Dazed days and grey skies

Long-range weather predictors had forecast a warmer, drier fall for the Pacific Northwest.  I was sure hoping for that Indian summer, but alas we're just plain wet.  *sigh*  Our weather is warm, wet and windy.  And because of several wildfires in our mountainous areas last summer...landslides are an issue.  Not where we live, we're in the valley, the lowlands; but some of the areas that are common thoroughfares could get dicey if the rains continue.  

Overall, we had a hot, long and very dry summer.  A couple of weeks ago everything in our area was brown, no grass and just dead weeds.  However today, our grass has grown to 8ish inches tall, it's thick and lush.  In our yard that is.  Not so much in the pastures, but the green blanket effect is there, the horses just keep it nipped short.  Amazing how quickly our grasses rebound with just a little bit of moisture.  The rains we're expected to get today and in the coming week is more than a little bit though...1-2" today and tomorrow alone, with plenty of wind.  Our weathermen are super excited.  They actually have something to report.  

We kept the horses inside today.  Just doesn't make any sense to have them outside getting soaked and trying to crowd together inside the shelters.  That's when difugalties take place.  Harley will get new wounds and Kadie and Shad will get pushed outside.  They could go to the other shelter, but they always want to be together.  So...our evening will be spent doing double-duty in the stalls.  Most of the time I don't mind it, but I haven't been sleeping very well, and I'm tired.  Just plain tired and a bit cranky today.  Business at the clinic remains slow and that doesn't help.  Having nothing substantial to do all day does nothing for my energy levels after I get home.  

MH and Justin did get the pellet stove installed last weekend.  For a while there, it was touch and go.  The auger that feeds the pellets was totally frozen, and they'd almost given up hope of getting it freed up when it broke loose.  They did a thorough cleaning and re-painted the top and front areas of the stove.  It looks beautiful and is working wonderfully now.  I'm so glad because replacing it right now would have been out of the question.  It's the little things that make me happy!  Warmth is one of those things.  :)

This week we're picking up our winters' supply of bedding and then loading up the truck with junk that we need to haul to the dump soon.  And aside from cleaning out my garden boxes, hopefully that will be the end of outside "getting prepared for winter" projects.  The season has come for inside jobs, and heaven knows there are plenty of those too.  That's a good thing I suppose, because as I've mentioned before, being idle makes me crazy!  Before you know it, the holidays will be upon us.  Just where has this year gone to!?  I know, I'm like a broken record on that subject!!  

Well, that's it for now.  Tonight the little blue sleeping pill will be my friend, and hopefully I'll get a good nights' rest and as my momma always used to say..."Tomorrow is a brand new day!".  

Blessings, Lorie

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Oooh baby, it's COLD outside!!!  And I'm loving it.  Yes, I love cold, dry weather with beautiful blue skies and sunshine.  Can I just say that this is one of the best weather years we've had in many, many that I can recall.  We had an amazing spring, it was warmer and drier than usual and that led into a fantastic and long summer...not too hot, just about right.  Then for whatever reason, we had rain pretty much the entire month of September.  Yes, it's still summer time, so it was a warm rain, but wet is wet.  Then October was pretty much perfection and November!  Normally our Novembers are wet and cold, lots and lots of rain.  Not this year, we've had primarily dry and sunshine.  And now it's cold.  Of course people are grumbling, but it seems that folks will grumble if you hung 'em with a new rope.  Just sayin...

Last night at our house it was 18 F.  That's really cold for us here in the temperate Willamette Valley.  But, I'm dancin' - yep, got my party shoes on and I'm tickled pink!  The mud is frozen.  I'm wearing my new winter boots so my tootsies are cozy and warm.  Annie, Ruby and I are enjoying walks in the park - still.  Yesterday in the forest park, we had the park to ourselves, we crunched on frozen ground and leaves gathering evergreens, pine cones and moss for our Merry Christmas wreath.  Today, we got more cones and some holly with bright, red berries and some winter berry, just because it was there.  So cool.  I had my camera, but with my arms loaded down with evergreen branches; well, it was more than I could manage, so the camera remained in my pocket.

