July Happenings

Hey, Bailey, want to come over and hang out?





Oh, we have to dig some trenches for sprinkler lines. At least it's not patching asphalt or killing chickens.

With the passing of Cookies and Cream in the spring, Valerie's room has been lacking something. Well, her friend, Ruthie, needed to find a home for her hamster, Munchkin.







Valerie has a new roommate! Not great pictures. But I'll get some better ones. She has charmed us all.

Summer is slipping by so quickly! No boredom around here. The girls had a week of strings camp that was Beatles themed. Below you can catch some Elanor Rigby action. Valerie needed to play violin to balance out the ensemble. What can't that girl play? And Amira did a great job on cello.

Valerie got the opportunity to show Shetland sheep at the State Fair this year. She had a blast. Her 4-H leader had the kids work hard but also got them tickets to the water park and wristbands for the rides.

Here are Valerie & Josh taking the show halters off the sheep.



Valerie and her friends goofing around at the award winning booth.



Here's the team and the ribbons.


I was a big fan of the llamas and alpacas.


The baby miniature donkey was extremely cute ... As were the baby deer.







The one animal that impressed the entire family was the baby wallaby (well, there were three of them) in the petting zoo behind the sheep barn.





Amira said, "We need, not want, NEED a wallaby!"

I asked Rex if he got enough wallaby time at the fair. He said there is never enough wallaby time.

Then he went home and started researching what kind of a permit we'd need to keep a wallaby and where the breeders are. Michael is not sold on the wallaby as a pet idea. I was thinking it could just hop around the house and yard ... And it could sleep in a pouch in Rex's room. Alas, it is not happening any time soon.

Amira got to milk a cow at the UC Davis vet school tent.




Now there's a maid a milking!

I saw the cutest grill also:







How cool is that? No. Didn't buy that either. I showed a lot of restraint. I did not eat the potato tornado, deep fried grilled cheese sandwich, chocolate covered bacon nor the deep fried mac 'n cheese (on a stick)!

Valerie was eating a deep fried mystery food. I asked her what it was. She responded, "Clams!" Then she said they were making her feel sick. Ya think? Who buys clams (or any sea food) at the fair. So, instead of throwing them out, she calls her friend over, "Hey, Briar! Do you want the rest of these?"

Neither of them actually got sick. But the other excitement at the fair was on the day the kids got wristbands for rides. Josh came back to the sheep barn and said, "Well, some guy threw up on one of the rides. The good news is that he was sitting NEXT to Valerie."

When I asked how that is good news, he told me that Valerie was the one person who didn't get barf all over her. Niiiiice.

No photos! Aren't you lucky!

Home a few days and it's off to Santa Cruz for our last summer hurrah. Then I'd better to prepare for canning like crazy. Garden looks amazing in spite of the neglect.

Holy Cow!

Okay, I have been all about buying raw milk from a local farmer for the past several years. There are many reasons for this: food security, living foods, pro-biotics, digestive enzymes, etc.

As the kids are not milk drinkers, we consume less than a gallon a week. And I've really tried to curb the cereal consumption as well.

So, we've had a surplus of milk in the house. I've taken to making cheese and yogurt and encouraging the kids to make milk shakes.

Then one day it occurred to me how ridiculous it was to be tossing out milk to the chickens while buying ice cream.

Enter our friend the Cuisinart! Here's the first recipe we've tried:

3 cups whole raw milk (with cream)
1/2 cup sugar
2 raw egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla (steeped in vodka)
Dash of sea salt

Combine above ingredients with hand immersion blender (not standard blender- important!)

Chill mixture for 30 mins in fridge.

Slowly pour into running Cuisinart 1,5 quart ice cream maker.

Let it run until thick.

Finish thickening in freezer.

Totally relish the flavors, textures and nutrition!

Dang! I'm totally doing this again!!!

Busting Out

I was finally able to nab several cukes from the garden before they morphed into mysterious orange torpedoes. I soaked them in cold water and prepared to make lacto-fermented dill pickles. I was able to use garlic and coriander from the yard.

In addition to my (hopefully) fantastic pickles, I batched up what I hope will be some rockin' salsa as well using tomatoes, jalapeños and garlic from the garden. I did have to purchase the cilantro and key limes ... And onion. Technically I could have used my onions, but we ate all the good ones this year. The ones left behind have not been properly cured or stored and are, frankly, a bit sketchy.



