Happy Birthday Logan

Too much going on this weekend, but I stopped long enough to go to my nephew's birthday party. He was 5 on Wednesday.

Now I have to figure out what I am going to do with all these tomatoes. I think I will make some slasa and maybe juice the rest.

WE JUST THOUGHT WE WERE DONE...

We just could not let all the apples go to waste, so I headed back down south this morning and we got so much accomplished, even with me staying on the bar stool most of the day. It is amazing what you can get done by slidding around on a bar stool. I fixed four apple pies for my parents to freeze, fixed one to bring back to DH and we managed to can the following:

18 jars of apple butter
26 jars of apple jelly
11 jars of peach butter
9 jars of peach jelly

The peach butter turned out to be heavenly. Mom picked up the peaches somewhere in town yesterday and said she wanted peach jelly and butter, so that is what she got. Let's just hope that no one offers to give away anymore apples cause we just don't know how to say no. Mom and I sent Dad to the den to relax in his recliner since he nor Mom got much sleep for some reason last night. I am sure as soon as I pulled out of the driveway they were both kicked back relaxing.

AWTM's ears had to have been buring today. Daddy was talking about you again throughout the day. He is heading your way the first part of next month, but I have warned him that you might not be home.

P.S. DH just left for work and he stopped as he was going out the door and said to me "You need to remember who's pie that is in the kitchen and don't be burning the rubber off that knee thingie going back and forth to the kitchen to eat it." He must have been reading my mind, but now I have to prove a point. LOL...He did let me have one peice as soon as I got home with it, so I guess one peice will just have to do me...

CANNING IS ALL DONE FOR THIS SUMMER

I said after I had to have surgery on my ankle that I was through with canning for this summer, but I could not turn down two bushels of fresh apples. I called my Dad at the beginning of the week and ask if he was interested in making some apple jelly, and of course he says yes, so we started planning for today.

I headed down south this morning at 0630, and we were busy bees until 4:00 pm this afternoon.

We ended up canning the following:

27 jars of apple jelly (1/2 with cinnamon and the other 1/2 just plain apple jelly)
10 jars of blueberry jelly
18 jars of apple butter (which turned out to be wonderful)
19 jars of tomato juice

and I made two homemade apple pies with Tammi's wonderful pie crust recipe, which is the absolute best I must say. My Dad thought I had lost my mind when I told him that we were not going to touch the pie crust with our hands. When I was done with the pie crust and the pies came out of the over and he had a piece of the apple pie, he said he had to have the recipe. So Tammi it's a winner with my Dad, and he says thanks. The four of us scarfed down one whole pie. Apple pie is my one of my Dad's favorites.

It's been a long day, and my ankle feels like it is going to explode. Don't think that I have been up on it that much in one day since the surgery.

I carried my camera to get pictures of everything we canned, but we were so busy that I did not even think about taking pictures until it was time for me to head back so that I could get home before DH had to leave for work since he has to help me get inside with my crutches and knee thingie.

If I could only soak my whole body in a island coconut bubble bath right about know, I would be set for the night, but I guess that will have to wait until the cast comes off. So I am going to settle for a quick bowl of cereal and call it a night.

I'M IN BIG TROUBLE.

DH caught me picking his first tomato from the garden. I just could not resist. We will be having this season's first fried squash and tomato sandwich today for sure. It's a shame we ate so many home made rolls for breakfast or we would be eating a sandwich now.

I was not quite ready for the canning to begin, but looks like I don't have much say so in that matter. I have already put up enough squash to last until next year just from 5 plants. DH won't tell me what he did different this year to make the squash produce so much, but I think I might have it figured out.

SO SO HOT...

It's only June and it is way too hot to go outside. I was not out there but maybe five minutes and that was about four minutes too long, but did manage to take a few pictures of the garden that is going to be more than I can handle with all the tomatoes that they are producing already.

Henry is making sure that the cats and ducks don't get in the garden.


This plant has so many tomatoes on it. DH has had to add more rebar to help hold them up this year. This is the tomato that he has named after my Dad (The George Price Tomato). We are working on getting it officially named through the County Extension Office.


I will be busy for the next several weeks at work, then the kids will be in from Belgium for a long visit and if things go as they hope, they might be coming home for good. We are keeping our fingers crossed that everything goes through. I sure miss my shopping partner in crime.

