What to do

Our weather has really been cooling down lately and it feels like Fall is apon us. We have had rain off and on for the past three days and looks like it is about to rain again. When it is like this all I can think about doing is staying inside with a warm cup of tea or cocoa and looking through my MaryJane magazines and all of my old craft books for ideas to do indoors. I just received  the Farm Chicks newest book called 'The Farm Chicks Christmas'.

There are beautiful pictures throughout, and the craft ideas are really neat. I love looking at the pics of how these ladies have decorated their homes and I hope to borrow some of their ideas as well. 

As you can see, I have their 'In the Kitchen' book too and I love the ideas and especially the recipes that are tucked among the pages in both books.

My mind is busy with ideas and where to start.

I also borrowed my daughter's new book she just bought of Martha Stewart's called the 'Encyclopedia of Crafts'. Let me tell you there are lots of really cool ones in this book too. A few I am borrowing to make for the Luau party I am having for our chapter of farmgirls, in a couple of weeks.  Some really cool shell ideas.

I have been busy setting up areas outside around my yard for camping trailers, tents, and tables for crafting and eating. The party will begin in late afternoon and into the next morning for those who are brave enough to spend the night in the country air (city gals seem to think it's too quite to sleep). Guaranteed to be a blast any way you look at it, with the gals that are in our group.

I went to Farmer's Market on Saturday and bought some green beans, red potatoes and some strawberries. I still have not been able to pick one thing from my raised garden bed. There are a few tomatoes on the vines, some squash and peppers, but our weather is not cooperating so they are just not growing much and ripening. This just reminds me how bad I need a greenhouse.

Some people are having good luck with their gardens, but the majority of people are not this year. Weather has been funny all over the place. It is suppose to warm up, yet again, next week. You just don't know how to dress around here, from one day to the next. I am NOT ready to pull out the coats just yet.

Day Two

Once we checked into the Motel 6 we discovered that there was no airconditioning other than opening the window. We open the window and find someone standing right outside it smoking because this is where the ash tray is. We are in a NO smoking room so this just made sense, right? After showering and laying down to sleep we discover the bed my daughter and I are to sleep on is slanted, the pillows are rock hard, and with the window open to vent we hear everything outside. The only thing nice about our stay was the view of this bridge from the room balcony.

Up early, we drive 25 miles towards Port Orford looking to find coffee and breakfast. We came upon the Prehistoric Gardens that I wanted us to see instead. The lady opened a few minutes early for us, so we got to enjoy the gardens by ourselves. With this being a natural rainforest everything grows abundantly with ferns growing gigantic in size, mosses everywhere and the trees are hundreds of years old.

We walked all around the trail which took you up and through these tall trees to see the prehistoric animals that were scientifically correct in the restorations and detail. This was really something to see up close. I can't even imagine how people lived with these creatures.

After going through the gift shop we headed back down towards Brookings. Along the way we decided to grab a coffee and hit the beach. Here we stayed for a good part of the morning. We hiked the beach collecting shells and rock. It was so warm and the sand felt so nice on our feet we totally forgot about breakfast.

We finally found a place to sit down and have lunch, since we skipped breakfast. It was a small hamburger joint on the beach in an RV park. The burgers were huge and the fries were delicious. After we ate we headed  towards home with a few stops along the way to take some more pics of these magnificant trees.

We were hoping to go to the Oregon Vortex , a place I have been wanting to see,  but would not make it  there before they closed at 4:30. We arrived in Grants Pass, stopped at the Dairy Queen for an ice cream and discovered it was 109 outside. Needless to say we did not stick around long, but headed for home.

This was definitely a mini vacation we all totally enjoyed and have made plans to come back next year and camp for a while along the beach.

Two Day Vaca

I just got home from two days at the coast. My daughter, younger sister, neice and myself went to see Trees of Mystery in Klamath, Ca. We actually went on the Sky Trail gondola through the trees 360 feet in the air.

It was a bit scary at first with my sister wanting to panic, but everyone calmed down and we enjoyed the ride. At the top was an observation deck with spectacular views.

It was really overcast so you can't see the Pacific ocean too much but look at that view. Along with the magestic redwoods are spruce, douglas fir and many ferns underneath. Every now and then a wild flower would show through the brush. There was one uprooted tree where the sign said it was over 3,000 years old. 

