The Beemer

Another bonus about living in WA vs. TX is the weather. Now, I know some of you are thinking...but it gets COLDER there. Well, yes, but when the weather is nice here, it is NICE. We can actually ride the motorcycle in the summer, early fall, and late spring, whereas, in TX we could ride it on occasion, when it wasn't freezing in the winter or HOT in the fall, spring and summer! C'mon...you know what I'm talking about.

Our first ride here in WA was, I have to admit, way better than any ride we ever took in TX!!! We rode for almost 3 hours and even though we had to end the ride when I got stung by a wasp, I would still take it over any TX ride. The weather was perfect and the scenery was to die for. There really is something about exploring the outdoors on the back of a bike. You are out IN it. We went up to the top of Vulcan Mountain and saw the entire valley from Curlew to Malo. It was spectacular. We drove around Curlew Lake and explored some of the dirt county roads too. That is one thing I love about the bike. You can go on and off road at will. It was AWESOME. Though most days now are getting too cold to ride, with windchill, I can't wait until we can ride again. We could always get winter gear, but I think that will have to wait until next year. I think the debate about selling the bike is no more.

Around the House

There is so much to see and enjoy just around the house, not necessarily in the house, but outside on the property. We have access to 20 acres on the Kettle River with only one property between us and the Canadian border. And it has great views of the mountains in Canada...out across the pasture, where Canadian Geese and white tail deer roam daily. The deer come down from the mountainside across the county road and graze in the pasture each morning and evening before heading down to the river to drink. The geese are usually in the field before the deer in the early morning and after them in the evening. They circle the pasture and then land accompanied by their loud honking and wings beating in thunderous unison....it is almost deafening but beautiful, nonetheless. We have enjoyed watching the wildlife so much. I especially love hearing the deer crossing the river at dusk while I sit on the back deck. If you look closely, you can see them crossing through the silvery water. I love nature and being out in it. This place is like heaven to us...makes me wonder what the real place is going to be like!

We also had the chance to ride the horses for the first time since our arrival. It was a perfect day, sunny and cool, but not too chilly....no jackets required. Can't wait to explore the area on horseback. Guess I better get with it on little Bailey so she can go too. So much to see and do, can't wait to see what the next few months holds in store. :)

I have a great video of the white tail deer here...they are not very skiddish. We can throw apples at them in the pasture and a couple of the does will RUN to eat them. Stay tuned.

Canadian Geese in the front pasture

The Canadian scenery from our front porch

Gorgeous sunset...almost a little bit of alpinglow.

Our first ride in WA

Canning and Baking, Baking and Canning

Fall is the time for canning. Canning supplies are flying off the shelves and women (mainly women, though I am sure there are some men out there somewhere) are hidden away indoors canning and preserving everything in sight from apples and peaches to tomatoes and jerky. Preserving includes canning, dehydrating, and freezing. If you decide to, you can get really creative with what and how you preserve food to be put up for the winter. Almost everyone in this neck of the woods we now call home has an amazing garden. It is commonplace to see people growing all their own fruits and veggies including corn, squash, tomatoes, beans, lettuce, broccoli, raspberries, strawberries, apples, pears, peaches, plums, blackberries, cantaloupe...you name, around here, people can grow it AND can it!

After my canning lesson, I got all my supplies, started picking apples, and set out to do my own canning. For my first attempt, I decided just to preserve the apples (fruit with syrup), so I could use them for almost anything at a later date. This "recipe" proved to be more difficult than it appeared, mainly because it called for so many POUNDS of apples instead of cups, etc. and it didn't state if those pounds were whole apples or cored and peeled apples. I figured since it didn't specifically state peeled and cored apples, that I should bet on whole apples. I got out the scales and weighed everything, and still ended up with an immense amount of apples. I had to use the canning pot just to boil them the recommended time before beginning the canning and processing....you can imagine how hard it was to bring all those apples to a boiling point and then keep them there for only 5 minutes. It was a challenge to say the least. Once they were boiled, I got my heated jars and began filling them with the apples and syrup. They packed down quite a bit and I had to keep adding more apples and syrup to each jar, all the time worrying the jars were getting too cool. Then, I ended up needing more jars than the recipe called for...apparently, in spite of what the Ball Blue Book of Canning says, it is not an exact science. So, I had to get a couple more jars out and fill those, still worried the others I already filled were cooling too much. Anyhow, I managed to get all the jars filled with apples and syrup, wiped clean, lids put on, and ready for the canner. I was so thankful that my mother-in-law was there for my first canning attempt...she was a huge help and gave me some great ideas to iron out some of the wrinkles we ran into. We finally managed to get the jars into the canner and processed....I have already used several for pies and they were excellent. The jars sealed in a snap once out of the canner. What a learning experience!

