ANOTHER PASTA MAKING DAY

 Back in the fog this morning.                                                                                                                            

I got chores done and then had breakfast with IR and CA while hubbie got some eggs washed and ready for delivery.

We headed out to meet the customer and get some errands done before lunch today. After the egg delivery we stopped at the bank and then PO before stopping by Cook-Out for some lunch for the girls as they lover their cheese quesadillas.

We had lunch when we got home and then while hubbie entertained the girls I started turning this sink full of tomatoes into another 7 quarts of pasta sauce.

With the combination  of all the different varieties of these tomatoes this is some of the tastiest sauce I think I have ever made. I sent the 1/2 pint left over down to #1 son tonight and he agreed it was very good.

I had to stop a couple times during the day to check out IR's creations.

I also baked 3 caramel cakes today along with the pasta making.

By the time the girls were picked up and it was chores time I was feeling pretty tired but the storm clouds were brewing pretty quickly so I needed to get chores done and then cut okra from the garden before the rain gets here.

While hubbie did some weed eating I sat in the covered patio and broke some of the left over green beans that we had picked last Saturday for us to eat tomorrow and watched the storm pass to the east of our area.

The weather forecast is for us to have more rain overnight so we will see. We actually need a little rain since we haven't had any since last week with the upper 80's temps we've had this week.

After we came inside I iced the caramel cakes and then heard the rain start and we got a slow steady rain for about 30 minutes which was just what we needed, don't know what the rest of the night will bring .

Thankful for the blessings of this day and for a faithful loving Heavenly Father.

God Bless and Good Night

ERRAND AND PLAYDAY WEDNESDAY

 Got woke early early this morning when IR got hold of her mama's phone and gave me a call at 6:30 am. Hubbie or I couldn't get back to sleep so he got up but I stayed in bed and rested until all the kids got here. I got up and went out to get chores done then came inside and breakfast with g-son and the girls. We are heading to the dump /recycle center today since RL doesn't come here on Thursdays anymore. I have an egg customer to meet at market and got info where I might be able to find some canning jar lids so we dropped g-son off at his house and took the 3 girls on our routine errand run. We met the customer at market and I checked to see if there was any business to do there then we stopped at 2 different stores to search for the lids but neither had any so we went to the dump and then  stopped at McDonalds drive thru for the kids some lunch. We dropped g-son's off to him at his house and then came home to feed the girls.   After they ate they all 3 played the afternoon away.

I made a cake delivery and RL and IR rode with me at 4:00 and then we finished out the day sitting in the covered patio having ice cream cones.                                                                                                    After the girls left hubbie and I went out to get chores done early before a storm came in . We could already hear thunder as the storm moved toward us. Thankfully it passed to the west of us and we only got a sprinkle of rain from it. It surely sounded like a bad storm.                                                                 I paid weekly bills tonight then got an early bedtime.                                                                                  Thankful for the blessings of this day.                                                                                                           God Bless and Good Night

CANNING PASTA SAUCE, BAKING CAKES AND GARDEN UPDATES

 Up to get this busy day started by greeting only IR and CA this morning. RL is with her other g-ma today. At least there is no fog this morning to burr out this  sunrise.

I got chores done and then after helping hubbie get IR and CA settled down to play and watch a movie on TV I went to the kitchen to get some baking done.   After I finished baking hubbie helped me carry the cakes into our bedroom to get them out of the way so I could transform the kitchen from a bakery to a cannery.                                                                                                                                                              We all had lunch then I started turning some of these tomatoes in pasta sauce. With all the rains we have had lately these tomatoes have very little shelf life so I will be trying to get as many as possible canned before they rot from all the water they have absorbed.                                                                                   
I weighed out 12 pounds for one recipe of my pasta sauce and then after putting out more tomatoes that hubbie had brought in early this morning you couldn't tell I had used any !!

I added a couple bell peppers and a couple onions with the spice mixture and this turned out so good.

It made 6 quarts and 1 pint of sauce. 

