Things are fine and dandy here at 620 W 3rd. Summer is fading and while it hasn’t cooled off quite yet, we keep hearing that daily highs in the 80s are just around the corner.

I started my new gig with Team People at Intel Studios a few weeks ago and it’s going well. There are a few bureaucratic obstacles here and there, I’m the first full time editor of my type at this location, so there are some very odd corporate policies that need adjusting. They’ve thrown a bunch of work my way and they’ve liked what I’ve done with it so far. The co-workers are as talented and easy to get along with as I had hoped and the department seems to be moving in the right direction. It should be a good place to work for some time to come.

In an attempt to remind you all how talented and adventurous Cora and I are, we’ve decided to embark on an epic tour of the world’s pancakes, a tour we’ve cleverly titled “Pancakes of the World”. This journey started out like all good endeavors; on Wikipedia. Cora was perusing this entry some time ago and thought it would be fun to try and make every variety. Cora is an excellent cook and I’m excellent at eating pancakes, so it just made sense.

To keep things exciting we started with good ol’ American pancakes. Cora started with a recipe from an old Betty Crocker cookbook. A buttermilk recipe with several slight variations. Seeing as we didn’t have any buttermilk, she made the sweet milk variation (see, you can tell the cookbook is old) and added some bananas. We even tried a burro banana, which might not have been as good, but certainly felt more adventurous. The breakfast was delicious, and after trying several other pancake recipes, I, the excellent pancake eater have decided it shall be our go to recipe. Wish you were there… and had brought your own. Here’s the recipe so next time you can:

Betty Crocker’s Favorite Pancakes

• 1 egg
• 1-1/4 C buttermilk (or sweet milk)
• 1/2 t baking soda (omit if using sweet milk)
• 1-1/4 C flour
• 1 t sugar
• 2 T soft shortening (butter or oil will work just as well)
• 1 t baking powder (increase to 1-1/2 t if using sweet milk)
• 1/2 tsp salt

The real problem with this calling is that we don’t know where to head next. What delicious quick bread should we try next? We are open to suggestions.

That’s what David and I have been doing here at our little place.

We got married with the agreement that soon after we would be looking for a new place to rent, preferably a house. After giving our notice at the condo and searching for a place for a few weeks without much luck, I happened upon a house with a for rent sign in front of it that was just around the corner from where we were already living. The house was quite small, but the yard was huge and the price was right. We loved it. So far we haven’t done much beyond building a great shade canopy that can be put up and taken down easily and installing a couple shelve, but we do have a few plans and ideas for our little house.

Things were up in the air for a little while with a couple potential job opportunities for David, one which would have required moving. That, combined with the summer heat has meant that a lot of the little projects and improvements we were hoping to work on together were put on hold. Thankfully, the waiting has come to an end as the company in town had a great job offer for him. Since we aren’t moving in the foreseeable future and fall’s cooler temperatures are just around the corner, we plan to start in on our projects again and share them here. The first project is almost completed – a fence, which once finished will allow us to become the proud owners of either a dog or ducks – who knows, maybe even both.

We didn’t need much of a fence, just a simple barrier from the driveway to the backyard. There are a lot of different projects around the internet using pallets and we thought they’d be the perfect base for our fence. A company in town delivered 7 lightly used pallets. We stood a few in a line to make the main span, and then one perpendicular to hold the others upright. Our goal was to make the fence freestanding, yet sturdy enough to keep a small dog in. We could have rented a drill and made proper footings in the concrete… but that just seemed unnecessary for what we actually needed. It’s not a fence that will stand for years, but it’s just what we need as renters.

A couple pallets were broken down and the wood used to make a gate. We gave everything a quick sanding and finished the top with some cedar fence planks cut to size. It’s a unique fence that was cheap and pretty easy to put together in a couple days. While it still needs a little more work, hopefully soon there will be some furry or feathered friends behind our fence.