Road Trip 2015 Day 15

Henderson, NV to Home 

 Highway 95 south out of Henderson is a quiet, mostly 2 lane road through deceptively flat desert.  A good part of the road looks flat but is a series of gentle roller coaster bumps.  At one point we had to wait at a level crossing for a very long freight train to pass.  We never did see where Nevada became California and there was no CA Inspection Station. 

We stopped in Needles to retrieve Mr. B's briefcase and then were on our way west and north, through Tehachapi, where we saw some lightning but no rain, and Bakersfield.  We ran into a major construction delay not long after we reached I-5.  That ate up a good hour.

We decided on one last really good meal before the trip ended, so we stopped at Harris Ranch.

Mr. B's choice

My choice.

I would have taken pictures of the actual food but we couldn't wait to dig in.

We ran into one more setback after we left I-5.  Because of a fire on the west side of Pacheco Pass, there were bomber planes dropping retardant, a helicopter with a water bucket, and dozens of fire trucks.  But there was still one lane open so we were able to get through.

It had been a hot day here but we were really happy to be home.

Road Trip 2015 Day 13

Topeka, KS to Glenwood Springs, CO

It rained during the night and was still raining as we loaded up the car.  But then it stopped and was mostly cloudy as we drove west through Kansas on Interstate 70.  Kansas is very generous with rest areas - one about every 50 miles.  Kansas is also one of the flattest places I've ever seen. In the western part of the state we saw a lot of the same kind of crop, with a red seed stalk.  Made the fields look like a sea of red.  I think it is called Milo, a grain sorghum good for low rainfall areas.

Colorado Welcome Center

This is Labor Day so we thought driving through Denver in the early afternoon would be a piece of cake.  But we didn't factor in the surprise rainstorm.  Holy cow!  It sure can rain in Denver.

About the time we hit the western suburbs, the rain was gone and it was a beautiful sunny day again.  But the eastbound lanes of I-70 were stop and go for the next 40 miles.  We stopped at Georgetown for a rest break and the elevation of 8530' hit me as soon as I got out of the car.  I was woozy and it felt like I was on a boat in a rough sea.  Walking to the bathrooms was pretty scary and I held on to Mr. B for dear life.  We decided not to spend the night there and continued driving through beautiful Glenwood Canyon to Glenwood Springs which is about 5000'.


We had a really good meal at Vic's Route 66 Grillhouse.  I ordered the Jager Schnitzel with spaetzle. Yummy.

Our motel had the most amazing view.

Road Trip 2015 Day 12

Centerville, IA to Kirksville, MO to Topeka, KS

This morning was supposed to be more coffee and conversation at the High School but we decided to hit the road instead.  We drove east on IA 2 so that we could stop at Mt. Ararat Cemetery, where Mr. B's grandparents and one great grandmother are buried.

Howard and Fanny Ashby

Deborah Fowler Bills Stevens

 After that, it was on to Kirksville where an old friend and classmate of Mr. B now lives with his wife.  They were celebrating the friend's 80th birthday in the common room of their apartment building.  More good food and good company.  We met their daughters and families for the first time.  Such nice people.  The son-in-law and a granddaughter even taught us to play Shanghai, a rummy-type card game that is lots of fun, especially for a big group.

We had thought about spending the night in Kirksville, but the call of home was too strong and we decided to see how far along we could get.  As it turned out, we made it all the way to Topeka, Kansas.  After we checked in to our hotel we wanted to go for a nice dinner but again were too tired to drive anymore.  So we walked to a nearby fast food place. 

Freddy's

 

Road Trip 2015 Days 9-11

Des Moines to Centerville, IA

We had planned to do some sightseeing with Cousin but we woke up still tired and decided to head south early.  Most of the trip, minus about 5 minutes on I-40 in Des Moines, was on good secondary roads through the green Iowa countryside.  After several years of California drought we just can't get enough of this green.

Stopped in Albia, Monroe County, to stretch our legs and because I had seen a sign for a fabric/yarn shop.  The shop turned out to be open only on Saturdays so we started to walk around the square.
When we saw this sign we realized that we really needed something to eat.

The owner told us that she hadn't been open long and was planning to expand beyond pastries into lunches.  It must have been a cafe before because there was a lovely old lunch counter (not being used yet.)
We each had a very large and very good blueberry muffin and a cup of excellent coffee. 

