Is there a feather on my tongue?

 Norman is famous for his nose... "crumbing" is what we call his constant search for a good treat. Often he ends up with things stuck on his nose or his tongue in this case from searching the floor.

Yesterday it was so humid outside it was miserable and it drained all your energy instantly. I was in the barn at 7 PM working on putting new locks on Sammy and Beans pen since they keep breaking out like hardened criminals,  when the clouds and wind started moving in. I managed to get my gates fixed, and move some of the straw from the load of hay and straw I got yesterday morning since it was in my way.

Once the animals were all inside the wind picked up considerably. I ran home to put the chickens away before the storm hit. The winds were blowing really hard and the black sky was right on top of us when I ran inside to get some feed for the chickens. I flicked on the light and it didn't come on, so I went back and flicked it again. No light. No power.

I ran out and got the chickens settled for the night and ran back inside. By then I could see blue sky behind the black clouds above me. Not a drop of rain fell. The heavy wind did offer a nice breeze, but no rain. No thunder. Nothing.

Then the blue sky came and we had no power for three hours. That wasn't very helpful since I was planning on doing a lot of laundry and cooking in preparation for us leaving Tuesday morning for Michigan. Thankfully our camper has propane so I cooked some pasta in there for us to eat.

Today I've been running around like crazy trying to catch up with laundry, cleaning the camper, packing, cleaning the house, etc...

I got the chicken coop cleaned out, the camper cleaned, laundry done. I had to use up some of the food we had here so it doesn't go to waste, so I made banana bread, finished the jerky, made chipotle salsa and salsa verde to use up my tomatillos...

It couldn't be any easier, just roast your tomatillos, add some jalapeno's, an onion, some sugar and lime juice, and blend it up! The chiptole salsa is good and I'll remember to share to recipe when I get home.

I made braised short ribs for dinner to use those up and pretty much everything else I froze or have packed in the camper. We have fresh cukes from the garden and zucchini to eat, and lots of jalapenos and limes.

The boys and I managed a quick walk in the heat to a nearby raspberry patch to pick a few... they are out but still not terribly plentiful... you'd have to work hard to pick an entire basketful still...

Douglas is ready to go!

Jackson was out munching grass along the way...

Hopefully I'll be able to share some pictures along the way on this trip. We'll visit with family in Sault Ste. Marie Michigan and then head to Northern Ontario to visit friends and pick some wild blueberries (hopefully A LOT of them!) I can taste the pie now!

We've been running so crazy the past two weeks it will be nice to get a break and not have to drive so much this trip. It's 10 hours to the Soo, and then we can just relax there for a while. I'm planning on stuffing myself with as much whitefish as possible. It's about a 500 more miles to our spot up North, so we'll be about 1,100 miles from home (again, as far as Nova Scotia really) but we'll break up the driving this time, we are both too tired and need some rest.

Hopefully when we come back: less deer flies. I know bug season will be long from over but the deer flies will dying down and that, I am so looking forward to! And it will also be the start of serious canning time.

Douglas and Norman have packed their toys and are ready to go. They are as usual doing their paranoid "don't leave me behind" act today, pretty much walking between my legs every second so I'm tripping on them and they figure it makes it impossible for me tp forget that they exist and need to go camping with us.

For now we are all off to bed, it's an early morning tomorrow finishing packing. Goodnight, all.