Posts from the ‘Front Porch Musings’ category

Settling in

I’ve owned this house since September 2006.

I’ve done a number of RV trips, but tallying up time in the RV vs time at the house…time at the house is FAR greater. And yet…I immediately am at “home” in the RV and on returning to the house…it feels so strange and it takes me awhile to feel at home – at home. I don’t get it, but it is not a new feeling and now I just go with it, knowing that eventually, the house will once again feel like home.

After a relatively balmy first day back, the forecast was correct: it got very cold, very fast and it snowed. But not much snow: less than an inch.

But, cold! 13F was today’s high.

Not enough to deter Bear and Auggie, though!

Last night, it occurred to me that Thanksgiving weekend I usually get out the Christmas decorations. Last night, the thought of moving any more stuff did not appeal at all.

But today, with the cold and the snow …I got to thinking about the Christmas stuff.

And about a Christmas Tree.

I’ve made do with my little silk tree for the last 4-5 years. Every year, I’ve said “Next year, I’m going to get back to having a real tree”.

Hee… That is the tree that Auggie had been using to get on to the garage roof and my neighbor cut it down so that I was not always having to “rescue” Auggie.

It is still green.

The TOP is beautiful.

MY CHRISTMAS TREE!!! – my real Christmas tree.

It is forecast to warm mid-week and then I will whack off the top of the downed tree and next weekend, I will put up my REAL Christmas Tree.

And we all say “YAY!!”

Okey-dokey! Meanwhile, Mel, my across the road neighbor with the chickens and fresh eggs phoned asking if I needed eggs.

YES, I said. Also, Jesse…Mel’s husband…is a tech guy and knows cameras so when I went to get the eggs, I took my lens with the cracked filter. He was able to remove it. Let me say that several men had tried to remove the filter, but he did more than just use muscle…he used brain power. He said that he could feel the point where the glass stuck and he worked with that and GOT THAT filter off! Happy, happy, happy me!!! It saved me a trip to the camera store and $$$ and I put a new UV filter on the lens and am back in normal business photography-wise.

AND, we had a fun time visiting: Mel, Jesse, their sons Hudson and Carter and Brewster their dog.

The eggs.

Back at the house: Christmas decorations.

The “Bear” Angel…it might be moved to the top of the REAL Christmas tree – we’ll see.

Table top venue…

Stockings hung by the chimney with care and a nice fire in the woodstove to keep us warm.

Settling in.

Green River to Provo, Utah

A GREAT day on the road.

The last day of 2 lane travel until the last leg Missoula to home.

The Green River to Spanish Fork (the 2 lane part) is much improved from 4 years ago which was my last drive on this route. There are more passing lanes and more turnouts so easy for me to allow faster traffic to pass. This has been true of all 2 lane legs on this trip.

From the road:

As all went better than expected and I approached Provo much earlier than I had anticipated…I dithered about going further or sticking to my thought of Provo and seeing what happened with the approaching weather…

…the approaching weather.

Ultimately, I decided to stick to my thought of Provo.

Provo looks to stay south of the worst of the weather: warmer and more rain than snow.

And the RV Park online looked nice.

The online info did NOT disappoint. (see Instagram for the wonderful dog run and how close our site is to the dog run and the views from the dog run!)

It was a stellar day!

Sunny and warm in Wild Thing! Windows open, roof vents open and a great spot!

The Auggie-boy…he is doing SO well and with so much interesting to see at each venue, he does not seem unhappy with not being outside. My mom and I have talked about what we think he might do on return home…it will be interesting :) !!

The Bear-boy is doing well also! As usual, we have had good experience with nice spots to walk.

Sharing work space.

The sundeck.

Sunset Provo.

‘night, ‘night.

Friday wrap

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.

Who rescued who and scratch cooking from Jennifer Perillo

I follow just a few food blogs.

One is In Jennie’s Kitchen.

I have Jennie’s cookbook: Homemade with Love

I make Jennie’s Chocolate Snaps, her rif on Marcella Hazan’s tomato sauce and her lentil ricotta meatballs regularly. Other recipes are on my “to make” list and I’ve learned much about techniques from reading her posts. My scrambled eggs are 100% better after reading her method! Just in the last weeks, I was inspired by a description of her napa cabbage-apple-sesame salad with honey-mustard vinaigrette to make my own salad.

But it is not just her recipes.

Her writing and her approach to cooking is what drew me to her blog and cookbook.

A little over three years ago her husband died suddenly, leaving her a single mother of two young girls.

BUT, that is NOT the story here. The story is…as the story always is…not so much what happened as what she did with what happened.

She got the book deal and did the cookbook – even in the early days of grief and single parenthood.

In the past year, Jennie, who lived in apartments in Brooklyn her entire life, bought a house in rural New York. As a person who LOVES a simple and quiet rural life, I cheered and hoped that she and her daughters would love rural life also. This summer, they left Brooklyn and made their country house their permanent home. And in the last weeks, they added to their family: a tuxedo cat named Ms. Paula Poundstone and a sweet terrier mix named Miche.

Oh, yes!

Miche!

Ms. Paula Poundstone!

Jennie explains Ms. Paula Poundstone’s name in this post: All in the family

Yesterday, Jennie announced a new project: a quarterly magazine called Simply Scratch Cooking: a homecook’s journal for making easy, everyday meals.

