2 Step, 4 Step

No, it wasn't a dance but sorta.  It reminded me of gym class back in the early 1960 something.  We had to learn to dance, even round and square and the polka.  What a nightmare for the girls...especially the short ones.  I can remember getting winged around on the corners or any other spot that required a twirl or dosey doe.  I can name a few of the tall guys that would take every opportunity to be jerks when Mr. Kovach was not looking but I won't they are all grown up and probably have no memory of it.  Selective memories many of us have.    Looking back, what fun!


Here is my 2 step and four step at the age of 68.  Still in the 60s as 1960 something and age.  These steps take place at the cabin.  Since we are using rough cut lumber from the White Pines we had timbered from behind our house nothing is square.  In order make hanging siding easier and more enjoyable to look at each board must me edged on the edger.  8' and 12' boards.  Dick stands over the edger to feed the board through and I start out on the right side holding the board as level as possible.  Once the board gets half way through the edging process I switch to the left side to hold it.  Each side is the two step or four step.  8' (I prefer this size) requires 2 steps sideways, left or right depending on what side I am on.  The 12' requires 4 steps on each side.  We do 50 boards the day before the siding is to be hung.  Lucky for me our friend seems to enjoy coming to help or he is pretending.  Either way Ken is greatly appreciated.  Dick and Ken don't have little arguments and Ken never stomps off like I do.  So..........the last week has been filled with me doing what I want or just relaxing crocheting on a new doily pattern. 

Ken doing my job for the day!

Yesterday the guys had a long day but got the back side of the cabin sided.  Today is prime, caulk and paint.  I love to paint and the day looks like it is going to be a beauty.  I have leftovers for supper and I am good to go for 8-10 hours at the cabin.  Just the view of beautiful hills that are still green, a few chippers running around for Quincy to chase and bark at.  The nights have turned into the perfect sleeping weather, low 50s, while the days have been in the low 70s with beautiful blue skies and a mild breeze to enjoy.  It looks like the end of summer and the beginning of fall, you know, the time of year kids are headed back to school.  I have said it before and will say it again, going back to school was my favorite time of the year.  Time to see friends that I hadn't seen all summer, the smell of fall in the air (I call them the "hickory nut" smells).  What a great time of the year! 










There are the crazy "free" colors of the primer.  Now it is all covered with the final
Mossy Green paint.

The last of the corn from the garden was put in the freezer this morning.  Not as much as expected but enough.  For some reason 2 long rows never developed ears.  On a bright note, the potatoes came on strong this year.  We dug about 300 lbs. that will carry us through most of the winter.  They were exceptionally huge this year with no hollow centers or splits.  All that is left,  carrots and they will stay in the ground and be dug as needed. 

A little potato love from the garden.....

Draining the blanched corn to cut off cobs and freeze.

Back to the Cabin

The beans and peas have been canned and plants pulled from the garden.  With a week or so to take a break until the corn and tomatoes call to be canned and frozen we will be hitting it hard at "The Summer Place."   Yes, that is the official name.  Just the sign needs to be hung.  Dick has been priming the back side of the siding to seal it.  Yesterday we started hanging the siding.  Well, since it is rough cut from the mill it was not a true straight edge.  After 4 rows of siding we kept looking at it, wasn't happy with the uneven look.  Took it down and now before each board goes we are edging one side.  The side that shows.  What a difference!  It looks perfectly straight with no wavy gravy edges.  Edging takes time but so worth it.  Now that we have figured it out, built a jig so no measuring or leveling it does go up much faster.  Once we were finished putting it up I went back and painted it.  Very satisfied with the soft medium dark color we picked as the main color.  So, this week we will be back at the cabin doing what we do.  Finding new muscles that we haven't used that will ache and scream by evening.  Worth it?  You betcha, 9 (even the little confrontations) nothing better than standing back and looking at the cabin "Cheryl and Dick" built.  It has been a little over a year since it was started, not bad for two "old" people moving at their pace.  Even the "fights" keep us going!  Our great white pines have provided so much of the finishing wood for the cabin.  Tongue and groove, 2x4s, woodwork, cabinets and now siding.  The Amish guy that cut the wood figured it out pretty darn close.  We have 2-10' tongue and groove boards left!  He had the measurements of the cabin and we told him what we planned on using it for.  Same with the other wood. 

The Summer Place
The second coat will even out the finished look.  It is
actually a medium green and light green trim. The third
trim color is a light cream color and the fourth color
is yet to be decided.  Thinking a dark burnt orange.

 Now that we are back to The Summer Place for a week the crock pot is in full swing.  One thing I don't do well is working all day and fixing supper.  It is so much nicer to walk in the house and smell our meal all cooked.  A shower and relax on the back deck.  After we eat, set in peace and quiet it is hard to stay awake.  I often wondered when I was young how my parents could set in a chair and fall asleep.  Full circle, now I know.


On the subject of cooking.  I bought an air fryer from Amazon with the intention......I will try two things in it and if I don't like it, back it goes.  It's been a week and still cooking in it.  Love the home cut french-fries, southern chicken, hamburgers and fried summer squash.  The squash was trial and error but dipping it in buttermilk and then ground cornflakes was the ticket.  No the fries and squash do not taste like the tradition fried in oil but they are very good and no oil makes them even better.  The older I get the more fried foods raise and fight with my digestive system.  The air fryer is the ticket to enjoying fried foods without the oil.  Hamburgers and chicken will always be fixed in the air fryer around here.  One thing, the air fryer is more for a two person family not a family with kids.  You are limited to how much you can cook at one time and it would take to long to cook enough for a family of 4 or more.  For the two of us it is rated as a 5 star.  The clean-up?   Amazingly easy, food particles come right out with no scrubbing.  No more greasy clean-up for me!

