Electric Candle Survey

There are less than seven days left until summer ends and the first day of fall arrives. Since the hours of dark and daylight are nearly equal again I got my electric window candles out of summer storage and set them up last evening. I have them on a timer in our bedroom so they go off around 9:30 because I can't sleep with a light on at night. In the summer when it doesn't get dark until nearly 9 it is hardly worth having them on. So I usually put them away in June and get them out again about this time of year. I think the house looks so inviting when we drive up in the dark and can see a light in every window.

As I was putting the electric candles in the windows I remembered reading a list of things that are typical of Pennsylvania. Here are just a few of them:

You know you are in Pennsylvania when...
*Hearing horses clopping down a paved road doesn't bring you to the window to see what's going on outside.
*Red Beet Eggs makes your list of top ten favorite foods.
*When it snows they put cinders on the roads instead of sand.
*You call Sloppy Joes "barbecue."
*You do things "once," as in "I'll go check in the back room once."
*Your turkey has "filling," not "stuffing" or "dressing."
*You say things like, "Outen the lights," "I'm calling off today," and "They're calling for snow."
*At least five people on your block have electric candles in most of their windows all year long.

How about that last one? I never thought of year-round electric candles as a Pennsylvania thing, but after hearing out-of-state visitors comment on the candles I began to wonder if there is some truth to it after all. Don't many people in other states use electric candles all year?

I'd like to take a survey. If you live in a state other than Pennsylvania, post a comment and let me know if electric candles in the windows are considered a Christmas decoration or commonly used all year in your state.

Men/Women

Here is a cute picture Leroy brought home one day last week portraying the difference between men and women. Men have one switch labeled "on" and "off." Women are much more complex creatures.

Leroy said there is one thing missing on the panel for women---a big loudspeaker. :-) I know I talk more than he does but don't let him fool you, he likes it that way. He readily admits he would make a very poor bachelor.

Honestly now, isn't it true that men like to fiddle and tinker with things to make them run smoothly? What challenge would there be in a one-switch woman?

In defense of women, I don't think all of us have this many buttons and knobs. Some of us are pretty basic creatures who plow through life without constant fine tuning to keep us running smoothly. But it shall always be a woman's prerogative to change her mind!

Finish Line

I crossed the finish line at 5 p.m. today. Here is the chorus line of eight jars of grape jelly. The musical pinging of their lids sealing was nearly drowned out by the clashing sound of the lid being slammed on the canner. It is now washed and stuffed away for the season.

I have been canning non-stop the last month or so. My freezer and jar shelves are bulging with more than we can eat in one winter. This has been the best growing season we had in years so I figured I might as well do plenty when we have it in case next year is a lean one. I'm thankful for the good year but still, what a relief to be done! I'm looking forward to getting back into the past lane next week and having more time to dig into historical things again.

The Laughing Bride

This is great! It was on the news yesterday. I can imagine myself doing the same thing if it had been me. For some reason I couldn't get it to embed so just click on the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clw7SAJs_6w

Summer Is Ending

It seems as if it was just a few weeks ago we were in Kansas for the Memorial Day weekend, and here we are at the other end of the summer finishing the Labor Day weekend. We limited our observance of the holiday to grilling hamburgers for supper and otherwise spent the day laboring. Since our Saturdays are all spoken for this month, we took advantage of the opportunity to clean the garage today. Over the years we've found a plan that works. He empties the garage, I scrub it, and he puts things back in when it's dry. Every year I think we will do better at keeping it clean but every year dirt happens. Clutter happens. And then we do it all over again the next year before the weather turns too cool to be slopping with the hose.

The signs of fall are increasing by the day. We are closing the windows at night now and I put a quilt on the bed. The crocheted bedspread is just not warm enough anymore. As we speak, I hear the sound of the corn chopper making silage of the tall corn. They've been at it all day and make quick work of it with a trailer truck driving beside the huge chopper. No little silage wagons for them! (This picture is actually chopping hay but it will give you the idea.) In about two days all the corn fields around us will be bare and empty.

We've been seeing a hummingbird around the house the last week or so. I don't know how long we can convince it to hang around but we resurrected Gerald's old hummingbird feeder and hung it on the porch. Today we saw the hummingbird feeding there. I hope it spreads the word and brings some friends. That would be one way to hang onto summer a bit longer.

Higher Kingdom Christian Bookstore

One of my cousins opened an online Christian bookstore this year called Higher Kingdom Christian Bookstore. His main objective was to make available online the books published by TGS International, an arm of Christian Aid Ministries. This humanitarian aid and relief agency with headquarters in Berlin, Ohio, operates a food packing and meat canning center in Pennsylvania as well as five clothing centers in the United States and Canada. Many of the books published by TGS tell heart-rending true stories of people whose lives have been torn apart in the countries around the world where Christian Aid Ministries is working to bring relief.

In addition to books published by TGS, Higher Kingdom Christian Bookstore also offers high-quality Christian books by other publishers. You can go to the bookstore by clicking on the link on the right. The web address is www.HigherKingdom.com.

Shifting Gears

Huff puff !! I'm finally getting there! To the end of the garden and the August canning rush, that is. I prophesied things would gum up during the last two weeks of August and that's what happened. Things have been a little crazy around here lately but the dust began to settle today.

My canning repertoire for last week included corn, tomatoes, apples, and pickles. This week it was same song, second verse with tomatoes taking center stage on Monday and apples on Tuesday. My tally so far this week is 16 qt. spaghetti sauce, 36 pt. pizza sauce, 29 qt. applesauce, 2 qt. dried corn, and 5 pt. sweet pickles. Another kind of pickles is curing and can be processed tomorrow. I have just come in from picking the last two dozen ears of corn in the garden and a nice mess of green beans. They are still blooming and will probably continue to give us something fresh to eat for a couple more weeks. Other than the beans, the only thing still left in the garden are tomatoes. I probably could have picked another bucketful but chose to ignore them--at least for today.

Since our Family Day concluded with a cookout here on Saturday, I decided to skip cleaning last week knowing the place would need cleaning more after than before 27 people circled my table. Another prophesy came true. After the last ones left around 9:30 p.m. I was too tired to sweep the floor and I did not have time on Monday or Tuesday to do anything about it either. By last evening the floor was so sticky I could not tolerate walking on it in bare feet. My choices were either to wear socks or carry a putty knife to pry my feet loose after each step. (I chose the former.) Wednesday is not normally a kitchen-cleaning day but today was an exception.

My hoard of provisions for the winter are safely stored on the shelves in the basement, the kitchen is clean, and the garden is nearly empty. I will still can small amounts of a few things but the August rush is over. I'm happy to be shifting gears and moving into fall mode.