Mutart's Muse: Flying High

Mutart's Muse: Flying High

Flying High

For those of you who might be interested... Josh is finally flying for real. He was hired by Mesaba Airlines after completing 1,000 hours of flying time at Pan Am flight school in Phoenix. Mesaba is a commuter for Northwest based in Memphis Tennessee where he will be moving before long.
This is the kid who never wanted to study in high school and just barely managed to graduate by the skin of his teeth. This is the kid, who since about age 2, packed around some kind of airplane, talked about planes and worked for local float plane companies just so he could be around them. He has had to study very hard for exams, instructed Chinese and Korean students (good for communication skills) and has spent many hours in a simulator, but it has all paid off in the end. As of this week, he is officially a first officer for this airplane, a Saab 340. And no, I don't know much about airlplanes so I couldn't even venture to tell anyone about this plane except that it is a 35 passenger. Our family is very proud of what he has accomplished which just goes to show that diligence and hard work do pay off. Congratulations Joshua!!

Growing up Part Two

As a follow up to part one of Growing Up, I would add that there are some definite disadvantages to the girl being the youngest in the family especially followed by two boys. They other day I rounded the side of the garage to find Kegan with his pants to his knees going potty in the grass. Standing beside him was Kaylin with her pullup down to her knees proudly announcing "I go potty". What do you say? I certainly do not want to encourage them but I have to say, it was hard not to laugh. You gotta love them.

Growing up

This goes into the category of "kids do the darndest things" and "I wish I had had a camera". I often pause to wonder what kids think at times and how their little minds work. This will have to be one of those mental images because there are no pictures to go with this tale. My daughter-in-law takes child number two shopping at the commissary at the base the other day. He announces he needs to go potty. Being the grown up boy that he is at the ripe age of three, he decides to venture into the world of the men's bathroom. After a period of time the child announces that he has gone "poop". Mom sends son number one in to help. Now we all know that in the women's restrooms there are only the stalls with a normal looking toilet. However, in the men's room there are generally urinals and toilets. Please keep in mind that daddy is in Iraq and has not had the opportunity to explain the uses of these devices to his sons. A man comes out and sees mom and this child and proceeds to tell her that the boy has somehow managed to do his number two business in the urinal. Even now as I write this, the mere visual image almost sends me into hysterical laughter. We cannot quite figure out how he managed to get up on the urinal, much less sit there long enough to do his business. . I am quite sure that at least a couple of people had their chuckle for the day with this one and so I thought I would share a little piece of our day in the life of a three year old with you so that it may bring a smile to your face as well. Who but a child in their simplistic thinking would come up with a new way to use a funny looking toilet.? I don't know about you, but it sure made me laugh.

Tomatoes, tomatas, tomaters

I realized I haven't written anything as of late. We have been a wee bit busy. It's this garden thing. Now we are into tomatoes. Note the spelling on the title. I have heard all of the pronunciations for this vegetable, well actually fruit. Tomatoes are fruits you know. At any rate, we have many. A gentleman down the street starts tomatoes and peppers as kind of a little hobby in the greenhouse which he has along side of his home, complete with a rain water collection system. They are the best plants, very healthy. We started 8 plants, a couple of plum, grape, beef, jet star, and celebrity. The little grape tomatoes came on in clusters and then not far behind were the plums and now we have the beef and all the rest. Awesome! We pick a nice bowl full almost every day now. We have had cucumber and tomato salads and sandwiches, eat them plain and grilled. Well you get the picture. Yesterday it was decided that there were way too many and so we made the decision to make some salsa or picante sauce. Our task has been accomplished. We now how 8 pints of beautiful salsa or picante sauce. What's the difference anyway?? I feel we may need to find something else to make as we have a number of those beefy tomatoes almost ripe. Our bushes are heavy laden and our bowls overflow. There is nothing better than fresh, off the bush tomatoes.
So to sum this up, there are a growing number of bags of zucchini in various forms in the freezer, the blackberry jam is already dwindling in number (it is fabulous on toast) and now we have salsa. I think corn is next on the agenda. It is cheap right now so I think we must put some in freezer. There is a variety called peaches and cream that is absolutely the best. Who knows, maybe I'll take up farming haha.

Zuchinni Anyone?

This is just a few of the zucchini we have harvested in the past couple of weeks. One day they looks so small and in a matter of two days leaving them on, they tremendously increase in size.

We have harvested everything that was of any size at all and it has either been grilled, shredded or sliced and in the freezer. Now we are waiting for the next onslaught of zucchini which shouldn't be to far in the future. We only have three plants. Can you image what would have happened if we had planted more?

TRUTH

It's true what they say about zucchini. It truly does multiply overnight. Not only does it multiply in numbers but it also increases in size. We have had some truly wonderful zucchini, large in size and large in numbers. With one zucchini, we shredded about 6 to 7 cups of zucchini (most recipes call for 2 to 3 cups). We are getting very creative with different ways to cook them. Our latest favorite is called a "Mock Apple Pie". I would not have believed it had I not tasted the final product, but you would have a hard time believing it was not apples. We found the recipe online among many, by the way. Peeled, cored and sliced in a bag, it looks like Granny Smith apples. When cooked with your cinnamon, sugar and other apple pie additives, it looks and tastes and has the consistency of apples. My favorite rhubarb crisp recipe is now being used to make "Mock" Apple Crisp and we are going to feed our friends today. So all of you out there who don't particularly care for zucchini, don't knock it 'til you've tried it. Delish!!!
The plum tomatoes are ripening and they are very tasty. The greatest thrill though for me, is the pumpkin patch. It is overflowing into the yard with numerous pumpkin babies but the prize, the first pumpkin, is now starting to turn orange. It is a thing of beauty. We have successfully grown a pumpkin from seed and it looks fabulous. Can hardly wait for the first pumpkin pie.
What do the kids think of all our efforts? Well they think it is pretty cool but they would rather go looking for bugs. The roly poly is the favorite. Kyran now has a little net and you will often find him somewhere in the yard, net in hand, trying to catch butterflies and moths or turning over the downspout blocks looking for bugs. Both boys are expert bug catchers and Kaylin is very excited over every find. They are also very busy finding other things to get into as well. The minute your back is turned, they have found a new use for some product. The lastest escapade was pouring juice and iced tea on the patio to make it "slippery to slide on". The other day it was peat moss all over the driveway. Who thinks of this stuff?