Jeepers

Miki, doing a POD/TOD for my son has really eased my mind. I have him on all of my banking accounts, houses and even the Jeep. There was an article I read a week or so ago talking about food expiration dates. The FDA or some other agency, I can't remember which, was talking about changing the rules on how food is labeled. It seems there is no standard rules. Each company can lable however they choose. Some say expires by, or use by, or best by etc. They were saying as long as the food looks and smells good and the packaging hasn't been compromised, then the food is good. Said we are wasting millions of dollars a year throwing good food away. I agree. My cousin used to drive me crazy by throwing food away that was a day away from "expiring". Like it was a law she couldn't eat it. And our food bank won't accept food that is one month past expiration date. BTDT. Mt. Rider, my tinnitus comes and goes too. I think it's always there but sometimes I don't notice it anymore. Unless I think about it. I saw where CO. Was getting heavy winds. Some poles were down causing power outages and fires. I was hoping it was missing you.

Well, I was wrong. The eclipse was pretty amazing after all. I learned that the sun doesn't appear that big in the special glasses. Actually I had to hunt around to find it the first time. It looks a whole lot bigger with the naked eye. Second was with just a little sliver of the sun showing it was still very light outside. I mean a tiny sliver. It looked like an overcast rainy day. When it was totally eclipsed, it got dark. But it was the kind of dark you get from when it is storming really badly. Not totally dark like the night. My outside light didn't even come on. So even with a total eclipse, there is still some lightness involved. Watching it was pretty awesome. I can understand how panic and superstitions would happen in the old old days. I've feel that way about people seeing the northern lights and not knowing what they are. I chanced taking a couple of pictures. Not much to see through the camera. Mostly a big white blur. One picture I took has a bunch of chemtrails in front of the sun. I found out what all the hub-bub was about in downtown Cleveland. Today is also the opening day for our baseball team. Sheesh. I'll bet it was/is a madhouse down there. Glad I got to see it but glad the talk of it is over.

True. Always check your seals. After you run warm water over the jar. The band screws right off without any resistance at all. Personally, I'm pretty vigorous with my jars the day after canning. I see where some people wipe the jars with a damp dish rag. Not me. I squirt dish washing liquid on a dish rag and hold each jar under the kitchen faucet and clean each jar well with warm soapy water. If I have a loose seal, I want it to pop off right away. Not one time has a seal ever come loose in my hand while washing a jar this way. I want them as clean as I can safely get them. I'm mostly cleaning where the screw band rests. Lots of little crannies around there and around the embossed areas too. I'm mostly thinking of not attracting any creepy crawlies to my pantry.

Hope you start feeling better too Littlesister! I cut my med back and I'm doing much better. I took the day off today. I cleaned off the kitchen countertop but that's about it. I forgot all about gassing up the Jeep this weekend for the big show tomorrow. So now I have to get dressed and go do that. They are warning us of a major influx of people from all over the world. I'm not going out but I want to be able to get out of Dodge if I want to. One tank of gas can get me to the other house if I drive slowly, AKA speed limit.

. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Hope you are having a wonderful day.

I was watching a YouTuber who had a band stuck on one of her jars after it had cooled down from the canner. She cranked and twisted with all her might. It finally came off taking the lid with it. That was one time she didn't want to hear that PING. I've had that happen a lot to me too. Especially when liquid siphons out of a jar and it cools down leaving the band stuck to the jar. All you have to do is run warm water over the jar a few minutes and it usually screws right off. It's the dried liquid holding it on. It only takes a minute or two. I have had an occasional very stubborn band. I stuck a screw driver or bottle opener all around the edge of the band and loosened it enough that it came off. You ruin the band but it's better than popping a lid of canned food. Most if you probably already know this. But if that person didn't know to run warm water over the jar to loosen a band, then I figured someone else here might not know.

Yikes Midnightmom. I've heard of ugly chicken but ugly strawberry jam... I plan to can some strawberry pie filling this summer and I did think about it fading. But I didn't think about it changing color like that. I wonder if that is another reason most people put a dash of red food coloring in their strawberry and cherry pie filling? I hadn't planned on adding the coloring to mine. But yeah, that's pretty unappetizing.