Back in Mr. B's home town we checked into Motel 60, our usual choice, although it is definitely showing its age.  But in its favor, it's just around the corner from our favorite tenderloin sandwich shop.

Waiting for our order.

 Eating a tenderloin

 Friday morning started with a visit to Jenz Trendz, just off the square, for a shampoo.  Such a treat to have someone else give my head a good scrub.  Then we stopped at Morgan's Ice Cream shop on the square for a cup of coffee.  They also serve breakfast pizza so we ordered one of those to share.  Good thing we didn't order two because we only had room for half.  This must be my time for expanding my pizza vocabulary because I had never heard of pizza for breakfast but I'm definitely a big fan now.

After our impromptu breakfast we drove to our favorite laundromat to take care of domestic duties.  I think this may be the only time we need to do this before we get home. I even managed to do a Friday Fling (Yahoo Stashbusters thing) by giving away a container of laundry detergent for top loading machines.  I've been trying to use it up when we travel but finally admitted that's not going to happen.

Friday evening we drove to Unionville for the Unionville High School Class of '54 dinner.  However, my GPS let me down and when we got there we had to call the hostess for directions.  Turns out she lives just a short distance south of the IA/MO state line, so we had to drive almost half way back to Centerville.

But it was worth it.  Mr. B had a wonderful time visiting with old friends and I, though I didn't go to school with any of these people, had a fine time meeting them again as well.  They always make me feel so welcome.  Our hostess did all the cooking herself and everything was delicious - pulled pork, mac & cheese, baked beans, homemade pickled beets, carrot cake, and a big green salad with lots of spinach in it.  It was late by the time we got back to the motel, too late and too tired to try out my new swimsuit in the indoor pool.

Saturday morning we drove the twenty miles back to Unionville for the all-school reunion.  When Mr. B was in high school it was known as UHS, Unionville High.  The gym is the only thing remaining of that school.

The new school is now the only one in the entire county and has a section for elementary school, another for middle school, and another for high school and is named Putnam County R-1.  The elementary school shares the building but is otherwise separate.  I believe the middle and high schools share the common room, the auditorium and the athletic fields.  The mascot is The Midgets which has led to some controversy lately.  However, I don't think they will be changing it anytime soon.

Lunch was served in the Commons and was quite good, as it always is.

 Saturday afternoon we all gathered in the auditorium for a welcome and updates about the school.  The various classes were introduced - there were even some graduates of Class of 1939.  After that, we were entertained by the Imboden family.  They are well known for their religious and old-time music.  Really enjoyed this, especially the sing-alongs.

The evening festivities were due to start in the courthouse square about six pm so we had some time to kill.  Didn't want to drive back to Centerville, so I bullied Mr. B into walking around town.  I didn't tell him, but my plan was to walk to the cemetery.  His great great grandmother and her second husband are buried there.  This time we couldn't find her stone but we did find his.

The cemetery is only a few blocks from the square but the temperature, even in late afternoon, was in the upper 90s and the humidity was way up there too, so we were really dragging by the time we finished.

So we set up our chairs and bought a couple of "walking tacos", another food item new to me.  Very good and easy to eat wherever.  Must try this out on the grandchildren.  Dessert was homemade ice cream.

A little later we joined a group tour of the courthouse clock.  One of the locals, a member of the Rotary Club, has learned how to maintain it and is now passing along his expertise to some younger folks.  So we can expect the clock to continue to run for a long time.

Clock Mechanism Putnam County MO Courthouse

The third floor courtroom is quite impressive.  It is easy to imagine some very serious matters being considered here in past times.  The spectator area has a floor that slopes upwards so that people in the back can see the action.

Bench, Jury area and Counsel table

We had planned to spend the evening listening to the band play and possibly dancing, but once again old age prevailed and we decided to head back to Centerville and a good night's sleep.

