Almost September?

Wow, I haven't been back here in a few weeks,what have we been up to?

Well..we had a freak flash flood here right after my last post. I was home alone painting cupboards and thinking how I was glad our little dog seemed to be used to the sound of rain and hail on our metal snow roof when things took a turn towards chaos.

Mellow rain and tiny hail turned to pouring rain and grape sized hail with huge clacks of thunder and lighting.Then all of a sudden little dog was not too happy and pacing the bathroom floor. I went in to pick her up to reassure her everything was fine but she had a good reason for being upset.There was water bubbling up in the bathroom sink,not over flowing and when you live in the desert and the rain is pounding down I suppose it has to go somewhere?
I returned to the kitchen/dining room greeted by a big splat of water on the head and wet feet.Water was coming in from floor and ceiling. Ok,grab some towels and pots to hold it all back.
Then again little dog is pacing in the bathroom this time by the laundry room door.Open the door to three inches of water ,grab the new vacuum before it gets any wetter and pray the water will go down the drain in the floor when the rain stops.
Call Chance at work,he's stuck there for a while longer,they had a full house.Well get here ASAP would you? I mean come on if things keep up I don't know what I am going to do I am out of towels and pots or bowls.

 Meanwhile it's 45 minutes later and the storm is still pounding.Phone rings,it's my Mom ,I tell her the tale of water coming in. Honestly all one can do is laugh at this point,comedy is just the way to go when things get tough. I walk into our room to squish between the toes,Ummm Mom? I need to go,I will call you back. Three inches of water in our room too! Thank goodness it's a concrete floor and we have a door that opens to the out doors.
So I grabbed the mop,opened the door and started to push the water out the door. Chance is finally home! We move the furniture out of our room and finish shoving the water out.
By that time the rain and hail had stopped,the water in the laundry room had gone down on its own and my huge claw foot tub was now full of wet soggy bedding and towels.
Once we caught our breath we looked out side to see about 3 inches of hail on the ground and hovering above it an eerie blanket of thick fog. We can hear heavy equipment sounds coming from our neighbors behind us who live in a bit of a gully,that's not good.And we could hear their cow bellowing like it was not too happy about its evening being so rudely interrupted.
Our hens fared just fine. Although I will admit there was no way in hell I was going out to make sure they had put themselves in.Their temporary coop is made from tin and there was lighting going on,survival of the fittest was what I was all about at the time.

Nothing was lost,the vacuum dried out just fine and I spent a couple of days doing laundry.All over the property though you can still see storm damage.Our gravel road is now pretty rough in spots but Chance is going to have time soon to see if he can rake the spots out to make them at least a bit better.

Other than that it's been lots of company coming to visit.It's been fun showing our friends and family some of the places we have already found that we like.And I am trying to save  the goodness of having a houseful of people because soon there will be snow and no one will want to come over the pass to see us until Spring.

The flood did totally change our schedule for projects. Obviously we are now focused on making sure outdoor projects are done before the weather changes. The landlord is working with us to get the roof repaired so it won't leak again. We have wood to cut and stack,a very important task when you heat with wood. The storm was a freak thing and not likely to happen again soon but we want to make sure the house is weather tight once again.Having sat empty for over a year it needs some loving.  

I am finally feeling settled in and back to baking and have done some small canning . Chance has been busy doing lots of different lacto- fermentation,pickles, pineapple vinegar and sour corn (made like sauerkraut but with corn).
I must admit we both did a small little dance when we noticed the vinegar had grown a Mother,which is that weird looking blob you see in some vinegar or kambucha. We will be able to save it and use to make future batches of vinegar.

There's some foraging for wild edibles on our radar,meat curing and stringing green beans to make leather strap beans.
We have been watching a show called "The mind of a chef" season 2, a PBS program
about cooking and some of the science behind it. We were indifferent to the first season but season 2 has a chef named Sean Brock that we are really learning some interesting things from. Mr Brock has certainly put a spark back into our lust for getting back to basics,canning and preserving.

Still not a lot of homestead type projects going yet but now that we feel more settled that is about to change.I really am excited about what we will come up with here in this new place and environment.

Next week young Sol will start school,he's returning to public school to finish up high school.He's looking forward to meeting the local kids and being a part of the Americana Project at school.

Has the light changed at your house? It has here,looking more like fall light all of a sudden.And the birds have changed who is here now.My most favorite surprise birds are the Magpies, I love them and have never really gotten to see them being their noisy selves so closely before. What are the wild things up to at your house?

Until next time
Rois

P.S Did I tell all of you? We have a room mate,he's a fairly quiet fellow who mostly keeps to himself and very handsome.