Wow, August Already!

August 14
Good Afternoon Everyone,
I am sorry for late postings, but I am not going to lie to all of you.  I have been blue, depressed,  trying to get things done around the house and garden since it cooled down considerably, and I mean cooler, like 20-25* cooler and evening temps into the mid 40's.  I have been elated over the main air conditioner  NOT running.  When I have been canning and working in the kitchen, I have had the small window air conditioner running, which is a total blessing.  I can work, and keep most of the trailer cool.

I am finishing up cucumbers, and my house neighbor from across the  street, brought me some small peaches from her tree yesterday.  I was so happy.  They are still a little green, but I think tomorrow, I will be able to get to them.  I think there is enough for a few pints of spiced peach butter.  They were damaged from a hail storm we had a few months ago, but I can work around the blemishes and still make a nice butter.  Like I have mentioned before, I do not turn down free fruit from people.  I have been heaping mounds of cucumbers to our local food pantry, the homeless shelter, and the senior center.  I have never had as many cukes as I did this year.  They were amazing, and even though they are winding down, they are still very crispy, sweet and juicy, but I can only eat so many cucumbers so many ways.

But unfortunately, the rest of the garden was not good, but I appreciated everything I got from it.  I am still getting hot peppers, and I am just pickling them in small jars for salsa or a few pints of hot pickled cucumbers.  My tomatoes are just very slow and creeping along.  I am going to see how they are the end of this week, and then I may pull them.. I have Roma's ripening on the bottom, but on top, the tomatoes are small, slow and will never mature in time.  I am going to pull my acorn squash vines, and melon vines tomorrow, vine borers and some other bugs have gotten to them, so it is time.  I am going to let some of the acorn squash ripen a little more, and then I may cube up these and freeze these in small serving sizes or I may pressure can small jars.  Not sure if I can process squash or not.  I am the only one who eats it so I have enough for the year.

The kittens are doing so very well.  Dexter is growing and being a terror.  Little grey girl now has the name of "Sophie".  She is a little doll and has an attitude now.  She is very independent and somewhat demanding.  But after being at Mr. Dead's doorstep, she can have all of the attitude she wants.  I will get pictures of them during this week.  I need to get some batteries and I will post photos later of them.  They have really grown since the last post. They are eating very well, and are now discovering how to get into trouble and finding places to get into where they really aren't suppose to be, like my cupboards where I have all of my canning equipment  and jars.  Sophie the other day, got into one of my large half gallon jars and was playing in it.  A few weeks ago, when she was a little smaller, she got into a quart jar and hid from me, and I was panicking as I could not find her for a while until she tipped over the jar in the cupboard and I found where she was hiding.  These sweet babies have been my bright shining light to get me though the dark mood I have going on at the moment.

Like I have mentioned above, I have been somewhat blue.  I think it  was the heat, and just a lot of general going's on here.  I have a lot going on, even though, its minor, but trying to take care of several people's issues and problems, trying to make sure bills are paid, and food on the table.  And trying to pay for everything and keep your head above water is stressful, and yes I know I am not the only one. We are all in some way, in the same boat, just floating along trying to keep from being swamped by the large waves of life.

But, as I have been going around, doing errands, I have seen a great stress upon people's faces, and people are horridly temperamental here.  We have also had very, very bad things going on in town, a lot of vandalism, breaking windows out of cars and pickups and the sad thing is, that most of the windows were broken out around town in areas where people cannot afford window replacement.  They were close  in our area, but for some reason, they did not get down to our area, but they were close. We have had several stabbings and some murders outside of our area.   We have also had many grass and prairie fires, and our farmers and ranches are stressed from the heat, and cost of feed, and no water or rain, and up north, a huge prairie fire which took out thousands of acres of grass, and several thousands miles of fencing, and barbed wire and no money to replace the fencing.

I personally am worried about the up coming election and the frames of minds of people.  All of this stress, and demands and the continuing costs of everything has really brought an ugly cloud down upon all of us.  I just do not have answers, and all I can do it just keep doing what I am doing, and preparing for something that I am not sure will come down the pike or not.  I am very concerned that "something" is coming and it may not be good for anyone or the country as a whole.  I just see the strain upon every one's faces. 
As you can read, I am somewhat babbling.  That is the way I feel at the current moment.  Almost like I'm in Purgatory, feeling like I am half in and half out and not going anywhere.  I am hoping with the cooler weather that is supposed to be here Thursday, it may help perk up people's minds.  And it would really help if we would get some rain too!