We finally broke down and put the blankets on the horses last night.  They are all fat and wooly, and would probably have been fine, but whatever.  We have blankets, so we're using them.  All except for Eagle...he gives the blankets the old hairy eyeball, and I'm a little concerned that if the blanket were to slip a wee bit, or heaven forbid - whip in the wind - well, let's just say that an unexpected hike through the fields might be called for.  Nope, for now, I'm thinking Mr. Eagle will manage just fine on his own.  :)  Big, brave Mustang...

So, all of you horse people are probably well aware of just how indebted throughout our history, that we are to the noble horse.  Right?  There are countless stories and bits of history that informs us of how much we owe them for their service in our society.  Countless different services.  Today, my hubby informed me of one more that I was unaware of, so I thought I would share.

What role in history does the horse have in a foundry?  Think hard my friends, this one surprised me.

Got your answer?  Well, for a change, it does not involve the horse laboring on our behalf.  Nope.  The answer is, in fact, his/her manure.  You see, apparently before the invention of binders used in the metals making business, good old horse poop was used to bind the metals together.  Similar to the way mortar or bricks were made with straw, the horse poo was the binder that held the molten metals together ensuring the hardened, finished product.  I wonder what they paid those valued employees who pooped for a living? Truth be told, we learn something every day.

My friend Claudia gave me an amaryllis bulb a few weeks back.  I've never had one.  I planted it as instructed and waited and watched.  It started to grow...the crazy thing is now 24" tall.  Sometimes I go to bed and when I wake up, it's grown 2"!  I thought it was some freak of nature bulb or something, but she assures me that is the way they roll, or grow.  :)  Kind of fun.  I'm most anxious to see what the flower is going to look like.

Stay warm and cozy everyone,
Lorie @ Cingspots

Whistling while we work

I've got several ideas and plans rattling around in my head these days...I usually do, I think.  Anyway, with our weather taking a rather dramatic turn for the more typical fall weather in the Pacific NW, we're preparing to focus our attentions on the inside, rather than being outside as much.  Just for the record, our weather during the entire month of October was fabulous!!  We were so blessed to have spent some time at the beach and got to enjoy the last of our spectacular, warm, sunny and dry fall.  I've always said that come November, all bets are off weather-wise!  The first several days in November were greyer, and we even experienced a little precipitation, but nothing exciting.  Now that we're over a week into the month, things are normalizing. These days we're frequently experiencing fog, grey skies, rain, wind and mud.  We've also had several days with a few breaks of blue skies, fluffier clouds and a little sunshine; but nothing like glorious October.  But, I'm thankful.  In fact, the skies have been dramatic and anything but ordinary, so we take the blessings anywhere we can.  And it's been warm.  We're still sleeping with our bedroom window open to let in the cool, night-time breeze.  It feels wonderful to snuggle inside the covers while feeling the cooling and refreshing breeze on my face as I sleep.  I love it!

