Grandma/Reindeer/Truck...38º

36 pints of turkey and 6 qts of broth

I slept late this morning and awoke to gusts of wind making the wind chimes sing and a voice in my head humming "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer."...As I slowly crawled out of bed it felt more like I walked in front of a semi truck!..The last two days have been a whirlwind of activity here on Barton Heights...Shall we call it the "Turkey Trot?"...An annual occurrence since my mom taught me how to can turkey meat...This year I was in the role of teacher since Becky wants to learn more about canning...Wednesday went well as both Becky and Pam are quick learners and with them boning and me chunking the meat, we in record time had all three turkeys in chunks, refrigerated overnight in the large Tupperware bowls so we could start early Thursday morning...We had lunch, enjoyed a glass of wine and played a couple of games of "5 Crowns."...After the girls left I put the turkey bones on to simmer before straining the broth so it was ready to can...I was tired that night because earlier in the day I had mixed 2 large batches of cookie dough, rolled them into logs before placing them in the fridge to chill and made a gallon of soup to take to a family friend before we started on the turkeys...All the time I was working, Herb was making a gazillion trips up and down stairs, carrying boxes of jars along with extra kettles and the myriad of other things needed...I think I went to bed at 7pm.

Up early Thursday morning, two cups of coffee, scrabble games done, shower taken I was off and running again...Jars loaded into the dishwasher, broth on to heat, jar lids in simmering water, I soon had a small canner of broth "hissing" away...B & P arrived and I instructed them in filling the jars with turkey, adding a little salt and water and running a knife around the inside of the jars to get rid of the air bubbles...So many steps to follow, I won't go into, our first big canner, 18 pints of turkey was soon underway, timer set for 75 minutes...That gave us time to have lunch and play cards...Second canner on to process we now had time to play cards, as well as chunk the rolls of cookie dough and bake cookies for the "Big Read Kickoff."...Two timers going, jars of turkey cooling, pressure cooker hissing away, glass of wine in hand, 12 dozen cookies baked, laughter, mild swearing, we reminisced about days gone by...They left about 4pm after the second canner was done...I collapsed in my chair and did the zombie stare, before I did some kitchen cleanup, fixed two platters of cookies for the kickoff, bagged the rest for the freezer, changed clothes and met Pam at the Josephy Center at 7pm.

I'm beginning to see why people look at me really funny when I say, "I just love canning especially pressure canning, I do turkey, elk, deer, chili." and they say, "You must be crazy."...I think they are right!..Hugs To All...OWAV:)