We walked up and down the winding trails admiring all the art sculptures carved by chainsaw, and reading the informational displays along the way.

I could relate.

In the gift shop, I found a refrigerator magnet to add to my collection, bought a tiny piece of fudge that cost $3.50 Ouch! Looked through the Native American museum and then it was back on the road.

We came upon the town of Kerby, where we spotted this really cool place called Burly Galleries. If you are ever in the area, stop and admire this man's art. The young fellow (right), posing with my daughter,

says he has been doing this for 23 years. I would have thought much longer. His art is beautiful and what an imagination he has. Look at the detail in this door.

His home

Just walking around this place makes you wish your were a kid again. From tree houses to Flinstone cars to funny characters everywhere, one could only imagine the hours you could spend playing and never wanting to stop.

 

Inside his shop is so many beautiful pieces of artwork from water fountains to chairs and art for the floors and walls. Burl wood pieces are quite expensive so all I could do was enjoy looking at his work and wishing I were kin. I hope I will have the oportunity to come and visit again.

After leaving the gallery we stopped at the Rogue river for a looksy at the crystal clear water. We saw people whale watching along the ocean shore but we could never get a good picture ourselves of the whales.

We drove on into the town of Brookings, since we had had a full day of sightseeing and driving, to find a place to spend the night but at $179 for a shared room (we did'nt even want to know what that meant), to $379 for a one bed cottage, was not in our price range so we drove another 27 miles to Gold Beach, sat down to dinner of fish and chips at the Port Hole Cafe along the shore and later found a Motel 6 to spend the night.

more to come................

Its a Party

There is always time for a party especially when there are gifts to giveaway.. Check out what Linda is up to now over at Prairie Flower Farm. Her button is on the right. Just stop in and say hello.

Laundry Day

It's laundry day around here and I'm almost out of my fabric softener. So thought I'd share with you just how I've been making my own. If you have never tried this it's not hard to make and only takes a few minutes.


                                           Homemade Fabric Softener

 First you will need:  

 1 cup Baking Soda

 6 cups White Vinegar

 8 cups Distilled Water

 10-15 drops Essential Oil

         In a large pot, placed either in your kitchen sink or outside, put in 1cup Baking Soda.

                  Slowly add hot Distilled Water until completely dissolved.

          Then gradually, (as its known to explode everywhere), add Vinegar,
                                    stirring gently, a little at a time.

fizzing up

Next, add 10 - 15 drops of your favorite Essential Oil (I use fresh linen),

and pour slowly, one cup at a time into a bottle.

I use an old clorox bottle and this recipe just about fills it up.

  

That's it!

Now, if you followed the steps correctly, you should NOT be cleaning up any mess. My daughter made hers and is still wiping down cubboards, walls, and the ceiling in her kitchen.
 

Use as you would any liquid fabric softener. I fill to the level in my washer. This should last several months and costs pennies compared to commercial types. Besides being inexpensive and easy to make, you can scent it with your favorite oils. I have even used lemongrass which acts as a disinfectant and smells good too.

Now with my laundry done and hanging out to dry, I think its time to bake up some Chocolate Chip cookies. Yum, won't you please stop by and join me?

Summer fun

On our way to Medicine Lake my daughter and I were so busy talking and looking at all the wild flowers, that I overshot the turnoff by 10 miles. Let me tell you that if you go anywhere in the forest and don't know where you are, you can feel pretty lost. I pulled over, called my husband, told him what highway we were on, and he say's "oh honey you better turn around." I was very lucky to get reception then because we had none the rest of the day. Found our way back to the turn off which was a nice relief.

After unloading all our things down to the beach area we sat and had lunch of spinach, veggie and meat rollups, a bowl of fresh fruit and drinks and then took in the sun, swam in the warm water and tried our hand at rowing the raft. Not an easy thing. My daughter would go in circles just two feet from the shore till she was exhausted. I giggled so hard I thought I'd wet myself. So I did the right thing and pushed her out farther so she could float.

We had the beach all to ourselves for about an hour and a half when  people with dogs and kids started showing up.

We stayed on until the water started getting too cold for us to get back in, then drove on over to the Little Medicine Lake.

