Egg Salad & Stock Trailers

I have been a HUGE fan of hard boiling

my eggs in my pressure cooker.

And it really IS a fantastic way to cook them.

But we rarely just eat hard boiled eggs.

Although Kyle loves deviled eggs,

I forget to make them...

Mostly I make egg salad for Rod.

And to be perfectly honest, its a pain in the neck.

Even though they peel easily, it still takes awhile,

standing there at the kitchen counter,

peeling the eggs, washing the little bits off,

then putting each one through the egg slicer twice,

and then mixing in the mayo.

So today I took the plunge.

I cracked 8 eggs (store bought) into one of my

"pot in pot" metal pans that fits in my IP.

It comes with a lid (there are 2 pans and they stack...)

I set it for 4 minutes.

And then I went out to the garden.

Hahahaha.

Luckily I came back in at EXACTLY the right time.

They need to cook for 4 minutes and natural

pressure release for 4 minutes.

This is what they look like when they are done!

I went ahead and put the whole pan into an

ice water bath...

I was thinking the best way to chop these would be

a pastry cutter, but I realized I don't have one!

(One of the few things I've never owned...)

So I just used those 2 little knives right there.

Took about a minute and a half.

Ta Da!!!!!

Fresh egg salad!

It was maybe 5 minutes faster, but much less annoying.

I think I'll do it this way from now on...

******************************************************

Meanwhile, OUTSIDE, the guys are still working on 

the new stock trailer.

Rod took yesterday off, we went down to Ft. Pierce

and picked up more steel and when we got home

Kyle came home from work and they got

quite a bit done!

It's looking more and more like a trailer!

They got the kick panels on the lower part,

last weekend they built the frame for the fenders,

today Kyle is welding the skin on those...

Grinding all the sharp edges off...

Last night Rod came home from the chiropractor 

with a new giant fan.

The patio feels a bit like the surface of the sun...

And now they are picking up new lights...

WAY TO GO GUYS!!!!

The Trip Across the Country

Vacation was over,

and now it was back to work.

Carly and Brandon hired Kyle to

move their household back to Florida.

We went to their house and met Brandon... he drove

us over to the Penske place and we picked up his

20' moving truck.

(This is Carly's sister-in-law Caroline and baby ... ?)

We got back and started loading the truck.

(Well, Kyle and Brandon and Carly's brother John...)

Carly has been having contractions (she's due in October)

and had hurt her back the day before, so I sat with her

and chatted - kept her busy while her Aunt took 

care of their 2 year old son Benny.

About 10:00 their friends all showed up and they

got the truck loaded in a hurry!

As often happens, the truck was bigger than necessary,

but better to have too much room rather than 

too much STUFF...

Once they got it all loaded, Brandon's Dad headed out

to get some ratchet straps (and lunch) so we sat and

visited with Brandon's family.

They are a nice bunch!

Kyle, Brandon and his Mom got it all secured

and then we headed out.

 Time for the long haul...

We took the southern route,

down through Monticello, UT.

We saw some interesting rock formations.

The truck was brand new, it only had 2,900 miles on it!

Kyle had an air ride seat and it had all the bells and whistles.
(Which were actually a HUGE pain in the neck...)

It sensed when you went over the line.

Even when there WASN'T a line...

and did a warning chime,

which scared you EVERY TIME.

If you look carefully you can see the wind farm... 
this went on for MILES!

It also "read" the speed limit signs and yelled if you exceeded.

Including the speed signs on exits you were PASSING!

(not exiting)

But it DID keep a constant 3 second distance between

you and the vehicle in front of you, which Kyle liked.

The passenger side was a bench seat and none of the 

seats reclined beyond the 90 degree mark.

It was a little like sitting on a cushy dining room chair

for nearly 4 days.

We left Logan about 3:30 on Saturday afternoon

and we pulled into our driveway at 6:15 Tuesday evening.

Kyle drove LONG hours each day.

We stopped in a hotel each night and got a good sleep

and then headed back out.

We don't eat on the road.

We nibbled on crackers and that was about it.

We just don't get hungry...

And we listened to the first 3 books of the Harry Potter series

on my Kindle (computer generated voice... you just have 

to laugh when you hear the way she pronounces some of

the words... LOL)

When I travel like that, it's like I enter a fugue state.

Those days don't really exist...

Anyhow.

We were HOME!

Rod (and the dogs) was happy to have us home!

And then I had to be back in the ZoomRoom at 6:30.

Back to the "real world".

Thanks for traveling along with us!

Tomorrow... back to current stuff.

More wind farm...

Friday June 12

Oh my goodness!

I just realized I didn't do a Birthday Blog

for my "little" sister Rozann!

