late summer treats

jambaloney here!!!

it has been a hot and hazy august with PLENTY of swimming!!! not too much in the way of early morning activities, but one morning i did catch a fog as it was clearing...

 there were dew covered spiderwebs everywhere!!!!!

 late in the summer there are bugs of all sizes everywhere... not the fragile early season hatches, but big hardy bugs like grasshoppers, butterflies etc... the spiders flourish as well, it's just you don't see all the webs except on mornings like this..

 walking to the river...

 there was a heavy fog when i left, 5mins later it really started to clear out - a sign of a hot day coming up!!

 i was still able to catch some pretty surreal pictures..

 webs on the way back..

there were all kinds of these tunnel webs in our yard..

 15 mins later - the fog is really clearing our front!!

 and out back - going to be gorgeous out today!! you can be sure we went swimming!!

 a couple of days later, i was up earlier and decided to try fishing. when it is really hot, the trout disappear, but by mid august, the evenings are longer and colder... nice sunrise!!

 a stunning morning on the river!!!

 and breakfast!!!!! the bottom trout is a small brown trout, they don't get big here, at least none i have seen yet. yes, it was a yummy breakfast ;-)) trout season is almost over...

but blackberry season is in full gear - the weather has to be perfect (note a few late raspberries)

 here is another load!!!!!! we have about 5 lbs in the freezer so far....

wait until i tell you about these!!!!

hope you are all having a great summer - cheers all!

we were pranked! bahahahahahahah!

i think that i have mentioned many times just how much we love the various characters in our community. we haven't met a single person yet in our two communities that we haven't liked. we aren't crazy about some of the "cottagers", but as for the people who live in our two communities year round - we love them!

one of our friends S is a real hoot. and a cottager to boot! but we love him! he loves our communities and is out here every chance he gets. which is strange for a guy born and raised in Sydney (the island's only city). he's a car salesman and very successful. he's only 35 and already owns a place in the city as well as land out here that he has a trailer on. he is very generous, very funny and always loves a good laugh.

anyway, since moving here, we have always kept a chain up at the end of our driveway. it's so that anytime anyone wants to drop by, they first have to toot their horn at the bottom of the driveway. this gives us a chance to get some clothes on - bahahahahah! everyone here knows to toot as there have been a couple of near nude disasters. for example, our friends A and K were doing the census for our volunteer fire department. they parked their car at the bottom of the driveway and walked up. both doors to our plastic wrapped porch were propped open so they stepped into the porch, knocked on the door and then K yelled out "hey guys"! we were in the hottub out back - bahahahah! when K yelled, i screeched and jambaloney yelled - just a sec K! jambaloney then grabbed my bathrobe - he didn't have his with him - and he went around the porch in my flowery, too small robe and A and K didn't blink an eye. needless to say - that story is still being told all over the island! but it kind of cemented the fact that we REALLY do run around naked all of the time and though some of our friends might think that's a little strange - they just accept it as they do us. they are some really fine people.

continuing on and back to S, we had a dance a few weeks ago and he brought some of his friends. when jambaloney and i went out on the deck to where he was with his friends, S introduced us. these were his friends from the city and we had never met them before. the first thing out of their mouths was - "oh are these the nudists?" - we all burst out laughing because apparently S has great fun back in the city telling people about his cool friends in Framboise who just moved from the city and are nudists - bahahahahahah!

allrighty, back to the chain at the driveway. S told us that he really wanted to prank us because that chain drove him nuts. he at first thought of cutting it one night but that just wasn't flashy enough for him. then he thought and thought about it and it finally came to him - he wouldn't cut the chain - he'd change the lock - bahahahahahahah! we killed ourselves laughing and told him how funny that would be! he then said he wished he had have done it!


we met up with S on this past saturday at our community dance and had a ton of fun like usual! the next morning, and it must have been early, jamie saw something white down at the end of the driveway! so he went down to see what it was!

it was this:

bahahahahahahahahahahahaha! oh this was way too funny!

we intended to keep it up forever but he had only used masking tape to tape it to the chain. we took it down yesterday because it rained yesterday afternoon but this sign was up for a few days and if everyone in our communities hasn't had a chance to see it - most of them did - everyone will definitely hear about it! people will be laughing about this for months and years!

that S....he's a real hoot!

our awesome friend Flier389 from Granddad's Corner is the epitomy of awesomeness and friendship!

