Happy Halloween!

Here's a quick slideshow that Andrew's parents made for us all! It's got some great costume pictures! Happy Halloween!

Lucy's Agility Moves

For those of who are visiting from the Pet Blog Hop and are new to our blog, Lucy is our 7 month old Great Dane. Right now she is finishing up her 2nd obedience class. In this class, the focus is on holding commands for longer, in areas with more distraction, and working off leash. There is also a portion of each class where the pups try out different agility equipment. Lucy loves it! Here are a few video's (all very short) from last weeks class of her playing around and trying out some new equipment.

This last video is of Lucy putting together three different pieces of equipment, a small jump, a long tunnel, and a hanging tire.

It's getting cold!

It's been getting a bit cold at night around here! I've been dragging my blankets around a lot, and my humans (mostly Lauriel) were wondering if a sweatshirt would help keep me warmer. What do you think?

Lazy Lucy

She's getting better and better and being enjoyable to have around while we are relaxing.

I am...

...constantly feeling like I am playing catch up.

...hating feeling cold outside, but loving the excuse to snuggle up in a blanket or sip on a warm drink.

...loving goodreads for making it easier for me to keep track of books I've read, if I liked them, books I want to read, and to search out new suggestions.

...enjoying reading new blogs written by real people, some I know personally and some that I feel like I know through their writing.

...eating a lot of apples.  We bought a 25lb box of apples from a farm down the street, just to eat, for two people.

...missing spending the majority of my time working on tasks that are immediately beneficial to my survival and happiness.  My job is fulfilling, but it's not necessary to me personally.  I wish I could have both.

...posting way too much about Lucy.  She is way more amusing than either Andrew or I right now.

...always trying to prioritize between what needs to be done, what has to be done, and what I want to do.

...running out of dinner ideas and need some new inspiration.

...frequently listening to Pandora.  Anyone know a way to share a Pandora channel on their blog?

...thinking about changing the look of our blog again.  I have been craving simple and clean and it feels cluttered to me.

Lucy, "sitting" on the couch

Lucy is not allowed on the couches. Our reasoning being that soon she will take up the entire couch leaving no room for us humans to sit down. So instead, she is provided with multiple comfy dog beds and we frequently join her for snuggles on the floor. Lucy, always one to test the boundaries, has discovered a new way to enjoy the benefits of the couch without getting in trouble. The rule: You're safe as long as you have 3 legs on the floor.

Am I in trouble?

What are you laughing at?  Is something going on over there?

Huh?  You're laughing at me?

What's wrong with my butt?  I don't see anything funny about this!

This scenario happens multiple times each day. Usually with the same facial expressions.

Happy Birthday Taylor!

Happy Birthday Taylor!  We love you and are so happy to have you in the family!

DIY Wine

I shared this post here at the beginning of August.  But we've had people asking us about making wine, so I thought I would share it again!  I have made a few edits to include our last few months of winemaking!

We have a new obsession in our house, learning about ways that we can be more self-sufficient. We have a long way to go, but we are always looking for ways we can make the products we like to use. Last year, probably while enjoying a glass a wine, we started talking about making our own alcohol. We researched a little bit, and discovered that after buying a little bit of equipment, home winemaking is fairly easy and can be done with tons of different produce. We’ve become a little bit obsessed really.

There are lots of books with recipes and directions, we have a few. We have also found Jack Keller’s Winemaking Website to be very helpful and it has millions of recipes! We also use Winemakers Depot to buy many of our winemaking supplies, they are an internet supplier who happens to live right near us.

So far we have made wine from:

A mix of apples growing in our yard

Peaches from our yard

Local apple juice from Haggen

Locally roasted coffee

Strawberries from Boxx Berry Farm

Cherries from Eastern Washington

Dandelions from our yard

Pears that were given to us

Carrots from Half Acre Farm

Blueberries from Boxx Berry Farm

Each recipe varies slightly, but they all follow the same basic steps.

Start with fresh flowers, vegetables, herbs, or fruit like these strawberries

Add them to a food safe container and mash the fruit

Add the remainder of the ingredients. In this case, the recipe called for raisins. Usually you also have to add water, sugar, and a few other special wine ingredients. After the wine has cooled to room temperature, you add the yeast. The wine stays in this container for around a week, needing daily stirring. It smells great during this stage and makes a lot of noise as the yeast is eating all of the sugar.

