9.26.10 Miscellaneous stuff

Well, again, sorry I have missed a whole swath of time. Two weeks ago one of my tires went flat- this was not unexpected as I kept getting warning lights and the last time I had my oil changed they warned me that my tire was not fixable as the nail was against the tube wall, or something similar. So was walking to work (not a bad jaunt, not quite a mile) and got a good workout for several days- coupled with a physical inventory at work, it's no wonder I crashed and burned today. Yesterday I was up at six, went and got 3 used tires and did some miscellaneous shopping that I couldn't do while this whole tire thing was going on.

On top of that, to make a really long story inceredibly short- for 3 days the neighbors on our west side put uo a 6' wooden privacy fence- we knew this was coming but there was a misunderstanding on whether our chain link fence was going back up. Come to find out the 40+ year old fence was not straight and meandered 1-3" over the property line. After looking at the fencing materials, they were not viable and we decided it was stupid to argue about it, especially since they allowed for the 3" in th back yard. During that time I walked the dogs (between Derek and I being sick, Traveler having some issues as well, the incredible 100+ degrees this summer they haven't been walked- but they really runn around our rather large yard so it's not like they're not getting exercise) so my legs are really feeling it.

Today we are going out to my dad's to see my brother, who is down briefly with his family from Illinois. I am sending them back withtheir Christmas present- 15 jars of jam. Almost 1 jar each flavor. I can't wait to see them- they had a little girl last year and we haven't got to see her yet.

On the jam front- I have been in discussions with one of the long-time clerks at Ward's- 3 weeks ago she convinced me to try jamming with organic cane sugar so I bought some, about 8 cups worth. I was there yesterday and asked her to pick a fruit- so I am going to do a batch of blue banana and give her one of the jars. She told me she would share it with one of the owners and there might be a sideline for me to sell there. Who knows, Jammin' J's might actually take off!

At any rate, I got to go- exhausted and have to drive out to the farm in about an hour. Until next time!

9.11.10 No Shows

Not too terribly disappointed today that the Koran burning was a bust (although I was really looking forward to seriously hurting an invader with tomato jam). Read a posting from the Huffington Post my friend Jason placed on Facebook about it- basically that the mainstream media blew this way out of porportion and created an international event. I agree with this wholeheartedly and, being a naturally suspicious person at heart, have this much to say for mainstream media- you no longer have any credibility with me. And that is all I will say on the matter. I don't follow the news much anyway and now will really grain of salt any issues.

So, I am safe at home, was unwell the first half of the day, am exhausted this next half of the day, didn't get much accomplished and am tetchy about it. I really need to do something with these raspberries and am planning on it tomorrow. The peaches still look good and can wait. Need to research sugars...

Well, Derek is not well, it's late and need to get to bed so that I can actually do church tomorrow. I've missed way too much since I started working...

Later folks!

9.10.10 Live! From Gainesville, Florida!

Well, I had to get our city somewhere in a header for all the world to see. All things considered... Well, we've been in the international spotlight for a wee bit (about 10 days roughly) due to some hot head pastor with an absolutely insane idea to burn the Koran on 9.11. That's tomorrow, folks. And despite to some not inconsiderable intervention in the form of high ranking officials (including our esteemed {insert sarcasm here} President Obama, General What's His Name in Afghanistan and several visits from the FBI) as well as the local imam, this pastor guy is not sure if he is still going to go through with this since he is now calling the imam a liar and vice versa- I just hope that they are still going to go to New York tomorrow morning to see the planner for the NYC mosque and get the heck out of Dodge. They would HAVE to do this on game day. Granted it's not an SEC game, but it's game day none the less and if someone is going to commit a terrorist act in Gainesville, they could have waited until next weekend when I can get out of my driveway with relative ease and not have to run over Gator fans. Who will likely be running away from campus, but you can never tell with some of them, they may think it's (whatever committed terrorist act) part of the festivities. And maybe join in, if they are too inebriated to pay attention.

