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Maintenance

The Garden

The Garden

We went to the cabin on Saturday (7/20) to start preparing for Dad’s memorial and the family’s visit. Scott had been out and mowed around the cabin, down the drive, making it easier for us to get in. Dean spent the next couple of days mowing and weed-eating the rest of the yard, around the back of the garden/greenhouse and behind the cabin. I cut down the overgrown comfrey that was so large it branched out over the walk-way to the cabin. It’s in bloom now and the bees were really working! You could hear a constant buzz of them working the comfrey and chives. The kids started weeding in the garden. We got the new plants and the strawberries weeded. The seeds that the kids had planted last month were producing some really nice radishes. We harvested quite a few of those and ate them! We also had some more rhubarb out of the garden.

I spent a lot of time looking around at what needs to be done. Before winter sets in, we need to wire brush and sand the exterior logs and put a sealer on them. Some of the logs are starting to dry out too much and if they aren’t sealed soon, we could be looking at dry rot and that would be a disaster.

Since I wasn’t able to live out there this summer, and do the work that I had hoped to do, all of those chores are still in need of being done: finishing the outhouse, tearing the old porch off and building a deck on the front of the cabin. Caring for the garden, harvesting and putting up the produce, making rhubarb wine. Hopefully the weekends will stay open for me to be able to go out more frequently and get some of that work done. Dad’s friends are so good to plant/weed/work the garden and help keep the place looking “lived in”, I can’t express my gratitude sufficiently. Good people, that’s what they are. It is a lot of work.

Dad’s Estate

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Dad’s Cabin while he was enclosing the porch to make the sun-room.

One of the things that was and is important and influenced my move up here is my Father’s estate. It’s important to me that my Dad’s last wishes be fulfilled, the way that he wanted them. My Dad had talked to a lot of people about his wishes, and I feel that they are pretty well-known. But no matter, someone always has to feel differently in these matters.

Dad didn’t have much, but what he did have was his life’s work: his cabin and his garden. He poured his blood, sweat and tears into building his place. These two things were so important to him. He wanted them cared for, lived in, loved the same way that he did. I get that.

Dad’s way of life doesn’t appeal to many people. The isolation, the remoteness, the rugged outdoors, it’s all foreign to most, and difficult to obtain for those who do desire it. In a way Dad lived a dream that many people will only ever dream about and never realize. With each trip out there I find myself more and more drawn to the quiet solitude, the beauty, the peacefulness that is my Dad’s cabin. I can see why he loved it so much out there.

It is a different way of life to be sure. After spending four days out there, adjusting to no time restraints and no draws of civilization, coming back to town is a shock in some ways. I can only imagine how much so it was for my Dad. Each time I’m out there it gets harder to leave and come back to town.

But a hot shower sure is nice!!

Slow Roasted Ribs

 

 

Beef Ribs, your choice of style and amount.
Rub:
1 cup brown sugar

 

1 tbsp paprika

 

1 tsp chili powder

 

1 tsp garlic powder

 

1 tsp onion powder

 

pinch of cayenne pepper

 

pinch of cinnamon

 

Salt and Pepper to your preference

 

Mix all together and rub onto the ribs. It’s best to do this the day before and let them rest over night in the fridge for optimum flavor. But you can do this right before roasting, like I did. You will still get a good flavor but it wont be as fully developed.

 

 

Place your ribs in a cast iron dutch oven, drizzle a little Worcestershire sauce over the ribs and slow roast them in a 250 degree oven for 3 hours. Turn up to 300 degrees and finish roasting, total of 4-5 hours. They should be tender and meat pull easily off the bone by this point. Top with your favorite barbeque sauce and enjoy!

 

 

This recipe was developed by me, with some collaboration. 😉 Feel free to share with attribution.

 

Life

 

Life has a way of keeping us distracted. Work, drama, family life, all those little things that make up our world.

 

I’ve been working a job that has had me working Sabbaths, which has been very difficult. I’ve struggled with every Saturday since I got the job. An inner turmoil, not wanting to work, yet finding myself in need of an income. One of those reasons that kept me there in my former life for so long. It’s hard being a single mother. It’s hard to find reliable childcare. Even those with the best of intentions and hearts get burnt out. They have lives to live too. As do I.

 

All this time, working a job with horrible hours, working Sabbaths, being away from my kids, who I do miss terribly… it all adds up.

 

I had to put in my notice with my current employer due to family commitments. So I’m on the hunt again for employment that will let me be flexible and spend time with my kiddos and bring in an adequate income at the same time and let me have Sabbaths off. Not an easy fix.

 

Someone once asked me how I could stay married to someone who didn’t communicate with me for so along. Well, this is one of the reasons, because I knew how difficult single parenting was/is. “It’s hard.” is an understatement. But I can’t imagine continuing with the way things were either. I don’t regret my move, or decision to divorce and start over, but it’s not always easy. Somethings in life aren’t easy. But they are worth it.

 

Cooking

 

I only packed a few cookbooks. The Gluten Free Gourmet was one of them. And For Zion’s Sake was another. I’ve been using my For Zion’s Sake cookbook a lot! My friend Chris bought it for me two years ago at Sukkot. It took me a while to start using it, but once I did, I found it invaluable! I’m very thankful for it. Not only does it have only Kosher ingredients and special recipes for Passover/Pesach, but it has a lot of gluten-free and “healthy” recipes too! It’s a great all-around cookbook for me.

 

Today we are making some banana bread. We recently got a bunch (like a whole box) of bananas so we have plenty of banana bread to make! I’m making a gluten-free banana blueberry loaf and a wheat banana cake for everyone else. I thought some rhubarb sauce might be good over the top of it for dessert later! We have plenty of rhubarb that we brought in from the cabin in the freezer now.

