Last Days of Summer

Is this what qualifies as "dog days"???  I want to know.  I've heard the phrase, but never really got the specific gist.  It's been glorious out the last few days (mosquitoes not withstanding) and Ron is taking every advantage of the good weather to get the house "winter-fied".  He's painted most of the trim on the lower level and done the two windows in the front.  He tackled the big bay window in the living room and our pretty house looks fantastic now as you come up the drive.  I've been sitting in an office, smouldering, as the A/C is on the fritz and wishing I was out frolicking in the sunshine.

Porch & trim complete (except for the 3rd floor!)

Besides that life is pretty good here in little PEI.  We received a free 50 pound bag of potatoes and have distributed them amongst my work folk.  (I mean, who can say "no" to free ba-day-duhs?  Yes, there is no "T" in potatoes here, at least not traditionally.)

Our apple trees are full and we're at our wits end as to what to do with them all.  Our oldest tree has Gala apples, but it's been hit with blight, so most of the apples are ruined and the Granny Smith tree has been invaded by bugs of some sort, but some of the fruit is okay.  Only our little Macintosh tree has good edible apples, but it has tons of them!  I can only make so much apple sauce and it seems unwise to have a still in the outbuilding...tempting, but definitely unwise!  I've never had apple jack.  Perhaps I can figure out how to make cider.  The finches and hummingbirds have headed south for the winter, so we are left with only the blue jays, morning doves (or are they mourning doves...I'm not sure) and crows for amusement.  The leaves have yet to change, but that means the cold weather is coming and we aren't in any hurry for it.

Mac, Gala & Granny Smith - fruit from our "orchard"

Little Macs, all cleaned, in our kitchen sink

Afflicted Granny Smiths, some are salvageable.

Our "go to" Macintosh tree, no bugs thanks to the potato farmer...I think that's what's fogging the apples.

We're coming up to the one year anniversary of our permanent arrival on the Island, so we've been wandering down memory lane by reading the small journal I kept on our road trip.  On this day last year, we left Albert Lea, Michigan and headed for the Windy City, we got stopped for speeding and pleaded "metric" (who knew it was a defense - but our car has a digital readout), which seemed to work, as we got off with a warning.  We stayed in a hotel on the outskirts of the city and took the train in from the airport.  (Bless free airport shuttles!)

Ron's got a wacky idea in his head about starting a food truck with just desserts.  He figures we could make a killing at the university and colleges.  I think I'll put up survey to see if you think it's a good idea or not.  I recently saw something in an email about a guy who lived in a converted garbage truck.  (Not the traditional kind, something more cutting edge and NOT used!)  It made me think of doing the same thing for the food truck and calling the business "Garbage"...as in food that isn't good for you, maybe spelled out in desserts that look like the letters!  Too much?  Maybe.

Fall is coming...

They say pride goeth before the fall, but that's not the fall I'm talking about.  I'm talking, AUTUMN!  I know, I know, it's a dirty word, especially after the abbreviated summer that some of us have experienced, but tide, time and seasons wait for no man (or woman for that matter).  We're trying to get the house winter ready, which involves all sorts of industrious home repairs...window sills to be replaced and weather proofed, doors to be re-weather stripped, better curtains to be found, to cut down on the nasty nor'easterly winds etc. 

We've been quite pleased with our geothermal heating, as we're averaging (over the last 9 months) about $225 on heating and electrical, which is impressive given the fact that electricity is 3 times what you would pay in BC per kWh.  Be that as it may, there are always improvements to be made and maintenance to be conducted.  Ron spent 3 hours last weekend dumping out our two water tanks to clear them of any sediment which purportedly stretches out their life span by another ten years or so.  Because of the geothermal, we have two 60 gallon water tanks, so it took some time in doing.

We've tried to climb back on the workout band wagon and went for a 8.5km run (well, I had to walk some of it) this morning.  It was a fairly good day, as it's not too hot, but we did find ourselves running against the wind on a few occasions which made it a harder go.

My cake orders have fallen off once again and I'm starting to think about logos and such.  goDaddy.com shang-haied my URL and they want over $30,000 for it.  (Cheeky devils!)  I think I can secure takethecakePEI.com fairly cheaply, but that begs the question, what if we move?  Oh, I know...we never move!  (HA!)  The last tenants of this house were here only three years, but I'm still not certain that we'll break their record.  It's hard for both of us to imagine staying in one place longer than that, even though we managed to in the 90's, but the kids were little then.  The longest I've ever lived in one location is with my sister and that was for almost 8 years.  (I'm sure she thinks it was longer!)

Ron took pictures of the machine that makes the giant marshmallow shaped hay bales, so I thought I'd throw those in for fun and I made fish tacos a couple of weeks back & thought I'd throw in a picture of those as well.  (Too bad the cabbage wasn't a darker green, but the chipotle salsa was fairly tasty (HOT!) and the Mexican cream sauce made it go down quite well.  We used tilapia for the fish, but the batter could have been crispier - maybe my oil wasn't hot enough.  Live and learn.

The back hinges open and spits out the bale of hay.

Our farmer is old school - if it runs, why buy something new?

Not as pretty as I had hoped, but fairly tasty!

That's it from PEI this time.  I've added a flavours page to the cake blog, if any one's interested! www.takethecakepei.blogspot.com  Be well, all of you and congratulations Tom & Michelle on your 30th wedding anniversary!