Good morning all, Well the great news is that the sun is shining and it looks like the weather is going to cooperate and give us a nice day here. There is a chance of sprinkles later on in northern New England but we should be fine in CT. Im hopeful that I can get the rest of the orchids in the house before we leave for Hartford. Michelle, as I expected, your flower arrangement is gorgeous! I always enjoy seeing what you do with cut flowers. ~~ I cant believe how fast your little cutie is growing! What a sweet little girl. Pretty soon well be seeing pics like this of Ts new little grandbabies. T, wow, you are getting a lot accomplished this weekend. Are you planning on having the new critter shelter done before the snow comes this year? And the thought of fencing makes me cringe! Of course you cant put in a single hole in the ground here without excavating a couple boulders. ~~ Glad to hear your temperatures have moderated. Weve had comfortable weather here for a month now. ~~ You are so right about the day length. The real tell for me is that I dont get any sun in the east facing windows of my dining room any more. We get direct sunshine in here for two months in the summer and its now gone for the year. Bumer. Mary, Oh no about your DH having to give up caffeine! That is such a bummer. Please give him my condolences! I seriously feel for him. I remember discussing coffee with him when we visited this spring. ~~ Love to hear about your making your own tortillas. You are such a creative cook. ~~ How neat Annie is making pickles. Norma, it sounds like you had a productive day yesterday. How much pasture land do you have if it takes you five hours to mow? Holy cow! V, sorry your DS has a sore throat but it is good thing you got him to the doctor before it got worse. ~~ Sounds like you are going to really enjoy that firepit. Ill bet you get a lot of use in the fall? Wish I had room for one. Were still thinking of getting one of those propane fueled patio heaters so we can extend the season outside a bit. ~~ So tell me, whats wrong with the salt shaker in that painting? LOL Marian, thanks! Glad you like the dahlias. Also glad to hear that Tiger is feeling better. What a worry for you. ~~ RE fuchsias, I might just have to send you a Beacon Rosa in the SPRING so you dont have to winter it over. LOL Have you heard from Eileen lately? Im a bit worried that she hasnt popped in here for a while. Martie, sorry about the corn getting knocked over. RE Okra, they do have pretty flowers as I recall. I actually love okra, especially in soups. ~~ Im looking forward to trying out that coffee in Vernon when I get to come down to visit. Saucy, how great youve got your pantry all ready to use. Thats terrific. Any storage is fabulous in my book. Sue, Ill bring a couple stakes down for you. I hope you guys have honed your appetites. It sounds like we are going to have a feast today. Okie dokie, Ive got to get out of this chair and do something productive with this morning. Have a great Labor Day everyone, Deanne

Hi Everybody! I can't believe how this week has flown by. Tomorrow is weigh-in day again! Other than more demolition on the kitchen, I haven't been getting my exercise. Actually, I should be doing my step aerobics right now, but here I am instead. The days are getting noticeably shorter, but the temperatures here are still warm. I guess we will be getting remnants of Ivan in the form of rain, rain, rain for the weekend. But I can't complain. My heart goes out to those affected more directly by the recent string of hurricanes. Well, I wore a pair of jeans today that I had not worn for a looong time. They fit, and were not tight. I know that the changes in my diet are really working. Yellowhair--I wonder if we will see Bunny Tracks here. I really love the Skinny Cow fudge bars. My DH is now eating them, too. You know, I have never had problems with my feet. But awhile back when I was trying to take long walks, I started having a problem with my big toe. It felt like it was sprained or something. It was very odd, but it just went away. DH has lots of trouble with his feet. I am sure it is just that we are getting older. Anyway, he has heel spurs, which are bony growths that kinda jab you from the inside. he has other things going on too, and has even been through physical therapy. He says they told him that whenever he is getting pain to quit whatever activity he is doing for awhile. In other words, if it hurts when you do that, don't do that! Kathy--When I first got into gardening and landscaping someone, who was a seasoned gardener, told me that a garden wasn't really yours until you had re-invented it about a million times. Well, they didn't say it quite like that, but that was the general meaning I took from it. I was fretting because the year before I had planted a shrub that I now thought would be in much better spot if I moved it just 4 feet. I wasn't sure it was worth it to go to the trouble. The advice I got was to go for it. I did, and I am still glad I did. And that is still my approach to gardening now. I am always seeing something that needs to be improved and gardening is all about the process. So it sounds like a change will be coming to your garden soon! DeeMarie--Talking about your commute reminded me of when I was doing that. Several years ago, I drove 50 miles one way to work. It took an hour and a half on most days with traffic and all. DH says I used to come home in the worst mood. It is interesting how we get ourselves into these things. I mean the trade-off for a job that you love vs. having more time for activities at home vs a nice paycheck vs whatever. I try not to regret the decisions that I make, but it sure seems that life is all about the trade-offs sometimes. On that note, I will wrap up this longwinded post. Eat healthy!!

When smoking pork ribs or butts, I regularly make one of these sides to put under the pork for the last couple hours of cooking. The porky goodness drips onto them and adds some ridiculous flavor on top of the smoke. Keri's Hog-Apple Baked Beans Potatoes Au Gratin I just made those very beans this weekend along with a beef brisket, burnt ends, and corn on the cob all on the grill. I leave my corn in the husk, but remove the silk and let them soak in water with a little sugar for about an hour. Then just cook until there's a slight char on the husk and the kernels darken a bit. I have in the past used that same grilled corn to make this Mexican Street Corn Salad which I am obsessed with. For steaks, I pretty much exclusively do the reverse sear method. I almost always use ribeye and the reverse sear is perfect on a ribeye as it gives it time to render down a lot of the fat. My go to seasoning is Montreal, but will sometimes go simple S&P and maybe some garlic salt. I normally season right after I start the grill which takes about 45 minutes to get up to temp and stabilize. If you prefer to keep your meet in the fridge until grilling time, you can do that too. I aim for a temp of 225-235 on the grill, and I grill in-direct. I use a leave in probe and pull the steaks when they hit 125 degrees which takes 35-45 minutes. I then prep the grill for direct heat, and jack up the temp to 500-700 degrees (takes about 10 minutes which is perfect to rest the steaks during this time). The steaks get thrown back on the grill to flash sear for about one minute per side which with the rest and the sear normally brings the temps up to about 130-135 depending on your steak thickness. Steaks are perfectly cooked edge to edge and deliciously juicy. When I grill salmon, my go to is to use cedar planks as it gives them an amazing flavor. I typically stick with sockeye salmon as to us it's so much better than the atlantic we can get here in MN. I portion them out prior to cooking, and use a bit of salmon rub and cook until flaky. Because of the planks, you don't get the crispy skin, but I don't miss it.

Got the door painted today! I had a can of paint with about 1/3 of its contents left, so I needed to go get another quart before I began the job. Of course my favorite hardware store was closed today. Then I drove to the local Rural King - no exterior latex paint on their shelves. Drove all the way into Lowes and found some for $18. When I got home I got my painting supplies basket out and - in it there was a nearly full quart of white latex exterior paint. grrrrr. Not sure I could have taken the new can back? So now I have enough white paint for a future project - IF I can remember I have it.