Admiring the View

Something in today's sermon mentioned taking time out to admire the views around you.  Slowing down, refreshing your soul, really seeing the beauty of the world around you.  Before we were even back in the car, Mr. Scottie Dog asked if I'd like to take a drive up the coast.  We live in Eureka, CA...away up North in CA.  The sea is cold and rugged.  Since we will be moving this year to Minnesota we've already begun to experience some "lasts."  Last Christmas in Calif.  Last New Year's (spent taking inventory).  So on this trip today we slowly wound our way on the side roads up the Coast to experience the beauty of our coastal Redwood Forest perhaps for the LAST time.

 This is the view looking back at Eureka in the distance from above Luffenholtz Beach, just south of Trinidad.  Eureka is on the thin line of land in the distance. Even with my naked eye, I could see the pulp mill on Somoa Beach.  I like this shot Bill got with the Pampas Grass....somehow I think that long after man is gone there will still be cockroaches and Pampas Grass.

 This shot was taken just a bit North of the last shot.  That is Trinidad Head in the center top of the picture, sheltering Trinidad Harbour.

 As we drove down to the Trinidad Pier there were hundreds and hundreds of Crab Pots stacked up (so very more stacked just to the right of this picture too).  Workers were loading them into the back of trucks and onto trailers and then out on the pier and onto the boats.  Crab season has finally begun and every time we looked at the ocean we could see many, many boats out either setting their pots or bringing them back up.

 Here's a shot I found on the InterNet of a crab pot being uploaded on a boat.  At the harbour I had seen one guy with a huge meat cleaver chopping up meat bones to put as bait into the pots.

 We stopped at each of the Lagoons as we traveled North: Stone Lagoon, Dry Lagoon, Big Lagoon and Freshwater Lagoon.    There were a lot of kayakers on Big Lagoon.  As we drove up from the campground there we encountered this Heron who was much larger than this photo leads you to believe.  He was just sitting there taunting the cat that was about 20 feet away.  He was twice as tall as the cat and has quite a long and strong beak.  The cat made a twitch or two, getting ready to chase the bird but thought better of it.  In a battle I believe this bird would have won.

 Driving North again we came to these Roosevelt Elk eating right beside the road....again, they were much closer than this photo leads you to believe.  In all there were probably 60-75 elk in two adjoining fields.

This is as far North as we went....Trees of Mystery.  Here's Paul Bunyun and Babe the blue Ox (and our green Tahoe).  It was a great trip...sunny although quite chilly for us...temps ranged from 34-41 F.  Lots of frosted vegetation where the sunlight doesn't actually touch, even a few places with ice formed on puddles.  I expect that in MN and not CA.

Our visit with Beka and her family over Christmas was wonderful.  We had to say goodbye last Thursday morning.  The house is quiet now...and clean.  The dishwasher isn't running three times a day and it's quiet.....too quiet.  I keep listening for a little chaos....Now to begin to pack up our things.  We'll be moving before we know it (probably in the summer).  It's nice to know that we've made the right decision.  It will be wonderful to have all our family close.

Holidays

The Holidays.....around our house there are usually three holidays after Thanksgiving.

1. Christmas
2. New Year's Eve/Day
3. My Birthday

Several days before Christmas Beka and her family arrived for three weeks.  Liz fixed it so that I didn't have to work and spend time with all the grands.  The weather was fairly typical (rain, rain, rain) but we got around to shop some, eat a few special meals out and enjoy indoor playgrounds.  Lots of energy in Beka's four and Liz's one!  They range in age from Sydney 7, Jakob 6, Mercedes 4, Shiloh 2, Anastacia 1.  Like I said, LOTS of energy.  Grammy and Grampy loving every minute of it.

We went to Christmas Eve service with it's candle light.  Grammy was sewing doll clothes and new outfits right up to the deadline.  Look at Mercedes' smile.....Auntie Liz made her a Nurse's uniform.