So, as I was saying about having ideas ratting around in my noggin...  I do.  I've got plans for renovating our living room in the works.  I am so excited!  We're going to remove all traces of the cheap, nasty-looking fake oak trim everywhere and replace it with the more appropriate for our house's style with 3/4 x 4" flat trim boards.  I've decided on Sherwin-Williams Dover White 6385.  It's considered a warm white, and we've also used that same trim color in our kitchen, entry way and laundry room.  For the walls, I've got a few selections to consider, but they're all in the warm neutrals family of beige and we're choosing a couple of shades darker for the ceiling color...probably SW 6142 for the ceiling and SW 7569 Stucco on the walls.  Our living room is a fairly large, rectangular-shaped room with three windows and the front door.  The pellet stove and brick work are on one end and that's where we usually congregate during the cooler, fall and winter months.  So, my hopes are to create a more cozy and intimate feeling of welcome when you enter the room.  When we moved into our house almost 18 years ago, every single wall in the entire house, upstairs and down, was painted a bright white and had (still do) tan carpeting.  Talk about boring!  The carpet is disgusting!  I've had it cleaned several times and there's simply nothing more that can be done with it.  It's got to go.  I considered replacing it with new carpeting, but have since decided to go with laminate/fake wood instead.  I'll more than likely use the same choice that I did for our kitchen and nook/woodstove room.  It's a fairly dark and rustic-looking flooring in the shade of walnut, but not quite that dark.  It has a very slight reddish tone to it, but is truly more in the brown family.    With the darker flooring, I still need to keep the walls fairly light, but I definitely want warm/neutrals.  I hope these color choices will look nice with our reddish-toned leather couch and loveseat.  At some point, I'll get a large area rug for the seating area.  My many throw pillows are also in the rich, dark reds, blacks and tans of what would probably be considered kind of a Southwest earthen tone??  I'm not sure, it's kind of difficult to describe, but you get the gist, right?

The one wall where the pellet stove is located is the only wall that's not painted white right now.  And I'm still in a bit of a quandary as to what to do with it.  Right now, it's paneled in a very light, (almost maple) bead board.  Maybe I'll do the painting and then decide what to do with that wall.  We could leave it as it is, remove the bead board and paint it the same as the other walls, or paint it in a contrasting color.  What to do?  Right now I'm just focusing on getting the new paint up and the new flooring and trim boards in before making a decision on that wall.  It's probably going to become a much bigger project that what I'm envisioning...that always seems to happen!

If we can accomplish this project and still haven't committed hari-kari, then it's on to our bedroom...I have definite plans already in place for that, but won't go into them right now.  First things, first.  :)

In other news that isn't news, we're still working, still interacting and caring for our horses every day (feisty, fat and furry), and maintaining everything that comes along with home ownership and rural properties.  No rest for the wicked, I'm afraid!

We just cut and stacked in our wood shed, a cord of fir for our stash.  This weekend we're getting 2 more cords of oak firewood, and that will be it for this year.  That should be more than we actually need to get through this winter, but it doesn't go bad, and it'll be nice having a little extra to layover for the next year.

We got our order of a quarter beef.  Not only does it look mighty good in our freezer, but it's really tasty as well.  We're very, very happy with the quality and the flavor of this meat.  So...the pantry and the freezer are well-stocked.  The wood shed will be full with beautiful firewood very soon, and we will then, turn our energy and attention to inside projects.  No, we never get bored!  We're feeling especially blessed and as ready as is possible for the coming winter weather...barn full of hay, plenty of bedding on hand, pellets for our stove on hand, plenty of firewood in the wood shed, pantry and freezer well stocked.  I even found lamp oil for our kerosene lamps and have plenty of candles if we ever have an electrical outage.  Yes indeed, feeling very blessed!

And that's about all she wrote!  Until next time, Lorie @ Cingspots

Happy Fall everybody...hope you find good ways to keep your hands and minds busy, and your hearts at peace.

Indian summer activities

Our park tree in full color

beautiful fall colors

Ruby

Annie

This may be the first real, true Indian Summer in the past several years, that I can remember anyway.  We've had a couple of frosts and now the most beautiful sunshine.  Many mornings have started out shrouded in mist, only to burn off and be beautiful and warm later in the day.  This is the kind of fall weather I absolutely adore!  Bring on the outdoor activities!!  Bonfires, roasting marshmallows, picking apples, chopping firewood, riding horses, taking hikes in the woods, capturing all those gorgeous Autumn colors that abound...aaaahhhh, just splendid!

Hello October and all your glory!

Walking in the woods

My beautiful (and round) Eagle

Lovebirds...Ladde and Missy

Sweet Harley

happy horses

sometimes he makes her soooo mad!

