We're at Ridgeway State Park for the next five nights. No wi-fi, and very weak cell signal. I'll have to catch-up with y'all when we get to Silverton. Back soon.

It was a short but fun daytrip over to Goblin Valley State Park. It was the first official "sight-seeing" place along our route, and the whole reason for stopping in Green River. We wanted to get an early start to avoid the heat of the day...both for us and for the kitties. It was a coolish morning, and I'm happy to say the temperature inside the camper never got above 70°F. The kitties were cool and comfy and, no doubt, took their morning naps during this excursion.

As we headed out, we could see the Book Cliff escarpment I mentioned on our way to Green River. 

Heading west, we drove alongside the area known as the San Rafael Swell to our north. The San Rafael Swell, a part of the Colorado Plateau, is high desert country, vastly different from the Sonoran desert of the Southwest. In some sections, it consists of a sweeping landscape with towering mesas, buttes, and pinnacles rising from flat desert floors. 

In other areas, it boasts rolling pasturelands populated with antelope and wild horses. The green in the image below owes its lush appearance to the San Rafael River that runs through the area. The river is little more than a stream here.

In some areas, it can become an incredibly wild, broken land with streams cutting through slot canyons that open up to panoramic vistas. You can find more information and take a virtual grand tour by clicking right here.

It was about a 50-mile drive to reach the state park. We were a little surprised at the steep $20 entrance fee. I'd thought the website listed the fee at $10, but checking just now, I see it also lists the entrance fee at $20. (I'm pretty sure someone snuck in there and changed the fee amount after I checked...either that or I'm becoming senile. Which do you think is the more likely cause of this confusion?)

Driving on past the sign, we could see the park up ahead. As you look at these pictures, be sure to notice the bands of color in the hillsides.

Eventually, we reached the entrance where we paid our fee and were given this nifty map in return. Not bad for $20, right?

We'd read ahead in the guidebook about the hikes we could take. Two were listed that interested us, and we chose the one that was described as the "more entertaining" of the two. Goodness knows, we want to be entertained.

As we approached the outlook shelter, we found this informational sign:

We found some do's and don'ts on another sign. It sounded pretty harmless, but I want to draw your attention to the area I've underlined in blue. As you walk among the "goblins," keep this warning in mind and please behave accordingly.

The Valley of Goblins was a rather small part of the park, although in and of itself, it was fairly expansive. We could see the "valley" as we stood at the overlook.

To the left was this formation, known as the Three Sisters.

They reminded me of the formation known as the Three Gossips that can be seen in Arches National Park. Below is a picture taken on a previous trip:

To the right, some stairs were cut into the slope that allowed us to walk among the goblins.

The sun was in a terrible position for photography, and so these pictures aren't the best, but they're the best I could do.

Goblin Valley is at the southern end of the San Rafael Swell. The swell was uplifted about 40-70 million years ago. The "goblins" are known scientifically as "hoodoos," and are similar to the formations seen at Bryce Canyon National Park, although they are much shorter and less pointy. 

They were formed through the gradual erosion of Entrada sandstone, which was deposited about 170 million years ago when this whole area was a tidal flat situated next to an ancient sea.

As sand washed in with the tides, the surrounding area eroded into the sea, depositing silt and clay. These components layered to form interbedded sandstone. 

The unearthly shapes from the interbedded sandstone are formed through a process called "spheroidal weathering." Because the siltstone and shale layers are softer than the more resistant sandstone layers, they dissolve more quickly. As vertical cracks appear, the sandstone's sharp corners are smoothed by chemical decomposition and erosion, forming the rounded caps and curves you see here.

The red cliffs beyond the valley are going through the same process and will gradually expand the goblin landscape over the next few million years. (We won't be here to see it, sadly.)

Goblin Valley has one of the darkest night skies on earth. It is virtually free of any light pollution from populated areas. 

Goblin Valley State Park is a certified Dark Sky Park and offers an unparalleled view of the Milky Way, or so we're told. Just now I went in search of an image on Creative Commons that might show this, and came up with this one:

("Shooting Star in Goblin Valley" by devinStein is licensed under CC BY 2.0)

After walking around among the goblins for a while, we made our way a short distance to the hiking trail we'd chosen. You can read a little about it at this link.

This being the first "official" hike of the trip, our shadow selves were all about it. My shadow self was carrying a hiking pole. Mike's was...I don't know...emulating his favorite superhero.

We found these informational signs about plant life...

and wildlife.

The only wildlife we saw was this big black stinkbug running across the parking area.

The hike was kind of meh, and so I didn't take many pictures. This was the view behind us.

After walking a little over a half mile, we came to a fork in the trail, and decided to take the left trail toward the Valley of Goblins.

There we had a nice panoramic view of the area where we'd been earlier.

In fact, I took a panorama shot of the whole valley. Remember that you can make the image larger by clicking on it.

From there, we walked back to our truck and headed back to Green River. When we arrived, we found Sadie still napping in her cubby.

She didn't come down when her "Greet and Treats" were served up. Smitty was all about it. 

Don't worry, Sadie. I'll clean yours up if you don't want them. 

As it turns out, she did want them.

Smitty headed out on the catio.

We had some lunch, and then we all took naps. Smitty had the cubby this time. What a long and beautiful tummy.

And you know a visit has been successful when I can find both a refrigerator magnet...

and a shot glass.

These are the first new additions to my collections for this trip.

Okay, so that was our last day in Green River, Utah. This morning, we'll head off to Ridgeway State Park near Ouray, Colorado. We'll be unloading the camper there since we'll be staying five nights. During that time, we're going to do some ATVing which, after all, is the whole point of this journey. It's a short day of driving today, and we'll be on our way soon. 

As a reminder, I don't know if I'll have internet access there, so I may or may not be blogging for the next several days. Time will tell. If I'm not able to write, rest assured we'll do some time traveling as soon as I'm back in range, and I'll tell you all about it.

I'm up early this morning, and so I'll get a post off before we leave for Goblin Valley State Park. I'm looking forward to that. We didn't check the weather when we arrived to see which would be the coolest day. As it turns out, we chose wisely. It will be significantly cooler today than yesterday. And yesterday, there was quite a rain storm that blew through. So...a happy accident we chose to wait a day before going.

As for yesterday morning, we left the kitties in the most comfortable seats in the house. I think they just wanted us to go so they could get in some good nap time.

It was a short walk to the restaurant. This was the view from our table. That's the Green River, and the town's namesake.

The Indian fry bread was everything I hoped it would be. Nicely fried and not greasy. It was served with some strawberry jam and some honey butter. It seemed as if I should eat something healthy along with it, and so I had some fresh strawberries and pineapple topped with yogurt and granola. Not usually my first choice for breakfast, but it made me feel as if I'd canceled out the fry bread.

My friend Wanda asked if the fry bread was like the elephant ears they serve at state fairs. It is a lot like that, except that it isn't usually served with sugar sprinkled over. It's more like a deep fried biscuit. You eat it like a slice of pizza, and usually it is spread with butter and honey or jam. So yummy.

Back at the RV, I read the few articles I'd pulled from different resources telling us what sorts of things we can do during our state park visit tomorrow. I was looking at the map and realized how centrally located we are to a number of national parks: Canyonlands, and Arches are very close. Also Capitol Reef, Zion, and Bryce. And that doesn't include the many state parks and national monuments. It's a beautiful area, and a good place for a road trip that will take in some incredible landscapes.

I've circled where we're staying in red in the image above. The green circle is where Goblin Valley State Park is located. It's about a 50-mile drive from where we are. Thus, our early start.

Smitty got out for a walk yesterday. He was very brave. We saw a man with a woofie, which set our teeth on edge. And then someone rode by on an ATV. He didn't panic, and he didn't try to run. 

