Prepping For Winter

 We've got 4 cords of wood & as long as it's not too cold this winter, it should last till spring.

Locals are trying to get $600 for a cord of cut wood, even if it's a true cord its way overpriced and electricity is cheaper.

I've been canning, peaches, apple pie filling & other stuff. I'm no pro at it but any foods I can save is good. 

I had Mora Pick up another one of these at Goodwill the other day, I've already put it to use freezing cream & now when I want to make tomato soup it will be yummier with cream instead of just milk.

I bought a #10 can pf dried bell peppers, I put it into individual pint jars and will include it in Christmas gift baskets. I've already gotten R2 & Sarah a bunch of stuff, I've made her a bunch of pillow covers too that she can change throughout the year, but I'll make her a nice basket too. Maybe when Mom gives me the cash to purchase all the Xmas gifts, I'll give R2 & Sarah a few buckets of Patriot freeze dried foods.

Horse News:

The breeder suggested I take Amble to the vet & have her reexamined to see if she is in foal but I'm fucking broke so lied & said vet couldn't find anything. If she's pregnant, I'll know by next spring, if she's not, I'll have her bred for a 2028 foal. 

I have resupplied supplements so either way, she will be healthy. Around the PNW the ground doesn't have enough selenium and horses and foals can get sick without it.

This supplement has been around for a long time and it's made for horses in the Pacific Northwest. It's also super expensive, $116 for 50#. I only feed 1/2 a serving because my previous vet said to check the ingredients with the other feeds they get and to not double does them.

At work I'm pretty sure they ripped me off on 8 hours, but they will NEVER believe me, so I'm out 18 hours in just the last few months. Fuckers. They do that shit ALL THE TIME. 

Waking Up

Breakfast

I made a dozen breakfast sammys this morning, hopefully they preserve well in the freezer. I used 2 lbs of pork sausage, 24 eggs and a dozen english muffins, added shredded cheese on top of the eggs.

We've been spending way too much money on store purchased single serve prepackaged meals and I'm fighting to keep our expenses down. Yesterday I also put 5 packages of stew into the freezer, each one is about a bowl full of yummy soup. I'll be on the look out for a small silicone baking pan like this one so after they are frozen I can store them better. The stew in in baggies and they're flattened but I can do better, one way or another.

I just know I need to get our expenses lower. Everything is going up but my paycheck won't, now for the next 2 years at least. Fucking state didn't even show up for contract negotiations yet the fucking governor got a goddamn raise. Fucking dickweed.

I finagled my way into getting 2 shifts this week, yesterday I offered to come in just in case Dave couldn't make it and he didn't, so I had the shift. Then I 'offered' to come in today for the same hours, JIC, and not only will I have a shift but I've been upgraded to seller. We make a few more bucks hourly as sellers. At our dock it makes a huge difference, as a lot of other docks its a huge difference. We're not as busy as Kingston, Bainbridge or Colman and their traffic people have to be outside in the weather ALL DAY.  

I took this photo yesterday, its kinda aery. 

The horse breeder suggested I take Ambleside into the vet to have another ultrasound done to see if she is pregnant but I can't afford it. I figure I'll be able to tell come spring time if she is and I know the due date. I also plan on having the vet check her out in May just to be getting ready for a spring breeding for an early 2028 foal. 

It's weird not having a dog at home and I miss Clare.

And Hagen, John Henry and Picabu too.

 

Live Cameras In Places I've Been

 Overland Hotel, Pioche, Nevada

Weather Cam | The Overland Hotel & Saloon

Annecy, France

annecy-tourisme webcam - Le Lac

Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England

【LIVE】 Live Cam Newcastle - Central Station | SkylineWebcams

Mt Rainier, Washington, USA

Mountain Webcam (U.S. National Park Service)

Kaanapali Beach

Maui, Hawaii, USA

Kaanapali Beach, West Maui Webcam | Maui Kai

Whistler, Canada

We drove up to Whistler, its about a 5 hours drive, 275 miles.

Here's the Port Mann Bridge, when the loan was paid off, they removed the toll.

We go up to celebrate the Canadian Thanksgiving with Kari, Eldon & their family.

In Whistler Village

Namesake: Whistler was originally called London Mountain (named in 1932 for heavy fog and rain), but was renamed Whistler in the 1960s to honor the loud, piercing warning whistles of the local marmots and attract more resort visitors.

Here's a Photo of the Hoary Marmot.

We went on a 3 mile hike to the Ancient Cedars Grove, quite a nice UPHILL hike. The trees are up to 1,000 years old.

On the way up Lan had an 'episode', kind of like low blood sugar. He was sweating and light headed and had to stop a few times. We told everyone it was his back and leg but we both know. We NEED to change our diet, lose weight and get back to being healthy.

The participants in this years Thanksgiving dinner were:

Lan & me

Kari & Eldon

Jason, Jelaine, Wilder, Wynter and Harrison

Jolly, Quinton, Anna, Amelia and Louie

and Q's sister, Crystal.

All the kids are 6 or under, with both babies only a year old. It was loud & none of the parents followed through with their threats to their kids & the kids were brats. Jumping on furniture, throwing things, yelling, crying. 

 

Ah, Work

On Sunday Cathy & I had a little fun at work.  

It was a beautiful day and we decided to make it fun.

Took a bunch of photos and had Mike take a few as well.

We were even allowed into the wheelhouse for a photo but I can't show it here.

Then on Monday the MEBA engineers had a sick out with 23 people calling out sick and only 5 of 18 boats running. Most of the day was fine but toward evening an old lady got in my face & started blaming US. I tried to be nice to her, really did, but once you start blaming people who are actually AT WORK for the boats not running, that's BS. So I walked away and told her if she's going to be that way she can just leave. 

It was very stressful, just knowing that someone could/would start bitching at us and then a few issues with loading cars, nothing big but weirdness. Then we had SO MANY walk-on people coming to the wrong place. OPs called at 2:55 to cancel the 3:00, making it the 4:15, then we were supposed to have a 7:55 but it got cancelled at literally the last minute. That's the boat the old lady was supposed to get on and if it had run, she wasn't in her car and would have missed it anyway. Bitch.

I stand with the engineers and do not blame them one bit, they haven't had more than a 2% raise in the last 4 years and the state doesn't want to give them one for another 2 years. That's bullshit.

We're leaving Thursday to go up to Whistler, Canada for their Thanksgiving with Lans cousins. Last year we were there & they had a shit ton of drama, I hope the asshole DIL gets her shit together and can relax this year.

 

SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder

Its Fall, when everyone gets depressed & grumpy.

I try hard every fall not to let the changing weather affect me but sometimes it still does. 

I hope you all have a great Fall and Winter.

In horse news, Wifi and Amble are happy to be back together and eating pasture grass. There's a big storm rolling in and I'd like to have them in the barn but right now the truck & dump trailer are in there with a load of currently dry firewood. I do not trust the mares to leave the truck alone or not hurt themselves on the trailer so they will stay out front with protection for the weather under the huge Fir trees.

R2 & Sarah will be joining us for dinner, steak and salmon, I can't wait.

 

We Lost Clare Yesterday

 I'm sad that I can't find a single photo of Clare on my PC since my son 'cleaned it up for me'.

Clare was our English Mastiff, we'd gotten her when she was 4, and she had just had her 4th litter of puppies. She was a good girl every day but for the last couple years she'd had one issue after another. Icky ears, allergies, weight loss; lately she'd been puking up everything she ate so we made the decision to let her go.

This is the first time in many, many years that I woke up without a dog in the house.