There are no jar lids in any of the stores in our area and I don't think I will have enough lids to do all the canning of the tomatoes I would like to do unless I happen to find some lids somewhere. Thankfully I ordered several dozen in the spring before everyone started canning. I guess the lid makers are like the seed supply places they weren't expecting the demand to go up as much as it has with a lot more people growing their own food and preserving it.                                                                                                    I will make another run of pasta sauce on Thursday probably.                                                                     When I finished canning IR had something special to show me. This reminds me so much of g-son when he was her age , he would always build things and come get me to take pictures. He once built a tower that looked a lot like the one IR built today. She was very proud of her creation.                             

These two sisters love each other so much.                                                                                                   

After daughter picked the girls up hubbie and I went up to work in the garden. I don't think I took an August garden pic so this is the update on the waning summer garden and the start of our fall garden.

Yellow squash are still bearing first in the left of this pic and the cantelopes in the same row look like we are going to have a few cantelopes for the first time this year. The freshly tilled rows are new fall plantings of Kale and Collard greens, my delicious purple beans are still bearing on the trellis at the end of the empty row next to the tomatoes and all the rows of tomatoes are all starting to get ripe now.

After the tomatoes are a couple rows of pitiful looking pepper plants, the bell pepper plants haven't even bloomed and we have gotten a small amount of hot peppers but far from what we should have gotten. Next are the 2 rows of half runner green beans that have been so prolific this year and are still giving us fresh beans each week for Sunday lunches, next is a row of okra that is just starting to bear and then the row of spent cucumber vines that have struggled this year and ending this pic on the right side is the potato patch. The only thing after the potatoes in the last pic is the 10 cabbage plants hubbie went and picked up from our generous neighbor Scott yesterday.

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I planted the cattle feed bunk at the end of the garden with fall root vegetables this evening. I planted beets, radishes, turnips and kohlrabi in it.                                                                                                     After that we picked blueberries, this has been a really weird year and I can't believe we are still picking blueberries when the grapes are starting to get ripe.

And as I walked into the house for the evening I noticed this big blossom on this vine below the lower hen lot. I have no idea what this volunteer vine is but it is covered with blooms.

We came inside and I spent the evening back in the kitchen icing cakes tonight. I was so tired I went straight to bed so I am writing this post and back dating it.                                                                          I am so very grateful for the bounty of our garden this year especially with the forecast of really harder times to come this fall and winter.                                                                                                                 Thankful for the health and knowledge that God has blessed me with to be able to work like I did today.                                                                                                                                                              God Bless and Good Night

BUSY MONDAY

 Woke to RL and IR crawling in bed with me to get this week started. After we snuggled for a little while we all got up and got our day started.                                                                                                   Once again the morning was really foggy as daughter brought IR and CA in so she could go home and get her virtual teacher meetings started.                                                                                                                  

I got chores done and then came inside and had breakfast with all the girls and g-son who was here trying to get in the grove when he has to start getting up earlier next week.

 I got a load of laundry started and then while that washed we ran out to Walmart to pick up our curbside order and then picked up lunch from McDonalds for all the kids.

G-son went home to play games on his computer after lunch. I dried the first load of laundry and washed another before I headed to Aldi to pick up my curbside order there.

I came home , we unloaded the groceries and then I emptied the dryer and put the second load in the dryer but turn it on yet. We had to make one more trip today to pick up chicken feed from Fletcher feed.

We thought CA would nap on the ride over there but she didn't with the older girls talking and singing all the way there and back.

By the time we got home she was starting to get ill so after I started the dryer with the second load in and put the last load in the washer we all went outside to eat popsicles and swing.  CA was shortly sound asleep in hubbie's lap.

Daughter and d-in-love came in from work and helped the big girls swing while CA slept. When she woke up they all left.

I got the clothes out of the dryer and put the last load of the day in to dry.

Hubbie and I watched the early news then we headed outside to plant some Fall greens in the garden. I planted a row each of Kale and Collards and hubbie set out 10 cabbage plants that a neighbor gave us.

I am going to plant other things in my raised beds later this week.

We did chores and then sat out in the covered patio and relaxed for the evening.

Thankful for all the blessings of this day.

God Bless and Good Night

HECTIC SUNDAY

 Another foggy morning to wake up to today and a little shake that I didn't feel but it woke hubbie up when the worst earthquake since 1916 rumbled through a little after 8am this morning. 