This past weekend we bathed the dogs, trimmed their nails, had a bonfire and burned our huge pile of tree trimmings that we've collected throughout the summer, cut some firewood, went out for breakfast, made homemade cabbage and tomato soup and I baked a marion berry pie.  I'm needing to make some room in the freezer for our quarter of a beef that we're expecting by the end of the month.  We haven't bought a quantity of beef in many years, so it will be nice to have this on hand.  Grass fed, grain finished, Black Angus and raised by friends of ours...it will be so nice knowing that the beef we're eating is humanely and organically raised locally.  The meat in the stores just doesn't taste good these days, so I buy very little of it.

Since we missed our horse camping trip last month due to bad weather, we're hoping to take a few days the end of this month and go to the beach.  All the campgrounds are closed for the winter now, so no horse camping...but, who doesn't love time spent at the beach?  I'm hoping to find an inexpensive beach house, and if I'm lucky, it will be beach front, have a wood stove or a fireplace, a full kitchen and a hot tub.  Sounds delicious doesn't it?  I envision long walks on a solitary beach, and then coming back for a nice, long soak in the hot tub, followed by a good book by the fire...or a movie, or maybe even a nap.  *sigh*  Mentally, I'm already there.  :)

I've still got to do the usual groundwork in preparation of a short trip though, like finding someone to cover for me at the clinic and a caretaker for the horses and the cats.  The dogs always travel with us.  They'd plot some heinous revenge if we left them at home...

happy dogs!

Missy's eye (Sugar)

our 2013 grape harvest - a good year

I'm hoping this beautiful weather sticks around for a while...through the end of October anyway, after that I've always said, come November and all bets are off.  Haha!  Winter is then upon us, as the monsoon season hits.  But fingers crossed for sunshine, brisk mornings, clear skies and frosty pumpkins for a little while longer...

How's the weather in your neck of the woods?  Do you have traditional activities that you enjoy this time of year???  I'd love to hear about them.  :)

Happy October everyone, and blessings from
Lorie @ Cingspots

As the worm turns

and other fun stuff.

Not.

I am cranky today.  I was cranky yesterday too.  Work at the clinic's been slow, people have been more than a little irritating and the weather's beautiful...and here I sit, in my cage.  And I've come to the conclusion that there is, nor will there ever be; a cure for stupid.  :(

I would like nothing better than to be somewhere warm and sunny, lying on a sandy beach, cocktail in hand, reading a really good book...far, far away from people and civilization.  Yes, it really is that bad.

*sigh*

Did I mention that people can be really, really insensitive and really, really stupid?  Oh, okay.  But in my defense, it does bear repeating.  Take our federal government for an example...now, if you want to talk stupid, that subject is a deep well my friends.  Very deep.

Just a couple of weeks ago, these fields were brown, dry and parched...now they're green and soggy.  What a difference a little lot of rain can make...the weatherman says this September was the wettest on record - ever.  Well, at least since they've been keeping records of such things anyway.  Since the late 1800's.  Yes, it's been that wet.  We had our first frost this morning.  Yesterday and now today have been beautiful.  I've been at work.  We don't have plans to go anywhere this weekend.  Oh joy...

It's too muddy to go riding anywhere.  It's too wet to go hiking anywhere.  It's too early to go Christmas shopping.  *sigh*  Normally, I love fall.  It's my favorite time of year, but if things don't improve, let's just say it feels like we're taking a major shortcut to winter.  You know what winters are like in the Pacific Northwest, right?  That's right.  Rain.  And then some more rain.  Some wind and yes, more rain.  Mud up to your eyebrows.  I am so. not. ready. for. this. crap!!!!  Sorry, I'll post another pretty cloud picture so you don't all get bummed like me...

Do you have any plans for this weekend?  What's the weather been like where you live lately?  Does anybody else out there feel like Mother Nature is all f*&^#d up????

