3rd Thanksgiving 2008 page

The Pathfinder

On Tuesday, when I went out to my car with Jack the dog to go home for lunch, I turned the key and nothing happened, unless of course you count a loud click. My car wouldn't start, and it didn't even try! It was so weird because it was working fine only a few hours later. It just so happened that the guy parked directly in front of me was also about to leave for lunch, so I asked if he wouldn't mind trying to jump it for me. Nothing.
I called Ammon and left a message explaining the situation, then walked to Circle K to get a crappy lunch of a way too dry chicken sandwich and a bag of crunchy cheetos!
After work, Ammon drove over to check things out and see if he could do a quick fix, or to tow it home if he couldn't do anything. We left it there for the time being because there were a lot of cars and people around for a basketball game, and it would have been a real bummer if we'd hit something while trying to push my car around.
We came back about an hour later, and I had the wonderful opportunity of driving my truck while we towed it about 3 feet behind Ammon's little truck. I never knew how insanely hard it is to turn the wheel and push down the brake when you don't have the car turned on, and the luxury of power steering. Man! We did get it home without incident, which was a great blessing!
Ammon thought it might be the starter, so he set to work trying to remove it from the car. This definitely proved to be more difficult than any of the internet self-help sites show (just reach in, unscrew a few bolts and pull it out). No, ours was wedged in between the engine and the axle, and couldn't be twisted around at all. He ended up having to remove the exhaust manifold and the oil filter in order to get to the starter, and it was still a pretty difficult job. He finally got it out and we took it to Auto Zone to test it and get a replacement.
Long story short, it wasn't the starter.
So, we pushed it over to the autoshop, with the wonderful help of a passing stranger and had them check it out.
It was the battery cable. I guess it had corroded inside the wires, causing the battery not to give power to the car.
So, now my car is all better, for which I am so grateful, plus we have an unnecessary new starter that comes with a life-time warranty!

Thanksgiving 2008 (the first two pages)

Canning Beans

I recently decided to try my hand at another item in my pressure canner! I had heard that canning pinto beans is super easy, and I would love to have a good supply of them in my slowly growing supply of food storage (too bad you can't just live on jam and applesauce!). See, in an emergency I really wouldn't want to waste the fuel and time that it takes to make a pot of beans, but they would be a really good source of protein and great energy, so why not can them!

What I did was, using quart mason jars, put in 1 1/4 cups clean, dry pinto beans. Add 1 teaspoon salt, then fill with water, leaving 1 inch of headspace. Put them in the pressure canner, and can at 15 pounds of pressure for 90 minutes. When the beans come out...

They look like this (picture below)! The beans soak up the water and swell up almost to the top of the jar. I have already opened a jar to make refried beans. All I did was dump them in my mixer, add a little salsa and cheese, mix them up and microwave until it melts the cheese. They are so tasty and so easy! Try it!

Edit on March 17, 2012
Here are the instructions for canning pint jars of beans. By the way, this will work with pretty much any kind of beans, not just pinto beans. I've personally tried black beans, kidney beans, and white beans. Black beans are my current favorite!

Put 2/3 cup of dry beans into a pint jar, add 1/2 teaspoon salt, fill jar with water, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Place lids & rings, then process in a pressure canner for 75 minutes. Let pressure decrease naturally, then remove jars from canner & let cool.

Edit on November 2, 2013
To answer some questions: I have canned other beans using this same recipe. The beans I've done are black beans, kidney beans, pinto beans & white beans. My favorite are black beans & we eat them all the time.
Also, I do not soak my beans before putting them in the jar. I rinse them a little bit (usually) just to get any dirt off, but they go into the jars without soaking. I just use the same measurements noted in the recipe, and have never had any problems with beans soaking too much water or coming out of the jar. They just soak up all the water in the jar & are perfectly cooked every time. I love adding the black beans to tortilla soup!

Here's an Amazon link to my favorite canner. It's a great deal & easy to learn how to use.

Christmas Scrapbook Page

Finishing My Quilt (scrapbook page)

Father's Day 2007

December 26, 2008

A visit with friends in Phoenix.

Pieces of Vernon

While we were in Vernon to can the meat, I went out that evening just before sunset, and found that the light was too perfect not to use it to take some pictures. These are the results of my wanderings. Each of these pictures shows a small part of something on the Vernon Ranch, and all of them are unedited, straight from the camera. I love how they turned out!This one, I guess, would represent all of the ranch trucks they have ever had there. I love the color of this one, and really just took the picture because I loved the composition of it.

I think this picture is so beautiful, mainly because it completely draws your eye to the circle of white on that trunk. It just seemed to soak up all the light, and then shine it back out! This is a picture of one of the homemade hinges on the barn doors. I think that this is my favorite of these pictures, most likely because of the complete contrast of the lighting. It has interesting texture, and just makes my eyes happy!

This picture is of the seat of the old tractor that sits outside near the house. It's a really old tractor!These are the spokes on one of the wheels of that old tractor.

More Idaho Scrapbook Pages

Canning Meat

Canning beef in Vernon, AZ on January 17th, 2009.

Jack's First Bath

Well, after coming home from Vernon, I decided to give Jack his first bath, since he was pretty dirty. He wasn't exactly excited about it when I first put him in the tub, but he tolerated it pretty well. Then, when I started to rinse him off, I accidentally dropped the tupperware I was using to scoop the water and he freaked out. He tried to escape out of the tub, getting me totally wet in the process. He looked pretty sad all soaking wet, kind of like a drowned rat! It was hilarious! I eventually ended up sitting on the edge of the tub, with my legs straddling him so that I could keep him still while Ammon dumped the water on him. He didn't seem to be too mad at us when it was all said and done!

