Pumpkin Mystery...

We had four baby pumpkins on our railing. They were a nice seasonal decoration bought at the farmers market one weekend.

One morning we woke up and one was missing! Man I hate living in a college town. Those drunk students must have taken it. Oh well. A few days later another was gone. Really who gets drunk on a Tuesday? A few days later another....

After all our pumpkins disappeared Arthur was doing dishes and looked out the window. There was this orange thing in the tree. With closer inspection it was our pumpkin! It wasn't drunk students stealing our pumpkins but a squirrel! We found another one that had fallen out of the tree smashed on our drive way. Who knew squirrels ate pumpkins? I guess Michigan ones do.

There is our pumpkin in the tree!

Courtney has joined the ranks....

I decided it was time that I joined the rest of the Schenks and got glasses. I guess I knew my time was coming but I sprung up on me. I am still getting used to them, trying to take them off when I go inside (no they aren't sunglasses), keep falling off of steps, etc. But it is nice to be able to see again!

We can't help it...

Here are some cute pictures of Moshi. She keeps us well entertained, distracted from work, and is great at cuddling.

More to do with apples!

Last weekend we tried to go apple picking again. That didn't work out so well since all the places we tried to go have closed since 1992. I guess that teaches us to use a book that old. But we did buy some apples and we were busy in the kitchen again. We made apply sauce and turned it into fruit rollups and we made dried apples. For my birthday Bebeth and Mark gave me a dehydrator. So we gave it a whirl. It worked pretty well and we had great snacks this week. Next time though thinner apple slices and thinner fruit rollups. But I guess that is how you learn. We also had oatmeal apple sauce muffins for breakfast...yum!

Apple sauce ready to be turned into fruit rollupsThe finished dried apples

This Week's Local Food

This weekend we went to the Farmers Market and another place with local food, the farm itself! We went apple and pumpkin picking. One of the coolest things was the pumpkin patch. The pumpkins were all at different stages so you could see how they grow. Check out these pictures of the different stages the pumpkin.

A pumpkin with a cool shapeAnother cool pumpkin

A pumpkin just starting to grow out the vine

A new and old pumpkin

A pumpkin flower

Arthur with our friend's dog Georgie in the pumpkin patch

Once we got our hot apple cider with cider donuts we headed home with our bounty. Yesterday we made home-made apple sauce (if you want to make it check out this website for how to make it and where you can pick your own apples www.pickyourown.org/applesauce.htm.) Today we are going to make an apple crisp to try to make a dent in all the apples we got. Fall is officially here!

A new member of the family!

This weekend we went to the Humane Society and brought Moshi home. Moshi is 4 months old gray and white kitten that loves to cuddle and play. We named her Moshi because she is smoke colored and Moshi means smoke in Swahili. She is great to have around to distract you from doing work especially when she keeps trying to walk on the computer!