This & That

The Hummers

Cabin trip over Memorial Day weekend. It was great to be able to stay longer than an overnighter. One of the first things I did was set up the hummingbird feeders.

 I got a new one this year because the yellow flowers kept falling off one of the others. Minor problem...it leaks.

The level kept decreasing by leaps and bounds and I kept thinking those little birds couldn't possibly eat that much. Sure enough, they couldn't.

I'm going to have to see what I can do or I'm going to need a new feeder...again. In the meantime, the birds are back and we were treated to a couple of episodes of Hummingbird Wars as they buzzed and circled each other trying to scare the other ones off. 

Civic Duty

Last week we had political primaries in our neck of the woods.

We all trooped down to the local polling place and did our voting. Since I wasn't born here, and jumped through all the hoops to change my citizenship....legally....it's something we take fairly seriously. 

You can see how seriously PB takes it.

Memorial Day

It's Memorial Day, and I hope you are able to spend it with family. It's a special day. Sometimes the meaning of Memorial Day gets swallowed up in the BBQ's and the other activities which are great and wonderful and we are definitely doing them in my neck of the woods....literally. 

But today take a little time to think about how lucky you are to live where you live. Then, if you are lucky to live where you live, keep in mind the sacrifices made for that freedom.

We have some military service on both sides of the family. My grandfather served in the Canadian infantry in WWI, and my husband's uncle was killed in action during WWII's Operation Market Garden, so patriotism has always been something we've talked about as the kids were growing up. 

I have a little different perspective on Memorial Day this year as my son has become part of the armed forces. While it's true that his role is a bit different, the work he does is important. Each member of the military has a job to do and doing those jobs helps protect us and keep the freedoms we have enjoyed for so long. This Memorial Day I have a greater appreciation for that. 

Stuff This Week

It was a busy week that started with middle school choir rehearsals and a concert Monday, haircuts and a youth leader meeting on Tuesday, putting on a mother-daughter activity for the church girls on Wednesday  and a trip to Boise to play for the middle school choirs again on Thursday. I was really ready for the holiday weekend and the visit from my son. 

I did finish off the card kit I started last week, but that's the only paper playing I did.  Found a couple of these designs online and forgot to mark where they came from, so the left 2 cards aren't from my head.

The last of the scraps. You've just gotta love the instant gratification of cards.

 

A Birthday Today

It's my Air Force son's birthday today. He has the 4 day weekend off and flew out here to spend it with his wife and us. I haven't seen him since he went to his training in early March, so it was good to get a hug from the boy.

I had to get a picture of the "high and tight" haircut he's sporting these days.

My boys have always wanted short hair, but this is probably shorter than I've seen  since mission days for them and maybe even a little shorter than that.

I am proud of this boy, as I am of all my children. He's determined, dedicated and responsible. He's also really excited to become a dad this fall. He'll be a good one. We are celebrated today and he has chosen the menu which will include ribs, potato salad, broccoli-bacon salad, fruit and a yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Happy birthday to my Collin! Love you!

Walk and Roll

Sometimes something uncontrollable comes over Ollie on our walks.

When we went down to the stream, he found a place he wanted to roll.

And roll...

And roll. I don't know if he just needs to scratch his back or what, but he enjoyed himself. He's done this before in other places...occasionally on some dead critter he's found. Yeah, that's pretty gross, but most of the time...fortunately...it's just on some grass of some kind.

Walking

I was at the cabin long enough to take a nice, long walk Saturday morning. I was accompanied by my daughter and DDIL #3 and we made our way up the road. 

My daughter decided this was her selected footwear.

There was evidence of other footwear on the road. 

This was my spring view down the road. The mountain at the end there is the one I can see from the deck.

 

We ended the walk at one of my favorite spots. You can see the water is high this time of year. The run-off is in full swing. Ollie only ventured in around the edges.

After the walk, my husband drove us up the road we'd just walked to show us the view he'd seen while he road his bike up the road. It's nice to be in the hills again.

Traveling

We traveled up to the cabin again last weekend for a quick overnighter. Personally, I'm looking forward to some longer trips in the near future, where I don't have to pack up and head home less than 24 hours after I arrive. My husband and daughter had gone up early in the day...because they could. My DIL had to teach and PB had to sing the national anthem with his choir for commencement at the college, so we were later getting away. 

There are a few perks to that, though. As we dropped into one of the valleys on the way in, we saw this sunset, which was really beautiful.

Then when we got to the trailhead, there were 4 deer in the sagebrush across from the outhouse. Not a great picture, but I was totally excited and trying with my phone. We also saw some blue grouse puffed up and strutting for some females, but I didn't get a picture of them. All in all we saw 7 deer, an antelope, 2 herons and the grouse. When we come in a little later, sometimes we are treated to things we wouldn't see in the broad daylight hours.

Hosta Progress

You might remember that a couple of weeks ago the hostas looked like this:

Well, now they look like this:

I love the hosta "hedge" I have. It always looks so lush when those big leaves unfold. Hostas are a plant that does well in shady settings. Since I have those darn big, long-needled pine trees standing over everything in that section of the yard, it's nice to have something that does well under them.

Lemon Buttermilk Pancakes

This is another of those Pinterest recipes and links back to this site. We had these just yesterday morning up at the cabin. It was a nice start to a beautiful day and gave us lots of energy for a nice, long walk. My husband was skeptical at first with the whole idea of lemon pancakes, but even he said they were tasty. My only note for this recipe is that I doubled it, but did not double the lemon zest. The lemon was just about perfect for us.

Lemon Buttermilk Pancakes

• 1 egg
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled slightly

In a small bowl rub the lemon zest into the granulated sugar until pale yellow and fragrant. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk and butter.  Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Stir until just combined.  The batter will be a bit lumpy…make sure not to overmix.

Heat a griddle pan or a cast iron skillet over medium heat.  Spray a griddle with non-stick spray. Pour batter onto griddle.  Heat until bubbles form.  Carefully flip over and cook through.   Place cooked pancakes on an oven proof plate and let rest in a 200 degree oven while you fry the rest of the pancakes. Makes 6-7, 4-5" pancakes.