At any rate the city is on edge- I can't tell if the yelling outside is from the party house down the street or the action is starting. Some of my friends in outlying areas have been told to make sure they have food, water and their cars are fueled up in case of emergency. I guess us poor city dwellers are out of luck. Lucky me, I have about 2 years supply of jam- if worse comes to worse I can stick a wick in it, light a fire and see what happens. Maybe I should make some really sticky jam tarts and throw them. Not exactly dwarf bread but you get the picture. I doubt seriously anything is going to happen but hey- I can be the infidel with the tomato jam missiles. If Gainesville does become the next Civil War Atlanta tomorrow and you don't hear from me in the next few days, ya know what happened.

Speaking of jam- I bought more peaches as well as raspberries and bananas tonight. And organic cane sugar. One of the clerks at Ward's was telling me she can't digest regular granulated sugar so I bought their organic cane sugar to try it out on a batch. It's a little more expensive but better for you so I thought I'd give it a go tomorrow. If I'm not hurling things at invasive people tomorrow.

Speaking of fruit, I did some interesting research online this week about fruits. Did you know squash and cucumbers are actually fruit? Apples, pears and cherries are part of the rose family? OLIVES are fruit? This is opening up some interesting possibilities, mainly along the lines of orangey squash- heck if you can make pumpkin butter can you make acorn squash butter? And would anyone eat it? I know you can make rose petal jelly but I would like to know where you can buy actual rose hips. And are they perservable? I would be more than happy to experiment, thank you very much.

I have also spent the last week reviewing the Annoying Orange Lady Pasta episode and having the pasta song running through my head. I actually started craving lasagne and HAD to have it last night. Go team!

Well, gotta go. One last defensive item to locate and off to bed. Go America! 'Night all!

9.5.10 Labor Day!

Three day weekend- went TOO fast. My great intention of canning accomplishments did not happen- I managed to sort all my good intentions fruit I bought Friday today and put up a batch each of peach and peachy red pear today. The latter happened because I did not have enough pear (or so I thought) for a whole batch so since the directions are the same for peach and pear I threw 2 peached in the batch. It was delicious.

Then I made potato salad. I had put the scallions on the top shelf for easier access then decided (AMAZING!) to put the rest away in the vegetable drawer. When I opened it I laughed- there were the rest of the pears. Oh well- this will be an experiment for tomorrow... I need to figure out what to mix with the red bananas as I don't have enough for their own batch... Hmm, pear maybe?

Well this is short as I REALLY need to go to bed. Night all!

9.2.10 (hello...)

Yeah, my original intent to post every night got tossed to the winds...

I had to throw out most of the plums. I managed to put up a batch of black plum jam (had just enough) on Sunday, but I procrastinated on the rest (red plum) until Tuesday- and since I did not refrigerate them (fridge was FULL) they went bad. I have been dragging all week- partially due to lack of decent sleep and partially because on Tuesday a lot of my former co-workers still working at the Deseret News in Salt Lake City were laid off.

I haven't worked there since Dec. 19, 2003. However, I remained in touch with several people and I still think of my job there as the highlight of whatever career path I may or may not have chosen. It really saddens me that this happened- and can't really understand why I am so upset about it. It didn't happen to me personally. If this happened to people at the job before or several jobs after, I doubt I would care- but this job, for some reason, was special. And to have these caring, highly professional folk unemployed with me- well, it's just unthinkable. I feel like I am standing in the outskirts of an earthquake zone looking at the massive destruction of the 7.0 earthquake. I don't know how to describe it. I hope everyone is all right and can land on their feet.

So, tired and weepy today- people have been very nice and polite. Then, DUMMY ME, had to go grocery shopping. BIG mistake. The newly cleaned fridge is full of fruit again. So, it looks like I will be spending my Labor Day weekend canning again. Not that I am really complaining- I scored red pears and red bananas (not enough for it's own batch though). So be on the lookout for more jams. I hope I don't have to go back to Winn Dixie and get more sugar...

Well, gotta run!