Accidental Road Trip

Last weekend my friend Paula and I made a mad dash up to the cabin.  Paula has worked for Chico State University for 30-plus years...back to school is always crazy for both of us.  We needed to get away and just DEFUSE!  The original plan was to enjoy burgers at the local hot spot, The Outpost on Friday Night, then the annual Community Yard Sale at the Fire Station Saturday and head back home on Monday.  The burgers were great!  We headed back to the cabin, opened up all the doors and windows for the nice breeze and sounds coming up from Butte Creek.  We watched both of the Best Marigold Hotel movies and got a perfect night's sleep.  Up early and off to the Yard Sale.  Now the Fire Department is right across the creek from my cabin BUT to drive there we have a couple mile trip.  Paula grabbed a $20 from her wallet and I grabbed my drivers license and a few bucks and off we went.  I'm sorry to report the Yard Sale was a pitiful sight compared to the years past.  Only a couple folks manning the fundraiser and just a handful of shoppers...AND next to nothing to paw through...it was sad.  I do believe those civic minded/fundraising/organizing/worker bees are getting too old or are now in Heaven and there are no replacements on the horizon. 

The Outpost...This Is NOT My Photo...Found On Another Blog...BUT That Car On The Far Left
Is MINE!!  The Blogger Taking The Photo Was On The Bike! http://thechurchoftheopenroad.blogspot.com/

I found 2 unopened board games, the first of J.A. Jance's Joanna Brady books (I've read them all but the first) and the best of the best: a HUGE complaint jar for me!  Yes folks I have been complaining about everything and everyone at work since my first week back.  Things have been difficult and unlike my normal roll with the punches attitude, I have found myself moaning and groaning so much I couldn't stand the sound of my own voice.  The huge jar/vase just jumped right out at me: The Answer to my Problem.  Paula laughed until she almost need to change her Depends!  A dollar a complaint, yep, that's the deal.  I predict by the end of my school year I'll have enough money in that jar to finance a month in Europe!

SEE!!!  It's Filling Up FAST!

Paula found a filthy kettle/teapot thing she plans on cleaning (we'll see).  When we were walking back to the car to deposit our treasures I noticed some uprooted trees and I had to get a picture...that's when we both realized we had not brought our cameras, Paula didn't have her super duper cell phone and all I had was the cheapy cell phone I use to text my boss at work...well, we'll just see how the photo app works.  While taking pictures and discussing the flood of '97 AND wondering what to do next we had an epiphany: Why not drive the back roads through Humboldt Valley/Summit  to Lake Almanor (for lunch) and then come back to Butte Meadows through Humbug Valley/Summit...an all day trip I had not made in 20+ years...and then in a Jeep...but throw me a challenge and I'm in...that's just the way I roll.

This Bank of Trees Were Uprooted  And Sparked My Interest...And
The Adventure Began.....

My Friend, Paula...or Thelma to My Louise!

Hidden Treasures

Inside Snoop

Oops!  RIGHT OR LEFT??

Hidden Swimming Hole

Beautiful Valley 

Fire Damage From A Couple Years Ago...

Another Angle

Snow Shack...NO SNOW

On The Door of the Snow Shack

We managed to make it to Almanor and to my daughter's Lake Cabin...no one was home (they were down in Chico...where they live) so we stopped at the Copper Kettle in Chester for a quick lunch, filled up with fuel...checked out the Annual Craft Fair (just looked...no purses or $$...just enough for lunch and fuel) and loaded up for our trip back to Butte Meadows.  We were talking and laughing so much I missed the turn and had to loop around and back-track for about 1/2 an hour!!  Goodness we are a couple of silly broads!  We got back to the cabin just before dark (whew) had a quick bite to eat, put on a movie and both quickly fell asleep: WONDERFUL...we both slept until 9:00 a.m. the next morning!

No One Home...Kelly's Lake House

British Shows Rule At The Cabin!

Back To Work...But First To The Cabin

School starts on Tuesday; I officially start back to work on Monday...but have been to my office and the kitchen yesterday and today.  This had to have been the shortest Summer Break I've ever had!  I went into the office today to accept an order of produce and do a load of paperwork. We have ANOTHER new elementary school principal!  I've worked under 4 principals since 2011!  Each new principal has a new feeding schedule for the students...the whole process has to be recreated from scratch...not fun, heavy on the paperwork.  This year my staff will serve an early breakfast, late breakfast, lunch, a nutrition break and then the after school supper program! Ridiculous. When do the teachers have students in their classrooms...when do these kids have time to learn?  I understand how hard it is on a child to be hungry...but are you kidding me?  Oh well, that's why they pay me the big bucks!  And I guess this is what's meant by "job security"...

We Have Two Salad Bars...Lots Of Produce 

I'm going up to the Cabin tomorrow: Saturday...by myself, no friends, no family...I just want to relax, watch a movie or two and SLEEP...with the doors and windows open listening to the music of the creek. The Rocky Fire is over 30% contained so hopefully things will get back to normal. My neighbor says there's no smoke up at the Cabin...it's been awful here...very hard breathe.  I have only spent a small amount of time outside because my eyes start burning...I've been waking each morning with a headache, too...gotta' get out of the Valley for just a bit.  Any excuse to escape!

The Rocky Fire

We're within 10 miles of the fire line of the Rocky Fire you've been hearing about on the National News.  We've been watching the foothills to the west of us for the last 3 days.  So far they have held it back...as of right now it is 12% contained.  I do not believe we have anything to worry about...lots of green space between us and the fire (in spite of the drought) but we have lots of friends in between us and the fire.  60,000 acres up in smoke. We watch and we pray.