GARDEN TIME IS HERE

The first squash will be picked in the morning and before the day is out it will be eaten. Nothing like fresh veggies. The tomatoes will be ready just in time for the Tomato Festival next month.

CANNING SEASON IS FINALLY OVER!!!

Army Wife asks for some pictures of what I have canned this summer. I am so glad that this canning season is over for me. It has gotten the best of me this summer.

SQUASH, TOMATO JUICE AND STRING BEANS

SQUASH RELISH, PEAR RELISH AND PEAR HONEY

BLUEBERRY JELLY, APPLE CINNAMON JELLY AND APPLE JELLY

SALSA

FIGS...

I don't want to see another vegetable or fruit until next year sometime.

HAPPY 4TH...

I am busy busy busy today canning/juicing tomatoes and making apple jelly, and don't have but a few seconds to blog today, so I thought that I would share a story that I dearly enjoy reading each and every year on this wonderful day.


The following words were spoken by the late Red Skelton on his television program as he related the story of his teacher, Mr. Laswell, who felt his students had come to think of the Pledge of Allegiance as merely something to recite in class each day.

I

me, an individual, a committee of one.

PLEDGE

dedicate all of my worldly goods to give without self pity.

ALLEGIANCE

my love and my devotion.

TO THE FLAG OF THE

our standard, Old Glory, a symbol of freedom. Wherever
she waves, there's respect because your loyalty has given
her a dignity that shouts freedom is everybody's job!

UNITED

that means that we have all come together.

STATES OF AMERICA

individual communities that have united into 48 great states.
Forty-eight individual communities with pride and dignity and
purpose; all divided with imaginary boundaries, yet united to
a common purpose, and that's love for country.

AND TO THE REPUBLIC

a state in which sovereign power is
invested in representatives chosen by the
people to govern. And government is the people
and it's from the people to the leaders, not from
the leaders to the people.

FOR WHICH IT STANDS, ONE NATION
one nation, meaning "so
blessed by God"

INDIVISIBLE

incapable of being divided.

WITH LIBERTY

which is freedom -- the right of power to live one's
own life without threats, fear or some sort of
retaliation.

AND JUSTICE

the principle or quality of dealing fairly with others.

FOR ALL

which means, boys and girls, it's as much your
country as it is mine.

Since I was a small boy, two states have been added to our country
and two words have been added to the pledge of Allegiance...

UNDER GOD

Wouldn't it be a pity if someone said that is a prayer
and that would be eliminated from schools too?

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

HOPE EVERYONE HAS A GREAT 4TH...

GARDEN TIME...AND MICHAEL UPDATE

MICHAEL UPDATE!!!!!

He has been sick for the last couple of days, and when I talked with him earlier tonight, he was loosing his voice and his throat was soar he said.

He has officially moved into his own apartment, (maybe it is just homesick...LOL) which is just 15 minutes from our house.

GARDEN!!!

It's that time of the year again, and the tomatoes are looking great. We have already picked one that weighed 2.5 pounds. Not sure that we will have one large enough this year to enter in the CRYSTAL SPRINGS TOMATO FESTIVAL at the end of this month.

We have had squash coming in for about three weeks now, and I have put up more squash than we will ever be able to eat, and they are still producing

The Squeezo Juicer and jars are ready to go, just waiting on the tomatoes to ripen. Our timing is off a little, was hoping to be able to do all my canning on the weekend, but from the looks of the tomatoes, it won't be this weekend.

ANIMALS!!!

These are our newest additions...We started out with six and ended up with three, two females and one male. The are suppose to be making their home at our large pond, but for some reason, they seem to want to stick around the goldfish pond instead. They are so tame, they hear the front door open, and they come running, wanting to be fed. We have been hand feeding since we got them as babbies. Thank goodness the dogs and cats don't bother them.

THE END...

Summer nights & weekends at the Lee's

If you are wondering how I spend my summer nights and weekends, then check this out Our Garden, or I should say "My Husband's Garden". I just do the canning and freezing.

I am only in my second week of putting up squash, which is producing daily, and I am already tired. This is just the beginning. Four squash plants, and they have to be picked almost everyday. The tomatoes have just started getting ripe this week. We will have enough to feed ten families.