Since that first day of canning, my friend K and I have made all sorts of stuff...apple butter, tart applesauce, sweet applesauce, apple preserves, more canned apples, and apple pies. All have turned out nicely and we still have more apples to put away. I also want to try to make some salsa before winter. As for the stuff we made with our lovely "canning teacher", D, I have tried some of the peach salsa on chicken and rice AND on a delicious blue cheese burger....both were AWESOME!! I like having the time to get a little creative with our meals and use fresh, homemade ingredients...although David would probably say I still rely on canned and frozen stuff more than I use the fresh stuff. :) Hope you like apples for Christmas!

Apples going in to boil

Filling jars for processing

Filling and packing jars

Cleaning jars and putting seals and rims on before processing

Putting apple jars in canner to process

The finished product...yummy apples for anything you want to make!

Making apple butter

Apple butter cooking

Apple butter

My first homemade apple pie...apple cranberry pie to be exact. YUMMY!

Food Adventures

Not having a job has left me with a lot of free time. And since life is just different here, going at a slower pace and being more reminiscent of days past, I have taken on some new "hobbies"....gardening, canning, and cooking. I am not sure the hobby is the right word, it is really more like I have learned some new skills. Within a couple of weeks of moving into the new rental house, I had the opportunity to meet a couple of lovely local ladies who, I learned, were into gardening and growing their own fruits and veggies AND canning. Since our house has a nice garden with apples, plums, pears, tomatoes, squash, peppers, and blackberries that I needed to do something with, I took one of the ladies up on her offer to teach me the basics of canning. So, on a nice Sunday afternoon, with my friend K in tow, we headed to Curlew for our course in canning 101. We learned how to use a boiling water canner and prepare our jars, lids, and food for the canning process. That day we made peach salsa, stewed tomatoes, BBQ sauce, and zucchini salsa. It was such a treat. I managed to snap a few pics of our yummi-ness filled jars before, during, and after the canning process.

The finished products

Zucchini salsa jars starting their processing in the boiling water canner

Zucchini salsa prior to processing

Now for an introduction to my garden...

Apples, not sure if they are Granny Smith or Golden Delicious yet, but I have 3 trees LOADED

Plums (apparently they do not turn purple), have to research what variety they might be, but the tree is full!

Delicious cherry tomatoes and large yellow tomatoes

My first real Washington apple, eaten in Washington

My daily haul...yellow squash, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, yellow tomatoes, and peppers

Our first real meal in the house...fresh veggies from the garden, black beans, and green enchiladas. YUMMY!

More Fall Pics...

Thursday, we got up up early and hit the road with coffee in hand to check out some of the more remote fall foliage. It was a gorgeous day, a little foggy, but the sun was trying hard to break through the clouds. Our first nice view of the Tamaracks, was on the road leaving our house looking west. The sun was hitting the mountainside just right and illuminated the golden trees perfectly.


We decided to head west out of Danville where David took me on a road I had not yet explored. We got some nice shots of the Kettle River looking back east along with the Tamaracks on the mountainsides and along the river's banks.



Since we had some time to kill before the sun would completely burn off the early morning cloud cover, we drove on to Curlew and then west toward Chesaw. The trees lining the Kettle west of Curlew were gorgeous. David had already decided to take me on a Forest Service road over the mountains to Chesaw instead of going the paved route...a decision we would relish later in the morning. We turned off the highway and began following the wagon train of hunting rigs through the thick, gloomy forest. The further we drove the brighter our surroundings became as we drove out of the cloud bank and higher up on the mountain. Finally, as we neared the top, we saw an amazing sight...The Kettle River valley leading to Curlew was below us under the clouds, but the distant mountain tops shone in the sun along with thousands of brilliantly-colored Tamaracks all around us. It was breathtaking.




