This morning as I was heating the canning kettle and the oven, we lost power.   It was a blessing, we lost it before I started timing anything.  Neither the kettle or the oven were yet warm enough.    Somewhere between and hour and 1 1/2 hours  later, power was restored and I was able to finish the canning I had scheduled for this morning.  So now another 8 pints of carrots and 7 of pear sauce are prepared for winter.

And I baked nearly 4 dozen cookies (1 very ripe banana to one cup of oats/  Opt: whatever chips, dried fruit, nuts you choose)   Cookies on the left pan are not yet baked and on the right, have just come out.   So you can see that they don’t spread. The grandsons will be happy with just chocolate chips in their cookies.   So now these are in the freezer for their next visit.

DH wanted to help me which is usually interesting as it sometimes involves teaching him what I have done for years,  without him noticing since he wasn’t home..    I often buy food in bulk, meaning 20 or more pounds to a bag, the contents get transferred  to glass jars – some to stay in the cooler place and some to bring to the pantry for use.   So today we opened quinoa and rice, which I purchased from last week’s co-op buy) and put them in the glass jars.  Plus we brought out for use a jar of oats to replace the oats I used in the cookies and some kibble for the bird.  I’m not sure whether it is more of a surprise to him that this has been going on for years, or to me that he has never noticed.   We did get the food transferred and put in the kitchen pantry where it is easy to use.  I think the freezer is another mystery to him.   We eat food, which is taken from it, several times a week, and yet it is nearly always full.   He has mentioned more than once, that it is difficult to find items in there as it is always full.   For instance, the cookies I baked this morning went in the freezer, but it takes awhile for things one doesn’t usually deal with to register.  And I think he is becoming more aware of how “extra” space gets filled.