Last week I showed some pictures of the (gravel) road down the hill, where it looked fairly 'straight', well .. this is the windy part!
Can you believe the hair-pins on that sucker? And that is just one stretch, there are many more like that!
No wonder the mere 24 miles take us about an hour and a half ..

Here's a picture of one of the trails I took the other day ..

It's where I came across a doe with her twin fawns. Aren't they the cutest?

They didn't notice me for a while until they finally got a whiff of me (I think), and took off!

I'm still followed around on many of my walks by my faithful companion, Rosie. 
She actually smells or hears the deer way before I do, and funny enough she will stop in her tracks and growl!

    

There's not a tree she hasn't climbed yet!

She's getting more and more comfortable with us, even starts to come into the house sometimes (no, no, we were not going to allow that .. right!) and she and Merlin seem to have made peace of some sorts!
She's not only very sweet but also very playful. Watching her and her antics is better than TV, she cracks us up!

Talking about cats .. what about this print?

 

That's one biiiiiig pussycat!!

The print on the left in the next picture is from an Elk, also a big one!

                                                                                          

I haven't seen it's 'owner' yet but I guess there's one around .. (a mountain lion, that is)

 

What else? O, we've finally started the painting! Yahoo!

James is spraying most of it, but some parts need to be rolled, and others (that's where I come in) need to be brushed ..

                              

And we're starting to see some colors!

The red is obvious of course, and the others are a light and a dark grey:

Like I mentioned, I've helped painting, mainly 'cutting' the edges and around the ceilings (and now have a stiff neck to show for it), but I've also done some 'hearty' cooking. 
The weather all of a sudden took a turn, and it got real cold for a couple of days. 
It has been overcast and it even rained all day last Sunday!

This was how dark it was at 11am, just before the rains!

Time to bring out the stews and other more filling recipes ..

This is one of my favorites, chicken Cacciatore (hunter-style) in my Instant pot .. and on the plate ..

And of course more baking! Still working on the blackberries, these are some delicious blackberry scones ..

They look a little 'rustic', as always when I incorporate fruit, but they were very good!

 

Talking about fruit, on my walks I pass this (wild?) apple tree, close to the house ..

I hope I'll be able to pick some before we leave, (or before the bears take them all) and make a pie!
No clue what they are, but they look very nice. 

Well, I'm at the end of this weeks 'tale', nothing more to tell, so let's make this 'the end'.