Our dear friend Jesse passed away early this morning. Sometimes you wish the world would stop and give you a break to deal with the pain, but the world slows for no one. These water drops froze on the snow berry bush and created a beautiful but temporary sculpture.
Our return to Bend means time for work on the property! With a week of waived fees to take yard debris to the landfill where it is composted into mulch, we had lots of work raking and tree trimming. Robert raked pine needles into huge piles that lined the road. Many of the neighbors participated and we helped everywhere we could. One neighbor loaned his tractor and dump trailers and even drove the many loads to the landfill. The weather was unpredictable, which is predictable in Central Oregon in spring!
Mike’s big John Deere tractor and dump trailer, with Pat driving her “mini-me” John Deere lawn tractor!
Mike pitching the mountain of pine needles into the trailer in the midst of one of the snow flurries.
Pat driving “mini-me” with a load of tree limbs.
We took a break from the cold spring weather in Bend and headed south. We had to retrieve our motorcycle trailer we left at a friends house near Lodi, California on our way north in March. We also dined at our favorite Mexican Restaurant in Lodi; Habanero Hots! The food, especially the salsa, is as good as we remember!
We camped on the shore of Lake Shasta on the way down, and back up. The weather was wonderful, warm and sunny so we took a motorcycle ride into the hills and had these great views looking back and down at the tiny white dot of our camper in the distance!
With the weather cold and dreary, Robert decided to do some home canning. He found a recipe for pickled garlic and made several batches of delicious and nutritious garlic. We add it to many recipes or eat it right out of the jar. The pickling process takes the bite and a lot of the odor out of the garlic, and so far our friends haven’t avoided us, we’ve even shared several jars with them!
