A slice off the side of a cube of butter, some maple syrup and a bit of cinnamon and nutmeg. Awesomely delicious squash

In one of our rare outings, Wadly and I had dinner at one of our local eateries. They served squash wedges with a seasoned butter that made the squash taste like pumpkin pie. It was delicious. LouAnn says it was hubbard squash. I’ve duplicated the taste in both acorn and spaghetti squash.

Wadly will even eat this squash, and he is so not a squash fan.

This is a dead easy recipe.  Drop in a slice of butter, add a couple tablespoons of real maple syrup, sprinkle a little cinnamon and nut meg on top the butter and bake.

Coconut macaroon bar cookies Enjoy Life chocolate chips Yum! |

As we all know, women can’t live without chocolate, but when you’re soy intolerant, a chocolate free life is almost the only choice you have.  Chocolate generally contains soy lecithin as the emulsifier which makes it a treat I have to avoid.  Fortunately, Enjoy Life has a product that doesn’t push any of my buttons.

I’ve done lots of things with this chocolate.  Around our house it makes a safe out-of-the-bag snack, great chocolate dipped pecans and a versatile chocolate coconut macaroon cookie.

To make this super-simple recipe, melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler.  If you’re adding anything additional to the recipe, this is the point where you would add it.

After the chips have fully melted, stir in the coconut a half-cup at a time.   Keep adding coconut until you like the looks of the mix.  Use less coconut if you want heavier, more chocolatey cookies or more coconut if  you want lighter, more crumbly cookies.

Dump the mix out on a piece of aluminum foil and spread it out.  After it’s completely cooled, cut it into squares.

I’ve made these with a dab of butter for extra richness or with a couple tablespoons of milk or buttermilk (REALLY good) for additional lightness.  You can add an extract like almond or vanilla, maybe even mint.  I bet orange zest would be good!

If you aren’t gluten intolerant, you can use this recipe as the filling between thin shortbread type cookies for a totally different twist.  Whatever additional ingredient(s) you choose, add it to the melting chocolate before adding the coconut.

I’m going to try a batch with some chevre cheese mixed in . . . I bet that’ll be good!  Mmmm!  It should add a nice creamy tang.

Gluten free roast beef "sandwich" Toast 2 slices roast beef topped by 2 slices pepper jack cheese Saute peppers and onions

Eating out I’m faced with a 10% chance that I will inadvertently end up eating something I shouldn’t and creativity at home prevents me from feeling deprived or limited.  Because I can’t eat gluten or soy, and because I have to be careful of other foods as well, I’m continually trying different combinations that respect my limitations.

I like Subway’s roast beef sandwich (made without the bread), but the last time I was there I got glutened by careless handling of my order.  It takes two weeks to recover which sucks, so creating my own roast beef sandwich became a must.

Safeway’s Primo Taglio house brand of roast beef is really quite good.  I get it sliced the same thickness as deli cheese.  Lucerne has sliced pepper jack cheese.   With a bit of onion, some red and green pepper, a sweet Anaheim pepper and some cucumber and tomato, I get a sandwich that rocks.

The totally goth Lupo.

Our son has a goth Grand Wagoneer Jeep he has named Lupo.  Everyone who comes up behind it knows it is named Lupo because he has “Lupo” in chrome letters on the back . . . just southwest of the bumper sticker which says “I have evil minions on retainer.”  I did say it was goth.  Matt black with chrome accents?  That doesn’t scream “goth”?

I have a ’96 Sonoma in pretty dark teal with custom white and pink striping I call “Boop” after Betty Boop . . . because she’s got great legs.  I don’t have neat lettering on the back to inform everyone my pickup is named Boop, but I will have shortly.  I’ve ordered custom vinyl lettering from DIY Lettering.  I will shortly have raspberry pink lettering on the back of my Boop to match the pink pinstripes!  Chrome lettering wouldn’t be appropriate on something this girly!

Bog fern blooming Up close you can see the little feathers.

Remember the hooch in the jungle, the cabin by the lake? The reed sitting in the north end of the bog filter tank is now blooming.

Last year I had two reeds, a small triangular stemmed one that looked like a very small version of this one and a zone hardy one that had small crimson blossoms.  I lost the small reed and the zone hardy one has morphed into this gigantic thing that’s nearly 4 foot tall with blossoms that aren’t crimson this year.