how many of you want to see this gorgeous specimen of a man wearing nothing but a thong with ALLLLLL of his body hair shaved and/or waxed off???





come on...i know that the majority of you want to see it and there are definitely some of you lurkers that want to see it, too!

heck - i paid good money and will be paying more to see it! i even offered to purchase his thong!!!!


why on earth is our friend Jim volunteering to do this? because he wants to try and help his friend.

i know about friendship because of jambaloney....and my sweetest and dearest Helga...i also know about friendship from all of you. when i think back - it is only a year and a half since we started this blog and yet i count all of you as my friends - there are more of you out there than there are in our two communities?!?!?!?


i will let Jim tell why he is willing to do such a crazy thing - his words follow below:

"I'M READY TO ROCK THIS THING!

Okay, everybody. Let's rock this thing for Bob!

Please use the ChipIn widget to your right to donate. Here's a link to my ChipIn details page: http://granddadscorner.chipin.com/bobs-chemotherapy-and-medical-expenses
This link takes you to the ChipIn page that details the goals and actions that go with levels of donations.

I'm ready to become hairless to help a friend with a bill or two. No donation is too small. I'm still looking for a purple G-string or butt floss (thong). But, we will find one or two. Someone said I should wear a pink one. So, I will try to do as asked.

All of you who follow my blog, please pass the word to others to help Bob. He is an Air Force veteran, which may interest some.

As we go along, I will be posting updates. So keep coming back to see if I'm naked yet!

It has been a while since I have done anything crazy like this. I'm looking forward to it. Especially since it will help a friend. It will be fun and I hope it will put a smile or two on everyone's faces.

Thank you all for your support and your donations.

I wonder how much all the hair on a human body weighs. Plus, if the hair on my head is long enough it will be donated to Locks of Love (I guess it depends on how long before I reach $500 in donations.)

This is a win-win for everyone:

• I get a fall shearing
• Bob gets some money to pay a medical bill or two
• Someone else will possibly get hair for a wig
• and you all get to see me get sheared, so there's a show! With me in a thong (or two.) I hope that I don't burn anybody's retnas out.

So, lets get this thing going. ON YOUR MARK, GET SET, GO!! I hope it's not to drafty."

you can go to his blog and read his above words here. you can get more background on the story here.

Jim has a friend that he loves and is trying to help. Jim is my friend and i want to help him. his friend Bob is a veteran and if i can do anything to help a veteran, i will.

please head on over to Jim's blog and leave him a word of encouragement. donate if you can. pray for Bob. and if you wouldn't mind - please spread this story on your blog or on your facebook page or wherever you can.

here's a beautiful sunset for my sweetest sister Helga!

 

Sandy, Jane, PracticalP and lotta joy...i hope that you guys love it too!

is there anything better than comfort food? i think not. and comfort food for me is smashed potatoes and gravy and big chunks of roast on a piece of bread. oh and some kimchi. i loves me some kimchi!!! and gravy! i love gravy - i make mine from my own home-made beef stock! i loooooove gravy!

what has Frankly-Mank been up to??? how about laying in the catnip tire, whacked out of his head. this is where we find him most days. he is an addict...and needs the Betty Ford Clinic! he walks around singing "they tried to send me to re-hab, but i said no, no no". that didn't work out so well for Amy Winehouse, Franklin, you NEEEEED rehab!!!!

Noodie-noo is happy to have one leaf of catnip. then he goes down for the count!

Barley chews his leaf and always spits out the last little bit. notice the blank stare in his eyes...and the little piece of catnip leaf that he always spits out. yes, i am raising little addicts. but they love the nip...what can i do???

and i cultivate catnip to dry for tea for human consumption? have you ever had catnip tea? oh, it is delicious! and it will calm you down and help you sleep!

oh ya - more pics of bulgogi! i made another batch and this one i let go for 72 hours in the marinade. you really need to let it marinate for 72 hours to get the proper flavour! you also must include toasted sesame seeds in the marinade and a shredded Japanese pear. if you can't get a japanese pear, an apple makes a good substitute!

oh yes - we were down at the river all afternoon - look at the beautiful blue colour of the river! and that one cotton-ball cloud. we had a wonderful time reading our books! and talking about this, that and everything else. we love spending relaxing time together. we even fell asleep in the middle of a conversation - bahahahah! and the whole time we slept we held hands and kept a foot and a leg touching each other. oh we slept the sleep of angels!