Instead, he just wandered over and sat next to our satellite dish. You can see it is inscribed with the brand name, "King." Smitty was certain it was a monument to him. One can only imagine how hard it is for a cat of his stature to remain humble. In fairness, the "King" is preceded by an arrow pointing directly at Smitty. He rests his case.

He sampled some of the Utah grass. One must be careful in Utah. It is not a legal state. It would be purrfectly furrightful if someone ended up in the pawnitentiary. (My apologies to my Facebook and Instagram friends who have to put up with my dumb jokes more than once.)

After such courage, he was rewarded with some Treats of Valor for his effort. Sadie received her Treats of Condolence.

There was enough laundry to do a load, and it seemed as good a time as any. While I was waiting for the washer and dryers to time out, I spent some time on my slow-stitching. I stitched enough of the bottom to decide to move my hoop.

Now the unfinished part is encompassed in my hoop, and I'll spend a while on this latitude and longitude. There is a lot of stitching on this one.

Smitty had yesterday's shift helping me with my post. Today Sadie is on the job.

If we're going to get an early start, then it's time for me to get going. I'll tell you about the state park in tomorrow's post. I should mention here, before I forget, that our next stop will be in a Colorado State Park. State Parks are notorious for their poor internet connection capabilities. They almost never (probably never) have wi-fi, and often, there is poor cell service as well. If you don't hear from me for a few days, don't worry. I'll be back as soon as I can get a good signal. 

Good morning, my friends. We passed into Utah yesterday. It was a long day of driving. In two days, we have traveled nearly 700 miles. Thankfully, we will stay put here for a few days before moving on to Colorado. We have loved the black-eyed Susans lining both sides of the road for most of our trip so far.

It was a flat and dull landscape for a good part of the day.

There were a few barns sprinkled in.

This next one was my favorite for the day.

We passed through small communities with large farms.

This next one looks to be a house, posing as a barn.

Here was a very large bull. A sign to his left advertised "range bulls" here. I guess if you want to, you can rent a bull to go out and, you know, "mingle" with the ladies.

Eventually, we passed through the Ogden/Salt Lake City/Provo areas. You can see the state Capitol building there where I've indicated in the image below.

We've driven this road many times, and the traffic is always horrible going through here. The traffic wouldn't seem so bad, except that the road is eternally under construction, with narrow lanes, and both cars and trucks going FAST. It's very nervous-making. 

Here's a barn nestled into an idyllic setting. 

Ahhhhh....now that's some pretty country right there.

We got into a few sprinkles of rain. It appeared to be raining good and proper off to the passenger side. We saw occasional lightning flashes, but we never even needed to turn on our windshield wipers.

We were impressed at seeing how the road had been cut into this rocky hillside. Notice the band of black in the lower part of the image, kind of where the road disappears. Maybe billions of years ago, something volcanic must have happened there. We were heading down a steep slope here, and as we went, the black band moved from the bottom part of the cliff to the top with the change in elevation. 

We still had around 100 miles to go when I noticed this cliff formation that extended nearly from horizon to horizon.

It was hard to capture the vastness of it in a single photograph. It continued on for many miles until, finally, I inquired of my friend The Google to see if it could be identified. I entered these words in my search bar: "escarpment, parallel to US 6, Utah". 

Well, don't you know my friend The Google never lets me down. It was identified as the "Book Cliffs," and here's what else I learned:

[T]he thousand-foot-high wall of the Book Cliffs that parallels the highway just to the north. Winding for 250 miles across Utah and Colorado, it is the longest continuous escarpment in the world.

Cool!!! I love this kind of stuff. Have I said lately how much I 💓 the internet? You can read more about the area at this link right here. To my side of the road, we could see the area known as "Desolation Canyon."

   

And here's what The Google told me about it:

The Book Cliffs-Desolation Canyon wilderness is a merging of three different worlds: the great rampart of the Roan and Book cliffs, the high alpine forests and meadows of the Tavaputs Plateau, and the inner world of Desolation Canyon.

 It reminds me of areas we've seen in various parts of the country designated as "badlands."

We'd been heading south, but even as we turned east onto the interstate at I-70, it continued to stretch on. We'll probably continue to see it as we make our way to Colorado. But here, after such a long drive, we were very happy to see the town of Green River, our final destination for the day.

The kitties are always excited to see where we've ended up. Mainly, I think they're just hoping we're home. When they see we aren't, they remain curious about what's going on outside. Sadie had the window seat this time. 

We're staying at a KOA here in Green River. We aren't generally fond of KOA's, but we're here to see Goblin Valley State Park. It's a remote park, and so there aren't many choices. There is camping in the state park, but it couldn't accommodate our length. Besides, we timed our visit to land on the weekend when campgrounds fill up anyway. So, here we are...KOA, and this one is a pretty nice one, thankfully. We have a long enough site, but we had to pull the trailer to the front end and unhitch in order to be able to reach our hoses and cords to the electrical, water, and sewer hook-ups. 

It was in the 90's when we arrived. When the sun set and the temperatures cooled, we got out for a little walk around the campground. After sitting all day, it was nice to move. Along our way, we saw a sliver of moon.

If you've enjoyed these pictures, you can thank Smitty for his helpful input as I edited them. 

When we checked in yesterday, we were told that a restaurant across the driveway from us serves meals all day, including breakfast. We can get a 10% discount if we tell them we're staying at the KOA. But that's not the most exciting part. They serve Indian Fry Bread and, oh my gosh, there are few things in the world that I love any more than I love Indian Fry Bread. That stuff is delicious. When I die, I'll know I'm in heaven if I find a place where one can eat Indian Fry Bread morning, noon, and night. Oh wait...maybe I'm already there! 

Well, anyway, there are lots of recipes and tutorials about how to make it online. I'm just really not into that sort of frying though, and so it's unlikely I'd ever make it for myself. And it's rare to find it in a restaurant unless one is deep in the heart of territories once occupied by our indigenous peoples. So, all of that to say we're having breakfast at the restaurant this morning. Indian Fry Bread is definitely not on our diet, but you know...when in Rome...

And after two long days of driving, we're taking the day off. We'll visit the state park tomorrow. It's 50 miles from where we are, and we're determined not to sit in the truck again today. Tomorrow will be just fine. Probably I'll write my post later in the day tomorrow. The day is going to be warm, and so we want to get out early for our hiking to beat the heat. I'll check back again before we head for Colorado, but don't be surprised if my post comes late in the day. 

It's going to be nice to have a day to relax again. I hope y'all have a relaxing day planned for yourselves too.

We find ourselves in Heyburn, Idaho, this morning. We'll be heading out soon for Green River, Utah. It's another long day of driving...something on the order of 350 miles...but then we'll stay put for three nights while we do some sight-seeing in the area. 

The kitties are such old hands at traveling, they recognized the signs of getting ready to leave when we pulled up stakes yesterday. Sadie decided to head up into her cubby.

We stopped for fuel before heading to the interstate, and then we were on our way. Here are some things we saw on our drive. 

We saw several barns yesterday. These are the best of the ones I captured.

As we approached Ontario, Oregon, we came alongside the Snake River. It marks the border between Oregon and Idaho. We weren't quite there yet, but we would pass into Mountain Time shortly after I took this picture. You can see how hazy the sky was. This is smoke from a wildfire somewhere. Frankly, there are so many fires burning right now, it would be hard to say it came from any one in particular.

We saw black-eyed Susans blooming all along the highway on both sides of the road.

After passing through Ontario, we reached the state line. Bye-bye, Oregon.

Get ready...we're crossing the Snake River and the state line.

And here we are! Helllllloooooooo, Idaho!

We stopped at the first rest area we came to. This sign was displayed. I was surprised at how many tribes came here for the Salmon Festival. Sometimes I think their lives were idyllic. They lived off the land, and traveled from place to place. They had a rich cultural heritage. On the other hand, they could die from minor injuries, and if they broke a bone, it probably would never heal properly. No doubt their lives were hard, but I don't imagine they thought so. 

