Lemon meringue pie

I know, I know.

It's autumn and I should be reveling in all things appley or spicey, gingerbready or molassesey.

But you know what? I really wanted a lemon meringue pie. And since company's coming to dinner, I just went for it.

Maybe it's the peaks. They remind me of the scenery last night from the trailcam retrieval adventure.

See? more peaks!
(I wonder if there are any bears in this shot?!)

Trail cam excitement

Remember I wrote that on Sunday we took a drive up into the hills to get away from it all? One of the things we did was set up the trail cam.

You know, just to see what there was to see on this little trail next to the road...

We took another long drive up this evening to retrieve the trailcam. Since dusk was on us, we expected to see lots of animals we could photograph. We only saw three, however. The first was a deer, but he was too quick and ran off before we could even get the camera out. The second were some spawning sockeye, but they were too deep to get a photo. The third was a bat, but he flew away quicker than we could hit the shutter release button.

Returning home, we were further disappointed to find that only three videos had been recorded on the trailcam. Three of our four cats were crowded around the cam, however. The first one sniffed and hissed. The second one sniffed and ran. The third cat took a few licks of the bungee chord, raised the fur on his spine, and dismissed himself as well.

The first clip on the trailcam was Mr. Boom, looking around quickly, thinking he'd heard something nearby.

The third clip was a video of us retrieving the camera.

The second clip--shot a mere hour before our arrival, and the only one that we hoped might contain an image-- is below.

There are three animals in this clip. One is obvious, the another is in the background toward the end, and the third is in the midground at the very end.

This was the third time setting up the camera this year. I think we got it *just* right, don't you?!

UPDATED to add: Mr. Boom put the video up on Youtube. The quality seems to be a little bit better on that site than it is in Blogger. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D1FsrybiR0

Weekend recap


This past weekend was by far one of the most productive weekends we've had around here for awhile. 


Saturday morning started out cold and dreary, with me staring at the bathroom floor.  Not only were we STILL not going to Crater Lake (boring old family, anyway!) but the bathroom floor didn't get repainted this summer and now it was cold and wintry and I'd have to stare at this stupid old not-very-well painted floor for another whole winter because I was too lazy to do it this summer and it's all just stupid anyhow, isn't it, and my toes are starting to look kinda old.


Then I had some coffee and the sun came out and the forecast said it would get into the low 80's.  Boo-yah! 

This weekend I cleaned and repainted the bathroom floor, Mr. Boom repainted the house trim I accidentally stripped off, then not-so-accidentally finished stripping a week ago.  We repainted the swinging bench on the back porch, and I even (finally!) got around to finishing up the paint job on the front porch columns, a job started (I kid you not) about six years ago.


Oh, and I also opened the beehive to check on the health of my favorite little hymenopteras, and give them a little bit of a menthol mixture proclaimed to be the best at preventing bees from getting mites or dying off in other mysterious ways.  Also, we managed to mow the lawn and till some straw into a garden bed that needs some serious help with its vegetative content. 

Sunday morning I woke up ridiculously early and persuaded Mr. Boom to get out of bed to go hunting.  And guess what?!! We (he) finally brought home a grouse for supper!  In case you're keeping count, we're up to grouse-6 and humans-1.  I also found a rather nice cep which was served up as the best little side dish to the best little grouse breast and leg ever.  Yummy! 



Oh, and doughnuts.  We also made more doughnuts on Sunday.  Yum.  Oh, and twice-baked potatoes.  Mr. Boom makes a killer twice-baked.  We had those for dessert a few hours after our grouse entree.

Yes, a great weekend here.  The touch-up work on the front porch continues, but the weather is holding up for now, and is expected to stay nice for the rest of the week.  I think we'll get it finished and I won't be fretting it over the winter through.

I love fall!