My beginnings

Since I shared a few pictures of myself, and I was already looking through the pictures in one of my old, scanned in picture files, I thought I would share my parents' senior pictures. Doesn't my mom look so beautiful! Her hair was so long, and permed, of course! Motherhood has kept it short since then!

Let's all just say it together: WOW! I never saw this picture until I was about 20 years old, and I can see why! I'm loving that shirt, and the shell necklace! What style my dad had in high school!

Caitlin Through the Years

I just thought you all might want to get a taste of what kinds of styles and phases I went through during my growing up years. Don't make fun, because I know you have some that are just as bad! I know! I'm so cute at 2 years old!
I think I'm probably 3 here!

Don't say a word, not a single word. Actually the hair isn't too bad in the picture because I actually let my mom curl it under, which I hardly ever let her do!

Love those missing teeth! The freckles were cute!

Wow, my hair sure was long here! It has never been that long since, that's for sure!

Blue eye shadow, enough said!

Prom: don't I look so glamorous!

My Senior picture!

Just for the entertainment!

I know that I've been writing a lot about Jack, but since we don't as yet have any kids, you are just going to have to endure it! Jack has finally started playing with a ball, a blue racquetball to be exact. He doesn't, however, play with it like a regular dog, but more like a cat. He carries it in his mouth, drops it, then bats it around for awhile, then picks it back up and lies down to chew on it. Tonight I decided to see if he would fetch, so I grabbed the ball and threw it down the hallway. He fetches, all right. I'm pretty sure I continued to throw the ball for the pure entertainment aspect of the game of fetch. He would chase it down the hallway, but since we just have linoleum, he couldn't get any traction, so he was slipping and sliding and running into the wall. Oh it was so hilarious! I love fetch!

Trip to Idaho Scrapbook Pages (July 2007)

Here are some of my latest digital scrapbook pages. I just thought I would share the ones I've been working on lately!

Is this normal?

So, I know that our dog Jack is not the most normal of dogs. He has an interesting personality, and certainly fits right in to our small family. When we first got him, if we bounced a ball near him, he would flinch and leave the room, quickly. I'm thinking that this is probably because he received some abuse from his previous owners. How you could hit a dog, I really don't know. Not only was he afraid of the ball, but his list of fears included the broom, the mop, Ammon's guitar, the pressure cooker (when it starts to steam), Ammon's air compressor (though it is really loud, so it's understandable), and he only recently started coming into the garage when we called him. Even when he finally comes into the garage he skulks about as if we are going to suddenly start beating him. It's really sad, and nearly breaks my heart every time! Well, he has slowly started to warm up to the idea of playing with a ball. BUT...he is as unlike any other dog I have met. He will not chase a ball if he is standing next to me and I just throw it for him to chase. He just looks at it and then looks at me as if to say, "Do you really expect me to go that far for a silly ball that you are just going throw again when I bring it back?" He will chase the ball, however, if he is already running, and you throw it past him. When he sees it go by, his killer instincts must kick in and he pounces on it. Today, though, he has been enjoying playing with his new tennis ball that he got for Christmas (thanks Allyssa, he really likes it!). He will grab it and start chewing on it, when it will suddenly bounce across the floor and he will chase after it, batting it with his paws and pouncing on it yet again. Our rugs are heaps of material rather than floor coverings, and more than a few things have been knocked off our small end table.

So, I am just wondering, do most dogs chase balls like this, batting and pouncing, or do they prefer the chase and retrieve method?

Ah, friends!

Over the Christmas holiday, while we were down in the Valley, Ammon and I were able to go hang out with some of my old friends. We went to Randi and Aaron's house, where we were able to talk and catch up with Alicia and Ryan, and Nick, Christine and Callie. Here are some pictures to go with the occasion. The pictures are, as you can see, the wives + Callie, and the husbands.

Hallelujah! It's finally done!

I have been working on my first quilt for 2 1/2 years now, and it is finally done! With the help of my mom I was able to finish the edge over the Christmas holiday while we were down visiting. We set up our two sewing machines and each did two sides simultaneously, it was cool! I cut out the squares for the quilt in the summer of 2006 when we were in Payson for the summer. I sewed them all together to complete the top when we moved back to Flagstaff, and I also basted the top, batting and bottom together. I then handquilted the entire thing while we were back in Payson. I think the handquilting definitely took the longest, since I have never done that before. I just used a hoop so that I could quilt while sitting on the couch watching TV. I am totally in love with this quilt, even more so now than when I first began. This quilt is huge! It more than fits our king sized bed, as it hangs over on all sides! The pattern is Trip Around the World on point. The "on point" part makes the edges zigzagged like you can see in the picture. That was the hardest part about doing the edges! But, hooray it is finally done!

This second picture is of where I signed it with my free-motion quilting foot. If you can't read it, it just says, "Caitlin Wilhelm 2008." And of course the final picture is of me posing with my beautiful quilt!

Christmas 2009

My family has decided that for Christmas this year we are going to do handmade gifts. Sometimes Christmas just becomes about getting, and I think that by handmaking all the gifts, it will really become more about giving. One of my favorite things is seeing someone's face when they open a gift that I have spent so much time making especially for them! So, I am asking you, if you have any good ideas for gifts that can be made by hand, let me know, share a link to some photos, or just feel free to brainstorm with me! Thanks! Happy New Year! May 2009 be a wonderful year.