Slumber Party!

When the rest of the family were contemplating getting up and out of the house by 5 a.m. the next morning, I made a lot of "gramma points" by offering to have Max and Jayden stay overnight at the cabin. By 7:30 p.m. they were fed and all snuggled into their nests, eager for the Friday Night Movie.

There's nothing like a slanty roof/ceiling, quilts, and snuggly stuffed critters to make a cozy party out of just a sleep-over.

We watched "Robin Hood" for the 1, 496, 235th time.

Cloggin'

My first pair of knitted clogs has been a real adventure. The first clog involved a LOT of counting, recounting, checking the number of stitches on the needle every few rows, muttering under my breath, tearing out, recounting...you get the picture, even if you aren't a knitter.

I finally spent a whole day in the back room known affectionately as the "class room" at The Shaggy Sheep, from 8:30 am until 5:30 pm, determined to get that sucker DONE!! And I did it!

The second one was WAY faster to knit, a matter of a couple of hours, which is what instuctor Bonnie kept telling me. I'm a believer now. There are always little tips and tricks in any knitting project, and I've got a handle on this one, now!

Ummm. It looks kinda like...maybe a Sasquatch slipper?? It's HUGE.
Several friends who make felted totes and handbags say that when they get the bags knitted, they are the size of suitcases before felting. I hafta trust 'em...

Ten minutes sharing a very hot water tubby with a couple pair of jeans in the washing machine, and - wahlah!! FELTED CLOGS!!

Part of the process is to put the WET clogs on right out of the washing machine, to check for size (at least they were nice and warm from the hot water...). If not small enough, back in they go. These were pretty snug, and knowing they will stretch a bit with wear, I figured for a first pair they were good enough.

A hand rinsing, then squeezed gently in a thirsty rolled towel to get as much water out as possible, then reshaping and stuffed with plastic grocery bags to hold that shape, two days of drying - this project is almost done.

I say "almost", because I'm getting some suede soles to sew on the bottoms. I don't like skating over slick floors.

I get enough practice at that sort of stuff when winter hits Wisconsin.

The Neverending Garden...

Have you noticed how often it's the small things in life that bring lasting memories and real satisfaction - joy, even?

This time of year the garden is usually all buttoned up for the winter. We've been dragging our feet getting the last cleanup done, partly because the garden just refuses to call it quits. We had planned on keeping carrots in the ground until the hard, deep freezes - it's still a pleasure to go out and dig up those bright crisp roots, so sweet and juicy from the recent cold snaps. But who knew that an abnormally cool summer would keep the broccoli so happy that it is STILL sprouting away!

Max spent the afternoon with gramma, and since the "Baby carrots" were planted 'specially for him, we went on a carrot hunt. Yep, they were still there, with bright verdant newly sprouting greens shining from the morning rain, waving in the brisk wind. A NIPPY day. Just right for carrot hunting.

Jetta is my garden buddy all summer long. And it looks like she's not going to give it up until the garden says "Uncle." She's very propriatory about "her" garden, checking up on us even in un-catlike weather.

Max's very most favorite food is carrots. Raw, thank you very much. None of those mushy cooked things for HIM. We planted about four times the carrots this year, with hopes some would be left for winter in-ground storage. Susposedly we can throw some insulating straw bales over the wide-bed carrot patch, allowing us to dig carrots even when the surrounding ground is brick solid. I have my doubts, but we're going to try a small portion of the patch to experiment. It freezes four feet deep here, so those carrots better have a dose of antifreeze along with the blanket of straw...

In the meantime, Max came back in the cabin very pleased with the carrot hunt, and while thawing out watching a movie snuggled in his favorite soft couch blanket, he ate his way through the results of his labor - a bowl of crunchy sweet carrots.

"They couldn't do it without my supervision, you know. Gotta watch every move they make."

Next thing we know, she'll be trying to convince us that she invented Halloween.

Seriously scary...

We call this one the "Stevie Wonder" - for obvious reasons. The problem is, Chef J didn't know who SW was...



When it comes to arts and crafts and decorating, the punks are deadly serious. This is important stuff. And they are very good at it. In fact, I wouldn't hesitate to say, that they would be happier to get a couple of spiffy art pens/pencils in their Halloween loot than they would be with a bag of candy corn.

