Dairy Daze...and Now Beyond

  We all love a good sunset, and the one the other day was very nice.  It had been overcast all day, drizzle off and on.  It wasn't until quite late the sun managed to drop down from behind the clouds and gild everything.  I was out walking the dog and managed to catch this shot looking up K Highway.  The picture isn't as lovely as in person, of course, but still, you get the idea.   But as with all lovely things, the sunset gilding is quite brief.  Here is a picture just a few minutes later. The sun sets fast.  We don't realize it in the moment, but time is fleeting.  Make the most of life.

 Yesterday morning the dog and I went for a walk down over the hill to the creek bottoms.   This is a photo of the creek bed.  We went quite a way down it.  It is always sort of sad to see it dry like this, but it's interesting to see the bottom as well.  You can see how the water carves its way around the big boulders and forms the sand and lighter rocks into berms and banks.   I didn't get pictures of it on this walk, but there are a couple of large trees fallen across the creek bed, which totally changed it, as the water, when there IS water, has swirled and carved out the gravel under it. This is something that never gets old to me; that the creek is never the same from season to season.  Even now, after a drought all summer, it is filled up with fall leaves and brush and dead limbs that have fallen from overhead.  The wind shapes the leaves into clearings and piles where you have to watch your step.  I am probably risking a twi...

Well, I am not doing well at blogging every day, am I?  If I don't get it done almost first thing in the morning, I just don't get it done. Yesterday we went down to Branson to take in the lights and a show or two at Silver Dollar City; all 4 of us; Gary, Ellen, Gail and myself.  My phone camera is pretty pathetic so I'll have to post some of Ellen's pictures, if she shares them.  It was cold last night, but it only got down to about 40 degrees; so not as cold as they predicted.  We came prepared with multiple coats, hats, mittens, scarves...etc.  We ate lunch before we went into the park, then we came back out at about 4 pm, went to the car and ate supper, then went back in to catch the lights.  Food in there is so expensive.  I am sure you can imagine.    We managed to get in to see their version of Dicken's "A Christmas Carol."  Of course they had to edit it down a great deal to fit it into an hour's show, but it was great; the sets...

 In the early 90s, I even forget which year exactly; I moved from California to Oregon.  I stayed with my brother and his family for a year or so. I remember the first shopping trip my sister-in-law took me on was to Fred Meyer in the Gateway district of SE Portland.  Having come from a teensy town in CA I had never been to a super and was fascinated with everything.  For some reason I was taken with this set of melamine (I think) tableware; little plates and bowls...etc.  The fact that it was black was enchanting to me for some reason that escapes me now.  But for my first purchase in Portland I bought a little plate and bowl.  This was back in 1992 I believe, which means it has been 31 years.   Nineteen years ago Gary took a fancy to it and has eaten his cornflakes out of this little black bowl.  (I hauled it out of the dish drainer for this picture; that is why there are water drips on it.) I don't know what happened to the plate....

 OK  Well, the coffee itself isn't exactly archaic, although I do buy it at the discount grocery store, so it might be a smidge past the sell-by date.  I refuse to pay $10 for a bag of coffee.  I think they charge about $3.50 for a bag of Starbucks coffee grounds at the discount grocery store.  And since I like it black that is what I get.  Some people say Starbucks tastes like burnt beans, but that is what I like, so that is what I enjoy every day. In any case; this is how I make it: I have no clue what the correct coffee terminology for this is; drip?  I heat water, not quite boiling, then pour over the grounds.  I do have the Keurig I used at my mom's when she was still around.  She loved her little coffee maker, when she was still able to remember how to make her own coffee. I don't use it though, the pods are super expensive, and wasteful.  I have tried the reusable pods, but they just got grit into the coffee, and that is even gros...

  I have blogged about Gary's sawmill before; quite a few years ago.  He doesn't use it actively any more; just fires it up occasionally to cut stuff we might need, or he might just want. He had bush-hogged down around there and it was looking very picturesque when I walked by it a couple of weeks ago.   And having gotten this far with this blog post, I can't think of another blamed word to write about it.  Haha...  Well, let me ramble around a bit I guess. Gary worked this sawmill quite extensively back in his younger years, even before he did dairy farming, I think.  He might have  had a few cows and still worked it at the same time, but I can't recall if he has ever mentioned it specifically.  At any rate he has many memories from when he was sawmilling.  It makes me remember my dad and how he was a lumberjack back in Northern California in the 40s and 50s, I think.  He never did own his own sawmill, but he sawed down many a tree...

Yesterday evening we had a Fall Festival for the youth at our church.  It was fun.  We had different activities set up in a few different Sunday School classrooms; arts and crafts, a cake walk, apple bobbing, a photo booth,  and a Christmas Card-making stop (the cards will be handed out to residents of the local rest home.).  There was also the S'mores-making campfire out at the firepit (bless the hearts of the ones running that station...it was COLD last night), and the evening culminated in a musical bingo game. The children all had a great time.   I signed up for the apple bobbing activity.  There was more than one person surprised, and relieved, at how I did this because due to COVID-19, and a general overall enlightenment about germs in general, people were grossed out about allowing their children to bob for apples like we did back in the day.  I remember bobbing for apples in a huge tub of water at school, no less. Things are a bit differen...