Been a bit busy....

We woke up to thick fog Monday morning.  School was delayed 2 hours, then eventually closed.  As I took the dogs out, it started to rain.  Urghhh.  Rain.  Like we need anymore. 

 Tuesday the fog was bad again - another school delay.
 

However, some lovely green peppers were stuffed and

Poof! Tomatoes and Pears have disappeared....Tomatoes re-appeared!

This is how we began our pear wine - pears were seeded and stems removed.  We purchased a wine sieve bag to place in our 6.5 fermenter.  We had just enough pears to fill this half-way, which was about 23-24 lbs. of pears.  We added one cup of sugar for every pound of pears (approximately), then poured boiling water over, with enough water above pears.

Get'r Done List

The list is getting knocked off by just a teeny, tiny bit.  Hubby can only rest so many hours sitting or napping, so I put him in a chair......

 ..gave him a brush and paint....goodbye black, hello red.  His stent was installed through his right wrist, and is healing nicely.  We finally got his first doctor's appointment made for next week.

While he painted the door, we had a good conversation, while I prepared tomatoes for the freezer.  Today we started the pear wine.  I'll have more on that tomorrow.

Random Tidbits

I had 4 mashed potato servings in the freezer from last year.  They had a small amount of ice on each one, but guess what....

 ...we baked them up the other night, and they tasted absolutely fine.  No freezer burn taste.  Just delicious-ness.  They are not yellow, that was the lighting that evening, as it was dark outside and raining.  Oh, the rain fell, and fell and fell and is still falling today.

Homemade Fruit Picker

You-Tube has it's advantages.  Hubby and I watched a few videos, went out to the barn and got a broken hoe.....

 ...cut out the bottom of a plastic bottle, and stapled the bottle to the handle.  Wa-la.  Not real fancy, but functional and free.  It works too.  Homemade fruit picker is now off the "to buy-it" list.

I woke up early and told Hubby, "I can't can a thing today - no onions."  Which he quickly said at the crack of pre-sun-up, "I can run to the store real quick and get some for you." Ha ha ha!  Oh that burst of energy he has now.  And no, we are still not canning, and no quick trip to the store.  We'll get them later, maybe from the farmstand, but not before 6am, ha ha!

Stay-cation

Hubby and I had a good laugh at the end of yesterday.  As we were driving home, I said, "I feel like I'm playing hookie from my tomatoes."  I really was, and it felt so good.

We went to the movies to get out of the house, watching "The Magnificent Seven."  Don't worry,

The Recovery

While Hubby took a nap, I took a little walk out to the tomatoes and fall green beans to check on them.  And the remaining cauliflower (which looks great due to some recent rain).

I ended up coming in for a basket, and picked 21# of tomatoes.  That brings the grand tally to 365.39# this season.  

However, in all that picking, the wind was wicked, and I lost one of my favorite earrings that I don't wear that often (it was a special occasion to wear them for Hubby's ride home).  It was a wake up call to me.  I think I lost it in the tomatoes somewhere.

I should not have gone to the garden.