Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Pickles

Just as the peas were going out, the cucumbers were coming in. And with them, the dill began to flower. It's time for pickles!
These are Boston pickling cucumbers.
Adam is our pickle-maker. He prefers dills, and makes lots of refrigerator jars of them. I prefer a sweet/dill mix. However, I'm prone to make many jars and never eat them.
Dill from my herb garden
So he made me one jar of sweet/dill chips, my favorite.
He also installed the kitchen over-sink light. Hooray!
The green grassy stuff is lemongrass, which has rooted in a jar - yay!
Usually our hottest, nastiest temperatures are reserved for July and August, but today the high was 96, with a heat index of about 106. Ugh! It was awful. I walked out of the hospice thrift store (with this)
(Air Margaritaville is a restaurant.)
... and the outdoors felt like a sauna on full blast. The whole outdoors. You fellow-Southerners know wherof I speak. 

I lost one of my baby chicks to a predator, so now I have 3. She was my favorite, and I was pretty sure she was a hen. Sad :(

Granny Marigold inspires me with her faithful baking, so this afternoon I made some of my healthy oatmeal cookies. I haven't made any since March or April. 
There. That's dinner sorted!
I carefully started quite a few Blue Lake green bean plants and put them into a lovely garden bed. Two mornings later, the rabbits had done this:
All but about four of my bean plants were nibbled to nubbins.
So Adam installed the rabbit fence. I'm tired of rabbits.
And now for the BIG news ... we are getting a roof! Adam was so very stressed about it, and I asked him, "Well, there must be lots of people in our situation, who must have a new roof, but who don't have spare thousands sitting around. What do they do?"
"I guess they get a loan."
So we got a bank loan. We haven't gotten a bank loan since we bought my piano back in 1991, I think! We will tighten our belts a bit more and make the payments, but the most important thing is ... our ceilings will not start falling in. Hooray! We are pleased with the roofer we chose. He says the roof we have now is probably the original metal roof. Original -- that means 1922. That's a mighty old roof. The materials will be delivered today.I'll have pictures for you when it's on. 

Thanks for stopping by, friends. I'm so glad to have blog friends - you gals are a big encouragement to me!

8 comments:

Dogwood Lane Rambles said...

I know it about stops your heart when yo sign those loan papers. I just hate owing money but sometimes it just has to be done for safety sake, peace of mind and to just get on with your life. You'll have that paid off in no time and in the mean time not have to worry each time the sky clouds over.

Unknown said...

So happy to hear about your roof! I just love your farm blog— I’m not very good at growing things so it’s fun to read about all your garden vegetables.

Granny Marigold said...

I'm sorry about your baby chick that got taken by some predator. I wonder what it was that took it.
I'm pleased that I can be an encouragement to to to bake. I myself am going to make muffins this afternoon, timing it so I can make an oven-type supper. The house gets so hot anyway by late afternoon in spite of my closing windows etc..
Oldest daughter and her daughter, ( Kate, who cuts all our hair around here) are coming over so the muffins will be sent along with them. Well, not ALL of them!
Good news about the new roof. No one wants to go into debt but sometimes it's inevitable.

GretchenJoanna said...

A roof is the kind of important "investment" that a loan is very good for!!

Pom Pom said...

I'm sorry about our little chick.
I'm also sorry about the heat. It makes me crabby. I can't imagine.
I have not been in a pickle mood for quite a few years. When I grew cucumbers I tired of pickle making.
Yay for a new roof!

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

May God supply your financial needs to make the payments for your new roof. Having that job will be such a relief to you both, no more stressing over water leaks and damages done because of them.

Sorry to hear about your missing chick.

Those pickles look delicious!

Have a great day ~ FlowerLady

happyone said...

It is great to have a light over the sink.
It is a big cost getting a new roof. You might be saving yourself money in the long run though by keeping water damage from happening.
I've done my share of shingling roofs!!

Henny Penny said...

The heat is driving me crazy too. It is miserable outside, and there is so much to do! Wish I could bake like Granny Marigold too...she makes it look so simple. Your cookies look delicious!