Posts from the ‘Misc’ category

Where are the photos???

So…a first for me. The hard drive on my laptop failed. Probably my own fault for letting it ride on the dashboard of Wild Thing with no pad or cushioning.

The good news is that it gave me warning. The VERY good news is that I am a regular backer-upper – always have been. I back up to 2 external drives, keep them in separate locales…one which is the motorhome. I backed up before I left home and when I started getting warnings, I backed up the few new things.

And the VERY BEST news is that there is a wonderful tech shop here and Bryan took care of my computer toute suite and was pleasant as well. I was less than 24 hours without my laptop. He was able to clone the failing drive and as far as I can tell, nothing is lost and I have not had to reinstall anything…my work environment is intact. It is a big deal.

Meanwhile, I got Wild Thing cleaned up a bit and situated for a 10-14 day “park”, did some baking, walked with Bear and spent 24 hours without a computer. I was not really offline as my phone gets email, internet, etc. AND, my folks have computers that I could have used but I didn’t. And I lived :)! But, I’m glad to have the darn thing back. A lot of the info of my life lives on it…recipes!!, my financial information, recent photos…and oh, yes, my livelihood depends on what I do on this machine.

So…2 work days lost and 3 days of photos in the camera… eventually I’ll catch up with news and photos but for a day or so, it has to be work and family – family being why I’m here and glad to be here and enjoying every minute of both getting here and being here.

Here we go!

First snow!

Not enough to make much of an impression on Bear and he lived where there was snow so not entirely new…but SNOW!

Meantime, the motorhome is ready to go. We are off shortly for a quick overnight trip and visit with Auntie Kris and Uncle Hal – Big fun!

tidbits

It is finally feeling AND looking like Fall with cool temperatures, cloudy skies and much needed rain.

An intense work week.

RV maintenance…jump start…RV back to the shop.

A mouse in the house!!

Still…All is well, good and happy here.

Bear and I go to market

Bear LOVES to go in the Jeep. If I say we are going in the “car” or if the garage door is open, I am hard pressed to get him into the woods for “business” before we go and mostly I don’t try as there are walk venues not too far down the road no matter which direction we head.

Saturday or Sunday mornings we typically head out on a supply gathering mission and depending on where all I go, we walk in one or more of the favored spots. Bear knows where there are usually cows or horses on our various routes and he keeps an eye out. Thankfully, he is no longer barking in my ear at full volume but he does move from side to side in the back of the Jeep to watch as we pass and sniff at the window to get their scent. Going anywhere in the Jeep in the weeks after Karl’s passing and before Bear arrived was too quiet, too lonely, not much fun and often I ended up in tears. Bear watches everything with a look of grand expectation and like Karl, makes sure to give me a kiss now and again!

This morning, we had a new destination: Kalispell Farmer’s Market.

Kalispell Farmer’s Market is in the parking lot of the Mountain Mall on the edge of downtown Kalispell.

Vendors line 6 aisles of parking lot in the back of the mall and include purveyors of doughnuts and kettle corn in case you arrive hungry.

My reason for this trip was to buy specifically from Farm to Market Pork, a local hog farm, that uses the Farmer’s Market as their summer Saturday “store”. And even more specifically, I had phoned ahead to request a package of fat to render for fresh lard.

Before you go running and screaming from your computer…and maybe you already know, but I didn’t….fresh lard as opposed to hydrogenated lard or even worse, shortening… is a healthy fat – in moderation. Healthier than butter! And rendering lard from fat is a simple operation: heat the fat over low heat, strain the result for the first rendering of the white lard used for soap and baking things like pie crust. Keep going and you have cracklins and a darker lard for savory baking. Good bye Crisco!! If all goes well, I will be making fresh tortillas with fresh lard next week.

On my way to the pork booth, I spotted this local honey supplier – oh, YES!

I was a little later than I intended, it was getting warm and although the Jeep was in shade, I didn’t want Bear to be waiting long so will return earlier another day and see what other treasures the Kalispell Farmer’s Market holds.

We continued on with a quick stop at the grocery, the liquor store, and a Bigfork cherry stand….

The loot: The pork fat, a beautiful bone-in ham, lean bacon, sweet cherries, a bottle of balsamic vinegar infused with cherries and other good stuff, 3 pounds of raw honey, and a bottle of Jack Daniels “Honey”…a new offering from Dr. Jack – liqueur infused Jack Daniels whiskey using Tennessee honey.

It was cloudless, breezeless and hazy as it moved into the heat which is forecast to reach 90 today. Everyone I spoke to and dealt with was pleasant, relaxed, enthusiastic about the day and/or what they were selling. It was an idyllic morning of simple errands in the company of Bear and with Joy all around us….AND, we were home by noon :)!