Etna...

Well, I've been meaning to post a few pictures of where we're at now for all of those that are unfamiliar with my hometown. These first couple of pictures I took last week.

Our street...taken from in front of our house

Our house where we are living with my parents...the house I lived in from age 2 to age 18.

These next two pictures are ones I took over Easter weekend 2007...not much has changed since then :)

The building where my grandpa's grocery store was on Main Street...this orange building was a Chevron gas station.

The elementary school where my sisters and I went and where Joshua is now attending 1st grade.

Nathaniel in the driveway after walking home from the library book sale last Thursday.

Dance Dance Dance

** I tried to post this last Tuesday, but blogger wouldn't load the videos! Finally, I got a couple to load tonight!**

Nathaniel loves music...and when it starts, he usually does too! He loves to dance and hop and spin. Last week he watched some dancing videos of his cousin Geddy on their blog and keeps talking about Geddy dancing (yes, he can finally pretty much say Geddy instead of calling his cousin Deado). Yesterday we finally got our little stereo hooked up in our bedroom and he was dancing to the music. I grabbed the camera and got a few videos of him and he wanted me to show them to Geddy...so here you go Ged, just for you, Naniel (like Daniel but with an "n", that's how he says Nathaniel) dancing. (My favorite is the second one where he spins in a circle the whole time and then tries to walk at the very end...he did that tonight while trying to do the Mexican Hat Dance at a thing at the elementary school...good thing his bottom is well-padded in his diaper!)

Joshua's First Soccer Game

Joshua had his first soccer game last night at the high school baseball field. There are 8 kids on his team...one girl ended up playing on the opposing team so that there would be an even number. Joshua started the night playing goalie. He was thrilled with that (& getting to wear an orange goalie jersey...the other team's goalie (a friend of his from school) had a hot pink goalie jersey and Joshua was very happy he didn't have to wear that GIRL color!)...he even stopped a goal from going in - YAY JOSHUA!!

He tries to "micromanage" the team from the goal box though...and is learning that you listen to what your coach tells you. His team (sponsered by the Fuzzy Dice Rod Shop...the kids have named themselves the Sharks) won 2 to 1, so they were all happy. His coach is a high school girl and seems laid back and okay with the purpose of playing to learn and have fun...not being cutthroat. The other coach, well, I've known her for a while and I've worked with her at past jobs and stuff...she's pretty cutthroat. She had a big white board out on the field and had the kid huddle with her as she told them plays to make. I could hardly keep from laughing...the kids are 6 and 7 years old...they all end up in a pack around the ball, no one wants to be left out. And in the end, her white board didn't help them win :) There are only 4 teams in this age group - two here in Etna and two in Fort Jones. Next Monday they play a Fort Jones team.

One other fun thing about Joshua...a few weeks ago Brian had an assignment for his folklore class that we all helped with...his professor gave them half a dozen proverbs that Brian had to have people of different age groups finish. Mom, Dad and I did okay finishing them...Joshua's answers were great. Everyone's seen the emails and stuff where first graders finish common sayings and such...well, here are Joshua's take on some....

• The pen is mightier than the paper


• A bird in the hand is a bird


• Fools rush in where wolves are


• You can't get blood out of a vampire


• Man does not live by a cow field


• A rolling stone can smush you

Another new Recipe

Since I posted a dinner recipe the other day, I figured I should follow up with a dessert. I've been wanting to make this cheesecake since I saw it in a Light & Tasty magazine in 2001! I can't believe it's been that long...but it has. I was going to make it last weekend, since we kind of had a plethora of pears, but we had peaches that we had to use up first, so Mom made a peach cobbler instead. Well, all the pears are canned now, so I made this yummy pear cheesecake Saturday night and we ate it yesterday. Even Joshua wanted more! I changed the original recipe a bit...I didn't have lemon juice or lemon peel so I added a few drops of lemon extract. And the original recipe had called for graham cracker crumbs to make a graham cracker crust. I opted to try it with gingersnap crumbs instead. Carol has a pumpkin cheesecake recipe that uses a gingersnap crust that is really good...and we'd have pears with gingerbread for Grandpa Elwood's birthday, so I knew that the taste combo would be good and it was very very good.

So enjoy!!

Pear Cheesecake

1 ½ c. gingersnap crumbs
1 c. sugar, divided
1/3 c. butter or oleo, melted
2 cans (15 oz. each) pear halves, drained
3 pkgs. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
3 T flour
2 eggs
½ c. milk
2 T lemon juice
1 ½ t. grated lemon peel

In a small bowl, combine cracker crumbs, ¼ c. sugar and butter. Press onto the bottom and 1 ½ in. up the sides of a greased 9” springform pan; refrigerate for 30 minutes. Place pear halves cut side down on crust.
In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and remaining sugar until smooth. Add flour; beat well. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Add the milk, lemon juice and peel; beat just until blended. Pour over pears.
Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Chill overnight. Remove sides of pan. Refrigerate leftovers.

