Menu Monday

 

The last day of July is here and another month whipped right on by.

Monday 

Honey/Garlic Sausage, beans from the garden, sliced tomatoes and sliced cucumber.

Tuesday

I will make a casserole from the leftover pork and there will be more sliced tomatoes and sliced cucumbers for side dishes. I may make a coleslaw as well.

Wednesday

I am planning on using up at least 2 of the remaining eggplants and make a small Moussaka. 

Thursday

Leftovers from Tuesday.

Friday

Hopefully a package of the fish fillets that Harvey caught awhile ago. Served with creamed potatoes, and probably more beans from the garden. If there is lots of Moussaka left we will have that instead.

Saturday

I have a package of Chicken Legs with back attached that need using. Hopefully we can BBQ. If so our sides will be tinfoil packets of potatoes, carrots and mushrooms.

Sunday

Roast ham, scalloped potatoes made in the microwave, and probably raw veggies and dip.

Hopefully there will be no changes and I manage to use up a few things. I have lots of peppers so I think I will be dehydrating some of those that are in the fridge tomorrow. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Frugal Friday

 

Another Friday had come and almost passed us by. I missed posting yesterday as we had company, but they left early this morning.

So what frugal things have I been up to.

1. Been adding to the winter pantry. This week it has been dehydrated herbs, and 10 2 cup bags of blueberries (the blueberries were on sale at our Co-op and we finished the ones from last year).

2.  Walking every day for free and frugal exercise.

3.  Closed the drapes during the hottest portion of the day to keep the air conditioner from running steadily.

4.  The last couple of days it has been cooler and the windows have been open all night. Today the windows have been open all day since there is a cool breeze.

5.  Main dish salads made to last a few nights so I wouldn't have to cook.

6.  Used pumpkin puree that I made last year and froze to make Harvey's birthday pie.

7.  Harvey made fudge last night to use for dessert for a couple of days (we really like fudge here).

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

P.S.

I am only worried about the flour situation because I live in an urban area surrounded by farms here in Saskatchewan.... I see the stunted crops, and hear the farmers talking. Hopefully they manage to get better crops than they think, but man it is scary driving in the country right now. The "bread basket" of our country is in trouble. Those who say there is no climate change should live here and see what two years of hardly any rain or snow have done.

Midweek Musings

 

Still so very warm out. I think, or at least I hope, we only have one more day of this excessive heat. We will then get a bit of a break. 

I have done no sewing this week as we have been keeping the curtains drawn so the house stays a bit cooler. Instead I have been doing what seems to be a constant task lately. Once again I am trying to tidy the sewing/craft room. It seems to be the room where things just get thrown lately. 

Right now I am busy winding yarn. This is yarn that was given to me by a neighbour. She started a few knitted blankets and I have been busy pulling them apart and winding that yarn. I have one ball left to try and untangle in order to use it. 

Once that is done I will wind the yarn that is on the swift. I bought a 6 oz ball of handspun and dyed yarn when we were on holiday. 

There are thread spools to put back on my thread holder, fabric to fold and put away. Clothing to be cut into squares for quilting and a few things to donate to the secondhand stores. 

I hope to get most of that completed tomorrow. Then perhaps I can take the computer in and make those labels on my Cricut. 

I am adding to the pantry slowly. Right now it is mostly dehydrated herbs, but hopefully there will be some frozen veggies very soon. 

Now I know some are worried about a rice shortage, and I am as well so every time I shop I will pick up a bag of my preferred rice, but I am also going to purchase a few bags of flour (both regular and bread) our drought has me a bit worried. Most of our flour is from wheat grown here in Canada, and this area has not had much rain. I have noticed that crops (and our trees) are very much under stress. Crops will not be as good as they usually are.

It was bad enough during the pandemic, but I think this could be much worse. I want to be prepared for what lies ahead and if that means a few bags of flour in my chest freezer I am all for it. Stocking up so as I do not run short for bread making and baking. 

Off to get supper on the table, and then after dishes I will pay you all a visit. Any ideas on what a person should stock up on is greatly appreciated.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Tuesday Tidbits Part 2 Of Our Dauphin Trip

 

First off let me say that the heat dome has settled it's northern border upon us. Once again it feels like walking into a hot brick wall when you leave the house. I only do a bit outside at a time, making just a few trips to pick a couple of things and a drive to get the mail and hand in our emergency contact numbers to the travel agent. That took enough out of me. I did do my walk early in the morning and I am so glad that I got out early.