Our Shop

Fire Glow and Smoke

Smoke and Glow

West of the Ranch (not my photo)

Lake and Colusa Counties (not my photo)

Air Support...The National Guard has Been Called In
(not my photo)

Highway 20...a main artery (not my photo)

Lost Property (not my photo)

Love To Can-Can

Canning season is always a fun time...I look forward to harvest all year.  A full pantry is a source of pride for me.  I have turned one of our seven (7) bedrooms into a walk-in pantry in addition to the vast amount of kitchen storage I have.  When the kids were little it made sense to my husband...now he thinks I may have a "problem"...and he may have a point.  I have completely cleaned out my walk-in/bedroom pantry and did an extensive inventory AND threw out anything over 3 years old (the chickens, turkeys and piggies had quite a party).  I also have an inventory of whole grains, sugar, beans and freeze-dried emergency foods in my pantry...this stuff has a shelf-life of 30 years.  I moved the emergency SHTF stuff down to the basement; that took all day, but freed up the huge closet in the bedroom.  I normally keep 5 years worth of canned goods...but I've decided to reduce that to a 2 year inventory..really hard for me to wrap my head around that since I've had a 5 year "cushion" for over 40 years!  My kids came to my rescue...all five of them keep a 2 year "cushion" and assured me I didn't need to stock up for them!  So I am only canning for one year.  I did take orders from the kids and I'm doing a few extra jars for them.

One of 6 Wire Racks in The Pantry

A Days Work

Pears Plain and Pears with Bay and Cinnamon

Asian Pear Sauce

Canned Dry Beans...A MUST Have

Pickled Beets

Corn and Green Beans...and Some Dehydrated Corn

Potatoes

Homemade Rotel

Cherry Pie Filling

Butternut

Pepper Jelly

Harvest 

I use tomato sauce at least 3 times a week:  52X3= 156 pint jars
         Rotel-type                                            52X3= 156 pint jars
         Diced                                                   52X3= 156 pint jars

I am/have canned corn, green beans, pickled beets, new potatoes, carrots, celery and asparagus in the same amounts.   Peaches, pears, apples, cherries, apricots and plums: 52 pints of each plus and an additional 5 quarts each as pie filling.  I usually can close to 100 quart jars of pickles...NOT this year, I'm only going to can 20 quarts and give my daughters and daughters-in-law my recipe and the pickling cucumbers...whew...one less thing on my "to do" list.

I can meat and dry beans, too.  I have plenty at the moment and won't worry about restocking until this Winter...canning meat and beans keeps the kitchen toasty when it's cold outside!

It looks like this season I'll be canning about 1500 jars...WOW...that seems like a bunch...it really isn't...I'd do just about anything to avoid going to town to shop.

Now I need to re-evaluate my freezer storage...

Stocking Up!

I worked my patooty off up at the cabin!  I took up about 400#'s of tomatoes and made sauce and my homemade Rotel.  I've been making both up at the cabin for about 10 years now and boy do I have a system.  Tomatoes in the Kitchen Aid strainer, the Squeezo and the Foley Mill...yep, there's 3 of us working from sun up to sun down...balls to the wall!!  AND we do this 2 more times towards the end of tomato harvest.  My son and husband are commercial tomato growers...we have an early harvest, mid-harvest and then the late harvest.  These tomatoes were the early harvest.  My friend Paula brought up about 50#'s of pickling cucumbers and made some awesome horseradish/garlic pickles.

The Harvest

Profits on The Ground: ARGGGGG!

This Year's Sauce

SqueezO In Action (at the house, not the Cabin)

It's A Start!

Time To Relax

ONE LAST THING

OK...I can now leave for my five days up at the Cabin. I wanted to take a "batch" up to the cabin for tonight's dinner and got sucked into the "black-hole" of the bean patch. One thing leads to another! When I get back, I'll pick and can another batch of beans and PULL THEM OUT!  150 pint jars of green beans should be enough.  I'm taking 6- 5 gallon buckets of canning tomatoes up the hill so I don't get bored: Yea Right!..no rest for the weary!

CABIN TIME!

Off My Back Deck At The Cabin

I need a vacation from my Reynolds Family Vacation...so I'm off to my Butte Meadows cabin for five wonderful days!  I've been rushing around trying to get everything organized.  I don't know why I bother: One step forward, two steps back!  I wanted to plant a few transplant trays for this year's Fall/Winter garden...I pulled the seeds out and soaked the plugs, just haven't planted yet; but they will get planted before I leave.  I'm lucky to have saved these awesome transplant trays from the fields after the commercial tomatoes were planted in March.  These 5 trays have enough cells for a huge garden and are so easy to plant and transplant.  When I get back from the cabin, hopefully all the little seeds will have germinated.

Commercial Transplant Trays

The Winter Garden

I found a super good deal for a used shed on Craigslist and had it delivered on Sunday...perfect for the new laying hens...I now have 2 coops...one that will hold 20 birds and the new one will hold up to 50...not that I want 70 laying hens at this point in time...but maybe in the future...the shed was too good of a deal to pass up.  $400 delivered!

Old Coop

New Coop (Shed)

When I get back from the Cabin I'll start working on the new shed.  I'll add multi-level roosts and a dozen nest boxes...even though they'll all want to set the same nest...usually 3 at a time...silly girls. The electric fencing still isn't up and I guess that's a good thing...would have had a problem getting the shed in the chicken yard if I had actually had them up.  The turkeys will be allowed to run loose until it's time for the freezer...another 3 weeks, I think.