I can safely say I have no idea what’s going on.  I plan to whack this thing in half when it dies back and give half to Mindy.

ToeToe Walkers

I love my new toe socks.  Who knew toe socks could be so awesome?!  They are max comfy if a tad more difficult to install than untoed socks.

I like these so much I’ve ordered smartwool toe socks.  I have some smartwool knee-high regular socks which are the socks I wear most, so smartwool toe socks should be awesome.  Unfortunately, smartwool toed socks don’t come in knee-high style in my size.  I’m getting mini and anklet in womens small.  Better than a jab with a sharp stick . . .

I came out this morning to a guppy in the sump.  Oops.  I fetched her out but it’s apparent I’ll need some way to prevent the little buggers from taking that ride.

Kids KSOs

If I’m ever going to try Five Fingers, now is the time.  Vibram is having a big sale.  Instead of the normal $80 price tag, the kids’ KSOs are $60.  I ordered mine for REI and ordered black and gray toetoe walker socks from Sock Dreams in Oregon.

Pump out at the top, wall drain at the bottom. The sump sits in the corner under the plumbing. Plant wall draining back into aquarium. The drain is supported by a hanger on the wall. It just looks like it's sitting on the The black at the top is the wall drain. The clothes pin is pinching shut the primer line.

Wadly and I got the wall connected to the aquarium last week.  The first picture is the plumbing to and from the wall.  When we move into our *real* house I won’t be able to drill holes with impunity . . . darn it.

Yesterday I got the sump connected.  I still have to paint the . . . I’m not quite sure what to call it.  It’s a collection of elbows and short pieces of pipe that takes the place of u-pipe and overflow box for controlling the level of water in the aquarium.  The portion in the aquarium will be green, the part out of the aquarium and inside the sump container will be black.  The next hot day we have I’ll pull it and paint it using Krylon Fusion.

I have the pump to push the water into the wall in the sump.  The wall drains directly into the aquarium.   I also have a very small fountain pump in the sump to keep the water circulating between the sump and the aquarium when the pump for the wall isn’t running.  I still need to clean up all the water and electric lines, running them so they won’t clutter the landscape and I still need to provide a cover for the sump to keep out debris AND I need to moderate the sound of running water in the sump.

After I manage all that I need to build a custom cover and light array for the aquarium.  And then I need to find and install the gutter for the wall for when the plant wall comes back in.  And install an overhead light for the wall.  Got the light, just don’t have enough electrical current available to run it but that should be fixed soon.

49 gallon aquarium

The larger aquarium is all set up and connected to the wall.  I’ve run 1½” black PVC pipe from the plant wall out in the sun porch through the wall to the left end of the aquarium.  The pump is in the right end with the hose for the pump using a separate hole high in the wall level with the top of the plant wall.

With the new larger tubing I had to put additional slits in the gutter stand pipe to prevent the gutter from overflowing.

I traded the pleco for a very much smaller one.  I bought five small neon tetra to give the two babies I already had a school and I bought two more catfish for a total of four.  With the guppies and adult neon tetra I have about 25 fish in the aquarium.

My next step is to get the sump built so I can maintain the water level in the aquarium when the wall is being watered, dose the wall separate from the aquarium and top the water up without adding water directly to the aquarium.

LouAnn called last night.  My sunset quilt got People’s Choice at the fair.  I don’t know which day it got it but it’s really nice to have it recognized.

Both quilts come home today.  <smile>

Jungle hooch

Wadly sits in the kitchen in the morning, drinking his coffee and gazing out over his domain.  This morning he said “our cabin by the lake is now a hooch in the jungle.”  It made me laugh.   The reed has gotten to be a fairly impressive size.

The first picture is what we see when we walk out the door.  The second is what Wadly sees sitting in the kitchen.  You can see why he’s calling it a hooch in the jungle.

Wadly on his beloved John Deere moving the plant wall

In the last couple weeks we’ve made a number of changes to our aquarium/plant wall setup.  We moved our plant wall outside for the summer and swapped our original 28 gallon aquarium for a larger 50 gallon one.

Yesterday I swapped our fairly large plecostomus for a scaled down model too small to eat new hatchlings and sleeping fish.  I also got two more catfish and five neon tetra about the size of the tetra babies we already had.  I think that brings our tetra count to 10.  Wadly will have to buy some more guppies to round out the pack.

