Pumpkin Carving

By Uncle Hans

We had our annual Pumpkin carving/Salsa party the other night. ..............

 

..............once the pumpkins were cleaned out and ready to carve, we took a break for spaghetti.........

.....we ran short of time (one of us has an early bedtime as she has to go to first grade school in the morning), so we started with the salsa as the carving was going on............

....we made three batches. One for Jake (extra jalapenos), one for Renee and I, and one for Hannah (she puts corn and black beans in hers)........

.............we roasted up some seeds, mmmmmmmmmmm good!.............

...........Renee found an idea for a "pumpkin in a pumpkin" in a magazine so our jack-o-lantern has a poor little guy in prison..........

...........The others looked pretty good, too. Jake is the artist for one, Hannah for one and Annie and Laurel for the painted one........

......the usual "ooh. aah" picture. (oh! the memories of that first Blatz Pumpkin in Milwaukee!!).......

.....a picture is worth a thousand words.

(We are very short of little people, so 5 adults had a lot of fun and we used Annie as an excuse................)

Happy Halloween !!!

By Uncle Hans

TO DO LIST

WITH THE FALL WEATHER AND COOLER TEMPERATURES COMES THE FALL “TO DO LIST”. THE FALL LIST GETS CRAZY LONG BECAUSE IT’S JUST TOO HOT IN THE SUMMER TO DO ANYTHING. THE SPRING LIST IS TO WAX THE CAR AND PICK-UP, SIMPLE.

MARY STARTED OUT WORKING ON HER ZEN GARDEN, WHICH MARTY AND HER BUILT LAST SPRING BEFORE IT GOT HOT.

SHE’S WORKING ON GETTING IT ALL PAINTED, AND DECIDED ON BLUE AS AN ACCENT COLOR.  I’LL GET SOME PICTURES WHEN SHE’S ALL DONE.

I STARTED OUT WITH THE ANNUAL WASHING AND WAXING OF THE OUTSIDE OF THE TRAILER.

 

THE LIST WILL KEEP US BUSY FOR MANY DAYS OFF TO COME.

   “SUNNY & 80”

Seattle

By Uncle Hans

We got bit by the "wanderbug" again and got out the Love Shack for a weekend trip to Seattle. The first stop was an unsuspecting motel. If you look closely, I am stealing water from their outside spigot because I forgot to top off the water tank before we left...........

............we drove straight through, leaving at 0500 Thursday morning and arriving 0830 in Seattle at Renee's sister's. The only stop (other than gas and stealing water) was in Melrose to have breakfast with Dick and Rosie. If you add together all the time travelling to the airport, parking, security, waiting for the plane, flight, flight delay, waiting for a rental car, driving to the sister's, etc, just plain driving there does not take much longer. You can figure a day lost either way, and the sights are more interesting on the ground than at 35,000 feet.......

.....we took the kids, they live on the shelf above the refrigerator. They are very entertaining and make the miles go by quicker. A little un-nerving, though, to have something land on your shoulder at 70 mph.........

...........Renee likes to crochet to make the time go by, she makes dish cloths...........

.........we found a part of North Dakota that was pretty. We also crossed over the northern part of the new Frac oil fields. Lots of activity there and new roads everywhere.......

.......we were headed into the Rockies by the first sundown..........

......waiting in Seattle (actually Puywallup) were sister Laura and her daughter Brooke. Tinker liked them both.

Brooke offered Renee a manicure while they visited..............

...............after two fun-filled days we set out for home. The mountains made the Love Shack work really hard. Our pass on interstate 90 is 6300 ft high. We noticed a burning smell, more and more, but assumed it was the brakes or the transmission. Then Renee was looking through some things on the floor for her boots, when she found a patch of melting carpeting! Turns out there was a hole in the muffler, right below the floor, and the hot exhaust was melting the carpet through the floor!. We had no fire, but the acrid smell got pretty bad. Renee trimmed away all the melted stuff and the smell went away. A new muffler is scheduled for next week.....

...............The 1750 mile trip took two days on the way home, we camped out in a rest area in Montana somewhere. One sign we were happy to see..........

..............next trip? Who knows. Talking about Texas in March. The kids love Texas!.........

By Uncle Hans

OH HAPPY DAYS

TODAY WAS THE DAY, I FINALLY TOOK OUT THE BEDROOM AIR CONDITIONER AND PUT IT IN THE SHED FOR ANOTHER SEASON.

I’M TELLING YA, OF THE FOUR SUMMERS THAT WE’VE SPENT ON THE LOWER MOHAVE DESERT, THIS LAST ONE WAS THE WORST!  IT STARTED EARLY, IN MAY, AND THE HEAT JUST WOULDN’T LET UP. HERE IT IS THE END OF OCTOBER AND WE’RE FINALLY LOOKING AT “SUNNY & 80”.