Ooh, a SAD day!

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We got home late last night. Michael went out to do chores and came in doing his best not to cry.





Yes, it had given way while we were gone. :-(

Gratefully, I had prayed, when we had our first and only swim together before the rains came, that when it gave way, it would be when Michael was not in it. That prayer was answered with a yes. :) Also, the filtering system was not damaged either, so that's a plus.

But we are very sad. This has been such a blessing to us and a highlight to our days of work. We work all day long, but look forward to dipping into that cool water and relaxing as we enjoy the afternoons and evenings of rest after a long, hot, sweaty day of work.

You can see where it gave way first, right where the biggest duct-taped hole had been.





A chair blew in. Looks like someone was cooling their feet.





I hope the grass does not die. We had just superchlorinated it two days prior. You can see how far down the water carried the chlorine dispenser.





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But, before all that took place...

After trying to can more here, we packed up to head to my folks' house, just as another gully washer was coming.









And I had thought we were going over to use my mom and dad's kitchen, but dad had been working on a plan.

He bought a range top at the thrift store, rewired it, put it on a base and we canned outside. Til dark. In the rain. Using the van as a prep area...













I don't think I will do it that way again. LOL But with my mom's alzheimer's, it is upsetting for her to have her kitchen messed around in. Dad says I can borrow the stove top any time. It has a broken and tilted large burner that adds a challenge, but it worked OK.

I am confused on several aspects of jelly making/canning. This has turned into quite an ordeal. Still, I am glad I am learning, and looking forward to being able to share with others what I have learned, when I get there. LOL

It was good to visit with my dad. He's always got great ideas. The rain just made it a bit tedious, and not having counter tops.

I've got jelly left to make, from the frozen berries from last year. I'm going to do small batches today, I hope. That and figure out how to clean up the pool mess.

Life remains an adventure!

~Faith

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Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining

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And just as soon as my headache goes away I'll begin looking for it in earnest. But for now it aches and I am hitting roadblock after roadblock in trying to can. It's beginning to look like we'll miss yet another get together tonight with friends because of the hangups.

I dug out jars and washed them all up. :)





I borrowed my mom's old pressure canner and water bath canners.





I bought the official canning book of the world and a utensil set.





I even got this, but I'm not sure what it is anymore.





I took a good look at the old racks...





And decided to buy a new one.





Then I discovered that my glass top stove is not suitable for canning. So I borrowed this camp stove.





Then I realized that was going to be a pain with all the rain we've been getting - 4 inches in two days was not going to be outdoor canning weather. So I dug out a tiny little pressure canner, and was able to to 5 pints of pie filling yesterday.









I had to go buy lemon juice and corn starch and I saw this small stock pot. Excitedly I brought it home, only to read.... "Not suitable for glass top stoves."





This morning I bravely began to can in small batches. I figured one little step at a time will get me there eventually, right? :)

But after all my prep, I discovered why my MOST DELICIOUS caramel from last Christmas never would set... My stove will absolutely NOT get anything above 205 degrees before the regulator shuts it off, to keep it from shattering.

I now have a giant pot of unjelled gooseberry jam on my stove, surrounded by splatters of pink goo everywhere, and no way to complete the process.

So looks like I'm heading to town to borrow my parent's kitchen. I don't mind it, but the thought of dragging everything is annoying the heck out of me right now. LOL

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Good thing yesterday was so nice. :)

After the pie filling, which siphoned due to my impatience in getting it out of the pressure canner before leaving, we went to town to do errands and meet friends. We missed the sewing class, but arrived just as it was over and we met with two families for the afternoon at the lovely home of one of them we'd not had the chance to go to before.





I am going to share pictures of this place. Gary built it himself, from trees he cut himself. It's just beautiful, and sits on 14 quiet acres. This is the family we are having the giant pumpkin contest with. :-D

The front door. It has a story we got to hear. :)





The LR. Yes, he does rock work too.





The hall, and I refrained from taking pics of the bedrooms, though they were gorgeous.





The kitchen.





Look at the detail.





While we oohed and ahed over the inside, the kids all went out to the back porch and played checkers. It was sunny, with amazing clouds, a light, cool breeze, and about 88 degrees.





The girls had the same idea I had. I tell you, these are the most wonderful kids for Michael to have as friends. We are truly blessed to be surrounded by great kids.





