Necie

1 hour ago, euphrasyne said:

I used to work for a trucking company in worker's compensation so I had to know these things. 

DH drove grain truck for years between Chicago, Toledo/Detroit before Indiana started doing time change. Being based in Indiana he had to keep track of which state was on which time. During standard time (winter), OH/MI was the same as Indiana and Illinois was an hour behind. During daylight savings (summer), IL was on the same time and OH/MI were an hour ahead. Used to drive him nuts when he’d get somewhere and they weren’t open yet... or (God forbid!!) already closed. 

South and east of me.  for those that were in the path. Just strong winds and heavy rain here.

Cut soap. Didn’t get it upstairs to stack. No wrapping/boxing. Will do that stuff tomorrow.

Made 2 batches of lotion. Wish I could figure out a way to do a double batch. Two problems... 1- finding the right size pan to not drown my electric whisk, and 2- it would cool down and thicken before I could get it all bottled. 
Canned garbanzo, navy, black and small red beans. 38 pints

13 hours ago, Annarchy said:

From what I “heard”, TPTB are supposed to get rid of the time change next year.

They’ve been *trying* for years. They keep putting off voting on it. It’s also up for staying on DST. So... do those on Standard time that don’t change,  then have to change? Or stay on Standard and still be different? 🤷‍♀️ 

1 hour ago, Mt_Rider said:

4 hrs different in _________ and 3 hrs difference in ___________

4 hrs= Daylight Savings 

3 hrs= Standard 

Our weather this winter has been soooo... abnormal. Above normal. 
 

November and December were... nothing. Unimpressive. Chilly, but no major events. 
January, we had the one big storm that needed dealing with. Ice— topped with snow. Polar vortex, bomb cyclone. That’s when I was stuck at Mom’s for 11 days. When the LP fill truck driver says the roads are horrible... the roads are horrible. 
February... above normal. WAY above normal. 50’s and a few 60’s. 😳 That’s 20-30* above normal. I think we had 3 or 4 days at or below normal. 
March— all above normal so far. 60s and a few 70s... again, 20-30* above normal. This next week we’re supposed to get some normal temps... highs in the 40s for a couple days. Then back up to 50s. 
If it were to keep up like this... all fine. But our last frost date is mid-May. Flowers are up, trees are budded out (leaves). If they start putting out flower buds and frost/freeze, then there’s fruiting problems. 🥴 

I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop... we’ve had major snow storms in March... and even April. They just tend to melt off faster. 

1 hour ago, Annarchy said:

 

We never change our time.  I guess that's why it is hard for me to keep up with the changes.

Indiana didn’t used to change time. We just started doing it 15 years ago or so. There’s still some western counties that don’t change... or stay on Central time.. or something. Confusing. I grew up and lived in Michigan until I was 36. Used to time change. And living close to Indiana, was used to them not changing time. When I lived in Michigan and worked in Indiana, I wore two watches for each time. Half the time they’d be the same and half the time they’d be an hour difference. Everyone thought I was nuts... I never denied it. 🤷‍♀️ 😂 

1 hour ago, Annarchy said:

 

Lol.   MST is AZ desert….

DST….DeSerT?     Never mind…..  

 

Ahhhh... does Arizona still not change time? So always on Mountain Standard Time? 
 

DST= Daylight Savings Time

I’m on Eastern time zone. It just switched to DST on Sunday... still kicking my @ss. 

Beautiful, gorgeous day today!! 72*, sunny, VERY light breeze (if any)... and DH— D isn’t always for Dear— still wouldn’t take me fishing!!! 
 

So I stuck to the plan: 

Made soap. 
Made lotion. 
Cleaned out the van. 

Worked in the camper. DH hooked everything up and checked all the electric, water lines (had a leak— loose connection on a hose— he fixed it), LP tanks are empty- so will have to fill them and then check stove and furnace. Funny thing is, I told him we probably won’t use any of that stuff. I even thought about just buying a gutted camper (no leaks) and just throwing a couple beds and stuff in it— like a tent... on wheels... with a roof. 

Tomorrow am cutting/stacking/wrapping/boxing soap. Making more lotions. Supposed to rain all day so won’t get anything done outside. 
Mom isn’t feeling good, so probably not going with her Friday for her MRI. Told her that I can’t afford the time to be sick for a week or two. 🤢 Funny thing is.. my DD talked to her at 5 and Mom tells her how horribly sick she is... I talked to her at 8 and she tells me she’s all better.  Just don’t understand her sometimes. 🤷‍♀️ 

and 

Necie

3 hours ago, Annarchy said:

I think I will do the update between 7-9am MST...tomorrow morning.

