Back to Normal

After surviving two back-to-back hurricanes, I hope life returns to normal this week. Irene left us without electric for five days and Lee dumped eight inches of rain on us last week. We had electric but flooding disrupted the normal flow of life. The forecast for this week looks sunny with the chance of a spotty shower once in awhile but no hurricanes are on the horizon.

Although my plans for the past two weeks had to be adjusted due to the weather, we were very fortunate. Our hearts go out to those whose homes were flooded or who had family members swept away in the floods. One was an eight-year-old boy who was playing in the water and another was a man who was trying to help someone with a flooded basement. We had only a small wet spot in the basement and we canceled some plans and stayed home because of flooded roads. That is minor compared to what some people are dealing with.

At least the electric stayed on during Lee and I was able to harvest the Concord grapes in the back yard and wrap up the 2011 canning season. We had a bumper crop of grapes this year, better than we've had for years. I decided they must thrive on neglect. They were not pruned, sprayed, or watched. I was astounded when I picked a five-gallon bucket full and saw I had hardly made a difference. In the end I got three buckets full which became 17 qts. juice concentrate and two batches of jelly. With great joy I put the canner away for the season. I am ready to do something different and start eating out of the freezer again.

At the top of my new list is cleaning the patio. I like to do that the end of August before it gets too cool to slop with the hose. The job was postponed two weeks due to the hurricanes but it looks like the beginning of this week will be perfect. By the end of the week we will have "a touch of fall" with temperatures struggling to reach 70.

Sometimes when life seems to be the same-old, same-old, we might begin to feel we're in a boring old rut. But when life is upset by unusual circumstances that old rut starts to look rather attractive and comfortable after all. I'm happy to slip back into my comfortable old rut this week and get back to normal. Someone said, "A rut is a grave with the ends kicked out." Not necessarily. A rut can be a blessing.

Apple Butter

Our Labor Day activity was making apple butter the old fashioned way in my sister's copper kettle. Last year was our first attempt and a learning experience. We had a larger crowd this year and therefore a bigger batch of apple butter. We shorten the process by starting with applesauce instead of raw apples. Rain had moved in overnight and threatened all day so my brother-in-law set the furnace in his implement shed where it would be under roof.

With so many of us taking turns stirring, no one had to stir long at a time. We started at 10 a.m. and the apple butter was pronounced finished approximately 1:45. We dipped it from the kettle to a big dishpan and divided it among us according to how much applesauce each of us had contributed to the kettle. I wound up with 3 qt. of apple butter for my 4 qt. applesauce.

I always made apple butter in the oven. Baking for three hours or slowly simmering in a crockpot will turn applesauce into apple butter just as well as cooking over a wood fire. But the apple butter made this way has a different flavor. The best part of apple butter day is swapping stories and catching up with each other's lives. The memories we make while we stir and ladle the stuff is the secret ingredient that gives old fashioned apple butter its superior taste---and maybe a little of the wood smoke gets stirred into it too.

I still have some apple butter in my freezer from previous years and really didn't need any more but I wouldn't have wanted to miss the day. I can always give it as Christmas gifts. Maybe by next year my older stuff will be used up and I'll be ready for a fresh batch.

Power Woman

Hurricane Irene is finally history in these parts. After 122 1/2 hours without electric, power was restored at 1:30 p.m. yesterday. I quickly unplugged the frig and freezer from the generator and into the wall receptacle again. Then I got rid of the tangle of cords running through the hall and kitchen and down the basement steps. Next I happily returned the coal oil lamps to their decorative positions and the gas lamp to the garage, poured the bucket of water on the plants, flushed the toilet (!), and reset clocks. Ahhh! We're back to normal.

As unhandy as it was to be without electric for five full days (plus a few hours), we are still fortunate. Leroy left at 4 this morning to go to New Jersey with a group of men who are doing flood clean up work. All we needed to do to put Irene behind us was have the electric restored. We did not lose anything in floods nor do we have to repair anything.

Still, I feel as if I sat by the side of the road all week unable to do much. Today I'm a Power Woman; all the electric I need to do anything I need to do. My sister knows me well. She warned me not to try to do everything today I was planning to do all week. The urge is there to do it all but I know that's impossible. I'll do what I can today and the rest of it next week.

I told Leroy I hope I never take electric for granted again but I probably will when the memory of this week fades. Today it still seems like a miracle to have light at the flip of a switch and water at the turn of a knob. It feels like being born again.

Power woman, start your engine! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!! And away I go!

Hurricane Irene

Hurricane Irene blew up the East Coast on Saturday. The wind increased all day Saturday and rain began falling. It was still raining when we got up Sunday morning but it seemed the worst was over. The power blinked once Sunday morning but came right back on. We went to church as usual and by the time it was over the rain had stopped and wind was dying down. We went merrily on our way to our dinner invitation at my cousin's house at Fleetwood. Eveything was fine there. We had a good meal and nice time visiting.

When we arrived home about 4 p.m. we found the electric had gone off at 11:02 a.m. Oh well. We didn't mind too much because it was Sunday and we weren't doing much anyway. I had tapped some drinking water and Leroy had filled a 5-gallon bucket with water for other uses. We went to church in the evening and then to bed by the light of a coal oil lamp, confident power would be restored by morning.

We awoke Monday morning to a dark house. Now it was beginning to become real. I hauled our dirty laundry up to Gene & Amy's house and ran it through her washer. It dried nicely on my solar powered washline. I spent quite a bit of time picking up the sticks that had blown down and burned them. I decided not to bother cooking supper; we can go out to eat and surely by Tuesday the power will be on.

