Oregon Forest Fires...

After living in the Midwest, you forget about what a "forest fire" really means and how dangerous they truly are.. especially when they are relatively close!

I was heading down to Southern Oregon and you could really see the smoke on the way down.  While in Medford, you could still smell the smoke while indoors.  I headed home that afternoon and the smoke had really increased.... and these photos are from the interstate, not right at the fires!

And here are some actual fire photos...

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Lets keep the firefighters and their families in out prayers. May they stay safe and thank them for the hard work and sacrifices they make.

Food Porn!

Love going to the Farmer's Market and getting fresh veggies and fruits!!!  The colors are amazing and so vibrant!  And the taste!  Oh, nothing like the supermarket!!!

On the top photo, left hand side, those green things.. are just a bit of heaven... they are fresh figs!!!  Oh.My.Goodness!!!!  Wonderful.. so good in fact that I planted a fig tree last week!!!

Tomatoes of every shape and size!  The heirloom tomatoes are not the prettiest, but boy do they taste amazing!  Lots of meat to them and flavor more than you can imagine!  I cannot wait to make some salsa later on!

Salad fixings?  Could you imagine if fast food joints sold salads made from these veggies?  The fryer would be permanently closed!  Almost wants to make you become vegetarian.. oh wait, I do like steak and chops and burger and turkey and and and....

And finally for dessert.. fresh fruit!!!  I did end up buying the golden raspberries.  I am sad to report that they do not keep long..... not because they are fragile or go bad, but because I could not stop eating them.  They did not even make it back to my car!

Do you know where your local farmers market is?  Well here is a great website to help you find it!
USDA Agriculture Marketing Service has a link to local markets, just add in your zip code and how far you are willing to drive and there you go!

Food Preservation.....

Oh how I love this time of year!  The garden is producing and friends are bringing over goodies to share!  But you can only use so much at one time, so what to do?  A family friend has been bringing me onions... and a few months ago he brought over dried onions.  Talk about A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!!!  I use them in everything and have even just eaten as a snack!  The best is when I toss on top of home made pizza and they are all toasty.. yum!

So this year I decided to dry my own this year.  Preparation is easy as slicing the onions.... really, that is it!  I then placed in my food dehydrator and then waited

 Wa-la... dried onions!

This is what I ended up with after slicing and dicing about 15 pounds of onions!!!  Way easier to store and keeps a lot longer than fresh onions.  I also found a recipe for grinding up dried onions with dried garlic and peppercorns and may have to try this out!

I also hit the blackberry patch in my back pasture.... nothing like free fruit for the picking!  After eating my weight in blackberries, I even had some left to freeze.  My favorite thing to do is freeze in a large pan, single depth, so they are frozen individually instead of in a clump.

Then I put them in a ziplock bag, and just poor out the amount I need without having to thaw the entire bag!  I use this with all berries,  so much easier to use this way!

And lastly, I worked on the apples!  They may not have looked perfect, but it is easy enough to cut around and get the good parts out!  Since my dehydrator was empty, decided to make some cinnamon sugar apple chips.  I choose to peel my apples, but you don't have to... all depends on what you like!  When peeling and slicing, I put the sliced apples in lemon juice and water.  It helps keep the apples from turning brown.  Next, I put in a colander to drain as much liquid as possible and transfer to another bowl.  Here comes the fun part, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon and stir well.  How much you ask?  Well, I am a dump and taste type of girl, so as much as you like or none at all!

Next place on you racks and let her rip!

As far as times, a lot of that depends on your type of dehydrator.  With mine, I start everything at level 10 for 2 hours then turn down to level 7.  The onions took way longer than the apples.... the onions were on level 7 for about 14 hours.  The apples for more like seven (they are not quite done yet.. but have tasted them and they are yummy!)

I have been pinning away ideas on Pinterest, think I may try dried zucchini chips next.  Maybe a great choice instead of potato chips!

