The Garden Update

Pretty Pole Beans Pictured here:


Hot little Thai Chili Peppers:


Scallop Squash stating to grow:


Purple Pole beans pictured alone:


A picture of one of the Snow Peas we'll be eating tomorrow:


Check out this big salad Tomato:


My Corn is about "waist-high" to me:


Here is a baby Watermelon just getting started:


The ripening cherry tomatoes:


You can see the carrot tops are nice and big:


Here are the Brussel Sprouts:


A baby Bell Pepper:


Here is my cute little Cantaloupe:

My Adventures in Canning Chickens

Here is a pic of my lovely new Presto Pressure Canner.


Here is a picture of the finished product, canned chicken meat:


How I got there? Ah you did have to ask, didn't you?

Well, I had these three kosher chicken in the freezer. Ralph's has been selling them frozen, so I've been picking one up when I think about it. We ran out of room in the freezer for my chocolate ice cream, and this is the Wrong Time of the Month for that crap.

So on Tuesday morning, I took them out and thawed them. (I DO have priorities, yah know.) On Tuesday in the late afternoon, I realized that the big meat pans were Somewhere in a box. My boxes of "stuff" are on the patio and in the garage. So, I located the two pans. Procrastinated. Surfed the Net. Finally boiled the chickens. It was 11PM when they were done. Cooled 'em and stuck 'em in the fridge.

Today was C-day. Cleaned and assembled the new pressure cooker. Picked the chicken off the bones and put back in the fridge. Made a big vat of broth from turnips, carrots, onions, celery, garlic, salt, bay leaves, parsnips and pepper.

Filled the pint jars with meat. Ladled the hot broth over them, cleaned off the rims and put on the caps.

Got the water boiling in the canner. Put the jars in the canner and tightened the lid. Got the whole thing boiling without the pressure controller on the pan, like the instruction manual said to do. Put the controller on, turned down the heat, adjusted in until the pressure was 11 psi. All good. Book said to keep on the pressure for 75 minutes. Cool.

Thirty minutes into processing time, I am in the living room eating lunch and I hear a "pop". I look up and streamy water is squirting straight up from the canner to the ceiling. Yeah, the overpressure plug blew. So, I got the canner turned off, the pressure released and the water mopped up. (BTW - a Swiffer mop with a towel works wonders to clean a ceiling. Darn it was filthy!)

The book, of course, said that you need a new plug. Try finding one in California. I ordered three on line. They'll be here sometime before my next birthday, I'm sure.

So, I go next door to talk to the neighbor, Lou. Lou is about 87 or so. He says to just try putting the plug back in and see if it holds the pressure. Dang, someone needs to tell Tom Dashle that old people are useful.

And it worked. Lou said it was probably just not seated correctly and blew out because of theimproper seal. So I finished up and can now do the other stuff I was planning before I cleaned the ceiling.

And I got out to yoga class at 6pm, too. Amazing.

Lettuce talk about the economy....

We ate our first lettuce from the garden yesterday. YUM! I made a kidney bean salad with red wine vinegar dressing and plpped it on the bed of lettuce with a piece of baked salmon and a hunk of fresh challah. Dr. Happy is still happy!

As for the stock market, Home Depot just got another chunk o'change from me for the micro irrigation supplies and Yahoo seems to think they are doing well (along with Hershey's, Kraft and Smith & Wesson):

On the earnings front, there are several major retailers set to post quarterly scorecards, including Dow component Home Depot and its major rival Lowe's Cos. Earlier this week, Citigroup upgraded its rating on Home Depot's stock to "buy" from "hold," saying it believes the earnings-per-share estimates for the top home improvement retailer may be conservative for 2009. Lowe's has reiterated its first-quarter outlook for profits and sales.

I have other projects planned for the lil homestead here, so I am just giving y'all a Insider Trading Tip (TM).

Have a great evening!

Garden Pictures coming...

later tonight. Yup, I've been kickin' butt in the Victory Garden. Not giving anything away, you'll just have to wait and see.

Meanwhile, George, in talking about melting "stuff" and flooding "junk", there was a bright, shiny lining to the clouds in Washington DC. (Collapse Of Antarctic Ice Sheet Would Likely Put Washington, D.C. Largely Underwater) We can only hope that Congress is in session and Obama is home for the week. And all the boats in the area have big ole holes in the bottoms and there are NO floatation devices for a 300 mile radius. Of course, The People's Republik of Kalifornia will also be under water - and I'm not so sure I'll be able to swim to Kansas...

In a related posting, and to support his theory that Wash DC takes the above seriously, he posted this link: CIA Plans to Shift Work to Denver,
Domestic Division Would Be Moved. I think it has more to do with Obamessiah releasing classified data and the CIA feeling safer to "spook around" as far away from DC as possible. Of course, then they WOULD be out here in PSRK, so, maybe he's onto something.

Ah and Massachusetts is giving away free cars:
Massachusetts Welfare Recipients Given Cars
by Rodan
This is unreal, but another example of the creeping Socialist/Marxist direction America is going in. In the Radical Neo-Marxist state of Massachusetts, Gov. Deval Patrick is giving cars to welfare recipients.

Free cars for poor fuel road rage (in thr Boston Herald)
Gov. Deval Patrick’s free wheels for welfare recipients program is revving up despite the stalled economy, as the keys to donated cars loaded with state-funded insurance, repairs and even AAA membership are handed out to get them to work.
But the program - fueled by a funding boost despite the state’s fiscal crash - allows those who end up back on welfare to keep the cars anyway.
“It’s mind-boggling. You’ve got people out there saying, ‘I just lost my job. Hey, can I get a free car, too?’ ” said House Minority Leader Brad Jones (R-North Reading)

.

Here's a Flying Pig Flu Puzzle for ya. Found it on a website frequented by Right Wing Extremists (TM) and Conspiracy Theorists (TM). How fun will that be?

American Warriors in their own words...Just in time for Memorial Day.

Off to Home Depot for more supplies!