Thursday Thirteen #51

Thursday 13

Things I Did Today

1. Got up and walked the dogs.
2. Made breakfast and cleaned it up.
3. Put on the double batch of Heavenly Jam (peach) to cook. (It took about three hours)
4. Got the canning jars out and in a pot to boil and sanitize.
5. Pitted 3 pounds of plums and chopped them up to make jam.
6. Did four loads of laundry.
7. Made a potato salad to have with lunch.
8. Made pita pocket sandwiches to go with the potato salad.
9. Had lunch.
10. Canned the Heavenly Jam. 15 jars!
11. Cleaned up the kitchen and started the plums to cook.
12. Canned 10 jars of Plum Jam! My favorite!
13. Made stuffed zucchini for dinner and cleaned it up!

Peaches, Plums & Pickles

It’s our really busy time of year right now. All the fruit and vegetables are coming in and we must quickly can them. So today was a really busy day for us. I started out by making my Moon Glow pickles. We canned 12 pints! Secretly, I think this is my first really good batch. Not that the others haven’t been tasty, but today I felt the magic in my slotted spoon!

Then Emily came over and we worked on peeling peaches getting them ready for making Heavenly Jam. Hubby and I have been pleased with past batches, but we feel that something isn’t quite right with the recipe. It was his mother’s recipe and she passed away before she could tell us her secret. Maybe this year we can get it just right!

Emily left to go to her soccer practice, and so Hubby helped me peel more peaches so we could make Brandied Peaches! We put up 8 pints of them and I think that will be it for this year.

The Castleton Plums are so sweet and ripe, you could sit down and just eat one after another and probably make yourself seriously sick, but they are so good. Hubby has picked 35 pounds of them and I think tomorrow I will be making plum jam. Of all the jams and jellies we make, I think this is my favorite.

Dinner was a roasted pork loin, zucchini and summer squash and boiled new potatoes. Just as we were finishing up, Em came in and had dessert with us and then she wanted to take the dogs swimming at the beach. I was so tired, but her youthful enthusiasm got to me and soon I was pulling (and tugging and pulling some more) on my swim suit and off we went to the beach.

Four dogs and two people was a bit much, but soon Hubby came down and then I was able to relax and actually swim with the puppies. The first time I have been in the water all year.

When I got out of the water with the dogs they got completely covered with sand and so did I! When we got home Hubby took turns hosing down each dog with water and once they were all done, then I stood there and he got me as well!

Now I am in my pajamas, watching the Red Sox play baseball against the Yankees, and putting my feet up. A long day, but a very good one!

A Dress

I need a dress.

Now I never wear dresses anymore. Up here in New Hampshire I find my general mode of dress to be jeans and either turtlenecks in the winter and t-shirts in the summer. Occasionally I’m forced to wear a skirt and then it is a jean skirt.

I’m simply a casual sort of girl. I mean, why buy a fancy dress when you are going to have four dogs jump all over it? Jeans work fine for me.

However, we’re going to an event and I need a dress. Now I enjoy shopping for dresses about as much as I enjoy shopping for dress pants, bathing suits or shorts. It’s just not on my top ten list of “fun” things to do, but do it I must.

I wonder what sort of style I should go for. Quiet and conservative? That’s what I usually go for and then I’m not happy with the end result. Perhaps I should try something a little bold and daring. Show a little cleavage!

I can see it now. Me and Hubby on the dance floor in my new dress dancing the night away.

Hmmmmm. Maybe getting a new dress could be a good thing.

Sunday, Busy Sunday

What a Sunday we had!

We were up early with the pups, had coffee and breakfast and then headed to our local community park where we can walk the dogs and let them swim in a lake there. We wanted to get an early start so that we didn’t have to deal with high temperatures and the high humidity.

No one was there when we arrived and so once we were down the path a bit we let the dogs off the leash and let them run. Oh what a joy it is to see the dogs running fast and free through the woods.

The walk went faster than usual due to their quick pace and soon we arrived at the lake. Hubby had brought with him two sticks to throw for the older dogs and he started right off with them.

Hubby and Fritz
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Fritz and Greta swimming.
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Anneliese watching her Mum.
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The puppies were so interested and they also went in. Once even swimming out a ways in the lake. I wish I had been faster with my camera.

I did, however, manage two pictures of them at the shoreline. Here is Arnie.
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And Anneliese.
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We came home and I rinsed off their mud, and we had our lunch outside on the patio while we watched the dogs. Lunch consisted of our first corn on the cob from our garden!

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During lunch Hubby noticed Anneliese rolling around in the grass. Not a good thing. This usually means that she has found something terribly stinky to perfume herself with. Yep, that was it. Apparently it was so stinky smelly that Arnie just had to share the joy and he also rubbed his newly clean body in it.