I knew this was going to be a hectic Sunday morning before my feet even hit the floor. Jason, one of son-in-love's brothers was coming by here on his way home from Tennessee to pick up six guineas I have been holding for him.  I also got a call from a couple last night wanting the younger guineas and the surrogate Silkie hen that is their mom. 

And even though I certainly tried to space their pick-ups they both arrived within minutes of one another.   While catching the 6 bigger guineas for Jason 1 got away and luckily flew into the Silkie lot so he was an easy catch. We were not so lucky with the younger guineas as one of the keets flew  out of the brooder box and ran under the feed shed. Daughter and I tried to scare it out from under there before the buyers had to leave to no avail. The couple had driven from an hour away to pick these up and were on a tight schedule so they had to leave with 8 keets and the hen instead of 9.                                             During all this hubbie and I were trying to cook lunch for the family. We had roast beef in the crock pot overnight and added new potatoes , corn on the cob, fresh green beans, cucumber salad and a blueberry cobbler plus biscuits and sweet tea.   #1 son's family, daughter's family and Aa.s family made it to lunch today.                                                                                                                                                                  Everyone had a nice meal interupted a couple times with sightings of the baby guinea and the kids got to swing all together.

After everyone left hubbie went up to work on the garden and I went up to clean out the brooder boxes I emptied this morning.                                                                                                                                    Thankfully hubbie and I were able to coral the baby guinea and introduce him or her to her new mama and new sister or brother since this red hen had only hatched one of her eggs she welcomed another baby with open wings.   

 We worked outside all afternoon until daughter picked me up to ride over to sis-in-law Sandys to take her another meal. We had a nice visit then daughter dropped me off at home to get chores done. CA loves to play with Kaylee each time we go over there.

               I came in and spread out all the tomatoes we gathered on Saturday out here in the sunroom to continue to ripen.  I will be canning pasta sauce later this week.   

Hubbie and I finished the day sitting out in the covered patio.

Thankful for the many blessings of this day.

God Bless and Good Night

                                                                                       

GARDENING CATCH UP DAY

If the old saying about the number of foggy mornings in August determining the number the snows this winter we all better start stocking up for a very snowy winter,

Daughter and the girls came by after I finished chores and picked up hubbie and I to check out the local farmers markets in town. We went to the first one and there were very few vendors there so we headed to the new depot street market and we found several things we were looking for there including peaches and some early apples.   Big sister IR loves to take care of CA.                                                                             

We headed home and after hubbie and I had lunch hubbie got on the lawn mower and I worked inside getting the new (to us) rug put down in the living room and I love the size of it. A lady down in Lake Lure that d-in-love's mom knew was giving away her old living room set including this rug. So d-in-love got her old living room set, daughter got an extra sofa bed she had and I got this large rug.             

 Hubbie finished mowing and we both headed up to the garden to catch up. I gathered my Dragon Tongue beans and put them on the screen in the sunroom to dry. Sadly the recent continuous rains ruined more than half of the beans .                                                                                                               

Daughter and son-in-love returned hubbie's truck that they had borrowed to pick up some new twin sixed mattresses and the girls wanted to help gather tomatoes.                                                                     

After they left hubbie and I picked a basket of half runner beans for tomorrow's lunch along with yellow squash , cucumbers and okra to go along with all the tomatoes.                                                                                                                        

We came inside and some boiled new potatoes, fried squash and roasted okra for our supper. Love having fresh vegetables right outside our backdoor.                                                                                      We got chores done then hubbie went down to unload a hot tub at #1 son's house that Deb gave them.     Son-in-love also came over to lend a helping hand with getting it set up on the deck.                                Hubbie and I relaxed for the evening. Thankfully the bad storms passed us by today with only a light sprinkle of rain. We could hear the close by thunder and the dark clouds looked really bad so glad we missed this one for a change.                                                                                                                         Thankful that #2 son and Tif had a safe short trip to Mississippi for the last couple days and made it back home safely today.                                                                                                                                 

Thankful for all the blessings of this day.                                                                                                      God Bless and Good Night