Our Big Fitbit Competition!

The best view from my hot tub

I’m sitting in my hot tub at 5 PM on the first day of fall feeling guilty because I'm indulging myself rather than trying to stay fit!  Now, you KNOW there has to be a story behind this remark!
 Here goes:

The ambiance isn't much, but the beverage and the comfort is great! 

It all began when Carla gave me a new Fitbit last spring. I wore it faithfully for several months and basically used it for a watch and an alarm clock for waking up in the morning. One day early in summer I saw an invitation to join a challenge for the work week from Marianne. I guess she got a new Fitbit for Mother's Day and actually checked out many of the uses for it!  I accepted the challenge as did some of the family and friends. I then realized ( or remembered) how competitive many of us are!  For several weeks Kathi kicked our butts but then Marianne crept up and was getting close. Carla couldn’t sit back so she moved on up. I of course held down last place (except once when Carla didn't wear her Fitbit for several days).  I used the excuses of sore knee and being too old, not to mention a fear of meeting up with a moose or mountain lion!  Carla was complaining that Marianne would wait to see if she (Carla) was ahead and then would go out after dark just before deadline to beat her out!  Marianne insisted she and Brendin had Pokémon Go things they had to do at the park. Anyway, suddenly there was a new person on the list and she kept beating all of us. Apparently Kathi had accidentally invited her and she became the person to beat! I actually had some competition for last place with a friend of Marianne’s who had just had surgery and had to take it easy!  HA!

Here were the standings at the end of last week.
  Very typical with me at the bottom of the list!

June and July went by and I stayed comfortably in last place. Then I went up to Burlington WA for a few weeks.  Marianne’s stomping grounds!  Nothing would do but I had to walk with her. This included four miles on the levee plus a walk with the dog who has knee issues too so can only go to a nearby park (about1/2 mile) and do the Pokémon thing!  Marianne made sure she did a lot of walking at work so I couldn’t keep even! We did some great walks up in Bellingham WA along the bay.

A great sunset on our walk along the bay

A little further down the pier 

 I took lots of great pictures of the sunset there one night.  I still couldn’t catch Kathi or her friend!  One of the events we did while I was there was to attend the Mount Baker Blues Festival! I danced at the concerts and at the after hours jam sessions and got in way over my 10,000 steps goal each
day but still never made it to first place!

Walter Trout at the Blues Fest!
Marianne and I were right up front at the stage!
 I was dancing!
A few weeks after I returned home I went up to Carla’s home in Casper for the Eclipse. Carla had been doing 6 mile walks through the parks. We did a lot of walking around downtown since parking was at a premium.

Carla, Jim, Paul and Caroline viewing the eclipse in Casper

 I did the parks walk and then danced until 1 AM one night at the eclipse festival and then one afternoon at the river festival!  It was dang hot and lots of fun. I got in lots of steps but was never a winner!  I even walked and danced 20,000 steps one day and was still behind!

This was my biggest day when we
 were dancing on Eclipse weekend!
I still didn't win

Dancing to one of the bands at the Eclipse Fest.
Lots of steps!

Now that fall is here and things have settled down I think I have found a secret weapon!HEHEHE!!!  Nobody is going to want to go out in the rain and snow for their walks least of all me!  Besides, after my bear scare I am not wandering too far from the house!  The first two years after I retired, Bob and I stayed up at the cabin most of the winter. I did some snowshoeing but the mountain lions were out and about as well as moose and hungry coyotes.   I envisioned myself trying to run in my snowshoes away from them and decided I needed to exercise in the house! So I got a CD called something like walk away the pounds. I faithfully did it through blizzards and blowing snow right in the comfort of my home!  I really felt in good shape!  So I have now dug out that CD and will see how many steps it has!  Look out everyone!  I might even have to break out my old Richard Simmons Sweatin’ with the Oldies!  I actually loved doing those exercises. 

They are really old school but still get the job done!
 I don't need a Gold's Gym to stay in shape
when I'm off the grid!

This was a few years ago in winter.  The ambiance looks better!