I’ve still got a lot to do to the new aquarium.  I need new air hose for one of my stones, I still need to find/build a sump and I need to run plumbing through the wall to connect the plant wall to the new tank.

When we moved the plant wall out we hung it on the horizontal beam on the east end of the sun porch.  To leave it outside and still connect it to the aquarium inside the living room it was necessary to move it to the north wall.  Rather than remove the gutter and disturb all the plants again, we fastened a 2×4 to the back of the plant wall and moved it with the tractor.  It was a little time consuming but very easy nothing damaged in the move.

There’s no way to get it back into the house using the tractor but I wish we could.  This last move was incredibly easy.

Limp and snoring

It’s been two and a half years since Chuck came to live with us.  When he first arrived I had to chase him down and corner him to touch him.

Through the months we went through many stages of acceptance and trust.  He came to accepted we would touch him but I couldn’t reach for him with both hands.  Then I couldn’t touch him if we were outside.  Then I could touch him outside but with only one hand.

Just recently he’s started rolling over on his back to have his tummy rubbed.  This is a 180° shift from the dog who slept with one eye open with all legs tucked under him prepared to bolt to safety.

As his trust and confidence grew he changed from a scared little mite who would bolt in a heartbeat to a regular guy, confident enough to follow me around the hardware store among strange people.

The picture on the left is Chuck, version 2.5, sound asleep, upside down and snoring.  It’s not very dignified but it makes me smile.

You’ve come a long way, baby.

LouAnn has been entering her quilting and canning in our local fair for years.   I’m fortunate that she drags my quilts along for the ride.

This year I have three quilts entered in the fair.  LouAnn called yesterday to tell me they had all received blue ribbons.  While that’s nice, it was even more exciting to hear her grape quilt had been considered for the grand poo-bah prize.  That’s pretty awesome!

Note:  LouAnn called to tell me Sunset on the Farm got people’s choice at the fair.  How nice!

I’m planning the changes I want to make to our aquaponic system when the wall comes back indoors.

This time I want the water level in the aquarium to be fixed, so I’m planning to install a sump.  In reading up on sumps I ran into a good tutorial on one of the salt water aquarium sites.  What I found delightful, beyond how clear and informative the information was the author’s style.  “I once had a zebra goby that, despite my lectures, would make the trip several times a week before I finally managed to find an effective way to enforce the height restrictions on the ride.“  Part 3, sump tutorial

Wadly’s changing to a bigger tank.  The new tank is the same depth front to back but is 4″ taller and 18″ longer.  That’s a fairly significant increase in water volume.  The addition of a sump bumps the volume even further.  I will be able to have the tank heater and small circulator pump in the sump along with the larger pump required for feeding the wall.  Moving the pump and heater out of the tank will really clean up the inside which will make Wadly even happier.

Wadly’s current tank has been very successful.  Having it attached to the wall keeps the tank’s inhabitants fairly healthy and clean with little work on our part.  The tank’s health and stability are supported by the baby catfish, baby guppies and, most surprising of all, baby neon tetras we’ve had since the tank was established.  The baby tetras were jousting last night.  They’re so flashy it’s easy to see their antics from across the room.

Lorr (our son) has discovered wholesale rot under the window and into the floor and floor supports where his 60 gallon aquarium housing Carlos the turtle, two gigantic plecos and a couple really fat goldfish.  Moving the tank is a must so it looks like Carlos is coming to stay.  The big concern is keeping Carlos comfortable.  The goldies can join mine in my 100 gallon tank outside and the plecos can go to the aquarium store.

Wadly’s next day off is Tue.  We’ll drag the big aquarium out of the loft, clean and set it up for all Wadly’s fish.  We’ll leave the smaller aquarium set up to accommodate Carlos temporarily while we get is larger tank set up and up to temp.

To keep both tanks using the wall, I’m going to have to install a sump.  I haven’t done that before.  It should be a learning experience.

Wall hanging in the sun porch.

I’ve moved the plant wall into the sun porch for the next two months.  Terry wants to change his tank to a larger one and I need to solve my recurring aphid problem, so the wall’s out!

