Earlier Start, Wood Piling, Rain Returns, Cheesecake and Casserole

I was awake on Tuesday, July 24^th at 6 am after what felt like a wonderful sleep. Turns out I only actually slept 6 hours according to the sleep activity on my Fitbit. My bedroom window was open and all of the downstairs ones but it was still 70F indoors. I crept out of bed ‘sneakily’ so as not to wake my sleeping beauties and opened the window shades. Kind of a cloudy day out there but there could be some sunny breaks again today. Bill joined me at the table 30 minutes later.

Don't for a minute think that I just sat around taking pictures
I really do work!

We had our brews and read blogger posts. Great to hear from Stew “Furry Gnome’s Adventures”. What an awesome, positive guy he is. Getting into our work duds again, we went out at 8 to start piling the wood neatly. My wrist is still bothering me so when I‘m finished this job, maybe I’ll put my wrist brace on for the day. We stacked wood for an hour and a half taking water breaks and then stopped for a yogourt. Bill trimmed with the weed eater and raked the small crappy pieces up for a fire.

So much nicer
See the patio stones? Location location

We could manage a controlled burn very easily and for a couple more hours got everything cleaned up nicely. The positioning of the new shed has changed probably 5 times since yesterday but both Bill and I are happy with where we’ve placed the corner patio stones. When Mike arrives on Saturday to start the build, his opinion will matter as well. This project has at the very least encouraged us to clean up the pile of old cedar rails and scrap lumber, sooner than later.

About 1/2 cord of mismatched wood for burning

At 11:30 the fire had burned down enough that we could leave it to smolder and we walked up to the Suite for lunch. I began the bacon and eggs and cut up 3 of my homegrown cherry tomatoes. Yum. 

Lunch

We cleaned the dishes and I thought I’d take a walk down the lane and to check on our fire. It was mostly out and the rain was hit and miss so what was left, would soon go out.

The blue barrels hold small blocks of wood for keeping fires going

I put the big awning out and sat out there with a paleo book called Trick and Treat. My eyes got heavy and the wind picked up a bit so I moved inside again, pulling the awning in. The rain got heavier and after closing some windows, we settled inside for the afternoon. We’ll have to plug into electric later but for now the batteries are holding their own around 12.5. I have some cherries to use up so will be taking advantage of the rainy afternoon and making cheesecake!

Cheesecake and homemade cherry sauce topping

After putting the cheesecake together and baking it, I prepared a yummy looking cherry sauce topping for it. That may be tucked away in the freezer for a couple of weeks and I’ll pull it out on a special day. I love cheesecake, it is my favourite and this one, other than the cherries, has no sugar added. All good ingredients for us to eat. By the time I finished everything, the sun came out and the day heated up even more. My goodness! The wind was almost non-existent and the humidity has returned with a vengeance.

I love walking up to the garden to see red :)

Clemson and I stepped out just long enough for him to do his business and me to take stock of the temperature. Let’s get the heck back indoors, Clem! Bill is very close to finishing his book and I’ve started into a Jonathan Kellerman mystery called Evidence. It sounds very good. Maybe when I stop baking (!!!) I’ll get past the 2^nd chapter. We just got word that our good buddies made it home from their vacation away so we can relax. The family is home safe and sound. 😊

Look at my pepper plants now! The rain was like a tonic
they have sprouted up by inches!

Supper tonight is chicken thighs, I’m not sure if we can barbecue. If not, I’ll be searching for an indoor recipe. The rain came once more, it has been a yo-yo day for rain but no complaints. I prepared Easy Chicken Thigh and Potato Casserole which took about 20 minutes. You'll probably notice a pattern in my recipes. The word EASY indicates it will be with ingredients I have in the kitchen. It will be a later supper as it cooks for an hour and a half so I cut a couple of pieces of cheddar at 5:30 for us to munch on. Our lunch has wore off by now.

Clemson and I go for a walk

Clemson wanted to go out so we went for a walk down the lane. On the way back, he chose to run up the grass hill while I opted for the gravel incline at a much slower pace. When we got to the patio mat, usually he comes to me to be picked up but he was in no such frame of mind this time! He ran around, playing, barking and hunching down for me to chase him. What the heck? After doing this, 6 or 7 times, finally, he slowed down enough for me to bring him inside for a drink of water.

The pails are running over
I tried hard to catch the drops hitting the surface

We have a very goofy pooch. I sat with Bill and watched an NCIS rerun, one of our favourite things to do together. Bill got the itch to move and went down to the hollow to retrieve the watering can and the rake. I wondered what he got up to because it was a good 20 minutes before he returned. He came in looking worn out and when I asked, he told me that he’d been digging up rocks. Good grief!! I gave him a talking to about working in this heat and strongly suggested that he had time for a shower before the casserole would be ready. Hint, hint. 

Easy Chicken Thigh and Potato Casserole

We were both ready for supper when the convection oven beeped at 10 to 7. Sometimes I truly surprise myself and this casserole was one of those moments. First time that I’ve made it and even with a few necessary substitutions, it was absolutely delicious! I got a ‘thumbs up’ from Bill too, figuratively speaking. Great! Since our meal was late, we decided to have a piece of cherry pie immediately after instead of waiting to eat our dessert later. Yum, it is good too.

We cleaned up the dishes and by then, the outside air had started to cool down….a bit. More interesting cloud cover, more interesting skies and more questions about whether the rain is actually done for the night. The rest of the evening went by quietly. 

A nice ending to a great day. My wrist is still paining a bit but not as badly as last night. Now, I hope I can stay awake until bedtime tonight. I'm feeling kind of tired out.

Good night from The Ridge

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