A Daunting Task

Tonight we went over to my in-laws to help with some wood they needed split and stacked.

This is the pile that awaited us. This is only about half the load they had received, but they'd been working on it a little at a time.

This is the inside of their woodshed. The shed is already about half full of split and stacked firewood. The stuff at the very back has been there roughly 30 years - they just keep putting new wood in front of it and never work all the way to the back.

Thankfully they have a log splitter. My husband worked tonight carrying big logs over to the splitter while his dad ran the splitter.

Then I took the split logs and stacked them in the shed. I'm sure glad they have the splitter. Doing this by hand like we used to is a BIG job.

Everyone pitched in. My 6 year old wanted to help so we had him carry logs over to his dad to be placed on the splitter. He was thrilled to get to help.

We only made a small dent in the pile before dinner time. We took a little time to sit outside in the beautiful fall weather before heading in to dinner. The cottonwood trees were so pretty!

Here are my in-laws with our youngest. And the "hairy granddaughter" Princess. (This picture is a hoot. Princess is lined up perfectly with a water bottle, making it look like she's wearing a party hat.)

We had a delicious dinner which I neglected to take a picture of. But I will share a couple of recipes. First, the blue cheese dressing recipe:

Bugga's Blue Cheese Dressing
Mix together the following items:
1 c. mayonnaise
1 c. sour cream
6 oz. Boar's Head crumbled blue cheese
1 T. vinegar
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. Worchestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Make this and you'll never want the store bought stuff again. (And by the way, "Bugga" means grandma. My mother-in-law's first grandson came up with that one day when they were driving past her house. He was barely able to talk at the time, but said "That's Bugga's house" or something of the sort. She's been Bugga to all of her grandchildren ever since.

The second recipe is hers as well. It's what we had for dinner tonight, and I guarantee it is wonderful.
Bugga's Swiss Steak
Dredge cheap steaks of your choice through flour and seasonings of your choice. Brown in oil, drain, then simmer a couple of hours together with lots of sliced onions, 1 can stewed tomatoes, 1 can Mexican stewed tomatoes, 1 can tomato sauce and as much liquid as you like - water. Add chili powder to taste. Serve over boiled potatoes. Simple and spectacular.

We're going back over tomorrow for more wood splitting and to work on a sidewalk path and parking space. Then Sunday we will make jelly.