My Bear

A smoky sunrise that I couldn't resist photographing

Last weekend I heard a story about a bear wandering around in a suburb of Denver. This time of year we hear a lot of these kind of stories because it is fall and bears are hunting for food to keep them going during hibernation. It seems like most of these stories end with the “authorities” loading them up and “relocating” them. I'm not positive but I think North Park might be one of the relocation destinations!  There have been lots of stories about bears getting into my neighbors' dumpsters and hanging around people’s ranch buildings and cabins even when there is a lot of activity going on. I have been living ( or spending summers) up here for over 40 years and had never actually seen a bear around here although I have seen lots of signs of bears on my daily walks. Our neighbors have had plenty of incidents and sightings even on our land but I must not be very observant. This brings me to the story of “My Bear”.

One evening about 9PM I was minding my business and reading my book when I heard a light scratching on the screen of the west window. I looked up thinking it was a chipmunk or bird even though it seemed too dark for them to be out. I thought I saw a big paw but just then the phone rang. It is a landline so I had to go across the room to answer. It was my brother and we had some business to discuss. The phone is located next to a big picture window with a smaller window on each side. The windows look out on our porch and then down to the creek.  One of those was open maybe about 6 inches. As we were speaking I looked out on the porch and right below the big window I saw a brown furry back of an animal. I thought it might be a coyote, so I yelled out the open window “Shoooo! Get off the porch!”  

The infamous window where the bear stared at me!

To my horror a bear stood up, put his front paws up on the big window and stared at me not 2 feet from my face with only a pane of glass between us!!!  The phone was still in my hand up to my ear and I screamed and screamed as loud as I could!  Poor Tip’s ears must still be ringing! (I had heard somewhere to make a lot of loud noise to scare bears away). The bear quickly ran away and I “calmly” said to Tip, “Well, that scared him away.”  My heart was beating fast and Tip had no idea what was going on!  I explained and he was laughing with me by the time we hung up. In my mind I was thinking, “His face sure did look like a cute Teddy Bear!”  That night I locked the doors and grabbed my air horn that my son-in-law insisted I take with me on my hikes, and took it to bed with me.  HA!

The next night I was in town until after dark and decided to stay with Danny and Kathi overnight.  We were visualizing me having to make a mad dash in the dark from the car to the door with “my bear” chasing after me! 

 When I told my neighbor about the incident she asked me if the bear had cattle sized ear tags, one in each ear. There were no tags. She had an incident a few years before and the Fish and Game fellows told her if they were tagged they were relocated bears. Mine had no tags so I guess he was wild.

Well, that’s my bear story!  I have some other wildlife stories to tell but none that exciting!  Oh, and my grandsons wanted to know why I didn’t take pictures!  I told them I was too busy screaming! Hehehe!

Two Great Fall Recipes

2 Great Fall Recipes

Fall has arrived at the cabin!

The leaves are changing and there is a snap in the air. Surprisingly we have not had our first frost yet!  Usually it comes before fair but it didn't this year!  I think they are calling for frost tonight. With that in mind I want to share 2 recipes I love that really are old standbys in their generic form but I have tweaked them and they are now extra special!  Here they are:

My Creamy Tomato Basil Soup

I guess I don't know how to make the fancy design with the cream but here is the soup!

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. Butter

2 Tbsp. Flour

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1 large clove garlic, minced

1 – 1 ½ Cup milk

8-10 large fresh basil leaves (I just pick a handful), chopped. You can use dried basil, about 1-2 Tbsp.

1 28 oz. can San Marzano tomatoes

1C.  Chicken Broth

Salt and pepper to taste. I use Trader Joe's Everyday seasoning if I have it. (I use it for everything--I buy several bottles every time I am at their store!)

1/4 C. Parmesan Cheese (in the can or shredded--your choice. 

*optional:  1-2 Tbsp. heavy cream. This really makes it exceptional but adds calories!

These are the ingredients you will need.  I got the tomatoes at Safeway

Here are the onions, garlic and basil.  I grow 3 kinds of basil,  I love using it!
That's one very large clove of garlic about 1 Tablespoon of minced!

