BACK TO MARKET

Up early again this morning to get ready for market.  Back to the regular market days after a week off always makes me a little apprehensive so I hurried through all the chores so I would be on time today.
Daughter came in shortly after I arrived and we got things set up quickly.  We had a good day and it felt like we had never even been gone. I didn't hear about anything that happened while we were gone so that is a good thing.
After we left the market I followed daughter out to a car dealership to ride with her as she drove a couple Toyatos to see if she like them.  Her jeep has almost 150,000 miles on it so she is thinking about buying another car. She hasn't made car payments in several years and is reluctant to get back into that.  We drove a Prius and a Corolla.  She like the Prius until they told her that a new battery for these cars cost $3200 !!   She is going to drive some different makes before she decides on anything.
She went home to get ready for her volleyball practice and I did my baking supplies shopping before I got home around 5:00.
After supper and chores hubbie and I sat out in the patio for a little while tonight. The air is heavy with moisture tonight ahead of a front that is bringing rain back into our area starting tomorrow.
They have been working hard trying to get the road ready to pave. I'm not sure when that will happen but I know they are behind their promised re-opening date.

History is getting ready to be made in Hawaii as two hurricanes are barreling toward the islands. There hasn't been a hurricane there in over 20 years and now they have two that are going to hit them within 36 hours of each other. Luckily so far these are catagory 1 and 2 storms.

An early bedtime for me tonight.
Grateful for all the wonderful blessings of this day.
Good Night and God Bless.

SALSA DAY AND I DON'T MEAN THE DANCE !!

A nice surprise this morning as I lay in bed in the early hours waiting for a call from d-in-love saying she was on her way with g-son, today she sent a text saying she was going into work late as she has been training someone to do her job and wouldn't be here until around 8:00.
That extra sleeping time was well spent !!!
As I did get g-son settled in with breakfast and got the chores finished I had breakfast while deciding what I should do first on this "going to be a really busy" day.
I decided to get my baking done so I baked 18 caramel, 5 chocolate and 2 more pound cakes to go with what I baked last night.
I finished around noon and had lunch with g-son.
Rebekah and daughter came over at the same time and we got started on our tomato canning adventures.
We all worked diligently all afternoon while alternately checking on g-son and Evy who played very well together all afternoon.
When the dust was all settled in the kitchen we had made 24 pints and 8 half pints of salsa, 5 quarts of pasta sauce, which by the way left my house smelling like an Italian restaurant,yummmm, and we also saved all the juice from the salsa and sauce and canned 7 quarts of that.

After they both left I had icing to do so I spent the rest of the evening still in the kitchen icing all the caramel and chocolate cakes.
I fell into bed about 12:30 am so I am writing this post Thursday night and back dating it.
I am very thankful that God gives me the energy and health that He does each of these busy days.
God Bless.

CANNERY TO BAKERY ALL IN A DAY'S WORK

Up early to be greeted by a very foggy morning,that's a  snow for this winter, and if the density of the fog has any thing to do with the amount of snowfall we are in for a big one !!

 Hopefully the sun will stick around for the day once it burns through the fog.

 I got the chores done before my two kiddos got here today. G-son was a little late and got here after 7:30 and Evy came shortly after.  Rebekah worked last night so she needs to sleep this morning.
These two play so well together despite their age difference.

In just a little while she dropped her toys and crawled up in my lap ready for a morning nap.
While she napped I decided to get a head start on our canning for the day and did a canner full of green beans.
It was perfect timing as she got up just after I set the canner off to let the pressure go down.
She was in such a happy mood she was a joy to have around.

This is g-son and Evy doing what they both like best, g-son building with legos and Evy listening to the music box, well she is checking with him to see if he likes these songs, haha .

Rebekah came over after lunch and we got right to the task of canning the rest of our beans, 14 more quarts, and then canned 13 quarts of tomatoes. One of the last jars in the canner of tomatoes broke so that is why we only had 13.
We had a good assembly line going, I washed and blanched and Rebekah filled the jars, then I put them in the canner. That way she didn't have to spend a lot of time on her feet.
Evy took a good nap this afternoon, allowing us to get more done than we had expected.
The tomatoes turned out pretty in the jars.