here are the weeds and rocks that i like to play in!

here's me dog-paddling...i am a really good dog-paddler - like really good! i wish there was an olympic sport for dog-paddling becuz if  there was - canada would definitely win the gold!!!

after a wonderful afternoon at the river, and a nap in the sun, we came home and made some chicken, mushroom, asparagus, brie and parmesan pasta - oh man was it good! we are so stuffed that it is time to climb on the couch and watch a movie on netflix. and then bed!

thank you all again for helping me when google blocked my account - i really, really appreciated your concern and support! i hope that you are all having a wonderful evening!

i'm back - sorry for all the drama!!!

my account is unblocked. thank goodness!

after searching a million different things and trying a million different things....jambaloney sent another request to google, even though they specifically said not to send more than one request or you could screw things up, jambaloney sent another.

5 seconds later - if you can believe that?!?!?!?!? the freakin phone rang with an automated message from google providing me an access code that we entered and it unlocked the account. after all of the hours trying to get this sorted and spending all kinds of time trying to make albums and stories of my pics - when the account was finally unlocked i just had to go to bed. my nerves were shot.

jambaloney kept trying to tell me that either a person or a bot had tried to log into my account and was unsuccessful to whatever number of times that google has set before locking the account. i just felt that i had personally attacked and when i saw my pictures blocked but none of jambaloney's - then it really felt personal.

anyway, i still have not received an email or msg from google even though i sent several emails to them. and based on some of the comments i received, wordpress doesn't sound any better so i guess i will stay here. i will start backing up this blog and jambaloney is making me my own website soon so that i don't have to rely on blogger.

i honestly hadn't realized just how much i enjoy having this little blog!

i am sorry for all of the drama caused, and i thank each and every one of you for your advice and comments, which is will go in and answer right away. thank you all for taking the time to try and help! i really appreciate it!

BLOCKED FROM BLOGGER - HELP!!!

hey - it's kymber here even though it looks like it's jambaloney. i had to sign in to blogger using his account. why? ugh. it's a long story but here goes.

i was commenting on blogs this afternoon and on one blog i was forced to sign in, in order to publish the comment. it happens from time to time. whenever it happens...it always directs me to a page that asks me to enter my telephone or mobile number...ya, right. i always hit the skip button!

except that today...i was directed to an error msg that said my google account had been de-activated due to "suspicious activity". the msg then went on to say that google takes my account privacy very seriously and therefore de-activated my account for my own personal safety. ya, right.

i was then prompted to provide a phone number so that they could reach me to rectify the situation. ya, right.

i went through all kinds of google help...nothing could help me unless i gave my phone number. so i gave it and was then given a choice of SMS Text or a Voice Call within 10 minutes. i chose voice call as our phone is not capable of receiving texts.

it is approximately 6 hours later, i cannot log in to our blog and i cannot access my gmail.  i went to google help and their contact us and left a very nasty msg about all of this, about them wanting my phone number and the fact that i cannot access my google profile and accounts. i demanded that after they finally contact me, and that they delete my phone number! ya, right.

i have left a few "anonymous" comments on some of your blogs and then just decided to stop. strangely enough, i left a comment on my friend Craig's blog - he uses wordpress - and that comment went through fine. with my proper google profile and pic and everything.

if i don't hear something from google by tomorrow, i am copying this blog over to wordpress. i hope that you will all follow as i so enjoy all of you. i started this blog just to document our daily lives...but i must say....the conversations that happen in the comments are very addicting and i love having you all in my life.

this really sucks. has this ever happened to any of you?

kymber out. and hoping that you all have had a fine monday!

EDITED TO ADD: my profile pic on the right hand side of the blog has been blocked as have several pics from the most recent post below this one entitled "misty skies, lots of food and butterflies".

please, can anyone help? have i been reported for something? my last post was pretty innocuous??? what is going on???still haven't heard back from google and starting to get really P*ssed!!!!

EDITED AGAIN TO ADD - ALL PREVIOUS POSTS HAVE ALL OF THE PICS BLOCKED - WHAT IS GOING ON? can anyone please tell me what is going on? this is nerve-wracking and i really hate feeling like i have done something wrong. arghghghghghghgh!

