A beautiful clear morning at 7:24 a.m. As I write this, at 8:03 which is sunrise here, a foggy mist is rising in the woods.
It is 39F, forecast to be sunny with a high of 62F and tomorrow to 68F. It is still shorts weather – on October 19 and 20!
Happy Sunday!
I’ve been head down, nose to the grindstone this past week…
because…
ROAD TRIP is a week away!!
As long as the sky does not fall nor too much snow (not in the forecast), Bear, Auggie and I are set to board Wild Thing and roll in a generally southerly direction to my folks.
Loading has commenced.
Both Wild Thing and Jeeper have had a multitude of maintenance and are ready to roll.
I am also.
The plan is to finish loading and go when ready next Friday. The first night is always a short hop of 110 miles and from there direction will be determined by weather.
Meanwhile…
I’ve been wanting to get a game camera and with the excuse of keeping an eye on things while we’re gone, I bought one.
I have it temporarily on the ladder so I can move it around and decide which tree and how high on the tree to get the best view.
It is rather a cool thing. It has a motion sensor and you can set how long after motion is detected to either take photos or video and how many/how long. At night, the infrared thing kicks in.
Below is the first capture of wild life.
Pretty wild, eh??? In case you are confused…Bear to the right (the 2 white dots are his eyes in infrared) and me on an after dinner down the driveway walk. Sunset is about 6:45 now, so it was full dark at 7:32.
I didn’t know until I saw the photos that the temperature and moon phase are also recorded.
I’m kind of happy with this thing.
Onward with preparations: the week before.
Montana does not have the blazing reds of the East-North Eastern Fall. That is ok with me. I love the Western gold-orange Fall…the birch, the Aspen and the Larch.
Color is on its way to peak here.
Bear and I headed to town this morning for some errands and a tiny bit of supply gathering.
On the way home…
Montana color.
I write this as it nears 7:00 p.m. Friday evening.
A Yukon gold potato is in a pan…to be mashed shortly.
Some roast beef, pinquito beans, green peas and broth are warming. A bit of flour and a nice thick gravied mix for that masher will be tonight’s supper. Oh and some farmer’s market carrots are roasting in the oven.
Auggie is in for the night after a productive day that included two voles – go Auggie!
We had several walks and Bear and I went to Bigfork on an errand run for vanilla extract and coolant for the Jeep!
It was a good and productive work week ending on a high note of a good and fun work session with my work partners.
Seriously.
I have no… as in zero… as in NADA complaints! Mark your calendars!!!
To add to the good stuff, yesterday was the full moon.
Bear and I had our last walk and our early morning walk in the light of the full moon with beautiful moon shadows in the woods. Heaven!
No photos except on my Instagram and there, there are some fun shots.
Happy Friday.
I dearly hope your week was wonderful as well.
I have a couple of days with no meetings, no work sessions…just work on my own tasks. I’m enjoying the flexibility in my schedule!
Yesterday, Bear and I went to Wayfarer’s park before lunch (see my Instagram for photos). We are having another bit of summer-like weather before what NOAA calls “THE BIG CHANGE” happens this weekend – a cold and wet front to take us back to Fall.
My neighbor was to come for coffee this morning but a bug in the family altered plans. The hand pies were already in the oven…
I’m going to have mine!! (AND, you bet I scooped up all of that caramel-y overflow!) …but, I’ll freeze the rest for when all feel better.
Apple Hand Pies to start Tuesday.
*** My method for the Hand Pies:
I had my own Brioche dough in the freezer packaged in large lemon sized rounds each 1 perfect for a hand pie. Last night I got 5 rounds out and put them in the frig. This morning, after the dough warmed up, I lightly rolled each round into a 5 inch circle and covered while I sliced 3 apples. I mixed a bit of lemon juice, brown sugar, cinnamon and a pinch of salt with the apples, divided between the 5 pies – stuff them VERY full as apples bake down, little bits of butter, fold over the top, slice some vents, brush with egg wash and into the oven (350 for 30 minutes). That’s it! The apples today were local McIntosh from my farmer’s market. I also like Granny Smith’s. AND…this mix is good with a bit of country pork sausage (pre-cooked) in with the apples.
I guarantee that these taste multitudes better than any toaster fruit pie :) !
