on the chickens.

 

Enjoying the sunshine, and grass.

Especially enjoying the bugs.

Look closely, you'll see two chickens in the compost
bin, their favorite spot!

At first, we were nervous about letting them run around the whole yard because we didn't know what Daisy would do with them.  But, she's more interested in their poop than them, so really we should have been more worried about what the chickens would do to her.  Oh well!  Now their not even scared of her at all.  I guess you know you have a wussy dog when not even the chickens are afraid of her!