Christmas morning was a hurricane of ripped wrapping paper, boxes opened, screams ("This is JUST what I wanted!"), laughter and ooohing and ahhhhing.  Beka and Jason cooked a wonderful Turkey for Christmas dinner with all the trimmings...and Jason's family recipe for stuffing.  Fabulous!

New Year's Eve  day usually means store Inventory for our family and this year was no different.  It's not terribly fun, but somebody has to do it!  But the evening found Grammy and Grampy staying home with all the grands and the "kids" off to party with friends.  I think by the time they have gotten into their 30's "Party" is a pretty mellow time. 

New Year's Day The weather has been beautiful and today the grands hiked the Headwater's Forest trail.  They had a chance to climb all over the redwoods in our yard and Grampy took them on a tour of his trucks, lifts and heavy equipment in the yard. Liz cooked a Prime Rib roast and we had some friends over for dinner.  The kids had their own table...they were happy with that!  I'm going to tell a story about that roast.  I don't think I've ever had such perfect Prime Rib.  Moist, savory, just the right amount of pink, crusty on the outside.  P.E.R.F.E.C.T!   But how it got there was interesting.  Liz borrowed a very expensive electronic meat thermometer so that she monitor the roast at all times.  She put it in the pan, set the temperature, shut the oven door and "locked it."  Two hours go by and the temperature of the roast has risen by 15 degrees.  That's when she realizes that by "locking" the oven, she prevented the oven to turn on!  My oven lock is only used in "clean" mode.  TWO HOURS of time lost and what to do?  Conference among the ladies of the house and we decide to put it in the microwave for 15 minutes.  Then another 15 minutes.  Then transfer back to the oven for 25 minutes and it was perfect!  Beka made the au jus....   I tell you, I think we'll always have to cook our Prime Rib this way.

 Today is January 2, 2013.  Tomorrow is my birthday and I'm blessed to have my husband, kids and grandkids with me to celebrate.  I'll be back to work in the afternoon today; back to "somewhat" of my normal routine. 

Great start to 2013. May it be a good year for us all.

Getting ready for Christmas

This time of year usually has us decorating for Christmas.  We are expecting a houseful this year and I can hardly wait.  Daughter Beka, Son-in-law Jason and the grands: Jakob, Mercedes, Shiloh & Anastacia will all be at our house for 3 weeks.  I'm so excited.  But that means we need to make sure we have room for them to sleep, eat, play and just "hang out" in. The guest room is ready, clean sheets, vacuumed floors, etc.  Beka and Jason will sleep there.  I've been tackling the secondary guest room lately.  It has been a catch-all for a couple of years.  There were boxes of fabric (only another quilter will understand that).  Boxes of miscellaneous office supplies, boxes of books, boxes and boxes of quilting magazines.  Why have I saved them for the past 25 years?  So I've sorted and cleaned and sorted some more.  Packed up boxes for future yard sale in Spring.  Packed up boxes of sewing fabric and supplies.  Packed up boxes and boxes destined for the recycling center.  And some of the boxes are sorted and marked so that they will eventually be opened in our new Minnesota home.  Of course we don't actually HAVE a home in MN yet, but we will one of these days.

I've been packing up boxes like this.  The house has been decorated for Christmas.  Tree is up, outside lights are up, garlands and lights circle the windows.....this year when it is packed away, I'll sort through it and we'll only be keeping the really awesome things.  The Nativity Figurines my mother made me 35 years ago.  The ornaments the kids made when they were 3 and 4 and 5.  The rest will be put in boxes for that yard sale.  I can buy new lights and garlands and a wreath in Minnesota.  This Christmas is a time for firsts: First time most of the Grands have been here for Christmas.  First time for Christmas dinner at Grandma's. And also the last Christmas in California.  Last New Year's....the countdown has begun.  And at 60 (nearly 61) I am ready for a new adventure moving across the country.

 But look at the boxes....it's already a lot of work!

Crab, anyone?

