Ok, here's what we have.

Our good friends down the road gave us about 100 lbs. of organic plums.

As we didn't want any to go to waste we commenced to converting the plums into products with a shelf life longer than 5 minutes.

Mari canned various recipes including a wonderful jam and my part was to proceed with a fancy Japanese Plum Wine recipe that I have wanted to try.

The picture depicts the 'cap' of the 'must' , mostly an unchopped fruit and skin layer that floats on the top of the liquid.

This batch seems to be very happy, just fermenting along like a percolator on low. We will have the bulk of the fermentation done within 7-10 days and then I will transfer into a 'carboy' for further fermentation/aging.
I don't think that most folks have any idea how easy it is to produce finished products that rival anything available at your local market. The quality of the jams and preserves that we can/put by each year is far superior to anything you can buy at the store and allot of it ,except for the elbow grease, is FREE.
I really enjoy the ritual of canning food, gardening, wine making etc.
It is just like reloading your own shells, you know exactly where it all came from and how it got into your hot little hand.
I will post up some more pics as this batch progresses.

School Yard Games

One of the first lessons I remember my Dad teaching me was that when you don't succeed at a task or chore the LAST thing you do is blame some one else.


Come now Mr President you knew the state of things when you ran for office........Be a man Barry (remember that name, the one you used for 9/10th's of your life?).


I read nonstop and Tam seems to always have the correct sight picture.


http://booksbikesboomsticks.blogspot.com/2010/08/what-have-you-done-for-me-lately.html



Anther lesson Dad taught me is that when a grown man changes his name there can't be a good reason, all the justifications are meant to hide something.


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Drive the Car !

I will make this short.

Please people when you are in your car be aware of what can happen in just an instant.
No more putting on makeup ,reading the newspaper, texting , working on your laptop etc while driving.

This Tuesday we had the misfortune to attend a funeral for the son of a dear friend, a 27 year old scholar, 3 masters degrees, on his way to a doctorate, probably genius level intellect with a servant in the passenger seat who could have driven , decided to take his laptop and place it in his lap while driving. Although the airbags deployed , the laptop cut him in half.
This event has crushed the spirit of a very close family.

Drive the car mate.
Nothing else is more important.
Pullover to do what you must but please,
DRIVE THE DAMN CAR!

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Wild Horses

Somehow in all this , Sundays can be perfect.

Early Sunday Mari and I headed off in The Silver Truck to check our Blackberry,Elderberry and Huckleberry crop. (whispered aside), 'Have I told you how much I love my truck?'

We don't have anything to pick yet except the Elderberries and they were slim pickins'.

The interesting discovery was as we got close to the old mill site Mari yells "Horses!".

Now, when I am at the wheel and Mari yells any animals name my only alternative is to slam on the brakes.



"What do we have here?"



Someone has released into the forest two nice mares,one Cinnamon and one a kind of Appy/Paint blend. Now these horses appear healthy if not a little fat, neither is wearing shoes nor have they been groomed in a long time. They wouldn't let us very close but after we parked the truck guess who appeared out of the tree line and followed us down the trail!


In our county, rural property has held its value fairly well over the last 24 months. However, lots of folks got sucked into the "Lets take our equity out and buy a new boat/cabin/rv/any piece of crap I cannot afford" syndrome. I'm not talking about new home owners in our area I'm talking about 3rd and 4th generation ranch owners who got sucked into the scheme and are now loosing the house and ranch.


I imagine this is what happened to our two nice mares. They will be ok for awhile but winter will not be kind here in the Sierra Nevada .We will keep the location secret but not many people go where we were and I didn't see another soul in 35 miles of 4 wheeling. Keeping horses is expensive and both Mari and I have been down this road before so now we have another dilemma to solve.


On our way back to the house we did a little more exploring linking our normal route with a route that comes out on a paved road. We found a great skinny dipping hole filled with 3 to 4 inch native brown trout. Just a perfect place to cool off from berry picking, and where there is little fish there must be big fish..........


We ended the day with dinner at our friend's Reyna and Kevin's ranch. They have a nice place about two thousand feet lower than us. BBQ chicken, couple of salads and a nice bottle of Barefoot Merlot. I will never understand how a winery can produce and distribute a decent wine for under $8 a bottle. Kevin then sent us home with more vegetables and plums than we can eat in a month.
I guess I will break out the dehydrator early. Maybe find all the stuff to make some plum wine.


Another great day!



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Federal Budget

Husband of The Boss nails it at;
http://patricelewis.blogspot.com/p/husband-of-boss.html

Excerpt,

"As an example: A couple of days ago (just in time for the annual early-July Federal holiday, I forget the name) the United States Congress did something incredibly innovative. In what was no doubt an exemplary attempt at fiscal restraint, Congress decided to boldly forgo the time intensive and expensive process of budget creation and highly visible debate and instead opted to "deem as passed" the 1.12 trillion 2011 federal budget.
Courageously casting their pre-vacation votes while running for the door (or in some cases calling it in while waiting for their Air Force supplied commuter jets), the Democrat majority bravely withstood the usual divisive Republican "Nabobs of Negativity" (Thanks Spiro) who peppered the non-debate with false flag arguments like "It's unconstitutional!" (Oh please! Like what's the Constitution got to do with the law?) and "Where's MY pork!??!"

You just can't write stranger fiction......

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Obamas Vacation

You just can't make this shit up!

www.americansfortheconstitution.com/.../obama-trip-to-spain-spits-on-all-tax-payers/

I have dumped every dime I have earned this year back into The Company and will not get a vacation for the third year in a row. I also have acquired NO additional debt.

I feel like throwing up.
Better yet where is that bottle of Bushmills?

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Fragile People

I guess a year late is a good a start as any.

People break rather easily. It never ceases to amaze me how the biological vessels we inhabit as humans can take an incredible amount of abuse from those of us who choose to play and work hard. But yet those of us who take good care of our vessels always seem to be the ones who end up with some exotic disease that no M.D. can figure out.

I have spent the last year watching Miss Mari go from a fit ,vital being to a fragile , exhausted shell of her previous self.

I can tell she still has some steam left in her but the frayed edges are starting to show.

The doctors are still testing with no clear diagnosis in sight. I do what I can to lessen her load and she in no way is ready to quit,but my fear is waking to a cold still body some morning.

I have always been a caregiver, going back to my E.M.T. days, and I suppose I have just enough medical knowledge to be dangerous. Sometimes the interaction with the doctors can get contentious as egos collide but I have to remember what is best and that my drive must be for the betterment of the Patient.

Combine all this with the HUGE Bucket list we both have and I can feel time slipping away.

Sometimes with the demands of The Company and the desire to be free from the responsibility and just go work for someone else, I feel as though my freakin head is going to explode.

I have always known what is good for me , however I don't always chose the correct path. Hence this blog.

I need the outlet just to vent and will try to be upbeat and positive in future posts.



Tonite when you get home , hug your kids/wife/grandma/grandpa/ect, tell them that you love them very much. Enjoy and take joy in your evening together.



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