Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: July 29 ~ August 4, 2018

[ReneeT]

Good Morning, All! It's a beautiful day here; temps in the 60's and forecast to go into the low 70's, maybe a little rain the forecast - but I'd consider that a blessing for the gardens.

It's been a busy since last week around here with the grandkids underfoot, but we have been having a lot of fun; and I've even been getting a few things done. I was able to spend a few hours weeding in the gardens yesterday with only a 'few' breaks to fix boo-boos: eye wash when bark got in an eye while tree climbing, a couple of falls off the rope swing, and, oh by the way....never challenge your brother to a stick fight when he's carrying a hoe; needless to say, little brother won that round The boys grazed in the garden a bit - cherry tomatoes and raw broccoli were on their menu; then they asked if the sweet corn was ready... I was able to find a few ears for them to have with their lunch; and it looks like I'd better start clearing the kitchen island for putting up sweet corn next week.

I will likely need to pick tomatoes today - won't have many to process as we've been giving some away and eating quite a few fresh the past couple of days, but I may have enough to run a canner load of pints.

Other plans for the day include laundry, laundry, and more laundry, doing some more weeding in the gardens if the rain holds off or, if it does rain, starting to clear one shelf in the large main floor current use pantry - the shelf that's just above my eye level so if things are more than a few inches back from the front of the shelf, I don't see them and they don't get used. Hubby can put all of his lunch stuff on that shelf, plus I will put some food processing items there as well - lemon juice, pectin, etc... I also want to move any type of food from the top wide shelf and restrict it's use and the half shelf above it to canning/freezing/food prep tools. I won't get it all done today, but I can at least get it started.

The boys want to go swimming at the indoor pool this afternoon, so we will head there at 1pm, leaving about 2pm to go grab a quick snack before traveling to a different community to go on a tour of a dam - I'm just hoping that they won't take us on a catwalk over the water because I soooo do not like heights (little grandson would be thrilled ) (note to self: find a stout rope to tie around little grandson's waist...)

Well, the short people are stirring; time to go fix a couple of breakfasts, start another load of laundry, and see what else I can do inside until they are ready to go outside for the day.

Take care all; wishing you an absolutely fabulous week!

 

[moldy]

Yesterday was lovely, until about 4:30. DH picked up an extra job with a double bonus and had left. About 15 minutes later, I went to let out the dog and he would not go out. Absolutely, nothing was gonna make him go outside. It's gorgeous out - I thought OK, and sat back down in my nightshirt (yes, I know - 4:30 and I was still in my bed clothes - it was that kind of day). I start hearing the wind howl and look out the OTHER side of the house to see sand and dirt flying past horizontally. Might be a good time to hunker down in the hallway (we dont have a basement).

10 minutes later, storm is gone and all is well. Then I got a text from work asking everyone to come in. Seems the town got hit by a tornado and MASSIVE hail. I saw a car with all its windows broken and there were hailstones still the size of baseballs (this was 45 minutes after the storm came thru). 200+ power poles broken, houses destroyed by tornados and hail. We lost a tree and an electric fence line. We were blessed.

I spent about 2 hours back at the hospital, then came back home.

Today, the neighbor boys helped me get more feed out of the bulk feeder (they get inside and bucket it out to me). I asked how they wanted paid - $$ or cookies. They opted for pork chops for their dad to grill tonight. Gotta love kids.

 

[ReneeT]

Prayers for the safety and recovery of the residents and the town, Moldy; how frightening that had to be! The drive in to work must have been harrowing - so many things to watch out for like power lines down, debris in the road, etc... PS - I like your neighbor boys - wouldn't mind being paid in pork chops myself

1.2" of rain on Sunday, followed by 3" more yesterday means no garden work for a while - we were splashing in puddles in the yard yesterday evening while playing kickball and I sunk up past my ankle when I stepped into the edge of the garden to retrieve the ball! It was drizzling a bit when I went out on the porch to fill the hummingbird feeders this morning, and it looks like there is a teensy bit of water in the bottom of the rain gauge this morning, but not enough to reach any of the measurement lines - as yet; there is more rain in the forecast for today and the sky is grey with a lot of heavy clouds.

I tell you, I'm beginning to wonder if there was a slight polar shift and someone forgot to tell me (just joking!) - this has been a really weird weather year - got hot and stayed hot early on - we had July/August weather in May/June; and now we're having Indian Summer weather like usually hits around Columbus Day in October - rain and temps down into the high 50's/low 60's at night and low 70's during the day. My grapes are ripening, and we are seeing woolly bear caterpillars for Pete's sake! Of course, the temps will be back up in the high 80's by the end of the week - if you don't like the weather, wait 10 minutes...

