Thursday, September 9, 2010

Baked Potato Soup

Ever since Jenny took me to Red Robin and had me try their Baked Potato Soup, I have been on a mission to find the perfect recipe. Well, I combined a few and I think I made what Gary and I think is quite good.


One bowl of this is all you need to be full. I also made a sausage Tortellini Stew but I forgot to take a picture of it. We were too busy eating!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Labor of Love

No, I am not talking about childbirth! As many of you know, Gary inherited 2 tree farms from his dad when he died several years ago. Gary has been actively learning about trees, the kind of wood they produce, planting, thinning, management etc.

When we went down to help in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, we saw huge piles of trees that were going to be destroyed. To both of us it was an incredible waste to see perfectly good trees being sent away. But. that's what happens when the government is involved. All that was needed were some people and some wood mills that could take these trees and turn them into lumber to rebuild houses. Sounds quite simple doesn't it??

Well, Gary has a lumber mill and he has cut down many trees. (a lot of them in Louisiana) He cut down some on his property in Thurston County and he milled the wood. He cut it and set it out in our backyard to dry. Last summer he cut it to the size he needed and brought it down to Provo to use on our house there.

We realized a few weeks ago we had some gutter problems. We needed to put in the proper fascia and have new gutters installed. Gary went out to his waiting lumber pile and got all the wood he needed. I painted primer on the boards and Gary has been installing them.


Painted & ready to be cut to the right size and installed.


The fascia boards are cut specifically to fit against the angle of the house so the gutters will hang straight.

We still have plenty of wood to replace the trim around the windows but that will have to wait until next summer.