I finished 24 half pints of mixed veggies. All sealed. I'm done for a couple of days, I think. It is good to get back in the swing of canning again but I'm really tired. I need to strike while the iron is hot. Canning when you aren't feeling great isn't a lot of fun. But I sure love those full jars. It's nice to get my veggie pantry built back up. I eat those and soups the most. I might have to break down and buy another kitchen stool. I hate to spend the money for a short term use since I already have one at the other house. But my back can't hardly handle standing at the kitchen sink for hours.

LOL Necie. That just reminded me of Boones Farm Strawberry Wine from way back in the day in the 1960's. It was a thing.

What's going on? I thought today was Friday too. I had an important call to make (banking) and they were closed due to it being a weekend. Now I have to wait until Monday. Mt. Rider. If your BP and arteries are fine, then it sounds like you might have tinnitus. I have that sometimes too. Very annoying. I can usually get around it by having other noise drown it out like an audio book or a fan. I usually sleep with a fan on all year around just for the noise. Mine sounds like White Noise hissing. Lately I've been listening to free books from Youtube at night on my phone. I've been trying to listen to "The Long Winter" by Laura Ingalls Wilder but I keep falling asleep.

I really like the taste of canned asparagus but be aware that it is soft and not at all firm. It's very soft. If texture matters then you probably wouldn't like it. It's all about the taste. A store bought jar would be like what I have. My store had a 12 oz jar of it for $3.99! I paid $1.00 a pound. I'm sitting on an asparagus gold mine over here. If you don't want to use the strawberry jam, dump it and use the jars for something else you do like. No sense not being able to use those jars plus the space they are taking up. It hurts. I know. I've had to do it too! Now I can't even rember what it was I dumped but I know I have. In times to come, you'll be glad you dumped the jam for something you really will enjoy. BTW, all the 99c stores are closing. You might pick up some sales. We don't have them around here.

LOL Littlesister. Don't feel bad. I do that all the time! A lot of times I forget which forum I'm in. But, I did skip a day of BP med and I'm feeling better.

I'm low on everything. My Amazon jars came today so I'm either going to do carrots or green beans in them. Probably green beans because I already have them bought up in the freezer. I need to look for carrots on sale. I think I have all the half pint jars I'm going to need. Famous last words. Right now I have 24 half pints of mixed veggies in the canner waiting for it to exhaust itself. They aren't my favorite but I will use them in cooking and pot pies. I think G-son likes them. I'm tired and didn't realize they take 75 minutes to process. Must be the corn. Sheeesh, I should have started earlier.

Did some canning last night. I discovered my canner vent pipe is square at the top and doesn't take my round disk regulator. Fortunately I had saved the one it came with. I really don't like using that one. But I muddled through. I ordered an adjustable weighted gauge so I'll see if it will work when it comes in. If I would have known that sooner I could have picked one up at Lehmans while I was down there this week. Wonder if I can replace the vent pipe with a pointed one? My 36 jars of asparagus came out great but not without a struggle. The new blood pressure med that is giving me more stamina is working too well since he doubled it up a week ago. I think taking it full amount twice a day is too much. I started feeling faint about half way through canning. I had to get on the floor before I passed out. Numerous times. Sigh. I took my pressure and it was 100/66. Way too low for someone who functions on high blood pressure! It was all I could do to finish prepping the asparagus and getting it in the jars without passing out. I spent most of the time on the floor. Unfortunately, my kitchen stool is in...Indiana so I had no place to sit except for a dinning room chair that is too low to reach the sink. Nausea soon followed. Crimony, I was a hot mess for awhile. I'm skipping a dose of med to see if that is really what was happening. I'm pretty sure it is. One good thing is the heart monitor probably picked it up. But in the end, all the jars sealed and are looking so pretty. Glad I did it...glad it's over. Next will be mixed vegetables. Assuming I'm upright. I'm off to Ace Hardware now to get their remaining half pint jars. I'm on a canning roll.

I really like the half pints for one person. Sometimes I even open a jar of corn or peas for a snack. If sons take any, they can always take two jars if they want. But a pint jar is too much for just me. I like the half pint jars for veggies and for salsa and Bar-B-Q sauce etc. I'm going to do mixed veggies this weekend and will plan on doing carrots in a week or two. I'll do the green beans when I get the jars in. I want to do some more bean soup and then concentrate on some meat. The only meat I have in the pantry is store bought. It's good stuff but in my mind, it doesn't last as long in the metal cans as it does in glass jars. That's just my thinking though. It might not be true. I'll do those in pints. It's costing me more because I have to buy everything but for me, it's worth it to get my pantry back in shape. I am shopping sales. I can't put it off any longer. I've been skating on thin ice for too long. And I'm not getting any younger/healthier either. And I don't see food prices going down any time soon.

