Heating Up

I started this morning by skirting another one of Mickey's fleeces. The timing is tricky because I want the fleece warmed up, but I don't want me warmed up. Today was supposed to reach the century mark. One more fleece to go and I'll put the whole shootin' match in the mail to Morro.

Before it got any warmer, I wanted to get on the road to Doyle and gas up Ian's truck. My timing was terrible. They're repaving this stretch.
Ahead of me and behind me, as far as I could see, vehicles were lined up. We waited about 20 minutes for the pilot car and my needle was buried in Empty. I could practically see the gas station! I turned the truck off along with the music. My music was birds and trains.
A road runs along the back side of Long Valley. This basin gets nice run-off from the mountains which supports a number of large working ranches. Whenever you see a cluster of trees like those in the distance, you can be sure there's a ranch to go with it. It's all about cattle and hay here. I decided to take that way home and leave the pilot car for someone else to follow.

I passed fields still in irrigation but as you can see, some of the hay is cut and ready to be put away or sold. There are a couple hundred head of cattle just on the other side of this field.
This old house is on a large and viable ranch. There are three other abandoned houses on the property, and in spite of this ones condition, it's filled with stuff. All the ranches have "boneyards" but I think this is the only one I've seen littered with relic houses. There's a nice newer one behind those trees. Shakes head~
I had just one more hot thing today before my tasks were done - make quiche for book club tomorrow. We just read Little Bee by Chris Cleave. I'm using my new pie plate that Joe Winter made for me. It's more shallow than either of my other ones but perfect for quiche. The zucchini is from our garden. Finally something has ripened enough to eat! I hope it's as good as it looks.