rotisisisisary

I got this kitchen gaget when our toaster died and Mama's oven was no longer working. I picked this one because it was bigger and because it has a rotisary capability. Its so fun!












Here is uncooked naked chicken.



















Here is finished product. Yum!

The problem with chicken is its not easy to center on the spit if you can tell. I've also done pork and turkey cuts which turned out fabulous. Maybe I should try cow next?

Fall

Had a nice fall here in Utah this year. Usually its so short but we had a number of nice days and the trees all had the chance to show their colors before real windy days took it down.

So beautiful.

Had a picnic with Cathy and Kate at the dry canyon trail head. There are some crazy big houses up that way. This was sometime last month

A couple of days later I went on a nice fall hike with Cathy. We went to see a waterfall and then kept walking up into the mountains.

It was beautiful.

I saw these berries and ate them they were way tasty. When I looked them up I think they may be elder berries. Whats wierd is that the elder berries in my yard are icky tasting. And with as good as these tasted its strange that none of the wildlife has eaten them. So maybe its not what I think it is. I always try berries and such in the wild, most are not so good.

These are what mine in the backyard look like but I also saw this photo on google for blue elderberries.... what do you think?

Did I ever post this?

Pictures from when Melanie and Angela (and her friend, and her dog) came to visit. Melanie, Kate, Alec, Cathy, and I went "rafting" down the Provo earlier that day but because I still had the raft until Monday we wanted to get good use out of it. I attempted to fish but couldn't really do it. Melanie, Angela, and I all got into the water to swim. That lake bottom is really muddy gross. But we had a good time (except Thorp). Until the mosquitos came out.....

(See previous post on mosquito bites)

fall camping

Went Camping at the turn of the seasons last month (could've been September since I haven't kept track well). I don't know why I don't do this more often. It was quick, easy and just really nice to be out and about.

Had steak, asperagus, chips and garden salsa, and garlic bread for dinner













Kate stayed in her happy yellow tent.







Cathy slept in her car. I slept here. See my set up? I guess I don't really rough it when I go camping.













We sat around the fire and watched the stars until it was time to go to bed.

I slept pretty good that night, only the stars were bright and kept me up. Shooting stars freak me out a little and once I thought there was a bear going to eat me but that was just wind.

In the morning there was frost on the blankets.

The morning we had a yummy pancake mix, eggs, turky bacon and hot chocolate. I like camping. I also like eating.

cure for mosquito bites

In looking in my photo folder I came across some pictures. I was trying to get some good ones to show the massive amounts of bites that Melanie and I had after boating on Utah lake. So of course I thought I would share ALL of them. more is better right?

can you see them on her arm and legs?

yes we love white legs. Don't you?

red shows up even more on pasty legs.

are you all itchy now? I get itchy anytime someone mentions lice. Unfortunately someone is mentioning that pretty frequently and I'm itchy a lot.

I threw in this picture cause its in my photo file and its more white legs. I found lots of bruises while in Hawaii. I think the newer (redder) bruise was from the airplane arm rest thingy that I kept hitting on the flight, not sure where the rest came from (they were all over my legs)

Back to the topic on hand. No cure for lice itchies but Melanie and I did find a cure for mosquito bites:

Pizza. It cures all.

ps this is from Andy and Simi's newish pizza place. Yum.

Garden Catch up

I forgot to get pictures of all my fall garden harvest. I had a bunch of veggies to share with Melanie and Mom when I went to Vegas to cheer on her latest triatholon. I had a bunch of sweet peppers and hot peppers, more zuchinnin, eggplant, tomatoes, and extra large cucumbers. My phone died and I didn't have a charger so there are no pictures of the Vegas weekend. Sad. It was fun and the drive was much easier cause Alec came with. Melanie did a good post on it so I won't be too sad that I don't post about it.

I found random pics of veggies in my folder so I decided to post them instead.

couple of big baskets of tomato

some tasty garden salsa just about all et up.

found some tatoes. Next year I'll do better. I've learned a little each year.

I cooked them up the other day (crashed potatoes-yum!) and maybe its all in my head but I think garden potatoes are more fluffier then store ones.

Chinese Long Beans


I'll grow these again cause they were so fun!

these green zebras were tasty and prolific. I'll grow them again too.

big bowl of beans

I think this basket was from the first tomato harvests

Bubba growing- think he would've gotten bigger if given more water and more fertalizer

my largest tomatoe this year. About as big as my hand/head.

some plants acutally get prettier in the fall

first weird carrots of the seson. they were very tasty.

Whats left to do in my garden? Pull up and dispose of the squash. Harvest the dried beans and dispose of the plants (both squash and beans get a lot of disease so I don't compost them back into the ground). Harvest the potatoes-which is a lot of work. Put up a smaller hoop house and see if I can keep some greens going over the winter for winter salads and such. Turn over the leaves and dead plants throughout the garden to aid in composting. Prune the grapes and mulch for winter. Dig up the "dew berries" in the front (very prickly and not super tasty so out they go). Now its pretty cold so I sure don't feel like doing this anymore....

Obsessive?

So Tuesday night when Kate learned it would probably snow she started raking up the big pile of leaves (see previous post) and all the newly fallen ones to cart to the backyard compost pile and garden before they get really wet and hard to move. We started it a bit late, like 9:30 (which is really late now as they changed the time again- wish they would just keep it the same) and it was frosty cold.



Well after we were done I noticed that our neighbors acorss the street and down one (yes the naked neighbors) had raked up all their leaves into a couple of piles by the street. They have two trees so they were impressive piles. From past observations they bag them up and throw them away.



Not this year. Yes. I stole my neighbors leaves. In the dark night. I guess they could figure out they went to our house because there was a kind of trail left but with the wind from the incoming storm it was covered up by morning.



In my defense it was dark and late so I couldn't just ask.



If any of you are thinking to yourself why? I'll just leave it that leaves are exceptionally good for gardens. Duh.

Leaves

Its amazing how just a few leaves can quickly turn into this:









Here Kate is finishing raking up the leaves into a big pile.






(this is the week after Haloween so already there are a ton more leaves)

Here she is jumping









Can you see her?









Here she is :)

Kate takes much better pictures of me. Maybe her phone camera is better?

We put the tarp over the top of the leaves so Mama could have a turn before the leaves get all wet from the storm come in. I don't think it worked though. Sad for her.