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The great irony during canning season is that we rarely eat a homemade meal because all of my thought and energy is focused on preserving the foods that currently occupy the shelves and drawers in the fridge.  As of tonight, I have the following waiting for my attention: 1 head of green cabbage, 1 head of red cabbage, 5 large cucumbers, 1 gallon bag of sliced apricots, 1 qt. bag of gooseberries, 1 gallon bag of tomatillos, 4 pickling cucumbers, 4 zucchini, 1 qt. bag of shredded zucchini, 1 qt. bag of chopped cheddar cauliflower, 6 crookneck summer squash, and 1 gallon bag of beets.  On my kitchen counter there is a bin of apples, a bowl of tomatoes, the dehydrator currently drying apples, and 8 pints of canned German red cabbage are just starting to cool.  And Justin wonders why the laundry doesn't get put away!  I picked all of the produce in the above photos over the last two days and yet the kids ate mac and cheese for dinner tonight (J was out fishing until 10:30pm and ate leftover mac and cheese when he got home).  Granted, we do have leftover grilled eggplant, zucchini and squash in the fridge but it's buried underneath the cucumbers, I think.  The tops of the cupboards are starting to fill up with beautifully colored jars of raspberry jam, apricot syrup, and brandied cherries.  If all goes according to plan, I should have almost every color of the rainbow represented by the end of canning season.  Of course, we may also have a garbage can full of empty McDonald's cartons.

Fire in the hole

I currently have 16 half-pint jars of apricot syrup cooling on my counter but a few hours ago I had a small kitchen fire blazing in one of my drip pans.  Darn me for trying to double a recipe in a not-quite-big-enough pot!  Fortunately Justin kept his cool and turned the burner off while I was delicately balancing the still full pot of apricot syrup on the edge of the oven while trying to not get burned by the bubbling water bath next to me.  My response to the fire was to keep blowing it out whenever it flared up, all while digging through my cupboard for my baking soda.  I knew the fire extinguisher was under the sink but again, I wasn't about to let my picking/pitting/cooking go to waste.  Smart man that he is, Justin realized I was panicking and coolly turned the dial off.  He's awfully handy to have around in moments like this! 

I'm still pretty amped up by the apricot adventure.  I failed to add that I attempted this new canning recipe during the evening of one of the hottest days we've had this summer.  And there's a new forest fire that's close enough to add the smell of smoke in the air.  At least the house already smelled smokey when my fire started :)  So I'm sitting here late at night trying to calm down, cool the house off, and care for Mr. P who has a bad cold.  I think colds in summer should be illegal.  Not to mention it's almost impossible to hear his cries for help above the roaring fans we have in the windows.  I just can't win tonight.

This already sleepless night lends itself to helping me catch up on those elusive photos I keep bragging about.  JoAnn and George came for a full week about two weeks ago and at the end of every day we were wiped out!  The kids went to bed late and it felt like we were constantly on the go.  We had a lot of fun adventures with them in spite of not covering our whole to-do list.  Maybe next time!

Photo overkill

I have a gazillion photos to post.  I really do.  Justin's mom and her husband were here for a week and we did it all: raspberry picking, the rodeo and fair, fishing at Georgetown Lake, gem mining, playground fun, the market, everything!  And I have photos to prove it.  BUT I've run out of room to add images to Picasa to post them here.  Any suggestions?  I think it may be time to move my non-blog photos over to the external hard drive to see if that helps but it seems like a headache to save each picture individually.  Does anyone know a faster way to do it?  I'm hoping you do.  Help a girl out so you can delight in some awesome photos of Madeleine in her Christmas dress sitting on the ground trying to confine 20 worms in her hands.  Seriously, you're gonna want to see these!

Cline-isms

Things recently heard around our house:
1.  Parker just flushed his toothbrush down the potty!
2.  If you stand there you're crotch will get soaked.
3.  Don't pull his leg off!
4.  Brush the dirt off before you put it in your mouth.
5.  Did he just eat the stem and all?
6.  If you try to chase it you'll probably get stung!
7.  It's okay Daddy, you can say a bad word.