Place wine in a carboy with an air-lock for several months. It will need to be re-racked several times, usually about every 30 days, to separate the wine from the sediment. Re-racking just consists of siphoning the wine from one carboy to another and leaving the bottom inch of gunk in the old carboy.

When the wine has cleared and the fermentation has completely stopped, it can be bottled. We used old wine bottles and beer bottles and made our own labels. We like the size of a beer bottle because it holds just enough wine for 2 glasses, just enough to celebrate a special occasion!

Then comes the hard part, letting it age at least another 6 months to a year. Winemaking is a long-term investment, no quick product here. Last August, we opened an early bottle of our first apple wine that was left over from our makings last year. So far, we have been drinking more of the first batch of apple wine and the peach wine we made (a little bit early on both) and they are delicious!

More Daycare Pictures

I love checking facebook after Lucy has been at daycare with Tails, they always take such funny pictures!

Somehow they always seem to get a pictures of her looking like this.  It must be her "happy, tired, do you have food?" look

Lucy get a gorgeous golden retriever disgustingly wet.

Lucy in the crowd.  Right at this moment, she is checking out our friend Murphy's cone of shame.  And wondering why she can get to his stuffie spots.

Sorry that I can't embed it right on this post, but there is a short video clip here of Lucy playing with a Mastiff at daycare.  It is really short and pretty funny!

Lucy the Agility Dog

As part of Lucy's current puppy class, they try a new piece of agility equipment every week. They try them with a lot of assistance to ensure that no one gets hurt and that all the pups have a positive first experience, but she really seems to enjoy it. She's jumped through hoops, over jumps, through tires, stood on platforms, gone through tunnels, and this week tried this tipping beam thing. Not the greatest video, but it makes us laugh because our oversized pup really likes working on the agility equipment! I wished I had videotaped when we did the tunnel, because she just ran back and forth over and over again!

Costco

Ever get sick of breaking down boxes to fit in the recycling after you go to Costco? You need a Lucy! She will break all of your boxes down into small pieces that fit easily in your recycling or compost. And it will wear her out!

Puyallup Fair

These pictures are fairly old now, but I found them and, because I love the fair so much, I couldn't help but share them! Last month, on Carina's birthday, all of Andrew's immediate family went to the Puyallup Fair.  We got to go on the first day, which I have never done before. It was great because we got in free with a can of food. The "free" admission made it much easier to spend enormous amounts of money on over sized and greasy food that made us feel slightly sick. That is the best part of the fair right?  We lived it up with corn, fries, pop, chocolate milk, and elephant ears.  My mouth waters and I feel sick just thinking about it.  I also got to experience mutton busting for the first time.  Mutton busting is delightful entertainment in which a small child is put on a sheep's back and timed to see how long they can hold on.  Don't worry, neither sheep nor small child is harmed in this activity.  Here are a few pictures for your enjoyment!

Lynne and I waiting for the mutton busting to start.

Wade waiting for the excitement

Lucy at Hovander

Lucy, on the way back from an hour long walk at the park. Graceful?
If you are new to blog, and visiting from the bloghop, you can find more posts about Lucy here!

Happy Birthday Lynne!

Happy Birthday Lynne!  We love you!

End of Summer Tomato Soup

I know it may not look pretty, but it tasted amazing and was really easy.  I also loved that it used a ton of fresh produce that we had around the house. There is no official recipe, but here is what I did.

• Chop 1 onion and 3 cloves garlic.
• Saute in large pot with olive oil until very soft.
• While that is cooking, cut as many tomatoes, red or green that you have on hand. I used all of the tomatoes that you see in this picture.
• Add all of the tomatoes and their juice to the pot.
• I added about 1 1/2 cups of corn chowder because that is what I had on hand that needed to be used. I think that vegetable or chicken broth would also taste great.
• Turn the heat fairly low and let the mixture simmer on the stove. 
• While it is simmering, cut up any veggies that you have on hand.  I added a few carrots, some celery sticks, a bit of yellow squash, some zucchini squash, a bit of broccoli stalk, and a can of corn.
• Liberally sprinkle cumin and stir.
• Salt and Pepper to taste.
• Let the mixture simmer until the veggies are the texture that you would like to eat them at.
• Serve with Andrew's fresh made onion and garlic bread because it's the best.

