Sunny and Dry

Good morning, my friends. The warmer, drier weather we've been promised has finally arrived. We have a pretty view of the mountains this morning.

We were able to get out and pull some weeds yesterday, although the day started out pretty chilly. We waited until after lunch to get outside, and then we each picked a bucket full of weeds. It was a pretty good head start. The kitties helped, of course, but they were off busy with other things. There was no rain overnight, and we're not expecting rain before Sunday. Mike has identified some areas he wants to spray today, and I'll get to work on the blueberry and peony beds. If we can get all that done, we can feel pretty good about the weed situation while we're traveling. At least, I hope so. 

While we waited for the day to warm up some, I finished stitching Day 22 of the Tiny Hearts. The day's stitching finished off the one we'd started the day before. This one includes satin stitch, French knots, and fly stitch.

When that was finished, I took the first stitches on Block 7 for the Kittens quilt. I doubt I can finish this before we leave. The kittens are coming with us this trip, and so I'll keep working away at them. 

It was only mid-morning by then, and so I baked off the Jumbo Breakfast Cookies that will be traveling with us. These are made using peanut butter, rolled oats, raisins, and multi-grain Cheerios. They'll be an alternative to Clif bars, but we'll also be taking Clif bars. We like something like this when we don't want to stop for lunch. We each had one with our afternoon cup of espresso, warm from the oven. I saved two for this morning's breakfast snack. The rest were individually wrapped and frozen to take along.

So we had lunch, and we did our weeding, and then we both took naps. Weeding has become a torturous undertaking with our old knees and backs and so much getting up and down. We needed the refurbishment a nap provides.

There was nothing else on the agenda after that, although I'll admit I forgot one housekeeping chore. I wanted to get this last small quilt finished up. I kept it pretty simple with some straight line quilting.

One of the fancy stitches on my sewing machine reminded me of honeycomb, and so I used that.

Here's how it looks from the back.

Binding strips were already cut, and so I sewed those on.

The rest of the afternoon was spent hand-stitching the binding, and TA-DA!!

And lookie there! All my small quilts are quilted and finished!

It's been a long time since any section of my white board has been empty. The Tiny Hearts will take their place here soon enough, but for now...clean slate, my friends. It makes me feel energetic just looking at that wide open space.

Okay, so our trip starts one week from today. We're going to have to get serious about our preparations. I was going to wash clothes yesterday, but then found the hamper only about 2/3 full. I'll put that off for a day or two, and then I won't have to do it again before we leave. Also, we're doing our grocery shopping today. Between the foods from the freezer, foods I cook ahead, and food I have planned, we shouldn't have to go grocery shopping again until we reach Escondido, California, on March 7th. There is one exception to that, however. We can't take certain fresh produce across the state line into California. I'll make a separate list for those things, and we'll make a quick trip once we get into the land down under. 

For whatever reason, the sign reminded me of a cartoon an old sociology professor loved. He taught a class called "Sociology of Deviancy." And how could I resist taking a class with that name? Anyway...he liked to tell about a cartoon he'd seen once of the "Welcome to California" sign. The subtitle was "Resume Deviant Behavior." I'm for that. Who's with me? And when you consider that I was born in California, it makes a whole lotta sense, doesn't it?

Okay, so this seems as good a time as any to say my blogging might be a little more sporadic over the next week. I may not post every day. We're going to be very busy with trip preparations, and I'm not sure how much blog fodder I can generate with all that going on. You understand, don't you? So let's just agree that if I have anything of interest to tell you, I'll write ("of interest" being a relative term). And, if not, you'll hear from me no later than next Thursday. Surely I'll have thought of something to say by then. 

If you're coming with us, you might want to start packing too. We're expecting weather of all kinds. And don't forget your eclipse glasses, for goodness sake. Also, you might want to check your stash. After Paducah, we're going to Missouri Star Quilt Company. And oh, the other sights we will behold! We're going to have a good trip. I hope you'll come along.

Itching to Stitch

Good morning, my friends. It was a day of relaxation here at the Traveling Three Cats Ranch as we fortified ourselves for the next two long days of driving. Sometime Saturday afternoon, we'll be home. I know a certain cat who is so ready to be there. Yesterday he spent some time cleaning himself up so he'd look his best when he faced off with the mice and squirrels.