On an unrelated topic, I got an amazing sweater and a beautiful neck scarf yesterday at the New To You consignment shop.  Oh my, the sweater is gorgeous, and long and cream-colored (my favorite) and hopefully will look half as good on me, as my imagination thinks it will look. :)   I envision black leggings or skinny jeans with boots...warm, cozy and chic, oh my!

Stay warm and dry my friends,
Blessings from C-ingspots...............................Lorie

Shades of Grey and Winter Whites

We've been ensconced in frozen fog, frigid weather and an unusually dry weather pattern for a couple of weeks now.  We've even been blessed with a few days of blindingly bright sunshine!  Really - I think I know exactly how a mole must feel when he burrows up and out of the depths of the earth for the first time in days.
I've had to drag out my summer shades a few times lately!  One must always remember that squinting causes laugh lines and wrinkles.  :)

Speaking of wrinkles, and of aging in particular...today is my birthday!  My 53rd and counting to be exact!  I am astounded that I'm this old!!  I don't feel 53.  But then again, how is one supposed to feel at this age?  I feel older than I once did; of that I'm positive, but I don't feel old and in actuality I believe there are many benefits to having reached this specific time in my life.  Many to be sure!!  For one, I am again a great-great auntie.  Yep!!  And the newest member of our family was born this morning on my birthday!!  How's that for a birthday gift?  Pretty cool, I think!!  I don't know her name, nor her weight, nor what she looks like...but of one thing I am sure...she shall and always will, hold a dear and special place in my heart because we share a birthday.  What a blessing!!

So, I've been thinking about winter white lately, and various shades of whites and greys.  White is quite underrated I think.  Vanilla for example, a divine flavor on its' own and highly under-valued.  Winter is full of white and probably so, because so much of what winter has to offer is otherwise quite bland.  So we're given white and its' various shades to brighten things up a bit!  A different kind of light in an otherwise barren season devoid of sunshine.

Harley

hubba hubba!!

winter wonderland

Shad

Eagle - lover boy  :)

Dear, sweet, mud-loving Ladde

Kadie - my princess 29 this year

Sweet Harley (guilty of trying to bite my kneecap repeatedly yesterday!)

My sweet prince, Ladde

Merlin...the definition of cremudgeon

frosty white hairs on his ears

  

If you feed them, they will come...

Charley, she's pointing that thing at us again!

Depending on where you live, and what your winter weather woes have been, your appetite for warmer, brighter days may be overwhelming.  But, hang in there my friends...only 2 more months of winter to go!  Today charts the 1/3 of the way through winter mark!!!  Spring's warmer and sunnier days are closer than you may think.  Like the song says..."time waits for no one, and it won't wait for me".  

Tick Tock

Blessings everyone, Lorie @ Cingspots

Thar she blows matey!!!! and a Thanksgiving Day wish

Aarrrrrgh!!  Would I make a good pirate captain?  Well, maybe not...but I'm telling you, we've had enough rain to float a pirate's ship and we've had enough wind to set her asail!!  Hmmhuh...yes momma, we have!!
We have a nice little duck pond in our back yard, and another one in the farm field next door.  Haven't seen many ducks though...pretty sure they've all taken cover somewhere warm and dry.  Smart ducks!

We had a river flowing down the driveway, and all that water came down across our pasture.  To say it's a wee bit soggy is the understatement of the year.  The horses spent the day inside yesterday.  They got to go outside for about an hour and a half while the stalls were being cleaned.  That was long enough for them to decide that outside, was definitely NOT somewhere they wanted to be!!  :)  Smart ponies.

And the wind!!  Impressive!!  We had wind pretty much all day long, with some mighty strong gusts too.  We did maintain power though.  Way to go PGE!  The only real casualty was one of the limbs on the big shade tree in the back yard broke off.  And wouldn't you know?  It was one of the branches where I always hang a couple of my spring/summer flower baskets...oh well, it missed the fence and didn't destroy my raised garden bed.  So, it could have been much worse.  And once again, I'm very thankful that we don't have any big trees near the horse's barn.  Always thankful for that.  That would be one worry that might keep me awake nights.  Always stuff to be thankful for!