It's easy to see why this was a favored spot. It was lovely here. Looking west, we saw this:

Standing in the same spot and looking east, we saw this:

Looking at the map, we noticed a state park that looked like a good place to stop for lunch. It was just five miles north of the interstate.

We crossed the Boise River as we approached. I was reminded of a summer when my older twin cousins, Ruth and Rebecca, and I tubed down this river. Great fun and great memories.

Before we go any farther here in the park, though, let's just look at all the ways you could die today. Please keep your hands and arms inside the vehicle at all times.

That's the Lucky Peak Dam, built in 1949 by the Army Corps of Engineers. You can read more about it at that link I just gave you.

I zoomed in to get a better look at the birds there in the river. 

The water appears to be fairly shallow. Some of the ducks appear to be standing on the bottom.

So we had our lunch and then headed on down the dusty trail. Just east of Boise, it's very dry and flat. Traveling east, we came to more areas of agriculture. We saw fields of corn.

But we saw more alfalfa than anything else. It was cut in places.

Look toward the base of the mountains and you can see where some of it has been baled.

And that was pretty much all we saw during our drive. I'll close this post by showing you some more pictures I took back in La Grande. As I mentioned, we took a second walk around the park, this time with my DSLR with macro lens affixed. You can see fall is approaching.

Some lavender. The bees liked this.

Here's a better picture of the thistle.

This is a reed of some kind growing where the lilypads are.

Something that is pretty even after going to seed.

This is another of the olive trees we saw.

More fall leaves.

A close-up of the wild rosehips.

And yet more fall leaves.

From a distance, it looked as if someone had tried to carve a bird's face here. There were some tool marks where the eyes were, but the hole in the middle appears natural. I can't tell you any more about it. That's all I know.

Here's one of the little bird houses with a nest still inside. It appears to be abandoned at this point.

And that's all I have for you today. On today's drive, we'll cross into Utah where we'll do the first of our sight-seeing. It's another day of driving, and then more relaxation. We'll be visiting Goblin Valley State Park at our next stop. It's been on my bucket list for a while, and so I'm looking forward to that.

Yesterday was a much-needed day to lie like vegetables and unwind before moving along this morning. We'll have a long day of driving today (325 miles) to reach Heyburn, Idaho, a stopping place along the way. There is a nice RV park there, right along the Snake River. As for yesterday, we were able to get out for two walks. It's a peaceful atmosphere here, and there's a nice walking path along the hot spring creek. I took lots of pictures.

In yesterday's post, I mentioned the blood red sunrise. The air is smoky here, and it was mostly overcast until late in the day. It was okay with us because it kept things cool. It can get hot in this part of Oregon.

There are other campers here in the park, but you might think we had the whole place to ourselves.

Along our walk, we saw lots of this tall grass. I love how it shines in the sun.

We saw a cat stalking something not visible to us. I tried to get him to approach, but mainly he was pissed off that we'd blown his cover.

One can walk around a thicket of cattails and other reeds growing in the hot stream. Around the backside, a path is kept mowed, and it's very peaceful. There was a beehive hanging on this tree.

A short distance on, we noticed this sign.

We noticed that, indeed, there were honeybees flying past at regular intervals. Stepping around to the back side of the tree, we found a wild beehive. I have never actually seen honeybees in a wild hive, and this excited me no end. It might be the best thing I've seen all year.

There is something captivating about these next, um...what are they...reeds? Thistles? I'm not really sure what dies and leaves this behind, but they are favorite photographic subjects of mine. When I saw them, I let out an involuntary sigh of relaxation.

Moving on, these are snowberries. Usually I don't see these until all the foliage on their shrub has turned brown.

The lilypads were so pretty. I love the texture here:

As we approached, a frog jumped off into the water. We looked for more, but didn't see any. And here's another thing I've rarely seen...blooming lilypads. 

We see a lot of skunk cabbage in Oregon, but we don't often catch the lilypads when they're blooming.

The flower was a distance away, and I had only my point and shoot with me. I was experimenting with its zoom capability and kept taking pictures closer and closer.

These are wild rosehips:

If memory serves, this is some kind of wild aster.

Here's a thistle. These were growing by the lake.

There is a wildlife preserve across the road, and the park has put up lots of bird houses. There are houses for both small and large birds. Where the large birdhouses are hung, there is a metal ring around the tree, presumably to prevent predators (think raccoons) from climbing the tree and making off with the eggs. 

Here are a few more things we saw near the lake.

There were ducks on the lake, but they were too far away for me to capture.

At the far end of the park, and near our site, there were horses grazing in a pasture. 

It appeared there were just these two.

As I drew closer, I could see there were more.

We seem to be on some kind of dragonfly migratory path. As we sat, we saw hundreds, maybe thousands, of dragonflies. Mainly they were flying in pairs, and they were um, "bothering" one another.

There are harbingers of fall everywhere.

We saw several trees beginning to turn their fall colors.

The stream runs along this hillside. I love the layers of color here.

Smitty was very brave and got out for a short walk. He looks better, doesn't he? It's good to have my kitty back.

Sadie watched from the window. She used to whine and cry to join us, but she seems resigned to being an indoor-only kitty when we're traveling. If you're new to this blog, just know Sadie is formerly feral. She reverts to feral when she's in strange surroundings. She's escaped from every harness we've ever tried, and when she gets loose, she runs away. We nearly lost her in Teddy Roosevelt National Park a few years ago. That was Sadie's last walk. 

We decided to cut into one of the five cantaloupes we brought. It looks good, but we didn't think it was ripe. And it really wasn't. There was a very thin layer of tasty melon. The rest was pretty rubbery. We'll keep waiting them out, checking them every few days. They're enclosed in a large paper bag along with a friendly Granny Smith apple to aid in the ripening process.

While we were sitting outside, yet another dragonfly landed on my arm and sat there for the longest time. Mike finally went inside to get the camera, and the dragonfly flew over and landed on our picnic table. He sat there for a long time too...long enough for me to take his picture.

As we sat, a red-winged blackbird landed on one of the trailered ATV's. He sat there and sang his guts out and chattered away. My guess is that he was hoping for some Fritos, or Doritos, or Tostitos, or some other kind of "ito" junk food. Oreos might do. In my experience, these guys who come begging aren't picky about their junk food.

Later in the day, we noticed the horses had come closer to the fence, and I was able to get a closer shot of them. I just love horses. My mother loved them too.

Okay, so I meant to show you this yesterday, and then, missed getting the picture uploaded to the blog. We made a few little changes to this "media center" in the RV. This is a place with two charging stations, and it has just a narrow shelf below the TV. When we check into an RV park, we're given the rules about quiet hours, etc., a map of the place to find the laundry room, trash, and recycling bins. It also has certain gate codes and wi-fi passwords. And so it's something we need around, but it's always cluttering up the place. Also here, we charge our phones and iPads. Before this, the cords were so long they were all over the place too. 

So we hung a little narrow strip of a metallic bulletin board where we could clip the paperwork and get it out of the way.  Then we found 12-inch charging cords for our electronic devices. It's so much nicer and more useful now. Living in this small space, we try to keep things tidy. By the way, if you want to see more of the interior of the camper, you can read this old blog post where I took you on a tour of our rig when we first bought it.

Good morning, my friends! I've missed you guys. It's nice to be back! Last we spoke, we were packing up and getting ready to head out on Grand Adventure 2021. I've been so excited about this trip ever since I started planning it back in April. We're gonna see so much stuff! Right now, you can find us in La Grande, Oregon. It's a great first stop when we're heading east, and we've stayed at this park many times. We may have stayed here on our first RV trip when we had our first small RV, purchased in the early 2000's. I'm happy to say the place hasn't changed much over the years. It has changed hands at least three times, however. When we made our reservation back in May, we asked for a space away from things. They couldn't have chosen a nicer spot for us. Looking to the rear of our rig, there is a wildlife preserve. There is a lot of bird activity here.

