Wildlife on Val Vista

Since the trees have come down behind us, we hear fewer birds and animals, but have some very interesting bugs hanging around.  This guy stayed on the screen on the garage window for several hours one night.  I felt badly for him/her...so lost without the forest.  Or, maybe, so happy to have new digs.

This froggy seems like an old friend.  We have lots of these little tree frogs around our house.  They sound like giant bullfrogs - the loudest and deepest croak you can imagine.  How do they do that with this little tiny body?  Here, the frog clings to the siding of the house right outside our living room window.  So sweet and tiny.

Brussel Sprouts Gone Wild!

Yes!  I grew these this year for the first time.  Very easy and fun to watch grow.  So many ways to prepare brussels sprouts - here I seasoned them with salt and pepper then roasted them in balsamic vinegar at 350 for about 20 minutes.  I can't believe that I did not like these little cabbages as a kid.  Now, I love them.  The kids are really great about trying them when I pick them.  Tonight I harvested the last of my trees and made Rachael Ray's Sprout Slaw with them.  Katie liked it a lot - maybe she will be a fan as a kid.

Lemons from a California Garden

A colleague from work brought lemons back from her sister's garden in California.  They were beautiful, plump, firm, aromatic lemons.  Katie and I went through the cooler she offered to us and chose the most lemony ones we could find.  We brought home 20 lemons!  And made lots of lemonade.  Katie became a sugar adding expert.  Not too sweet, but just enough.  She even topped off the lovely juice with a sprig of spearmint from Dad's herb garden.  (He only grows spearmint!)

Garden Grows Greater

My green pepper harvest this year beat last years by 2 peppers.  This year, I grew three peppers that were 4 inches across when I picked them.  Yahoo!

Lake Wynoochee

We have this beautiful lake about 30 miles up the road from us in the national forest.  On this cool summer night, Arnie, the kids and I went up to barbecue a salmon.  We took a salmon that Arnie had caught that morning in the river.  He and the kids fished the lake while I barbecued the salmon, wrapped up with onions and lemon, and the corn.  For serving, I dropped Feta cheese on the fish, although I'm not sure I should print that since I hear that many chefs do not like cheese on fish.  We thought it was great, so who cares what the experts think?  I brought a fresh garden salad and goddess dressing.  The evening was quiet and cool - only a couple other people visited the park.  Too cold to swim, but wonderful for walking around the trails and visiting the dam.