Spring Beauty

First, a shout out to my front yard, which I thought looked so beautiful that day, I had to take a photo.

Next, some of the eclectic seed varieties Stevie chose to plan near the tulip bed:

I tried to tell her it was spelled with a "k," but Stevie informed me the boy in her class definitely spells it with a "c."

One of my tulips.

Ted found us this wonderful hike near Gray Butte, yesterday, and while the guidebook said the elevation change was only 200 feet, neither of us believes it since we were  going steadily uphill for two miles.

Gray Butte

The wildflowers were gorgeous.

These folks pedaled up that grade like it was nothing, and that was after they had already pedaled up to the trailhead (which we drove up)

Mount Jefferson

Mount Washington, with Black Butte in the foregoing

A sun lover

The Sisters on the left

Turnaround plaque

Mount Hood with Haystack Reservoir in the foreground

And of course, I can't close without a little bit of bragging:

My current size!

Me!

Off to Vegas tomorrow to hook up with my sisters, and head out to visit our father (who art in Arkansas). Should have some interesting pics of that trip for next time....

A Non-Scale Victory

Here are the clothes which are now too big for me to wear.  Yes, I'm proud of it so I took lots of pictures from several angles....

Here's one of the tulip bed, just because it's so pretty.

And one of Tutsi, for the same reason.

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

So Much to Say

Wow, where has the time gone!  Lots to share.  First, someone told me to go fly a kite, so I found this very cool one shaped like an eagle, and Stevie and I flew it when she was visiting.

That kite is up so high you can't even see it!

Then more food preserving classes, which are still just fabulous fun.  Who knew?

My classroom cabbage failed. This batch is happily fermenting away at home.

We're preserving things I wouldn't even eat (grapefruit here) - all in the name of knowledge.

Then off to Tara's for some beer soap, and a look at her new babies....

Stevie spent one night with us last week, and we went to the Bend Spring Festival.

But first she had to be sure to lick the bowl on some cupcakes!

A protegee in the making?

Some pipers piping.

I couldn't get all of them in the picture - they were on stilts.

A beautiful walk at Shevlin Park - this is the kids' fishing pond.

Tumalo Creek

And finally, this afternoon was spent helping out at the Master Gardeners' Spring Seminar.

I managed to actually win a silent auction item (my very own composting worm bin, complete with worms), and of course bought a few more plants.  It's an addiction.  ;-)

Oh, and I was also elected the first woman member of our HOA board.

Whew!

I've been doing it wrong all my life....

That was the thought that ran through my head pretty much throughout my first food safety/preservation course last week.  But let's begin at the beginning.

It was a cold, snowy April day here in Central Oregon on my first day of class,

and the OSU extension office parking lot was no different.

Ironically, this was the song playing on my iPod as I pulled into the lot:

There are seven of us in class (and I have no more pictures of that day because we were busy, busy, busy), and everyone was quite  nice and funny.  Here are some things I learned:

• I've been washing my hands incorrectly all my life.  We had a cool little ultra-violet thing which lit up the bacteria on our hands like the lights on the Strip.  We looked at our unwashed hands first, then washed our hands in our usual way, then looked at them again.  My cuticles were still glowing with bacteria - ugh!  Then I washed my hands the  CORRECT way, and voila!  No more neon!  (The correct way is to wet your hands, shake off the excess water, soap up and massage the soap into your hands and over your fingers for twenty full seconds, by the way.  I've been singing the days of the week in Spanish to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star in order to get my twenty seconds in.)  Naturally, I've been washing my hands like a freak since then.

• I haven't been sanitizing my cooking surfaces correctly.  Oh, I clean like the dickens, but it's not the same.  A solution of one teaspoon of Clorox to one quart of water put in a spray bottle (and used, of course) is the way to go.  I'm happy I haven't poisoned anyone in the past, but I'm taking better care in the future.

• There are some things one can actually refreeze after they've partially thawed, without ill effect.

• There are some things one can actually cut the mold off and still eat without ill effect.

• Tasting something you think is bad is bad.

We prepared some sauerkraut, froze some veggies and fish, and made some jam.  It was 6 hours of fun and activity and learning, and I loved every minute of it (the program director seems to care a bit about her volunteers, too; unlike some master gardening people who shall remain nameless).  This week we're learning about canning fruits (and will make some pie filling) and making effective presentations to the pubic.  This is a blast!

Now I must wash my hands.  ♫Lunes, Martes, Miercoles..... ♫


P.S.  I'm down a total of 21 lbs since Valentine's Day.  With the ten I lost in November, I'm 31 lbs lighter!  Yay me!