The Scent of Apples

Aren't these fall days lovely???

We took a ride down through Adams County, our local orchard country, to view the leaves and pick some apples.  We don't actually go to the trees and pick.  Hollabaugh's Orchard staff has already done that.

But every year they have huge bins of apples from which you can fill a pre-purchased bag as full as you wish with apples of many varieties.  Of course by the time we get home we forget what their names are!

They have their fruit stand decorated with lovely mums in vibrant colors.

Gourds for sale in all shapes and sizes.

Indian corn in a rainbow of colors.

Pumpkins.  Lots of pumpkins!

And best of all, inside is a nice selection of honey, herbs, and yummy baked goods.  All kinds of gift items too.

Unfortunately, through the whole trip, Zip was having an allergy attack.  He had been outdoors helping Brad work on his front porch remodeling all morning.  We no sooner started down the highway to the fruit stand when he started coughing and sneezing.  Our stay at the fruit stand was severely shortened.  I took over the driving and got him in to Shippensburg by the fastest way possible.  We made it to the walk-in clinic just before it closed.  He is now using a once-a-day inhaler and hasn't had an attack since.  He goes for some breathing tests next week.

Here are about half of the apples we brought home.  We will be eating our apple-a-day for the next several weeks.

When we had the Animal Shelter  benefit hook-in at Joan's a while back, one of the ladies brought the most delicious home made caramel popcorn.  I asked her about the recipe and she replied that it was a oven baked recipe.  I have been hungering for more of this delightful treat so I looked up recipes on the net and found many, all basically the same.

So how hard can it be to make oven baked caramel corn???
I made two batches of air popped corn and cooked up the caramel syrup.  After pouring it over the popcorn, I decided it was way too much caramel for the amount of corn so I popped up another batch.  Now all of this is supposed to go on a pan and in the oven and bake for about an hour.  I now had such a huge batch that I didn't have a cookie tray big enough.  I had to dig out a large disposable foil turkey roasting pan and it was filled to the brim.

My stove is an antique gas stove from the early 1940's.  The oven temperature regulator no longer works.  If I want low temps, I have to vent the oven door with a wooden spoon.  Even with this venting system, it got too hot.  Instead of my corn becoming caramelized, I had burnalized corn instead!  But in the end, I discarded the burnalized stuff and the rest turned out delicious.

This bucket is about half of the huge batch.

Zip complained that it got stuck in his teeth.  I did the good deed and gave Brad and Kami a big bag.

Last week I noticed that Penny seemed to have an ear mite problem.  She and Isabel were due to go to the vet for vaccinations anyway, so we made the appointment.

They were such good girls!  No complaining in the carrier on the car ride.  No one seemed intimidated by the vet tech taking temperatures and weighing them.  She even dug in their ears to get samples of the possible mite infestation without a complaint.  They gave Isabel her injections first and left her down on the floor so she could go back in the carrier.  Penny was taken to another room to have her ears cleaned and medicated.



Zip and I heard scratching in the cage and I thought, 'oh no! she's going to the litter box in the carrier!'
Zip went over and looked in and this is what he saw.

Isabel was not going to the bathroom.  The towel had been folded neatly and was lying flat in the bottom of the carrier.  She had torn it all apart, fluffed it up, and constructed a barrier so that no one could get in and find her for more vet torture.  We both laughed and Zip folded the towel and laid it back in place.  Minutes later, more scratching and scraping, and she had re-erected her barrier.  Apparently her good humor and patience had reached it's limit!

This time we left it stand until Penny was ready to get back in and head home.
All done for another year, we hope!