zophiel

Yesterday, 3 quarts of mixed orange, grapefruit and lemon. Still have about 4 (?) quarts to go, and I'll have taken care of most of the excess citrus.

My Dad's Secretary's (Ellen) Mother-in-law just moved into an assisted living community, and Ellen has a basement of things that need clearing out. She heard that I'm closing on my first house Friday, so she invited me over to see if I wanted anything. Well, I'm gonna have to go back for some things because my car isn't big enough, but what I was able to get for my house was: 1) I have the claim on the nice singer sewing machine with nice table (that the machine sort of flips entirely into, leaving a nice side table with glass top, and draws along the side with bobbins, etc. . . that's one of the things I need to go back for 2) Toaster oven 3) Beautiful old sewing box full of notions, thread, ribbon, etc. . . 4) Box of kitcheny things, including a rolling pin, colanders, pressure cooker, sifter, and other pots and things 5) Table lamp, looks like carved oak. Needs a bulb and a shade, but those are no biggie. 6) Books, including a 1919 edition of Little Women and a copy of Little Men to match , and a hymnal. And a clarinet, of all things. I don't play, but I did get my degree in music ed. If I don't put this away for TEOTWAWKI, I know of a few charities that take donations of instruments for school band programs, or for kids who cannot afford their own instruments. 7) A slew of tools and other things for my utility room/ workshop, including saws, a hack saw, propane torch, copper wiring, nuts, bolts, gloves, tin snips, soldering irons, "egg-beater" drill, etc. . . all in a basic, nice tool box. 8) I have a claim on the freshwater fishing poles, that I need to go back for. I'll try to get what tackle I can. 9) If one person who has dibs on a dresser doesn't want it, I'll get it, for my roommate who will need one. 10) A box of glassware (Previously, I had nice wine glasses, plastic cups, and coffee mugs. Some actual glasses are nice). Also a pyrex casserole, and some casserole warmers. 11) Some stainless steel flatware, to supplement the flatware I had. Nice haul, huh? All for free! I can't even give a complete inventory, because with the box of kitchen things, and the tool box, I just said "Oohhh! Box of useful things! I'll take it all!" By the way, if anyone has a need for a 9 foot mounted swordfish, I can hook you up, lol Anyhow, most is staying in my car until the Friday, so I'll take it to the new house straight after closing.

Oh dear! I've benn the one getting chemo and radiation before, and that was quite a troublesome year! I'll pray for her. I don't know what cancer she has, but because of where mine was, my radiation burns were internal, in my esophagus. Felt like a crazed cat trying to escape my throat every time I swallowed-- but they were able to presribe me something the pharmicists call "Magic Mouthwash" that worked very well in numbing/ healing the burns. Anyway, I pray that she'll be well. And that's you'll be well-- I swear, the people around me had a tougher time of my sickness than I did, simply because they worried and fretted more than I did.

That was Saturday and Sunday afternoon! (Saturday morning was going to the garden, and Sunday morning was Church). But, we really need the room in the freezers-- with the Holidays coming up, we tend to do a lot of prep work on dishes in advance, freeze them, and then finish on the holiday. This makes things a lot easier for the holidays, but it also means that I've got to do something with all the fruit we stored up over the summer in the freezer. And, Roommie's mom sent us like. . .10+ lbs of rhubarb in the mail, which we froze, but I now have to do something with. Also a ton of strawberries. And raspberries, and peaches, and plumbs, and blueberries. . . And we have a lot of apples at the moment, so I know all of this can go together for a slew of good things. And besides, we'll finish off those 7 pints of 3Berry in under 2 months, lol. And the habenero and wine jellies will be good as parts of gift baskets come Christmas time . . . Good thing was, there was liquid pectin in the markdown area yesterday-- I'll be going back this afternoon to finish cleaning that out, if it's still there (along with the rice and oatmeal I spied). Soo~ooo, provided I have enough jars (mom brought home a nice load Saturday morning), I'll be putting up quite a good amount. Which is good, if tiring. I was wiped last night, when I finished processing the last of the wine jelly (with moments to run to the door to hand out candy to the pirates, angels, and vampires that came calling. . .

So, I haven't done a proper count yet-- that'll be done when I label everything this afternoon. But this past weekend I did something like . . . 7 pints triple berry jam 12 pint habenero/ apricot jam 4 pints (About?) Raspberry/ white wine jelly 4 pints rhubarb strawberry jam Will be canning more tonight, some jam, some just canned, some pie filling, because I need to clear all this out of the freezer. . . so much rhubarb and strawberries. . . maight make some rhubarb-strawberry candy. . . yummy. . . !

7.75 pints pickled hot pepper rings from the garden. A mix of Hungarian Hot Wax, Anaheim, Jalapeno, and Hot Lemon. No Cayenne, as I dried all those! A serrano or two might have gotten mixed in as well, but it all gets mixed up together. Now I smell like hot peppers, vinegar and garlic! with a hint of henna from my left arm. It's actually surprisingly pleasant all together.

Last Friday I got a dehydrator! ^___^ So far, I've dehydrated some corn, leeks, onions, limes and green bell peppers. Right now I've got lemons and my first attempt at fruit leather (strawberry-banana). ^____^ The limes and lemons I'll turn into flavor powders. . .

Good morning, ladies and gents! I have a couple of questions for those who might have some idea (which is certainly better than anything I have. . . ): First, My dwarf Peach tree (named Momochan) Had been growing quite happily here in her new home since I brought her here about a month, montha and a half ago. She even has some small peaches growing, as well as new branches shooting out. I've taken this to mean that she was happy with the dirt I provided, the amount of light, etc. . . (yes, I anthropomorphize my trees. ). Today while giving her a look-over, I noticed tiny leaves at the base of each leaf cluster which were a light gold shade. All the other leaves are rich greens (either the darker "well-established leaf" green, or the lighter "newbie" shade). Is this normal, or something to be concerned about? We've been getting a good amount of rain, and her dirt has remained moist. However, this also means our sunlight isn't as stong, most days, due to clouds . . . Also, when I looked her over yesterday, I didn't see them, so this color is very new. Second, several years ago I planted some raspberry canes for my Mom for mother's day (they're her favorite food), and for the last couple of years, I've been away from them, so they've gone a bit, um, wild (Mom kills silk flowers, so she tends to not touch live plants for fear of them blowing up or something. . . ). Well, they're certainly well established now, with three canes become six to nine clusters of canes, thorny red canes covered in bright green leaves all over that area. I don't mind, I find it wonderfully messy! (Not to mention, the blackberry I planted for myself somehow got up and moved five feet . . .). They look healthy and vigorous, but they seem to have become the local ant citadel-- little (and some not as little) black ants patrolling the canes, walking around the edges of the leaves like soldiers on battlements, sticking their heads into the flowers and pulling back out. . . really, it's quite the operation. None of the leaves look nibbled upon, and the flowers are swelling into little green berries quite nicely, the canes looking nice and red --except for a few discolored spots here and there. My question is: Are the ants a problem? Will they eat my berries before they're ripe? Are they hurting the canes in ways I can't see? Or are they being useful, keeping other bugs or fungi from setting up shop? And, if they are a problem, how do I get rid of them without hurting my canes? Thank you for anything you can share -Z-chan