The inspirational thought for the day came from Skyline!

Handle every stressful situation like a dog.  Pee on it and walk away.

I love this and feel it is great advice—especially if you are over 60!!!

When you consider that it takes 6,570 days not counting the extra ones in Leap year, or 157,680 hours, or 9,460,800 minutes to reach the ripe old age of 18 then you have to be amazed at the feat.  Well Courtney A. Jenkins has accomplished this feat and is now starting on her next 567,648,000 seconds (approximately).  She will then be 36 years old and will have plenty of time to try for the next bunch of seconds.  So you can see she is going to be one busy young lady!

So without further adieu may I wish you a very Happy Birthday my dear grand daughter and many, many more.  Also if it is alright I’d like to be around for them.  Love You!

With Monday signaling that I have 11 days to surgery I decided that I should do more canning of what was available.  So our shopping at McDaniel’s Farm Market consisted of cucumbers, fresh dill, and Apples. 

Yesterday the apples combined with rhubarb I had frozen earlier were turned into 30 eight ounce jars of Apple-Rhubarb Chutney.  Both Pammie and I love it so I wanted enough to supply us and still give some away. 

Earlier yesterday Jay had started cutting up the cucumbers ( with my help) and then put them in a brine to set overnight.  This morning I started setting up to can,

I first made up the bag with pickling spices in it to go in the vinegar liquid used to fill the jars.  Then set up the rinsed cucumbers, fresh dill heads, garlic cloves, and mustard seed so they were ready to go. As the vinegar mixture simmered I pulled the jars from the dishwasher and filled them with the cucumber set up.  Adding the vinegar mixture, filling the jars, and processing was all that remained.

The results of the project today was 22 pints of Dill Pickles and a little jar to taste test in a few weeks. 

I’m a little tired with feet and ankles screaming so it is time for a little siesta now.  But I will be back.

Being the mother of Wes, SEB, and Cindyism there is a family trait that seems to shine through every once in a while.  It can only be described as the delightful ability to make people react to us with a (for lack of a better word) distasteful manner .

I have had this front license plate on every vehicle I have driven for well over 12 years.  When I saw it in a gas station on a route I used to drive I knew I had to have it.  I felt that it would make people think about if it was the truck or the driver that it described, 

Last Friday as I was waiting in the Doggy Depot parking lot to pick up Brandy after her haircut I felt that delight again.  A couple pulled in with a dog wrapped in a little blanket.  I would guess they were a little younger than me.  The woman wore a babushka and carried the dog like it was the most important thing in her life.  Now I don’t knock that feeling because Brandy is very dear to us but the woman seemed very wrapped up in her mission until she walked in front of my truck.  She stopped momentarily looking at the plate, reacting as if she had something bitter in her mouth that had to be spit out, glanced at me and then marched on in to the store.  I must confess I had to smile—I got another one!

Jay and I discovered a fruit at Sam’s Club the other day.  It is called a Pluot.  A combination of a plum and an apricot with a mottled skin and delicious purple flesh.  The label says it has the appearance and texture of a plum with the “juicy-sweetness” of an apricot.  We think it to be an excellent hand held treat too except the juice runs down your arm.  We liked what we tasted so much that we decided to try making jam from it.  With two packages of 2.2 lbs each I made 20-8 ounce jars and that little three ounce glass today.  It is going to taste real good this winter! 

I think we will be headed to McDaniel’s Farm Market for cucumbers this afternoon.  Pickles are on the schedule next. 

Update:Pulled the last jars of the B&B pickles out of the canning pot about five minutes ago.  Check over at http://jay.jenkinsonline.net/ title=“Jay’s Jammin’”>Jay’s Jammin’for the results.

 
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Jay and I both went down to Oakland County and got it all chopped off.  Refreshing feeling when the wind hits your neck!

Then today came Brandy’s turn. 

After we we got home I got busy on canning my cabbage relish ( Known also by Hot Dog Relish).  I finished up about an hour after Jay came in from dialysis. Tomorrow it is jam making again!  I think a little siesta is in order before I attempt supper so I’m off. 

There is no limits to Mother Nature’s effort to make me smile.  This hanging basket sat on the ground all winter. Last summer I planted petunias in it but they died from neglect.  This spring I hung my baskets up under the deck intending to plant something in them but again I neglected them.  This last couple of weeks I spotted first one bloom and then another in one of the baskets.  Now they are valiantly trying to bloom again as I pick the dead ones off.  I guess Mother Nature just wanted to teach me a lesson.  That no matter what a human does she tries to make the world a bit brighter for them.

The Rose Of Sharon in front of my bedroom window has started to bloom although I was a little late getting out with the camera this evening.  But as it progresses I will get a daylight shot of it. 

This little fellow and his friends have been all over the yard the last few weeks.  With their transparent wings they look like tiny dirigibles when they attach to the flowers and weeds around the yard.  What are they—beats me but they are fascinating to watch and day dream about. 

To some more realistic doings.  Today we did a large bit of shopping at Sam’s club in preparation for my down time.  We picked up sweet onions, several different colored bell peppers, and apple cider vinegar to get ready for our cabbage relish canning on Friday. 

Tomorrow both Jay and I get our haircut.  I look like the wicked witch of the East or a wind blown hay stack and that will never do with pending surgery.  Then Friday Brandy goes into the Doggy Depot for her trim.  I have some potato patties to pick up at GFS, then to Dotty’s Seed for large and small hook bill seed for back up when I can’t get out to drive for it later.  So we are slowly getting it under control and the tension is starting to ease a little.
I’ll say good night for now!

Today I did nothing——except edge the two afghans for Pammie.  Daughter Cindy will be up tomorrow so I will have her take them home with her.  Pam is close to Cindy’s house and can pick them up.  Tomorrow I’ll get the vacuuming done, catch up on some houshold duties and do a little bit of grocery shopping. 

This afternoon I took a turn around the yard. 

Miss Daisy’s family has grown to five now and it looks like another bud is on the way.

My lily on berm has two blooms now with five buds to join it later.

The butterfly bush has finally sprung up and the buds are developing now.  A far cry from when I mowed it down accidentally in the spring. 

Down in the barrels the cheater tomato is providing us with three tomatoes a day now.  The other plants are showing an array of green fruit and should be ripening soon My mush melons have five little round promises starting and hopefully I will have my first home grown melons soon. 

Well my friend the inside birds are waiting to be fed.  (Normally it is around 5 or 6 pm but not tonight.)

Keep smiling until next time!  Good Night!

After prep work was done on my green beans I had not quite three pounds to work with.  I got the rest to the ingredients out, put my jars in the dishwasher, put the tea kettle on for the jar lids. and started heating the pot of water for processing.  After mixing the vinegar, canning salt and water that went on to boil.

When the jars were ready I put part of a garlic clove ( they were large), some dill weed, and a smidgen of cayenne pepper in the bottom of each jar.  Then came loading the green beans vertically into the jar, adding the liquid,  adding the lids, and processing for 10 minutes.  A walk in the park believe me.

The results were seven twelve oz, jars and three eight oz. jars of home canned Dilly Beans. 

Yesterday we went to Oxford,Mi. to take our old friend Richard to lunch for a delayed birthday present.  While we were down there we delivered the finished afghans to Pammie’s home.  Magically while I was there I got two more to edge.

They are sitting on the coffe table and I have already managed one side of one after the Dilly Beans. 

It is almost time for Jay to come in from dialysis so I have to start some lunch.  Have a great week end!