We awoke Tuesday morning to a dark house. More of the same. I had invited Gene & Amy for supper because it was his birthday. Instead, I hauled the food up to their house and cooked it there. Surely by Wednesday morning the power will be on.

We awoke Wednesday morning to a dark house . . . . More of the same . . . Surely by Thursday morning the power will be on. . .

To be continued

According to this morning's paper, we could be out of electric until Saturday. I hope not, but am trying to look at the bright side. At least we don't have to worry about keeping warm, frozen pipes, and closed roads. We were able to borrow a generator from the shop to keep the food from spoiling in the frig and freezer. I discovered I can also plug in the microwave to make instant coffee and the computer to find out if the rest of the world is still out there. This may be the first gas-generated blog post you've ever read. Where there's a will there's a way.

But now I need to shut it off and plug the freezer in again. We'll survive but it sure is unhandy.

End Of The Season

I am exhausted in body but gratified in spirit. This morning I got two 5/8 baskets of big solid canning tomatoes at a nearby farm. I slopped around all day turning them into my own version of V-8 juice and tomato soup. I had enough pizza and spaghetti sauce left from last year so I wasn't going to make any this year. But 48 pts. of juice and soup later, I still had another 1.5 gallons of juice left. I decided it can be spaghetti sauce after all but didn't have all the ingredients on hand. I stuck the juice in the frig to wait for processing until another day.  What was I thinking? I probably have enough tomatoes to last us two years!

The Big 4 of the August harvest have been conquered for another year---corn, peaches, apples, and tomatoes. I'll can one basket of pears yet and probably freeze a couple pie fillings. There may be some grapes but we didn't spray them so they probably won't amount to much.

Since there is only two of us here anymore a little food goes a long way compared to what it once did. As I was canning peaches I asked myself if it is worth the work for not more than we need. But I concluded it is because Leroy is diabetic and commercially processed foods have too much sugar for him. I can accommodate his diet by canning my own products. And home canned tastes better too.
With so many produce farmers around here these days I let them grow most of my fruits and vegetables. Our garden has shrunk to fresh-eating size. It has the look of fall now. All that's out there anymore is potatoes, tomatoes, and a short row of green beans that decided to do an encore.
As much as we enjoy eating fresh things, I am glad the rush is over and I can soon stash my canner away for another year. I won't have any trouble finding other things to do!

Sharing Knowledge

One of the things that I like about volunteering at the historical society is that no two days are ever alike. Another of the benefits is the people I meet that I would probably never meet otherwise. This spring I met a man from California I had communicated with on genealogy via email but had never met. He happened to come in on one of my work days and we were both surprised to meet in the library. Today another lady came in who was only a name to me until we met there and since then we have helped each other with our projects.

Today I was working on getting a postcard collection ready for the archives when two couples walked in. One of them was my cousin, Nora Hoover, and her well-known historian husband, Amos. The couple with them was obviously Amish but I had no clue who they were until Amos introduced us. I was pleasantly surprised to learn he was David Luthy from Pathway Publishers in Ontario. And David and his wife had read some of my books and were also surprised when they heard my name. David immediately sent his wife upstairs to the bookstore to buy one of my books because he wanted an autographed copy.

Later in the day a lady came in to research her family history. I heard her telling Mary (the volunteer at the research desk)  the surnames she was searching for. One of them was Beery. Mary knew nothing about the Beerys but that is a family I have done some work on so I butted in and referred the lady to some books on the shelf which I knew were her Beery line. She was very grateful and impressed with what she found in the books. Being able to help someone like that produces a satisfied feeling.

Someone has said, "You will be the same five years from now except for the people you meet and the books you read." The historical society is crammed with books and a place where the currents of people's lives can mingle and flow together for a time; then go on to carry the shared knowledge in different branches to other places and people.

Sharing knowledge increases its value. Keeping knowledge erodes power. Sharing is the fuel to your growth engine.

'Tis The Harvest Time

The last half of July we were in the final preparations for Gerald's wedding. July 30 came and the wedding went off without a hitch. (Well, there WAS one hitch.) Then the following week I began catching up on all the things that I said could wait until "after the wedding." On Saturday I drew a deep breath and proclaimed I was caught up.

But I wasn't looking over my shoulder. While I was busy catching up on laundry, computer work, mail, cleaning, etc. the summer's produce was busily growing in the gardens and orchards. After only one day of rest (comparatively speaking; we had church and two picnics on Sunday) I woke up Monday morning to dive head first into the August canning rush.

On Monday Amy and I froze our corn for the winter and Leroy brought home two baskets of peaches. We were scheduled to be on the route today for Lantern Books so the peaches sat quietly in the patio turning more pink and juicy all day long. I sorted them when I got home and stashed one basket in the frig until morning. Then I went out in the garden and picked another basket of cucumbers, cabbage, and tomatoes. More stuff stashed in the bulging frig. Tomorrow will be peach day and the other things will have to wait their turn.

My canning season used to begin in June and run through October. Since we're a family of two now I don't need as much but for at least a couple weeks each summer there is something to can or freeze every day. It all adds up to good eating the rest of the year so I'm not complaining. When I think of the starving people in the horn of Africa I know I am mightily spoiled. I enjoy the harvest time and hearing the music of canning lids sealing but I'm glad I don't have to do it all year long.