Does This Seem Short to You?

Good morning yet again! So far, the day has had its ups and downs. When the girls and I went for our morning walk we saw a beautiful blue moon hanging just above the horizon. I almost went back in the house to get my camera but was still half asleep so I didn’t. Our walk was nice. There weren’t any poops or puddles in the house. I got stuff ready to go milk and when I went out, I saw that the kids were in with the does. Not a good thing. They are seven weeks and two days old. By now, my children ought to know that they do NOT spend the night with their mother. The reason I want goats is to have milk. If the kids are with their mother all night, I don’t get much, if any, milk from her.

Yesterday Seth and Amena got their new glasses. I’m going to get pictures of them wearing them but they won’t show up today since I haven’t yet. Amena doesn’t really have to wear hers all the time but Seth should. So far, I haven’t convinced him of that yet. After glasses, we got four more boxes of peaches. Seth and Cedric went prepared with some money and got a pint of strawberries. They were nice and shared some. While we were at Walmart, we got 20 pounds of sugar (we sure go through lots during canning season) and two boxes of regular lids and rings. I should have gotten a dozen or two quart jars because I am not going to have enough for applesauce if I do any. As it is, I’m not going to have enough to finish peaches. There are some downstairs but they’re the really old ones that take rubber rings and have wire bails to hold the lids down. I would use them IF I had the rubbers and IF I knew the wire was still in good enough shape to actually seal the jars. Some of them are but I know they all aren’t and I don’t want to go through the work of canning to have some of it go bad.

Once we got home, we got the kitchen ready for the beginning of our canning extravaganza. The dishes hadn’t been finished from the day before so I did those first. Then the counter needed to be cleared off. Again. Then I went on a jar searching foray. There were two boxes in the barn—one of jars I can use, one of the old-fashioned jars. There was one box in the basement I can use. There are still some pint and smaller but at this point there are mostly the old-fashioned type. I set Amena to washing jars while I finished getting everything ready. Then it was time. We did one box and they were a pain. I think the water I was blanching them in wasn’t hot enough or something because at least half of them did not want to peel. Amena helped a lot with the peeling. Cedric started but only under duress so it didn’t last long. He wasn’t really helping much so I wasn’t entirely annoyed that he went to play.

We have three boxes to do today. And enough tomatoes to do another batch of spaghetti sauce. Next year I’d like to do some salsa as well but this year I’m happy to continue buying it. There are dishes from yesterday that need to be done. Once they are out of the way, we can get going. I do need to go out and find more jars though. If I do any more pickles this year, I will need more. If I do anything more this year, I will need more. I think I should just get more.

Other than that, I know Paul has a busy day scheduled full of cement work and sanding the floor in the back room. Laura ought to be kept busy. Joanna has work from 9:30 to 2:15.  She wants to go to a barbeque at a friend’s house after work. Should just be a busy day and I think I’m tired already.

Have a great day!