Where to Start...44º sunny/cloudy

The last two weeks have been crazy, busy...It started with a spur of the moment trip to Milton Free Water and Edward's Farm, where we bought 10# peaches, 40# of cucumbers and 125# of tomatoes...That is 220 miles, and we were back home around 1pm...After unloading the car and a brief rest, Herb carried jars & lids upstairs and I loaded them in the dishwasher and assembled all the other canning stuff...Our garden supplied the dill, garlic and grape leaves, needed for dill pickles...All was ready to start early Tuesday morning.

Two days later, we had 24 quarts and 14 pints of "Hot Garlic Dills, on the cellar shelves...One gallon of cukes in brine are set aside for 6 weeks, then I add sugar and make sweet pickles...With a few cucumbers left over and a couple of huge red peppers in the fridge, I decided to make a bread and butter pickle that I've named "Confetti Pickles."..Patty pans, zucchini, and onions from our garden made up the mix and the red peppers added color...Sugar, salt, and vinegar for the brine.

Cukes ready to scrub and trim.

Hot Garlic Dills.

Confetti bread and butters

Patty pan squash that took over the garden! 😀😀

Thursday was a day of rest, sort of...I had PT and Herb mowed lawns...Friday morning early, I had 25# of tomatoes washed, scalded and started to peel...Herb had been outside doing a little deadheading before he sat down for his breakfast of oatmeal and said, "My hand doesn't want to work and my face feels funny."...I looked at him and said, "Get your coat, we are going to the ER."...5 hours later we were back home, diagnosis was a TIA or mini stroke...Some of his medication has been changed and supplements added, to ward off a real stroke.

A week later, more doctor appts, blood pressure checks etc, and Herb is back to his old self doing my honey do's and getting things ready for fall and winter...Our first snow on the mountain tops appeared last week...I finished roasting all of the tomatoes, they are in the freezer ready for sauces, soups and casseroles...Life goes on here on Barton Heights...Hugs to All...OWAV:)

Ready for the oven.

Well Roasted.

Gloomy, Wet Day...55º

Looks like we have a week of rainy, cooler weather for the next week...Fall is in the air and we need rain...I hope it is a nice gentle, soaking rain, not the short, downpours that we had the last two days...Of course we will take what we get and make the best of it.

Yesterday, we took advantage of the warm, sunny day, Herb continued on his quest to cut down the spent perennials, caught up on the laundry, and picked the remaining gravenstein apples...I enjoy the process of cleaning, trimming and sorting our garlic harvest, that has been hanging to dry since early August...Sitting under the aspen trees on the deck, the 160 garlic plants took me all afternoon and are now ready to be shared or peeled, sliced, dried and pulverized into dry powder, to be used all winter and also shared with friends and relatives...Garlic is easy to grow, very dependable, (never had a failure) and brings joy to many.

Taking a break from cleaning garlic, I managed to make a fresh apple pie and fix dinner...Today with the rather gloomy day, fresh baked bread will warm the house and fill the house with that wonderful smell of  bread straight from the oven...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Before trimming and cleaning.

Beautiful.

Rustic apple pie, (it was yummy)

A fruitful week...54º

Apricots taken care of for this year, enough plums rescued from the marauding deer to make jam and a few to eat, we are looking ahead to roasting tomatoes and making pickles next week.

The last few days were spent in the kitchen, first making zucchini/pattypan relish for hot dogs and hamburgers...Then a messy job, dicing Santa Rosa plums, because they are cling stones...I got enough to make a double batch of the most delectable jam and since I had all the pots and pans assembled, it seemed like a good idea to make huckleberry jam as well...I found packages of HB's from both 2017 and 2018 in the freezer...They will now join the plum jam on the cellar shelves and be used for topping on pancakes and cheesecakes this winter.

I needed a break on Sunday, so when Pam text that she was joining John and Becky and company on the Lostine River, did we want to go along?..Herb opted to relax at home but I went along for the ride and a fun afternoon in the outdoors, sitting along side the river, drinking red beer, eating hobo dinners and enjoying their camping spot.

Yesterday H and I both had acupuncture and he a dental visit to fix a tiny cavity, that turned into a crown prep and hopefully not a root canal...Time will tell...I had a PT appointment and saw the MRI of my knee, no torn meniscus after all, just deteriorating cartilage, not sure if that is good or bad...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

The Girls cooling their heels.

Tater patiently waiting for someone to throw his a stick.

Yummy hobo dinner.