I kept holding up jars of garden fresh pro-biotic delight to show Valerie. "Mommy, are you just really proud of yourself?"

Darn tootin' I am. Otherwise I would have dumped all this out to the chickens and kept my mouth shut.

And look here, we killed some sausage, watermelon and eggplant for dinner. Eggplant from the garden!




I know what you're thinking ...

Location:The Kitchen

Kid Shearing Day

Last weekend Rex and Valerie declared they were tired of long hair and decided it was time for the big chop. Amira wanted to get in on that action too.

So, Amazing Grace made a house call.

Before


During




The morning after







Valerie before





After



And Amira looks kind of the same. She won't let me take a photo.

To celebrate the shearing we went to see The Lone Ranger yesterday.




Today is back to the grind. Valerie is taking a babysitting course today and tomorrow. She'll learn CPR and everything.

Next week Rex is off to Boy Scout Camp on the coast. The girls will stay here and have strings camp where they play Beatles music all week. Amira should be in heaven.

Sweet Sea Breeze

Getting up at three in the morning and driving for ten hours was totally worth it. There was no stopping except once to get gas. And there were no movies ... Just the audio book of Science Fair by Dave Barry. (We recommend it!)


As soon as we arrived at Kelley and Bogie's house, the kids hooked up with their boys and headed to the beach.

Left to right on boogie boards are Will, Rex, Amira and Valerie.




Michael spent most of the time in the water too. Here he is waiting for our children who happen to be mer-people. I swear they have find and gills. They must get that from Michael's side.





Really, it's my job to hold down the beach and make sure it doesn't get away (can be tricky in California).




Bogie gave surfing lessons to the girls.

Here's Valerie:





And Amira:




And Bogie:





That night Bogie and Michael got to play some music together.




The kids got together for some old fashioned slot car races.




Then we had an amazing dinner (thanks Kelley!)




Wednesday was more beach romping followed by dinner at a Mexican restaurant in town.




Rex ordered an impressive looking shrimp cocktail.


The following morning, Michael took the kids back to the beach while Kelley prepared to go to an Independence Day event at a friend's home.

The kids were in for a real treat as there was a pool and hot tub situation (in case they didn't get enough beach).





In case that wasn't enough, there was also a bounce house and a splashy bounce house.




The Kona Ice truck was available to all ...










Here's Michael & Kelley poolside:




Michael and I loaded up at the taco bar and then Bogie took us for a walk in the hood. The Western White House for former president Nixon was right across the street.








Then we continued our stroll through the double gated community down to the water.







I couldn't resist taking a picture of what was Nixon's back yard.







Not saying I'm proud of being a gawker. I was just overcome by the moment. Love the variety of plants that grow down here. This neighborhood would not put up with my yard shenanigans.

We cruised back to the party for some pool and bumper pool.







And splashing ...




Then out to the hills for photo ops-a-plenty.

The kids were getting a bit surly at this point.








Once that was over we went home to freshen up for the fireworks display. Bogie & Michael jammed again as Amira played the part of groupie.





Before long, the sun had set. Here is their house at night.




And although we walked to the beach, the kids couldn't resist sitting in their "red" car.




We were down at the water again where we were going to see San Clemente shoot off the pier. We could see the impressive display from Dana Point as it had started earlier. When San Clemente finally started, a voice could be heard over the Oohs and Aahs, "In your face Dana Point!"


We could see the silhouettes of people bobbing on surf boards in the dark water when the sparks rained down. Eventually San Clemente finished and we turned our heads to watch their rival's finale. I heard, "shown up by Dana Point again."

We toyed with the idea of Lego Land on the last day, but no one could get enough beach time. So, back down to the beach with us.

There were sand dabs to catch ...


Seaweed to collect ...



Kids to bury ...







Mustaches to create ...


As resident land lubber and photographer, here is the view extending out over my toes:




On Saturday morning we said good-bye to our friends and turned north. We dropped Michael off at LAX to fly out for a job at 11AM. We didn't stop again until Pea Soup Anderson's at 3PM.





And then we were home by 7:30PM. Well, Amira would remind you that we were technically home at 7PM, but I had given my house key to our house sitter and Michael took his to New York. So, fortunately my in-laws had a spare for me. They also stayed behind to suffer the heat wave and bury a couple of chickens that expired during that spell. We were so lucky to be at the beach!!

We are grateful for our good friends, good family and good house sitter!