EDITED AGAIN TO ADD - my pictures are gone. my beautiful pictures are gone. why? what have i done wrong? i loved those pictures and now i am crying my face off - i don't know what to do?:!?!?!?!? can someone please help? i sent another email to google help. i still haven't heard anything back.

i am going into hyper-vigilance right now. why is this happening? we aren't overly political or religious on our blog? please someone please tell me what is going on??????

misty skies, lots of food and butterflies!

kymber here....with some misty morning skies for Helga....they are really pretty! don't look at the "junkyard collection of useful stuff" - it will all be used in the next few months! the river looks beautiful on a misty morning - i love it!

 

 there are so many butterflies flying around in groups of two - they fly and swirl together as if doing a mating dance. i can watch them for hours. they are called painted ladies. they are so beautiful.

we have knapweed growing everywhere and the bees and butterflies love it. Pioneer Preppy - do you have knapweed in your area?

we've been eating like kings over the last few days - what am i saying - we always eat like kings!!! i try to incorporate raw food, cooked food and fermented food in all of our meals. below is what we call our Lebanese supper. it includes ground beef spiced with turmeric, curry, cardamon, cumin, paprika and fresh crushed garlic. it is delicious. also we have pita, quinoa tabouleh, kimchi, hummus and sticky rice. jambaloney makes the best sticky rice and basmati rice that i have ever tasted. anyway -  i love Lebanese supper.

of course we always have leftovers. i like to prepare big dishes that we can eat and re-eat for a few days. it means a day of cooking and 3 or 4 days off. i don't usually freeze any prepared meals as i like to have it as fresh as possible. anyway - leftovers below.

i mixed the hamburger and sticky rice together and added a ton more of the same spices - it really is delicious. for leftover supper, jambaloney put all of the stuff on a pita. his pita has asiago and artichoke dip, hummus, the hamburger rice, quinoa tabouleh and hot peppers. my plate is below the pita plate and i had the same except i had kimchi instead of banana peppers. the hamburger rice is really good when it is re-heated.

next up are some vietnamese spring rolls that i made for lunch. i made a ton and put them in the fridge so that we could eat them again for lunch the next day.



thesse spring rolls i made with rice paper wrappers, vermicelli, julienned carrots, julienned cucumber, crab, a ton of basil, a ton of mint and julienned lettuce. they were super good but what is even better is the dipping sauce. i use white vinegar, sugar, the juice of a big lime, fresh crushed garlic, apple cider vinegar, green onions and a splash of soya.

as some of you know, a while back i started a recipe blog - but i just haven't kept it up. so sorry if you are bored by the food pics...but i love reading blogs where people share their recipes or food pics - it gives me ideas for what to make and i learn new recipes which is always great.

anyway, for those of you bored with the food and the butterflies, check out jambaloney's latest contraption to make our lives and this house better.



notice his gorgeous celtic tattoo - it's a torque. he was going to have it filled in years ago but i convinced him not too...i really like following the lines with my fingers and eyes. anyway, i had to take the pic at a weird angle because, as usual, we were naked - bahahahahahah! he will be doing a post in a few days on what he is doing with this baby!!!

kymber out and hoping that you all had a lovely weekend!

one last thing:

HEY WINSTON! MAKE SURE TO READ THE POST BELOW THIS ONE. IT'S FOR YOU BUDDY! YOUR WELCOME!

hodge-podge (WARNING: many photos coming!)

kymber here!

so the internet problem seems to be fixed except for some intermittent blips - when that happens - i just walk away from the computer and don't come back for a few days. oh crap - we decided that we really need to start our posts with who is writing the post - we have confused several readers and no wonder. anyway, i will go back up and write "kymber here"....hang on...i'll be back in a sec.

okay - i'm back. we have been having some gorgeous and wonderful weather this summer - we couldn't ask for better. enough sunny days, enough rainy days, enough overcast days - it has been an awesome summer. but here on the island, the last 2 weeks of august are what we call our best days of summer - so for the next 3 weeks - it is river days, beach days, searching out all of the islands in the river days....so work on the house, the greenhouse, the hoop houses, the porch, the addition (ya right!), the trench, etc.....all take a back seat until the middle of september. although last year we were still swimming in october. cross your fingers for us that we can still swim this october too. i love having my daily swim. even if it's only running down in the afternoon and having a dip - it does wonders for my soul. we didn't spend the afternoon at the river today but we did run down for a 20 minute dip - i love that. i need water!