Directions:

1.      Make the white sauce by melting butter in a sauce pan. Add chopped onions and sauté until transparent. Add minced garlic and sauté a minute or two. Stir in flour and stir to absorb butter. Add 1 C milk and stir constantly until your white sauce thickens. You can add some seasoning to this or wait until you taste at the end.

After sauteing the onions you add flour and stir to coat onions

Then you add milk and stir until thick and bubbly

2.     Set sauce aside in the pan while you purée the can of tomatoes with juice in a blender or Magic Bullet (I use mine almost daily for everything!). You can put your basil in with the tomatoes to chop them up a little more if you want. Place puréed tomatoes in another pan and heat to boiling. Add the chicken broth and bring to simmer.  Add the basil if you haven't already. 

I add my basil to the tomatoes as I am blending them

3.     Dip out about 1 Cup of the tomato mixture and stir into the white sauce/onion mixture and then pour this mixture back into the tomato purée. This keeps the soup from looking curdled. (Even if it does happen to do this, it still tastes the same).

I'm adding the hot tomato mixture to the white sauce mixture

Now I pour the tomato/white sauce back into the rest of the tomato mixture

4.     Stir and bring to a simmer. Be sure to stir so it won't stick to the bottom. If you think you want more milk you can add it. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

I like to add a little cream to my soup at the end.  It makes it smooth and rich!

5.     Stir in the Parmesan just before serving. You can garnish each bowl with a sprinkle of it on top too. As for the whipping cream, you can also stir it in at the end or add a Tablespoonful to each bowl and make a design like they do in lobster bisque in the hoity  toity restaurants!  I just stir it into my soup bowl when I'm having it for lunch by myself.

Add some Parmesan cheese and any seasonings you want and you are good to go!
Bon Appetit

This brings tomato soup to a whole new level from Campbell tomato soup!  Now next is a recipe for a grilled cheese sandwich that goes with our soup!  I had this at a new restaurant in Casper Wyoming last weekend and it was delicious!  I hope my copycat version is as good as it was!

Adult Grilled Cheese Sandwich

MMMM! Look at all that melty cheese!  A really yummy sandwich.

I am playing with this sandwich and I think anyone can, after they try my original version.  I actually can’t get the Asian Pears here in tiny Walden, Colorado, so I am using the only pears I could find which I think are Bartlett.  They still give that nice pear flavor to pair with the creamy Swiss cheese flavor.  I also think the restaurant used some kind of fancy Swiss cheese like Gruyere that didn’t have holes.  This, of course, was not an option for me!  Any way I made it and it still tasted delicious.  One other thing, I think it mentioned in the blurb on the menu that it had some kind of jam—maybe like fig jam in it.  While I was eating the sandwich I couldn’t taste it or see it so I think the sandwich is good to go without that addition (which, of course, I couldn’t find at our grocery store either).  If you have it, give it a try if you wish!

Ingredients for 1 sandwich:

3-4 thick slices of onion—about ¼ inch thick.  They cook down a lot so use lots!

3-5 slices of Asian pear – thinly sliced—less than ¼ inch at least

2 Tbsp. soft butter

2 slices bread of your choice (the restaurant used sour dough)

2-3  slices of thick sliced Swiss cheese (enough to make a nice covering of the bread)

*Possibly some kind of fancy jam if you are adventurous or have some to use up.

The ingredients for the Adult Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Directions:

1.     Melt 1 Tbsp. butter in a small frying pan.  Place onion slices (you can separate them into rings) and caramelize them.  Toward the end add the pear slices and saute all until the pears start to get translucent but are not falling apart. 

*Please note that I learned a lot more about caramelizing onions than I ever thought I would use!  I googled it and found that it takes a long time to do it if you do what they say! I set my burner on medium and it did not take the 45 minutes the first lady said!  Anyway I will give you a link if you want it and I also did add just a touch of balsamic vinegar to the  onions and the pear slices.   The pear slices only took a couple minutes to cook in the same pan with the onions.

Here is the link:http://dish.allrecipes.com/how-to-caramelize-onions-step-by-step/?internalSource=articlecard&referringContentType=search%20results&clickId=cardslot%206

                    Caramelizing the onions and the pears

2.     Meanwhile take one slice of bread and arrange the Swiss cheese slices on it (if trying the jam you will need to spread it on the slice of bread first).