Last week I saw a couple of different friends on FaceBook post pictures of crabs they were going to be feasting on.  It's not yet Crab Season here in Eureka on Humboldt Bay in Northern CA.  I drooled at the thought of fresh Dungeness Crab.  Sweet, succulent, delicious crab.  Usually the season around here begins on Dec. 1, but I read somewhere that the crabs aren't quite ready and the season won't start until around Dec. 16.  Traditionally at the Scott Household we eat crab for Christmas Eve dinner.  Mr. Scottie Dog lets the kids who might be around play with the crabs a bit with a wooden spoon (the crabs grab the spoon, the child lifts it up a foot or two, screams and puts the crab down....over and over again).  Then he puts them into a big pot of boiling salted water (and a few secret ingredients) and cooks them up.  We chill them and put them on the table with salad makings, sourdough bread and a nice white wine for the grown-ups.

I commented on one friend's FB post about how much I liked crab and today I got a phone call from Karen.  She was coming from her Father-in-law's house up North and had crab for me!  Really?  Well, Karen, bless her heart, brought us four lovely crabs...cooked and on ice.  I'm certainly thankful for Karen and the crabs today!  Crab salad tonight, crab sandwiches tomorrow!

Karen's Father-in-law puts out crab pots and catches a few each day. 

And I thought I hadn't Accomplished Much!

Here it is Monday and I'm feeling "fuzzy."  What does that mean?  On Friday I noticed my nose was "sort of running."  Not really a runny nose, but every once in awhile.....  Sydney stayed home from school with a cough and since Mom was working at Redwood Sewing Center she came over to Grandma's.  We fixed lunch together, she watched Disney's Beauty and the Beast and Alladin and played with Legos.  Not a ton of stuff going on.  I sewed a bit.  Mr. Scottie Dog and I went out to dinner. Saturday I sewed a bit more.  But by Saturday night I felt a real cold coming on.  A fitful night and by Sunday  morning Mr. Scottie Dog went off the church without me.  The day passed in a blur....a cold medicine fuzzy day.

I came to work and thought I had accomplished absolutely nothing for the whole weekend.  Here's a few shots of my Farmer's Wife blocks I made this weekend.  I didn't realize just how much I did get done this weekend....remember these are 6" blocks!

Wed. update:   Only one more to do.....and I got it done on Tuesday.  I'm all ready for my classes in December. 

Today our store was closed for Thanksgiving holidays.  We'll have a HUGE Black Friday & Small Business Saturday sale.  Liz and I spent all day and well into the night (I got home after 10 pm) getting ready, setting up, cleaning up the store and finding more and more misc. from the back room to put on the sale tables.  We'll probably go back some time tomorrow and even though the sale starts at 10 am on Friday I am sure the two of us will be their super early.  Oh, the life of a Small Business Owner.  Happy Thanksgiving to all!  I'm thankful for YOU!

Phalange...that's what I'm talking about!

On Friday morning I was walking down the hallway to get to my computer.  OWWWWWWWWWWWW! Ow, ow, OWWWW! I had jammed my toe, my little toe!  Ouch, it hurt. It REALLY HURT.  I didn't say any bad words, but it was all I could do not to cry.  I know, I know....if I had been wearing shoes it wouldn't have happened.  But I'm 60 years old.  If I still don't wear shoes in the house, I'm not going to start!

Right away it looked like this.

Actually I got all pictures from the Internet.  MY toes aren't hairy, but my little toe was bright red and throbbed.

Now on Monday it looks like this.

Again, not my hairy toes, but the bruising looks like this now.  Bill checked it out and said it's not broken.  Well, maybe.  I'm not so sure.  It hurts more to wear a shoe so I've got some soft sided ones on here at work.  But I limp which aggravates my funky arthritic knee (the opposite leg) so I'm a gimpy old lady.  I know it will get better, I just need to give it time.

So here's a diagram of the bones of the feet....those little toe bones are called Phalanges (so are finger bones).  How small can those of the little toe be?  Pretty tiny and hard to imagine them in two pieces. 

My foot throbs some so I put it up when I'm at home.  But it gets better every day.  Amazing how God designed our bodies to heal. Anyway, phalanges, that's what I'm talking about today.