On the Homefront

We're back home, having spent last night in our bed at home. Our camper bed is comfortable, and we slept well while we were traveling. Still, it's nice to sit up in bed, and swing one's legs over the side to find a regular floor. It's even nicer not to have to climb over things to get to the bathroom. Nicer yet...a door to close on kitties who think playing in the middle of the night is a good idea.

The drive west from John Day, Oregon, is a pretty one. There are lots of ranchers in that area, and therefore, lots of barns. I'm sure I've taken pictures of some of these before.

Things got a little dicey when we got into snow coming through the mountains. We checked the cameras coming over some of the highest passes and found snow on both sides of the road. The roads, thankfully, were clear. Nevertheless, we did pass a snow plow coming in the opposite direction. He was simply headed in the direction of possible problems, not plowing anything...yet.

It was strange seeing the combination of fall color and winter snow. It's very, very early for this sort of thing.

When we arrived at the Three Cats Ranch, we swung open the door and set free the cats. Surprisingly, they only stayed out about 20 minutes before coming inside. We were still on coyote watch here when we left at the beginning of the month. We were feeling fairly confident the coyotes had moved on when we left, but we're still being extra cautious. With cold coming, they've probably moved to lower elevations. We didn't hear them last night, and we've seen none in quite some time, but we'll be extra careful before letting the kitties out.

The first thing I did was to take all my stitchery projects downstairs to trim and press them. You might recall, I had "Sweet Land of Liberty" in the works when we left. This will be turned into a small table topper eventually.

Also, the 7th of 12 blocks for the Appalachian Memories quilt.

And, on our last morning of travel, I finished up "Farm Fresh Eggs." This one will be turned into a small wall hanging eventually.

We're already talking about our next trip, which will be to head south for the winter, starting in January. I'll be kitting up some of these smaller projects to take along for sewing on the road. We'll be in our larger fifth wheel, and I'll have my sewing machine along on that trip.

There's still plenty to do here at home between now and then. After I had my stitcheries trimmed, pressed, and put away, I checked the plum tree and the greenhouse. The plums were all gone, as expected, but there were nearly 4 lbs. of tomatoes, and more coming. These are Super Marzanos. I'll be making salsa from these.

And don't forget, I have five pounds of frozen plums I'll use for barbecue sauce too.

So, there's plenty to do before falling back into our rut of day-to-day existence. Today will be devoted to unpacking the camper and getting caught up on laundry. I'll be doing some more canning before the week is out. But first, I need a new slow-stitching project.

Next in line is Dancing Chickens and Flying Pigs, but I haven't made up the applique portion of the next block yet. That will be my first sewing machine project as I find my way back into the sewing room. In the meantime, I'll work on the "I Believe in Snowmen" blocks out of order this time around. I need to trace out the next three blocks this morning because, as everyone knows, there must be slow stitching or things just don't go right at all. After I've had my morning stitching session, I'll get busy with the rest of it.