Well, I think that I have babbled enough.  I hope that all of you in the drought areas get some of this cooler air we are supposed to get.  It is supposed to be here around Thursday, with the daytime temps in the 70's.  Wow!  Haven't seen 70's since early spring. Won't know how to act. And evening temps in the 40's and 50's. Definitely something to crow about.

I wish everyone a wonderful, peaceful week.  And blessings be upon all,.
Hugs

Garden pics and Hades

Good Morning Everyone,

Just a quick pics of the garden.  Please forgive the photos as my camera is not the best. It is a cheap, poor quality one, but it gets the job done until I can afford a better one.

The garden where I have the cukes and Roma tomatoes and the Super Sweet 100's cherry has gone insane.  I do not know why as the heat here is relentless but when we put this side in, D dug a trench and mulched both sides and we water about twice a week and it is doing great.  I have not seen bugs either, but we do powder down some things and just hope for the best.  The cukes we are getting are very sweet, crunchy and no bitterness.  The cukes I planted were Tasty Green's and a greenhouse cuke called an "Isnik" from the garden catalog.  These are smaller, but very crunchy and this is the second year I had these and they have performed well, even in this intense heat we are having with the drought.  But again, we have trenched and mulched.

This year, my heart just is not into gardening.  I think its the combination of heat, and of too much going on and me doing to much for too many.  So, for canning, I am just going to process tomatoes and cukes as is, and when I need sauce, or salsa, I can just add my ingredients as I need them.  When peppers start coming, I will do the same, just pickle and put up.  There will be no way that I can do more with the amount of time and be more selective in making salsa, or tomato sauce or ketchup.  I am just in the mood to  cheat or make it more simple to put everything up and then when I have more time, and hopefully more cooler, I will be able to make my salsa, and sauces at a later date.  I would like to freeze, but I have no room for anything in the freezer at the moment either, so I will have to just cut corners and make things easier.
To make things quicker, and I put this question out to my readers who have canned forever, can I cheat and just put tomatoes in a roaster pan or crock pot and heat through and then just peel the skins?  There will be no way I can boil water, then dunk tomatoes then peel  time wise, I just can't, but I see if I heat  them up and then peel and then process, I see no difference?  Any suggestions?   I was planning on putting the tomatoes in my large Hamilton Beach roaster pan and putting this outside on my table on the porch and do it this way to keep the heat out of the kitchen. 

Other than the relentless heat, which it is running at or over 100* daily, not too much going on.  The kittens are growing and are now exploring their room I have them in.  They are now using the box, even little tiny grey girl, and she is now eating solid food and getting things figured out.  I did not think that I would see her or Dexter doing this, not after the way they came to me in the shape they were in. I am still amazed and also thankful beyond prayers.

Well, not much is going on.  I still want to do my post that I mentioned several weeks ago about discussion as of what is going on in the country, and the Supreme court's decisions.  I have some things on my mind but then I had the kitten emergency and I got side tracked.  I will work on something and get this out.

Until then, I wish all a wonderful week, stay cool, and try to get through life in general.

Hugs to All.

Thank you sir, may I have another....

Good Morning Everyone,

Well, you know the old saying, about Murphy's Law, or best laid plans of mice and men, well, I have ended up with another older kitten as of Sunday evening.
D was working on the back of the trailer Sunday, and finishing up. He has been wiring for security lights for the back of the trailer and the back lot as we are now having major problems with trespassing, and stealing things, right off of the renter's porches and under the carports.
He was finishing up when all of the sudden the people who live in a cruddy trailer to the back, (where everything is disappearing) starting hollering at their dogs, which they do let run around.  One of them, a Jack Russell terrier cornered something under a brush pile clear in the back and D climbed down the ladder and ran over to see what what going on.  He thought it may be a possum, but no, it was a very small, about 7-8 week old kitten and the terrier mauled this little guy.  D grabbed hold of the dog and threw it about 10 feet, and that gave him a moment to grab this kitten before the dog had a chance to finish the job and then ran in the house with this tiny one and I was shocked.  Then I kicked myself into doctor gear and started the fluids, and heating pad and then stayed up all night, hoping I could save this little guy.  He was bruised, and passed a very dark stool, which is a sign of internal bleeding, and I was horrified, as I can do little until morning to get this little guy to my vet.  So I just did sub-Q fluids, and kept warmth on him for the shock and prayed, that is all I could do....
By morning, I had fallen asleep on the couch for about an hour and a half, I was exhausted.  I jumped up and went into the small bathroom where I had him in the bathtub on warm blankets and the heating pad  and to my shock, he was up and was hungry...you do not know how happy I was to see this little man up, after seeing him limp and in distress.  I called the humane society that I work with, and they gladly paid for him to see the my vet and get some meds for him for pain and a very bad case of worms, the dark stool was worms and not blood. But he did receive a good mauling but thankfully the bites did not pinch or rip up his internal workings or he would not be with us.   This little guy is bruised but is improving every day.  He is very alert now and eating well.  I am so very glad, I am also glad I keep a medical kit ready for anything, people or critter.
So now, I have two kittens, the small grey girl is doing very well, and thriving, and now this little man.  Yep, I have a sign outside the door...
I will post pictures of the two for you.
Other than that, I have just been buried with work, between the kittens, my parents, the garden, and whatever else, I feel like a ping-pong ball only worse.  We have cooled off quite a bit here, have gotten some rain, and just am doing general work around the house.  Boy, it never ends.  And I think that I have said I live a boring life... Yeah, RIGHT.
So, I will post pictures, and keep you all posted.