But... but... but... we’re on DST?? 

*soooo... necie adds 2 hours for eastern... subtracts an hour for standard...* 

Ah, whatever... I’ll just keep my mouth shut til after noon. 

Today pretty much went as planned. Went to Shipshewana— got the fuse. Garage electric all works again!! Yay! Stopped at E&S (big Amish bulk store). Got asparagus ($2/#), durum and semolina flours (would like to play with the new pasta attachment for my kitchenaide that the kids got me for Christmas), and some cheap canned/bottled/boxed goods in the discount isle. Spent $45. 
Went to flea market and set up the 3 totes of lotion that I had ready, discount soaps, stuffed bags in my bag holder and filled up the change sections in my cash drawer. Everything is covered with dust. 🤢 Gonna take a couple days of work to clean everything. 
Got home, swept out the camper, filled up a couple bird feeders and checked out my flower beds. Finally have flowers coming up taller than the grass 😂 and even a couple of blooms. Beautiful day— 68*— hubby still won’t take me fishing. 🎣😳

Tomorrow— make soap, maybe lotion, maybe get some of the van cleaned out. 
 

and 

Necie

((((((euphrasyne)))))) 

I’m sorry you lost your Aunt. I was closer to my Great Aunts than I am to my Aunts. They were like second Grandma’s. My mom’s mom died young in a car accident. My mom was 24, I was 5, my sisters were 4, 2 and 1. My Great Aunts stepped up and stepped in. My sisters and I even call their kids (my mom’s cousins) aunt/uncle and their kids are like 1st cousins. Some even closer than my actual 1st cousins. It’s very hard losing that part of *family*. It’s kinda sad that families are now spread so far apart that those kind of relationships don’t happen much anymore. 

2 hours ago, Midnightmom said:

 My favorite grocery store didn't have any canning salt on the regular spice aisle, so I checked the canning section. None there either, so, had to trek back to the spice aisle and picked up some kosher salt instead. Of course it was more expensive than canning salt would have been!

I use regular sea salt. Around here it’s less expensive than canning or kosher.

Finally got the beef stock canned today and did a bit of *clearing up* in the kitchen. Things just tend to pile up.  
Killed my sourdough starter— discard and all. I don’t think I’m gonna mess with it again till next year. Haven’t had time to hardly bake anything anyhow and busy season is coming up. I’ll just wait and restart some from dried after hunting season. 
 

Plan for the week:

Tomorrow: Shipshewana- to get fuse and work in building at flea market. It’s supposed to be in the mid 60s.

Wednesday: Make soap. And maybe lotion.

Thursday: Cut/stack soap. And maybe make lotion. 
Friday: Go with Mom for MRI. Chiro thinks she has a bulging disc in her back. 
 

My plans don’t usually go as *planned*... we’ll see how far I get. 🥴

and 

Necie

Rural King last week: 

50# red Pontiac seed potatoes— $50

6 packets flower seeds (mostly perennial) BOGO— $10

Total for year so far: $120

14 qts beef stock 

Welllp... I killed it— kinda. Pure neglect. I kept thinking I’d get to it. It’d be fine. Nope. Kahm yeast took over. While I know that kahm isn’t *bad*, I don’t feel like messing with it, trying to dig down to the good stuff and feeding possibly more kahm. 🤢 
It’s all fine. Good thing I have more dried that I can restart whenever I feel like it. Right now... I don’t feel like it. 

33 minutes ago, snapshotmiki said:

I made it. It was fast and easy and  very good!  Recipe  should be  in link. 

There’s no link. ? 

I shouldn’t try to do 10 things at once... seems nothing gets done. 

Need to get the broth canned...

Need to make lotion... 

Blew a 100 amp fuse (half the garage. Impossible to find. Wish DH would just let me order it from Amazon. He’s still trying to catch the hardware up town open... they’re never open. If not, I have to run to Shipshewana to get it— and then I might as well do some work in our building before season opens. 
I need 2 days to make soap. One to make. And one to cut/stack since my shelves are full and I have to clear and box a shelf before I can stack.  Pretty sure I won’t have 2 days together until next week. Gotta go with Mom on Friday for MRI and she’s doing Sunday dinner this week (corned beef and cabbage).
Still need to clean out van and camper. 