We headed further west and started down the mountain toward Chesaw. As we crossed over the mountain, we could see amazing views of the mountains in Canada, the mountains above Oroville and Chesaw, and on the furthest horizon, the snow-capped North Cascades. The morning was beautiful, cool, and crisp. And the air smelled super sweet and fresh after the hard freeze of the night before.




After going through Chesaw, we turned back onto the pavement and headed back over the mountains to grab lunch in Republic. On the way, we drove by a series of small lakes alongside the road and had to stop to take pictures at one lake...the water was as smooth and still as glass, reflecting perfectly the yellow Tamaracks above its waters on the mountainside. A stunning, perfect mirror image was created by nature.




On Friday we went to Colville to run a few errands. It was still rainy and cold and we knew we might run into a little snow or ice on the pass, but we were prepared and had our chains on hand. Right as we came up on the pass, the trees went from being just yellow and green to being flocked with a dusting of snow. So pretty.

Fall Is All Around

So, for this post, I will be fast forwarding a bit, because I am just too excited about the photos I took today and I want to share them NOW!! It was a cold, rainy day today and since I hadn't really been away from the house for a few days, I decided to go to town...and my new order of horse feed came in, so I thought I should go pick it up. Well, I was in for a nice surprise.

Over the past couple of days, while I have been at home ALL the Tamaracks have taken on the most brilliant golden yellow color. It is almost like their needles changed colors overnight! It is really something to see. I love the Aspen when they change colors, but now, in my opinion, the Tamaracks are even more amazing. They completely dot the evergreen forests as fas as the eye can see in all directions. Fall is in full swing here! I got some really great photos, thanks to the clouds, rain, and fog. They don't do the Tamaracks justice, but I think they are still beautiful. To get the full effect, you HAVE to see them in person. Enjoy! Oh, AND there were big chunks of ice floating down the river today...I got one photo of some ice that was blocked from going downstream by a big branch...not that you can see it all that well, but it was the best shot I could get.

Headed into Republic...Tamaracks mixed in with the greenery

Beautiful fall colors along the Kettle River

The big chunks of ice are behind that branch...you can see the white if you look closely :)

Different angle of the trees along the Kettle

Crossing the Kettle north of Curlew

The golden yellow Tamaracks

Gorgeous gold

I managed to find a nice perch to shoot from...this is looking north at Canada, the Kettle River is below with Tamaracks lining its banks

More nice color

Looking down at the Kettle River, lots of color everywhere

Same view, a little brighter exposure

Where the Fish Are

While Mom and Dad were still visiting, we got to do a little fly fishing and explore some of the local fishing holes. When we were in Orient, we could walk out the back door and down to the Kettle River. The rocks on the shores were quite large and made navigating the banks a bit perilous...they were huge ankle-breaking boulders actually. I caught one nice fish, but had to hike up river for a bit to get to the best hole. After getting fed up with the boulders on the banks of the Kettle in Orient, we decided to try our luck at some of the small lakes around Republic. After perusing our handy maps, we discovered a small fly fishing only lake tucked into the forest a ways off any heavily traveled road. We figured since not many people fly fish around here, strangely enough, this would be the spot for us. And boy, was it a gem! As it turned out, we were the only people there that day...a gorgeous, temperate and sunny day at that. As soon as we dipped our lines in the water, we were getting bites. David was the first to hook one....a nice-sized cutthroat. Dad and I were both getting numerous bites and we caught a few smaller trout, mostly rainbows. We never even moved from the first, gravel bank we came to. I wonder what else we would have seen had we decided to hike around the lake a bit. We did see a couple of beautiful loons, a bald eagle fending off an osprey, and we heard an elk bugling in the forest just beyond the south side of the lake. I managed to catch a good-sized rainbow before all the biting stopped. The comedic relief came when Dad decided to attempt to wade a little further off shore and instead, sank into knee deep mud where he fell almost completely over into the water and lost his sandal on his way out....when we went back to try to find it, it had vanished into the mud without a trace. Lucky for dad, he made it out alive, minus his sandal, of course. :) All in all, it was a great day of fishing and family time. The dogs tagged along and loved it. Can't wait to go back and try out all the bamboo rods my grandfather has given us!...fly fishing at its finest, I hear. Guess we'll find out.

Me and my big rainbow

Mom getting her stuff ready

Me, fishing off the gravel shore

David's pretty cutthroat

Dad trying to get out of the mud :)

Sorting out our gear

Kenai at the lake