OMG!

We slept in this weekend. Both days actually. JOhno has been on the road and putting in some pretty long hours. This morning we were up at 9:40am. Can you believe it? Although maybe we should have gotten up earlier. You see Odin was awake before we were and that can only means one thing . . . trouble. He was making some 'treasures' out of a cardboard tube and water. Somewhere in the project he thought he would clean his cd player/radio alarm clock. So he opened the cd door and he dumped a bunch of water in it WHILE IT WAS TURNED ON! Luckily he was fine (however a little shock would have taught him that that was a stupid idea, right?). It was not until this evening when I looked at the alarm clock that I saw the huge lake underneath it. There was a discussion about electricity and water. Not sure how much was absorbed.

We are going to leave the radio unplugged for a few days maybe it will dry out and work again.  But I'm not holding my breath.

Fall

It is starting to look like autumn here. It sure feels like it, but now we are getting some color too.

However the strawberry plants that I rescued on the side of the house this spring and replanted have not gotten the memo.

This picture was taken today October 10th

Field Trip!

Last week was a busy one at school. The Fund Run then the next day both Kindergarten classes went on a field trip to a pumpkin patch! Or to a pumpkin patch, farm, and country market. We got to taste their cider and doughnuts, feed to pigs, fowl, goats and pick out a pumpkin to bring home! It was a fun afternoon.

Odin and I had so much fun that we went back the next day with Johno! They do a bit more on the weekends with pony rides, a bounce house and live music. We bought some cider, apples and doughnuts. Some of you may know that I grew up very close to a cider mill the made the best ever doughnuts. This place does a pretty good job, but they could never compete with childhood memories!

water pump duck race

Johno trying his luck at the apple slingshot.. He came very close to the target.

bounce house exit

Fund Run

Both Kindergarten classes with the McKenny Hawk

Odin's school did a neat fundraiser today. The students participated in a "Fund Run". They gathered pledges from family, neighbors and the like either for a one time donation or a per lap amount. Great planning on the school's part as today the only day this week with even a glimmer if sun in the forecast. The sun came out just before he got on the bus and it stayed sunny for most of the run. I went to cheer on the runners and stood next to the principal and rang my bell. I commented to him that I thought it was a great fundraiser for the kids to participate in because they are actually doing something. Talking to the principal I learned that there is a running initiative at the school. They log students laps around the track and have different incentives for when milestones are met. Students have opportunities to run at recess time and possibly during Phys Ed.

Earlier in the week I asked Odin what his lap goal was. He answered "fifteen". When the runners were called off the track he had run ten laps or about two miles.

Post run pretzels and water with classmates

lap tracker

Test Hop

Over the weekend we took the Chev out for a test hop. We made it two exits down the highway and had to pull over for this.

In John's right hand is the old fan belt, in his left the new one.

We stopped at an auto parts store for a quick fan belt switch. Johno finished putting it in just as the other family we were traveling with pulled up. After a quick tour of our rig we were off!

Looking aft. Johno is standing in the bathroom.

 

Looking forward. The blanket is keeping the heat out of the cab area. (worked really well)

We drove up to White Pass where Johno's office mate is on ski patrol. He had to go up for a refresher weekend so we tagged along.  We pulled in pretty late on Friday and pretty much went to bed. The furnace worked great. Oven and stovetop worked well for cooking.  It was pretty nice being self contained we were parked for the weekend in a forest access overflow parking area.

There was a lake just behind us with thousands and thousands of frog/toad things. Many still in transition from tadpole to adult.

We did some hiking saw giant trees.

 We also went to the ski hill and walked around.

The rig did well. On the way home we went through another fan belt, so that is going to take a little looking into. But I think we are going to have a lot of fun this winter!

* We have been reading some vintage boy fiction with Odin lately. We just finished a Tom Swift book where the boy inventor talks about taking his new flying laboratory for a 'test hop' to see how she handles. So naturally Odin kept calling our weekend a 'test hop'.

Food Swap

Last week I participated in a food swap. An event where you can choose to trade foods that you made, foraged, grew or otherwise produced with someone else. The event was new to me, I had never heard of one of these, but apparently they are happening all over the country, including Minneapolis!
I thought for a long time about what to bring. One of the rules is that all items are traded one to one. So I didn't want to bring anything in a big jar (like all of my quarts of cherries!).

I decided to bring bread (four loaves), sourdough starter (not pictured), cookies and english muffins.

In return I brought home lots of jam, Chai liquor, French Macaroons, a chilli dinner pie, lavender shortbread,  and some fancy chocolates.

We had one of the jars of jam this weekend. It was fantastic!