When we pulled in, we had a neighbor on the driver's side, but I notice he left sometime before we got up this morning. The kitties like it best when they don't have people and woofies walking past their catio. Sometimes we can even entice Smitty to get out for a walk. 

So, it was a long day yesterday. Heading east out of downtown Portland, the road is lined with trees on both sides.

As we headed east into the Columbia Gorge, we noticed the burned out areas from the devastating wildfire during the summer of 2017.

There is enough green mixed in that the entire area doesn't appear charred, but it's still a heartbreaking ride through this area.

We passed by Multnomah Falls. This isn't my picture. I was so busy looking in the wrong direction that we'd driven by it when I realized my error. This image is from Creative Commons.

And eventually, there are no trees at all. At this time of year, everything is pretty dry.

Trains run on both sides of the river. This one was just about to go through a tunnel on the Oregon side.

This one was heading in the opposite direction on the Washington side.

We passed by Maryhill Museum. There is a permanent Rodin exhibit here, but I've never seen it. Someday I would like to.

We passed by the Bonneville Dam. I thought I had pictures of the dams on my blog, but I couldn't find them. I'm borrowing these next two images from Creative Commons as well. This is Bonneville Dam:

The flowers were HUGE! I put my hand there for scale.

At another rest area, we found this. I think this is called a "cock's comb."

Around the other side, some potted petunias.

On long drives, we like to take a walk around the rest areas. This one was beside a pasture. There was a drainage ditch that led to a watering hole for the cattle. There, we found a huge field of cattails. I love cattails, even when they aren't attached to actual cats.

A few cows strolled by on their way to get a drink.

For as many times as we've driven this route, we saw something we hadn't noticed before. Even if the place isn't new, we believe the sign designating the City of Echo as a national historic site was new. When I saw the sign, I had to look it up. You can see where Echo is located on the map, halfway between Boardman and Pendleton (of the Pendleton woolen mills). 

Here's what I learned about Echo:

The Oregon Trail passes through Echo. Emigrants crossed the Umatilla River and camped at a site called the Lower Crossing.Sometimes the emigrants would camp here for a few days to refresh their animals, do laundry or trade before starting across the dry, dusty desert to the west. . . . Many emigrant diaries mention this first building, as it was the first frame building they had seen since leaving Fort Laramie.

It's an interesting part of the Oregon Trail's history, and you can read more about it right here. 

We didn't see many barns along the way, but here's one right here: 

 Mainly we saw a lot of grain elevators. We're traveling at the southern end of The Palouse here. 

Mainly we saw fields of grain.

Miles and miles of fields. 

They grew thicker as we drove along.

Until they were lining both sides of the roads again. When we started our journey, we were seeing Douglas Firs. These look more like Ponderosa Pines.

Not too much farther on, we could see the RV park.

As we made our turn, we passed by the Hot Lake Hotel, another national historic site. You can read more about it at this old post right here.

The kitties are such good travelers. All they need is their treats and their dinner served up on time, and they're happy little kitties. Sadie was ready for a nice sit in a comfortable chair. She looks a little shell-shocked, doesn't she?

Smitty needed a good stiff drink. 

Their water dish is called a "Water Hole." They have access to their food, water, and their potty box as we go down the road. The water hole has a lip on it so that water doesn't slosh out onto the floor. Once he'd slaked his thirst, he sat at the door awaiting the hanging of the catio. Just outside...do you see it? 

A woman walked by with her vile woofie. Oooooh...that makes Smitty's blood boil. Later, they were ready for napping. I don't think they sleep much while we're going down the road, even though they are riding comfortably on the bed. Sadie claimed this spot on Mike's side of the bed.

Smitty chose his cubby beside the bed. We give up a lot of packing space so the kitties can have their cubbies. By the way, the device you see to the right of Smitty...

is a nifty new gadget we picked up for this trip. It monitors the temperature inside the camper as we go down the road, and transmits it to this thermometer we keep in the truck cab with us. The top temperature is the temperature inside the RV. The bottom temperature is the temperature inside the cab of the truck. The kitties were riding cooler than we were.

In our earlier RV days, we got into some hot weather once. This was when we were traveling with the original three cats of the Three Cats Ranch and our first small fifth wheel. We knew it was too hot, and we had no choice but to continue on down the road with them until we could find a suitable place to stop and turn on the air-conditioning. We opened the doors to find the kitties overheated and looking pretty bad. We felt absolutely terrible. We set out buckets of ice and blew fans over them to cool them off, and then we vowed never to let that happen again.

This morning's post is going to be quick. I need to take off fairly early for my hair appointment. When that's all done, I'm making a final trek to the grocery store to pick up a few last minute items. Then I'll head for home to start the process of packing in earnest. There won't be much going on here for the next couple of days, and so I don't expect I'll blog. Of course, if something exciting happens, I reserve the right to tell you about it. You'd want to know, right? But, honestly, how exciting can it be when we're packing...unless someone falls out of the RV or something. It could happen. At the latest, you can expect to hear from me by next Wednesday. If our plans go off as they should, we'll be in Eastern Oregon by then. 

So I'm already running out of things to tell you. It was a rather lackluster day yesterday. I had my pedicure appointment and then was chagrined to realize I'd bumped my left big toe somewhere along the ride home, putting a gouge in my still-wet nail polish. Bummer. Oh well...I'll look for something close in color at the grocery store today. I probably had something a while back, but I ended up tossing out all my dried-up nail polish. Aside from that, I spent most of the afternoon just sitting around vegetating. I did get a start on the first of Grandma's Thimbles.

The cantaloupes continue their slow road to ripening. They are a small melon, and the ones you'll see here are a little larger than softballs. They are still green as green can be, although I've noticed their blossom end is softening a little. 

There are a couple of dozen still on the vine. We'll pick the most ripe ones and take them along. I've read they will ripen off the vine. We're told to put them in a paper bag along with an apple or a banana. The apple/banana will emit ethylene gas, and that is supposed to help with ripening.

It'll be an experiment, and it's probably the only way we'll get to enjoy any of the cantaloupes we grew this year. There are lots more smaller ones on the vine too. It wouldn't surprise me at all if we find them still unripe when we return 6 weeks from now. 

This last one is of the black-eyed Susans growing in a whiskey barrel at the front door. They made a good showing for their first year.

As I made my way back to the house, I noticed Smitty was napping in the little house on his catio. Sounds like the name of a TV show, doesn't it? "Little House on the Catio." It could be the title of Smitty's autobiography.

We're laying waste to the vegetables here as we wind down our summer. Yesterday was a day to harvest as much corn as we could. The corn was among the most productive things in the garden this year. I planted a different variety from last year. This one (Sweetness) had a shorter seed-to-harvest time of 68 days, which was a full three weeks shorter than the variety we'd planted the year before. I'd do it again because the corn was so sweet and good.

Our day started with a trip to the grocery store. When we had everything put away, we headed out to the garden. We harvested a big bucket of corn:

Then, it was dunked in an ice water bath for two minutes.

When it was retrieved, it still had a nice color, and really looked as if nothing had happened in the interim.

Then, Mike operated the vacuum sealer, and this was really slick. We bagged it up two ears per bag (since that's what we'd eat at a given meal). 

The bags are sealed at one end, then the corn is loaded in. Then the machine sucks out all the air and seals the bag. Pretty nifty.

And then...just to keep it all contained...it was bagged again in zip-lock bags. Altogether, we had 21 ears. With what we've already harvested, this year's crop has been fairly impressive.