And speaking of thankfulness...Thanksgiving is almost upon us once again.  Tomorrow is my Friday this week, and I'm really looking forward to celebrating one of my most favorite of all holidays and...a long weekend!  We're having a few family members and a couple of friends over to our house for dinner.  And, yes that means that I am cooking the grand feast this year!  I always cook, but usually just for the two of us.  So, to get us all in the spirit of Thanksgiving and give you a sampling of what's on the menu this year...here are some pics in case anyone happens to be in the neighborhood and wants to drop by for a slice of pie!

Of course - you're all invited!!  The more, the merrier!!

The star of the show.  The turkey...yum!  Always the experimenter, I'm trying something new again this year. Don't tell my hubby...he's a bit stodgy about such matters.  I'm going to stuff the bird with celery, onion and tangerine slices.  Then I'm going to rub the beautiful birdie all over with butter and seasonings like sage, salt, pepper, rosemary and a little mesquite barbeque spice.  Then I'll add a little juice to give it some more flavor and moisture by mixing chicken broth with champagne.  I'll put some inside with the veggies and then the rest will be added to the pan.  Quite the concoction huh?

Not to be forgotten, the all-important sides.  No salad, just a few veggies and of course gravy.  Oh, the gravy!!

Real mashed potatoes...not those boxes things.  With real butter, a little Gregg's Ranch Dressing, salt and pepper.  Oh, to die for!

Homemade gravy from the turkey pan drippings, some cornstarch for thickening and water.  That's it...perfection in its' simplicity.  But, oh so good!  

And of course we'll have stuffing.  Not stuffed in the bird, so technically I guess it's called dressing.  But either way, it's a must-have.  I just saute onions and celery in a bit of butter, add chicken broth and bread crumbs.  Always a combination of regular, seasoned bread crumbs and cornbread pieces.  No meat in my stuffing, nope not ever!  I like it a little on the dry side, but moist enough to stick together.  Then you smother that bad boy in gravy and enjoy!  Perfection...I know these are not low-calorie recipes here, but hey--it's Thanksgiving.  And everybody knows there are no calories on Thanksgiving!!  Am I right?

 Sweet, tender baby carrots par-boiled in water and a little butter and brown sugar.  After liquid has been reduced, cook until desired tenderness.  Oh momma, these are good!

As you can see, there's a pattern forming here...everything is better with butter.  I'm just sayin'.  

Acorn or Danish squash wedges broiled in the oven with, that's right, you've got it!!  Butter and brown sugar...not too much, just enough.  So good...

Roasted brussel sprouts with a little salt, pepper and olive oil.  When cooked, toss with balsamic vinegar and a smidgen of white sugar.  :)  Don't knock em until you've tried em!  These babies are tender and oh, so tasty!

And never to be forgotten...the delightful, fragrant and oh, so delicious warm-from-the-oven yeast bread rolls and sweet cream butter baby!!!  Good grief, I'm making myself hungry here... plain, buttered, dipped in gravy or spread with a little homemade strawberry preserves.  To die for, I'm telling you!!  Never forget the bread.  Never.

It's the bread of life man.

And it's good.

And then what we've all been waiting for...the pie.  King of desserts everywhere.  Pie.  

Humble in it's beginnings.  Spectacular on the taste buds.  Pie.  Be thankful for pie, people!!!

This is coconut cream.  We're having this pie in remembrance of my momma.  This was her favorite.  

And then just what would Thanksgiving be without the traditional, old stand-by, pumpkin pie with fresh, 

(real of course) whipped cream.  Sometimes tradition isn't all it's cracked up to be; but where pumpkin pie is concerned ? ...it's a good thing.

Oh yeah.  Very, very good.

Happy, happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

May we all remember to give thanks to Him Whom we owe everything, and from where, all good things come!!  Be thankful!!

Blessings from our home, to yours.

Lorie @ Cingspots