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I don't know if I've ever had a sugar rush. Maybe I'm having one now. I made fudge from a recipe my sister gave me, and then caramel corn and sugared nuts, both from Buns in my oven website. They were all really good. Yes, I gave lots away, but still, this afternoon my head is swimming. Ever had a day when there were just so many questions running amuck in your head that nothing else made sense? Yeah, that's today. Want a tour? Here's just a few:
- What sort of things do I need to get now, a few days ahead of time for my Thanksgiving dinner?
- What can wait until the day before, when I'm off work?
- Why is the sky blue?
- Why doesn't the game of football make more sense?
- Should I make cranberry sauce now or later?
- Do I have everything for cranberry sauce?
- How much Martinelli's is too much?
- Is there really such a thing as too much Martinelli's?
- How many different pies should I make?
- How many people are coming to dinner?
- When should I clean out my frig?
- Should I even bother cleaning out my frig?
- Why do golf balls have so many dimples? Are they all used when we buy them and the dimples are where the other people have hit them?
- Maybe golf balls aren't pumped up enough. If so, how do I pump up golf balls?
- How much wood can I put in the woodstove before I get run out by my men?
So many questions. Does anybody have answers to any of them?
Fall is definitely here. One of the things I love about fall is the smells. The smell of the fire in the wood stove, and the crisp, clean air outside in the morning when I leave to go to work. This afternoon, I was having a nice time blowing leaves off the driveway. This time of year, I usually do it every other day or so. Unless I tell our youngest if he wants dinner, he can do it. But most of the time, I do it, because I don't mind.
So there I was, blowing leaves, smelling the fall smells, just enjoying working outside, and being by myself doing outdoorsy things. I love outdoorsy things. All of a sudden, my perfect Zen moment was interrupted by the most ...... oh, I don't have words to describe it. It was bad, let me tell you. Of course, I had to figure out what was causing it. Didn't take me long, and this is what I found:
Can you tell what that is? I'm real nice, or else I would give you the blown up picture. That's a very big, very fresh, dog poop, almost perfectly on top of a nice tree stump that is going to become yard art. My hubby brought that home to me after one of his many hunting trips. He's always thinking about me. What a guy! But, I digress. Our big goof of a dog backed up to my beautiful stump, and deposited some art of his own. We have 2 1/2 acres for him to do his job, and he picks my yard art. Yeah.
I have been looking at 2 big containers of pomegranates on my kitchen counter for almost a week now. Here's one of them.
I got out all my stuff, and got to work. The thing is, the classroom that I work in usually gives gifts to all the staff members of the whole school (yea, the whole school!) that have been helpful to us during the year. That adds up to about 50 people. We had been talking about what to do this year, and a great idea was to make pomegranate jelly. I'm the only one that does that sort of thing. I also have a real hard time saying no. Put those two things together, and that's what I did this weekend. I could have done it at school, but that didn't make too much sense, because depending on the day at school, it can be difficult working in the kitchen for an extended amount of time. Anyway, I got started. I juiced them. I used my trusty, old, cracked, hand juicer. I love it. Can you tell? We go way back.
Pomegranates are messy. Really messy. I cleaned up alot.
Jelly is basically simple to make. All it is? Juice, sugar, and pectin. Pour in the juice. Isn't it beautiful?
I decided that since I needed to make so much jelly, and I didn't know if I would have enough pomegranate juice, I would make pomegranate/apple jelly. I poured in the apple juice. (store bought, plain ol' 100% juice)
Heat it up, and stir in a little sugar, pectin, and just about 1 teaspoon butter. That's to keep the foam from taking over later. Take my word for it. You need it, and the taste is not noticeable.
Let it come up to a hard boil and add the rest of the sugar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Keep a close eye on it until it comes back up to a hard boil, and then boil for 2 minutes.
Take it off the stove, let it sit for a minute or two, skim the little layer of foam off, pour it into jars, and process for 5 minutes. Voila! Pomegranate jelly.
This morning I woke up and the sun was shining. The start to a great day! On the list of things to do today? I'm making pomegranate jelly. Everything's ready, and most important? I'm barefoot, in my jammie pants, an old t-shirt, and I've put on the music. Loud! More later. With pictures. Oh, I love Saturdays!
We have this apple tree. Actually, we have more, but just one produced enough to do anything with. Last week I convinced my youngest child that he wanted to help me finish picking the tree. He's much taller than I am, and it all made perfect sense to me.....teenage child, very tall, lives at home, eats at home......well, you get the picture. Anyway, I had about 3-4 big boxes of apples on the kitchen counter. I made applesauce. Boy, did I make applesauce! Thank heavens for my really cool Victorio Strainer. Before I had this thing, I would never attempt to make much applesauce. But not now. All I have to do is cut them in quarters, cut out any buggy parts, cook them down a little, and run them through the strainer.
