Can you guess what this is a picture of? Is it a floating chili pepper? Nope, it’s the moon shining through the smoke of the night.
I’m sure you’ve heard, there are fires blazing up here in Washington State! It’s been a tough summer, with record heat and dry conditions, the perfect conditions for fire to thrive. They’ve left in their wake a black blanket of destruction.
This is a satellite photo of Washington and the surrounding states. Not a cloud in the sky, it’s all smoke from the fires.
We are located on the Eastern part of the state, hours from any fire and yet the smoke has engulfed the city of Spokane.
This is all smoke looming over Medical Lake
Looking out the window, it’s as if the fog of fall has come early, only a step outside tells a different story as the strong smell of smoke overtakes my senses.
The eerie color of the sky, depicting the ominous wrath that fire is capable ofWhile at the car wash I had to take a couple pics, yet if only a picture could capture the overpowering smell it packs with it.
Burning eyes and an itching throat is a small effect to experience, compared to those who are fighting the fires and others who have lost all their possessions and more tragically their loved ones.
Sunrise in Spokane shining through the smoke
It’s just unbelievable that the smoke has traveled hundreds of miles, unwilling to dissipate and still able to pack this kind of punch.
The sunrise looking like you could drive right to it from the smoke in the air
Please pray for those who fight these huge fires on the front lines! God Bless.
Last month, out of the blue Mitch comes home with baby birds in a shoebox. A co-workers dog got to the mom and she didn’t know what to do, so she brought them to work.
Never try to feed a baby bird water!
Not the ideal option, please read what the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife says to when you find a baby bird.
We named them Huey, Dewey and Louie
Not knowing what to do ourselves we put them in a birdhouse to see if our local birds would adopt them while we did some research.
One of the babies just waiting to be fed
One curious bird almost went inside the house, but opted not to and it just didn’t happen. I was able to find a wildlife rehabilitation organization called Kiwani Wambli that evening after making a couple calls. It is illegal to have baby birds in your possession if you are not a wildlife rehabilitator, so we did our best to get them where they needed to be. I first spoke with Dotty and then to Tony about where we would be meeting the next day. I was so grateful to find them and that they were willing to meet us in Spokane, especially since they’re located more than an hour away in Cusick, WA. Check out their website, see all the different types of animals they help!
Charlie completely uninterested in the birds, thankfully
Two weeks later, Avista was cutting our tree branches away from power lines when they accidentally disrupted a squirrels nest and asked us if we wanted to try and save them. We said, “of course!”
The baby squirrels, we named them Mini, Penny and Lenny
We read up on what to do with baby squirrels and made sure they were getting hydrated. After Avista left that day we put the babies out by the tree they had been in, and the Mama squirrel came back and took one! We were so excited and hoped she’d come back for the others. We left them outside for another hour after she came and got one, but it was getting dark, cooling down and we didn’t want to leave the other two out all night. Counting on mom to come back for the other two, we followed the care instructions online and put them back outside the following day with everything they needed to stay warm. Of course making sure they ate and pottied (when they’re this small they can’t go by themselves, you have to help them) throughout the day and did all the care that was needed.
The mom didn’t come back and after the third day we knew it probably wouldn’t happen. We made a call to our faithful Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and set up another meeting in Spokane.
To help Kiwani Wambli in their efforts to rehabilitate wildlife you can donate money, time, blankets, food and even materials to help rebuild their rehabilitation barn!
This fella didn’t need help, he just wanted to get watered in the pot
How peculiar it is that in one months time we were given the opportunity to care for and save all these little critters when for years; nothing. Maybe it’s the universe’s way of saying, I can mother others in this life, even if I’m not a mother myself.
Our lilies finally bloomed
Last week I had a partial hysterectomy (LAVH) to relieve my of years of pain and discomfort, finding along the way I had endometriosis, resulting in the loss of one ovary. I’m healing well and am excited for a future without the pain!
Soon I will be feeling as free as this butterfly
Mitch took time off from work just to take care of me. I soaked up everyday he dotted on me, and the best part was, he was happy to do it! The bliss of life with a good man, I’ll never take that for granted.
Even the dragonfly is happy for me, see him smilingand the flowers are a bit brighter now that the pain is gone
It took me years to finally ask for help and learn what my options were. If you know my pain, don’t wait, make an appointment to talk to your doctor to see what would be best for you. Don’t forget to do your research when it comes to your surgeon! Thankfully I found Dr. Hardy and he eased any concerns I had, he was for sure the best doctor for me.
We’re rollin’ in the bread dough folks, not the monitory dough, unfortunately. As I do with most things (savoring the possibilities before experiencing the reality), I waited months to try out the bread maker I’d won from Bi-Mart. Once I decided to jump into the unknown, there was no end to the bread world of deliciousness, but talk about a learning curve. Not realizing that I had to really read ALL the instructions my first batch came out awful.
Yes, that is the bread, eeeks Can you see the carousel horse within the mess of bread?
I re-read the instructions, and learned that just scooping flour from the bag can add more than a tablespoon of flour to the recipe. The trick is the stir the flour, then spoon it into the measuring cup and leveling it off with a butter knife.
Easiest way to stir and scoop flour is to put in air tight container
So picky the bread making world! Even how you layer the ingredients into the machine is super important! Try number two was cinnamon bread even though it didn’t taste much like cinnamon, it at least looked like bread!
