Bits and Pieces and a happy 4th!

 Fourth of July weekend was a time for reminiscing since we attended Jen's and Alex's wedding.  The little ones in this collage have all grown up now and we're so happy to celebrate their weddings.  So far we've had two weddings, Lyndsie's, a few years ago, and Jen's on July 5th.  Grandson Collin is engaged so we think he's next to walk down the aisle, but one never knows.

David and Ben drove over for the wedding and to celebrate the 4th.  Julie stayed home to take care of the kittens, Ernest and London.  They both still had their cones on and were not happy kittens.  They did celebrate the 4th though.

I'm not sure how David's first duck hunting trip came up in one of our conversations , but it did.  The year was 1980 and Jon and his cousin Marty had built a duck blind at Pack River.   Jamie had a 20 gauge shotgun and David was only 6 years old but he was very excited to get to go on the trip.  To get to the blind so that they were set up by daylight they had to get up at 4:00 a.m., drive to Pack River, which was about a 20 minute drive, unload the canoe and paddle in the dark to the blind.  It was quite the adventure.  

It was a successful hunt as they got their limit of ducks and also a goose.  The best part of the story is when a teal flew above them, Jon stood up and fired three times and missed, but then Jamie shot with his 20 gauge and got the teal, exclaiming, "I got him!"  His first duck.  

David says since he couldn't hunt that he spent his time eating all the donuts and drinking the hot chocolate in the thermos.  He claims it was cold that morning and I'm sure it was.

We couldn't find this photo among my digital copies, so David spent quite a bit of time looking through all of our photo albums and finally found it on Sunday. 

We are enjoying watching all the birds at the feeders this year and we've been happy to see Robins, Violet-green Tree Swallows, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Chickadees, Dark-eyed Juncos, Pine Siskins, House Finches, Oregon Juncos and Evening Grosbeaks. Last year we had very few birds.  This year they're back.  All of these successfully nested on our place this year.

Our Evening Grosbeaks at the feeder.  They're busy feeding their babies and they look really big compared to the hummingbirds at the other feeders.  The male is on the feeder and the female on the handrail.  We can't wait to see the babies at the feeder.

Jon received a Birdbuddy hummingbird feeder and camera for his birthday last year.  We had stored it away to use this year and forgot all about it until the kids asked us if we had set it up.  Oops!  What fun we've had with it.  We have multiple videos of the birds and they're going crazy right now since all of the babies have fledged from the nests.  

At the end of the video, Lady runs through on the deck and chases them away.

All the bird activity reminded me of one strange bird sighting we had in 2016, a California Quail.  Quail standing in the exact spot where we took a picture of a grizzly bear a few years later.

We celebrated multiple birthdays this past month, with one of them for Linda Heisel.  This is a photo of a wonderful group of women, taken at her house in 2017.  Happy Birthday, Linda!  Our photographer was Judy Butler.

We also celebrated great-grandson Jason's 8th birthday!  They sure do grow up fast!  We couldn't be there but it looks like they had a great time.  

David and Julie had this baby show up on their front porch one day, a few weeks ago.  They were worried that he was an orphan, but later saw him with his mother.  She still parks him on their front porch every day. 

The kids call him their "dog".  He's definitely growing.  Evidently, the mama figures this is a safe spot for her baby.  

Grandson Ben shared this photo he took of a scary looking creature.   

This photo was taken in Madras, India in 1900.  It is of my great-grandpa George Mitchell and his family, before my grandmother was born.   We do not know why they were there, except that it must have been some type of Foreign Service. 

This photo came up in our conversation after talking about recipes of Indian Cuisine.  My grandmother was famous for making an Indian Curry dish, which must have been passed on to her from Bertha. 

The photo caption reads, from left to right, their oldest son, Walter (holding the racket), my Great-grandfather George (head torn off), my Great-grandmother Bertha, son Robert, her sister, Lizzie and her husband holding grandma's sister Mable.  Mable immigrated to the U.S. with my grandmother, Ella around 1917, via Nova Scotia, Canada and then to Nebraska.  The baby in front is another sister, Merlin.  My grandmother was born 5 years later, in 1905, Gillingham, England and she was the youngest of seven children. 

When I was looking for the photo above, I came across this one of grandson Collin and his fiancée, Abby.  A photo taken before going to their high school prom.  Cute kids!  The next wedding!

It was a very nice relaxing 4th of July weekend.  David cooked Baby-back ribs on the grill and I made the sides.  The ribs were delicious and I now have a copy of the recipe.  After dinner we played quite a few games of Liar's Dice and it was fun.

We certainly welcomed the cooler temperatures and the rain over the 4th.  That was a nice surprise.  

Now we're back to sunny skies and hot afternoons.  Welcome to July!

The heat is on and the thermometer is ready to go up.

 This Clematis blossom is the biggest I've ever seen I think it must be eight inches across.

I was late with my Red Robin Tomato starts, but they'll have tomatoes to pick by August.  It's soon enough for me.

This salad bowl is ready to pick.

I planted a few herbs, basil, cilantro and dill.  I love growing them in pots on the deck because it's so easy to just step out on the deck to clip a few fresh leaves when I'm cooking.

Our latest fencing project.  We're hoping it will keep the deer from eating all the flowers.

The plants were labeled as cucumbers, but I'm starting to wonder if they might be some type of squash.  