Cover your choice of bread with the sliced cheese.  Use lots so it is real cheesy.  I used Whole Wheat

3.     When the pear/onion mixture is done arrange onions and then pear slices over the cheese in layers.  Add the top slice of bread to make a sandwich.

Layer caramelized onions onto the cheese and then the pear slices.

4.     Spread the butter on top of the top slice.  Flip the buttered side down onto a griddle or frying pan and grill until lightly browned and cheese is starting to melt.  While this is cooking, spread some butter on the top of the cooking sandwich.  When ready flip it over and grill the other side.

Butter the top of the sandwich while the bottom is getting golden brown!

5.     Slice in halves or quarters and serve with your soup!  Yummmm!

I’m thinking of other combinations that sound pretty good to me.  One is the onions (which really make the sandwich), cheddar cheese (coming from Wisconsin, I love the extra sharp but use what you like best) and apple slices, I’m thinking Honey Crisp or Granny Smith possibly on rye bread or whole wheat or sour dough. I bet there are some other Adult type combos you can come up with too!

My Thoughts on Mother Nature

Lately I have missed writing in my blog.  My reasons may sound crazy--or maybe lazy is a better word but here goes my explanation:  I have written dozens of blogs in my head but when it comes time to put them up on my blog site, I keep thinking about how long and how many problems I have to solve to get where I want to go!  Do any of you get what I am saying?  It takes almost a whole day to get it the way I want it and then 9 out of 10 times it still gets messed up and I have to figure out another way to do it!  Well I just have to bite the bullet and get this show on the road again!

The smoke around our house was thick on Sept. 5, 2017!

I keep thinking about subjects for my blogs but I never follow through!  Here are some thoughts for today. The smoke has been terrible up here in our high mountain desert. My eyes are scratchy and the sun doesn't feel as warm as it should. I can't see the mountains or favorite landmarks from my usual breakfast spot where I drink my morning coffee.

Smoke makes for very pretty sunsets

A beautiful day for fishing.  The fish don't mind the smoke, I guess.

 I do have to admit that the sunrise and sunset is quite beautiful seen through a thick haze of smoke but I could forgo that when I think of all the damages that happen from these persistent wildfires!  We have had what I would call light smoke almost all summer. This has come from fires in Montana and Canada, but this past week there have been several wildfires burning just to the west of us on the other side of the mountain. We even saw a helicopter with a bucket hovering over some nearby mountain lakes.

The old Haskins cabin.  Also known as the "bat

I know I am whining about my minor discomforts when I should be grateful I do not live in Houston or Rockport (where we spent one winter and I loved it and many people I met down there).  Or around the Gorge in Oregon, or just about anywhere in Montana where they have over 40 wildfires burning or in Southern Florida where they are bracing for one of the strongest hurricanes the Atlantic has had in many years!  My heart goes out to all the people struggling to survive these disasters.  I have visited many of these places and dread to see what people will have to contend with in the aftermath.  I guess I just feel like I have to document my little slice of life, pray for all those who are dealing with the abundance of natural disasters we seem to be having and try to help however I can.

On that note I think I will share a few pictures just in case we have a lightning strike up in the

National Forest  we border on and which is littered with miles of beetle killed trees. Yes, it is only a matter of time and we all know the thinking is to "let it burn" to get rid of all the downed timber.

Our winding driveway into our house

Even the beetle kill has changed the beauty of our mountains and our privately-owned lands as well. Mother Nature will have her way!  I still feel blessed to live in "God's Country". Please remind me of this about February of next year when we are snowed in and the wind is howling!

As a matter of fact that might be way sooner than February!

My favorite time of year in North Park is just around the corner. Every year I take pictures. It seems like the same trees are more beautiful each year. I have included some from years past.  They are from 2007 before we could see what the beetles had done to the pines!

This photo was taken in 2007 before the beetle kill became apparent!

*Note:  I just got information that the reason it was so smoky that day we saw the helicopter was because there was a fire in the Forest about 1 ½ miles from us that had been started by a campfire!  This, when there was a ban on all fires in the National Forest!  They did get it put out with the help of the helicopter!