Here's the back porch from a distance.





Angie made music for us.





We took a walk about. The place is amazing. And they bought it without even looking it over. It was sort of a happy accident that turned out REALLY well! LOL The chimney work.





The matching garage with apartment over it.





Which even has a back deck.





In leau of crown molding, they used this cool rope.





The end of the house, taken from the deck of the apartment.





Some teak root benches. That one on the right is not a dog, but it sure looks like one.





Going down the driveway to the open field where we went to see the garden, the portable saw mill, and the kids riding the 4-wheeler.





The house, from below. That's a full length porch, complete with rockers and a swing. MY swing! LOL





Heading to the garden.









Hmmmmmmmmmm.... Our rival giant pumpkin plant. Must get more fertilizer!





The mill.





Having way too much fun! They all took turns giving each other rides. Angie was even able to join in, despite having arrived in a skirt and sandals. :)





Dear friends.





We love them so much. :)





So I swung on the swing, and they rocked. And we chatted a bit, and we listened to the birds a bit, and we just enjoyed the beauty.





Playing Curses.





Ginseng and Cohosh, I believe.





Then we were off to Michael's Court of Honor.





OK, I better pack it all up! :)

Whew!

~Faith

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Pies and Drowning

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We spent almost all day inside yesterday.

It was strange! LOL

But nice. I worked in the kitchen mostly, but for a collapse on the couch and falling asleep while Michael continued to de-stem gooseberries.

It is so nice to have all the things you need for a project, because if you don't, you spend your day like I did, feeling vexed and not getting a lot done.

It showered off and on very lightly, most of the day, but then we got a real gully washer that dropped an inch and a half within about 1/2 hour. I have not gone down to check the garden for damage yet. I might be avoiding it....





So the idea was to process all the gooseberries yesterday into something or other.





I had pies to make and pie filling to can.









I make big pies, so I actually got those berries into 4 groups, rather than 6, but only made half. I don't know that I like the recipe, though I am not very familiar with gooseberry pie. I pretty much doubled the tapioca it called for and it was still too runny for me. It's also quite sour, though my dad says it is supposed to be. I'm thinking cornstarch added in would be good.

I never got any further.

Since I'm not supposed to can on my glass top stove, I was planning on canning outside on the camp stove, but it rained all day.

We brought in all the canning jars I had available and washed them. I guess I spent most of the day trying to just organize how I was going to approach this whole thing.

I believe I will have 2 half gallon jars of pie filling to do; we de-stemmed only about a gallon of berries to try to make a whole berry jam for about 6 pint jars, I think; If that works I may do the rest that way or I may even see about making jam with the stems on as well; I'm going to give away a couple of bags today; and all the bags in the freezer I will make into jelly as the berries are a little bland looking after being in the freezer for a year anyhow.

Sadly, today, I'll be gone all day long at sewing, visiting friends, and boy scouts. Not that those things are anything but fun, but my gooseberries are still on the counter! No room in the fridge due to lettuce. LOL

Maybe I better learn how to ferment the berries?

Faith

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No Pictures!

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Nope, not a one!

I do want to share a giveaway that a fellow blogger is doing. Her DH makes some very nice quality chicken next boxes. Check them out over there! If you are going to need boxes, I love to encourage home businesses. That's the way America was born, on the shoulders of hard working families who worked the land and supplied each other with what that needed. We need to go back to those days.

A friend from church stopped by on Saturday and fixed our pool leaks for us! YAY!

I just did not have enough teflon tape on some connections and some were not tight enough.

I had tightened them so much that I actually had CRACKED the skimmer case at one point, so I am VERY surprised that was the problem, but by the time I came back from the tool shed with a flathead screwdriver, he'd already done it. LOL

Sunday was church. Late again....sigh.... What was supposed to be 15 minutes of quick watering in the winter squash seeds turned into an emergency of recovering seeds that had washed away, and spreading straw over them so watering again would not be necessary.

Tried to catch the Benjamin Netanyahu speech at my folk's house, and was thoroughly annoyed that they showed only the first minute, then cut it off. I'd been waiting all week long!

We grabbed a 5 dollar pizza for lunch and went to clean the dental office, then back to church last night for the end of a world view series and discussion.

Went back to my folk's house to visit and to borrow canning stuff.

Today I try to can, and listen to the speech online.

I better get busy! :)

~Faith

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