Family Mellmann

 We're seldom shy of a good show from porch here.

 Good morning.

I brought one peck of peaches back from Utah and turned them into one of our favorite desserts, Peach Crisp.  I use my great grandmother Lydia Trimpe's recipe for this treat but most of the time I have to use apples or cherries since ripe peaches are impossible to get in Vermont.  But I don't live in Vermont anymore and it seems that ripe peaches are more accessible here, especially if you can drive about six hours south to Utah. :) One peck seems to be enough to make four 8x8 inch pans of Crisp.  I made this 9x13 inch pan for tonight and will freeze the rest of the peaches for a treat later.

When I returned from Utah, I took a run to Absarokee to see how things are progressing. More lumber has been delivered.  This should be everything we need for the framing of the house, which begins next week. The floor joists are in and ready for the sub-flooring.  That will happen early next week. The cement guys poured the garage floor.  It was a beautiful day for a cement pour (gentle breeze, cool day, and partly cloudy skies all help to prevent the cement from drying too quickly in this low-humidity climate). And electrical service has been brought to the house in the form of a temporary post.  That temporary post will go away when the full electrical panel goes in later in the construction process. Cement work is surprisingly man-power heavy.  There were five guys on the ground moving cement and one guy in the truck.  They each know their job and as long as cement is pouring, they are moving fast in order to get it where it needs to be before it begins to set.

I had an opportunity to take a little road trip to Utah; it was one of those two-birds-one-stone deals except I had three birds.  I could help my folks, give Joerg a little space, and spend time with my sister and her family all in one trip. Anyway, while we were there we had a chance to take in some local community life.  The community jazz band entertained local residents who were in the park to enjoy the many food truck dining options.  Dinner and a show, you can't beat that. We also got to experience true ripe peaches for the first time in a very long time (decades maybe).  Just a couple days before we arrived, Ogden Utah celebrated their Peach Days which means we arrived right when the peaches were at peak readiness and could be found at almost every roadside produce stand.  My nephew, who likes to cook and bake, made a Peach Pie and a Peach Cobbler for us to enjoy...and enjoy we did.  I enjoyed those peaches so much that as we drove out of town on our way back to Montana, we

When I arrived on the construction site today the place was buzzing.  The builder was removing a load of lumber from the delivery truck, the excavators were moving rock and dirt for the next phase of the project, and gravel was delivered (used for the garage floor and patios before the cement gets poured). I had some questions that needed to be answered so we took care of that while the construction crew distributed lumber around the foundation for the "sill plate".  We learned about the "sill" back in 2007 when we built the house in Vermont.  On the day the modules of the house were to arrive and be put in place, we learned that the foundation wasn't ready - it needed a sill plate.  Our contractor wasn't scheduled to arrive until the next day so I had to find a local crew that could help us.  These two guys showed up with the supplies and taught us what to do and we all went to work; Joerg, Patrick, and I (Katherine was there, but too young to help).  Fortu