Hubbie came home just as Rebekah was leaving and got to play with Evy just a few minutes.
Rebekah has music practice tonight at church and I have to bake so we called it a day earlier than usual and will get back into it again tomorrow.
After chores I picked more tomatoes and bell peppers for salsa and spaghetti sauce making tomorrow.

Hubbie finally got to get some of our lawn mowed tonight after only a brief sprinkle of rain this afternoon.  The sun shined most of the day but dark clouds rolled in this afternoon. We missed the heavy rains which fell on #2 son just up the road while he was trying to mow his grass.
Bertha thankfully stayed out to sea and only caused some rough surf and rain along the coast.

Another 2 little quails hatched today so I made a box for them and brought them into the sunroom this evening.

 The silkie hen still didn't act like she knew they were there, they are so tiny.

Maybe these two will make it and she has four more eggs under her that might hatch. I feel sorry to take them away from her but she never left the nest with the first one that hatched and it starved to death so I am trying this with these. They are already eating and drinking so who knows, hopefully they will make it.
I spent the evening turning my kitchen from a cannery to a bakery as I baked 10 pound cakes and 2 blackberry wine cakes.

It is almost midnight, a little late than I expected to be up but I'm glad this job is done.

Thankful to God tonight for a wonderful day filled with the little ones in my life and the abundance of good produce He has blessed us with this year.
Good Night and God Bless.

WHAT AUGUST MEANS TO ME

It is hard to get back to the regular schedule this morning as I greeted g-son at 7am today.
After fixing him breakfast and getting chores done I had my breakfast.
Daughter came by to pick up some things and then I settled in for a day of laundry and housework.
I cleaned house all day between getting things for g-son and doing 5 loads of laundry.
I do admit I some great help moving the wet clothes from the washer to the dryer.

I 

Haha, he was working hard to help bless his heart.
We had rain this afternoon, we got 4/10ths inch in just a few minutes.  Work on the road came to a screeching halt again today.
I saw a show the other day that people were telling what each month of the year meant to them.
There was some interesting answers but it got me to thinking.  What the month of August brings to mind for me is food preserving. August is the busiest month for me usually getting all the garden produce preserved for winter months.  And to verify this all I have to do is look no further than my dining room table and sunroom table !!!

Yeah, this is going to be a busy week but I have some help coming in starting tomorrow thankfully.
After hubbie got home we walked down to see what the workers got done today. Aaron and Evy were down there checking it out with #1 son.
Evy couldn't stay off the equipment, she is definitely not shy about climbing up on anything.

Hubbie and I came back to the house and I finished the day of housework by vacuuming and mopping all the floors while hubbie finished breaking the green beans we picked last night.
At least I feel that I am almost caught up from my week off !!
Thankful for all my blessings of this day.
Good Night and God Bless.

CATCH UP SUNDAY

Up to do the chores before church on this sunny morning.
Church was good today from Ephesians.
At lunch everyone was here except #2 son is catching up on his golfing and enjoying his last day off for awhile.
We had sliced ham that Rebekah cooked which was delicious along with fresh green beans, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob and fried yellow squash.
After lunch everyone went  different directions. We are all still trying to catch up from a week away.
I had to go to Aldi for baking supplies for the week while hubbie is still trying to catch up with a week away from the garden chores.
I stopped at a car wash on the way home to wash the salt and sand from my van.
I met hubbie out the road on my way home, he was headed over to daughter's to help her put up a shelf in her carport after she spent yesterday cleaning it out and getting things re-arranged.
After I got things unloaded and put away I sat out in the patio and read the newspaper. They are working on the bridge today trying to get the road open by Tuesday.

Just don't see how that can happen but we'll see.
Hubbie and I walked down for a closer look when he got home from daughters.
After chores we picked green beans. We didn't get near as many as the first two pickings but we have probably close to a bushel to can plus many tomatoes.
Aaron and Rebekah came up while we were working in the garden and helped get the pepper plants staked up.
Daughter came by to pick up Tipper after her two week stay here. Daughter had a dog sitting job the week before we went to the beach and Tipper stayed here with Enrique last week, then she had a dog sitting job last night so she is just now getting to go home. Tipper will have to get used to being the only dog again.
Hubbie broke beans tonight while I  did more work on catching up my blog. Maybe in a couple more days I will be back to posting the daily post.
Grateful to God for a wonderful Sunday.
Good Night and God Bless.

