Jelly Making

There's something about making jelly that intrigues me.  I first saw jelly made from wild raspberries when I was about 12.  I loved picking fresh raspberries, but when I found out that a cabin neighbor was raiding "my" patches for jelly, I was somewhat incensed.  Eventually, I learned to make the jam myself, and I have made it ever since.

Several years ago I learned to make gooseberry jelly.  I had never had gooseberries, but I decided to try jellying them.  WOW!  It is yummy.  So then I decided to try mixing raspberries and gooseberries.  From the gooseberries I was able to pick and juice, I made 17 jars of "graspberry" jelly.

When I got home from the cabin, we still had a number of peaches that I had purchased, along with some extra rasmpberries and some leftover gooseberry juice.  I wondered what peaches, raspberries, and gooseberries would taste like?  Well, there's nothing to do but try it.  Which I did.  Tasted amazing.  Now I am just trying to come up with a name - preachberry?  greachberry?  prooseberry?

This picture is not the sum total of the jars I made, but it is a nice sample.  Fun times!

The Aftermath

Well, the tree came down.  Can you see the chain saw near the stump, squished by the tree?  Ruh Roh!

Oh well, nothing a chocolate chip cookie can't fix.

Within an hour, Don had all of the logs cut up and put away.  Saturday night, our nephew, Joey, Don and I picked up all of the sticks and put them in the trash.

We still have some dents in the gutter that Don will fix once it cools down.  The chainsaw is already at the shop getting a new handle, a sharpened chain, and a tune up.  And the tree is down.

Saturday night, Don dug out the instructions to the chain saw.  "You know, this wouldn't have happened if I had read these instructions."  Oh really?

OOPS!

Early this spring, we noticed our redbud tree was dying.  It is so sad, because the spring combination of the redbud and the snowcrab impressed us!

The redbud was Di's favorite climbing tree, and in the summers, the kids would play under its shielding leaves.  So many memories were dying away, but we knew we had to take it down.

Throughout the spring and summer, Don had been cutting a limb at a time, leaving some for the trash men and putting the larger logs in the log pile.  This morning, he decided was the day . . . he would stay home from work and finish the job.

When I came outside about 11:00 a.m., he was cutting a wedge in the tree so that it would fall the way he wanted it to.  Then he started to cut the tree down.  Watch as you see what happened:

Ten years ago we would have been so mad.  This time, we just laughed.  I thought I was well out of the way, but as you can see, even with the best plans, things can go wrong.

So now, with a little work on the gutters of the house, a little tune-up on the chain saw (that got stuck under the tree), and a little repair of the work bench, things will be back to normal.  Within an hour, the tree was chopped up and the majority of sticks were picked up.  So little harm done!

But . . . even when you think you know what you are doing, it is best to leave things to the professionals!  Right, Don?

Such Crust!

Today I went to see Mrs. Garvey.  We had a lovely lunch together, talking about numerous things, particularly the school.  Her daughter, Ann, joined us, and along with her caretaker, Shelli, we shared numerous stories.

One of Mrs. Garvey's sayings was the topic of a portion of our conversation.  Mrs. Garvey was well known for holding her tongue and refraining from making negative statements about people.  Ann said that rather than swear, she would say, "Oh, bad word."  I had never heard her say that, but I did recall that numerous times when she was particularly upset with someone's behavior, she would say, "Such crust."  The perfect way to express displeasure.  "Such crust!"

Oh that we should all be so classy!

Poor Babs!

Aging has its consequences.  Ask me.  I am finding out.

So imagine being 105.  That's about how old Babs is.

We had noticed that her hearing and vision were decreasing, and for that reason, we have been keeping an eye on her at the cabin, particularly when she is outside.  We used to always keep her on a leash, but now that she doesn't run away, we had been letting her go outside with us, but unattached.  Not anymore.

Last Friday, Don and she went outside.  I was down near the stream, picking gooseberries.  Suddenly I heard Babs yelp.  It wasn't a good yelp.

Apparently, Don thought she was following him, but she took an abrupt turn to the wall and suddenly fell five feet to the road - Graham Johnson style.  She fell towards the top of the hill, but the fall is farther than it looks in this picture.

She must have good bones, because although she is sore and not able to jump much, she can walk and trot.  At times we accidentally touch her where it hurts, but most times she is fine.

What baffles me is that she couldn't see that it was a long way down.  Today in the back yard, she saw a rabbit that was 20 - 30 feet away . . . and she chased it!

I don't know what got into her, but her life is now back to leash restriction when in the mountains!

It's No Yolk!

The other day, I cracked an egg, and look what I got!

I have heard of double-yolk eggs, but in all of my years, this is the first one I have ever gotten.  I didn't quite know what to do with it, as I was using it in cookies . . . but I just pretended it was two eggs, and they came out well.

This is just a minor little thing, but if I ever lose the appreciation of the differences in nature, the strange things, I might as well not be alive.  It is these things that keep life interesting!

Bella, age 2

Bella has definitely become an adult.  Although she still jumps, she is much calmer.  When I had her last week, she didn't get under the gazebo, she didn't crawl under the deck, and she didn't go wild chasing rabbits.

Exercising while Bella is in the house is still an adventure, however.  I have a series of exercises I am supposed to do three times a day, and I have to tell you, Bella makes it interesting.

On the first set I have to lay on my back and twist my legs to the side.  The minute I lay down, Bella sits right next to my head and stares at me, her tongue hanging out.  Soon she lifts her paw, as if to shake hands.  I take her paw and hold it until she gets bored.  She changes paws, and I hold it until she tires.  By then, my first set is usually done.

The rest of the exercises encompass some form of laying on my side or back.  By that time, Bella wants to be closer to me.  So the minute I turn, she cuddles up next to me.  Close.  Very close.  After a few minutes, she rolls over on her back, expecting a tummy rub.  If she doesn't get the tummy rub, she sits up and stares at me again.  Three times a day.  Frankly, I think it is cute.  Sepster used to do that, too, so it is nice to have a dog who wants to be near me.

Bella will also lay on my feet when I am at the computer, sit next to me on the couch, or try to be as near as possible.  When she was here, she got two dog bones from two different banks.  She thought she was in dog heaven.  The best part, however, was in the morning.  She had very obediently slept in her dog bed all night.  When Don got up at 6:00, he let her outside.  She came inside, and very carefully crawled into the bed, snuggling up right next to me.  I thought it was Babs and didn't pay much attention until I got out of bed, and there was a black and white dog in my bed.

Keeping Bella is truly a treat.  She is a very sweet dog!