Day Three

WOW! Where has the time gone? It's Day Three of summer break, and I've fallen more behind than when it started. At this rate, I'll get nothing from "THE LIST" done before school starts. Woe is me!

Much of each morning and evening has been devoted to caring for Ranger. His first week of stall rest has been full of change. Big John had to cut down Ranger's space - he just had too much room to roam. The only time he was still was when Roxy came in to eat in the stall beside him. The rest of his day was spent pacing. When I relayed this information to the vet, he asked if Roxy could be stalled as well. UH OH. Poor Rox. She's now on 5 weeks of stall rest - and she didn't do anything to deserve it! I will say, that has helped Ranger's disposition immensely. We're down to changing his dressing once every two days, and only one medication twice a day. He and Roxy both look forward to their 5 minutes of grazing in the trap - fresh grass never tasted so good! Ranger goes back for a checkup next Monday, so hopefully all is going as well as we think it is. I'll keep you "posted!"

After vet duty, I'm on garden duty. Things are coming on quickly, so I start off picking what's ready. The cukes need training, bugs need dusting, and weeds need pulling, and pulling, and pulling. Wonder if there's a market for weeds? We've had a little thunderstorm since the big rain, and watered in between. We're getting more disciplined with the fertilizer - once a week - and boy, does that make a difference!

It turns out that there are many people in town who love fresh vegetables but don't have the time or space or desire to tend a garden. Through some truly miraculous channels, those people and I have become acquainted! I sold out yesterday, of both eggs and vegetables, and will make another delivery on Friday. In a crafty move that came out of nowhere, I've convinced Big John that I need more hens. That wasn't the hard part. In order to house more hens, we need a larger coop. That's the clencher! Much too easily, he agreed that we'll put a 6' by 10' addition onto the henhouse. We'll pick up materials on Thursday, and put that project on the ever-growing list of things that must be done. Maybe by the time I'm ready for chicks (when it's cooler) we'll have an expanded Poultry Palace! Now I've got to figure out what Big John's up to ... is there another new fishing rod I don't know about?


I've also spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen during the past 3 days. Big John has become addicted to making - and devouring - bread and butter pickles. I must say, they are pretty delicious! We did a better job of packing the jars the second time around, so they present a bit better. Either way, they taste great. Everywhere you look, we've stashed pickles!

Big John did some errands the other day, and came home with a surprise for me - a big pressure cooker! It's kind of like buying your wife a vacuum cleaner for your anniversary, except that I was really excited about this. I'm easy to impress! We made it through last year with a smaller version, and Big John figured we needed to upgrade. Being the independent woman that I am, I decided to can our surplus of green beans while Big John was at work - all by myself. That involved unpacking the cooker, assembling it, and reading the instructions. I am a teacher, after all. How hard could that be? Well, 5 quarts of ruined green beans later, Big John shows up from work, screws the bottom part of the pressure release valve on, and "fixes" it. DUH. I wondered where that extra piece went. (I'm not usually "allowed" to assemble important items on the farm. No wonder.) I had run out of "want to" for the day, but had trimmed the whole mess of beans. I took part of the next morning to can the remaining 2 quarts. Came out fine. I'm now the self-proclaimed expert on pressure cooking low acid foods. Bring on the beans! I will admit that I still have moments of panic where I imagine Big John coming home to the house blown to smithereens by an exploding pressure cooker. Maybe "expert" is going too far!