Now it's all stashed in the freezer. We'll still eat some of what is left in the garden as it grows larger over the next few days, but that's pretty much it for Corn 2021.

Sadie appurroved whole-heartedly, especially when I decided to stitch all the cats in black.

She helped me select some other colors for the berries, vines, leaves, and cats' eyes.

This is what we came up with.

And here is all I'm taking on this trip. A tidy little space-saving package, if I do say so myself. And I do.

On the left there is my little travel iron, contained in the iron caddy I made for it a while back. The pattern is from Sisters Common Thread, and you can read my blog post about how I made it right here. Mine is the "junior" size, but it also comes in a size for larger irons. It's a great little bag because when it's opened flat, it forms an ironing surface. And that means there's no need for an ironing board in our small truck camper. It can also contain the iron while it's still hot. 

When I had the stitching done, I trimmed it to size. You'll never find a more reliable sewing cat than our Sadie.

And then I added the borders to finish it off.

Here are all the blocks I have for this quilt so far.

Sadie was feeling pretty self-satisfied after all her helpfulness in a single day of sewing.

But I wasn't finished laying waste to the vegetables. For dinner, I cooked up all the green beans I'd harvested to date that weren't already eaten. I made the Charred Green Beans. I had two pounds of green beans to work with, so I doubled the recipe, and we'll have leftovers for another meal. It's one of my favorite ways with fresh green beans these days.

I tried for most of the day to get a picture of Smitty. He's so much better. He was pretty sick, and he's still working at getting his stamina back. Otherwise, he seems mostly well again. I noticed yesterday his eye was still weeping a little, and he's sleeping more than usual. But it's good to see his eyes looking brighter, and to have him more engaged and active. He's still not posing for pictures though. A guy has to keep looking his best if he wants those Cosmeowpolitan magazine cover shots. He's trying to build up his 401(k) for retirement.

Okay, so the next couple of days are personal care days. I'm getting a pedicure today, and tomorrow I'm getting my hair cut and colored. I don't really need the haircut, but I won't get another chance until late October. It'll be driving me crazy by then. Saturday, packing will start in earnest. Matthew's friend Lyndsay is coming by this afternoon to pick some of the plums left on our tree. Otherwise, the day will be pretty low key.

To my friends in the Northeast: I'm so worried about you guys. I hope everyone is staying safe and dry. You're in my thoughts, so take good care.

For all the work I did yesterday, I don't have much to show for it. When I say "work," I really mean time. Despite the time it took, I'd forgotten how easy it is to make applesauce. The apples are just cored and chunked up. You don't even have to peel them. After they're cooked, the peels come off in the food mill as I run them through and turn them into that tasty stuff we call applesauce. At the end of the day, I had 15 pints.

Oh yes, and I should update you on Smitty. He's seemed much better the last two days, and he seemed nearly 100% by the time we went to bed last night. It looks like he'll survive this illness. I won't lie though...we were very worried about him.

So did you notice? Jenny of Elefantz released the new Posies block a day early. My problem was that I didn't know what the color of the month would be for September's Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Okay, so I looked through the blocks to see what colors we'd used, and thought about which colors we probably would use. I figure orange will be October's color, and so I winged it by choosing lavender for September. Just now I checked the Soscrappy blog, and the new color has not been announced. We'll see if I chose wisely. Whatever color is chosen for September, mine is already committed to lavender.

So, I made up the next block, and now it's ready for stitching.

Usually, I can finish these in one sitting. We're heading out to the grocery store this morning, and so I don't know if I'll get it done. It's okay though because I'm trying to stretch out my stitching projects until we leave on our trip. I was both grateful and amused at the many of you who expressed your concern that the thimbles project would not keep me busy for the six weeks of our trip. You could be right. The way I figure it, I'd have to finish two thimbles each week in order to run out before we get home. I doubt that will happen, but I can't rule it out either. You can all stop biting your nails though because, at your urging, I'm going to try to trace out one more project to take along. There might be time today, so we'll see.

As for today, we're going to harvest what's left of the corn. Mike will help me to shuck it. Shucking is a "thumb thing," which is the term I've given to things that are harder for me now that I'm living with a previously-broken thumb. My thumb is way better, and it doesn't hurt much any more. Still, if I give it too much of a workout, the pain will flare up again, and then I'm sorry. 

So anyway...I'll blanch the corn and then we'll seal it up in our seal-a-meal bags. We've had one for a couple of years. I forget why we bought it, but Mike is the only one who's ever used it. I could have used it last year when I froze corn, but frankly, I forgot all about it. So anyway...this year we'll use it. I'm not sure how much corn is left in the garden, but I think our haul will be substantial. If I can get through all of that, there will be time to trace out another project. The fifth section for Calendula Patterdrip is next on the list.

The days are busy right now. I'm looking forward to the day we leave. The first day's drive will be a long one, but then we'll stay put for two nights. We've learned to give ourselves an extra day at the first stop so that we can relax and ease into vacation mode. It's been a busy summer, and we both need a vacation from our retirement. 

My day started with a run around town, belt-way style. I needed to accomplish three things, and each thing was in a different direction. The apple orchard has opened for business, and so I stopped off to get some apples. There was a new pair of walking shoes in the mix, and then I picked up some prescription sunglasses made from an old glasses frame I had on hand. When I got home, I unloaded 15 lbs. of apples from the car. Applesauce is on today's to-do list.

Now, I'm without any slow-stitching projects, but I have some ideas to get me through until we leave on our trip. For one thing, the next Posies block will be released tomorrow...September 1st. Can you believe we're into September already? So, anyway...that will give me something to do in the next week. 

These should keep me busy the whole time we're gone, and I'm hoping I can get them mostly done before we return home.

Sadie has been missing her friend, and she ran to greet him.

So I opened up the clubhouse for them, and they were up and into it in a flash. And just, FYI, you can never have too many cats, unless you're trying to accomplish something in the sewing room. Then, even one cat can be too many cats, especially when its name is Sadie.

Now it's hooped up and ready for stitching, whenever that might be.

The only downside of this idea is that I won't have easy access to a washing machine. I've found it more difficult than it needs to be to hand-wash the Sticky Fabri-Solvy out of the block when it's finished, and so I put the quilt blocks in a mesh bag and run them through my machine's rinse cycle. While we're traveling, I won't be able to do these as I finish each one. We will need to do some washing here and there, and so I'll probably just toss them in at the laundromat when I have a chance. Or maybe I'll just wait until we get home. We'll see how it goes. And that is the only project I'll be taking along. (Crosses one thing off packing list.)

It was very easy to make. I used my food processor to shred the zucchini and shallot, and the meatballs went together very nicely. I ended up with 14 meatballs...enough for two meals. The sliced zucchini on the side is roasted in a 425 degree oven along with the meatballs. While those are roasting, you make up a kind of "sauce" using shallot, olive oil, crushed red pepper, and feta cheese. We looked askance at the sauce since it seemed a little weird, but it actually added a nice flavor to the rest of the dish. One is supposed to drizzle it over, but we kept it on the side until we were sure.

Okay, so applesauce is in my future today. If I'm feeling very energetic, I might make a batch of tomato-jalapeno jam. Probably, that will have to wait until tomorrow, but that will bring an end to Canning Season 2021 for the time being. I still want to make some spicy plum barbecue sauce when we get back. While I'm hoping to have some time for sewing this week, there is a lot to do to get ready for our departure. I'll fit in sewing when I can. 

There wasn't as much cooking yesterday, but there was still plenty to do. We're bearing down on our departure date, and that means we're both on the run from sun up to sun down. Yesterday it occurred to me that the time before a trip is busy because we're both trying to get just this one more thing done before we leave. Taking a vacation from retirement is not so different from taking a vacation from work. The only difference is the make-up of the last minute tasks.