Blueberry Biscuits with an orange glaze for breakfast.


Biscuits: 2 cups flour, 1 TBSP. baking powder, 3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1/3 cup sugar, 5 TBSP. cold butter
1 cup buttermilk and 1 cup of blueberries.   Mix lightly,
press out 1/2 inch thick and cut. 
Bake in 400 degree oven till golden brown.
In a small bowl, 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 tsp. melted
butter and enough orange juice to make it thin enough
to drizzle over hot biscuits.  I also added a 1/2 tsp. of
grated orange rind.

Air fried home fries (delicious) with
Cook'n by the Creek Chipotle Sauce,
blueberry biscuits, orange juice and........
Jamaican Me Crazy Coffee.  Plus the view!

Last Monday we took a 5 mile round trip walk to our favorite blackberry patch.  Why so far?  Yes there are other places closer but these berries are the biggest juiciest we have ever found.  So, off we went for most of the day.  Walking in was more enjoyable, early morning the huge trees provided cool shade.  By early afternoon the sun was high in the sky with little shade for the walk out.  Still is was a great day to reflect on the great place we live in.  The peace and quiet, no sounds of the real world, just us and berries..............no bears or coyotes.  That was a gift for the berry picking day.  Dick always takes his pistol which makes me feel a little more secure.  I must say, so far in all the years I have been picking berries not once has there been a wild animal.  Lots of scat but that is just a warning we are in bear and coyote country.  Four quarts of berries in the freezer for winter jelly

Well worth the 5 mile walk.

Just for Fun

Picked at 5 pm  and ate at 6 pm, now that is fresh!

Today was a full circle ride to the Amish Auction in North Bingham, grocery store and dry goods store.  Certain things were needed from their stores.  Oatmeal, walnuts,to go dishes, snacks, two bread pans and a little brush to clean the silk from ears of corn.  The garden corn is showing ears, I am guessing 3 weeks and we will be up to our elbows in freezing corn and of course roasted corn on a bonfire with family and friends.  How about "to go dishes"?  When we have company I usually send leftovers home with them.  Old habit of making way to much when I cook.  I have two certain guests that I can always count on.  The to go pans are simply round aluminum pans with a domed plastic lid.  Meat, potatoes and a veggie fit perfectly in them.  They are also nice for cookies, donuts, cake etc.  Guests do not have to worry about washing them and returning because they are also..........throw away!   For a pan and lid the cost is 35 cents. 

The famous "To Go Pan" from my house to the guest.

What was for supper?  Veggies!  We almost made it to the garden before a sudden downpour started.  For awhile we stood under the apple tree............how "corny" is this.  All I could think of was that old, old song that said something about..........don't sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me.  That even made my eyes roll when I thought of it until it brought back the memory of being one of the songs my mom would sing when I was little.  So corny or not the timing was perfect to think of the song and my mom.  She died 51 years ago today.  Good memories and happenings that got me to where I am today. 


Back to the veggies, cucumbers, green beans, new potatoes and yellow cherry tomatoes.  The all made for a great supper.  The beans and potatoes were cooked together, buttered, salt and pepper while the cukes and tomatoes the topping to the iceburg lettuce.  Not to forget creamy fresh buttermilk blue cheese.  That was supper. 

Thanks to the garden, supper was almost free tonight.

The leftover beans and potatoes will have milk poured over for a soup tomorrow night with homemade buttermilk biscuits and raspberry jam.  I love it when one supper can be twicked into another supper.  Like the word twicked?  It is a cross between twist and tricked!  I do that with quite a few suppers, change it up a little and an easy twicked meal for another day. 




Since I like to jump around when I think, talk and type let's go back to the auction.  Not so good, very little produce and the cukes looked good but they had been picked a few days ago which made them feel like rubber.  Definitely want cold, crisp and firm for my pickles.  Since I have tons of grape leaves I want to make dill pickles.  Last year I mentioned reading about adding a grape leaf when canning dill pickles.  I did and trust me they were the crispiest, crunchiest pickles I have ever canned.  I am just worried my garden won't give me enough to can.  Tonight I picked 5 nice ones, they better get busy and produce more at a time.  Something is going on with the patty pan and zucchini.  All males, no female blossoms.  We did get 4 zucchinis and 1 patty pan but no more in sight.  Strange, never had this problem before and we have lots of bees in the garden so that can't be the problem.  Tomorrow will be the last picking for green beans.  It looks like there might be enough for 10 pints to can. 




We picked the last of the blueberries tonight and  have no complaints on the crop amount.  Plenty for the freezer and the ones we picked tonight will be dessert.  Just set on the back deck, listen to the quiet,  watch Smokey and the chickens, Quincy chase chippers and eat fresh blueberries by the handful.  Life in the hills of Potter County.  Speaking of life, today we saw someone we had not seen in maybe 15 years.  We had a nice visit and played catch up on what was going on in our lives.  She went first and then asked so what do you do fun.  I probably looked like a cartoon character with the blank stare on my face and completely at a loss for words.  If you know me you are probably thinking....right, you never have a loss for words.  But, truly I did!  My mind did not know what to say and all that came out was, what ever we want to do.  I guess that sums it up.  Who wants to hear about what I do everyday?  I wouldn't even want to hear it!   Can you imagine, she would have had the blank look and speechless if I told her what I really did for "fun".  Makes me smile thinking about it.  Tomorrow we are going to set a small 4'x 4' deck with a step to the cabin porch.........just for fun.

Cool, fresh and sweet blueberries.