UNPACKING DAY

AHHHH!!!!   So nice to wake up in my own bed after a good night's sleep.   As we had breakfast and watched the weather we were so so glad we came home yesterday as there is really heavy rain and winds down at the beach where we were this morning.
After chores it was unpacking time. I did 3 loads of sheets and towels as we got everything outside and inside put away. The sky was cloudy so we washed the bikes and put them back inside the basement to dry thoroughly before we spray them with WD40 before storing them in the shed.
After lunch we made a trip to Walmart and Sams to restock some supplies and get me enough baking supplies and groceries so I don't need to get out and in when the road work starts back on Monday.
The rain sprinkled some this afternoon, never mounting to anything but just keeping the dampness in the air. I emptied 1" from the gauge that fell while we were away.
The Silkie hen that I put quail eggs under has one little baby quail hatched. It is so tiny I hope she is very careful not to step on it. I thought about taking it and putting it in a box inside but it acts like it loves the hen mother so much and is so satisfied under her warm feathers I decided to take a chance and see if she can raise it and hopefully some more brothers or sisters.
Hubbie and I picked in the garden this afternoon and I picked more blackberries and put them in the freezer.  We have lots of green beans and tomatoes ready for canning.  Hubbie also dug the rest of our red potatoes along with picking squash, cucumbers and bell peppers for tomorrow's lunch.
We bought corn on the cob in Walmart for .25 an ear, it looks good, hope it taste good.
Rebekah is cooking a ham to go with the fresh vegetables.
After chores tonight g-son came to spend the evening while his mom and dad went to a friend's birthday party in town.
Aaron, who got back from his convention in the wee hours of the morning, and Rebekah brought Evy over for a visit this evening.
I am still trying to catch up publishing my blog post I wrote while I was at the beach. I write the post each night but have trouble loading photos on my laptop so I wait until I get home so I play catch up.
Grateful to God for the blessings of this day.
Good Night and God Bless.

HOME A DAY EARLY

Just as I was dozing off last night I heard the raindrops hitting the sky light in the bathroom of the beach house.  When I woke up this morning I still heard them.   Uggg, rain at the beach, nothing worse !!

And when it is lots of rain and you are staying on the end of an island that seems to be sinking into the sea it just makes it worse.
The entire street in front of the house was flooded.

We all had breakfast and then scratched our heads to figure out if we should go ahead and leave today as the weather predictions for tomorrow are for lots more rain.
The second tropical storm of the season has formed out in the Atlantic and was named Bertha today. This isn't causing our weather here but it does remind me of how quickly the bright sunny beach days could be gone .

At first I was not in favor of leaving, I thought we would spend a rainy day shopping in some thrift shops and just exploring some of the island. When no one was interested in joining me and I looked at the future radar on the computer I was on board to come home.  Traffic will be much lighter today and hopefully we will run out of the hard rain as we drive inland.
We packed, had lunch and packed some more.  We had all three vehicles packed to the rims trying to keep things dry.
We pulled out about 3:15, when I went to turn the keys in the realty said everyone seemed to be leaving today to get ahead of the nasty weather that is moving in this evening.

Hubbie and I drive a different route from the kids so we expected to take longer than they do.
Once we got on the road we didn't have any traffic problems like we did going down and we saw no rain after we left the island.
We stopped 3 times, once to pick up some peaces from PeeDee Orchards.  They had the old timey Georgia Belle peaches, they are soooo good.
The mountains are always a great sight after a week away even if they are covered with low clouds.

We made it home at 9:15 and the kids made it around 10:00 after stopping a couple times to let the kids stretch their legs.
We unloaded everything into the downstairs to separate tomorrow.
It feels great to be home and not have to spend the night dreading the trip tomorrow.

I am so so humble grateful to God for giving all the family His traveling graces today.
Good Night and God Bless