Hugs to all

I have been busy

Good Afternoon Everyone,

I hope that everyone is doing well and surviving the heat.  The heat is on here.  It has been in the 100's here. A few days ago, it hit 107*F, and was very humid for us here.  Its going to be this kind of year I quess.

I apoligise for not getting to my discussion post going, but I have had a life interuption and I will explain later.  I received three very tiny, malnourished kittens late Sunday afternoon.  Unfortunatly, I lost two, with the second passing just  an hour or so ago.  I just could not save them, no matter what I have in my arsenal of meds and skill...but I am happy to say, this little female is pulling and screaming her way back from Mr. Dead's grip.  She is just a little over two weeks old, and is so far, showing me she will survive, which I am happy about, I am very,very  sad about losing her two brothers, though.

I will post later this week, as I have had several things happen, and I just have been exhausted feeding these little ones and up most of this week trying to save them.

I will keep you posted and I will get to the discussion as it pertains to the Supreme court hearing and what has been going on in the country.

Until then, a wonderful end of the week to all and I will see everyone later.

Hugs

Busy in the kitchen, possum chasin' new kittens

Good Afternoon Everyone,

Well I hope that all are surviving the heat, or drought or both.  It is still very hot here and I'm busy in the kitchen at the present time, trying to keep up with the Zucchini and the start of the cucumbers.  I shredded some larger Zucchini one of my house neighbors gave me into a relish,  its a sweet/hot mixture.  I will see tomorrow if the spices and vinegar are ok and then process it.  I put a few sweet, and mildly hot peppers I had from last year in this batch, so I will see if its worth canning.  I am trying to round up my jars and lids.  I am tempted to try the Tattler reusable lids.  Hopefully, around the first, I will order some and try them.  Has anyone every used these lids? Let me know.
I also got some hamburger patties made and frozen.  I can hardly wait until I get my beef order and start making my ground beef fillings, and my stew meat.  Since I got my pressure canner, and I'm not afraid of it, it seems I have lost out on a lot of good food because I was a pussy about a pressure canner!

I am chasing a very large possum around the trailer park.  The other morning, around 4:30 am, I was up and the dog had to go out, and Belle, went around the corner where she usually goes and I heard some very intense "hissing", and it sure didn't sound like a cat, so I had my flashlight, and shined it where the sound was coming from, and lo and behold, a very large, ( I guessing about 25 lbs) possum  was by my north neighbor's back step.  It was not a happy camper, and I suspect its a male just by the size.  I brought the dog in as I don't want her torn up and by the time I went back out, it disappeared around the back.  So, I have my two traps set at night, but as of yet, nothing.  I will keep trying, as I don't want that around here at all.

The neighbor from hell clear to the north trailer left a mom cat and three kittens in the trailer, they have been in there with all of this heat, and one other trailer neighbor who lives next to this trailer, came over and told me he heard kittens crying.  So, Saturday night,  I snuck in a back window when it got dark and found them.  Mom has been around for a while, but I didn't know where she came from or what.  These babies are pretty wild, but I was able to corner them, and get them rounded up,  I de-fleaed them and mom, and for a few days, I had them on my porch, but it was getting just too hot, and I  finally brought them into my large bathroom in the big wire cage I use.  Mom is pretty easy to handle, but the babies will take a little time, they are 2 blacks and a black/tan tabby female, the blacks are a male and female.  I will try to get a photo of them, but usually they run and hide when I come in. Mom is a garden variety grey and very thin. But with a little food, she will be ok..  I was not expecting more cats,  and I am getting very tired of cleaning up other stupid people's messes.  I am not sure what to do with them at the moment, but right now, my goal is to just get the kittens tamed down and mom filled out, I will cross this bridge when I get there. 

