Monthly Archives: August 2014

2014
08/31

Category:
Life

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Pressure canning

The husband has fallen in love with home canned beans – pinto, black, red, white – whichever is in a jar that he can pop off the lid and pour over potatoes or rice or ????.  Variety is good.   I had never canned these beans before, just always cooked them when I wanted to use them.   This  year after reading several accounts of others canning them, I tried some.   So now that he can bake a potato and pour beans of some type over it, I think I can run away.    All kidding aside,  I spent most of today in the kitchen instead of the garden weeding.     I cooked and canned 40 pints of red beans and  black beans.  Tomorrow, perhaps garbanzos and pintos, though apparently it would be welcome if there were jars of split pea soup and lentil soup.    Hmmmmmmm.    Maybe this isn’t such a bad idea – more sewing time this winter, right?

Their are still 10 pints in the canner.

P1020165 canned beans P1020166 canned beansThe kettle in the background has beans soaking in it overnight so I’ll be ready to go early

2014
08/30

Category:
Life

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A Knitter’s gifts

P1020162 scarf

Yesterday I was able to spend some time in the sewing room.  This scarf is paper pieced, which I’m rather slow with, but it turned out good.   It still needs to be appliqued onto the background.  Whew, just about finished in time for end of this month.     I have one more BOM that hasn’t been done and unless I get too tired weeding and canning, on Sunday, will just have to wait until next month – which can you believe starts Monday.

2014
08/29

Category:
Garden
quilts

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Produce time

Picking produce was very high on my list today, so I picked tomatoes and canned 5 quarts

P1020157 tomatoes

The small ones were roasted for tomato sauce.

P1020158 tiny tomatoes

The green beans are waiting in the refrigerator until Sunday for their turn – except for the ones we had with lunch.  They were so tender and delicious..

P1020159 string beans

Can you see these small cantaloupes?   Oh, I do hope they will get big enough.   I didn’t really think they would grow, but planted them anyhow.

P1020160 cantaloupe

There were two quarts of raspberries that didn’t get their photo taken as they went straight into the freezer.     While turning over a bit of ground to plant garlic Sunday, I found that we had missed some of these red potatoes some of which were consumed at lunch.P1020161 red potatoes

Sunday will be another garden day, but weeding this time.

 

2014
08/28

Category:
Life

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Pillowcases again

From the looks of the wash this morning, I really was on vacation.   However all that has changed now and we had no workmen in the house today.    I think I’m ready to go again.

P1020154 10 pillowcases

These are the 10 pillowcases I was able to finish today.   That brings the total up to 50.   Yes, I still have to imbed the serger thread at the beginning of the seam, but I have a feeling that might get done in November or early Dec.    I still have several other items trying to get in the Christmas queue.   That’s why I’m starting now on getting these done.  I would really like to move these out of the sewing room and into the giving closet.

2014
08/27

Category:
Life

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Vacation day #3/Seattle Science Center

We left the house this morning, made an hour drive to pick up our other two grandsons and then to the Science Center an hour from there.   Traffic was horrendous, but the boys were excited to go to the center, so were quite patient.  We started with lunch, where their uncle Darrin met us.   This way  we wouldn’t have to interrupt the fun times.   There were so many things to see and do.

We started with the water experiments outside – no photos as I still haven’t learned how to get them in bright sunlight (and the day was in the 80s).  They enjoyed walking up the inside of a round tub which caused the water wheel outside to go around.`  Basically they became the power.

P1000610 a plate of butterflies

The butterfly house (where Jennifer joined us) was requested so we went there fairly soon.   Unfortunately not a single butterfly landed on any one of us.  But the boys tried to intice them.   These butterflies are enjoying pineapple.   That big eye is really camaflouge down near the bottom of the wing.

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From there we enjoyed naked rats from Africa, other insects, spiders, scorpions, the works. And off to the dinosaurs.  (You didn’t think 9 and 10 year old boys would skip past those, did you?)  The room was quite dark, but each of the dinos moved.  And some could be moved with levers that you open and close a mouth, move an eye forward or backward so dino could see better.

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There was a very enjoyable section on food where they could choose a food and put it in a slot on a machine and it told them the nutritional data.  They could then keep adding or subtracting until they had a nutritious meal.   In the same area they had this wall display to show the size of servings.

