Thelma

A few facts: We live in a trailer house. We live in the woods. Mice live in the woods. It's getting colder, therefore mice want to live in our house.

So, we have a cat. Thelma.

This is her.

Another fact. She's a good mouser. I haven't had any mouse turds in my cupboards since she came to stay.

And I appreciate that. Really, I do. Very, very much, in fact. For that, I'm willing to feed her and put up with her cat hair everywhere.

But seriously. Does she have to go out looking for mice, catch them and bring them inside, leaving them on the floor-sometimes half eaten-for me to stumble upon unaware and unassuming as I groggily start my day?

It's quite a waker-upper.

I'm baaack!

We're back up and running after an unintentional technology hiatus.

I'm under strict instructions from Elsa: "Mom, you shouldn't never, EVER spill coffee on the computer again."

At a $73 repair bill, I'm inclined to agree.

Halloween was a beautiful and successful day. We had a train, a princess and a teddy bear. And lots of candy.

I've got spelt bread rising, pumpkins in the oven, a shower to take, work to go to, so I suppose I'd better keep moving.

I enjoyed my forced hiatus, but it's good to be reconnected!

Big Smiles over here

Howie doesn't know it yet, but that big grin must be because he gets to go to Roiko ladies weekend with mom on Saturday.

I hadn't thought I'd get to go, it being my weekend to work, but a coworker came through and picked up my Saturday shift. Wahoo! Now the babe and I get to join the festivities from Saturday morning until Sunday when I have to leave for work. Clickin' my heels over here.

That'll be it for now...my mouse courser is acting funky since I spilled coffee on the keyboard the other day...now it's constantly trying to go to the bottom left corner of the screen. Makes navigation a little more difficult.

Have a good one!

Once upon a time..

This morning:

Elsa, with a starry, far-away look in her eyes: Mom, where do princesses live?
Me: in castles.
E: We should go to a castle.
M: But all the castles are far, far away, Elsa.
E: But we should GO to one. Then I could see the princess.
M: Oh?
E: Yeah.
Even more starry eyed: An' then I could BE the princess.
M, thinking she's oh-so-sweet: Ooh.
E: Yeah. ...I could live there, an' then the King could go away.
M: Go away? Why?
E: We could SHOOT the mean king. (Woah. Nix that sweet thing. Country girl here.)
M: Shoot him?! Nooo. We don't want to shoot him! What if he was a nice grandpa king?
E: A GRANDPA KING?!?
Off she runs, laughing.
Hey Oliver! A GRANDPA king!!

Heh. Not sure what to make of that one.

A kinda funny flashback

Just the other day when I was uploading pictures I had taken of apple picking, this one popped up.

Check it out! Howie's sitting up already!


Or not.

I had left my regular, larger memory card in the computer, so I loaded the camera with the smaller sized card the camera came with...and evidently the last time I had used it, Oliver was about, ooh, 5 months or so. As you can see, he's a little bigger now, holding Howie. A fun, unexpected flashback.

***

This week has been filled with beautiful fall days. Mild, sunny, perfect. Last night I embraced that, and had ladies for a bonfire. It was a beautiful, starry, fall night. Apple cider was enjoyed, fun was had.

And it was the perfect end to my almost two months off.

Today, I start back to work. I only put in 5 days-evenings, actually- every two weeks, and for me it's been just the right time out/home combination. We'll see how it goes now with Howie.

Apple Season

Nanna and Pappa's apples are ripe, so we spent today making applesauce, dried apples and fruit leather.

Oliver got to climb the apple tree. While spotting him (he's never really climbed a tree before) I was reminiscing that I remember when these trees were planted; I was probably about his age. They weren't of climbing height back then.

Elsa desperately wanted to climb as well...until she realized she was up high, the branches were poky and she had to hold on herself. She opted to keep her feet on the ground.


Howie was a big help as well...


Seven or so hours of apple cleaning, machining, and cooking and I came home with a huge bowlful waiting to be canned and enjoyed over the winter. We made both chunky-with-honey and smooth-with-sugar versions with the thought that my little Howie will be big enough to enjoy the smooth version in only a few months, while the rest of us really like the chunky style. The evening ended with fresh, warm, homemade applesauce topped with vanilla ice cream. Absolutely delish!

Crisp!

Fall came quickly in this neck of the woods. Cold evenings and chilly days have been the rule lately. We've been busy, living life.


The last of the garden harvest is waiting to be picked. We sold 52 pumpkins to the local grocer earlier this week. (If any locals are looking for a few pumpkins, we have many left overs!)


Eric planted these giant sunflowers this year. Some are over 11 ft tall, and have been wonderfully cheerful to look at all summer. He has an itch to roast the seeds, something we haven't tried before. If we do them all, I think we'll have plenty of seeds!

To the left of the kids are three rows of potatoes, a row of carrots, what's left of the onions and some tomatoes (if they survive!). To the right are the pumpkins and some squash, all waiting to be harvested. Yum. We had a great year in the garden (with a bumper crop of weeds, as you can see!) and I'm already missing the fresh, delicious days of August. Mmmm.