Jess172 journal: I want to do it all!

pickles are a great way to get your canning feet wet I like cucumber pickles, but I'm addicted to dilled carrots and pickled beets

It's been a few weeks since I've posted but I've been really busy. Between taking care of the garden, all the critters, canning, cookouts, and all my normal chores this summer has flown by! School starts in a couple of weeks so now I gotta find time to go school shopping and get everything ready.
So I've been canning. I've done 4 batches of pickles, some wild blackberry jam, green beans, potatoes, and just tonight I made some tomato juice. I was nervous about pressure canning the green beans but made it through and feel more confident using it now. I think later this week I'm going to do one more batch of pickles and make some grape jelly.
One of the guineas got out of the pen the other day. We like to have never caught it! Those suckers can sure fly. He flew all the way across the pond before landing. I thought for sure he was going to dive in the pond and I was going to have to go in after him. So after a long run through the woods we caught him. Be glad when we can turn them all loose. We seem to have a good mix of males and females. Unlike the ducks. It looks like we have 4 hens and 8 drakes. They are finally starting to go in the pond some but won't go very far in because of the aggravating cat fish. I see a fish fry in the future. Summer break is about over and there is still a lot I want to do. Might not get everything on the list done this year but I'm going to try and if not there is always next year.

When does school start?

The first week of August. School starts earlier and earlier every year and let's out later every year too.

Good job with the canning!! I love to pressure can.

Me Too!... except when it's 84F in the kitchen

That's early! Around here, school starts just after Labor Day.

Be nice if we could do our canning in the fall instead.

I need to get all my canning done this week since its been cool out. Here it is July and we've have weather in the 70s all week. I don't remember it ever being this cool in July. Atleast when I heat up my kitchen I can just open the windows now.

It was 54 here last night, I actually was cold this morning. Never been like that in my lifetime. We are having strange weather.

Hopefully it warms back up soon. I need more time in the pool before winter comes!
Today I went on a cleaning spree in the kids rooms. I threw away two trash bags full. The new rule is if you clean it you can keep it, otherwise when mom cleans it gets thrown out. I cleaned all the other rooms and did all my laundry yesterday so I'm caught up for a little bit. I'm planning on going tomorrow and getting all the school supplies since they have the teachers and grade lists out at Walmart now. If I don't get them now they won't be there later since the store never seems to order enough. Then I'm going to run to "the big city" which is the next county over to get some school clothes and shoes. And since I'm over there I'm going to get some chicken feed and food for all the other critters too. We've got some new additions as well. Seems the stray cat we've been feeding left us a surprise!

I suppose since we feed her we are keeping her but I'm getting her fixed ASAP. Including the cats we already had this will make 5 kitties. I'm well on my way to becoming a crazy cat lady. Although 5 is a relatively low number when you compare to how many chickens I currently have