Yield: 12 servings

I was trying out Mom & Dad's camera yesterday...ours has had a few too many drops (the last being in the snow) and it no longer zooms in...and with Joshua's first soccer game coming up tonight, I wanted to get an idea how the camera works since I'll be using it at the game tonight. Here's a couple pictures of the boys & Shadow playing outside. Shadow is loving her bit of freedom in the backyard. Last weekend, Dad and I put boards along the bottom of the shed so she couldn't crawl under it and he put some lattice between the shed and the fence so she can't get back behind it and up over the divider into the back behind his workshop (where Ralph used to go years ago). And since they have lattice type stuff on the top of their chain link fence to try and keep the deer out, she really can't go anywhere but the back yard...and she loves it. As you can see in the picture...she really enjoys the catnip that Carrie planted. Eventually, she might make it out of the backyard, but for now, since she's been an indoor (against her will) cat for 8 years, we'll just take it gradually. She's quite content in the garage for the most part. Occasional forays into the house are okay too...as long as she doesn't come into contact with Mouse, who, for a 19 year old cat is still fiesty.

something sadly necessary, but amusing...

For some reason, this little blurb in the county daily paper made me chuckle yesterday. It's a serious concern & problem and it is really sad that this kind of advice needs to be in the newspaper. Siskiyou County has a lot of wilderness area that marijuana growers seem to like. So do a lot of other places. In yesterday's Siskiyou Daily News, there was an article entitled, "'Busy week' for marijuana eradication team"...and goes on to talk about some raids in a remote area of the county. And then, in a little side box it had this:

Stay Safe
Marijuana harvesting season is here.
Stay safe in the wilderness by keeping an eye out for:

• Isolated tents/trailers
• Soil cultivating in unlikely areas
• Irrigation piping

Buck season starts on Saturday (Bow season is underway already)...a few weeks ago there was a similar type warning in the valley's weekly paper...but not quite so concise...and not in a pretty pinkish box. I guess hunters have stumbled across marijuana crops in the past. Might not end up a very happy encounter.

One more post for today...

mom and i have been talking about trying different recipes and tonight we tried one that was a keeper...it's from a Kraft magazine. Anyway, I love meals that have your vegetable & meat all in one...makes things so much nicer :)

Tatter-topped Casserole
(from Kraft food & family Fall 2008 magazine)

1 lb ground beef
1 small onion, finely chopped (optional…I used about a T of dried onion and about 2 tsp of garlic)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
¼ c milk
1 c frozen mixed vegetables
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1 lb frozen bite size seasoned tater tots

Heat oven to 375. Brown meat and onions. Drain. Pour into 8x8 baking dish.
Mix soup & milk; pour over meat (actually, I dumped the soup & milk into my frying pan with my browned & drained hamburger and stirred it all together and then dumped it into my 8x11 baking dish…didn’t have an 8x8 one…it worked out just fine). Top with layers of mixed veggies, cheese and tater tots. (I don’t understand why it says layers…you really only do just one layer of each…). Bake for 45 minutes or until tater tots are golden brown and casserole is heated through.

Pears...

A few weeks ago, Mom and Dad bought some pears from the stake's pear orchard up by Medford. None of us were able to go and pick...Dad was in the hospital, Mom worked, Brian was either in Davis working or at school up here and I had the boys. But luckily and thankfully, some people from the ward went up and picked and brought some down for us. We got 160 pounds of pears. And they all got ripe this past weekend! So between Saturday and Sunday Mom and I canned 31 quarts (and 4 quarts of peaches that someone had give us that we couldn't eat all of fresh). Then on Monday I canned another 21 quarts. My first time canning solo...Mom did peel and slice the first batch, but I finished them off and then did two more batches on my own. It takes me a lot longer to peel and cut than Mom does! Today we kept the Hurlbut/Lee Cannery closed, but we'll reopen tomorrow and hopefully maybe get them finished. Probably at least another 21 quarts to go. This weekend we'll have to do more green beans...and before we know it it will be time to pick the apples off the tree in the front yard (it produces a TON every other year and this is one of those years!)

Today, I went to Yreka with Dad for his last doctor appointment. Last week Brian took him one day and Nathaniel and I took him three other days for getting his foot cleaned and wrapped at the wound center...today he was able to drive himself, but I went along because I needed to get fingerprinted at the County Office of Education so that I can subsitute teach. That's all taken care of, all my money is paid ($55 to the county and $55 to the state - sheesh!) and they said that I could probably start subbing as early as next week if I want to. Well, I don't want to...the beginning of October will be soon enough, thank you very much. I am going to stop in at the school district office here in the valley on Friday and see what else I need to do besides get proof of my negative TB test from this past spring.