Homemade Peach Jelly

Our daughter Cassie bought a 1/2 bushel of peaches last week and she and Gerry made 6 jars of peach jelly.  They had peaches left over but ran out of time so Gerry decided (with my help) to make another batch of peach jelly today.  I provided a little help by washing the jars, filling the large pot with hot water and then staying out of the way.  I think staying out of the way was my biggest contribution. 

The peaches were very ripe and a few of them had already spoiled but there were enough good ones available to do the job.  Gerry used some new and old jars and estimated how much to prepare for the jars we had.  I had no idea how many jars the batch would fill.  She managed to hit it right on the mark and fill all the remaining jars.

Here is what the finished product looks like.  Of course we will share it with Cassie, but the remainder will travel with us this winter.

The only task left if for me to make label for the peach jars.  I will use address labels for this task and finish up tomorrow.  Then it will be time to test the product on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  That I can handle as well.

The weather up here at the cabin continues to be great with sunny and clear skies.  The nights cool off and it makes for comfortable sleeping weather.

That was our day, how was yours?

August Catch-up Post

I said I would post to the blog when something of interest was going on around here.  August turned out to be a very routine time for us with not much happening.  We had a rainy spell where it rained about every other day and it felt like we were living in a rain forest.  The last 5-6 days have been beautiful, sunny and warm days and we have been having our coffee on the screened in porch every morning.  We put out a couple Hummingbird feeders that are in view from the porch and enjoy seeing those pretty little birds.

We celebrated our 59th wedding anniversary on August 17 and went to the Carriage House Inn restaurant in Emittsburg, MD for dinner.  It was built in 1857 and we were married a century later in 1957.  The meal was superb and we had a great time even though we had monsoon rain all day and night.

The photo below isn't from our Anniversary celebration, however we didn't take one on the actual date.  Cassie & Jack joined us for dinner a short time before our anniversary and we enjoyed having dinner with them.  Wow, those 59 years went by very fast.  Who said the marriage wouldn't last?

 We took Gerry's bike in for repairs and she had to try it out as soon as she could and took a short ride around the cabin area.  As you can see, she didn't have her biking clothes on but enjoyed the ride just the same.

 A local farmer sells corn and tomatoes from their garden each year and we finally stopped by to get some of each.  The corn was very large and delicious, easily the best corn we've had in years.  The tomatoes were very tasty and took us back to when we had a garden.  Nothing like homegrown tomatoes.

 Evidently the farm couple have grandchildren since they had a beautiful play area along side of a creek.  They had planted flowers, had picnic tables, a trampoline, toy horses to ride and much more.  It looked so nice and inviting I am sure they could rent it out to responsible people for the day.

 Notice the trampoline and teeter totter along the creek side.  There are huge shade trees all around the area to help keep it cool.  The farmer converted a 50ft elevator into a slide and it looked like it had been used a lot.

 We came back from Costa Rica in 1992 and we kept our air-freight container painted and in good shape for many years.  The winters here at the cabin finally destroyed the container and I burned it one day.  Our son used it as his little garage for his Jeep things for a long time and then it became a garden tool shed.

I am progressing along with my health problem very nicely, feel confident I will be ready to hit the open road late September.  We have been seeing all our doctors and moving along with our yearly checkups.  We finally got a doctor a few miles from the cabin after losing our last doctor when her office closed.  We both like the new doctor and he seems very competent.  In addition he is a dedicated geocacher with 5400 finds.

A couple good friends of ours are having health issues and working through them.  Out of respect for their privacy I won't name them but they both read the blog and we wish them a speedy recovery.

Other than the usual day to day routine nothing much else has been going on around here.  We are on track to get the cabin in tip top shape the day before we leave again as usual.  Then next summer we will start all over again with the maintenance and repairs.

I hope everyone is having a good summer and enjoying the nice weather.

Muscular Dystrophy Summer Camp

I decided to highlight my grand niece in Illinois who has Muscular Dystrophy (MD) and give her credit for fighting (and winning) the battle with MD.  She attended a summer camp for 7 years and benefited from it very much.  Now she is a camp counselor who is giving back to others in their battle with MD.  See, there are great young adults out there willing to be there for others.

I'll let the article below tell you more about this special person.


The longterm impact of summer camp

 

Rainy Monday

Well, we were rained out once again with a downpour.  It rained hard at the cabin, but we had some errands to run so we went out in it anyway.  I actually like to drive in the rain so it wasn't a problem.

The road repaving crew were at it again.  The only direct route for us to head south is on Old Forge Rd and the road closed sign was up again.  They don't give any notice or even tell how long the project will last.  You find out about it when you see the sign that the road is closed.  What a way to run a business.

One errand was to take our electric chainsaw down to a local hardware store and have it sharpened.  I can sharpen it, but the hardware store has a machine that does a much better job.  When I took the chainsaw in the clerk said they only sharpened Stihl saw blades.  WHAT!   They have been sharpening blades for me for the past 15 years and when I protested they agreed to do the job if I took the chain off the saw.  Not having any tools and them refusing to let me use theirs negated getting the job done there. What happened to service at these places?

By this time the weather really took a turn for the worse and the wind picked up and was blowing the rain sideways against the car.  By the time we got to Waynesboro, PA it was raining cats and dogs as the old saying goes.  It was very difficult to see ahead of me with the windshield wipers going full blast.

The road was covered with about 8-10 inches of water from sidewalk to sidewalk.  Waynesboro is hilly and we were almost to the town square when we had to stop for a red light.  The cars going in the opposite direction splashed water over the top of our car.

 Main street in Waynesboro was flooded in a number of places and it was slow driving to keep the water off the engine.

 Even with the windshield wipers going full blast this is my view of the road.  I was starting to not like driving in the rain by this time, but didn't have any option but to keep on moving.  I sure wasn't going to park in a foot of water and wait it out.

 The downspouts on buildings were so full that the water was coming out of the seams.  There wasn't anyplace for the water to go since the storm drains were full to capacity and then some.

All in all 1.13 inches of rain fell in about 30 minutes and made many streets into rivers.   I am sure glad we weren't out walking in that mess.  We did get the bottom of the car washed pretty good.

About a mile out of town the rain stopped like someone had drawn a line in the road.  It was perfectly dry there and we remarked that how it was in Illinois during their thunderstorms.  We completed our other errands in dry weather and headed back to the cabin and the high humidity of 97%.

Now our friends in Tucson are having their hands full with rain today and they got .78 inches of rain that closed down roads and the entrance to the Cactus Country RV Park.  Arizona doesn't bother with culverts in the low lying parts of roads and just lets the water run on the road.  Saves money but it is a problem when you can't get home or out of your home.

That was our day, how was yours?