Smiles from September

Just a quick recap of some happy times from September.  We had a beautiful month.  Our garden is nearly finished; Connor even harvested his hops!  And we were fortunate to have friends visit from NC in addition to Marie getting a quick trip to Port Angeles/Victoria with Aunt Pat. 

Diesel loves chasing Connor on his toys.  Never mind how hard I worked building up that mulch bed...it is just a playground!

We went to our first Mariners game since Marie and Elio were in town.  We lost, but it was a lot of fun.  Still, nothing compares to the Durham Bulls.

Connor has completely torn down the inside of his Chevy cab. It is crazy. I can't wait to see the finished product!!!

Marie and Elio stopped for dinner one night.

We went to spend the day with them in Seattle on their last weekend in town... visited Discovery Bay, Pike Place Market, Elysian Brewery, Local 360... all wonderful - and the weather was amazing!

Victoria with Aunt Pat. We are some whale-loving fools out here. :) 

So... September was full and busy... True to the Tucker lifestyle.  Hard to believe it is October. Crisp fall weather is in the air, and we have had some rain return.  We are hoping for an exciting fall...  And we are already making plans for holidays! 

Where did August go?

I helped my Sugar build this bed!! He is amazing.

Geez. Just yesterday it was July and I was loving the long summer days.  How did it get to be September? I guess it is true - Time FLIES when you are having fun! August was filled with wonderful moments. They just kept coming and I got buried in them. Not a bad thing I 'spose.  Here is a little recap for the sake of our blog journal.

He finished the bed in time to enter the Chehalis Car Show. He won a trophy: Farmer's Delight!! It was PERFECT.

We did some dog sitting for about 10 days... this is Diesel. She is a Newfoundland big girl beauty.

Oh yeah.... How can I forget? I spent about 10 days in NC with my dear old Dad. Here he is helping me roll paper for the charcoal grill.  We didn't have as much fun as last time because I had to seriously BUST HIS ASS (on multiple occasions) for all the dumb shit he is trying to get away with right now. If he is reading this, I hope he is remembering my pep talks and how much I love him and remembering to take a little more initiative about his health.

Which of these two liked Grandma Daycare better?  I think they both loved it...but the baby asleep in the crib next to them was probably the winner!

Hell yes. I got to meet my niece. Never enough time, but my heart still soars thinking of her.

Back home in time for my babe's birthday. He has caught up to me again. As Granddaddy would say, he is the boss again for now.

Tyrone even let me have his famous pecan pie cheesecake recipe so I could make CT a fitting bday cake. It was awesome.

These cats love Connor. He was laying here petting Eno...and within a minute, Lefty had jumped on his back to remind him who the top cat was.  The cats are always vying for our love and affection...as if we don't give them both more than enough for silly Kats.

We did a ton of stuff with our garden goodies and all the amazing summer produce. Dill pickles. Applesauce. Assorted jams.

These plum jams are so delicious. And pretty too, if I do say so myself.

Our tomatoes are really coming in since we have finally had some nice hot/sunny weather. We are enjoying lots of BLTs and such.

And, as we begin September, it is only appropriate that Rusty sent a Cowboy decal to adorn his beloved son's truck. This cowboy is ready for football season. Not sure this cowgirl is anywhere close to ready to say good bye to summer... Here's hoping for a hot and looooong fall.  xoxox

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!