(She is LITTLE-r than me in every way!

EXCEPT HEART and SOUL!)

We had a great visit on the phone.

I love you to BITS Rozie!!!

*****************************************************

But back to the Travelogue...

because if I don't ever finish this I can't get

back to my "real" / current life.

And I WANT to have a record of all the

really fun, exhausting things we did on this trip.

So...

On to Friday.

Our LAST full day in Logan.

After our traditional breakfast burrito from

Marverick (gas station)

we headed back up the mountain to an

"easier" "flatter" hike called Wood Camp.

Only 3.4 miles one way.

And it was BEAUTIFUL!

(and hot... about 83 and I chose to wear jeans

and my winter weight t-shirt... so I melted...)

First off... I am TOTALLY stealing this sign idea

for OUR woods. Bikes yield to walkers AND horses.

Walkers yield to HORSES.

EVERYBODY yields to horses!

Kyle has, of course, done the LONG hike up to the Old Juniper Tree,

but he said it was a total disappointment.

It's an old tree.

There is a nice creek with a little wooden bridge

at the beginning of the hike.

They didn't want the horses on the bridge,

so they got their own trail...

A nicely shaded, dirt trail.

Kyle says he always feels like he's in a "park"

on this part of the trail.

See the dark thing in the center of the picture?

That's juvenile moose's ear.

Hahahahaha

I took a video of him, but only caught one ear

with my still.

A biker was coming down the trail and slowed,

pointing off to the side.

We would have totally missed him!

He was really quite close.

There are 4 miles to the tree at this point,

which means we had done a mile on our trail.

And I was still doing fine!

The trail opened up, no more shade except for randomly,

and it was much rockier.

Again, YEA for my sticks!

The scenery was amazing!

With occasional streams... perfect for cooling off!

Kyle stops here traditionally to rub cool water

on his face, neck, arms, legs...

Sadly in the fall it's nearly gone...

Hard to tell HOW steep this is - basically 

STRAIGHT DOWN into the valley.

With one tiny patch of snow on the opposite mountain.

We were grateful everytime there was a

tree providing shade on the trail!

Sometimes there was even a rock for sitting on!

(This was a 180 switchback...)

It got a bit steep here!

This was a marker for a trail that shoots off

up the canyon - definitely "back woods"...

groups no smaller than 4,

bear spray, possibly a fire arm...

horses not a bad idea... lol.

Not as wide and well groomed...

bet its fun though!

It got steeper, and harder, and hotter,

and I wasn't sure I was going to make it.

But I DID!

That last .5 mile was a killer.

And there it was!

A hunk of wood. 

Stuck on a dead tree!

A place to SIT!

And a gorgeous view of the valley.

And then ... head back down!

Hahahaha.

Just random trail pictures...

That stuff is HARD to walk on!
I told Kyle it reminded me of the 
"shore" at Waterton Lake.

But this is what it looks like mostly.

It was lush, green, beautiful!

We found some cute little purple flowers.

Decided to wear them...

Kyle doesn't have a ponytail, 

so he had to use his hat band...

LOL

We were getting tired and a little goofy!

(Look closely, you can see his flower...)

Oh THERE it is!!!  LOL

Look how BIG these flowers are!

As big as his palm!

Kyle thought that would look good on

any dining room table...

The trip back down was pretty, uneventful,

and again, I did great until that final .5 mile

when I was honestly DONE.

I just wanted to stop walking!

There were lots of little, slippery, loose rocks

and I was wearing my riding boots

which pretty well died on this trip.

There is NO support left in them at all...

so I had to take little steps to keep from turning an ankle.

And I was TIRED.

When we got back to town, we stopped at the

sporting goods store and I tried on every pair of 

hiking shoe/boot they carried.

Really liked these, but they were too big,

so I took a picture so I can get them online.

Which reminds me... better get online!

Haha

We hit the Taco Bell drive thru for some burritos

and then drove another fire road (not as good as the first one)

but saw some pretty scenery.

I was tired, as evidenced by the lack of photos....

The road was skinny, winding, and fun to drive

and, since it was the weekend and things were

opening up again in Utah, there were LOTS of

trucks carrying campers up to stay.

They all gave a side-eye to the crazy people in

the rental car.

Haha.

And then BED!

I was READY!

(And REALLY sun burned...)

Even the critters were wearing masks in the

West Yellowstone grocery store!

(Just found this one...)

Got a good burn on our faces and necks!

Our noses peeled on the drove home.

NICE....

And then the drive home.......

Tomorrow's installment.

************************************

UPDATE: hiking boots ordered

Ship date July 3.

Whew!