There was just a little more to do in the kitchen yesterday morning. We brined and then spatchcocked (butterflied) three chickens. I slid a mixture of butter, Dijon mustard, garlic, and thyme under their skins, and then they sat uncovered in the refrigerator for the rest of the day. The goal was a nice crisp skin on the chickens. When we had that finished, I baked the official dessert of the night: Original Plum Torte from the first plums harvested. When it came out of the oven, it looked like this:

Later, I was able to get the torte out of its pan and slid onto a serving platter for a prettier presentation. My cake platter doesn't have a lid, but an inverted large Pyrex bowl works nicely. If you don't notice the "Pyrex" logo on the bottom of the bowl, you might even think it looked elegant!

We're only letting the kitties out under close supervision these days. We'd hate for anyone to go missing right before our departure. They so love being out, though, and even Mr. Snuffles perks up a little. He's hanging pretty close to the house these days, and so we're really only having to herd one tiny little cat.

As time grew near for family to arrive, I set out a taste test station with all the different salsas I made this year. 

The tomato and tomatillo-apple salsas are old favorites. The ones made from plums, cherries, and peaches were new to all of us. I didn't even taste them while I was making them. They were eaten in equal quantities, and so I'd say they were all winners. I liked the cherry best. Erik asked for a spicy salsa and the plum contained whole serrano peppers. The original recipe called for habanero peppers, but I couldn't find them at the time. The serranos made it plenty spicy for me, but Erik tasted it and said it could be even spicier. I vowed on the spot to find those habaneros next year and make the spiciest salsa you've ever seen. Good luck surviving it.

He smoked 8 oz. blocks of each. Erik pointed out that cheese can't ordinarily be kept that long in the refrigerator, but smoking helps to preserve it. It was a fun experiment with a tasty outcome.

While they were chatting, Smitty was in his favorite spot between Mike's legs.

Dinner was served after that. It was delicious. Mae brought a salad made from their zillions of cherry tomatoes and garden basil. We had the potato salad I made the day before and garden corn on the cob. I didn't think to take any pictures of the food, but everything was delicious. It was pretty much a harvest dinner, and a nice way to close out summer. 

It was a full day yesterday. I was on my feet practically from sun up to sun down. Fortunately, most all the work for our dinner is done. Today I'll harvest the first plums from our tree for our dessert, and I'll be brining some chickens and adding some butter under the skins. Mike will roast those on his Traeger grill this evening, but my part will be finished. I'll just need to boil the garden corn, and that is a fairly mindless task. 

Yesterday, I made a Texas potato salad. It's one of my favorite ways to make potato salad, from Cook's Country. Usually those recipes require a membership, but sometimes I can find them online. There are lots of recipes for Texas potato salad online, but you can find the one from Cook's Country right here. I didn't take a picture of mine, so I swiped this one off the Cook's Country website:

I spied something new in the bee garden. That's a California poppy up top, of course, but the purple thing below...I don't know. I looked at the images included on the wildflower seed website showing me the contents of my mix. I didn't see anything that looked like it.

The cosmos has made a good showing too.

And I love these little guys. This is gaillardia.

And, of course, sunflowers in abundance.

Some are starting to hang their heads. The birds love them.

Coming back to necessary chores, I harvested some corn for our dinner tonight and for some corn chowder last night. The corn is so sweet and good. I'm looking forward to serving it up for the kids tonight.

Smitty is improving, but oh, so slowly. He's still pretty lethargic and slept most of the day yesterday. Fortunately, the sneezing decreases by approximately one sneeze per day. All progress is good progress. I took this picture of him yesterday, and then encouraged him to look a little more lively for his fan club.

Oh my...even in his illness the pawpawrazzi gives him no peace. He repurrsitioned himself...

And then mustered this expression:

We're just giving him lots of love and skritches. He thanks you for your well wishes.

While I was writing yesterday's post, I realized I couldn't continue on with my next WIP until I'd done some embroidery. And so when I stepped away from the keyboard, I went straight to the sewing room to make up the next Shop Hop embroidered panel. The next shop on my list was Durango Quilt Company in Durango, Colorado. These go pretty quick. I first print the name and place onto a sheet of paper. I have a file saved on my computer so that the font and size are consistent from block to block. Then I trace them onto the fabric.

There were some errands to run in town, and so it was later in the afternoon before I was able to make my way into the sewing room. There, I found Ms. Rough-and-Ready waiting to offer her sewing expurrtise.

After explaining to her that I'd already made this block five times before, she agreed I probably didn't need any help, and purrceeded to take a nap in her nearby kitty bed. I can tell you one of the most pleasing sounds in my sewing room is her snoring away in her bed and out of my hair.

In fairly short order, the block was finished.

You can find the pattern for the polaroid picture block right here. Here are all the quilt shop blocks I have for this quilt so far.

There is also a camera block, and so I actually have 7 blocks out of the 15 I'll need.

It's going to be a busy day in the garden and the kitchen today, and so I don't expect I'll have any time for sewing. One never knows, however. I'm hopeful to get at least one more quilt block made before I have to start packing for our trip in earnest. The next block on my list is the Huevos Rancheros block for the New Mexico Kitchen quilt. This is the image from the pattern cover. Sorry for the blur, but it's blurred on the cover.

These blocks generally take a while, and adding the fringe to the table cloth at the bottom is a royal pain. Still, when they're all finished, I think this is going to make a really pretty and colorful quilt.

Smitty is improving day by day, but he's still got the snuffles. Yesterday found him more lively and engaged. He's been spending his afternoons in his favorite spot on the catio. Yesterday, he had his face to the sun. 

We had to put that board up when the squirrels chewed through the fencing there, not once, but twice. It rudely blocks Smitty's view. Mike is going to replace it with metal fencing next year. He replaced the fencing on that side after the squirrels chewed through it the first time. Then, within 24 hours, they'd chewed through it again. Pretty exasperating, and I don't blame him for not wanting to replace the fencing yet again this summer.

Today will be a kitchen day. I'm preparing some dishes ahead for our get-together with the kids tomorrow, and I'm making a test recipe for America's Test Kitchens. I had a dessert in mind already, but then received their email with a dessert test recipe. What the heck, I figure. Might as well make it when I have the family here to help test it and eat it. So we'll have two desserts: a test dessert, and an emergency back up dessert in the form of the Original Plum Torte. I'll harvest the first of the plums, and make the torte tomorrow. 

Also today I'll be making a potato salad and harvesting some corn. We'll have the corn with our dinner tomorrow, but I'm going to make some corn chowder for dinner tonight. I have a recipe that is delicious, and it's one of the recipes I make every year when fresh garden corn is available. I'll say more about that in tomorrow's post. If you really can't wait until tomorrow, I wrote about this process and shared the recipe last year. Just click right here to read it. 

Okay, so I need to get moving if I'm going to get anything done. The day always starts with a little slow-stitching, and that's where I'm headed next.

With Ella's Flower Garden removed from my list of WIP's there was a new opening on my dance card. After interviewing "idea candidates," I decided the idea with the most, um, experience was the Vintage Linen quilt. And by that, I mean this idea has been percolating for many years. Finally, I'm starting on the project. Part of what has taken so long is deciding how to do it. I've looked at lots of ideas on Pinterest, but finally decided to go with my original idea of making my grandmother's handwork the centerpiece of 12 crazy quilt blocks. I'll call this quilt...what else?..."Vintage Linens."

All of the handwork for these quilt blocks is from my maternal grandmother, Bertha Maust. She was passionate about hand work. I didn't see my grandmother often growing up. What I remember about her is that she had a heart condition. She'd suffered a heart attack in her 60's. Back then, the thinking was that heart attack patients needed to stay quiet and to avoid putting stress on the heart. She was advised to only be on her feet for four hours out of the day. The rest of the time, she was to lie down and rest. She was just one generation removed from her Mennonite roots, and firmly believed that idle hands were the devil's workshop, and so she kept her hands busy with hand work while she rested. 