Well, that is it for right now.  Just wait though, something can happen here in a New York minute.  I am going out a little later to water the garden and then come in and make supper.  I think boneless pork chops and fried potatoes with cucumber salad and tomatoes in on the menu tonight.
I will try to take photos of the garden.  The cherry tomatoes I have are over 6 feet tall now.
Take care all
Hugs

Swimming in clutter (drowning)

Well friends it seems that all of us who read the blogs that I read have the same thing on their minds...de-cluttering and trying to get back on track.  I do not mean at all to talk about what everyone else is talking about, and I do not think that I am copying anyone particular blog, if so, I am sorry, but this has been on my mind for a while and it seems that this is the fall type of going-on's with everyone life.

I am currently in the kitchen, since this is where I do my work, and food prep, and it seems the kitchen catches all of the activity, this is where I am starting.  Now, on top of trying to can around the clutter I have around me, I am trying to go through and make piles for the trash, the thrift shop, and/or give-away, that is hard anyway, so I am still stepping around things to get the canning done.  The tomatoes and peppers don't seem to wait.  I am freezing the peppers till I can get to them, this helps, and the tomatoes, I am currently just slipping the skins off, and putting them up with a little garlic and onion, and then I can process them further when I need them.  I just do not have enough hours in the day or enough hands. 

Part of my out of balance is I have elderly parents that I do look after, and this dips into the day, and the heat of this summer takes a toll on me, so I generally do my canning in the very early morning starting in about 4 am, and start firing up the stove, I have a gas stove which I adore, but it does heat up the kitchen, so I generally have everything laid out and then get my stock pot going to heat up the tomatoes, and then a little tub with some ice water in it to dip the tomatoes in to slip the skins off.  This is really what takes time, the actual processing doesn't take much in my opinion but the produce does.

I know a lot of people I talk to, or visit with a our local farmer's market, ask why do I work so hard  to do this, and I tell them I like the idea that I know what is in my food, and I control the ingredients.  I have a very bad sensitivity to MSG and other preservatives, usually resulting in week long migrains, which I do not enjoy, and I definitly do not have time for  and I cannot afford the meds to control them, so I am very, very careful about what I eat, and what is in the food, meaning I do not eat out very often.

I also love my idea of not depending on some multi-national corporation feeding me from crap that is processed in some 3rd world nation, or sprayed with some out-lawed poison.  I want control on my food, not someone telling me that it's ok to eat because I said so.  Example is the gulf oil spill and the government is telling you its ok to eat the shellfish or shrimp, I don't think so, and I will not go any further on that, period.

I had some Marconi Italian peppers and some Aneheims peppers roasted by one of my friend vendor's at the market last week, we had a street fair, and he brought his big roaster behind the truck, and we were having a roasting frenzy, I put some Aneheims in my first batch of salsa, and it turned out delicious, just a little heat on the tongue, then lots of flavor, gloat, gloat......

I am working on a recipe page so I can put what I do here on my little patch of earth to make me happy, they are strickly home cooked, nothing fancy, not low fat, and no fancy cooking.  I love plain food with flavor.  Yes, I use butter, and whole milk and cream when needed, the other crap will cause you heart and health problems later.

It has been busy here otherwise, I apoligise for not getting back on my blog, I miss it, and I love talking about simple things, and visiting with others also.  But it seems again, time just skirts about a little, just enough to make your day out of whack.

I still trying to get a camera, I took some photos with my cell phone, so I am not sure if they turned out  to post, I will try maybe later Sun afternoon to see if I can get a few loaded to see if they are ok, it is nothing spectacular, as we don't have a huge market, but it stays busy, and you get a lot of your regulars that follow you around.  I grow herbs and do herb mixes for people who are sensitive to MSG, and other stuff, and I do have a small cult following of chefs, and small town cafes and they love my stuff,  me, I just love my herbs!  My best sellers are lemon-pepper seasoning and celery-onion mix, which goes like a wild fire, and I am out of my lemon peels for my lemon pepper seasoning, I am trying to find a source of organic peels from another place until my origional source comes in again  next year from California.

I have 2 new additions to the critter family, 3 kittens that were found wrapped into a plastic bag at about 2 days old  and thrown in a flooded ditch, there were 3, the 3rd, went to his new home about a month ago, I have had these sisters a month ago today, (Sat) the 14th, so I have been busy with them also, they are quite busy and are growing and doing normal kitten things, like climbing your legs when you are at the computer, or going up the curtains, but they are very lucky girls and I love them, they are blending in with my older guys and holding their own.  I will try to take photos of the critter brigade here for you.

Well, again, I am beat, tired, pooped out, or however you want to say it.  I enjoyed my blogging with you, and hope to hear from you all.

Have a most wonderful and peaceful weekend doing what you love and love who you are with......