Easy peasy card table revival

How many of you have that old ugly card table that your mom used to have?  I surely cannot be the only one!!!

One of my earliest memories is watching tv in the living room while my mom was typing letters to family and friends back East.  She would use carbon paper and our friends Huck and Melvina would complain that they could never read the letter as theirs was the last copy!

As you can see, I painted on this table, glued on this table, wrote on this table, well you get the point, it is VERY well used and loved!!  

Now there is nothing wrong with the table but I thought I would give it a face lift.  It is not an original idea, a friend of mine did it to her table and I just borrowed it.  You ready for the massive supply list?

• used card table
• scissors
• 2 rolls of duct tape

Yep!  that is all!  You all are more than aware that there are a gazillion patterns of duct tape out there, that was the hardest decision.  Just watch you patterns so they don't look all wonky if you do not match them up perfect like.  That is why I chose this animal print.

I started with laying down my first strip down the center, making sure it was straight and then built off of that.

I made sure to have extra on the ends so I could tape it under the table, leaving a clean edge.  Just tape and go, as easy as that!  While you are doing this you are actually covering two edges, so in the end you only have to take care with the other two and honestly, I was worried about it.  But apparently, for nothing as it went on as easy as pie!  Maybe it was because I had a little supervision from Stuart (my cat).

......and here is the table!

So now you have a choice..... go buy a new card table for about $45 and up.. or go buy some cool duct tape for under $10 and make your old table into a new, and waterproof, card table that is not and embarrassment!  I know what I chose!

Fitness Friday...Running Route with Great Scenery!

I am trying to get healthier and get in better shape..... may have something to do with that whole aging thing I am trying real hard to ignore!  I started running and want to share with you my favorite running route.  I took the photos in the fall.... just love this run... about 2 miles until my turn around point.

What makes a runner?  You ask folks and you get a gazillion different answers, one person says the speed they go, another one says where you run, someone else says if you run on a treadmill it does not count......  Really?  Who are we to judge?

Here is my definition of a runner.. "someone who is moving forward at a pace faster then their usual walk."

I am slow... as in turtle in peanut butter slow.  I do not run as often as I should, I need to work on consistency.  But I still head out and try!

As John Bingham says,  ""The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start."

So leave the couch, go outside, get on a treadmill, run 30 seconds, walk 5 minutes and you have started.... and yes, in my book, that makes you a runner!  You have already went further and faster than the folks who are still on the couch!

So enjoy the photos... there are a lot of them!

 Yes, I am very lucky to have this available right outside door!  I also have the friendly deer and elk that show up too!  Here are a couple who show up to watch....

Quick and Easy Lamp update!

I don't know about you, but I am into making updates and renovations with a few things in mind:

• How much does it cost?
• How much time will it take?
• How hard will it be to do?

Going through the house, I found a pair of lamps.. nothing special, functional and blah.

There is nothing wrong with them, just not really me. I also was not partial to the lamp shades.. but boy, lamp shades are not cheap.  I figured I really had nothing to lose so dug through my spray paint stash  (everyone has one, right? please say yes) and dug out an oil rubbed bronze for the lamps and a lime green for the shades. I figure I really had nothing to lose with the shades as worst case scenario I could always recover with fabric.

First for the lamps....

 Before.... think this area is good enough to fall under "well ventilated area"?

My Go To brand/color for metals

And after the spray paint....

And now for the shades.....

The shades are a little trickier to paint, you have to make sure you get the pain on evenly, otherwise it is more noticeable than on more solid materials.

And here is the final result!!

I have to say, I am very pleased with the outcome!  All for very little effort, very little time and very little money!

 See me over at these linky parties!
Show and Tell at Snap
Creating my Way to Success Round Tuit
The Country Chic Cottage
Sugar Bee Crafts Take a Look Tuesday
Todays Creative Blog Get your Craft On
Ninth Street Notions I Made it Monday