This is my mother's family. This picture was taken as my military family made our way from Virginia to Hawaii. They lived in Fruitland, Idaho, and we stopped off before heading to San Francisco to board the USS Patrick and set sail to Honolulu in 1962.

And then the moment of reckoning arrived when I'd have to actually cut into one of these pieces. I'd already selected this apple, which is embroidered onto the corner of a small table cloth. There is some staining on the opposite corner, and that explains why this old piece has been packed away for something like 100 years, which is probably only a slight exaggeration.

I once attended a guild meeting where the speaker was Mary Shiffer. Mary taught us something about crazy quilts. You can find the link to that post right here. Mary told us the way to start a crazy quilt is to begin with the center piece cut into a pentagon shape. I wanted to cut across the border stitching at right angles and so positioned a square ruler for the first cut to accomplished that. From there, I simply cut where it made sense to make a pentagon from the hand-stitched piece.

From there, Mary told us to start adding strips in a clock-wise direction, and so I started at the top. I wanted to stitch where I'd cut the embroidery and sew a seam before anything got a mind to start coming apart.

Continuing on, I decided (for no particular reason) to trim the strips to 2-1/2 inches. I don't know yet if I'll stick with this for all the blocks.

When I'd gone all the way around, it looked like this.

About then, my excellent helper cat showed up to offer her expurrtise.

And she had a lot to say, let me tell you. For someone so tiny, she is very bossy. Some might even call her "pawthoritarian."

I'm going to add a bit of my grandmother's crocheted edging...kind of like lace...at least once in each block. I'd already done several rounds when I remembered to add something in. Sadie helped hold it in place.

And Sadie was such a big help. Eventually I had to tell her that her assistance was no longer necessary, and she should probably take a nap within the confines of her little kitty bed. Happily, she complied.

Some of the embroidery motifs are fairly large, and this one is too. With that consideration, I'd already decided to keep going around until I could cut the block to 20 x 20 inches. (There will be 12 blocks in all). But then when I had it to where I could cut to 16-1/2 x 16-1/2, I decided it was big enough and called it quits. Then I trimmed the block square:

My original idea included stitching across all the seam lines with one of the fancy stitches on my sewing machine. I had trouble making this work. Even with stabilizer, the strips of fabric wanted to pucker up under the stitching. I had a couple of false starts, but finally settled on stitch #8 on my Bernina 750QE.

I stitched all around the center piece, and then decided not to do the rest. I was afraid it would be too much, and stitching over those seams was more difficult than expected. By stitching just the middle piece, I think it suggests the tradition of adding a feather or fly stitch without the hassle. Also, I ran a straight stitch along the edge of the crocheted lace to hold it in place.

When I went upstairs, I found Sadie on the catio. She really likes the little catwalk that extends from the corner shelf to the ladder.

Smitty is feeling better, although he's still sneezing and snuffly. He was there with her on his corner shelf. This was the first time he felt good enough to be outside in several days, and it was good to see him acting a little more like himself.

He's still not feeling good, and you can see it in his eyes. This morning he's sneezing a little less than he has been, and he's on the mend day by day.

In the "ways with zucchini" category, I wanted to tell you about this dish I made for dinner last night. It's a stir fry dish called Thai Basil Chicken Stir-fry. 

Originally, I selected this recipe from our diet because I had basil left over from the tomato extravacanza, and I wanted to use it up. The recipe helpfully suggested that I could "use any vegetable" I wanted. Well...and this might surprise you...I just happen to have plenty of zucchini on hand too, and so I added a cup of zucchini that was quartered lengthwise, and then sliced crosswise. It was a good addition, and I liked the color it added. We served it over brown rice, and that was a tasty dish. I downloaded the recipe to the Paprika app, but I liked the zucchini enough to make it a permanent part of the recipe. I added it into the stir-fry along with the onions and bell peppers.

Today I need to make a run into town. There's a sale going on at one of the stores, and I want to pick up a couple of items that were grocery shopping after thoughts. The kids are coming up for dinner on Sunday, and I decided on a couple more items to eat before dinner. We're planning a salsa sampler from all the many salsas I've canned this year. Also, Mike tried out smoking some cheeses on his Traeger. Erik is a smoker aficionado. He gave Mike a little cold smoking tube for father's day last year, and Mike finally gave it a try about a month ago, smoking three different kinds of cheese. I need to pick up some crackers to go with the cheese. 

You can read my post about Durango Quilt Company right here. As I'm writing this, I'm reminded I'll need to embroider the name and place at the bottom of the quilt block, and I'll need to do that before I can start sewing it together. It shouldn't take long, and then I can get on with the piecing.

Slowly, we're all recovering around here. Smitty is far from 100%, but he's improving. This morning, I found him on the top shelf of his kitty pole. It's his purrimary place of residence when he's not helping me with sewing, and he hadn't felt strong enough to jump to the top for at least several days. Although he's still sneezing some, he feels good enough to jump high. If you missed the update on what we learned from the vet, you can read it right here.

These are all the plates I have for this quilt so far. There will still be one more plate, and then I'll start working on some of the other designs for the quilt. There is a lot of embroidery in this one.

With that one finished, it was time to make up my next embroidered quilt block. Having finished all the blocks for Dancing Chickens and Flying Pigs, there was an opening on my embroidery dance card. 

As I've mentioned before, I have so many embroidery patterns that I can't choose among them. I want to make all of them, all at the same time. And so I made a numbered list of patterns (a version for long-term and short-term projects), and I use a random number generator to select the next one I'll work on. (I do the same thing with my list of books to read.)  As it so happens, the random number generator selected Jennifer Reynolds' (Jenny of Elefantz) 2016 free BOM offering of "Gentle Domesticity." There are 12 quilt blocks in the set, but no finishing instructions. Here's a look at the 12 blocks she designed and stitched:

You can find her post about this BOM right here. I've done some poking around on her website. It seems some of the designs are still available for a small fee in her shop. I'm starting with the first block released in 2016. Jennifer's version looks like this:

And that's about all that happened yesterday. I did a few things around the house, including filling the birdfeeders and watering the flowers. Today has been designated NBS (Nothing But Sewing), but I'll still need to get out into the garden and harvest green beans and zucchini. The corn is also ready for harvest, but we'll hold off until the kids come up Sunday. Won't it be nice to have fresh garden corn for our little get-together? After we've eaten our fill, Mike and I will harvest the rest for freezing.

Okay, so we’re both feeling a little better about Smitty’s prognosis. Mike went with me in a separate car. He was thinking he had a haircut appointment this morning. As it turns out, it’s later this afternoon. So, he took Smitty home, and I finished up the grocery shopping. And now that’s done. I’m happy to say I won’t have to go out again for the rest of the week. I’m Jonesing for some sewing time, and that’s how I’m planning to spend most of my afternoon. 

Thanks, everyone for your well-wishes and purrs. Smitty and the rest of us here at the Three Cats Ranch were all touched by your concern.

This morning's post has to be fast and short. We're taking poor Smitty to the vet this morning. He's not doing well at all. We're both plenty worried about him. He spent pretty much his whole day yesterday in this position:

It'll take me a whole day just to put it all away, I'm afraid. When I get home from the vet this morning, I'll get started on that, and I'll also be trying to catch up with everything else in my life. There are flower pots to water, vegetables to harvest, bird feeders to fill, and housekeeping chores to do. No rest for the wicked...or the weary. I thought we might be doing our grocery shopping today, but Smitty's vet appointment caused me to postpone it a day. I was hoping for an NBS day tomorrow, but it will include a trip to the grocery store first.

