Road Trip

Ken called Tuesday morning. He told me they had laid him off for the year and he was stuck down near Pittsburgh. So with Tom not taking the truck that morning, I had Becky take me in to work and pick up the car before she went to class. It was 120 miles one way. I was so thankful that the rain held off until later in the day. The colors were beautiful on the way down.



I got down there without any problems, found Ken at his motel, we made a pit stop and Ken grabbed a coffee and put gas in my tank and we were off.



I took him to drop his stuff off at the other house and then in to the shop. He decided to stay at the other house for now. He'll be riding in with his buddy and working on his truck that was towed there.

Then coming back home, Jess was done with school, so I grabbed her and Tommy and we went to pick grapes.



They were .30 a lb. this year. We got about 32 lbs. Twelve of which are white. The dark ones I washed, heated, then put them in the food mill. Then I strained them into a glass gallon jug. They sat for 24 hours. Not looking good. I hope I get the hang of this soon.



Then on Wednesday I went to the sale barn with my friend Dana Williams. We found lots of produce for sale. I came home with broccoli, acorn squash, pumpkins, cabbage, and peppers that we shared. I cut up the peppers right away and put them in the freezer. I searched for an easy juice recipe for the white grapes. Found one.

1/3 c. sugar

1 1/3 c grapes

boiling water

this is per quart. Then you are to pressure can 5 lbs. for 10 minutes. No crushing involved. I thought they were all suppose to float. At least the color seems better than the dark. I have a little over 3 lbs. of dark to get it right. HELP! And here I wanted to try grape jelly. Guess not. The weather is getting cold and I don't think I will get another chance to get out.

Yesterday, I worked on the bushel of apples I picked up over the weekend. Half applesauce, half apple pie. Then I started on the grapes. I want to start getting the squash done, but need more lids. I found out what the mystery plant was. It was cauliflower. My only really good head.



Weather is very cold this morning. I think I smell snow. I wonder if Ashes will be back soon? He left for a while again this summer, and then one day last week I opened the back door and there he was! I said, "Hello, Fat Ash!" and he walked in, got a drink, had some food and laid down. He looked really good. He has to be staying somewhere. Someone else has been duped into thinking he is a poor stray I am sure. The only thing is, he wanted lots of attention. Then the weather warmed up again, and I let him out and off he went again. While looking back over my blog, I see it was in November that he came back last year. I wonder if he will return , or is he like Lassie who came back one last time before saying goodbye? That would be sad.

Belle is feeling much better after having about of something. I gave her sulfur treatment and geritol and it seemed to have worked. I need to get her up very soon for a date. I don't want to wait to long into the spring to have kids.



We also were blessed with a gift from my parents. It resulted in being able to go pick up a heat stove that we really needed. We had to get rid of that other one, it was not efficient at all. But we weren't sure how we were going to get another. After feudal attempts at finding used ones, we found a Hitzer wood/coal stove we really liked. We can use it either way, and I can cook on it! Tom brought it home last week, but we have to get the chimney up and clear before we can use it. I have already moved the room around so we can use it. I think he is working on it tomorrow.

We had to run the furnace twice this week for a short time, and the canning yesterday kept it warm in here. But this morning the small electric box heater has been running for two hours and the floor is still cold. I can't wait for wood heat!