My slow-stitching took a backseat to sight-seeing this trip. It's generally only on days when we do nothing else that I have time for a good session of stitching. My block was only about 2/3 finished at the beginning of the day, but I spent most of the day working on it. When I had it this far, I decided to move my hoop.

I tried to get the last of it within the bounds of my hoop, but finally settled for cutting off the tip of the tail.

But that sort of drove the OCD part of my brain crazy. Then, I started looking at it more closely. As I mentioned in a previous post, these blocks are worked almost exclusively in stem stich and cross stitch. Where I'm doing stem stitch, I like to follow complete lines, and I like to work them so that any curves are worked on the inside of the curve, rather than the outside. The "concave" part of the curve, if you will. It has meant spending some time strategizing about where to start and what lines to stitch first.

So as I looked at this, I realized that the tail was a complete line from where I'd left off on the kitten's back. It made sense to switch to a smaller hoop and then stitch the whole of the tail before moving to the lower portion.

And you can see how that allowed me to stitch that whole line without interruption.

When it was all finished, I moved my hoop to encompass the last of it.

And then it didn't take long before I had the whole thing finished. Please forgive the wrinkles.

Finishing this block was my goal for October's

and so I'll link up there when the party starts at the end of the month.

These are the three blocks I have for this quilt so far.

I'll be starting on the fourth block for this. When that is finished, I'll put it in the regular rotation with the rest of my embroidery projects, and work on it as its turn comes up on my embroidery dance card.

For dinner last night, I made something really yummy. Of the recipes I've tried on this trip, this one was our favorite. These are Sweet-and-Sour Chicken Bowls. 

It was a good follow-on to the Gilgeori Toast I made a few nights ago. Between the two recipes, I used a whole bag of coleslaw mix. Also, I had some leftover radishes, and so it was good to get all of that out of our small refrigerator. I made the recipe pretty much as written, but I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs. The recipe states to remove the bone from the chicken thighs after they've been cooked, but I figured, why not start with boneless? That seems like a no-brainer. 

Also, the recipe calls for "microwaveable rice." Well, that was kind of a new one on me. Of course, I know about "Minute Rice." I'm not fond of it, however. At home, I have a rice cooker, and I use that to make rice. When we travel in our fifth wheel, I take it along. In this smaller truck camper, however, it takes up more space than I want to give up, and so I left it at home this trip. It seemed like a good time to see what this "microwaveable rice" was all about. And if, like me, you're wondering where to find it in the grocery store, it was on the shelf with the other rice products.

So, here's what I learned. First, it's shelf stable, and so it won't take up room in the refrigerator. Also, it wasn't half bad, and since I'm usually putting something over the top, it scarcely matters. (Mike's dad would have called a dish like this "gunk over rice.") I used this brand: 

It's a good choice when we're traveling in the truck camper, and I'll remember this for future travels. It was good enough that I might forego taking the rice cooker along when we travel in the fifth wheel too. With space at a premium, anything that uses less of it is a valuable commodity.

So I give this new recipe my whole-hearted endorsement. It was delicious, and easy to make. I made all the component parts at the same time, and then refrigerated the "slaw" and the chopped green onions until we were ready to eat it. It's a great camping recipe. I'll definitely be making this again, camping or not.

So we'll be moving on again today. I've discovered a new state park near John Day, Oregon. We usually stay at the fairgrounds in John Day, but it's first come first served, and so it's always luck of the draw if we can get a space there. Recently, I learned about the existence of Clyde Holliday State Recreation Area just down the road from our usual camping spot. We could make a reservation, and I expect it will be a nicer spot. That's where our truck will take us today. If I'm able to get online, I'll post from there. And, if not, expect to hear from me again after we get home. Safe travels, one and all.

Willis Creek Slot Canyon

Good morning, my friends. With this post, we say good-bye to Utah. When we meet again, we'll be in Ely, Nevada. 

We had a wonderful hike in the slot canyon yesterday. It's another big bucket list item. Most of the slot canyons we know about are either too difficult to reach or else too crowded for our taste. Many of them require permits or guides. This one was easy to reach. Willis Creek Slot Canyon is within the boundaries of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. There is a visitor center between the RV park and the trailhead. We stopped in, but found it closed. Maybe they missed the memo that the shutdown was averted.

