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.