Happenings on the 172

I know that Fall on the 172 is being posted kind of late and I hope you can forgive me. I will not make any excuses, because an excuse is just that an excuse. I hope you enjoy this and please leave a comment.

Well summer is over and it is fall on the 172. The leaves are changing and so is life on the 172. We close our summer chapter and open our fall chapter. Here on the 172 that means more indoor stuff and less outdoor stuff. Believe me though, we milk all the outdoor time we can. We still have fires and cook out on our Traeger (grill). Even cooked our Thanksgiving turkey on the Traeger. We spatchcocked (a chicken or game bird split open and grilled) it so that it would cook more evenly. Man was it ever good and so moist.

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One of the things that Eric and I enjoy doing here on the 172 is brewing beer. This is how we turn water into beer on the 172. The actual brewing only takes about 5 hours, the fermenting and aging takes roughly 40 days. Fermenting time can very.

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A lot has gone on at the .172 since last I said anything to you all. Summer is here. Hot days and not so hot days. It can not make up its mind. 

The garden is doing well, we have been picking vegetables. I have already canned 12 pints of green beans and still have more to go.  We have a ton of tomatoes and am going to be canning tomato juice, sauce, paste, crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes and some chunky salsa. The plants do not look all that good, never do, but they sure do produce tomatoes. (Darn black walnut tree) A friend also gave us a bunch of tomatoes and they are in the freezer just waiting to be canned.  Peppers will go in the freezer as well.

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Our Vacation April 21st to April 24th, 2021

Our trip around Lake Michigan and the detours we took:

This year for our anniversary we decided to do a Circle Tour around Lake Michigan. If you know us, that entails a few other things along the way. As well as avoiding major highways as much as possible. We slept in the Prius every night. The good thing about the Prius is that you can leave it running all night. It is like a giant generator that runs off the battery until it gets too low then the gas engine kicks in and charges it back up and shuts back off. Which is great. What about gas, you are wondering, we used about a half a gallon a night. It was cold outside, but we were warm. Here is some of our adventures away from the 172.

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It is springtime here on the 172. This means campfires, meat cookies with frosting (hamburgers with cheese) cooked on the open fire, hula hooping, beer drinking, sun shining, and things starting to grow. 

Eric and I had our first campfire a few weeks ago. The sunshine felt great. Fire smelled wonderful, as did our clothes afterwards, and our coats smelled like the fire for a few days. We cooked brats over the open fire and had a few beers, I did some hula hooping. It was a great time. 

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Yesterday we lost Mew Kitty. It is a very sad time for us. Eric and Mew have been together for at least 20 years. Mew had stopped eating and was unable to walk, this just came on in the last couple of days. He had been losing weight so we started feeding him canned cat food, but he never did gain any weight.

I am at my Mom’s for her birthday, so Eric and Mew kitty have been at home alone together for the last few days. Eric carried him around so that they could be together. He carried him downstairs and laid him on a blanket and the floor and knew he would be gone when he got home.

I know it has been a while since I posted. Still trying to figure this blog thing out. Lot’s of reading and trial and error. So, what’s happening on the 172?

I have been trying to figure out how to make tutorials a parent page and my tutorials child pages. So far it has been a struggle. Nothing I have tried works. Right now, I am not even sure where it is on the website. I will keep working on it and trying to figure it out. I do have more tutorials in the works but am waiting till I figure out this parent/child thing. I figured it out. I also figured out how to put blog posts under Blog (now Happenings on the 172)

I have also been trying to learn more about Pinterest (McCrory Mercantile).

Starting a Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/lifeonthe172

And SEO. There is really a lot to learn. But I am enjoying the journey. Everyday I am learning something new.

Not only am I learning about the stuff above, I am also learning how to be a better blog writer. What all that entails. It a lot, but I am enjoying the journey.

I have also been working on McCrory Mercantile, putting finished products on it. It is a great store, and you should check it out, https://mccrorymercantile.ecrater.com/. I plan to add more products in the future.

Eric is working on updating his tie dye site, so watch for products to be added there. So, watch for new tie dye stuff at https://mustdye.ecrater.com/

Well, that is life of the 172 for now. Until next time, remember in a world where you can be anything, be kind.