Canning, Pickling and Camping

Hello sweet blogging friends,

I have been having some busy,

but fun weeks.

The garden is ready and I have

been canning salsa and tomatoes.

 

 

 

A few years ago I discovered that 

if I stuck a plastic bag under

the corner of my cutting

board it was easy to sweep 

all my waste right in 

and eliminate a lot of mess.

 

 

Here's the tomatoes, peppers, 

onion and garlic all chopped

and ready for a batch of salsa.

 

 

 

 

Next I made a batch of my first ever

refrigerator pickles.

A friend bought some to a pot-luck

and they were so good that I asked 

for her recipe. 

 

 

 

Now's the fun part . . .

I went camping with Steve's sister

and her husband.

The following photos are from my trip . . .

 

 

These are all at Steamboat State Park

in Washington. 

This is where we camped.

 

 

On my drive home I stopped at the marina 

where Steve and I used to moor our sail boat. 

I have so many wonderful memories 

of those years. 

 

 

This is a favorite swimming

and kayaking spot that I stopped 

at too. There were two ladies around

my age getting ready to go swimming.

I would have joined them,

but it was very hot and I had

the dogs with me.

There is no shade and they 

would have had to been leased.

 

Well, now I'm home safe and sound.

With chores to catch up on.

The grass and weeds never take a vacation :)

 

 

Remember to look around you,

and count your many blessing.

Our God is good all the time!

 

Oh, I celebrated my birthday

while camping and my sister-in-law

made be a marvelous birthday dinner.

Steak, baked potato and salad,

followed by chocolate cake and ice cream.

How sweet is that!!!

Seventy-seven years and good health. 

Now that's a blessing for me to count. 

 

Keep Smiling,

Connie :)

Tweaking My Pick-Up Camper

 Tweaking the camper, come on in!

 

 LED light over the bed.

 

 

Electric Fan

 

 

Portable DVD Player

(Steve won this at a company

Christmas party one year and

we never really used it)

 

 

 

All powered by this baby.

(it can be charged at home, in the 

truck while driving, or 

by a solar panel)

 

 

Then a dear friend gifted me 

with a Walmart gift card,

and I bought this with it.

 

 

I built this over the wheel well.

You can't see it very well,

but I added a slot above it . . .

 

 Where I can slide this shelf in when needed.

The box is great for the lantern, paper plates,

cups and bowls and a roll of paper towels.

 

 

I can also turn it the other way,

and create a table that comes 

nearly to the bed, good for

eating or playing cards.

 

 

The porta-potty is tucked under 

this little desk

and inside is . . .

 

Toiletries and first aid. 

 

 

I'll fill the cupboard with

dry goods just before a trip,

and the little drawer is a great place . . .

 

 

 for eating utensils.

 

Hanging on the outside by the

tailgate are my cooking utensils.

Beside the bed is the tackle box 

with a tissue box handy on top

and under the bed are two bids, 

dish pads, fishing poles

and my wiener fork.

 

 

There are two stacked runner rugs inside 

for comfortable sleeping for the dogs

and easy shake out cleaning. 

 

Come on, let's go camping! 

 Thanks for visiting . . .

and please leave a comment.

 

Your blogging sister,

Connie:) 

Camping We Will Go

I have been looking for a jig 

that was in my budget 

and that would give me a little more 

(a lot more) independence.

I was about to give up . . .

When driving to my sister-in-law's

a little over a week ago I spied

this with a "For Sale" sign in the window.

I almost didn't stop because I 

thought it would be over

what I wanted to spend.

 

 

But instead it was a very well

maintained 2009 with . . . get this,

brand new tires and brakes.

Steve would like that :)

Yes, on my test drive I took it to our

friend, who is a mechanic and he

drove it, put it on the racks 

and gave it a good look over.

  This will give me a way

to run errands that I was depending 

on others to do for me . . .

Sometimes you just need something bigger

than your car to haul things.

 

 

 Well, after having it for a week,

and a bit of plywood from Steve's stash.

 

a bit of fabric from my stash

 

some small pieces of furniture,

that I had intended on putting

in a yard sale

 

and some camping gear we already had . . .

Hey, if a girl has to use a port-a-potty

she wants it cute, right?

 

 

This is the way the back looks now. 

under the bed I have two storage bins

and room for our fishing poles. 

 

 

I screwed that wooden box to the 

top of this little school desk

so that I could store small easy 

to get to items,

but I can still lift the lid 

for more storage. 

 This little cabinet has a glass door,

so I thought it would be a great

place for snacks that don't need to be on ice

and safely tucked where the dogs can't get them :)

I fastened it down with wire on the back side.

Hopefully nothing will be flying around 

while driving. 

 

That's it . . .

now when a friend says

"let's go camping"

I'm ready to roll. 

Well, that's my post.

I hope you enjoyed it.

 ~~~🌻~~~

Remember to put God first . . .

the Lord is always there waiting 

for you to say "hello"

He wants to be in your life . . .

protecting and guiding you each 

and every day :)

 

God bless you,

Your blogging sister,

Connie :)

 

Second Bedroom Re-Do

Some of you were surprised

that I built my own bed frames.

 

As you can see in these photos

it really wasn't that hard.

2X4 frames, then I covered the 

top with plywood, before putting

the mattress on.

They are quite strong.

Everything that I used to

decorate the room

came from our camper

and favorite things of ours

that hold precious memories. 

Lots of handmade items :)

Our cowboy hats. 

Here we are with our granddaughters

just after Steve retired.

We were taking them to their

first rodeo :)

A fishing trip worth remembering.

My first cowboy boots.

They used nails back then.

Steve's Dad's old camera.

 

This little candle holder

is from our camper.

This lampshade is actually

one of my Mom's 

old straw hats. 

I made this quilt for our camper,
as well as the pillows.
The sign and the oars I also
had made before and used here,
and the rocking chair has been
 around for a while.
It was in some things that I have
planned for a yard sale,
until I thought of adding it
to this room.

Steve's Dad's guitar.

Steve built this sweet shelf,
and I bought him the cedar flute
on a trip to Sister's Oregon
many years ago.

He would sit in the cockpit
of our sailboat and play it
in the evening when we were
anchored up for the night.

I have so many sweet memories.

This oil painting was done by
a very dear friend.

This one I swapped one of mine
for at a gallery years ago
after a showing.

 

This little fellow was a
Christmas ornament I purchased
a few years ago.
We have a tradition of adding
one new ornament each year.

Sock monkeys were a favorite
of Steve's since getting his
first one when he was a little boy.

That's our other bedroom . . .
like camping in a cabin in the woods . . .
instead of a farm cottage,
but I like it.

What do you think,
would you stay here?

Have a sweet day
&
God bless you all.

Your blogging sister,
Connie :)