I got 36 half pints of asparagus spears last night. I have a picture in the phone but will have to wait until I get the computer and internet up and running before I can post it. I don't know how to do it from the phone. Even though I did a couple of things wrong like the head space (some of the tops stuck up out of the top of the jar) and not debubbling (not enough room to get even a chopstick in), they turned out great. All sealed and only a fraction of an inch siphoning on a couple of the jars. I didn't blanch them and not one spear floated straight from the canner. Maybe because the jars are so small. They are a thing of beauty though and I'm proud of them. Asparagus is a special treat for me and I eat them sparingly so they should last about 2-3 years. If I could find more for $1.00 a pound I'd buy more and can them too. I have another case of Ball half pint jars so I think I'll can some mixed veggies this weekend. I have two big bags in the freezer. Walmart didn't have the jars after all but I got a couple of cases at Ace Hardware. They have two more cases on the shelf so I'm thinking of going to get those too. Half pint jars of veggies are just right for a serving for me. I have 3 cases of Kerr half pint jars ordered for some green beans. They should arrive Monday. My pantry has been empty of home canned food for too long. First I ate it down so I didn't have to move it and then I was without a kitchen for a year and a half. I was down to nothing. Seriously. Not a good feeling! I did get some corn and some peas canned up while in Indy a few months back though. I should have all my veggies I want canned up by the end of the month. Maybe not the beets though. I forgot about those. Will probably do those in Indiana because I'm afraid of the juice staining the counter tops at this house. But I'm excited and on a roll.

Something seems to be going around again. G-son just called and had been throwing up and becoming BFF with the toilet. AKA the crapper. they have plenty of liquid stuff so he will be fine. He seems to get that a lot. School. Talked to son. He can't get a colonoscopy until sometime In June! Our medical system Is awful. Mt. Rider. If you didn't want to have the neck checked out because of medical insurance. You can make an appointment to Life Line and they check your arms and leg veins and your abdominal arteries and carotid artery. Maybe your heart too. I can't remember what all they tested but at the time it was around $200.00 or possibly $250. With no insurance. I think Littlesister had hers done around the same time I got mine done. They are quick and easy and non invasion. There are a lot of things they can checkout but i just got the basic artery check up. It wasn't a great blood pressure day. I had to go lay down while washing the dishes. Lay down or pass out. I took my BP and it was 100/66. Heart rate 88. That is was to low for me. Hope the cardiologist will have some answers. Last cardiologist said I had Tachycardia and Short Of Breath. Guess that made me a Tachy SOB.

Miki. Hope you get to catch your breath soon. Oh Dear, was DD3 'adulting' LOL Happy anniversary to you and Mr. And a Happy Birthday to soon to be DD Sweet 16 I had a traumatizing day with the tax man today. Remember I talked about capital gains tax on a stock that sold? Holy Crap. It is awful. I owe nearly half of what that stock was worth. It was a sell off that I had nothing to do with. The company sold it. I'm gutted. Well, I cried and pulled up my big girl panties and went to Amish country. I wasn't really in the mood to go but didn't want to stay home either. Good thing I went though. One of the little stores down there had asparagus on sale for $1.00 a pound. I couldn't pass that up so I got 24 pounds! All they had. I 'plan' to can it in half pints. That's the serving size for me. I like to eat veggies for a snack sometimes so one of those little jars will be just right. I'm only going to do the spears because that's all I like. Some will go to waste but I'm okay with that. Wonder if Amish asparagus is better than secular asparagus? Looks like I'll be up to my ears in asparagus tomorrow.

Sounds like a lot of us are downsizing this year. I was holding on to a really cute pair of pink cutoff shorts in a size 4. . I haven't seen a size 4 in decades and there is no way I'll ever get to that size again. I wouldn't even want to now. And I'd look ridiculous in them. They went out the door this year. Finally. Mt. Rider, I agree with everyone else. You need to get your neck and blood pressure checked. I've never had a hissing sound in my ears but I have heard my heart beat in my ears with my high blood pressure. My doctor told me to get one of those upper arm cuffs. I got one from Walmart and it is really close to the one at the doctors office. I use it all the time. I think it was around $30.00.

You are correct OOTO. It was Amishway Homesteader. Wormguy lost his wife.

