It's cooled off

Saturday it cooled off finally, and quite drastically. It's sweater weather now and we soon will have to start the woodstove if this keeps up. But this is much more normal for this time of year, and I love the cool weather. It makes hiking so much more enjoyable, and it's a lot easier working in the barn and on the animals since the cool weather has decreased the bugs.
It cooled off so much I even started a new knitting project yesterday afternoon that I look forward to working on when my chores are done today...

The other day we went for a little drive because it was still too hot to do anything useful. It was fun just poking our nose down some of the area back roads we'd never been down before.

Everyone is getting ready for the turkey fair, even Home Hardware!

Friday a storm started moving in, and once it got here, it was short, but not sweet. The winds picked up to about 50 miles per hour, with heavy rain for about 10 - 15 minutes total. I was outside trying to get the animals into the barn to safety because debris was flying and branches were snapping. Those were some of the heaviest wind we've ever seen here. After the storm passed we went out to look and discovered more than one of our good healthy maples had lost limbs during the storm.

Saturday we spent in the village with friends and the BBC. Brian McKenna has been filming for a year now, a documentary about the immigrant ship the "Hannah" which most of the families in this area are descendants of. Many others live in the United States and Western Canada. But this is the area they came to when they arrived from Ireland during the famine... the survivors that is. Kevin's Great Grandfather came on this ship so he was able to have a small part in this, which was very exciting. You can see the trailer at http://www.thefamineshiphannah.com/

While they were off filming I happened along the neatest caterpillar, I've never seen one like this before and I'm trying to figure out who he is... if you know please share! Isn't he cool looking?

We got home late, after 8 PM, and while I was up working in the barn I thought I'd clean up a bit since it had cooled off nicely. I was raking out hay and manure from under the rabbit hutches and what came out??? This guy:

A SALAMANDER! I've never come across one of these guys before and let me tell you, they are the cutest things ever! I was so thrilled. I brought him in the house to show Kevin and get a couple pictures before I let him go in a very good spot. It absolutely made my day.
Last night we went for a ride in the ATV since it was cool and Kevin wanted to check on some other Maples. It was a fun ride and we saw quite a few critters. Two does with Fawns, Partridge, and a Heron.

A raccoon by our dam road...

dug up an almost ready to hatch turtle nest and ate every single egg as they love to do..

Further back on our trails we came across three Partridge and one of them stayed to strut his stuff and try to tell us who was the real boss around here! So I was able to get a couple pictures, but it was almost dark and he was keeping some brush between us.

I made this chili yesterday since it cooled off. I've got a giant pile of new recipes to try and either keep or toss. Kevin said he liked this one. It was just a basic chili really but then you top it with hash browns and some cheese and bake it in the oven. Because we were out exploring I left it in the oven a little longer than needed but it didn't burn, and still tasted fine. If you like chili, I think you'll like this recipe:

Hash brown chili

2 tbs Olive oil
1 onion chopped
2 tbs chili powder (I used 3)
1 small can tomato paste
1 pound ground beef
salt and pepper to taste
2 small cans red kidney beans (washed)
one can diced tomatoes
one bag frozen hash brown potatoes thawed
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Cook your onion, ground beef, and chili powder, until the meat is cooked through, then drain. Add the tomato paste to your beef mixture and stir until well blended over medium heat. Then add you salt and pepper, the beans, and tomatoes. Simmer for about 20 minutes.
Put your chili into a baking sheet, top with hash browns and some cheese, and bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 40 minutes or until hash browns are brown and cooked.
We are not big chili eaters but a couple times during the cold weather we'll have it and this was a good warm me up.

I'm thrilled we can now enjoy good hot soups and stews, cooking in the cold weather is so much more fun and you look forward to a hot meal after working out in the bush all day.
It's time for me to get back to work so I can sit down later with a hot cup of tea and knit with Norman. One of our favorite shows premiers tonight at 6, mantracker, it's a lot of fun. We've often thought it might be fun to try and outrun mantracker and apply to be on the show. But I'd rather be his helper on a horse than the prey!