When I move the plant wall back in I’m going to make a couple changes.  I am going to mount the gutter on the room’s wall instead of attaching it to the plant wall.  Moving the plant wall with the gutter attached was not a productive act.  The way I’d built it, the gutter couldn’t be removed from the plant wall without taking the plant wall off the room wall.    The only way to set the wall down was on the gutter.  Yeah, it was ugly.  There was no permanent damage done but it was beyond messy.

The mounting system is a success.  The plant wall was easy to lift off the mounting bracket.  I’d definitely recommend using that scheme.  To hang the plant wall in the sun porch Terry used deck screws to fasten a beveled 2×4 to the horizontal support beam in the sun porch.  The wall slipped right on it with no fuss.

I’m using a temporary gutter right now made out of billboard vinyl.  It’s not bad!  The hydroton is light and takes up enough room so when the gutter is full of water it isn’t too heavy for the quick and dirty support assembly I build using 2 sticks screwed to the ends of the wall frame holding up a metal rod taped and rolled into the vinyl at the front.  The vinyl trough ends are folded up and stapled to the wall frame.  It doesn’t leak and it doesn’t add to the weight of the wall.  It’s not a permanent solution but it is a quick and dirty temporary one that works.  The drain is a threaded bulkhead fitting with a piece of plastic water pipe inserted in the top.  The water pipe has holes drilled to allow the water to drain.  The closer to the top of the pipe, the more holes I drilled.  It’s just enough to let the gutter flood to the right depth and slowly drain when the pump shuts off.

I’ve got the pipe for the new gutter ready to cut and mount but I’ll wait until the new aquarium is in so I know where to place my drain hole.  The new aquarium is 18″ longer so I have some good options.  I won’t be able to use a hard plastic threaded bulkhead because of the curve of the pipe but I have some Uniseal bulkhead fittings.  If I don’t have the right size I’ll order some more.

To keep the fish in the aquarium happy and healthy, I’m doing the water changes via buckets.  I siphon 5 gallons of water out of the 25 gallon wall receptacle and I siphon 5 gallons of water out of the aquarium.  Then I dump the aquarium water into the plant wall receptacle and the plant wall water into the aquarium.  It doesn’t take long, isn’t messy and isn’t very tedious so I’ll continue to do that twice a week until Terry gets the tanks swapped and I can move my plant wall back in.  We’ve got lots of baby fish right now and the catfish has just laid eggs again so I don’t know how he’s going to manage the swap without disturbing everyone.

We have a lovely local market that carries all sorts of not-so-mainstream foods as well as having a lovely selection of bulk foods.  I shop there not only because of the selection but because I’m supporting a local store.  They just increased their bulk food selection and they carry a really good range of gluten free products which is an additional plus.  They are my go-to-first food shopping place.  I shop at Safeway only after I’m done all my shopping at Shop-n-Kart.

Yesterday I was collecting bits and pieces for another batch of bouillabaisse inspired base for the clam chowder I make.  I make a big batch and store it in portions in the freezer and use that to add liquid/fish to my chowder.  It is SO much better than just adding water.  It takes the chowder from “oh, we’re having chowder” to “Oooo!  Chowder!”  It really makes that much difference to me.

Shop-n-Kart has a really good selection of head and tail on fish which is just what is needed for bouillabaisse.  Note to self, put in a request for orange roughy.  So I’m browsing away adding stuff to my cart as whim strikes me.  That’s the beauty of bouillabaisse.  I always check over the beef section (they carry family and restaurant packs of meat which are usually quite a bit less than what Safeway carries and can be packaged into the freezer so I can shop less often) to see if there’s a really good buy on rib steaks (my favorite), t-bone (okay but not nearly as good) or New York strip (what I usually end up with) and I noticed they have started carrying bison.  How cool is that?!  I picked out a lovely 7-bone chuck roast to barbeque.

I don’t know if you can call what I do with 7-bone chuck “barbeque.”  I smoke/bake it on a charcoal grill with all the coals pushed out to the outside edge.  It takes more coals (1½ to 2 times as many) but the result is fabulous.  Okay, I guess that’s barbeque.

I dried off the roast and rubbed both sides with finely grated elephant garlic, rosemary, thyme and cracked black pepper.  The elephant garlic grates into a paste that pretty much disappears into the meat when you rub it in.  Then I add the pepper, rosemary and thyme, rubbing it in.