The latest craze in the Wright Art Studio are the Ed Emberly books. If you aren't familiar with them, check your library. Very fun step-by-step cartooning and illustrating. Very small. Very creative. I was way impressed with a picture that Chef J whipped out, of a dancing leprechaun (I know, but he was practicing for St. Paddy's day - gotta keep on top of things, ya know), which he had seen in a different art book. So the concepts do transfer, and the talent bank is rapidly filling.

Here's how tiny little pieces of other projects get turned into new little projects...and they are danged cute, too! Teensy jackolanterns, ala Emberly. One of the fun things about Ed's art is how with a few deft strokes an expression of emotion emerges (alliteration - whoa, does that ever stick with you from highschool English comp...) and Chef J readily transferred that concept to using little snips of black from the left overs of whacking out bat wings to animate his 'lil pumpkin heads.

This was freaky. And serendipitous. The light is from the sun reflecting off the plastic table cover...how Halloweeny!

Chef J thought its was down right spooky, in an amusing way. Wooooooo - spookiness! More scary things - from Lee's imagination. That bat has the scariest eyes I've seen on a pumpkin head...
"You want scary eyes? THESE are scary eyes. Nicely bloodshot, too. Those punks got nuthin' on me, I'm alllllll over this Halloween business. You should see my costume...."

Scoutin' around...

From Camp Purple to the Wright Scout Camp - the farm is a great place for kids and camping experiences!
The Scouts, leaders, and some dads and younger brothers experienced a chilly campout - it was just at freezing overnight. But with LOTS of food, a campfire, and some chocolate bars, they all survived.

Everyone arrived about 5 pm, pitched tents and got the fire going. Priorities, you know...


Next order of business - FOOD! The menu was Dutch Oven potatoes (bacon, onions, potatoes), chili, and Dutch Oven Pineapple Upsidedown Cake - that's a Scout camp requirement, by the way.

Hmmm - the bottom coals weren't catching, because he had only put starter on the top ones...this may be a case of "do as I say, not as I do...", boys.

Can you believe - Cuisinart cookware for camping out! Very impressive, with mugs and chow bowls to match.

Even Max took a turn peeling spuds - this one shot out of his hand and almost plugged the guy across the table - great hilarity!

Yep, it was CHILLY. They went througha LOT of firewood that evening, by the time they had s'mores and campfire stories before bedtime...

In the morning, the fire was going by 6:30, with breakfast the first thing on everyone's mind - and tummy. Bacon( thank you, Patty Pig) , eggs (from Collin's Cluckers), and pancakes - standard camp fare, for a guy-gathering. That's a bucket of pancake batter, ready for the pan...

Note the size of that fry pan - and the length of the handle. It's become famous in local Scout circles...

There were firsts - and seconds - and some thirds; good chow is always appreciated! Sunny-side-up fried eggs - umm umm!

The bacon tender...at least it was warm, over that big pan!

The proper way to scarf down bacon...

Dishwashing - part of the camp chores. This was their solution to storing the fry pan! A handy limb became the drying rack for the pan and the dishrag...

The planned activity was an Orienteering course. Here the gang lines up the next point with Than's compass.

The reward for completing the course - chocolate bars!

It 's always fun to have friends come enjoy the peace of heart and mind the farm provides. A wonderful camping experience is a promise!

A country farm is a great place for youngin's - and not-so-youngin's.

Grape juice

A friend called: "Hey, we have some grapes that need a home - would you be interested?"

We used to can grape juice every year. A trip to Eastern Washington, coming back with a pickup load of plump purple Concord grapes. Boy, was that good juice! A steam juicer and some quart jars, and we had a winter's worth of tasty shirt-staining juice.

These are NOT Concords. But they aren't "table grapes", either. I suspect they might be wine grapes - there's actually a vineyard a ways up the road. No matter, they are grapes, they have juice, and even though the punks are skeptical ("Gramma, they taste kinda....bitter." - yes, I know; don't bite the skins, OK?) they willingly started the first step - getting the grapes off the stems.


Max happened to walk in just as I was ready to start putting grapes into jars, and immediately took over. Have I mentioned, this punk LOVES to HELP!! No matter what you're doing....

This is the quick-and-easy grape juice method: grapes into jars, fill with boiling water, slap on a lid and ring, and process 10 minutes in hot water canner.

Kinda pretty. Hey, Max! It's PINK grape juice!

Empty a jar through a sieve into a pitcher, give the grapes to the chickens and enjoy some summer sunshine in the sweet juice.

We'll do a taste test with lunch. The punks are betting we'll be adding some honey to each pitcher of juice. Hope they like it - we have 32 quarts!