Canning Marathon...41º

The Looking Glass Bookstore (new and used) in LaGrande is a treasure...I have been a customer for many years, first when it was called "Earth and Books" owned by Jessica....Now with a new name and a new Jessica as the owner, I love going there and today introduced Pat to this store...We spent over an hour, browsing, comparing notes, each buying a book, taking down a few titles, hoping to find them on our "Sage Library System"...Pat heads the car out of town, through Island City and one last stop at "Kauffmans"...A small store managed by Mennonites, featuring bulk items, fresh and frozen local foods, a small eatery with soup and sandwiches...We browse and plan a return trip to try out the lunches...We retraced our path arriving in Enterprise on time for Pat's acupuncture appointment...A fun day enjoyed by both of us.

My PT went well Thursday morning, under Aaron's guidance I will continue exercises to strengthen my leg...I'm using the cane less and plan to do 1 lap around the track today as a start and hope to get back into the daily walking routine.

This is the time of year to clean out our (us and John & Becky) freezers...We both have beef and deer that once it is thawed and chunked goes into jars, then we preserve it by pressure cooking...That makes  room in the freezers for this years meat and on the cellar shelves we will have jars of meat ready for a quick family meal...Most people think I'm crazy (maybe so) but I like canning of all kinds...Herb has become a willing partner and without him I couldn't begin to do all the lifting of jars up and down our cellar steps or setting up the gas stove outside the kitchen door and on and on...I try to do it in small steps but yesterday it snowballed as I always try to do full canners and late afternoon instead of calling a halt after we started the 3rd canner, I said, "Don't we have leftover soup bones, with lots of meat on them in the freezer?"...We thawed them, and ended up with the 4th canner also full, ready to go on the heat at 5pm...By that time we are tired and cranky, Rusty and John are not home yet...So while Herb watches the canner I start the meat and sauce for enchiladas, leave it to simmer, ready when they walk in the door...Herb empties the last canner at 8pm and I wash the outsides of 48 jars...We leave them on the counter for labeling in the morning...A good nights sleep and all will be well...Hugs to All...OWAV:)

A Days Work