I placed the roast in the center of the grill well away from the charcoal and close the lid.  The goal is to cook it to juicy tenderness, not charcoal the outside leaving the inside raw.

The first side cooks for about 20-25 minutes depending on thickness, the second side for 10-15.  It’s important to not overcook it.  The key to timing the turn and removal is in the appearance of the surface of the meat.  When the top of the roast’s outside edges starts to get shiny from rising moisture, turn the roast over.  You want to pull it off the grill just as moisture starts to pool on the top.  If you wait to long, the heat will drive all the moisture out and you’ll end up with a dry roast.

When you pull the roast off the grill, let it rest for five minutes before you cut into it so the juices have time to redistribute.

Our bison roast was beyond awesome, tender, juicy and flavorful.

I have used this same technique to smoke a rolled turkey roast for Thanksgiving.  Soak flavorful hardwood chips (I use apple or cherry) overnight.  Just before placing the roast on the grill, cover the charcoal with the soaked wood chips.  They will flavor the roast as it cooks and you’ll have delicious juicy turkey ham.

Vendor's Choice and a first place in the "Other" category Wreath of Life hanging in Karen's booth

The quilt show is over and two of my quilts did really well.

The Sunset quilt got People’s Choice the second day and second in the pieced category.

The Ichthy Bog Coat got a Vendor’s Choice ribbon and a first in the “Other” category.

Even better, LouAnn’s grape quilt got People’s Choice the very first day!  That rocks!  And Karen‘s been asked to teach the Square Dance (block used as the border on the bog coat) at two different location!  That really rocks!

LouAnn’s Wreath of Life quilt hung in Karen’s booth and many asked for the pattern.  We all agree the quilt would have been pretty without the pieced background, but the large Dance block in pastels behind the appliqué really added to the depth and richness of the quilt.

Simple yet elegant

We had a lovely dinner with our kids last weekend.  Patty was wearing sandals from Payless Shoes.  The strap design was simple and elegant, just two loops.  I’ll have to make a pair of these.  I’ve got some red goat hide that would be perfect!

Sunset at the farm Nested stars Confetti Stars aka "The Wood Quilt" insert

My three quilts are almost home.  They hung at the Pe Ell Quilt Show over the July 4th weekend but they still have two more stops to make before I get to sleep under them.

In two weeks they hang again at the RDQG Quilt Show, then a month later they hang at the SWW Fair.

Confetti Stars got best comfort sized quilt at the Pe Ell show.  That’s nice!

I have no idea where these buildings are located.

A friend sent a digital slide show of aerial photographs by Yann Arthus-Bertrand.  Included in the slide show was a wonderful picture of rooftop gardens.  The slide had no designation for where the photo was taken and a search of the internet got me no closer to finding it.

I’ll take the penthouse, please.

Terry and Lorr on the range

Our son and his SO came over yesterday.  After an afternoon on the range, we all went to dinner at a local restaurant specializing in slow cooked smoked meats.  I had blackened prime rib which came with a baked potato topped with a scoop of premixed butter, sour cream, chives and cracked black pepper.  It was AWESOME.  Whoever thought of mixing those together and serving it all in a scoop is a genius!  The ratio of butter to sour cream to chives to pepper was perfect!

Starting to look like a quilt . . .

I’ve got the majority of the body put together.  I need to cut blocks to fill in the edges.  I need to get baby quilt (non-flammable) rayon batting and some pretty pink and green or purple and green flannel for the back.  I won’t add borders.  This is supposed to be a drag around quilt as she gets older so there’s no point in getting fancy or “heirloomy”.

Confetti stars

Here’s Confetti Stars, all pretty and quilted.  I’m really happy with this pattern.

I think I need to make one of these big enough for our bed.  I like it!

Spreading moss

The two clinging vines are doing great, slowly spreading over the wall.  Now that I’m inspecting the wall more closely I’m seeing more moss.

Eva's Confetti Stars

I have had to find a new vendor for template cutting and in the process of getting templates cut I’ve had to retest some of the templates.  Because the Confetti Stars is cut from strip sets, and because I hate to waste material, I’ve elected to take the testing down a productive path.  Baby quilt!

I saw my friend Rachel at Safeway Thursday.  She’s got a new baby girl she and Travis have named Eva.  If I can get this finished and quilted little Eva will be able to sleep under the stars!