Cinnamon bread with medium crust cooked in bread machine
French bread was my third attempt, and it turned out pretty good, but didn’t really taste like french bread.
french bread with light crust cooked in bread machine
After trying three recipes from the manual, I knew that the internet would be where I would find the best recipes! Try number four was the jackpot of yumminess!
It made two loafs, and I had to take it out of the machine, add ingredients and then cook in the oven, but it was so worth it.
second loaf I didn’t roll tight enough and put in the wrong loaf pan, but still tasted great
I don’t think I’ve mastered the art of bread machine making , but am looking forward to baking lots more in the future to share with family and friends 🙂
I’ve been in go mode for the last month, doing projects that I’ve put off for way too long. It all began with our decision to replant grass in an area that was once used as a garden. Thankfully the weather last month was wonderful and made being outside a treat.
Project 1 : Plant flowers in back corner
Preparing the whole area, pulling weeds and raking the dirt.Our little bamboo and perennial garden area. I bought too many plants at Bi-mart when they were only 50 cents each and had to make them a homeThis is how it looks now, next year they’ll really take off
Project 2: Plant Grass seed and continue to water
Pops being such a great help, and Charlie keeping him companyA month after planting seeds it was still patchy, so I put down more grass seedThis is how it looks now after the second seeding of grass. I will put down more seed again and hope that it fills in. I am guessing that I spray it too hard with the water and its moving the seeds, and maybe I didn’t rake it in good enough. Not sure, but I’ll keep tryingCheck out the sunflowers growing next to pops place, soon the bright yellow of the sunflowers will completely distract from the bare spots in our new grass.
Project 3: Put up fence around sheds
flowers blooming and the hubby doing the hard work. Life is such a gift.
Mitch and I moved chain link fence around the yard a couple times trying to figure out what would work best.
The finished product, Mitch always makes putting them up seem so easy!
We decided that blocking off the sheds not only keeps the dogs from getting out when we park in the back, but no longer can they go into the one place of the yard that gets them super dirty and bring it into the house.
Project 4: Stop and smell the flowers
dayliliesFlowers in the flower bed are growing greatdaisy’scan you spot pops in the pic, it’s like where’s Waldo.
Project 5: Chandelier Planter
The chandelier just waiting to be put to use, also please note the old tool box in the lower left of pic and the dirt area next to the wood fence.
My friend Karen gave me the chandelier last year, and it sat in the yard all year, empty, unused and lonely. Finally with the help of Mitch, pops and the dollar store we were in business to accomplish the mission.
Mitch removed the electrical wires that stuck up for the light bulbs so we could put in little potsPops spray painted the little pots I got from the dollar store (they were brown)Ta-da… ok, so it’s still a little sad, but i do have battery operated dragonfly LED lights on it that sparkles at night (yes, from the dollar store). Maybe next year I’ll use a different type of flower.
Project 6: Flowers in old tool box / flower box below
Mitch helped me screw the tool box onto the fence and hauled over the railroad ties from our friends placeSoon all the things we planted will take root and blossom!This was taken a couple weeks laterWe’ve got flowers now!
Project 7: Take a break
Pops resting after watering all our thirty flowers
Project 8: Put up shelves in laundry room
This was our laundry room, so much wasted space on the walls, and jammed with stuff on the sides. It was making me completely insane ( quote from the movie French Kiss). Mitch and I had a talk about putting up shelves, maybe even cabinets, but he requested that we put it off until this winter. His reasoning made sense, we had so many other things outside to do, why not put this off till things slowed down. I reluctantly agreed that evening, understanding that he works so hard every day and I shouldn’t add everything to his plate at once. The next morning, it was a new beginning, and a new way of thinking. Why couldn’t I do it by myself and surprise him! We already had some of those white shelves in the shed, all I needed were the brackets and the standards (long vertical slotted strips that fasten to the wall). I was ready to make it happen…now where is our stud finder? I searched for a while before calling the hubby to find out where it might be and of course giving away my secret plans. He laughed at my overly excited attitude and how impatient I was, and then wished me luck. The stud finder was no where to be found, he thought he’d taken it to work, or it broke, either way, I was out of luck. I make my way to our local hardware store and buy everything i need, including a stud finder. As I’m reading the instructions it pops into my head, Mitch had mentioned using a magnet to find the stud, because it will stick to the nails in the studs! Wahoo I just saved us $12.oo by not opening the plastic wrapping on the device and remembering that wonderful bit of information.
magnetslide it along the wall until…You find a nail in a studNext step, screw into stud and put up stuff. (I put this one up after the laundry room, got it from Kohls, wahoo Kohls ) See the magnet hanging out all by itself below the shelf.
I decided to draw out my idea to share with pops.
My super detailed blue print of the shelves around the washer and dryer
The standards in the back are almost in the corners, as I wanted them as far back as possible. sure not ideal, but I’m happy with how it turned outProject complete
Pops and I got the whole thing finished in a day! It was a great father-daughter project, I felt so blessed to have him with me and made sure to really be in the moment. I just pray that there are many more to come and to never take any for granted. I hope that all of you are creating special memories with your loved ones too, no matter what it is that you do.
Goin' Road Trippin' 