Pickle Day

Well, it’s a lovely day here for a birthday. Hope Jeannette has a good one.
Yesterday morning it was pickle time. I went out and picked all the cucumbers that were large enough as well as a couple of zucchini (one rather large which was a surprise because I thought I was keeping up with them alright—I guess not) and tomatoes. We had lots of lemon cucumbers but I don’t use them for pickles—we do eat lots of cucumbers for supper when we have them growing in the garden.

That's Seth's hand to give you an idea of how big they are.

Everyone who was home helped with the exception of Joanna who was finishing up the bedroom painting project. Amena and Cedric brought jars up from the basement with only one casualty. Amena washed jars (I never thought I’d see the day when I couldn’t put my hand in the jars without killing myself but, alas, the day has arrived). The boys peeled garlic. Seth washed cucumbers and peppers. Cedric gathered a few jalapeños from the garden. We ended up with 10 quarts which isn’t as much as I thought we’d have although we’d have had more if some of them hadn’t been in the refrigerator for too long and gotten moldy. Anyway, it was fun. I really do like canning. I love to see the jars full of stuff that we did.

Amena washing the jars.

Seth and Joseph peeling garlic.

Cedric peeling more garlic.



Jars ready to go.

Cucumbers (and peppers) and garlic ready to go.



New canning pot (yay!) and brine heating up.



Dill. Yes, I cheated and bought it. Next year it will be from the garden.

Ready for the brine.

All done.

Milking this morning was milking. I am wondering if Princess has a bit of scar tissue grown over her right teat as it sprays all the time now and there is no scab. If this is the case, we will want to give her away and get a replacement. I probably lost half a cup of milk because there was a persistent spray out of the bucket. I caught some of it with my right hand when her left side was empty but still, I don’t like it; it’s wasteful and takes too long to milk her out.

Last night we had some excitement. I had gone to bed and was reading. I thought I was tired enough to fall asleep and Paul came up. Scooter started making noise so Paul went to see what the deal was with that and there didn’t appear to be anything. So he came back in the bedroom and noticed a flashing light coming in the window. He went to the window but didn’t see much so he got dressed and went outside. I was pretty awake and itchy so I went down to get an allergy pill and drink. There were flashing blue and white lights: police. Paul says there were four or five police cars. Since Hubbardston only would have had one on duty, only one was from Hubbardston. There was one State Police and he wasn’t sure about the rest but possibilities are Rutland, Templeton, Westminster. Paul overheard them talking and it appears that some guy tied his wife up and raped her and then took off in an unregistered truck. He was stopped at the end of our driveway. So far, there’s nothing online about it. Paul just looked in the local paper and found nothing and I did a quick search before coming here.

Wednesday Paul brought some rhododendrons home from work. The main investor in the company is cleaning up her yard and knows we’re interested in such things and she left them for him with promises of more (the ones she left are the ‘normal’ color [we’re not sure what the ‘normal’ color is] and the ones coming are supposed to be white). Having done pickles earlier when I would have normally done planting, I thought I would wait until this morning to plant them down on the hill near Daniel’s grave. It was so nice out yesterday after supper that I took one and a shovel and headed down. The boys were on the trampoline and noticed me going down so they tagged along. Cedric and Seth each went up and got the others (there were three pots with a total of six plants). We planted them to the north of Daniel’s grave and watered them well. Cedric helped create little holding walls of rocks and dirt so the water would stay around each one and not run down the hill. They don’t look like much but as long as we keep them watered, they ought to do well and should make some pretty flowers for us in the spring.

As promised, they don't look like much at the  moment.
However, they do promise to look like much in the spring.

Not much on the agenda for today. Paul and Laura will be leaving for work shortly. Joanna has work this afternoon and is planning on cleaning the bedroom this morning. That will be nice because I can take some finished pictures of her painting project. The goats still need to go out. Amena is waiting for Joanna to come down so they can do that. I need to call the doctor because Joanna’s ITP is acting up. It seems to be doing that fairly often as of late. I am thinking of maybe going to Gougen’s to play in the water. We’ll see how that goes.

Mom, how is the getting settled going? I kind of like that part of moving.

AD, I hope you (and David and Skyler) have safe travels and a wonderful visit. Tell David hi for me?

Grandma, I hope you have a wonderful visit.

Have a wonderful day!