Category: Me and the House

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A week

Auggie has been with Bear and me for a week.

He is sweet and happy and curious and increasingly confident. It has been a week of watching him grow in all kinds of ways.

We went to our own vet on Tuesday and got a good report: negative for all of the kitten stuff they test for, booster vaccinations and a general “sound body and good disposition” report.

The paradox is that those first days and some of all of this week were also so hard. This has happened to me before, but I always forget and it catches me off guard. Getting a new pet after losing one is a strange combination of fun, distraction and joy in folding the new into the routine but the flip side is that it is also that absolute realization that the lost pet really is no longer here. A finality that I find very difficult while at the same time the new kid and new routine needs a lot of attention. There is no getting around the fact that all is very different and it is not going to be comfortable again for awhile.

Life.

Meanwhile, Fall progresses and we’ve had 2 hard freezes. But there are still pleasant temperatures in the daytime forecast so I’ve been covering the herbs at night with the lights down low and using the lights directly during the day for “helper” sunshine. So far, all looks good.

I’ve been finding yellow jacket nests, fallen out of trees, in the yard and the woods. I’m not sure if hibernating queens are in these but I’m spraying and getting them out of here just in case.

The aspens and birch are turning and the larch are lightening to chartreuse. By next weekend there should be a lot of gold in the woods.

Auggie is very interested in the outdoors, especially when Bear and I are out. By January – maybe even a little before, I’ll take him out on leash to explore if he wants to. My hope is that he would enjoy being outside with Bear and me but be, like Bob, a homebody. There is a lot of great hunting without going too far away.

And grass and sunshine and a beardog!

Inside, with a wire crate half way folded to add a kitten barrier to the gate, Bear and Auggie grow ever closer. So much fun to watch.

A week.

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Farmer’s Market

After a morning perimeter walk, I loaded Bear in the Jeep and we headed to town.

The sun rose above the mountains, and lit the cut hay and wheat fields under low, dark clouds. It was a beautiful drive to town. I pulled over several times to let people in a hurry pass and so I could dawdle a bit and enjoy the light.

I bought myself breakfast, shared a bit with the Bear boy and we headed to the Farmer’s Market.

It is fun to arrive at the opening time with everyone fresh and ready to go. We were there 15 minutes early and people watched from a shaded parking spot until the 9:00 a.m. open.

It is prime time for all kinds of fruits and vegetables. I walked the entire market looking and deciding what and from who to buy.

I bought sunflowers from a booth that had sunflowers of all different sizes as well as displays of colorful flowers for drying – I didn’t know the vendor but something just called to me from this spot vs others with sunflowers.

Cherry tomatoes and zucchini from Swallow Crest Farm, my down the road farmer. Julian and I exchanged neighborly news as I made my selection.

Feta cheese from a Polson, MT cheesemaker. I live near the north end of Flathead Lake. Polson is 35 miles south at the southern end of the lake. I bought directly from Joe and he WAS wearing a Hawaiian shirt!

The honey is from a vendor I’ve bought honey from before. I was the only one at the booth at the time and asked about the yellow jackets. He told me they were bad this year but I could drag nothing more enlightening from him other than to destroy the nests. Oh, well…the honey is wonderful!

The sunflowers will brighten my window until I go back next week – I hope!

Farmer’s Market.

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At home

Home in the woods.

Things are different.

Bear and I miss the Bob-a-lu cat something fierce.

I took the “just get it over with quickly” approach to Bob’s stuff and closeted it all away. I don’t think there is a right answer to this…I could look at it and miss him or look at where all the stuff should be and miss him. None of it is him so I put it away.

And while I was about it, I put the A/C units away also.

It was gorgeous, yesterday (Saturday) and barely hit 70F.

This morning, it was a wonderfully brisk 46F.

But. We are to have a warm week with a forecast change to Fall next weekend. Still, it is September 1 and we are down to 11 hours of daylight and a lower on the horizon sun path so it gets harder for it to get miserably hot. I hope – I’ve had it with hot.

While we were away, there were 2 big storms. They included a LOT of wind. A photo of the yard really doesn’t show how much of a mess it was and some of it still is.

I’ve been working at the cleanup between 5:45 and 6:15 a.m. – to avoid the yellow jackets. I’ve had it with them, also.

I need to go up on the roof and at least get those big branches. I’d like to take the blower and clear the needles. We’ll see. I might wait until we get a hard frost for the blowing part. More needles will come down anyway. I can procrastinate. I can avoid looking at the roof. Maybe it will snow on the roof and then I won’t be able to see all of the needles…that is a happy thought!!

The herbies…more happy thoughts! My dear neighbors picked them up and kept them on their front porch and watered them. And delivered them back to me. The herbs look wonderful. They look like they did not miss me at all. Thank you, neighbors!

At home.

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Scallion pancakes, morning walk

Sunday, I made these Chinese Scallion Pancakes for the first time. I made 1/2 the recipe to try it out. Then I made another 1/2 recipe to see how they kept – frozen and refrigerated.

This morning I made a double recipe and most of them made it into the freezer!

I woke up, rested, ready to go…at 4:45 a.m.

Bear and I had a quick down the driveway walk in the dark, then back inside and I started a pot of beans, the coffee, put my Dutch Oven in the oven to heat for crusty bread and then mixed and kneaded the dough for the pancakes.

The simple flour and water mix gets kneaded until smooth and then rests for 30 minutes.

The genius of this recipe – in my opinion! – is that the scallions, some salt and olive oil are brushed on the rolled out pancake. Then you roll the circle up like a cigar…roll it around itself like a snail, squash it and roll it into a circle once more which means that the onions and seasoning are inside the pancake.

I’m thinking of many different flavor combos that would be scrumptious using this same technique…herbs like chives or basil or oregano, some garlic and cumin. Maybe a slightly cheese-y version with some parmesan and smoked paprika.

The pancakes get lightly fried in a bit more olive oil so end up a little crispy, a littly chewy and full of flavor. The Woks of Life post also includes a garlic dipping sauce. And by the way, the The Woks of Life blog is not only a lot of fun, with some great recipes but they (it is the entire family writing the blog!) include some pages de-mystifying ingredients and utensils used in their Chinese recipes.

I’ve eaten the pancakes as snacks with the dipping sauce, as a “bread” with a Chinese chicken salad, and this morning with some goat cheese, beans and a drizzle of the dipping sauce. I like them!

As I was working in the kitchen, the sky lightened to the East. I love watching the range of colors as the sun works its way over the mountains of the Continental Divide.

One moment it was a deep blue and the next I was surprised to see fog. The temperature at just before 5 a.m. was 55, but it dropped to 49 as the sun rose – close enough to the morning dewpoint to make fog.

Bear and I took our full morning walk in the misty woods.

The yellow jackets had been buzzing the kitchen windows earlier, but as the fog dropped down, they apparently went back to their nests and we walked in foggy quiet.

Headed back toward the house, the sun found its way though the mist, hitting the house like a spotlight.

Scallion pancakes, morning walk: Tuesday.