Plans for today include finishing bagging up the boys' school supplies and the duplicate sets - Dollar Tree has these fabulous giant zipper close bags with handles that I'll use since there is no way all this stuff will fit in their bookbags. I'll have to go by daughter's to pick up the Kleenex, but otherwise I think I'm done (uh-huh, sure, whatever you say there Granny). The boys want to go by home, so I'll drop off some laundry detergent I picked up for daughter this week and snag the Kleenex at the same time. School registration starts tomorrow; $45 per kid per the secretary at the unit office, but they weren't really sure that was correct. I thought the info would have been on the unit website - but I thought wrong... :rolleye: I also plan to snag the neighbor teen and take the boys up to the pool again; not sure if granddaughter will want to go along or not, but this is supposedly their week off practice for all sports (something about the number of hours they can be required to do so) so she might, I would be getting her back home in time to go to the Farmer's Market if so; don't know that I'd make the drive over otherwise.

Well, I supposed I'd better get up and get moving on some of the housework I've been avoiding this morning - like mopping the floors and wiping down all the doorknobs in the house... (sticky - how does everything get so sticky??!! )

Take care all; have a great day!

 

[Siskiyoumom]

Well it has been a good long while since I checked in here!

Nice to read your posts. Hope all goes well on the recovery phase of the storm and tornado Moldy.

We are staying on the coast due to the pea soup smoke from the wild land fires in our region. Dear daughter harvested a bunch of cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, peaches and elderberries for me.

It has been literally twenty years since I have canned or made jam. I have a couple of small batch canning books my husband bought and he has been the primary Gardner, harvester and canner while I did the out of home income provider.

He is having a hard time with me being in the kitchen again. I move stuff or buy stuff he sees no reason for. But we are working on being gracious about it all.

I brought with me my water canner and tools, jars and such.

I made peach jam last Saturday using really, really old pectin. It ended up being peach soup or syrup but hubby loved it. I saw on a website it can take up to a week to set. So we will see how that goes. Then today I started to make more peach jam. Decided I needed a refresher on sterilization of jars, lids and rings. I pulled out my jars from the storage area of the garage and dagnumit, a rat had chewed up the boxes and pooed and peed over them.

So it was a chore cleaning out the rat nest, no sign of a dead rat, wash and sanitize the jars and lids and rings.

I rinsed the chunky stuff off, rinsing and bleaching everything in the dish pan, washing it again in hot water and bleach enhanced rinse and then hot rinse. Whew. Got to peeling the peaches and had a lot of loss due to overripe peaches. Decided to out some plums in it, used a new recipe and added allspice, cinnamon, lemon juice, and orange zest, really old crystallized ginger, and grated ginger root. Ended up with two and three-fourths pints. Love the sound of the pop of the lids! I had a lot of “duh” moments today. Hubby loves the flavored jam.

Due to the lack of peaches I guesstimated and cut every thing down by one fourth, and used pectin with a best use date by 2016. So hopefully it sets up well.

I have also been sorting and cleaning out my teaching and art supplies since I have retired. Making lists of to do, trying to get a much less cluttered home in order to sell it.

I am enjoying this time of clearing out things and determining if I really will use it.

Hubby went fishing and came home with a salmon and rock cod. Personally fish is not my favorite food, and I will cook mine longer than his because he likes it more moist, I prefer dry and well cooked. So I smile, say thank you and cook mine longer.

Feels weird to not be gearing up for a new school year. And to not buy thirty boxes of crayons, markers, folders etc. for my class at the back to school sales.

 

[ReneeT]

Your last line made me shake my head and laugh a little, Siskiyoumom - though in reality it probably shouldn't have. I have cousins who teach, and every one of them buys student supplies out of their own pockets - that's why I pick up an extra set of supplies to send with each grandkid. Our PTO was able to give each teacher a $75 check last week to help purchase classroom supplies, but I know it won't go far. Hubby came home from work this evening and saw my bed covered with school supplies that I was getting ready to re-bag (WM's school supply lists weren't exactly the same as the ones on the school website) and asked what the heck all that was - I told him 'Four sets of school supplies.' (Granddaughter already has her set at home.) He told me that he didn't remember us having 'all that crap' when we went to school; I told him I wasn't sure glue sticks, highlighters, dry erase markers, post-it notes, ziploc bags, automotive paper towels, Clorox wipes, hand sanitizer, and baby wipes had even been invented yet when we were in school. He shook his head and said "How did we ever survive?"

I've also been picking up snacks for the classroom the past few weeks when I find things on sale/with coupons; I was able to get Nutrigrain bars for $1.10/box - I know first grade has snack in the afternoon; not sure if second grade does or not. If they don't use the stuff I send for classroom snacks, they can use it for their 'Blessings in a Backpack' program that sends food home on the weekends for kids who are nutritionally at risk.