So out came the towels and the doggy soap and once again, I was giving doggy baths. Then I wrapped them up in towels and brought them inside the house.

We watched the Red Sox trample the White Sox on the television and then went out to meet our friends for dinner at a Swiss/German restaurant. I had wiener schnitzel and Hubby did too. Dessert was tobler cake and ice cream. Yum!! I think I should stop eating for a few weeks now!

The day ended with us watching mindless television and playing quietly (ha) with the dogs. One thing is for sure, it is seldom quiet when I play with the dogs!

It was a good Sunday though, a very good, Sunday!

It’s Always Something

I got out of bed as usual this morning and took all four dogs into the kitchen. I switched on the coffee maker and then headed for the back yard with the beasts. All performed well and I staggered back into the house to turn on the computer and drink my coffee while I read my email.

I pushed the power button and nothing happened. I pushed it again, and again nothing. I panicked. Had my computer somehow died in the night without telling me?

Then I had an idea. I would use Hubby’s laptop A/C adapter and see if that helped. Sure enough, the computer came right on and showed me that my battery was completely dead. Once I had charged the battery a little I took my laptop back to it’s original adapter and tested it.

The adapter is dead.

I plugged my laptop back in with Hubby’s adapter and charged the batteries, but now I knew I would need to replace the A/C adapter.

All this before my first cup of coffee!

Hubby got up and about that time I called several stores to inquire about replacement A/C adapters. $129.99!!! (GASP!!!)

Hubby got on his laptop and started looking. He found my adapter offered on Ebay and we have ordered it for $37.00 shipping included!

In the meantime his Dell A/C adapter fits my Gateway and it is doing double duty keeping both machines charged.

This is the first time my A/C adapter has quit working on any of my laptops. So I am a little surprised.

But then again, it’s always something!

Busy Summer Days

Thursday was a busy day. I had to get up early to bring Anneliese to the Vets to have some x-rays done, which meant that I had to be up, dressed and out the door by 8:30. This I was able to accomplish, despite the fact that I am really a pajama worker.

I do my best work in my pajamas!

When I got home from dropping Anneliese off, Arnie looked at me like I had committed a crime! Where was his sister? What had I done?

To take his mind off of her absence, Hubby and I took the three dogs out to the garden and pulled weeds, hunted down the latest zucchini and cucumbers and tossed the balls for the three pups.

By noon the woman who is selling our peaches stopped by to collect the peaches she needed for that days Farmer’s Market, and I was able to get some of her home grown garlic. This stuff is to die for, it is that good!

About three o’clock we called the Vet’s and they said to come and get sleepy Anneliese. So we got Arnie and piled into the car and drove to pick her up. She was so sleepy still, that she put her head on my arm and drifted back off to sleep.

Dinner was an easy meal. Pork chops, the last of my freezer applesauce, baked new potatoes, and zucchini and summer squash tossed with olive oil and garlic and sauteed with a little basil.

Arnie is happy to have his sister home. They slept next to me in my chair all evening. They truly are best friends.

Arnie Get’s Plucked

Last night my friend Barbie came over to see me and to help me with Arnie. We have the Zuchtschau (German Dog Show) coming up in a month and Arnie was in need of a little grooming. Our little man was getting seriously overgrown in the face.

I was feeling a little intimidated about where to start this project, and Barbie offered to help. Thank goodness she did. I know I would not have done such a good job.

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Here he is. Doesn’t he look great? Thanks again Barbie!!!

Mari, Mari, How Does Your Garden Grow?

I’m really enjoying my garden. Especially the tomatoes. We have so many and I have played around with things to do to use the tomatoes up before they rot.

I have made real, from scratch, spaghetti sauce. I have sliced the tomatoes, placed fresh basil with olive oil on them and topped this with thinly sliced mozzarella cheese and broiled it. We’ve chopped them and put them into sandwiches. You name it, we have added tomatoes to it.

Am I sick of tomatoes? No. I love them. Especially home grown ones.

The Butternut squash is flourishing! We will have many very large squash to store for the winter. Butternut squash are one of my favorites, so this makes me exceptionally happy!

The corn will be ready to eat in about a week. We probably have 2-3 dozen ears of that.

Hubby had over 200 pounds of peaches from our Reliance Peach tree. Yes a truly banner year for peaches.

Even the cucumbers are doing well. I can see another batch of Moon Glow pickles coming up.

The only thing that hasn’t thrived are the Eggplant, and I suspect that I started them too late. Next year I will start them inside and early. Very early. What I would not give to grow my own eggplant!

Yes, I love this time of year. Harvest time. I love eating the fresh vegetables and it’s about this time of year when I begin to plan my next garden.

Next year I will be doing…