  

We strolled down a path that led us to the back of big Medicine Lake and took a few pics. 

 It is just as beautiful from this angle, don't you think?

 

After wondering back up the path to the truck, I almost got lost again, we changed into dry clothes and decided to head out and see the Lava Beds and historical sites along the way. First stop was a hike up a steep hill to what is called A Mammoth Crater.

Is'nt it huge? I got jello legs just

looking down into it. I'm not much for heights.

 

Then we went on down the road to a trail called Crystal Caves, which took us about 20 minutes to hike, which I almost turned back to the truck as it went on forever.

We thought this was it (left pic), but saw that the path continued around another bend to the actual cave (center pic). You can barely see the opening to the cave (center of pic in shadows next to pointed rock) because I was'nt about to hike down the narrow steep path to it.

Can you see the path? Bottom of pic is steps to start down.

Once back on the road we came upon the Balcony Boulevarde Caves. It does'nt look like anything is out there except lava rock, but omg they were everywhere. It was scary to think that under our feet we were walking over really huge caves.

We walked around for awhile and took pics of a few of what I'm sure many more caves that were out there. You really need to stay on the paths or you could just fall down into one. These paths were'nt as easily seen as the others we went on.  The caves were really close together and you did'nt see them until you were over the top of them. Hence, the balcony.

They don't look like much from my pics, but they went very deep and far. You could only go down into one that we looked at that was safe enough to climb down to. It is just hard to imagine this whole area out here is above so many caves. From the road all you see is the lava rocks. This was enough hiking and exploring for one day for both of us, so it was home from here.

We are already planning our next trip which we hope to take a drive over to Gold Hill and see the Oregon Vortex, which I have wanted to see for years. I can hardly wait.

Our Sunday Drive

Sunday morning my hubby, John, and I went out to hit the yard sales. The town of Bonanza had its annual craft festival and parade and everyone puts out a yard sale. What a blast we had. Found some pretty nice pieces. An old biscuit box, nutmeg grater, steam iron and tin box of Lipton Tea and an aluminum bowl.

I picked up this quilt at a recent yard sale and wanted to share it with you also. It is all hand stitched. I think it tells a story of the places they went and the things they loved.




We went into the Cafe and had a nice breakfast and then we sat on the tailgate of the truck and watched the parade. Walked around the different food and craft booths. I'm thinking of maybe setting up my own booth next year. Most things there were jewelry and not much hand sewn items.

We then came home and unloaded our truck, I packed a picnic lunch, grabbed the dogs and we headed into northern California to Medicine Lake. We have been going to this lake the last three years during winter and snowmobiling and this was our first time to see the lake in summer.  We were pleasantly surprised at how beautiful a lake this is out in the middle of nowhere.

It took about an hour and a half to get to the lake. Part of the road was gravel, part beat up pavement and part dirt. So a little rough and narrow at times. We plan to go back and camp in the tent so we can bring my boat and explore the lake and do some fishing. I guess this lake is about 107 feet deep, very clear water and warm enough to go swimming in.

It has a beach area where no dogs are allowed that is all sandy and roped off just for swimming which is where I am headed tomorrow with my daughter. We plan to do some hiking around and laying out in the sun.

After we had our lunch we took a drive up around the campground areas and up to what is called Little Medicine Lake. It is just a short walk up to this little prisine spot.

I could live here easily. Just stock it with fish.

It has a bench where you can just sit and take in the quiet of this place. So pretty. There looks like a walking path that goes around the lake. May have to check this out tomorrow.

Further up the road we came across two doe and three fawn. They were okay with taking their pics from the truck but when I got out to get a little closer, mom let me know I'd better back off. Aren't they cute?

There were lots of pretty different colored wild flowers in bloom everywhere you looked.

We came upon this tree on the side of the road, which to me looks like a pregnant woman. What do you think?

John had to have a pic of its behind. Notice the sign. I had to giggle.

We drove around for awhile and it was 6:30 before we headed for home. This was one very enjoyable , relaxing trip we had together and I hope we will have more of them soon.

__________

 We just recently lost our sister-in-law last week to cancer. Her and her husband have lived on the property with us for six years. This has been a tough year for us, so trying to find peace and understanding and keep our sanity is trying at times. We count our blessings every day and let those we love know it.