Mary's Birthday

I love a good dinner party! Especially with our friends the Mahoneys, as they always provide such delicious food! A few weeks ago, Mary and Winn hosted a gathering in celebration of Mary's birthday. It was a delicious, delightful evening with great company.

The remains of a delicious meal, pieces of which I mean to try and share with you soon.

Amazing homemade cake concocted by Winn

Winn delivering the birthday wishes

Mary's excitement is evident

Mary and I

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

We had a little bit of a cookie craving Saturday night and made these delicious cookies. They aren't much to look at, but they are super easy and taste delicious!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1/2 cup chunky or smooth peanut butter
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 375°.  Cream the butter, peanut butter and sugars until light. Add the egg and mix until fluffy. Blend the flour, baking powder, soda and salt together well. Add these dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Add the chocolate chips. Drop cookie dough by teaspoonfuls onto lightly greased baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 375°.  These were better undercooked than overcooked, so err on the 10 minute side instead of the 12 minute!

Local Produce

Check out all of the local produce that lived at our house this weekend! From this picture, we are missing a bag of yellow beans, a couple more chili peppers, and many more carrots.  That big yellow summer squash is from our garden and is the absolute last of the summer squashes we will be getting.  The fingerling potatoes in the front are some of what we got from Half Acre Farm.  The loaf of bread is made by Andrew, the snow peas in the bowl in back are from our garden, and that bowl of tomatoes is the last of the tomatoes from our plants.  Everything else is from the CSA box that Kira gave us this week (thanks Kira, we loved it!).  All of the produce we are gathering is so beautiful, and it makes me feel like it must be fall!

More Pictures of Lucy at Daycare

For your viewing amusement on this beautiful Sunday, pictures from Lucy's day at daycare last Wednesday. I realize that they probably aren't as amusing to everyone else, but they make me laugh. She has such a good time playing with other dogs.

Sleepy face

A little cheek pulling, I love the look on the black dog's face.  Totally doesn't care.

Dog pile, with a very happy looking golden.

A good wrestle

And a pin

Walking with Max

Back when the sun was still shining, Andrew took Lucy on a photo walk around town with Max. I love these walks because of the beautiful surprise photos I find on the camera. These are a few of my favorites off of the digital camera, someday we will see the ones on film.

Friday

It's Friday and that makes me smile!  I love my job, but I'm looking forward to this weekend.  On my mind tonight:

Levi is home and got a good bill of health from the doctor today.  No more monitors, no more medication!  Rachelle also shared some adorable pictures today, he really is a beautiful baby.

We picked up a CSA box for a friend yesterday (thanks Kira!) and it was awesome!  Loved the surprise factor of not knowing what you are getting.  I made some end of summer tomato soup tonight, I'll share the recipe soon.  It was a great way to get rid of our green tomatoes.

We have Lucy wearing a harness again.  She was just getting too much to handle while walking.  She can heal some of the time, but she can't maintain it for a whole walk.  And I can't control her on the collar when she gets worked up about something.  We've already taken her on a few walks and it was so much better.  She was pulling less and didn't seem as overstimulated.  It was a much more enjoyable walk.

Paul got bit by something on his foot.  It seems to be healing ok, it doesn't appear to be broken.  But he is quarantined to our room where he is happily sleeping on our bed and eating in peace without any disturbances from Lucy.  We can't quite figure out what got him though, it's a weird place for an injury.

Andrew cleaned the bathrooms while I made dinner and feels amazing!  How does our house always feel messy?

Here's to a relaxing, yet productive weekend!

Gloves

Andrew has recently started knitting again. He made me a pair of gloves a few years ago, then never touched the needles again. In the past two months, he made these two sets of gloves as birthday presents and he is currently working on his first hat. The gloves below are the same style as my gloves and I love them! They keep your hands warm, but not too warm, especially for our mild weather. And I still feel like I can do things with my fingers! What do you think, would you have a use for a pair of gloves in this style?

