Grilling ~ Fall Photo and Handiwork

 

We grilled out the other night.  I did not have red bell pepper and used mad hatter pepper.  Delicious!  They have hardly any heat, but add flavor and color.  I call it Christmas in a pan.  So good.  The foil packets contained turkey sausage, red potatoes, and green beans (with olive oil and butter).

Fall photo from our last camping trip.

I crocheted a set of "pretty in pink" pot holders.

Crocheted 4 more jar openers.  I'm still waiting on the General store to call or email me back.  I've called and left messages 2 times now.

We woke up to a brisk 37°F this morning.  More rain is moving in and will be hanging out for a few days.

Garden Work ~ Rain Barrels and other Tidbits

 

I pulled all of my hot pepper plants and brought in 2 strainers full of hot peppers. I brought in some swiss chard and one small bell pepper, which went into breakfast.   Our weather is changing and evenings are getting pretty cold.  We will be picking up some free ash that is already split too, as we'll need to fire up the wood stove soon.

I drained the rain barrels and have them flipped over for winter storage.  One has the spigot completely ripped off.  Our mower guy must have gotten too close.  It's fixable though.

Daughter K went back to work.  She's feeling better thankfully.

Dirty Dishes and Tragic News

 

I think I did about 5 rounds of dirty dishes, but then turned around and made homemade lemonade and a pot of homemade ginger-ale syrup for Daughter K.  She is sick.  Her throat was very sore, thus the extra dirty dishes.

Lemon juice can help break up the mucus and help a sore throat, plus it's packed with vitamin C.  Homemade ginger-ale has a lot of healing properties too, and helps with nausea as well.  

She was dealing with a very bad headache as well.  I surely hope she feels better this morning.

Tragic news.  My husband's first day back to work was not good.  He was told that a co-worker, 41 years old passed away.  A semi trailer crossed over the center line and landed his semi on top of my husband's co-worker's car.  I was told that it took 75 minutes to get the semi off of the car.  Mike (his co-worker) died at the hospital.  He leaves behind his high school sweet heart (wife) and two kids (7 and 9).

Life can change in an instant.....

We got our sad news about Patty while we were on a camping trip last weekend.  We relied on our cell phones to make arrangements from the camper.  We are thankful we visited her the day prior.  Enjoy your family and friends.  Life can change in an instant.  Although her nurses took precautions (mask, gloves the whole sha-bang), Patty contracted covid from a nurse in her home.

As for the camping trip?  Well, it was interesting for sure.  It was so windy we had to put the awning back up, and could not make a campfire until the morning we left.  We were thankful that the campground had a cement slab for our door way and chairs (we moved our chairs to the campfire the morning we cooked a campfire breakfast).  It rained the entire first night, but we still had a good time.

I made a few things for the meal for Patty's celebration of life.  It took some work, but we got someone to do the main meal for us (so very very thankful for that help). I baked a double batch of honey roasted caramel corn, a double batch of chex mix, and made two pans of cherry delight.  I'm glad I did though.  Only one other family member made 2 pies and all desserts went fast.

In fact, Monday we were so busy that we both forgot to eat lunch and dinner ended up refried beans and organic tortilla chips.  If someone had offered to deliver us a meal, I would have gladly accepted. It didn't happen though.

We are all totally mentally and physically exhausted.  In fact, daughter K left the meal early, and upon getting home felt sick.  She immediately, based on her symptoms, went to Urgent care.  She tested negative, but has a random virus.  We are keeping her upstairs, sanitizing and what not.

I joked that I'd tie her medications on the collar of her dogs and send them up to her.  Meanwhile, I'll get the diffuser out and have it going downstairs (now that we don't have a cat down here and we put a curtain on the stairway).

We had a beautiful weather day for the funeral.  Today, the thunder is rolling in with rain.  It's been over a week since I have been in the garden, and it can wait now.  There are still plants to pull, and hopefully some greens etc. to harvest and put up.

Now we are back to homestead work, and sadly my coop door broke.  It's been one thing after another.  My sink is over-flowing with dirty dishes, so it's first on the to-do list today.  I told my husband let it sit until today.  We just needed a bit of rest.  He is back to work today.

Thank you for all your kind words, thoughts and prayers regarding the passing of my husband's sister.  Had covid not been here, she would have probably out lived us all.  She has been through a lot in life, but also brought much love and laughter.

In honor of Patty, I will be out for a few days.....

 My sister-in-law, Patty, has passed away.  I will not be posting for a few days.  Patty is in heaven now.  

Baking Donuts and Tidbits

 

I dug out the donut pan and baked some pumpkin/cardamom donuts.   

The results?  Well, they were good and dense.  However, I felt the recipe I tried, lacked in flavor.  I'd add more cinnamon and nutmeg to it.  They were very easy to make, and I'd consider trying other recipes, just for kicks  This recipe used a small amount of butter, and I used half whole wheat flour.

It's something "fun" for a gathering, or when you need individual servings and don't want to bake bread and slice it.

(Recipe is online with Kitchen Addiction)

I sat down yesterday and wrote a letter to my only living Aunt.  I realized I have not been in touch with her.  I am glad I kept stationary now.  Although it's much quicker to type a letter, I do love the ol' pen and paper.

The weather is beautiful, but it appears rain is possible towards the weekend.  I don't have much to pull from the garden.  The rest is in grow bags.

Mom and Patty

 A big thank you to Vicki at Mom's Scribbles.  Your help was much needed.  We are in the works getting meals delivered from the local hospital (specifically designed for Mom's health), and she'll be getting a home health aide to come help with her legs and do blood draws in her own home.  

Mom's memory is not that great, so the extra "eyes" on her and medical help will be great! 

Update on my husband's sister.  Not good.  She has covid pneumonia as of yesterday.

Sorry for the short post.  I baked English Muffins yesterday to distract my brain, but they didn't turn out that great.  I should have been cleaning and prepping again for the floor project instead.  Anyway, I'm working on perfecting those buggers the next baking day.  I'll update on that when it happens.

I didn't want to deal with yet another strainer full of hot peppers either.  I sent them with my husband and he gave them to a co-worker.  We saved a small amount of fresh jalapenos though.  We've been chopping them and adding them to the beans I cooked up.