I got my jars all set up to can the applesauce. I ended up taking more than one day to do all this, because I started after I came home from work. I made a bunch one evening, and then the next day put the whole batch in the electric roaster to warm it up before I put it in jars to can.
A family can only eat so much applesauce, right? I still had some apples left over, so I made apple butter. Here it is, cooking down and smelling really good.
Oh, yum. Here's a few jars of the finished product. I can't wait to open up a jar and use it on toast, or in recipes! Next on the list to make? Pomegranate jelly! I LOVE fall!
If something can go wrong, it will, when Mr. Murphy is out of town.
This has been what is going on:
Thursday afternoon: Go outside to find something killed one of my chickens. Get rid of carcass.
Friday afternoon: Pick up youngest from bus. Find out he definitely got my cold.
Friday night: 103 temp. Advil and fluids, and I keep a close eye on him. Make goodies for eldest child.
Saturday morning: Visit with eldest son and his friend. Drive to town for large live trap.
Sat. night: Set trap. Catch cat. Put cat in dog crate, reset and rebait trap.
Sat and Sun: Son's fever hovers between 100, to just under 102. Continue with Advil and fluids.
Sunday morning: Get up to find trap empty, food not eaten. Leave trap as is. Let cat out of crate. Catch cat. Release cat from trap after 4-5 hours.
Sunday night: Put cat in crate. Set trap.
Monday morning: Trap empty. Let cat out of crate.
Monday morning: Son's temp 103, go into work long enough until second wave of adults gets there, then split. Take child to Dr. Spend 3 hours in Dr. office, to find out he doesn't have strep, but will most likely test positive for Swine flu.
Monday afternoon: Drive home, drop child off, go back into town (closest town) to pick up Tamiflu perscription. Spend $85 on copay. Buy 5 gallons of apple juice. Ship books at Post Office for Hubby. Go home. Make bed, clean up kitchen, relax (Ha!)
Monday night: Go outside to set trap. Find different cat acting very weird. See big bloody poop/guts hanging out of rectum. Forget the trap. Get dog crate, wash it out, put blankets inside. Put sick cat in crate, call sister and cry. Sister meets me at 24 hr. vet. Spend evening with sister at vet, trying to decide whether or not to put cat down or do risky surgery for half wild cat.
Midnight: Sign paper to put cat down. Cry. Go home with dead cat. Cry. Let dogs out, check on sick child.
Tuesday morning, 1:30: Email Hubby. Go to bed.
Tuesday morning, 2:00: Get up with dog, go outside.
Tuesday morning, 6:30: Get up, take shower. Check on child. Tell him cat died. Go to work. Text oldest that cat died.
Tuesday afternoon: Go home. Check on child. Dig hole and bury cat.
I was excited this morning to go out and see what I caught. I even woke up early, and thought I might go out to see. Ohh, I should get a life, huh?? Anyway, I decided that maybe it would be better to wait, since the sun wasn't up yet, and the creature I am trying to catch is nocturnal. Although, if I am honest, it was mostly because the sun wasn't up yet, and it's Sunday, and my bed was really warm. But my excuse, at least at the time, was because it was still not light enough, and there was enough night left to catch something. So I went back to bed. And back to sleep. Well, I went back to sleep as soon as the dog figured out it is Sunday and I was sleeping in. But anyway, when I finally got up, I went out and this is what I found:
Nada. Bumpkis. Nothing. Zilch. Failure. My trap was a big, fat, zero. It looked the same as when I left it last night, except, of course, last night it was alot darker than this morning. So, what to do now? I let Speedy out of the dog crate, where I had locked him up last night so he wouldn't get into the trap. Of all the cats we have, he's the only one that needs to be protected from himself. Why is that? Anyway, I went to get Speedy, and then followed him to the chicken pen, and the trap. And, then, this is what he did:
I'm not surprised. Nobody is. In fact, that is so not surprising, that when I talked to Hubby about getting this trap, and setting it, that he told me "if" I happen to catch a cat, which what he really meant was, when I caught Speedy, to put him, cage and all, in the shade and let him stay caught for a few hours so he doesn't like the cage, and will stay out in the future. So, that's what I decided to do. I let him eat more of the food:
Pretty soon, the thing will trip and he will be caught inside.
Soon. Very soon. It can't be too much longer now.......
Ok, we're down to the last of the food..... he's licking the bottom........ it's going to close........ anytime.......
Uhhhh, yeah. Right.
Can you believe this? He backed up, nice as could be, right after he ate all of the food. Then came over to me. The little turd!
So now, this is what the trap looks like. I think I might need to rethink this whole thing...........