Long day yesterday, but didn’t get as much done as planned. I did get the broth started... I’m not sure what I’m calling it. I got beef bones for it. But when I went to add all the veggie scraps out of the freezer, there was a chicken carcass from one of my niece’s chickens that I roasted. And every veggie imaginable, plus apple, plus lemon halves and ginger from the chicken. This ought to be some miracle cure $hit!! I added acv, and will add amino acids later today or tomorrow. 
Didn’t get lotion made... instead, I bought a CAMPER!! 😂 It’s an older one and needs a little bit of work. Hubby can fix about anything and, if not, DS2 works at a trailer factory and can help. 😉 We’re going to put it at the farm. So now I don’t have to camp in my van. And Mom has shown an interest in camping with us occasionally, so she can stay in it too. 🥰 

Running today... hair appointment with DD and DGD(13). Was DGD’s birthday yesterday, so will do lunch after hair and then she has a big birthday party this afternoon. 
 

Some kind of wild geranium? 

Got up and worked on a spreadsheet for soap inventory on my phone from an app that I didn’t even know I had.  And, of course, I have no idea what I’m doing. I entered all my soaps... alphabetically. Then realized I missed one.  Can’t figure out how to just *insert* a new line. Worked on it off and on all day... asked the gals at the Verizon store. 🤷‍♀️ Text my DSIS6... she had me *send* her the thing... No idea how I even figured out how to do that. She couldn’t play with it cuz she doesn’t have the app— iPhone vs Android. Finally, tonight I posted on fb and she must’ve seen it and text me a screenshot of a google search on adding lines... well, that wasn’t it. But it did get me playing with *dragging* things and I figured it out!! I’m getting all techie. 

Mom came down at noon and we went to town. Verizon store, Rural King, Meijers... Meijers always pi$$es me off, so we went to WM too. 
Highlights:

Red Pontiac seed potatoes at RK— got 50#/$50. Not sure if that’s great, but I got them. 
Meijers— got chia and hemp seed for some crackers I want to make. 
WM— labels and card stock for soap/lotion. 
Got a bunch of other stuff at all places and overall probably spent too much... but we had fun!! 

Tomorrow, starting a batch of beef bone broth (with veggies) and making lotion. Hopefully will have time to play in the kitchen and if nice enough, get my van cleaned out (didn’t get done whatever other day I was gonna do it—Tuesday??). I keep forgetting what day it is... 🥴😂

and 

Necie

Cut soap this morning.

Crocheted for about an hour. 
Made 2 batches of lotion. I have 3/5 totes ready for flea market.

Wrapped 90 bars of soap for porch inventory. 
Worked on the porch and upstairs just trying to get everything (soaps/lotions) organized and inventory figured out. Somehow I found 30 soaps that I thought I was out of... the label fell off the box.  And I can’t, for the life of me, figure out how I have 2 identical stacks of soap curing..???? Both are Coconut Lime (75 bars each), and both say I made them on February 23rd.  I remember making Coconut Lime. I thought I still needed to make another batch. It’s absolutely impossible that I made them on the same day... I only have enough molds for one batch. Mom says it’s because it was only 3 days after Dad’s funeral. Maybe I put the wrong date on one of them... I did have a 3 day hangover. 🤕 Maybe I have a soap fairy making soap for me. 🧚‍♀️ Whatever. One less batch that I have to still make. I also found enough soaps of two other kinds that I can cross them off my *to make* list. 
 

Mom and I are going back to town tomorrow. She needs to go back to the Verizon store. Maybe this time I can get everything that’s on my list... since I’ve since wrote it down on the SAME list. 

I’m tired... And I hope my sourdough starter doesn’t die of neglect. 

and 

Necie

I was thinking about you (MT3B) yesterday... 

Even checked her profile and I don’t think she’s been on since Saturday. Hope all is well. 

9 hours ago, Jeepers said:

Odd about the potatoes varieties. Most canning books say to use Yukon Gold for canning.  

 

I’ve never canned anything except Pontiac reds, so can’t speak from experience on the others...

With the reds, I peel, cut into pieces and put into a big pan of water as I go. Once done, I drain them, fill back up and swish around, drain again. So, two rinses and into the jars and fill with water (raw/cold pack). I don’t get much sediment (starch).

I’ve only read on some of the canning groups about gals canning other varieties. Some rinse MULTIPLE (4-6) times and/or soak overnight, parboil and rinse, and still complain about the starch in their jars.

 I googled once and saw that red, white and waxy varieties have less starch and yellow, Yukon, and russet have more starch. If you google glycemic index for potatoes, there’s a lot of starch info. Also, if you can new (small) or fingerling potatoes whole, uncut, with the skin on, there’s almost no sediment. 😉 I always sort those out and can them together for soups/stews.

ETA: I also drain and rinse canned potatoes before using. Except the small ones... dump them right in the soup pot.