Wow ... what a day!

I did get to the farm yesterday. http://www.pppfarm.net Pyrah's Pioneer Peak Farm is where I went for the first time last year ... and now that I have the lovely internet site ... can see what is ready to pick. Going back for raspberries around the 10th. Tia was the only willing soul to crawl out of bed yesterday morning. We really didn't need much more help than that. As it is ... I think we managed to do some bang up business. We picked 33.99 pounds of broccoli and picked up 11 pounds of zucchini. Do you have any idea how much broccoli that is??!! I think we bit off a bit too much. May need another freezer to store broccoli in. Yesterday I put almost half of it in the freezer! Clean the vegie a wee bit more ... blanch it ... individually freeze it ... and then bag it. Still don't have a vacuum sealer so Ziploc and I are good buds.

Came home from picking broccoli and my plan was to put a batch of green vegie freezing and then run a few errands in town ... and head out for blueberries. We got to the errand part ... even picked up 10 pounds of shelled peas on our jaunt ... and dear hubby rang. Emergency dip netting opening at Fish Creek with anticipted huge numbers of fish coming up the creek. Hmmm. This creek hasn't been open for 10 years for dip netting. Really don't use a lot of blueberries. We eat a LOT of fish. I've never been dip netting. Fish Creek is relatively close by. Off we went. The kids were more than happy to exchange blueberry picking for fishing. I didn't take the camera along. I have this nice new phone that I think takes pretty good pictures. I took plenty of them. We didn't catch not one fish. Not even a teeny tiny dolly varden. Nothing. I saw maybe 3 fish caught out of the seemingly 100 people around us. But we had a blast. And all those pictures are still on my phone. My wonderful phone won't let me send them out of the phone. It is rather possessive. I hope I can figure this out sometime soon ... would love to share them with you. We spent about 5 hours out there enjoying the sunshine and gorgeous day. So we came home with no fish ... but we came home with Fireweed blossoms. Quite a few of those buggers!

Got home after 7 pm and the fun began in earnest. Bless her heart. Tia peeled 11 pounds of zucchini and, along with my small garden crop, we froze 40 cups of grated zucchini. Put up another 10 cups of rhubarb, 10 pounds of peas, more broccoli ... and I made fireweed jelly! I really need to quit taste testing on a spoon. Need to taste test that one on a piece of toast and see what it tastes like. Not nearly as tart as the currants. Those make my toes pucker! Not sweet like my favorite strawberry freezer jam either. I'll certainly vote for easy to make tho'! I have enough blossoms sitting here to do at least another batch. If they haven't walked away, or been carried away by bugs and bees, by Monday ... maybe I'll make another batch. :)

I should be sleeping in but my phone rang at 6:30 this morning. Jari and I are off to do a bit of 4-wheeling today. Date Day. I'll bring a camera along for sure this time!

Saturday morning

... why am I on the computer?? Just taking a look see to check out what is happening hither and yon. And get ready for a busy day ... one that my kids are just going to love. I'm taking them to the farm today to pick broccoli. Looks like the zucchini is ready to pick this weekend as well. If so ...we're coming home with some of that too.

The sun is shining and the skies (for the moment) are beautiful blue. So after the trip to the farm .. blueberry picking at Hatchers. Many hands makes light work, right? Shouldn't take too long to get a winters supply of blueberries. We'll eat a lot more broccoli this winter than blueberries.

After the blueberries ... I think they should pick me some more currants. I probably won't be able to eat the currant jelly I made. It is much too tart for my taste, but I'm going to try mixing it with some other berries and see how it goes. :) If you're going to eat around here ... today you're going to help.

Silver salmon were supposedly in at Jim's Creek last night ... but they really weren't. Pays to wait and see what folks say after they tromp out there. Get the fruits/vegies in the freezer this weekend and maybe next weekend we can be out snagging some salmon again. I already know that Christmas baking will not fit in the freezer by the time we're done. Not a bad problem hey? I'm really keeping my fingers crossed for some big four legged critters this fall. Mmmmm.

I think that fall is here or coming soon. The flowers on the stairs outside have pretty much expired. It was quite a shock one day to notice that. Certainly isn't water that drowned them, even if we did have a lot of rain. Water drains out the bottom of the pots nonstop. Must be a sign of autumn. While the flowers are starting to dwindle, I feel like I'm coming back to life. It has been a very busy summer. Super fun. Lots of running. Loved the visitors ... who are still coming in August. In the last several days my thoughts have been moving to home projects again. "How can I move things around in the laundry room?" "Need to start digital scrapbooking and getting them printed again." Those kinds of thoughts. Winter thoughts. Time to nest in for the winter. I'm a nester. I'm a very satisfied person when I'm nesting. Wierd, huh? Baffles me as well, but I think I need the quiet of the winter after the busy time of summer. I'm starting to crave it.

