The Driveway

Last week my dear husband decided that it was time to do something about the deteriorating driveway. There was also a need to make it a bit wider or at least more accessible in its width.

First step was to remove about half of a large lilac bush on the north side of the driveway area - it can be seen just on the outside edge of the evergreen tree at the corner of the house (if you enlarge the picture).

Secondly a area near the lilac needed to be excavated about 3 to 4 inches deep and two feet wide and about 12 feet long to give a little more parking space for one of the three vehicles that need space across the driveway.

Then comes the sand spreading step.

Followed by laying of the concrete tiles. Getting the tiles was more economical if H. picked them up in the big van but that required several trips to the company. At first he was told that they didn't have as many tiles as he required - when he returned today for the smaller size tiles they told him that they had found about 50 more of the bigger ones so he got them and then on another trip picked up the small ones that were still needed.

The pictures were taken on Sat. when there were only a few tiles laid down - as of supper time this evening most of the tiles are down - I didn't get out there a take a picture before dark.

I hope that this picture of the Snowy Owl shows up a little better than the one in the previous post.

Oak hammock Marsh

Sat. Oct. 18th. was a very pleasant day so we decided that we needed to have another canoe trip before the cold weather would close in on us.

Oak Hammock Marsh is about 45 minutes west and a bit north of where we are located and is out side of the city. It is a conservation area and the marsh has controlled water and plant growth to attract the water fowl especially at the migrating seasons. Generally there would be thousands of geese and ducks in the area at this time of year.

We were told that the best place to put the canoe into the marsh was on the north basin so this is where you see us launching from. As soon as Helmut put the canoe down all of the geese and ducks that were in the near vicinity took to the air and dispersed to a different part of the marsh.

All this beautiful wide water body is hardly more than two feet deep and we wondered if we would become stuck in some places but we were able to keep the canoe afloat as we paddled or "poled" with the paddles around this basin in and out among the reeds and cattails. We saw a few more water fowl but mostly they were scared off before we were close enough to get a good look.

After our canoeing excursion as we drove back along the road we saw this beautiful Snowy Owl sitting beside one of the water inlets a few meters (yards) from the road. It stayed put in its place until Helmut tried to sneak up rather close to get a better look and photo. Most of the pictures were taken using the zoom feature on the camera.

Near the marsh there are lure crops planted for the geese to feed on so we saw more geese there - both Canada geese and another type that is white - you can barely see the difference as they are in flight in the picture. ( double click the picture to enlarge it.)

Remember that dog from a post a few days ago - the one that was pretending to leave home?
This evening she can't make up her mind if she wants to be inside or outside and since she doesn't know how to open the door she keeps me running to do that part of the process.

Supper is ready if any one wants to eat - Penne pasta with hamburger sauce. Aw the eaters have arrived.

Fall Colors

These pictures give an idea of how the fall colors are on display right now or have been in the last week.

The yellow leafed trees are our apple trees today. The top one is taken through the kitchen window.













The small red tree is a Amur Maple that belongs to the neighbor across the street. The dark red one is our Chokecherry tree. The Amur Maple has lost most of its leaves now.

The arrival of fall is a week or two late this season - many times most of the leaves are on the ground by mid October.

Departure????

LEAVING HOME - no one here wants to and this little gal is just pretending to be.

Rainy Day Jobs

This is one very wet gloomy day in fall.

Working out doors is out of the question unless one feels like being a duck or fish.

This morning I quartered up all of these plums and lined them up on a tray to freeze. When they are nice and frozen I will transfer them to ZipLock bags for the freezer. You are wondering what I do with frozen quarter plums? One fine day they will be made into a very delicious plumb cake with buttery crumbs on top. A much sought after dessert at this house. Plums are hard to come-by except at this time of year so the last two years I have decided to freeze some for later use.

Here is the recipe:

Fruit Struzzel Cake (similar to Platz)

1/3 to 1/2 c. of butter
3/4 c. white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla

Mix together as for a cake. Add

2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder

Should make a medium stiff dough. Knead the dough until it sticks together then roll it out thin on a jelly roll pan or large cookie sheet with sides.

Top with plums placed very close together. Use fresh or frozen plums or any other fruit such as apricots, cherries, peaches, blue berries or apples ( which don't turn out so colorful).

Make struzzel of:

1/2 to 3/4 c. flour
1/2 to 3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. hard butter
Worked together with fingers until large crumbs form. Spread over the top evenly.

Bake at 350 F. until light brown about 15 - 20 minutes keep a close eye on it while baking.

Have a fun baking day on your next gloomy day.

Quiz

Is there anything about this picture that reminds you of Polk Blvd. in Des Moines?

Be sure to make the picture as large as possible.