When I got up this morning, I couldn't find Smitty anywhere. I went through the house at least three times when I found him under the far side of the bed in our guest bedroom. He was not inclined to come out for his morning treats. I have an idea we'll be bringing him home with some antibiotics. I just hope Sadie isn't going to get sick too. And, I hope we'll bring him home, and he doesn't need to stay...or worse. But let's just not go there, okay? I'll keep you posted.

When I woke up yesterday morning, I was already tired at the thought of doing more tomatoes. Silly me thinking yesterday would be easier. It wasn't, but at least today I'm on the home stretch. I desperately need a day for some sewing, and so I scheduled Thursday as a sewing day. Grocery shopping needs to happen tomorrow. Before I started in the kitchen, it seemed like a change of scenery was in order. I donned my canning clothes...

and then headed outside. I needed to harvest a few things, but I really just wanted to see the flowers. And what was the first thing I saw but this thieving rat bastard.

We didn't get any lettuce this year. The squirrels ate every bit of it, leaving only a few bolting stems. I'm assuming he wanted some cherry tomatoes for his salad.

On the way to the garden, I snapped a picture of this automatic sprinkler system Mike has set up. We're thinking ahead to being gone for most of next summer, trying to set things up to water, so we don't lose our entire landscape. Mike has cleverly installed these "splitters," hooked up to various hoses and some "Beehive" electonic timers. He can monitor the watering and the timers with an app on his phone. (You never doubted that, did you?) The electronic timers also monitor local weather, and so they won't run if it has been raining. Also, he had to replace four faucets, and this is one of the brand new ones. Pretty flashy, eh? 

We have another half dozen faucets that look just like this one. His final effort a few days ago was to dig a trench across our gravel driveway to water an area where our driveway loops around. We can't just leave a hose across the driveway where cars and delivery drivers will be driving over it. So, he dug a trench and ran a hose through some plastic pipe, and then covered it up again. Our upcoming trip will be a good test for his new watering system. The only down side of this do-it-yourself system is that he'll have to move the hoses when he mows. So that he doesn't have to reinvent the wheel every time, he'll simply spray paint an "X" marks the spot when he mows, and then he can put it back as before. Even after mowing, the spray paint should still be visible.

Okay, so let's just see what's blooming, shall we? Of course there are lots of sunflowers. I notice the birds have already been after some of the older ones.

The Lemon Queen sunflower was one of the last to the party. The bees are loving it.

In the bee garden, I've noticed a few more of these Scarlet Flax. So pretty. I'd like to see more of these. There have been just a handful this year.

In the beginning, we only saw a few of the cosmos, but now we have a lot, and in all different colors.

It's hard to get in-focus images of the wildflowers since they're blowing in the wind, but I'll try getting some more in a day or two. I was really most interested in checking on the cantaloupe. These are supposed to be an early-ripening variety, but they sure are taking their sweet time. The largest among them seem to have reached their full size, but they are still green. 

We're expecting some warmer weather this week, and I'm really hoping that will put them over the top. As for the rest of the harvest, the zucchini seem to be slowing down. The green beans are just getting started. I've harvested about this much each time I go out. We won't get enough for canning, and that is fine. We'll just eat them as they accumulate.

The plums are starting to soften a little. I haven't harvested any, but we should have plenty to make a dessert when the kids are here this Sunday.

Okay, so nose back to the grindstone, I got busy with the second box of tomatoes. I meant to take a picture of this the first day, and then forgot. This is the tomato juice that comes off the tomatoes when they're roasted. I save it to top off jars of any plain tomatoes I have for canning. And if I don't can any plain tomatoes, it can be used like vegetable stock. Mine is in the freezer for now.

By day's end, I'd processed two more batches of pasta sauce for a total of 13 quarts. There's a nearly full quart in the refrigerator, and so I'm expecting I'll get another 5 quarts from today's effort. And that will be it for the tomatoes...not a moment too soon. My feet can't take much more of this.

The only sewing I did yesterday was to finish off this section of the eighth plate for Pieces of the Past.

Now I've moved my hoop to the left. I couldn't quite fit the last of it here, but I expect to finish this off in a day or two.

Yesterday afternoon, I spent a little time in the sewing room. There wasn't time to do any sewing, but I selected one of the vintage linens I'll use for my first quilt block, this one:

I might try to incorporate this one too. It's quite a bit smaller than the apple above. These are embroidered onto a small tablecloth. It has some staining on it, and that probably explains why it's been packed away for something like 100 years.

I've seen some pretty ways of sewing vintage linens into a quilt on Pinterest. I have in mind to just do mine crazy quilt style. Some of the embroidery is fairly large, and so I'll make my blocks fairly large too. I'm antsy to get started on this project, and so I'm hoping I'll have more time later in the week.

We're a little worried about this guy. He started sneezing yesterday, and he's still sneezing this morning. Mike called the vet, who suggested bringing him in tomorrow morning, if he's no better. No doubt, he picked up something at the vet while he was having his teeth cleaned last week. Poor guy.

You might recall we were worried about him last week when he seemed a little lethargic. We're hopeful this is the end of whatever he has, but better safe than sorry. Fingers crossed he'll improve.

Okay, so more tomatoes today, and then I'll be finished. Next week, I'll start in on the applesauce, but that will be less work and a lot less time-consuming. When I'm in the middle of all this canning, I start asking myself how many more seasons I can stand. But then a whole year goes by and I forget how much work it is. I wonder if memory improves season to season. 

The making of pasta sauce begins with the single slash of a knife. Actually, it starts before that, but work with me here. It was a busy day in the kitchen...one whole busy day...but my effort was rewarded. Now I can do it again all day today. And again all day tomorrow. 

Earlier, I left the boys watching car racing on the upstairs TV. Smitty and Mike were rooting for the Corvettes in the 24-hour LeMans. Sadly, they came in second.

Down in the kitchen, I was stemming and halving Roma tomatoes and packing them onto baking sheets to be roasted and skinned. They look like soldiers going off to war.

There was a time when I did this the conventional way of scoring, blanching, and then skinning. A few years ago, I started roasting them in a 425°F. oven for about 20 minutes. I can fit two baking sheets in the oven. When time is up, the top ones will be more roasted than the bottom rack. I switch the bottom rack to the top and add a new one, and then continue on until they're all done.

A drawback of doing it this way is that your yield will be a little less, but I'm happier for less hassle. Also, there will be quite a bit of tomato liquid on the baking sheet when you remove the tomatoes. I save the liquid separately. If I decide to do some plain canned tomatoes, I'll add it to the jars when I fill them with tomatoes. If not, it can be added to soups for a nice burst of tomato flavor. Think of it as tomato stock.

You can see it fills this large pot to about an inch from the top. I'll cook this down until the level is about one-inch less. It takes around one hour. My yield yesterday was 4 quarts plus a nearly a full fifth quart. I'll finish that one off with today's effort.

But that wasn't my only goal with yesterday's tomato business. I still wanted another batch of Basic Tomato Salsa. I shared the recipe for this just the other day, but here's how it looks when it goes into the pot. (I made a mistake by adding the cilantro in at the beginning. It's actually supposed to be added when the cooking is finished. No worries, though. I added some more at the end.)

By the end of the day, I had 4 quarts (plus a bonus in the fridge) of pasta sauce, and 5-1/2 pints of salsa. Adding that to what's already on the shelf gives me 10 pints of salsa. The salsa was made from our own tomatoes, with just a few added from our farmers. That oughta hold us for a while on salsa.

I'm committed to doing a 20-pound box of tomatoes each day until they're finished. That means today is day two with one more day tomorrow. Today should be a little easier since I'll only be doing pasta sauce from here on, and no more salsa. Already I have enough tomatoes prepared for half a batch, and so I expect to be processing two batches of pasta sauce today. If my yield holds, I should have another 8 quarts by the end of the day. On the other hand, you really should consider the adage about hatching chickens and not count your jars before they're lidded and processed.