Road Trip 2015 Day 8

Bella Vista, AR to Ankeny, IA

Heading north through Missouri and Iowa to visit Mr. B's cousin near Des Moines.  She lives in an Independent Living apartment building with her Bichon Frise.
But on the way we stopped for gas in Lamar, MO and there, right across the street, was a quilt shop!

http://www.quiltingqueenonline.com/

This time I didn't have to scream.  So far I hadn't asked to stop at any quilt shops.  They had a very good selection.  I did think that their fat quarters were a little overpriced at $3 per, so I bought two yards at $8.99 and 9.99 each.  I wonder if this is their strategy.  Anyway, I'm happy with a yard of white on white and one of pale violet.  For souvenirs I try to buy neutrals because that is what my stash lacks.

Mr. B and Ginger

For dinner we went to Fong's Pizza, definitely a different experience!  Look for this idea to head west, unless it's already here and I just don't know about it, given my small-town life.

desmoinesregister.com

We ordered three pizzas:  Hunan Pork, Sesame Chicken, and Loaded Potato.  I wasn't too crazy about the Hunan Pork (too sweet for my taste) but I really liked the other two.  Especially the potato.  Not too much of a surprise given my propensity for anything starchy and white that grows underground.  This really opened my eyes to all kinds of pizza possibilities.

Road Trip 2015 Day 3

Grants, NM to El Reno, OK

High desert, amazing rock formations in New Mexico.  

We crossed into Texas early afternoon.  Mile after mile of wind turbines to the north of I-40.

loe.org

About half an hour later we were in Vega TX where we spent the night on our last southern road trip.  Too early to stop but not too early for Mr. B to have his first Dairy Queen Blizzard.  In fact, we even had lunch - DQ Dude, which is a chicken fried steak sandwich. Mighty good!

Dairy Queen in Vega TX

Back on the road towards Oklahoma City.  However we were now in the Central Time Zone and it had been a long day, so we decided to stop for the night in El Reno, just west of OK City.  Makes more sense to tackle big city traffic early on a Saturday morning rather than evening commute on a Friday, especially when we are already tired.

Still Alive after All This Time

It’s been so long since I’ve posted on anything like a regular basis, that I don’t know where to start.  Maybe it’s best to go ahead from here and plug in previous events as I remember them.

This has been a strange winter:  Usually we can’t count on any rain until mid-November at the earliest but, after having an inch in September and another in October, we have been dry as a bone since.  This morning we had a bit, not enough to register on the rain gauge but enough to dampen the ground.  However it did energize me and I bought a couple of six packs of sugar snap peas at OSH today as well as onion sets -  red, white and yellow.  I’ll try to get the peas and some of the onions planted tomorrow.  I couldn’t find any English peas so will have to plant those from seeds.

When we were in Gilroy today I stopped at Grocery Outlet and found one-ounce bottles of red food coloring for 79 cents each.  I made a Red Velvet cake for Christmas and the food coloring cost me $6 for the 2 ounces required.  $1.60 sounds a lot better to me and I think I’ll make one for Valentine’s Day.

I used the original boiled frosting instead of the current cream cheese frosting.  Sure was good.

Time Marches On

What happened to January and February?

Well, January started out with a big mess.  Day after day the front yard and most of the block would be littered with fallen leaves from the larger Liquidambar tree. 

On New Years’ Day granddaughters 1 and 2 spent some time raking the front lawn for us.  They filled two trash cans which we then emptied into the compost bins. 

After that I was on my own, so every few days I would rake the leaves from the lawn and the street into the gutter, then bag them up. 

The compost bins couldn’t handle them fast enough and now the bags are piled by the side of the house waiting until they are needed.

January also meant the start of orange season.  We have two trees:  a Washington Navel and a Valencia.  The Washington Navel is ready first and is supposed to be for eating but I use most of the crop for juice because I don’t want to wait for the Valencia which isn’t ripe for another month or so.

We always have way more than we can use but every year I vow to try.  This year has been a real challenge because most of the WN oranges are too high for me to reach without a ladder.  I think I need to get Mr. B out there to pick what he can reach and, when the danger of frost is over, we should prune the tree quite a bit lower.

Later in January Safeway had a good price on Foster Farms whole chickens so I decided to make Chicken and Noodles.  Daughter’s family was coming for dinner so I prepared the noodle dough and the granddaughters helped me roll it out and cut it. 