 

Enchilada casserole is our main dish, with guacamole, sour cream and salsa… yum!

 

Thoughts…

 

 

They fill my mind,

 

Overwhelming at times….

 

Of me, and what I need to do.

 

Of my kids and their needs. Clothes, food, education, play…

 

Of reality… an estranged spouse who doesn’t want to work on an amiable division. Trying to find work… Again.
Fishing, I really want to go fishing…

 

Of life, and the ironic things that happen to us and others around us…

 

Of those I miss, my seester, my BFF, my Mom…. My Dad.

 

Of starting new and fresh. Can I live a happy life? Really? Is there “happy ever after”?

 

Am I going to be able to fall asleep tonight?? It’s after midnight and the thoughts are rolling through my mind so loudly that I can’t sleep.

 

Muddin’

June 21, last Friday, was the day that we had set aside to ride out to the cabin, for just a day trip, to check the trails and hopefully do a little trail grooming/clearing and playing in the mud. We rode out to the end of the road, unloaded the wheeler, parked the truck and took off for the beach. We rode out on the beach half way to Leif’s Creek and then went up “Jacob’s Ladder” to the trail above. Four wheeling on the beach was fun, but wow, what a muddy, messy ride up Jacob’s ladder. Lots of holes and a really messed up trail from all the rough riders ripping and tearing through there. 😦 Really hard to navigate plus you are right on the edge of the bluff.
Finally made it to the main trail, remember, still have about 5 miles or so to go as Leif’s Creek is the half-way point. Through mud. Some places were so dry that we kicked up some dust, but mostly, it was thick, sticky mud, and water holes covered with stagnant water and mosquitoes.

The first part of the ride “my driver” (ha ha, I sound like Miss Daisy) took it easy on me and went slow through the mud. We got stuck in a deep hole that we just couldn’t get the wheeler out of, so we had to use the wench and pull it out. I fell into the mud bog trying to move around in the middle of that big mud hole, holding the rope tied to a tree and the wench. Muddy pant legs from the knees down. Muddy gloves, mud in the gloves. While stopped there I saw some large wolf tracks in the mud. (that’s for you Makayla!)

We went on up the trail till we met some friends on the way, Tami and Mike. Stopped to visit with them a bit. Mike gave us a good summary of the trail in front of us, told us where to avoid and where to go around the bigger mud bogs. Talked about mosquitoes because they are big news this year, they are so bad! And talked about Dad. Heard more stories about him, I don’t think I’ll ever grow weary of hearing people talk about him.

Then we were off again. We forded a water crossing with water up to mid-calf and away we went. The rest of our trip went well, since we had good instructions from Mike about the bad spots and we made it to the cabin with only a few more “stuck” spots. We saw some bear sign on the trail (that’s the nice way of saying bear poop) and lots of moose tracks.

Checked on the cabin, watered the garden, killed some mosquitoes, ate some lunch that we packed in, smashed sandwiches taste pretty good when you’ve worked up an appetite battling the mud! 😉 After a short break, back to the trail to get out. We had to be back in town by 4 pm, and we were racing the tide, needed to be off the beach by 3:30 or so we thought, so we had to get going.

For some reason, the trip back was a little more muddier than the trip in. Someone decided that it would be more fun to baha through the mud more and although he was right, it was a lot more fun, it was also a lot more muddier and bouncy! I nearly bounced off that wheeler a couple of times. My arms are still sore from holding the rack. It was quite the initiation to the summer Gray Cliffs mud and trail, and 4 wheeling.

Ran into Tami and Mike again, who had a few extra friends with them. I love being introduced to new people as “This is Chuck’s Daughter”. LOL Some of them actually ask MY name, others are just fine with Chuck’s Daughter. I need a name tag that says “Hello, my name is Chuck’s Daughter” and just wear it around town. While we were stopped we saw a cow moose and her twin calves coming down the trail at us. She got pretty close considering the noise the 9 of us were making!

We made it to the beach at 2:10 and the tide was coming in. We probably didn’t have until 3:30. Learning these tides is a whole new experience to be sure. There’s the timing of the tides, and the height or how far in they are coming, and learning where that mark is on the beach, and learning the beach… I feel like I’m cramming for final exams.

I’m glad we went in though, gave me a good understanding of the difficulty of the mud trail, and what all we need to get done before Dad’s memorial in July (which is A LOT!). And the reality of how out of shape that I am! Wowzers! There’s no way we could ride the kids in on wheelers in that mess. Maybe a track rig or a 6 wheeled rig, but not a 4-wheeler!

Next time, with rain gear and taller boots I hope, I will have even more fun. Who knows, pretty soon I’ll be riding in on my own wheeler, then we can race, and eventually I’ll win. 😉

Baptized with mud...

Baptized with mud…

First day on the new job.

 

 

My first day went well. It wont take me long to be up to speed, however, punching a time clock will be a change for me after a decade of not having to do so. My trainer is great and I’m going to enjoy working with her, she’s very upbeat and positive. The first three days I’ll be in department with someone, then my last three days this week I’ll be on my own for the large part of the day, on the three busiest days of the week too! Wish me success!!

 

Moose!

The kids saw their first cow moose and twin calves today! Right in our backyard! 🙂 Then on our way into town, a cow and calf crossed the road in front of us. They are so enamored with the big goofy looking creatures! Just like their Mama! 😉

Got a Job!!

Yes, a new job. Haven’t had one of those in a decade! 😉 It’s with a local retail store. I’m looking forward to the experience, definitely will get to know the locals this way!
Speaking of which… the locals are so helpful and generally nice people. I’ve lived in areas where outsiders are simply not accepted, but here it’s not that way. People are friendly, very helpful, courteous and actually a lot of chivalry going on up here.  It’s nice for a change!