Today was another low-key, no-drive day, other than running errands. Kind of a gloomy day with a bit of rain when we got up. May be time to start heading south.
We've been noticing an apple cider smell, as the big bag of apples that we took along from Michigan are starting to get a little too ripe. The bag spent the night in Duane's garage, because it's starting to smell strongly of fermented cider. While I like cider, the smell needs to be contained a little better.
So today we sorted out the apples that had any bad spots on them (most of the bag), cut and peeled them, and made applesauce. Probably one of the few times we would have this opportunity since we have access to a real kitchen and unlimited electricity right now.
The applesauce turned out great and is now in the fridge, to be enjoyed on the road.
We ran some errands this afternoon. We needed to get one more visit in with Mom before we left, we picked up a rock chip on the windshield a few days ago that needs to be fixed before the windsield cracks, and we needed to get more apples. We stopped by a fruit stand in Union Gap and picked up a box of Cosmic Crisp apples. This is a club apple, which means it is limited to a certain number of growers who have permission to grow these apples, and they also pay royalties on the number of apples they sell. This means they are more expensive than the widely available varieties, but in this case we were willing to pay the extra price. They would be serious competition to my current favorite apple, the Honey Crisp, as they have a very similar sweet flavor and are a lot more durable. Perfect for a road trip.
We visited Mom again at her assisted living facility. Once again, a short visit. I think we woke her up from a nap as she appeared quite tired and was still saying she was short of breath. Saying goodbye is a little bit awkward as Alzheimers is a disease of a thousand goodbyes. Each goodbye is said to a slightly different person as the disease takes its toll. Mom now is different than Mom of ten years ago and will continue to become more different each time we see her.
We also dumped the waste tanks, since there was a municipal RV dump in Zillah, and topped off the fresh water tanks. No telling when the next opportunity for this may be. The propane tank was down to 41% since we have used the furnace quite a bit for these cool nights, so we stopped at Bleyhl Farm Service and topped that off as well.
This morning I got a text from Zhen, who volunteered to mow the lawn. With leaves piling up back home, the lawn was looking like a bit of a mess, and he graciously volunteered to run the mower over it to clean it up. I sent him the user's manual for the mower since he had never run that big machine before.
I checked the surveillance cameras on the house a little while later and saw him out there mowing the lawn. He must have figured it out.
It took him all morning as it's a big lawn. At one point I got a text which said "Check the camera". When I checked, he was standing in the driveway, eating a brownie. He found the stash of brownies in the freezer and rewarded himself with one. I would say it was a reward well-deserved. Thanks, Zhen, for taking care of us while we were gone.
In a conversation with Abigail a little later, she said that she and Nate were going to come at some point and mow the lawn. They have also been checking on the place and picking up the mail.
Aren't my kids awesome?
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