EKjourney Backup

Fruit cups.  My Aunt used to make these.  I think they are a very creative way to serve fruit without it costing a fortune!  Use what your have!  For 5 fruit cups, I used 1 banana (sliced), a very small handful of raisins and walnuts for each cup, 4 frozen strawberries a piece, a few pieces of pomegranate, a hefty sprinkling of dried coconut, and a dollop of coconut cream (I buy cans of coconut milk and put them in the fridge, I used maybe a 1/5 of a can total for the cups).  Add a splash of juice (orange is delicious) and voila!  (Michelle, this is for you.) SpringRock, 1948.  I saw this on one of my drives and had to stop for a closer look.  As I was taking pictures, an elderly gentleman approached our car and gave us a little history lesson.  This is the site of a natural spring that flows all year long.  The spring feeds the watering trough a constant supply of fresh water and the overflow flows under the road and off the embankmen...

We headed out to the West Salem/Monmouth area this morning to check out a 4-H rabbit show.  We wanted to learn what it entailed as well as give the children a feel for what they would be doing if they were to show an animal.  The Polk County Fairground was deserted and we were told that it had been canceled do to flooding.  Plan B, Burgerville and an afternoon drive.  Luckily, I brought my camera along! The first set of pictures are from the Independence area.  On the rare times that we are out in this area, we drive home via Independence to South Salem.  The route that we normally take was closed.  The banks of the Willamette River had gone up some 29 feet at its peak and all the parks, fields, roads, etc. lining the river banks were flooded. This is in Silverton near the former Mallorie's Dairy.  This is one of the two main roads that I take when I go into Salem/Keizer.  This road frequently floods with heavy rains so it is not un...

(Hopefully these pictures will post). We had a little pond develop in our yard on Thursday during the flooding.  I had the children put on shorts and sweatshirts and head out barefoot to play.  They lasted about 10 minutes. Unfortunately, the pond happened in the messiest part of the yard!  The pool is stored here, toys and containers are out, the wheelbarrow broke down and is full of weeds, lumber is stacked.  I had to use some fancy camera angles so as not to memorialize the mess (and yet I am talking about it...). Fishing out toys Sawyer jumped right in Jubilee soon followed suit  Evi tentatively dipped her toe in  Stirring up the murk This was as wet as she was willing to get Boy in a bucket, pool up Pool down Watching the children from the bedroom window Begging to go out Oh, all right, you can go out, I won't torture you any longer. Yum!

Here are some before and after pictures.  The first set (top) was taken on Thursday, the second (bottom) on Friday both around the same time of the day so about 24 hours later.   This is "the pond" less than 15 hours later (pictures in previous post). Bike Park On Cascade Hwy The little red outbuilding On backroads surrounding Silverton

Monday, we woke up to a dusting of crunchy snow.  We eagerly watched as snow fell on and off all day Monday and Tuesday.  Tuesday, we had several flurries but it was 2-3 degrees too warm for accumulation.  We could have had a good 3-4 inches if it had been colder. Kale, kale how I love you.  I love that I am still picking off leaves, slicing them up thin, and throwing them into just about every dinner whether it be soup, salad, sauces....Yum!  Aphids, I do not love you however. This was the extent of the snowfall. Hopeful! And then we switch to the weather on Thursday.  It warmed up about 20 degrees and the rain has been falling steadily causing lots of flooding.  I had to run out to my parents so I grabbed my camera and then played around with some of the new features on Picasa. Tree thickets along the creek bank are in standing water. The railroad crossing about 2 miles from my parent's home. High water signs are posted everywhere. Typical cre...