Ready or Not Here We Go!

This calendar for the past couple weeks.

Lists, Lists, Lists!!! But now I can throw them all away. The camper is loaded, the house is ready to be without us and Dan has about one more hour to work. I am so very ready for no more lists. I just put 6 in the recycle bin. Plumbing issue came up when I was draining the hot water tank. The helpful man at George Morlan says it is not related but when I turned the hot water off to begin draining tank my kitchen faucet started dripping cold water. The only position where it didn't run was in the "on" setting on the "hot" side! I turned the valve off down below the sink and we will deal that in December. Fixing a faucet can be Dan's first "Honey Do" of retirement.

Here is our home for the next several weeks. Dan thinks we could make it permanent. I will let you know what we (I) think about that come mid December. The first couple nights of our trip are arranged around our daughter. She is at nursing school in Ashland, Oregon and has a friend she wants to visit this coming weekend, who lives in Truckee, CA. So the latest plan is for us to drive tonight to Valley of the Rogue State Park between Grants Pass & Medford. I have a little champagne to celebrate Dan's retirement. (shhh it is a surprise). If the weather is good we will bicycle and relax in the morning. We will load a cooler for dinner on the road. Martha has class until 2 tomorrow then we will leave her car at the Medford airport for her return and head out from there about 2:30... second night destination: a Walmart in Sacramento. It can only get better from that, right? We will leave Martha with her friend in Sacramento, then sleep a few hours and head for parts unknown.

Games, games, games

Here is a recipe I came up with today:
When I was emptying the refrigerator the only perishable item I did not have room in camper for was some buttermilk. Plus I had an orange that the border patrol at California might have taken away. So I made muffins. They have a light orange flavor and are quite tasty in my opinion.

Orange Cranberry Muffin

• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp each cinnamon & nutmeg
• juice from one orange
• 1/2 cup craisins
• 1/2 tsp dried orange peel
• 1/3 cup oil
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
•  1 egg, slightly beaten

Combine dry ingredients and make a well in center. Warm OJ, cranberries and orange peel in microwave for a minute on low setting. Stir OJ & cranberries, oil, buttermilk, and egg together; pour into dry ingredients and stir until just moist. Fill muffin cups and sprinkle with sugar ( I used raw sugar)

Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes.

Yield 12 regular muffins.

I am still having trouble with formatting, lots to learn, lots of time.... ;o)

Best wishes to any who read this! jean