2014 September | The Road Home

Archive for ‘September, 2014’

Fox in the yard

So, no sooner had I posted “Snow”, then a fox…a FOX! – was in the yard. And it was in the yard for long enough that I got the camera, and adjusted settings…

And got my usual lousy wildlife photos.

Rats!

A beautiful fox.

I wish I had a photo to do it justice.

I’m posting the blurry ones anyway.

The most in focus…An Auggie tail x 2 or 3…beautiful tail!!

Geez, you know she (I think a she) wasn’t even moving that fast! (AND that truck is the bow hunter out on the state land…but the deer were on my land…smart deer!)

Gaah!

I kind of like this one, even if it is blurry.

Bear and I were out about 6:45 and he got all excited in the woods and was following some scent back and forth. I’m guessing the fox.

We’ll see what the night brings. It is less than 24 hours after the full moon with a moonrise just after 9 p.m. and moonset at 9:15 a.m. so a full night of moonlight and skies are clear.

***AND, I did phone my neighbor with the chickens and warn about the fox, i.e. “fox in the hen house” is NOT a good thing!

Snow

On the mountains – the Continental Divide – East of the road home…

Snow.

And snowing.

And you know I’m VERY happy – I LOVE cool weather!

Last evening, neighbor Melanie … of the new chicken yard neighbors … phoned to see if I’d like some eggs fresh from those chickens? I said yes, but hesitated about going right then because it was 7:00 p.m. … the time I start winding down, thinking about getting in my jammies and taking a book to bed – hopefully with Bear and Auggie for company.

Thankfully, I bucked up and walked over. I was greeted by Brewster (dog) and Jesse (Mel’s husband). Jesse showed me the finished chicken yard and explained how it all went together. It is beautiful and I hope to get some photos! They also have the most gorgeous chickens I’ve ever seen – truly beautiful. And chickens are funny. Mel brought out 3 tomatoes and threw them in the yard one at a time. As she says, they are like football players the way they go for the treat like it’s the football, blocking and tackling each other – too funny!

A bit more visiting and then into the garden where Mel dug up potatoes and I picked green tomatoes. We are to have a hard freeze maybe tonight and probably Thursday night.

And I got eggs, too!

First thing this morning, I made my cup of turmeric tea: water, lemon, turmeric, cayenne, pepper and honey. Spicy hot and “cures what ails ya'”. I started this last winter (Turmeric Cayenne Eye Opener) … took a break during the heat of the summer, but now it is back on the menu.

While I sipped, I looked up “green tomato” recipes. I know…fried green tomatoes and I will do that, but I also wondered if there were other things to do with them and there are:
Green tomato salsa
Green tomato marmalade!!
Green tomato chutney
Roast and grilled green tomatoes with fresh mozz for a green tomato caprese!!!

So, I’m thinking of proposing a mega green tomato day where we consolidate forces and put up those green tomatoes. If no takers, I’ll make small batches on my own, but I’m kind of excited about trying the different options.

Back to breakfast.

Those eggs – look at the gorgeous orange yolk.

The eggs are small so I poached three, but “OH MY!” – so good.

I also roasted one of the potatoes.

Fresh eggs, a just picked roast potato, bacon and a slice of my own bread…

A bit of Dixon (Dixon, MT) cantaloupe for dessert = a wonderful midweek breakfast.

The green tomatoes, one almost ripe tomato and fresh basil…visions of a caprese salad dance in my head.

Happy Wednesday!

A stellar weekend

Saturday started with a quick trip to Bigfork Farmer’s market (see Instagram for the goods).

Later, I went across the road and kept my neighbors company while they put together a yard for their chickens. I carried one post and helped stain the posts and rails but my involvement was mostly yacking as Melanie and Jesse do this stuff together and work very well together and they just like a bit of diverseness in conversation as they are working. We were also accompanied by their sweet cattle dog, Brewster and gray Norwegian Forest cat, Oscar and the clucking of the chickens that were confined to the chicken house.

It was a good time – I learned a LOT about fencing and came home with 2 zucchinis fresh from their garden! (also on Instagram …and if you click a photo it enlarges and you can see any title or description I’ve added.)

Yesterday my next door neighbors came over and brought their wood splitter. We split the wood that has been drying for 3 years and made a hefty dent in adding to my winter firewood supply.

The work area post splitting. I’m going to spread the bark on the ground and some of the trees cut for future years can sit on that bark to dry and stay a bit off the damp ground.

The red square is the wood that was left from last year. Everything else is from our splitting spree of yesterday. I don’t get any prizes for my stacking job and am just fortunate that I was stacking against a wall!

The weather has stayed beautiful – low 70’s during the day and 40’s overnight. Bear, Auggie and I think this is perfect for being outside…

…or relaxing inside.

A stellar weekend!

From the front porch

Almost every day, I think how wonderful it is that there are no yellow jackets or any interfering bugs/flying things. Last Summer and even at this point of late Summer/early Fall …it was MISERABLE on the front porch and in the woods.