A Beginning and an End

Babies everywhere are joining the world! We don't have any ducklings yet, but this mama allowed her baby to sun for a bit...but she was skittish and quickly dashed off with her young one. I am pretty sure it wasn't birthed today, but it is very tiny! 

 The end was this afternoon during the winds we've had. I was in the garage and had just stepped across the threshold to the gravel when I heard a noise. I looked up and saw a tree start to topple. Once I realised it wasn't going to hit anything important, I stood there with my mouth open, staring at the gentle fall of the giant. Sobering, sad, and yet powerful to watch. It wasn't pulled up by the roots, I checked it later, when I was sure it was not going to fall anymore.

 On the photo below, there are two stars. (Sounds sort of Dr. Seuss like!) The lower star is the base of the trunk. The upper star is as far as my camera phone would shoot! The tree keeps going-.

                   This next one was taken from near the back door. The bottom star is pretty far off the ground and you can see how much more tree there is in the trees!                                  

It wasn't kind to the springy young ones. 

 You can see how it is split in the trunk. I thought I heard that sort of a sound when it started to fall-kinda cool creepy.

 Unfortunately, this is why the giant was brought down. It was lovely on the outside, but completely worn out and full of punky wood on the inner rings.

Now, I need to get someone to come out and move it out from the 'snagged' position it is in! I'm really glad it is not near anything too important. I just don't want it to bring down anyone else with it! The young trees it is crushing may spring back..we'll have to wait and see!

Bacon Cheeseburger Dogs

Yes, you read that right. Keep reading and get cooking!!!

 There are links on the web for these cute tasty dogs. (not the one under the grill--which reminds me of a Laurel and Hardy skit!). They can be found on Allrecipes.com under All American Burger Dogs or here.  The last link is rather fun- It also has super easy peasy instructions. I usually have Jon help with each step and the photography. Since he wasn't around, Steve did it! He did a VERY good job. 

I would recommend assembling the ingredients and making the dogs ahead of time. 

INGREDIENTS: ground meat, seasonings, cheese to cut up into sticks, bacon, and hot dog buns. OTHER ITEMS: cling wrap, meat thermometer, grill. 

As you can see, they are simple. Whatever you want to add to your meat is up to you. Spices, bread crumbs, whatever! 

The first step is to make a squarish patty as long as a hot dog bun. I put them on cling wrap for ease of clean up and because they are faster to wrap. Put the cheese strip on one edge and roll it up inside the patty. 

 
 Most of the dog recipes mention the use of bacon, but don't add it. I did. Get thin stuff you can curl around your dog. MMMMM.

 When your dogs are wrapped in a bacon blanket, I then secure them in plastic. This helps secure them before grilling. Also, if you refrigerate them, they will keep their shapes nice like every well behaved pup on parade!

 UNWRAP them before cooking (yeah, no brainer, but sometimes people don't think!)

 Cook thoroughly-This is where I highly suggest using a meat thermometer. (135-150 degrees) Remember there is cheese inside and only put the thermometer in the meat portion of your dog.

 The cheese may escape from 'holes' in your dog. This is ok. Except, you are losing all that yumminess

 Place them on your prepared hot dog bun and ENJOY!

 Ours were a tad dryer than I'd like. Which is why I think we should have used a meat thermometer. Crunchy, gooey in spots, and filling!

I was very impressed with these guys and anticipate Jon and Steve will make them without me, just for fun!

A week in review-

OK, Moses isn't in the week. He wanted to be!! He does enjoy sitting on bags which people are trying to pack..or IN them! I think this was from when Steve was headed to a retreat. Moses is such a cutie! 

Steve was the chauffeur this week. I've had the privilege of experiencing this off and on while here these last months. It is a wonderful feeling! Especially if I get to sit in the front passenger seat!So, Steve took Mum to her preop appointment and then her surgery appointment. She may not have been knocked out for it and she may have two lines of vertical stitches to Steve's single horizontal one, but Mum got a fire drill!!! Thankfully, it was before the surgery started and was an alarm triggered by a drop in water pressure in the building. 

Steve did a LOT of chores around the house. Alas, we had talked about him changing the light above the stairs and didn't actually get it done because it was still working. The night of the day he left, it went out. 

 He also tidied up Mum's grill and cooked pork chops for lunch. We made burger dogs for dinner (next post!).

 He washed Mum's rig and wished I had told him about the mirror being gone. He'd have ordered one down there and fixed it for her.

 It rained much of the week, so tidying dad's shop and resting were pretty much the thing to do. He was sore from his surgery and so we got lots of time to sleep. Often Mum's was a House of Naps! (does anyone remember that story? Audrey Wood's, The Napping House) On Saturday, we went to see 'Guardians of the Galaxy 2' and then visited Dad.

 Later, Mum went to bed early and Steve and I rushed to watch the sunset. We almost missed it, we should have left just before 1030 and decided where we were going. We got to see it nestle into the mountains from Capt Cook State Park.

 The next morning, Steve finished up packing and a couple of other things. I didn't get my hair brushed, but he didn't notice.

And then, he drove thru the rain to Anchorage and finally got back to WW, where Jon picked him up late in the night. I hope he enjoyed himself. I know I did! 

Steve Up North-

Steve arrived late in the afternoon on Mother's Day. He had to take a nap on the way down. (he's holding his wrapped hand behind his back!!!)

Janet made chocolate shortbread/scones and we used those as a base for strawberry shortcake with ice chocolate chip ice cream and whipped topping. YUMMY!

Steve showed up and had his without strawberries~

Family photo of Janet and Lee and JaLeen with Mum. 

Steve's bag got searched. It must be a Hansell thing. I wonder if you put this tag in your bag before you left, would they think it was already searched? Usually they 'stamp' the tag, this one is blank!

Stunning day on Monday. This is down by the Tesoro docks. There were a LOT of people out halibut fishing. Most of them were using basic salmon poles with hooks sllightly smaller than the BIG ones you use out in the inlet for halibut fishing.

Picking up rocks-

After 8, we went down to the beach at Arness Dock. Steve wanted to take photos of the jack up drilling platform. (the link takes you to that post from Hansell notes) I found this GREAT piece of driftwood. Unfortunately, Steve said I couldn't bring it home. He said it wouldn't fit in the car.

Photo of rig by Steve- as good as one of Jon's!!!! While we were on this beach we met another family fishing for halibut. The 3 small girls had made cute houses from rocks and driftwood, they had made a kind of six plus foot tall tripod of wood (am thinking the 12 year old boy helped with that one!), and had two poles drifting with the tide. We got to watch the dad bring in a small chicken (halibut) and the girls were so much fun to watch! Squealing and jumping around! I wasn't sure if they were visitors or Alaskans, I'm thinking they were the latter.

On the way back to the house, we found this guy on the side of the road! He was absolutely focused on food and completely ignored all the cars stopped/passing!

We got home and were telling mum about the creatures when Steve suddenly said something like, 'there's another one!' We had a young cow by our house. Most of my photos didn't turn out very well, she was stately and moving quite purposefully around the edge of lake.

It was a very good Alaskan day. I want to get Steve a fishing license and tag for halibut, but I am afraid he'd forget and use the hand he isn't supposed to use! BAD idea~ He's pretty tired and doing quite a bit of resting in between sights and tidying up dad's shop a bit. It is good to have him here.