I learned to love Chicken and Noodles from my Midwestern husband.  Mr. B’s mother, grandmother and aunts all made it for family get-togethers.  Each one had a slightly different take on it.  The only recipe I have is from his Aunt Georgia and I had to stand next to her and try to estimate the amounts of flour etc. she was using for the noodles because nobody used a written recipe.  I was never any good at rolling out such stiff dough so I long ago bought this Italian pasta machine and it rolls out the dough as thin as I want it.  Unfortunately, the noodles just don’t have the same texture as the old family recipe.  But they are still good served over mashed potatoes on a cold winter’s day. 

Mr. B is coming along well with his recovery.  Every day he spends some time walking up and down the block using the rolling walker lent to him by our neighbor.  Then he rides the exercise bicycle we bought over 30 years ago.  Every time we moved there was much discussion about whether to get rid of it since we hardly ever used it.  Sure glad we still have it!

In February the almond tree bloomed, for all the good it will do us.  We planted it almost 20 years ago and we have yet to get any almonds.  They all get harvested by the doggoned squirrels before we realize it.

Every year we try another squirrel deterrent but so far nothing has worked.  One year it was human hair from the beauty shop, another year it was moth balls (which are surprisingly hard to find these days).  I suggested trapping and releasing him out in the country but Mr. B thinks it would be cruel to separate Mr. Squirrel from his family.  What are you gonna do?

That’s My Boy!

Even 46 years ago he had a consuming interest in produce.  Here he had crawled into the pantry and found my potato bin while I was fixing dinner.
Now he is gardening in his own backyard and is doing very well.  His house is on an average-sized suburban lot which, in California, is not that big.  Plus his backyard is mostly downhill.  But our boy is persistent and has been terracing the ground to get level areas for planting vegetables.  This year all that work is finally bearing fruit, so to speak.  They are making salads with their own lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes.  And yesterday he arrived at our house with this:

13 ears freshly picked.

Tender and sweet

Two of the ears weren’t developed properly, but the rest made a very good dinner last night.  Mr. B managed four ears, I had two and Mom ate one.  I stripped the kernels from the remaining four and added some of them to today’s zucchini.  Yum-yum.  Son suggested using the leftovers in a salad, so that’s what we’ll have tomorrow.

Speaking of Zucchini, this year we planted two squash plants from Wegman’s Nursery in Redwood City.  The reason we drove that far to buy squash plants is that we were hoping to reproduce last year’s zucchini experience.  We planted a Romanesco that, while it didn’t look like the images I found of that variety, was so prolific that we ended up with over a hundred squash from one plant.  And it was the most delicious zucchini we had ever grown.

This spring we bought one Romanesco and one Ronde de Nice.  The Romanesco looks like its images and is just as prolific and tasty as last year.  The Ronde de Nice is also very tasty and even more of a producer than the Romanesco.  We are eating squash several times a week but still haven’t grown tired of it.

Tally as of August 1: 

Romanesco = 43 

Ronde de Nice = 69

Our tomatoes are singing a sad song this year.  We planted them in May and they grew well, producing lots of tomatoes.  However, they just sit there looking green.  So far, out of 7 plants, we have only had three red tomatoes.  In addition to that, at least two of the plants that we bought from Costco have what looks like verticillium wilt.  So their days are probably numbered.  The four tomato plants that we bought at the Santa Clara Master Gardeners sale seem to be okay.  We also have a few volunteers coming up here and there from last year’s seed.  One, in the squash bed, is a yellow pear so I’m looking forward to that, if any of them ever ripen.

The exception is the little currant tomato that we planted in Mom’s waist-high planter on the patio.  That didn’t go in until early July and is rather sparse as to foliage.  But it has several clusters of ripening fruit.  Of course, being currant-size, if I picked them we probably wouldn’t even have enough for one person.  But this variety is supposed to keep its fruit until all tomatoes in the cluster have ripened.  We’ll see.

The peppers are all doing well.  We planted mostly sweet peppers this year, although I did throw in some Fresno and Jalapeno at the last minute. 

Where Has the Time Gone?

Summer is almost half over and I don’t feel as if I’ve accomplished even a tenth of what I had planned. I don’t know where the hours go.

This sunflower is one of at least a dozen that popped up as volunteers this spring. I don’t remember ever planting sunflowers in the backyard, so they must have come from birdseed. I hate to pull up volunteers if I know what they are, but next year I’m going to have to get ruthless and yank them out as soon as I see them. Most of the plants are single but this one just keeps putting out the blossoms.

