Double Trouble

I'm sorry about the double post, but I guess all of us have had some quirk with our blog at some point.

We returned from Pacific Beach yesterday after an enjoyable three days. The tides were very low, but the wind and rain came in on Wednesday night and created a fair bit of noise and motion. The motor home definitely catches the wind! We drove to Lake Quinault Lodge on the southern edge of the Hoh Rain Forest and Karen and Rod treated us to lunch. We did avail ourselves of a short 1/2 mile trail that took us through some lovely old-growth forest along with the evidence of years of fallen trees.

There is no cell phone service for us at Pacific Beach, and of course no internet, so one does truly "get away from it all".

We have nothing coming up on our calendar. The Spragues have invited us to join them for a day or two of wine tasting in the Yakima Valley along towards the end of October, and I suspect we will take them up on it.

We received delightful thank you notes from Nolan and Warren for the trip to Yellowstone. Delightful except that little brother Warren regretted that big brother Nolan wasn't eaten by a bear. Spoken like a true little brother. Sheila sent along a copy of the Gunfighter which is the newspaper for the base. There was a photo of Brian and Sheila embracing upon his return from deployment, and a wonderful photo of Nolan holding up his sign that said, "I missed you Dad."

Colleen and I are about to enter into dueling crossword puzzles. She gave me a date book for 2006 that contains 52 NY Times puzzles - and she has the same. My only stipulation is that we remove the answer sheets so we are not tempted to look at the answers. At least not until both of us are totally stumped. I know from experience that it can take me the full week or more to finish one of those.

Here is an easy slow cooker recipe:

Pulled Pork for sandwiches

3# boneless pork shoulder
1 green bell pepper, cut into 1/2" squares
2 large onions, sliced
1 bottle Kraft barbeque sauce
Helen's version: add a spoonful of beef or chicken base to bolster the meat flavor and a splash or two of wine - red or white.

Cook on low for about 7 hours. Remove meat, shred, and return to the sauce. If you want more onion flavor, you could add 1 package Lipton Dry Onion Soup Mix.

Ciao