And then there was Halloween...

Baby steps, one holiday at a time. I know Christmas is almost here, but I need to share my old pictures first.

Long overdue...

Yes, there was an open house party. I tried to think of everyone I knew to invite, but everything was so last minute, some of you may have been mistakenly overlooked. But, don't you fret, you didn't miss out on anything you can't still get. Just come on through the espresso stand and I'll serve you up a tasty treat.

Oh the inspiration of it all...

I love the designs, patterns and clothes of the 1950's and 1960's. It might be called a sickness, my boyfriend would say so. When he first came into my house, he said that I have things his grandma would have. She must have some great taste!

Anyway, I ran across these sweet recipe book covers while perusing the web and thought you might enjoy seeing them too...







And who could resist this recipe? How creative and fun!!! Okay, so who really has time to make things like this these days... I wish I did! :)




I'll be sure to take pictures when I get around to making this culinary delight.

Trying out this FaceBook thing...

Running on all cylinders?

Well at least I'm OPEN! Yay for me :) The espresso stand is now open 5 am to 6 pm Monday thru Friday, and 5 am to 1 pm Saturday and Sunday. Pictures? Are you crazy? I don't have time to take pictures! Yesterday was a 14 hour work day for me, that may sound like a lot of hours but it's a break from trying to get the stand operational, so it was pretty dang nice... Pictures coming soon, promise!

Friday on the farm...

Yesterday, I had to take an unexpected trip up to Spokane... My espresso and granita machines needed a little bit of a tuneup. So since a tuneup takes more than just a second, which was just fine with me this time, I got to go on a field trip!

I'm getting the milk for my espresso stand from Spokane Family Farm. A small family run operation, like the name implies. They have about 25 cows (don't quote me on that number) that are born and raised right on the farm. One of the great things about their milk is that it will come fresh to my espresso stand, straight from the cow, within 72 hours.

And besides being the freshest milk you can get without having to keep your own cow in the back yard, they also use a super low temperature to pasteurize their milk, killing the bad bacteria, but keeping the healthy bacteria that's good for our stomachs. The closest thing to raw milk available, without the health risks.

Check out their website (at the green link above) to find out more about how amazing their milk is.



Here's Trish, she not only loves her babies, they love her back.




This special little heifer, is the pride and joy of Mike and Trish's barn. She comes from (let's see... I'm going to butcher the details I'm sure) a prize dairy bull from England. If I recall correctly (and if you know me well you know that it's most likely I'm going to get this wrong), the bull sired the top producing dairy cows across the pond. You'll have to ask Trish for details to get it all straight when you get the chance to go up and visit the farm.



That there is Mike, the "best farmer in the US", according to Trish. And after seeing all the amazing attention to even the most minute of details on the farm, I'm inclined to agree with her.



This is the milking parlor. You could literally eat off this floor it's so clean. Makes me very confident that every jug of milk I get from them will never be questionable.



Besides cows, they have miniature donkeys! I fell in love. This little cream puff is Cookie. I wanted to stuff her in my pocket and bring her home with me. In fact, I might in a few months. Trish and Mike do sell their foals, and in a few months Cookie will be old enough to be weened and sent to a new home. I call dibs on this one. You can have the other one she has... or wait for a new one to pop out.



Apparently, miniature donkeys have all the good qualities of a goat and none of the annoying habits... You can even teach them to drive little carts! I'm sold. I'm such a push over for small fuzzy animals.

Holy Moses....

I just got up my "Coming soon!" banner! Not sure I love all the crazy colors in it, but it's not permanent, so I can always change it.



Take a gander at the view I'll have from my espresso stand window. Ain't that just the sweetest street Moscow has to offer. How'd I get so lucky. Sweet Avenue is just that.



So, I know you'll all be super excited to know that I'm on Paradise Path, a biking and walking trail that goes all the way to Troy! So now at the end of your hot and dry walk, you can just swing on by for a Lemon-Lime Slushy... or whatever you choose to wet your taste buds with.



Just drug the Pod home yesterday, with all the cabinets finished!



Take a gander at these beauties... I'm shocked at how nice everything is turning out. If you hadn't noticed yet, the cabinets are getting stained blue. Of course.






If the arc were this stylish, Moses never would have moved out to dry land. This Land Yacht however, will be my new home away from home. I'll probably even be spending more time in here than at my house. You'll know where to find me.

Longevity is in the genes...

This lady, my Grandma Dotty, is too tough to die... and she turned 91 this last week. She still mows her own large and beautiful lawn, and even runs a DR around to weed wack the stubborn weeds in the lane and barnyard! Don't mess with this lady she'll mow you over.








Bekah not only knows what purple is, can also say purple. Amazing little girl.




Dwight is so excited about the birthday candles, he can barely stand it.

Retro Espresso latest...

Here's what the inside of the trailer looks like now!!! So exciting... Starting to look a little bit like something.




I got the front bank by the sidewalk cleaned up. Put bark on it.




Then planted flowers in it. And then promptly people started walking and riding their bikes over it. Silly people, don't you know that's what the sidewalk is for? Better be on your toes next time you try that, cuz I'm putting "landscape rocks" in it. Hehehe...



The fun and festivities from yesterday included having two loads of gravel brought in. Then I got to rake it all out, and move half of it around with a shovel. My brother was kind enough to lend me his compacter, and I ran it over, and over, and over the drive lanes to pack it down. I woke up halfway through the night with the sorest muscles ever. I hurt from my head to my toes... I think this is a sign that I worked hard yesterday... and I might be a touch out of shape? Hahaha...

Fourth of July with the Mummer...

All work and no play...

Check out those muscles...



Notice the exposed ankle. I fried the chicken out of it. Ouch.





A new clematis I planted last summer. I thought it was going to be blue, by the picture it came with, but it seems to be a light lavender color.



Mum's beautiful lupines in her front yard.

Slow progress...

Here's a little pic to whet your appetite. I've been polishing the outside of my trailer. It's quite the process. I am having to give the whole trailer basically a massage with the polish before hitting it with the buffer to get all the tough oxidation off... More pics to come soon.

Long lost Memorial Day camping pictures...

It was another rainy Memorial Day weekend this year, what a shocker eh? But what fun is it to sit at home dreaming of sunshine? So I went camping with Tanley and Jed... and his brother and some friends.




This was their "happy faces".




Tan and Jed call these timber tigers... Fierce.





This little guy was trying to stow away in my car in the morning... I'd be searching for dry ground too after all that rain. He was about to drown.




Super cute snail... if snails can be cute. I for one, am kinda grossed out by their slime trails.




Tan, Jed, and I decided not to brave the rain in our tents and we all slept in our cars. Noogie slept in the front seat of their car... Talk about cozy.






So in love after all these years... well, actually it's only been one year. Tan and Jed.




This is Fish Creek up off the Lochsa. Super nice trail heading up the crick.




And no, I'm not balding... That's the sun reflecting off my super shiny hair. I do have a normal hairline.




Jed is the badest biker I know... This is his second time down this stretch. The first time the bike road him down the hill... This time he dominated. Quick learner.