Home Sweet Home

We are home and I'm happy to report we slipped right back into everyday life feeling refreshed!  I'll start going through photos today and share them here.

Vacation!

We are going on an adventure!!!

Two week adventure by backpack.  This has been scaled back, but some things are missing too - like rain boots, travel books and a map.  

Honey!

We pulled honey last weekend...
Aaron getting the smoker going

The middle hive pulled apart.  We had a huge swarm a few months ago we were unable to catch, and then cold rain came for about a week, so we lost them all.  It had to have come from this hive, because there were hardly any bees left, and even though there had been quite a bit of honey earlier in the year, it was mostly gone too.  We pulled this hive apart and left the few bees to absorb into the neighboring hives.

Aaron with our honey!

We added in Apiguard to treat for varroa mites, you can see the little boxes we put in the middle to make room for it.  

Honey taking over our kitchen.

This is always a sticky mess!

Aaron, extracting.

Honey!  We got just under 7 gallons this year.

Aaron did get stung on the last hive.  He always has a huge reaction, but this was his smallest one actually.  We always take a preventative loratadine, and he took another one right away with this sting. I've only had 3 stings in 3+ years, which I think is pretty good.

They all look the same, but we separated out 3 kinds of honey this year.  5 gallons of one, 3/4 gallon, and half of another.

I have to switch out the medicine in a week, remove it for the winter, and then they will be tucked away and I get a break from beekeeping for a few months.

Eagle Crest

We had a small family get together in Eagle Crest last weekend.  We met up for dinner Friday night, then got up early with my parents and two of my uncles and headed to Smith Rock for a hike up to Monkey Face.

Monkey Face

We were able to get really close to it.

Check out the climber on the left for scale.  There are over 1500 climbing routes in the park!

We headed to Bend for a few hours for some quick shopping, then back to Eagle Crest for a BBQ at my aunt and uncle's house.

Sunday I got up early and headed toward Sister's to hike Black Butte by myself.  It was smokey, but still great views of all the mountains in the area.  Here are the 3 sisters.

Almost to the top.  There was a fire watch tower at the top, and just a handful of other people thanks to my early start.  1 hour 40 to the top, 45 minutes down.  A great hike I hope to do again with Aaron.

Meanwhile...I had announced at dinner Friday night that Aaron had NEVER ridden a horse!  Knowing that my uncle, who lives in Arizona, had brought his two horses with him.  Well that was an easy fix, Dick was all over it and a Sunday morning ride was quickly arranged.  I would have loved to have gone too, but no horse for me.  Aaron had a great time, they went out for about 2 hours.  Long enough for him to get a little experience.

Aaron riding Blonde

We met back at the house and headed over to the Deschutes County Fair with my parents.  We were all impressed with the size of this fair!  Not only in the fairgrounds - which were large, but with all the entries.  Here is less than half of the canned food that was entered in open class - just the senior section.  We went to the Marion County Fair this year, and this was much more fun with all the participation.

Piglets

Lots of chickens too!  Way more than the State Fair has.  This rooster was a hot mess.

The plan was to stop at Sno Cap on the way home, but the line was to the street, so we passed and settled for gingerbread at the Gingerbread house in Mehama.  Yum!

We had a great weekend!  My least favorite thing about Salem?  Easily the lack of hiking, which is my favorite form of exercise.  It was nice to have the outdoors as our playground for the weekend!

Clean Fence

We're starting to work on our garden space for next year, and step one for us was to clean up this fence while there was still good access. We sprayed on a wood cleaner, then pressure washed it off. Aaron will go back and lightly sand to get off the fuzz and I'll stain it so it stays brighter longer. What a difference there is already. We had to stop when our neighbor got home and had people over, so just a little ways to go. 

The plan is for raised beds back in that corner.  The little fence will come out, along with some of the sidewalk.  I don't know how far we'll get this year, but either way it will be okay.
We got a bunch of siding put up yesterday, we're so close on the back!  We didn't have what we needed painted for those last few spots, so I'll work on that this week.

We had an action packed weekend, the best sushi we've ever had at Mame in Eugene.  I don't know how well you know my food preferences, but I'm not big on seafood.  I ate multiple raw sea creatures - and enjoyed it.  So fresh and good.  The chef does a special, you name your per person price and he makes up all sorts of different things to try.  Since there were 6 of us, we probably had 15 or more different things - having a friend that knew the owner well might have bumped that up a bit.  Stand outs were the raw scallops (tasted literally like butter) with sushi rice risotto (coconut milk and lemongrass), lots of things I can't remember the names of, seared ahi sashimi, and mango curry cheesecake.

Saturday we went to Corvallis with the intent of going to da Vinci Days, but never made it down there after some shopping and catching up with good friends.  I'm a little bummed about it, but we still had an awesome day.

Sunday we worked around the house.  We're gearing up for a long vacation, so I'm feeling the pressure of getting these summer projects wrapped up!

Siding

It's going up!

Zucchini Soup

Got too much zucchini yet?  I love this recipe for using up excess zukes.

Zucchini Soup

4-6 slices bacon, sliced

1 medium onion, diced

1 clove garlic, chopped

2 1/4 lb zucchini, sliced

2 cups beef broth (or consume, or turkey broth, or chicken broth)

2 1/2 cups water

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup chopped parsley

1 tsp dried basil (I left this out because I didn't have any, and can't tell the difference)

1/8 tsp black pepper

In frying pan cook bacon.  Remove bacon, leaving grease.  Sauté the onion and garlic in the grease.  Remove with a slotted spoon, and put all remaining ingredients (except bacon) into a large soup pot.  Bring to a boil, then simmer uncovered until zucchini is cooked, about 15 minutes.  I add the bacon toward the end so it doesn't get too soft.  Let cool slightly, then immersion blend.  Serve hot with grated parmesan.

I'll be the first to admit it's not the most beautiful soup, but it is delicious!

Last night this gorgeous BRIGHT neon yellow spider caught my eye.  I'm glad I saw it before the chickens, and moved it to safety.