Time to run the dishwasher and a load of laundry ... and then wake my sleeping cherubs.

Sunday

afternoon we headed out to Little Beaver Camp to pick up the girls from their first Youth Camp up here. What a treat to find this camp hidden down a winding road. We had a potluck dinner with burgers and dogs ... and then services.

The Annas find a quiet moment at the end of the dock.

A visit at Liz & Leroy's after services where the ping pong table was moved outside. What a way to play the game ... and what a view!

Leroy showing Leah how to work some golf club action. :)

It's already Wednesday in this new week. Last week was a mighty busy one. This one a bit more sedate. Still need to:

• get Brock registered for school
• pick some fireweed to make jelly on Saturday
• some cleaning needs to happen around here
• lawn needs mowing in between the raindrops
• car needs cleaning
• broccoli is ready to pick at the farm ... if only it would stop raining for a few hours as I don't have any mud boots

Off to work this fine morning. Enjoy your day!

Really ...

I'm really serious.

The seed packet seriously said

Marigolds.

I don't know about you

but I'm thinking they're starting to look a little like

palm trees.

Enjoying visitors this week

Doug & Sharon, along with Steven (Turbo), have been in town this week. What fun to see them! Jari has had some days where he couldn't work, so they have been able to do some fishing. Brock & Turbo have had a chance to hang out and pal around. Super!! And ... I've been able to enjoy Sharon's company and do some visiting.

Doug (trust it to be someone from the Lower 48 to tell us) told us that Sarah Palin was at the Iditapark in Wasilla on Friday evening giving a speech and serving up hotdogs. My bones were a wee bit weary after a trying week and headed for a nap on the porch. Jari, Brock & Tia joined the Forstie clan and headed for the shindig ... and had a grand ole time!

This day was reserved for Veterans and veterans alone. No politics. Nada. A pure celebration and appreciation of our veterans.

Serve up some good ol' American dogs and burgers ...

hmmm ... maybe we'll just start the campaign for Palin for President! Doug may even have to move up here and join the movement!

My delicious nap was interrupted by a call that went something like this. "Mom, the car just quit. Can you bring me some oil?" I did. I brought the oil. However, when the rods are banging (or whatevere it is that indicates your engine is toast) ... we're a bit beyond the help of a little oil. Argh.

To calm my nerves and end a busy week ... I headed for the greenhouse. Weeded out stuff. It was so thick in there that the sun couldn't see the bottoms of the zucchini plants. Moved them outside. Will see what they manage to do outside. Picked some carrots ....

and moved on to the currants. Tia finally joined me and helped for a bit. I sure hope this jelly tastes good. It should be mixed with blood. Lots of it. I had mosquitos everywhere. Sharon said she hasn't seen mosquitos here ... or not bad at all. I know why. I found them. They're hovering over every currant bush I found. I was smearing them on my eyelids ... am sure my hair was highlighted with them ... but I got nearly a gallon of them. Finished the job this morning and Jari helped me make jelly this afternoon!

We were going to go somewhere tonite for the nite. I wanted to go fishing, but that's a sleepless night. And neither one of us can handle a sleepless fishing nite right now. I'd pay for it all week long and, as much as I'd love to go fishing, I just can't afford to do that this week!

Anna & Tia are at Youth Camp this weekend ... and we get to join them for a potluck tomorrow late afternoon. Can't wait to hear about their fun experience!

Little things that make me smile

Someday ....

maybe it will be little ones that are a part of us

that he walks with down dirt lanes.

My faith has been restored ...

men really do know how to read instruction manuals!

I came home from work today to find these sitting on the counter. Canned salmon. My dear husband was pretending he was a pro at this ... and he's never canned a thing in his life. He did find out that if you go to the canning section at Walmart and start asking folks ... they are most helpful with hints and tips. He came home with a pressure cooker and some jars ... and he & Fred started canning salmon. I will be forever grateful that they did the first batch while I was at work. I would have had a heart attack for sure.

Then I needed to see how this was done. I started wondering if you could stack jars in the cooker. Did some calling and Sue told me you could. She even had an extra jar separater that I could pick up ... which I did. Dim bulb that I am somedays ... I had failed to measure the jars first. The jars we are using are too tall to fit 2 high in the thing. Oh well. I know what to do for jelly! Next batch was under way with Fred & Jari showing me how it's done!

Got the jars filled ... pressure cooker filled with jars and cooking away. After which we sat down for a meal of fresh stuff ourselves. Mmmmm.

The second batch is done ... waiting for the beast to cool so we can take out the jars. This is fun! Had you asked me several years ago if I would be canning I'd have thought you were nuts. I was going to freeze everything. This might just be the ticket for some things.

From the number of new jars sitting in the pantry today ... I've got some work to do. Really wanted to add Fireweed Jelly and Currant Jelly to my list this week but I might just run out of days. Will see.

Hmmm ... maybe I'll do some carrots as well!