Continuing on, we traveled over a dirt road for around 3-5 miles. After it rained the night before, parts of the road were scarily slick, but not enough to make us turn back. It was a winding, up and down, over hill and dale journey.

There were some fantastic views along the way. It's hard to tell from this picture, but the red area in the foreground was a deep canyon, and there was one like it on the other side. The road was graded along a ridgetop with deep valleys on both sides.

After a distance, we came to a parking lot and the trailhead. There were several cars there, which was surprising. For no reason in particular, we expected to have the place to ourselves.

Across the parking lot, this sign talked about our hike.

As we walked toward the trailhead, I turned back to see this threatening cloud. It didn't seem to be moving in our direction, and so we went ahead.

Crossing over the dirt road, we looked to the left to see Willis Creek.

Here's the trailhead. We didn't see any horses, but we did see the "apples" they'd left behind.

The trail first meandered above the creek.

Eventually, it descended a short distance to the bottom of the canyon.

At times, we walked across, over, or through the stream as we made our way. In most places it was only a few inches deep. 

The desert varnish and undulating sides of the canyon were fascinating. 

The canyon starts out fairly wide.

A few trees appear to be growing from solid rock.

I'm imagining flash floods sometimes fill this canyon and that could account for the "scouring" along the canyon walls.

Looking up...

Eventually, the canyon narrowed into the slot we were hoping to see.

Looking directly overhead, it looked like this:

Sometimes we were forced to walk through the water a short distance. In most places it was only a few inches deep. Where it was deeper, a few strategically placed rocks made crossing over easy. 

We saw a few wildflowers at the far end. My phone identified these as "Scarlet Trumpet."

The wind was blowing, and these flowers were tiny. It was hard to get anything in focus. I believe this might be what's known as "wintercress."

The "slot" part of the canyon extended maybe half a mile before opening up to a wider section.

My hiking shoes are waterproof, but Mike brought an extra pair of shoes and socks that he didn't need. 

Here we approached the end of the slot portion of the canyon. We could have continued on, but we really just wanted to see the slot. Also, we were concerned about rain and whether it would make it difficult to travel back over the mud/dirt road we'd come in on.

Heading back, we saw more spectacular views of the valley. Look way off yonder there, and you can see there is snow at the top of those plateaus.

Here's a more expansive view of the valley.

Okay, so we were back at the camper in time for lunch and naps. We dispensed treats to the kitties, and then Mike got Smitty out for another walk. I washed one last load of clothes. We have enough clean clothes to make it home now. This has been the one location where we took the camper off the truck, and so we spent some more time putting it back on the truck for today's departure.

I tried another new recipe for dinner last night. This was actually really good and so simple. I riffed off a recipe I saw in the NYTimes. The original recipe had this being prepared like a grilled cheese sandwiches, by toasting the bread in a buttered skillet. I bagged that effort and toasted the bread in a toaster, then buttered the insides and added the jam. The rest was done pretty much as the recipe was originally written. We liked this a lot. It's called Gilgeori Toast, a Korean street toast with cabbage and egg.

This is a quote from the original recipe in the NYTimes:

Gilgeori toast, which literally means “street toast” in Korean, is a popular salty-sweet egg sandwich sold by many street-food vendors in Korea. For many who grew up there, it's a nostalgic snack, reminiscent of childhood. Eaten for breakfast or lunch, it’s quick, easy and adaptable. If you don’t have cabbage on hand, toss in any vegetables you have that would add crunch and flavor, such as sliced scallions or julienned zucchini. For a modern twist, try substituting the sugar with different flavors of jam, or dress the sandwich up with your favorite condiments and sandwich fixings.

It looked good in their picture, and so I gave it try. Here, I've rewritten the recipe the way I did it. It was way simpler than the original. 

We'll be heading to our next stop this morning, near Ely, Nevada. We'll stop and pick up a few groceries along the way. We'll spend two nights in Ely. While there, we plan to visit Cave Lake State Park. Just now when I Googled the link to the park, I found a note that the lake has been drained and access closed for "dam construction." Well, that could be interesting. For sure, we'll probably do a hike on one of the trails. We'll figure it out when we get there.

So, as always, I won't know if I have internet access until we get there. We have two nights at an RV park, and then we'll be making a beeline for home. If you don't hear from me for the next few days, you can expect to catch up with me no later than Sunday when we'll be back at the Three Cats Ranch.