Our weekend ride to ID and Gourmet Apples

A few weekends ago John wanted to show me where he loads sometimes....(in Idaho) so we took a day trip there. Here are a few pics we snapped along the way..... We will post more pics on the main site....will let ya know when that happens......We did not see many deer but we saw a lot of big horn sheep....here is this year's young looking over the edge at us.It was a beautiful fall day.....so I couldn't resist snapping this pic!

So I thought I would be nice and make my co-workers a halloween treat....ok, so really they were just my guinea pigs....but they know that and they don't mind one bit! I thought I would give my hand at some gourmet apples. For my first attempt I thought they came out pretty good. I had to use what was available to me.....so that meant carmels from a bag and what ever the hobby store in Missoula had for chocolate. If I do decide to make these on a regular basis I will be ordering Merkens chocolate and Peter's Carmel (online of course). I did have some minor issues with the carmel oozing (maybe I need to double dip in the chocolate?) and then I had some cracking(not sure why?). I made three different varieties. The top single picture is dipped in broken pretzel stick, the second picture is the plain and the third one is dipped in chopped pecans. Of course the two that were dipped in nuts and pretzels went first....so needless to say the people who had the day off get the plain ones...oh well....if they don't like it too bad!

Wow, it's been a while...sorry!

Well, I got back home safe and sound from the academy....some things I learned while I was there.....1. pepper spray does not work on everyone(saw video proof of this one) and 2.neither do pressure points (they have no/ VERY little effect on me). But it was a lot of fun to learn that kind of stuff, even though I will probably never use it again.....as I said before we are a hands off facility. The following weekend I had Apple Days.....it is sort of the grand finale of the Farmer's Market. It is hosted by the Historical society and is advertised as the Biggest Bake Sale Under the Big Sky! Volunteers pick, peel and prepare 700 apple pies that are for sale that day! I had 45 loaves of bread baked....was a little worried b/c they were calling for rain.....but it turned out to be a beautiful day and I was sold out of bread by noon (it lasted until 4:30). So needless to say I did VERY well as far as sales go! I am signed up to do 5 events for Christmas. 4 are for sure and the 5th one is tenative because it is a juried show....which means you need to apply....show pictures of your items....to prove that it is 100% handcrafted. It is in Missoula and set for Dec. 14th.....so I won't be too hurt if I don't get to do that one.....will need to see if my soap suppy holds out that long! So we have been busy here making soap....lotion....lip butter.....and pretty soon.....stacking wood. We now have had 3 cords of wood delivered (two just arrived today). As I'm sure most of you have heard.....Montana had it's first snow of the season! We did see snow here in the valley, but it did not stick to the ground......well, I think that's about all that's been going on.....gotta go bake some bread....have an order to fill today.