Older grandson's eyeglasses came in today so we had to skip the pool and go pick them up this afternoon; since I was in town, I took the opportunity to drop off the check for our yearly propane contract, finish up the school supply shopping I already had planned (except for one yellow folder - there were no yellow plastic folders with pockets and prongs in town), take 5 kids out for sno-cones, and go to the farmer's market. One heck of a rain storm blew up just a we drove up to the 4-H Fairgrounds where the market is held, but I spent enough time at the fairgrounds both when I was in 4-H and again as a leader when my daughter was in 4-H that I knew how to sneak in the back way, park under cover and have a covered walkway to where the vendors set up - I still got damp from the rain blowing in sideways, but not as much as I could have! I did get my cucumbers I'd been wanting more of, plus we had green beans with new potatoes that I bought at the market for supper this evening, sliced summer apples ditto with peanut butter for bedtime snack, and I have cherry danish and cinnamon rolls from the bakery at the market for breakfast tomorrow - all in all a good trip!

These boys must really be wearing me out- not even 10 pm and I'm dozing off! Reckon I might as well give in and crawl in bed; morning comes around pretty early for the youngest boy - he's bright eyed, bushy tailed, and talking a mile a minute from the minute he gets up; luckily his Mama has him trained to not expect answers before the first cup of coffee has brewed

Take care all; stay safe!

 

[Journey]

Re: school supplies - I've been buying for the grandsons for the past three years and never in my life have I seen such lists! ReneeT, talking about three prong plastic folders with pockets in specific colors .....their mom texted last night asking if I'd gotten them yet, evidently parents all over the county were in a panic because the yellow one was no where to be found. To which I replied yep got two of each requested color! Mom had already asked if I would please buy two of each color because the kids needed a second one halfway through the year. With sales and coupons I can get the supplies at a fraction of the cost of what she had been paying and I'm glad to help anyone save money.

All I ever remember needing were pencils, crayons and Blue Horse tablets.

 

[moldy]

Spent a lovely day yesterday with DH visiting friends at their 'new' place. Lots of work to do,but 40 acres with a nice homestead in the foothills WAAYYY off the beaten path. On the way home, picked up a few things at the discount grocery. DH spent the last couple days installing security cameras and cutting wine bottles for me to use in my herbal practice.

 

[ReneeT]

Whew, what a week! Love my boys but wouldn't mind dialing back that energy burst they get right before bed time - the front of our house is one big room, so 40' length minus a couple of feet for the couch that's against the east wall. Last night's chaos was putting their bean bags about a third of the way down the room, then running from one end before jumping on them to see how far they could slide - usually almost to the opposite wall. I'd have thrown 'em out in the yard to run amok if the 'skeeters hadn't been so bad Just wish I could bottle up that energy... 'cause I could sure use some! Older one just informed me he doesn't want his fingernails clipped this evening - he wants to grow them into claws so he can climb trees better - where they come up with these things...

I managed to get most of the yard mowed on Thursday before rain/hail shut me down; the 1/2" of rain we received has kept me out of the garden other than leaning way over from the edge of the clothesline area to snag a few ears of sweet corn. Note to self - plant the tomatoes in a row next to the edge of the garden, put down cardboard and THEN mulch so you won't sink past your ankles in mud The rain has been a blessing, though, so I won't complain. I didn't get much sleep Thursday night due to storm pods that kept coming through, so I was pretty low energy on Friday - I had shopping to do but the teen across the field was otherwise occupied elsewhere, and I didn't think I had enough energy to keep up with the boys and deal with other humans at the same time I was trying to check things off my list, so we just stayed home.

Lots of normal stuff on the list for today - folding/hanging/putting away clean laundry, keeping up with the dishes, sweeping and spot mopping, etc... Then I need to go clear stuff out of the van and reorganize it a bit. The boys and I are going to run up to the orchard late morning to get a bushel of peaches, then we'll swing back through their town to go to an 'Aqua Fest' at the beach - I hope not to stay too long there.... We'll probably hit a couple of stores while we're in town, just to grab a few basics, plus some loss-leader/sale items that will be off sale after tonight; Uncle called to see if I had any Boost again for one of his Veteran buddies; I have coupons and there is a deal on at CVS, it's a so-so deal but still cheaper than the store version. Depending on what time Hubby gets home from his IDPA match and how much energy I have left, I may try to finish up the mowing before the 'skeeters come out tonight.

Off to write that grocery list... take care all; have a safe and happy weekend!

 

[nomifyle]

Its been awhile since I dropped by. Decluttering and storage have been the bain of my life for awhile. I finally, finally got the storage building I've been wanting for years. Its going to make my money tighter for awhile, but I do believe it will be worth it. It's 12x24, and that makes for a lot of storage. DH has added electric, ceiling fan, lights, outlets and shelves for three levels of storage totes.

The nice pantry that DH built for me a couple of years has problems in that a large part of my canned foods are rusty. I've opened several cans and the food is fine for now, but am wanting to dehydrate a lot of that food. I'm in the process of removing the canned food and will use those shelves for other non food storage.

Judy