From the Farm to the Table to the Fun

Selfies are dumb.

Since we harvested so many garden goodies last weekend... we got busy cooking and eating things!  Plus, we went on a picturesque hike to one of the Mt St Helen's trails.  It has been a good week!

Our potatoes in potato salad. Our tomatoes on green salad.

Breakfast burrito with our potatoes and onions inside (and eggs, sausage, cheese, salsa...yum!).

Backyard Blackberry Buckle.

Connor gave a neighbor one of our onion braids... they returned a little later with this plate of sweet onion rings!

Connor braided 4 of these bundles.

Connor's potatoes... and snap peas in the watermelon salad.

Just a fun/simple Saturday night dinner...but the melon was provided via the dill trade. :)

Eating all this good food means that we have to find ways to stay active.  This was just a 3-4 mile hike... I can't believe we haven't headed to this national park before. It was less than an hour and a half from home. We took a little picnic lunch to have afterwards. It was a lot of fun to see this beautiful WA feature up close and personal.

Taking pictures of wildflowers for Martha.

Our fat cats are not working on increasing their physical activity. But they are eating lots of farm fresh goodies...making mama very upset when they kill little critters.

Lefty is looking a little hefty for the summer shoot.

July Pickins'

Starting Sunday morning: picking snap peas and harvesting dill.

It's not even mid-July and Farmer Willie has bumper crops coming in.  This weekend we harvested so much yummy produce: snap peas, dill, potatoes, onions, carrots, beets, and even corn!

This wasn't all of it. We got about 3 lbs of carrots and more than 5 lbs of beets.

Corn fed white girl...shucking corn.  I attempted some of Grandmother Love's creamed corn...

A bushel of walla walla sweets. Papa Chuck would love a mayo/onion sandwich with one of these beauts!

Like digging for buried treasure...Connor was having a blast!

Eno is thirsty...loves that running water!  Easily 5 gallons of red potatoes.

The farmer headed to our local fruit stand to barter with all his beautiful dill. From the prices we saw ($9 for a small bunch of flowering dill), we figure he gave them more than $100 of dill. He cashes in with 2-3 cantaloupes...so they make out well. 

Taking time to stop and smell the roses (and talk to them too!)...That is the Martha Jr. coming out in me. :)

Building a cafe racer seat.....

I'm turning my 1975 Honda CB500 twin into a bad ass cafe racer, click here for more info on cafe racers.  I could spend a couple hundred dollars and buy a metal or fiberglass seat that would do the job just fine.......or I can fabricate my own........if you know me then you know what I did.

First I fabricated a rear hoop in the frame

Bent some round stock steel into the desired shape and tack welded.

Added a backbone.

Heated, banged, bent sheet metal to fit to develop a cowling.

Added a seat pan.

Applied light weight body filler to smooth out the imperfections.

Sprayed with primer.

I had my upholster sew up some deer hide leather to fit on the seat pan.

Starting to look like something!

 

65 Chevy.....Staight 6......3 on the Tree

after her new white wall tires....

Some may know what this means and some might not.  A couple weeks ago I purchase what will become the "bike getter"......BKG's first shop truck.  This fine Chevy was born in 1965....she's a c/k or also known as a c10 class truck.
Specifications:
Powerplant:  Straight 6.....meaning 6 cylinders in a straight line as opposed to a V6
Transmission: 3 on the tree....meaning the gears are manually shifted on the steering column as opposed to floor shifting.

So far I have bled the brake lines, installed a new brake master cylinder, changed the oil, flushed the radiator, cleaned the fuel lines, purchased a new wiring harness, purchased a new wood bed kit, purchased stock size white wall tires, and driven that beast with my fine lady by my side for about 100 miles.  Luckily Mrs Tucker enjoys every minute with me and even rides in the center of the bench seat.  It's not a hot rod, just some good ole classic fun.

I plan on updating the wiring, installing the wood bed, wet sanding and clear coating the body, and lowering the frame about 2 inches in the next few weeks. 

Willie
BKG

Honeymoon/5 year Anniversary in Costa Rica

Due to some minor tourist mistakes (i.e. taking phones on ocean kayak tour), we have limited pictures from our trip to Costa Rica. But, I am impatient and can't stand waiting for the device that we need to get our pictures from our damaged phones.  So, here are a few snaps from the glorious trip.
We stayed at Latitude 10 in Santa Teresa - a eco-friendly resort in a small surf town.

Our open-air casita... beautiful and luxurious, except for the mosquitoes!

We played at the ocean, tossed the biscuit, rode bikes into town, went on a nature hike, went on the aforementioned kayak trip, took a horseback tour...and in general played hard everyday!

Windy enough to play frisbee with yourself.

Check out the beach bodies!

The food was amazing. So many delicious fruits, vegetables, and fresh seafood.

Lobster tacos... a favorite for sure!

Tuna ceviche - words can't describe!

A new food and instant favorite - patacones.

Typical breakfast - gallo pinto and a burrito. Strong coffee of course!

Lilikoi pie - not quite as good as Ceci's...but it was definitely yummy.

Of course, we were surrounded by beautiful scenery...the plants and wildlife were so interesting! I tried to take lots of flower pics for Martha.

Connor gave me a heliconia when we first started dating...here they grow wild!

A bird of paradise...

These iguanas are like stray cats...they are everywhere!

It was well worth a 5 year wait to celebrate our union/love.