Here's the beautiful spot from Mount Falcon overlooking Morrison in the morning. Larr supervises trail building during the summer and gets paid to go hiking from time to time.
Here's how it looked in Golden during the hail storm in the afternoon.
Friday, before the rain hit, I spent some serious time in the front garden, the very spot that the family helped me weed and turn over. I stirred in some compost and top soil, all the while visions of plants played in my mind. So often my gardens have been a bit of what is already there, a bit of what I get from friends or from Eleanor's garden and a few of my desires added in. This time I spent a lot of time looking through gardening books for Colorado, examining the cool pre-planned gardens over at High Country Gardens and scouring the local garden nurseries. While I could not find all of the plants I dreamed of, I found a few that I love. Just as I got them in the ground the rain began to fall. As I retreated indoors Larr called to say that there was golf ball size hail in the mountains. I had Ellie dump out the laundry baskets, I gathered boxes, camping chairs, etc. and began covering the garden. Ellie and I stood, transfixed for a short while, as the wall of hail descended into Edgewater, over the tree tops at our neighbor's house and onto our yard. By the time it got to us the hail had taken itself down a few notches, only coming in at about gumball size. Up in the mountains it hailed enough for the plows to go out and clear the 6" deep mess of marble size hail. My garden fared well and seems to be happy in the near constant rain that we have had for days.
Ethan spent Saturday hosting an airsoft battle. Ellie spent it finally feeling better after sporting a high fever, sore throat and aches, with plenty of pains for the last few days. Larr and I watched "Sparticus" while we tackled too much laundry. It feels good to be getting out from under the burden of piled up choirs. I finally am beginning to feel a bit freed up. I am going to clean up my craft room and see what I might be inspired to create. While doing laundry I ironed much of the hand dyed fabric I've made recently. I'll be sure to post some photos of those. They should be inspiration enough.
Part of cleaning up a bit included removing silly putty from Ellie's bed set. In a fit of boredom she used her glow in the dark silly putty to make stars on her ceiling. In the morning she found that they had fallen down and become smeared and ground into her sheets and her comforter. With the aid of rubbing alcohol, a butter knife and some cotton balls I was able to remove all traces of the stuff - hurray!
Here's some nice recipes for a cold summer night:
Yolanda's Famous Chicken (from Cooking Light, July 2010)
Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 breast half and 1 lemon wedge)
Ingredients
2 (1 1/2-ounce) bread slices
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (1 ounce) finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons dried rosemary, crushed
1 1/2 teaspoons dried marjoram
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon 2% reduced-fat milk
1 large egg
Cooking spray
4 teaspoons olive oil, divided
4 lemon wedges
Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Tear bread into pieces. Place bread in a food processor; pulse until breadcrumbs measure about 1 3/4 cups.
3. Place each chicken breast half between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap, and pound chicken to 1/2-inch thickness using a meat mallet or small heavy skillet.
4. Place flour in a shallow dish. Combine breadcrumbs, cheese, and next 4 ingredients (through pepper) in a second shallow dish. Combine milk and egg in a third shallow dish, stirring with a whisk. Working with 1 breast half at a time, dredge chicken in flour, shaking off excess. Dip into egg mixture; dredge in breadcrumb mixture, pressing to coat evenly on both sides. Place chicken on a large plate. Repeat procedure with remaining breast halves, flour, egg mixture, and breadcrumb mixture; refrigerate for 30 minutes.
5. Heat a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray; add 2 teaspoons olive oil, swirling to coat. Add 2 breast halves to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Place on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Lightly coat chicken with cooking spray. Repeat procedure with remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil and remaining breast halves. Bake at 375° for 12 minutes or until a thermometer registers 165°. Serve with lemon wedges.
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Snicker Doodle Cookies (Crispy or Soft)
Here's the recipe if you want thin, crispy cookies:
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 tea Vanilla Extract
2 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoons cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt (omit if you are using salted (regular) butter)
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
(For soft, puffy cookies use shortening in place of the butter and increase the Cream of Tar Tar to 2 teaspoons.)
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F .
2. In a large bowl, mix together the butter/shortening and 1 1/2 cups of white sugar until smooth. Stir in the eggs, blending well after each. Combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt; stir into the batter until just blended.
3. Roll the dough into balls the size of small walnuts. Roll in a mixture of 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon. Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned, but still soft.
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