Jennie’s eloquently written post about how all came about: A leap of faith

I am a fan and follower of Jennie’s, not because she is a woman, not because she is a widow with young children and not even because she moved to the country and got a dog and a cat. What draws me is her passion. Passion for something is in fact what draws me to the people for whom I have the most respect and admiration. What I see in Jennie’s work is her passion for creating beautiful and delicious food, simply, from scratch and sharing all of that with the people around her.

I haven’t subscribed to any magazines for years, but I could not resist ordering Jennie’s. Her cabbage salad recipe is in it! Also the peanut butter swirl brownies she showed on her Instagram that had me drooling. The link to order is in her post: A leap of faith. I’m so excited to receive my copy. I look forward to a weekend of browsing, enjoying and cooking or baking from it when it arrives in 2 weeks.

I emailed Jennie to ask if I could use the photos of Miche and Ms. Paula Poundstone in this post. She warmly replied in the affirmative and also said: “Most people think I rescued them, but it’s totally the other way around. These little creatures have made my life so full, they have rescued my heart in a way I can never fully understand myself.”

I know a little bit about how that has worked in my life and I was so happy to hear that it is working in her life.

Cheers, Bon appetite and I hope all who read this visit A leap of faith and get a taste of Jennifer Perillo’s Simply Scratch Cooking.

A year with Auggie

Today is the one year anniversary of the Auggie-boy’s adoption into the family Summers!

What a year!

Losing the Bob-a-lu cat was horrendous. All of my pet losses have been heartbreaking. I’ve not had human losses that have affected me as much as losing beloved pets.

But.

As long as I am physically and financially able to care for a dog and a cat, I WILL have a dog and cat in my life! Every single dog and cat I’ve had has added so very much to my life. I cannot imagine life without them.

Auggie did not replace Bob as Bear did not replace Karl as Karl did not replace Zack and as neither Bob nor Auggie replaced Gus. They are all their unique and much loved selves.

Today, though, I very much celebrate the day that dear Auggie came into the lives of Bear and me. Auggie helped mitigate the sadness of the loss of Mr. Bob and Auggie’s youth and exuberance have enhanced Bear and my days.

Happy Day, Auggie-Boy!! Bear and I are so happy that you came into our lives!

…Below…Redux of Auggie’s first day with us:

Hey guys, I’m Auggie!!!

What a day…I think I need a nap.

Yep…naptime.

Bear, if it is any consolation, Bob felt the same way when we brought you home…

KittyMom’s Rescue, the organization to which I donated some of Bob’s elder cat items, had an adoption day today.

Bear and I went.

We came home with Auggie.

Auggie is 3 1/2 months old by his first vet’s reckoning. He and his brother wandered to a home east of East Glacier, MT. The kindly folks who fostered them for several weeks were at the event this morning. So kind and wonderful and they were able to tell me that the 2 brother kittens were standing outside their fence while their dogs were barking. Somehow these kittens knew safe haven. Having met the couple, I completely understand – they exude compassion and love.

They were also able to tell me a bit about their personalities and at one point the Mr. said …and they travel well. WOW.

One brother was all orange and one was orange with white markings.

I hated the thought of separating the brothers.

I arrived at the event about 30 seconds before it was to start and the parking lot was full. The adoption area was packed! But most were around the 8 week old kittens.

I decided I would take both brothers vs leaving one by himself. I really wanted the one with white markings as the couple had told me he was the most confident.

BUT.

In walked a couple who knew the people who brought the 2 and lived near them. WHAT are the odds – these folks are from about 100 miles away!

This couple wanted 1 of these kittens – they thought they were related to a cat they had that just died.

They wanted the solid colored kitten.

Is the hair on the back of your neck standing up?

The 2 couples and I all chatted as we waited for all paperwork, etc. I was so pleased. I loved these 4 people and how they loved animals.

I never heard how the 4 happened to be in Kalispell, MT.

Augustus after my first ever cat: Gus
Robert for Mr. Bob

Augustus Robert – to be known as Auggie.

Thursday and Friday

Weather-wise, Thursday was not as hot as advertised and overnight the wind blew, some rain fell and Friday dawned gray and cool.

But by midday, it was sunny, clear and a perfect Fall-like 65F!

Back to Thursday…

Neighbor, Mike…kind of sort of visible beyond the glare…came over with chainsaw and dispatched the little tree that Auggie was using to get to the garage roof.

I had a talk with the tree beforehand. I was so sorry to cut its life short.

Mike also brought his splitter and split the remainder of the dry wood which I did NOT procrastinate about stacking…

…mainly because Wild Thing’s part came in and she was ready to come home and it was a much easier thing to get the split wood onto the stack BEFORE parking WT in her spot.

I am SO happy she is home. I think she is happy also. We had a hug and I had a bit of wine with her also…it is “our thing”.

As neighbor Mike left, he wondered if Auggie would be upset about the tree…and Auggie KNOWS where Mike lives!!!

Not to fear, Mike. Auggie is LOVING his new “jungle gym”.

Hide and play…it is new and fun.

A brief wonderment about the garage roof…

Thursday and Friday.

Friday!!!