On the way home from Dauphin, we stopped at the Ukrainian Heritage Village. Once again lots of old buildings (however there was actually one I remember seeing in the small town of Hyas). The Ukrainian people of Dauphin started moving buildings on the site about 15 years ago. In the same place they have the Canadian gathering of Ukrainian people every year, and from the looks of the parking, camping area, and stadium this is a huge gathering.

On with a few pictures from the site.

They had moved this Ukrainian Orthodox Church on site as one of their first. It was lovely to go through (we got in this one).

It was very interesting to see the separation between the congregation and priest.

This is the sign that greeted us as we started our tour of the heritage site.

The general store with some very old catalogues.

The shoe maker/repair shop. It was really interesting to see the unique machines that were used.

Clothing that was many generations old. I can remember my Ukrainian friend wearing many outfits that were hand embroidered by her mother in many of these patterns. Gorgeous needlework.

Most of the houses that were set up as homes belonging to Ukrainian settlers had lovely spinning wheels, but one had this very unique oven.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Menu Monday

 

Menus will be changing once again. We are way too hot to do much in the way of cooking. I foresee lots of main dish salads to use a few things up.

Tonight is Harvey's 73rd birthday so I made a pie...warmed up the house considerably, but the oven is off now so hopefully it cools down a bit. The air conditioner is running way too long. Perhaps we should add some fans to the mix other than just the kitchen overhead fan.

Monday

Today was Harvey's choice. We will be having BBQ pork chops, and creamed potatoes. Perhaps some sliced cucumbers and peppers as another side.

Tuesday

There is some leftover steak which I plan on thinly slicing and adding thinly sliced celery and onions mixed in a mustard dressing and served over a bed of lettuce. There is another small steak that I may get Hubby to throw on the smoker early so that I have enough leftovers for another meal.

Wednesday

Tuna pasta salad... Making enough for two nights suppers.

Thursday

The leftover steak salad.

Friday

Tuna pasta salad.

Saturday

It is supposed to be cooling off here so I will make glace and eggs.

Sunday 

Ham, scalloped potatoes and a tossed salad (or a cucumber salad). This will be made outside in my electric roaster.

So there you have it, hopefully this is the last of the changes.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Thanks for all the supporting posts. They are greatly appreciated.

Sunday Ramblings And A Weekly Round Up

 

It has actually been a busy week here on the old homestead. I missed doing this yesterday, so thought I would end the week with a bit of a catch up on what has been happening here.

After about 2 weeks of no weeding, I managed to get most of that done earlier this week. Man, why is it that weeds grow so much faster than anything else? Still need to get a bit more done, but things are looking so much better.

I have also been working in the garden harvesting. So far not doing too badly at keeping up with things, but my back is really starting to bother me...This could be a big problem in a few weeks.

Lots of dehydrating of herbs happening.

This was only the beginning as I have been dehydrating almost every day since this picture was taken. 

I started the lavender infused oil, and today harvested more. This time I hope to make sachets for my drawers... Need to have nice smelling things. I should be able to harvest even more for more oil and either salve or lotion, perhaps even cooking. 

I have defrosted one freezer and organizEved all that was in there. As sales occur I will pick up different cuts of meat, but there is more than enough to last in my stock ups from previous shopping trips. Still being prepared for large upticks in costs is what all of us should do.

Working on the knitted blanket (I have decided that my goal of having two completed was out of line) and the two fire pit blankets. I still have a few other projects I had hoped to get done that will be carried over for another month (or perhaps two).

We booked our next holiday (I left it up to Harvey to make the suggestion and it took him three months) and only have the extra excursions to book. Man, those can be pretty expensive. 

Using up all that I can and trying to figure out other ways to save money even though we are lucky enough not too have to worry too much.

I have been checking out real estate in the two places we are interested in as well. Strangely enough it would probably be less expensive to stay where we are and purchase a condo here. Still would have to drive to the capital to visit my specialist and even with Kris living there and allowing us to stay with him, it takes a great deal out of us. 

I have also come to the realization that some members of Harvey's family will never consider us as important members of said family, unless they need something. Their loss, and not worth my caring about. Especially when it is just my family does not follow the same political bent that they do. Blood should be thicker, but I guess not to everyone.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Time For Some More Pictures

 

I got this picture off the internet, but it is perhaps either a slightly newer version or older version of the one we use.

We took a day of rest after our first visit to the marsh and when the temperature warmed up in the afternoon walked through the village of Wasagaming. We visited several stores, took in a few of the sights in the Visitor Center, and then headed back to the cabin for a late afternoon cribbage tournament between the two of us. We had a mini tournament 2 afternoons. The score ended up being 2 games for me and 5 for Harvey (or the score could have been much more lopsided in his favour). 

