Whew! What a weekend...

Debbie got here shortly after I got home from work on Thursday. We walked down the property to where all the blackberries are coming in. She already put in her order for preserves! I don't think it will be a problem since they are blooming prolifically throughout the farm. We did a "whole lotta" catchin up and just had fun hanging out together with Wally, the horses and the dogs. She liked everything I had done with the cabin and said that I had feminized it without making it too feminine. Sounded good to me :)  Thursday was the only time we had to ourselves because the rest of the weekend we had people over the whole time. We drank a few beers, had ribeye steaks, spinach salad with warm bacon dressing and Zellwood Sweet corn on the cob for dinner. It was awesome! Of course I should have doubled the recipe for the dressing because Debbie and Wally both love to drench their salads in it. I'm good with just a little bit, if any. We were laughing at her antics and planning the days events for in the morning. We weren't up too late Thursday night since she was tired from the drive up and we were tired because we always are once the sun goes down... lol

Friday dawned bright and clear with a nice breeze blowing up across the front yard and through the cabin. We had our baked oatmeal for breakfast. The cabin smelled like cinnamon, warm oats and nuts and slightly fruity. It was good but it needed to be just a little bit sweeter for all of us. We put honey on it and dug in. Let me say that this stuff is very, very filling. Wally finished his but me and Debbie wimped out with just a few bites left on our plates. I cut it into pieces and froze them for later this week. I will make it again during the winter months because it's real hearty and since it's warm, it's better suited to cooler months.


Wally went to work outside in the outdoor kitchen while Debbie and I unpacked, repacked and threw out stuff that was piled up in the hot tub room. Almost all of it went back with her for Rebecca and Jarrett. There was some stuff for Dougy too. I know there is more down in the trailer but that stuff will have to wait until another visitor comes up. We just never had time to get to it. That's how things go around here.

We were probably busy with that room for about 2-2 1/2 hours but once it was done boy did it ever look nice! I still have a few boxes in there but they hold my canning jars and Christmas candles that will melt if they aren't housed. The canning jars won't last long at the rate I'm going but I'll get to that later... Debbie was a great help taking boxes upstairs and keeping me focused - imagine that! It's hard not to look at every little thing when you're going through boxes of stuff you haven't seen in years. I'll revisit the box of pictures another day as it will take me a while to get through them all. I'm looking for pictures of Kris and I when we were at the civil war re-enactments. BUT BEST OF ALL... I found the picture of my dad in his garden, reaching up but not quite making it to the top of his tomato plants. I don't think I've been that excited about anything in a very long time. Now I have 3 pictures of him in a frame and all of them are from the garden. Yeah - that was super cool! 

After the room was finished we drug those bags of corn up on the front porch and started shucking. Where are the kids when I need them????? LOL I thought it was fun but Dizzy Debbie thought it was a lot of work. I don't know why, she had the bag with 4 ears missing! When all was said and done, we had a pile of shucks (for the horses), a bag of silks (for the trash or compost) and two bags full of corn. Off I went to get the canner and off she went to help Wally with something in the yard or over at her apartment. She's going to name it but hasn't come up with the perfect name yet. Once she does, we'll make her a sign and hang it up. I got the jars washed and the water in the canner and she scraped the corn from the cobs with my new Pampered Chef corn scraper... that thing is awesome by the way, you'll definitely want to get one if you buy lots of corn on the cob but need it off the cob. I totally forgot I even had it until Debbie said something about how they should make something for that job - LOL I was like, oh yeah, I have a scraper that I just bought before I moved here. She cracked up!

We got the jars in the canner and sealed them in so the pressure could build up. From there, they go at 11 pounds of pressure for 55 minutes. Once the canner had cooled down, we took the jars out and set them on the kitchen counter. They are hot, hot, hot at this point so I have a set of tongs especially for picking up hot jars. The smell is absolutely incredible!!! It's like a warm, buttery, freshly popped popcorn smell that just makes your mouth water. That's the best description I can come up with. You can ask Debbie or Neccy or anyone who has canned corn, it's one of the best smells ever! After they are out of the canner for about 5 minutes, they start to POP! You know you did a good job and the corn will be fresh for years. It was so much fun canning with Debbie there. You just never know what she's going to say and she had me laughing the whole time.

I have to mention that Debbie also helped me finish hanging all my clothes in my new closet. That was a chore! Clothes on hangers are heavy and carrying them up a spiral staircase is no easy job. I couldn't have done it so well without her. Now our view of the front yard is completely unobstructed - ahhhhh.

It's time for me to leave today and I didn't even get you all the way through Friday. I'll have a little more time to devote tomorrow so stay tuned... the party didn't even start until Saturday LOL

Tune in tomorrow for "As Days Go By..." Here's a funny one for ya!

 "Nothing makes a fish bigger than almost being caught." ~Author Unknown