I just read where Ohio passed a new pharmacy law effective May 1st. A new prescription has to be filled within 3 business days and an auto refill has to be filled within 5 days. Not sure how that will work out with all of the med delays but there ya have it. This came about from the Ohio Board of Pharmacy because of all the delays and pharmacist abuse from CVS. It was reported in the Ohio Capital Journal 2 days ago.

I'm having such a good day I decided to go get my hair cut. Almost 14 inches of the scraggly mess gone! It still brushes my shoulders. She told me to be aware that I'm going to be using a lot less shampoo now and will be saving a lot of money. LOL A girl after my own heart. But she is right. It feels so much better too. There was a method to my madness though. My hair falls out easily and sometimes gets stuck on the back of my shirt. Even with my hair done up, I still find loose hairs. Canning season is coming up and I don't want to get a stray hair in any food. That REALLY grosses me out. Especially a foot long hair. I gag even if it is my own hair. I plan to do quite a bit of canning this year regardless of where I'm at, so the hair had to go. My hair grows fast so by winter it will be down my back again if I let it. I hope my curling iron is at this house. While getting it cut, the pharmacy, in the same shopping plaza thingy, texted that my thyroid med was ready. How convenient. So now I'm covered for thyroid for about 4 months. I should probably play the lottery today. Getting taxes done tomorrow morning. . Hope my luck holds up. If I'm not too devastated I might head out to Amish country.

Less than 24 hours from my echocardiogram and I already have the results. I got a detailed report but I have no idea what it all means. But, I don't think there is anything major on it. Nothing stood out except for a mild valve something or another. The word 'regurgitation' was used. And a thickening on one side. Dr. Google mentioned a possible valve replacement or a diuretic med. I'm not leaning toward a diuretic because of the blood pressure. Obviously I don't know what I'm talking about but I didn't see anything that mentioned the words 'critical' or 'severe' and a doctor didn't call me, so I'm taking it as a positive. Two more weeks on the monitor and three more weeks to see the cardiologist. My GP is on vacation this week so they probably won't call. I'm glad I got the test done and I'm hopeful that the high blood pressure isn't damaging the heart too much. I'm also very hopeful my insurance steps up!!! Just got a text from my doctor. The results were within the normal range. That was fast. Still less than 24 hours from the test.

Becca-Anne, my neighbor made a very nice enclosure around his water barrels. He elevated the barrels on cement blocks then built a wooden enclosure around them. He painted the enclosure the same color as his house. If you wouldn't know what was in there, you wouldn't guess there were barrels inside. It's right up against his house and just a few feet from his garden. I think he made a door on it. I can't remember. A small storage shed, painted and surrounding the barrels would be nice too. If you've ever seen a little structure built on the side of new houses where people have a gas fireplace, that's what it looks like. I'd like something like that too. It looks nice and hides the barrels.

I thought we were supposed to get storms today so I got up early and pulled the Jeep out of the garage incase the power went off and I couldn't get out. Not a drop of rain in sight today. Now they're saying we might get storms tomorrow. Bad storms. But I don't have anywhere to go. I had to get my echocardiogram done today. They said it would probably take an hour. I was in and out in a half an hour. Even so, she did take her time and took a lot of snapshots. And today I'm half way through the heart monitor. Heart doctor on the 25th. I feel very lucky to be getting all of this done so fast. I know a lot of people are waiting for months and months to get anything done. Especially when it comes to specialists. Son is still waiting for his colon test. Colonoscopy. I was supposed to get an email two weeks ago about turning in my ATT equipment from the cable TV. Nothing. But today I got a letter saying to just recycle it. I have 3 cable boxes. Wonder if it has anything to do with the big hack they just went through? Lots of customer info was stolen. Probably mine too. I stopped in JoAnn fabrics for some curtain tie back ribbon stuff. I found some I think will work. It's a good thing because they didn't have very much. I hate going in there because I always end up in the tee shirt aisle. Happened again. But I found a powder blue shirt that I don't have and a really pretty light Heather gray shirt. It's almost white. 3 for $12.00. I got 2 of each. Plus 1 navy blue and 1 red. I didn't need any more. Sigh. Very nice tee shirts in a lot of pretty colors for $4.00 each. I might go back tomorrow if I think of it. They are having 15% off if you buy a bolt of material. I could use a bolt of black and one of beige. I hate to move more stuff though.