Today we begin the first day of hot temperatures which probably won't end until the middle of August.  Stay cool!  

Rainy Day - finally.

Hooray!  It's finally raining today.  We had a little bit yesterday, but not enough since it's really dry out there in Jon's woods.   We're both really hoping for a good downpour today and I think it's starting.

I'm very happy to have some time for playing some music today.  There will be no dragging around garden hoses today or moving the "Nelson".  A day off. 

Yesterday I made a new recipe, Vietnamese Beef Pho.  Jon received the seasoning packet and the rice noodles for a Father's Day gift.   Making the recipe was a bit complicated, but now that we've tried it, the next time will be easier.  

It's very similar to one of our family recipes, Pork and Noodles. It's made with thinly sliced pork with a broth from pork and added soy sauce.  Egg noodles are topped with the sauce, sliced green onions and a hard boiled egg. 

The Beef Pho has very interesting flavors since it's seasoned with cinnamon, star anise, cardamon, ginger, onion and Thai basil.  

There are dozens of recipes online, but the basics are a flavorful beef stock, with the spices, simmered in the stock.  Thinly sliced beef strips, flat rice noodles, diced green onion and Thai basil and fresh bean sprouts.  Wedges of lime.  Optional toppings, are chili peppers, Hoisin sauce, cilantro, Siracha. 

Some recipes call for making your own beef stock, with beef marrow bones, meaty bones, and beef brisket.  All simmered for a very long time. (8-12 hours) Others for shortcuts, using beef bone broth, etc. 

I used a combination of some beef marrow bones and a rich beef bone broth that I bought.  It was delicious.   Photo from thewoksoflife.com  There's also a recipe there.  It is one that starts from scratch with the beef broth.  

Enjoy the rain!

A weekend of honoring friends and fathers and an engagement surprise!

 It's been a busy few days this week, but a lot of fun.  Yesterday I attended the Woman of Wisdom event in honor of our special "Woman of Hope, Susan Howard.  She was one of five women chosen for the honor this year.  I learned that this is the 26th year of the WOW awards.  There was a slide show presented with photos and a special song that each of the honorees chose. It was a tribute to how each of them had lived their lives and contributed to the betterment of their communities.  Susan is an inspiration to us all.  She's always there, ready to help with whatever project needs to be done.  She is our number one volunteer and a leader in the Hope community.  It was a lovely event.  Congratulations Susan. 

The Hope women at the event.  

Afterwards, our group of four drove through the No Kings Protest in downtown Sandpoint.  It was well attended with around 1000 people.  We all cheered the crowd on!  Way to show up for democracy!

My friend Marianne was at the protest and has lots of photos on her blog.

On Friday night Jon and I went to B's Beacon, the restaurant at the Hope Hotel, to have dinner and celebrate a belated Mother's Day dinner.  The food was great and the location is beautiful.  After all, it is Hope, one of the most beautiful places in America.

The islands.

The Green Monarchs.  

When we got home we found out that grandson Collin had proposed!  A wedding is on the horizon. Congratulations Abby and Collin!

The plants are popping out all over the place.

Yes, there are some grapes this year.  Jon and I did a pretty drastic pruning of the vines two years ago and now they've recovered enough that there might we grape jelly to put up in the fall. 

The Lady's Mantle is out of control!

On Thursday afternoon Jon and I installed some new fencing around what used to be a dahlia bed.  This year we have planted 3 tomatoes and some zucchini.  The tomatoes look great, but I don't know if the zucchini plants are going to make it.  They looked healthy when I transplanted them but after a few days still look wilted.  You never know.

We like the fencing as it can be left up through the winter.  The deer situation is such that almost everything needs protection from them or they will eat it to the ground.  We have tried a lot of netting but it has to be taken up & down since it doesn't fair well through heavy snow.  

It took us a while to figure out how to install the fence on uneven ground, but zip ties and a pieces of rebar here and there makes it work.  We plan to add more.

I think the color theme this year must be pink. 

As I mowed the lawn I saw all the places that I need to trim.  It's a long list so I'd better get at it.  We do  plan to celebrate Father's Day though!

Both Jamie and David's favorite thing - to have their dad carry them on his shoulders.  I took these photos the summer of 1975.   David is about to take off Jon's glasses.  Jon is wearing his favorite summer shirt at the time which was one of his old army shirts with the sleeves torn off.  The photos are pretty grainy, but still bring back a great memory.   (The lake and the big island in the background)

Jamie on Jon's shoulders.   Aunt Linda in the background.  Don and Linda had gotten married that February and made a trip from Iowa to visit us.   We had driven up to the Auxor mine on Wellington Creek to show them some of the country. 

My friend Susan chose this song for her slide show. 

 It's also the perfect song for Jon.  Happy Father's Day to a great dad!  

Alan Jackson, The Older I Get.  

Turtle rescue

 Yesterday while I was in Sandpoint Jon found this baby turtle near our front steps.  It was a pretty strange place for a turtle to be since we are at least a quarter of a mile from any ponds.  Jon said he was headed in the right direction which would have been towards Cougar Creek, but even that was a long way for a little turtle.

He was a Painted Turtle.  

We decided that his best chance of survival was to drive to Denton Slough, which is what we did.

He was a happy little guy when Jon placed him in the water.