Nice Day! 10-12

Another gorgeous day in paradise.  We went into Auburn and had breakfast at Mel's diner...very yummy, then onto Home Depot for a few things...then it was on down the highway to Roseville for returning stuff and shopping.  Found just the right curtains for the family room...yay!!!

Went into Barnes and Noble...wow, $19 for a CD, magazines over $10, and paperback book, $8....amazing how much all that stuff costs these days.  I haven't bought any of those things in over 5 years and when you don't pay attention the prices of things sneak on up.  I am afraid I am starting to sound in my head like an "oldtimer"...you know, "back in MY day that only cost...blah, blah, blah"....ha ha ha!

After we got home it was time to finally move our former teeny home out of the back yard and put it in it's storage place behind the shed.  It is almost perfect there for it, except for a few high tree branches above it that will be raining oak sap and leaves down onto it.

Larry is backing up the computer to the external drive so it really slows down the computer, so I will say a few things about the pictures I am posting here and not take the time to get it all to match up or I'll be here until morning.

The pineapple salvia has burst out in gorgeous red blooms that the hummers love, I was watering them this afternoon when I saw the praying mantis I put there to eat the aphids had caught a bee and was munching away on it...amazing to see...like the bee was a piece of corn on the cob.  And there is a picture of my skinny hunka hunka burning love man in here somewhere too.

No trailer!  Woo hoo!

RS Junior

Have taken out half the oleanders

A fall scarf, knit, seed stitch.

Glorious pineapple salvia

Mantis munching

The trailer looks like its hiding...doing a good job!

Gorgeous Fall Days 10-10

Another gorgeously perfect day.  Larry returned from Marina, Ca. yesterday...he had left on Wednesday, the only time this year that the communications setup has left here.  Glad to have him back, though I did enjoy my time home alone...

Yesterday I cleaned house and figured out a plan for a project.  Today I made some phone calls and worked on the computer and helped Larry a bit with an annoying discovery.  There is a capped off waterpipe right in the driveway...the cap was flush with the surface covered with dirt and leaves and the pipe is only about 4 inches below and Larry only discovered it because driving over it with the truck caused it to start leaking.  So now we have to track that down and make it right.  People do weird and uncopacetic things....

The hummingbirds have gotten over being shy of us on the deck when they want to get to the flowers...twice Larry was buzzed and hovered over because they were annoyed that he was sitting so close to the flower pot....very funny to watch.

Lovely slanted early morning light!

The deer do not like our changing the landscape....we are getting all the oleanders (highly poisonous and massive roots that shouldn't be so near our water lines) out of here, which has given the deer cover from the street and you can tell they don't think to much of our decision.  They are going to like us even less when we get the fence back up around the trees and garden area.  Though for maintenance it would be nice if they would just go in and eat the fallen leaves and not nibble on every leaf within reach on branches and stems!  They have been eating the yellow leaves from the asian pear that fall to the ground each day...next year we will just have to rake them and throw them over the fence for them to mulch for us.

In the Photo Zone 10-8

When I was shoe shopping earlier this week I spotted some slippers that got me thinking.  I decided I had to go back and get them and today proved my thinking was right!  They are tractor slippers (my term)...serious bottoms on them and warm because I just KNEW that I would get drawn outside and then off into the yard after a picture of something....

This morning the light was glorious and I ended up taking over 40 pictures in no time at all just while I was having my morning coffee...I would be done and then I would turn and there would be something else.  Tomorrow I will try and post a pictorial of my wanderings!

This blue jay buried an acorn next to the slab and was covering it with pebbles and leaves.

"How does it look?  Can it be seen?"

Here are several highlights!  It was a beautiful fall day.

"

"Are you looking at where I stashed that last acorn?  Don't be lookin' at me!"

A lot of nothing 10-7

Not a whole lot to talk about today.  I drove into Auburn to get my library card...of course I walked out with a pile of books, went to the nursery for two plants and came out with 6 four inchers and one pony pack, stopped at the natural food store for a couple things, stopped at Best Buy to put my mitts on the camera I am considering and then stopped at the shoe store for some new slippers and then back home.

It took me about a half hour to get my plants planted, I had dinner on the deck in the sun and that was about it for the day. 

Fowl Weather, ha ha 10-6

We had some retinal scarring lightning last night and a few thunder boomers....and it rained at some point.  It was in the high 40's when we got up.  The sun eventually made an appearance.

Today was just a quiet day of research and watching the wildlife.

This group of turkeys hung out around the house today and I was finally able to get an okay shot of one of the blue birds...