The tomatoes are finally starting to produce. Not enough to make Gazpacho yet but I haven’t had to buy tomatoes for over two weeks now. I’m thinking about Panzanella for dinner tomorrow. We have some leftover Pugliese bread from Costco that should be perfect for it. The amazing zucchini plant has now given us at least 5 dozen fruits, ranging from 4-5 inches to “too big for stuffing even.” I haven’t let many get big because this is the absolutely best zucchini I’ve ever grown. The plant came from a nursery in San Carlos and was part of the batch of plants our son gave me for Mother’s Day. The label said it was an heirloom variety called “Romanesco” but it doesn’t look much like the photos I’ve found online.

I planted a six-pack each of lemon cucumbers and Armenian cucumbers. However, the Armenian must have been mislabeled because we now have twelve lemon cucumber plants, each producing what seems like several fruits a day. I swear, you lift up a branch and the cucumbers are growing in clusters, like grapes only a lot bigger. Thank goodness they are so good – we are eating two or three a day and have been able to find takers for the rest.

I didn’t get any beans planted this year although we do have some volunteers that sprouted from last year’s crop. I think I might try to get a small batch in next week if I can find the space. The moon is waxing which means it’s a good time to plant beans. I’ve never tried planting by the phases of the moon but I’ve always wanted to experiment with it.

The Husband picked our first apple this evening – no photo because he ate it too quickly. It was an Early Summer Red according to the label. There are several more that look ready, so I’ll probably try one tomorrow.

The Blenheim apricots were very small this year. I think we should have thinned them. Also probably should have pruned them last winter. I checked a book on pruning fruit trees out of the library this week. It appears to have a lot of information on the kinds of trees we are growing, so maybe we can improve our harvests.

Our friends brought us a box of their wonderful Blenheim apricots a couple of weeks ago, so I tried making jam for the first time in many years. This is the first batch. A few days later I found a recipe for Apricot Riesling Jam and decided to try it. I didn’t have any Riesling but I did have 1/2 cup of Grand Marnier so I used that. I got 2 small jars and a bit extra from that batch. We had a little of the extra over some vanilla ice cream the other night and it was pure heaven.

I’ve rearranged my sewing room again and now have room for a cutting table. It’s so nice not to have to use the dining room table when I want to cut something. All this is so that I can make GD1 and GD2 summer nightgowns. I’ve been planning this for weeks and was just about to put it off until next year. But when I asked one of them if that was okay, she said she would really like to have it this year and it didn’t matter that summer is half over, she could wear summer pjs all year, no problem. After that, I couldn’t not make them.

Some quilting has been going on this summer. Big Busted and the twin-size POM are ready to baste. I pieced the back of the POM quilt, so that took longer. I’m going to try the Sharon Schamber method of basting. I’ve read some good reviews on my Yahoo quilting groups. I’ll probably try it on a catnapper first.

Farmer’s Market Week 3

Apricot Pie bought at the Casa de Fruta stand at today’s Farmers Market.

We had this for dessert, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  I’m somewhat of a purist when it comes to pie – rarely satisfied with a commercial crust.  But this one is a winner!  The apricots were perfect, not too sweet, and the crust was tender and flaky.  No hint of store-bought with this one.  Still warm from the oven and only $10.  They also had apple, cherry and peach but, in this family, apricot wins every time.

This was my haul last week.  The strawberries really were bigger than the apricots; the purple veggie on the right is kohlrabi.  It looks a bit like a space ship when it’s standing up but is really quite good.  We had one of them raw with ranch dip on Memorial Day.  I will probably cook the other 2 tomorrow for dinner, maybe steamed with a little butter.  The sugar snap peas were delicious and the asparagus, which is grown here in our county, was much fresher than we get in the supermarket.  The raisins are from the Central Valley and are yummy.  We first bought these year before last but they didn’t bring any to last year’s markets.  Being used to packaged supermarket raisins, these were a real eye-opener for us.

The bottle in front is lotion made from goat’s milk.  I haven’t tried it yet (except for the tester at the market). I was surprised to find out that the owner of this business is a well-known local quilter. 

 

One of the vendors sells orchids.  He has a really wonderful selection at very reasonable prices.  This one was only $8.