UPDATE FOR MY BUDDY WINSTON WHO IS ALWAYS ASKING ABOUT OUR CATS, he is such a sweet guy and has such concern for our cats....so here is an update for him:

Noodie-Noo ( Noodle, who's original name was Dooby but then a friend of mine told me that Dooby was a word for the special cigarettes (which broke my heart cuz i loved calling him Dooby!), is still comfortably flomping on the back of Daddy's chair most days. sometimes he actually falls off.

"Frankly" speaking, the new little man seems to be settling in just fine....on top of the book case...on top of the books. no worries about the summer clothes box tho...it is still in the middle of the living room, we are still tripping all around it...he sleeps on the summer clothes box in the morning....afternoons he likes the books...have you ever seen anything so.....um.....sad and pathetic?

 well...if not....have a look at Barley-Moe....yep, he's laying on a laptop cover that somebody (*not pointing any fingers at jambaloney*) left on the table one day over 7 months ago. Barley-Moe loved the little laptop case so who am i to move it - arghghghghghghgh!

hope that you enjoyed the update, Winston buddy!

next up - yummeh iced coffee. oh ya baby - we go there!

the wild raspberries that cover our entire land are picked daily and frozen...unless we decide to eat them. we got a ton of these things and the next 7-10 days is all about the raspberry picking. blueberries, blackberries and dewberries will all come in in the next week or so - we'll be living high off the hog all winter with all of these delicious berries - woohoo!

next up - lettuce seeds that have been harvested!

brussell sprout seeds too!

tons of kale seeds harvested - woohoo!

sky pic for Helga to show her the magical fog - isn't it beautiful, Helga?

oh man - some very delicious quinoa tabouleh on fresh lettuce, with sliced sausage and nasturtium flowers - deelish!

and another sky pic for Helga. doesn't that look magical, divine, otherworldly and miraculous? it's because it is. we sit in our rocking chairs every evening and watch this. we give much thanks when we do.

we are really happy to have you all here with us....thank you!

toolz @ the manor

kymber here first to let you all know that our internet has been on the blink for the past several days - seems to be tip-tidy now tho! i will hit up all of your blogs and catch up on all of your posts during this evening and tomorrow! i hope that all of you are well. anyway - here' jambaloney:


jambaloney here!

sorry to have been off the blog for so long, but we have been going full tilt here, plus we added frankie blue eyes and i had the trip to ottawa... man, it is the middle of august ALREADY!!! ...this is a post i started almost a month ago - better late than never ;-)) ?? mostly about hand tools, with a nod to gorges grouse ;-))

so as i was digging the trench, i found that after a while, the tools get slippery as the handles get covered with mud and water - no matter, i bought some hockey tape a while back just for this problem....

 

i had found an old sledgehammer head in the basement when we moved in, i bought a handle for it recently which was a good thing because i needed it to smash rocks as the trench got deeper. i taped the handles of the pick and sledge - NICE!!

                                              

i use that pick all the time - and eventually, this happened.....

                                         

yep, broke the handle and nearly rattled all my teeth loose in the process.  hit a large rock hidden by clay square on.  it's the kind of thing that is bound to happen. fortunately, the pick was here when i arrived to, it was old as well. the first handle was cracked... i taped it, but it broke and i replaced it with the hickory handle you see above. that handles lasted about a year. the head is old enough to be worth something. i find the  alloys used in today's tools are crappy, you can tell by looking at the metal after it breaks. i broke this fork while building the huggie culture, notice the way it snapped, NOT fine steel.

                                    

here is a crappy pick buddy left ... steel snapped, not the handle (i can barely call it steel, more like a cast iron alloy of a sort), it is useful as a lightweight pick now that the weight is cut down ;-))

                                 

here is a third next to the other two on the right - a maddock that i busted clearing ice last winter. the steel in these is crap..

however the following tools are mint, on the top is a trench tool that my step-dad ted gave me, on the bottom is a wide pronged fork that came from my grandmother - each prong can be individually removed... no garbage cast metal here!

                           

back to the broken pickaxe, i could only get a handle with a plastic flare on it, still, it should do the trick.

\

to drill out the  old handle i turn to powertool help - trusty ryobi 18v drill and an irwin speedbor max bit ( i got this kit on sale, they are fantastic!!))

a normally hard job, takes minutes..

all done!!

handle on and ready to go!!

sky pic for helga...

trout for pp...

and a scrutty project manager for winston ;-))

cheers all!!