Great dinner and gardening 10-5

It was cloudy and cold this morning and it dripped a few drops.  Later the clouds left, and the sun came out.  I made this wonderful chicken casserole from a recipe in the Taste of Home magazine...it turned out very tasty.  I didn't use the Romano cheese....Larry doesn't love cheese and I didn't want to load it up to much, plus I didn't have any :)

CHICKEN PENNE CASSEROLE

4 servings prep: 35 minutes bake: 45 minutes
1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup EACH chopped onion, green pepper, and sweet red pepper
1 teaspoon EACH dried basil, oregano and parsley flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon canola oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1-1/2 cupes uncooked penne pasta
1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
3 tablespoons tomato paste
3/4 cup chicken broth
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated Romano cheese

1. In a large saucepan, saute the chicken, onion, peppers and seasonings in oil until chicken is no longer pink.
Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer.

2. Cook the penne pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, process the diced tomatoes and tomato paste in a blender; add to the chicken mixture. Stir in the chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Cover; simmer for 10-15 minutes or until slightly thickened.

3. Drain pasta; toss with chicken mixture. Spoon half of the mixture into a greased 2-qt. baking dish. Sprinkle with half of the cheeses. Repeat layers.

4. Cover; bake casserole at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Uncover; bake casserole 15-20 minutes longer or until heated through.

Enjoy!!!

While the sun was on my hill of dirt I planted over 100 bulbs...took me about an hour, now we just have to wait until Spring to see how it will look.  I planted some in the two pots on the deck too.

A few hours in town 10-4

Today I abandoned Larry...I drove across the river to the big city to SHOP!  It took a bit longer to get back and forth because they are doing shoulder maintenance along highway 49, so a long wait in line and then a slow creep following the pilot truck.  It is a slow windy road but I love the drive, it is really pretty and no hardship to sit and enjoy the view while waiting.  Larry was happy for me to give him radio checks from town so he could check the repeater he has up now. 

I went to the nursery first to pick up some bearded iris, daffodil bulbs and a few more salvia's...I found a few other bulbs I wanted to try too and I also got some muscari bulbs.  Then it was onto the shoe store and then the grocery store.  I had a nice time.

After getting home and getting all the groceries put away, after getting something to eat I worked on getting the new plants in the ground.  The quail didn't mind me being there and the deer saw me and took a detour around the house for their usual foray through the fruit trees...boy are they going to be surprised when Larry gets the fence back up.  We had a neighbors dog come say hi and Larry saw two different cats from somewhere exploring around today...the area pets are friendlier than their people so far...ha ha ha.

It was cloudy and cold this morning, but as the sun came out it warmed up to about 70.  We didn't get the bad rain that some areas received today, it was pleasant for my yard work...I didn't need a sweater.  Tomorrow I'll plant the daffodil and muscari bulbs...maybe :)

Mostly pics 10-3

I told Larry today that this project has been kind of like childbirth....all the pain, sweat and back breaking work is a distant memory, mostly forgotten now when living every day with the results of all that hard work.

Today I repotted my houseplants outside...it was in the low 70's and overcast most all day...we even had a heavy rain for about 15 minutes this morning.  Then later I just walked around taking pictures of whatever caught my eye.  The black oaks are turning yellow and brown and the blue oaks are turning yellowish.  I was taking a close up picture of the lichens on the oak branches when I discovered the praying mantis...there are a lot of them around here and they are a bit unnerving when they turn those triangular little heads in your direction to look at you...creepy creatures.  The bee tree is just a bit below the house and when Larry mowed the weeds around the tree a few weeks ago he never even saw them so he was either really quick and or they weren't threatened...I kept my distance taking these pictures, don't want to anger them.  Then this evening during our relaxation on the front deck I got a few pictures of one of the hummingbirds....since it warmed up we have been seeing the hummers, dragonflies and bats again.  A gorgeous day it was!

Furniture today 10-1

Happy October!
Today we moved our furniture into the living room...we need to swag the light over the table and get some art and a table or two along the walls and that room will be finished.


Warning to the Men....Decorating pics the Ladies want to see:   Our furniture from RC Willey was delivered today...they have been just the best company ever to deal with...BIG on customer service and the furniture is quality and the delivery people were even great.  It still needs some tweaking....I had Larry helping me drag it all into all kinds of different configurations, but it will probably stay this way for the most part.  We might need to get smaller end tables and now we need to go shopping for curtains again...we had to wait until we had a pillow or fabric to take with us.  Both rooms are real comfy now.  The flash washed the chairs out..they are a deep burgundy color.

Oh...we had lunch in Cool today at American River Pizza & Grill ...VERY good.  I had a BBQ tri tip sandwich and Larry tried a burger...the fries were really greaet too.  Their pizza's sound interesting too so we'll be back to try everything!  Only about a mile from us so could be dangerous to our health...ha ha.