The next day we travelled to Dauphin to take in a museum or two (we actually only visited one), a church that ended up being closed (but I did get a picture of the outside but managed to find pictures of the inside on the internet). My apologies this is slightly picture heavy.

First we went to the Fort Dauphin Museum. My, for a small city this was an excellent place to visit.

I will just post a few pictures... The first is an old Anglican church that graced the city in the first years it was established. Very much a simple country church.

These next pictures are of the main building with lots of exhibits. 

Just a few of the exhibits that caught my eye. I never realized that the Metis flag had a blue background first.

The yard outside was scattered with old buildings that had been moved onto the property and set up like a little village. There was a general store, a school house, a trappers home, a home for a family, a blacksmiths, and a few others. We enjoyed traipsing through them. 

After our visit here we decided to visit the Church of the Resurrection Ukrainian Catholic Church. This Church is built more along the lines of a cathedral and is a registered historic building.

We arrived and to our dismay the church was not open. I did find some pictures of the inside online and will share those.

As you can see the church is huge and very ornate in decor. I do wish we could have seen the inside for ourselves.

As I was walking around the outside of the church I found this shrine to Our Lady.

A peaceful place to say a prayer or two.

We did visit one more place, but I will save those for another day.

Everybody have a wonderful day.

God bless.

Not So Frugal Friday

 

Not the most frugal of weeks, well it was pretty frugal up until today. 

Today we booked our Alaskan cruise to see if we actually enjoy cruising..... Still have to decide what excursions we wish to go on which will add to the cost, but we may as well travel while we can. Our travel agent got the best possible deals for us that she could, she went above and beyond in helping us. 

This cruise takes place the beginning of September, and while we did not manage to get exactly the room we wanted (one with a balcony) we still get a lovely big window. I just did not want to be stuck in the middle with no windows. We also upgraded the cruise package which cost slightly more. I wanted a direct flight and not to have to pay for baggage so that added a small amount to the cost as well. No layovers in Calgary so little chance of luggage not making it with us.

I guess from now until we go I will be Frugalling my little heart out.

But what frugal things did take place this past week.

1.  Walking for my daily exercise.

2.  All clothing hung on lines outside to dry, I did some of the sheets as well.

3.  Eating from cupboard, fridge and pantry. 

4.  Working on my various projects to use up parts of my stash.

5.  Gathering clothing that no longer fits properly. Some will be donated, some will be cut into squares for quilts.

6.  Made lots of new meals from leftovers.

7.  Got free zucchini and need to process that tonight.

8.  Used up 2 bobbins while sewing together the denim squares.

9.  Reading free downloaded books on my ereader, planning on what to download next.

10.  Scanned my purchases for points.

11.  Did three surveys for points.

12.  Made an inventory of what is in my meat freezer and now I know what I need to purchase when the item goes on sale.

Overall not too bad at all, but I will be trying to figure out new ways to save those pennies that add up to dollars over the next while.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Midweek Again

 Here is hoping that Blogger doesn't decide to change my formatting again.

I was asked where we were that it was so cold. We were in Riding Mountain National Park in southern Manitoba. One morning we woke up to a temperature of 3C. Not the best start to the morning.

While there we did two hikes and had to cancel the third. I will explain why later on.

The first day there we did the marsh hike, one that we have always done every time we go. There is always something different to see.

Strangely enough this is the first time we have seen residents in the marsh. We watched these ducks for quite awhile. They seemed to like diving whenever I wanted to take a picture.... Had to be very quick so it isn't a very good one. 

I also found wild hazel nuts on the trail back. Lots of wild raspberries as well, but I didn't manage a picture of those.

Many a path that muskrats and beavers used to enter the marsh.

Lots of lovely wild flowers as well graced the trail that led to the floating paths.

The start of the marsh itself. Surprisingly there were no mosquitoes this time around. Lots of flies though and children catching small fish and loads of blood suckers. One wouldn't want to be in that water for very long. Ewww.

One of the many floating pathways through the marsh.

There were signs along the way telling us about a few of the marshes inhabitants.

And a beautiful, peaceful shot from a outlook point.

Two days later we though we would take the hike from the marsh along the shoreline of the lake however we were met with this sign just as we started.....

Click on the picture and you will see why we decided to do the marsh trail once again.... Sorry I do not want to meet a bear on the trail with no place to run. It was bad enough that the people in the cabin across the lane from us told me there was a bear sniffing around our cabin one night. 

More pictures another day. This time of our trip to Dauphin and the sights we took in there.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.