fruit canning

It's been a busy few weeks with our fruit all coming off about the same time. I've made jams and preserves mainly and it takes some time to do all the fruit we have had this year. But it is beginning to wind down now. We mainly have a few figs coming off...most have come off...and then the muscadine grapes are at their peak now. But here are a few shots of some of the things I've made.

These are my pear preserves. I cook my pear and fig preserves in my crock pots. I have 2 large and 3 small pots and kept all going while making this. Sonny helps alot. I peel the fruit and he cuts it up. I also make apple sauce in my crock pots but with very little sugar. 

Now I'm working on muscadines. It is a little more complex. I first cook them down some on the stove and mash with a potato masher and then strain. 

My plum& peach jams and my muscadine and apple jellies I make using Sure-Jel and follow the cooked recipe in the box. 

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Lately I've been getting up early to watch the sun rise. It has been so hot and humid to be outside later in the day but today is supposed to be the last real heat day.

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I've mentioned before about our 3 grown sons. All 3 started their careers in working on off-shore drilling ships. The middle son is the only one who has continued with the same company. The oldest son was laid off a few years ago with a good severance package which he used to purchase his own semi-truck. He is leased to a company called Oakley and hauls a hopper bottom which mainly hauls grain or gravel ...things loose.

The youngest son also lost his job and went to work at a place that makes airplane and jet parts. He was laid off there with major cutbacks and just this year went to work on a supply ship that supplies to drilling ships and platforms. He finally got his permanent ship. It is really like a tug boat and they are usually small compared to the drilling ships. This one has about  a 12-16 crew where some only have about 6...compared to a drilling ship with hundreds of workers. His ship is called the Timbalier Island.

There is a cute story he shared when he got home this hitch and thought you all might enjoy it. This is in his wife's words...

Last week Sean's boat was in port fourchon(?) getting supplies to take out to a rig in the Gulf. They traveled the 120 miles or so out & start unloading. Sean hears something & tells the guys he thinks he heard a meow. Looks under a load of boxes on a forklift & sees one little eye. They coax this baby out!
So when they get anchored out they are there a week or more & now they have this teeny-tiny kitten that has a messed up eye! On a ship in the middle of the Gulf! The crew took care of her & gave her milk & tuna fish & doctored her eye.
They named the kitty "Tim" after the ship they were on. ❤ SHE got to live on the Timbalier for a week ❤
Yesterday when they came back in, one of the crew took her to stay with a lady & in two weeks one of Sean's shipmates will pick her up for her forever home!
How sweet is this story?! How could he not share??

(my favorite part might be that she is going home with another guy because I am pretty sure my house is at max capacity for animals....)

The update is Tim kitten is doing great and eye is healing. They had talked about getting her an eyepatch and call her the Pirate kitty but we are all so happy she has a home. What my daughter in law said about animals is right. They only have 4 dogs and 1 cat. But she is so like me in wanting to save all the homeless animals she sees. Bad thing is my son is the same so was surprised they didn't bring it home. 

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Now I have to show our baby Kinzey...she is settling more and more and will be 2years old this October.

She is not getting up at night to follow us to the bathroom as often but she does wake me every morning at 5 as she knows now that is my time to get up. She does get restless when there are storms but not as bad as some pets.

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Our cantaloupe plants in our front planters are beginning to die now. Two rotted before I could pick and finally got one to eat. They are miniature size but so tasty.

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Well that's all folks..

Twice in One Week

I am not usually online but about 2 times a week. I check emails from my phone but that is about it but I had taken quite a few photos lately and just wanted to get them posted. 

An update on my iris bed.....we are downsizing it drastically. It was just too hard to keep the weeds at bay especially the grass so it will now be about 1/3 the size it was. Here is the new start to the bed. 

It may even by 1/4th the size it was. I'm wanting some antique roses but have always had trouble growing them except a rugosa rose that took over one time and had to finally remove it. But I'm wanting some beige and pink colored roses. I'm also wanting peonies as well. The bulbs are expensive so not sure that will happen. 

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You know my love of weird things...especially spider webs and toadstools. Well found this toadstool by our driveway. Looks like someone took a swatch off the top.

We have to really keep cutting back our muscadine grapes. They have had a hair cut and are loaded with fruit.

We used to have 5 producing vines but they were too much too handle for us in our aging. So we are down to 2. This is what they do about spreading. These are the roots that drop down from the vines. In their natural habitat they can take over trees and strangle them.

We have some ground cover that came up voluntarily and have no idea what it is..it looks a little like tiny tiny bamboo, but doesn't grow up like bamboo.

It might be good for a terrarium. 

Well that's all folks...and as always...