Sunday, September 6, 2015

Hyde Park Happiness

Can I just tell you that there is nothing better than working together for a desired objective?! Last year, I made salsa by myself because the tomatoes were ready just when everyone else was too busy to help. It took me all day long! But, Ruth and her family came up this weekend and brought their tomatoes, peppers and onions and we (with Lauren's help) got the whole batch made in 1 hour and 15 minutes!! Of course it had to boil down for a couple of hours - but we made lunch, Ruth renewed my feet, and we played a game while that happened. Then we processed the 30+ pints, cleaned up the whole mess and went for a walk. And they were on their way home by 5:30 or so. I was still in a mess and doing salsa at that time last year...

Moral: only do canning when there is company, conversation and fun to be had! It goes faster, is much more pleasant, and feels better when it's all done. I don't think I've had such a satisfying day in a very long time! Thanks to Ruth and Lauren, for the kitchen companionship - and to Dad for being our heavy lifter and for setting things up, and to Garrett and Emma for taking care of the kiddos while we were in the kitchen! I hope you all had as great a day as I did. And by the way, in Lauren's words, "The salsa is to die for!" Oh, and I forgot to mention the bushel of peaches we bottled for Ruth on Friday night. They got here, unloaded, and we started on the peaches - finished them and cleaned up in about 2 hours! Amazing.

Dad's tooth trouble has finally been resolved. He had his root canal after a week long effort to get rid of the excess infection, then got his filling replaced because most of it had fallen out. Glad to have that done and hope to not have any further teeth issues. He did have a funny chicken situation recently that I told some of you about. One morning, Dad went out to feed the chickens and heard one of them quacking!! I even heard it inside the house and wondered if one of our neighbors had recently acquired ducks. Anyway, when he went to find the quacking chicken, he found an injured duck in our hen house! We have no idea how it got there, but it was limping and in distress, poor thing. Dad put on some gloves and brought it up to the house. We decided it should probably have some water, so I drove down to the canal while Dad held the duck on his lap. It settled down when we started driving and seemed to like being in the truck. When we got to the canal, Dad set it in the water and it took off like a shot! It couldn't walk while on land, but sure knew what to do when it hit the water! I wish I had thought to take some pictures...

I didn't know Elise had responded to my FHE invitation/request, but the Harts are willing to try out the long distance FHE with us some time! We'll let you know how it goes and if it's worth making a tradition of. This week we are going to Springville for FHE with Grandpa and Christi. He is wanting to have more frequent connections with family. Please remember them in your prayers.

Have a great week, one and all! Remember to call if you want help canning.....

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