 

 

 

 

 

I have a checkered history with orchids.  The Husband often would buy me one for Mother’s Day/my birthday from one of the sellers who appear in local parking lots around holidays.  And every year, it would last about two weeks and it was all over.  Finally one year I managed to keep it going all through the bloom and into the next bloom, until the grandchildren, horsing around near the plant, knocked it over.  I tried repotting it but no luck.  Another orchid bit the dust.  But the man is very persistent and, the following year, here comes another orchid.  Actually, 4 orchids in a basket.  That was in 2007 and one of them is blooming for the third time, with smaller flowers and healthy-looking leaves.  One died (I’m not sure why) and the other two bloomed the second year but now are just hanging on.  Their leaves look pretty good but no blooms.  I think I will try repotting them and giving them some fertilizer. 

Today we bought more asparagus (the season will probably only last another week or two), more sugar snap peas, a basket of strawberries, some stone fruit (peaches and apricots) and a cauliflower.  Also a bottle of olive oil made from olives grown in the grove in front of San Juan Oaks golf course.  We’ll have to do a taste test to see if it’s better than what I buy at Costco.

Catching Up Part 1

Not much blogging going on around here, but lots of other stuff happening:

FAMILY

Mom has come to stay with us again, so life is a lot more structured – 3 proper meals a day, no peanut butter sandwiches with hot chocolate for dinner. But we are settling in just fine (and definitely eating better).

It has taken about a month but we are now into a workable schedule as to baths and laundry. We replaced the bathtub in the family bathroom with a new shower. Big improvement in looks and comfort. The shower in the master bath is quite small so The Husband prefers to use the front bathroom. I didn’t get a before photo but here is the new shower.

GD2 made her First Communion in early May. She was able to wear her sister’s dress with just a few alterations to the underslip. We thought the crowded church would be too much for Mom, so she and I stayed at the house. That worked out well as I was able to help with the meal preparation.

I did not make the cake but forgot to get any photos of the other food. The purple roses were very much in demand among the children present.

GARDENING

The summer vegetable garden is partially planted. Our son came down the day before Mother’s Day with a box full of plants.

There were 3 different kinds of tomatoes, a summer squash, 3 six-packs of lettuce and a variety of peppers, including one habanero.

We had already planted 4 tomatoes, 6 eggplants, 12 cucumbers and 6 Anaheim peppers. There are some volunteer beans in with the Costco tomatoes, Santa Maria pinquito I think. Still need to plant more beans, onions and some more squash. Also mesclun and arugula for summer salads.

Mom wanted to give me a pomegranate tree/bush for my birthday, so we caravanned out to the nursery on Southside Road. They had two very small plants, each in a 5 gallon can. We bought the taller one and it is now planted out by my greenhouse. Probably no fruit this year, but we are hoping for some next year. When I was a child, I remember visiting my step-grandfather’s sister Marie Trescony. She lived in the old adobe house on their ranch near San Lucas and the walled garden was very old California. The big attraction for me was the pomegranate. As a city girl, I was really impressed about being able to pick something off a tree and eat it. In those days it seems I was always hungry, no matter how often I was fed. Actually, I guess I haven’t changed that much…

For Mother’s Day 2008 we gave Mom a self-watering planter box with a rolling stand to raise it so that she wouldn’t have to bend. She grew tomatoes, peppers, onion and basil that year with pretty good results. This year we did the planting for her: a cherry tomato and a mild green pepper. We’ll probably add some basil seeds and maybe a few green onions.

The sunflower seeds we planted in April are growing up nicely. They need to be thinned but I just can’t make myself pull up a healthy plant. I know it needs to be done for the health of the remaining plants, but it’s so hard.

We also planted over a dozen dahlia tubers on the other side of the front walk. They are almost all up and growing fast. We should have a good supply of cut blossoms for the house this summer.

GENEALOGY

Nothing has been done in this department but I really need to get my Spencer Stout info together because I hope to visit Montague Co, TX and Cedar Co, MO on our vacation this year.

I cancelled my Ancestry World Deluxe membership and went back to the US Deluxe. There is just so much information still to find in this country, that I don’t see myself using it enough to warrant the price difference. I need to check with the Gilroy library to see if they have World in case I need it on down the line.

Knitting, Quilting and Sewing catch-up will follow soon.