Dill Pickles

A few weeks back, we made dill pickles for the first time ever. It wasn't hard at all, just a lot of cutting and packing in jars, which I think can be mentally soothing. I can't remember the recipe we used now, but it was nothing fancy. Just a basic brine with some fresh dill and garlic in the jars. We had more cucumbers than we had jars, so we filled one noncanning safe jar and put it fresh in the fridge. We've already started snacking on them, even though the recipe said to wait six weeks. They are the best pickles I have ever had! Even Andrew says he loves them and snacks on them, even though he usually doesn't like pickles. We will definitely be doing pickles again next year, maybe we will try a few different kinds!

Smile

Happy boost of self-confidence day!  This makes me smile!

Quick Takes

1.  We are surviving getting back in a school/work routine.  And surviving is about all it is some days.  We've been exhausted most nights, but I know it will get better.  Getting in the rhythm and having a routine will make it all feel better.

2.  Lucy is back in another obedience class, and it's great timing.  She's still really good...but she is definitely pushing her limits to see what she can get away with.  Having a class once a week is good for her and good for us.

3.  We cleaned out boxes and boxes of stuff that we weren't using or had never used.  I have no idea what it all was, just random stuff.  We had a garage sale, sold a little bit of it, and dropped the rest off at Value Village.  And the we made a deal that we would let that much accumulate again.  Where does it all come from?

4.  Except for the last few squashes, the garden is over.  And we ran out of energy for a good fall/winter garden.  I want to do, and it's on the books for next year.  Just not this time around.  It was a good garden, we loved having it and we learned tons.  One of these days I want to sit down and make a good/bad post about the garden so that I can have a better plan for next year.

5.  We have resigned ourselves that the cob house plan is out.  We can't seem to find anywhere that will finance new home construction, even traditionally, with less than 20% down.  We can't come up with that kind of a down payment, at least not in the next couple of years.  So, we have resigned ourselves to putting that plan on hold and trying to move forward with buying land with a livable house of some sort that we could build on in the future.  Keep you posted on how that goes.

6.  We started a green tomato wine...and I forgot to take pictures.  Maybe at one of the rackings I can get Andrew to take a few pictures and I will tell you more.  It has a crazy color, but it smells pretty good!  We've also been drinking some of our first apple and peach wines, and they are very tasty!  Makes me excited to keep making more!

7.  We have apples coming out our ears around here.  We made a batch of applesauce and dried a big jar full.  But we need to do it again, at least one more time.  I can't stand to see all the apples wasted!  Now just to find the time and the energy.....

New Things around the House

We've had a few new purchases lately, all of which I am just loving.  Thought I would share a little bit about them with you!

The first is a new tea kettle that we bought at Costco. Totally random unplanned purchase, but I'm so glad that we got it. We paid $20 for it at Costco, when I looked it up online, they are selling between $40-50. And this is the ONLY red one I could find online, the only photo of it online, and it was on Amazon. Chantal, the company that makes it, only sells it in green. The cheery red color is one of my favorite things about it! That and the fact that there are no parts that melt or burn you like on our old tea kettle.  Very happy to see my tea kettle every morning, it has a nice little whistle to it.

We got new phones! We ended up both getting the Palm Pre phones, and we are so happy with them. They were free with a new two year contract, great price right? And we got to stay with Verizon so we can talk with all of our friends and family for free. And we get an unlimited data plan for $30 a month. And the phones work as a mobile hotspot so we are getting rid of our home internet service. They have all the internet, email, and organizing features I could want. The only thing that isn't perfect is the video/camera quality. But it's not bad. I'll try and share some phone pictures soon. I would absolutely recommend this phone to anyone who wants some of the new features out there without paying a fortune.

Our new salt and pepper shakers are probably not the most economically smart purchase, and they weren't really necessary.  But they are awesome and it makes me happy to use them.  They are grinders, so you get that fresh ground taste, but you can pump grind it with just one hand.  They have a nice fine grind, and it disperses well instead of ending up in one clump.  And there are no plastic pieces to melt, like on our old salt and pepper shakers.  I think we have a problem with things melting near our stove.  They are made by Vic Firth and they have a few different but similar styles.  Andrew tells me that they also make drumsticks, something that I find quite funny.