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and this recipe on a 6′ tall board.

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This Gemini capsule was fun as they could sit in and pretend to fly it.

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From there we went to a room with gears, transmissions, pulleys, etc, with lots of items to investigate.

Then back outside for more water fun and learning.   There was so much to see and do,  It may have been a blessing that I wasn’t able to get the camera functioning outside.

2014
08/26

Category:
Life

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Vacation day #2

Today the tile has been finished!.   The painting is still to be done and the shower curtain rod, etc. will be done shortly.   But I am so very happy this portion is done.  The bathroom is once again usable.

 P1000596 bathroom tile

P1000597 more tile

As you can see, they ordered enough tile to go up to the window, so even though that wasn’t the original plan, that’s what we have.

P1000598 Christian

Christian arrived with his mother today and we spent a bit of time at Lake Tapps.  In the first photo, you can see the marvelous day we had and in the second, you will see in the far distance Mt. Rainier.

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2014
08/25

Category:
Life

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VACATION day #1

We picnicked at our youngest daughter and husband’s house by Lake Washington and then went in the boat for some wonderful relaxation.     I took several photos, but they look like this:

P1000571

Obviously, my setting was wrong for all that sun.    We did finally get a couple duck photos.   Very few people were on the south end of the lake, so we virtually had it to ourselves.    The weather was in the mid 80s and we totally enjoyed in and out of the water relaxation.

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P1000592 duck

2014
08/24

Category:
Foods
Garden
Knitting
Life

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Another pair of socks

 This is sock pair #9 for this year.   I chose another of my self striping yarns so I could knit while in the car.   Also, because there is just so much going on that I need something that doesn’t take thinking.  Today I used the pressure cooker again and I don’t leave the kitchen while using it or I may become distracted and bad things could happen.   So I knit in the kitchen.

I did the cuff on this pair last month and then decided to make the purple pair instead.   So I started Friday with the cuff already done and have been working on them in the car and in the kitchen.    They will be my take along pair.

P1000569 another stripped pair

Other than the 2 hours spent walking my Fitbit steps, taking water to the bees, picking tomatoes, roasting a pan of cherry tomatoes, picking and freezing raspberries.   freezing three trays of bananas and canning one load, I’m straining to remember what I did.  Why does everything take so long?  Not one of these was a big job.

 Oh, yes, I selected fabrics for the scarf part of the “Knitters Gifts” quilt and will press them later this week.   I prepared the pattern as it is a paper piecing pattern,  and worked a bit on pillowcases, but didn’t actually finish any    Perhaps that is why it seems I don’t get enough done, because I work on several projects instead of just one.    I do so want to get back to embroidering.   Patience, summer is only for anther month.

 This is my vacation week.  I will be using it for family time     I made a potato salad for our picnic with Kati and Zach tomorrow.   It’s really too bad we’ll all be involved in the activity without anyone to take photos.   They are going to try to teach me to kayak.   I am going to try, but I have no thoughts of being able to accomplish this.    I may be spending a lot of time in the water.  And I ‘m quite sure this will look very funny to others

Then the next two or 2.5 days, our Boston grandson will be here and we will be enjoying the Seattle Science Center with the three grandsons and a couple of our children.   Our children so enjoyed it when they were young, maybe still do.  I haven’t been there in a long time.   Yes, summer is nearly over and the boys will be back in school and every activity available.

 

 

2014
08/23

Category:
farming
Life

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Tomatoes vines

I have never been where tomatoes grow natively, however, I think I have a feeling for how they look — – with the exception that my tomatoes did not have trees to which to attach.

P1000564 tomato forest

Most of the row was tied and these were too, in the beginning.   However, I didn’t keep up with them and this is what happens.   So we are just harvesting the tomatoes as they come ripe.   It’s just a jungle out there.  I think next year will be a good year to just put sweet peas down there as this is at the bottom of the garden and we get sidetracked before getting there.   Besides, sweet peas would help the ground and be so pretty to look at from the deck.

2014
08/22

Category:
Knitting
Life

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Widsith Sock news

 

 

P1000568 finish widsith purple socks

And here they areFINISHED!   I had enough dark purple left from another pair of socks that I was able to use to finish these.  And they are done before the end of the month which is important since next week time will be spent with grandsons.