Whatcha Up To???

[w_r_ranch]

Harvested tomatoes & cucumbers. Gave some to our neighbor & the mail lady.

Prepped 2 more pans of tomatoes for roasting. These will be made into spaghetti sauce.

 

[Ibtsoom]

Made white grape jelly from my wife's vine in the back yard and yesterday she picked mustangs that I cooked down.. I'll make the jelly from those tonight. I've put up about 70 pints of stewed tomatoes, 14 pints of okra and tomatoes, 7 quarts and a pint of marinara and 14 quarts of hot dill pickles thus far. Just about done... I have some salsa and some rotel style tomatoes left to go. I have about 4 gallons of blanched and frozen tomatoes left. I've also harvested fifty, 8oz jars and one pint of honey thus far. I have two more hives to go.. should be another 70 or 80 lbs of honey in those. Okra is just starting to produce good so I'll probably vac seal and freeze a bunch of that in the next few weeks. Been a busy spring..

 

[w_r_ranch]

Sprayed RoundUp around the yard. I had to quit at 1200 hrs. as it's was so hot.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Canned the spaghetti sauce that I made a couple of days ago. We got 6 pints out of that lil' batch.

Watered the garden, asparagus, the Crape Myrtles & the porch pots/hanging baskets. The heat index is expected to hit 110 degrees (Update: It reached 120.7 degrees today).

Made a molasses cake for our dessert.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Did the weekly shopping, hit the package store & picked up the prescription eye drops.

Went to pickup the last part for the Defender that I had on order. I'll install it sometime this weekend.

Fed the cattle.

Brought the old Gator to the house to start prepping it for sale.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Harvested jalapenos & green bell peppers for another double batch of Picante Sauce. It's going to be a 'dicey' day, LOL!!! We got it done & will can it up tomorrow.

Started a loaf of sourdough bread.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Finished making the sourdough bread.

After harvesting & adding cilantro, we canned the Picante Sauce that we made yesterday. We got another 18 pints out of that double batch!!!

 

[Ibtsoom]

Sweated my arse off cutting down trees at my mothers house on Friday. Replaced the aging, brittle clear panels on my shed roof and added some flashing to my carport on Saturday before weedeating the yard. Yesterday I made mayhaw jelly and mustang grape jelly. The wife and I picked another 5 gallon bucket of mustangs yesterday afternoon and I cooked all those down for juice. Gotta go back to work so I can rest for a few days.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Watered the garden, asparagus, all the trees& the porch pots/hanging baskets.

Fed the cattle.

 

[KsK]

Canned 8 (1/2 pints) of spicy pickle relish. Tried the spicy bread and butters made last month. I like them. The bathroom project has stopped as when the “project manager” doesn’t show up,no work is done. Aaaaahhhhh!

 

[w_r_ranch]

Took Dieter to the vet's office to get his toenails cut (he is the only dog I ever had that hated having it done).

Went to the Can-Am dealer to order a few more parts... Yeah, I thought I was done too...

 

[w_r_ranch]

Harvested the mint, then rinsed it off before putting it in the dehydrator.

Made another molasses cake per request.

Started cleaning/detailing the old Gator so we can sell it before hunting season.

 

[w_r_ranch]

The local Lowe's Supermarket had cyro-packed whole sirloins on sale this week for $3.99 per pound, so I ran up to town this morning & picked up 2 of them (~25 pounds). I'll slice & vacuum pack them tomorrow.

Cut the grass ahead of the predicted rain from the hurricane. Afterwards, as I was reaching into a irrigation valve box to turn it on, I found it was occupied by a 18" copperhead. Needless to say, I fed it to our resident pair of black buzzards (they have been with us the last 2 years).

Simple supper for today, onions under a smashed sirloin cheese burger with sweet onions on a toasted bun served with steak fries. This will be the 1st time I get to use the steel plate that I had cut for the gas grill. Yeah, I must be crazy to be grilling with the heat index sitting at 116 degrees, LOL!!!.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Went to La Grange to get my haircut & stopped to pickup a few things I can't get here.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Started prepping for hurricane Beryl... I hate to say it, but we need the rain.

Harvested the garden, it's done producing due to the heat.

Fed the cattle.

Unloaded the remaining feed into the Defender so I can go get another load before my eye surgery.

Burned the trash (feed sacks/cardboard).

Moved my Jeep into the barn in case it hails.

Took the hanging baskets down & put them against the walls of house. I did the same with the spider plants.

Took the flags down.

Cut the whole sirloins into 6 - 3" thick steaks & vacuum packed them for freezing.

We're as prepared as we're going to be, bring on the rain. It's margarita time!!!

 

[KsK]

We do need the rain. My preps are not as much as when I lived on the coast.Shredded again this morning. I’m finally caught up.

 

[Titus Bass]

In will be getting ready for the storm tomorrow. Expecting winds to about 70 mph and 6 - 8 inches of rain.

 

[wolffman]

Going to try to get the grass cut before the storm. Got hit with a rain storm yesterday that messed up those plans. Do a little storm prep around the house after that. Was supposed to fly out on Tues to Yosemite but we shifted that until Wed. What a mess, lots of work to rearrange all the reservations.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Prepped & roasted the tomatoes from yesterday. These will be used for a special batch of picante sauce (extra spicy) for our neighbor.

Took down the umbrella on the back patio table & put it in the garage. Also tied the garbage can to the pipe entry.

Continued primping the ol' Gator.

 

[wolffman]

Well, looking like we’re taking a direct hit from the storm. Wonderful.

 

[w_r_ranch]

I called it yesterday (the weather people were 'uncommitted' chickens), LOL!!!

We are in it's path as well. Being east of us, you will get the heaviest rain & the strongest winds... do you want to come here??? Misery likes company, as they say...

The first band of showers from Beryl is coming through right now (0.07" thus far).

 

[Titus Bass]

Yeah, we are about 35 miles East of predicted landfall. Hopefully it will stay a low cat1

 

[Titus Bass]

Pretty rough here right now. Lots of limbs down and lost power around 2 am. Generator running. I think I may have lost my water well house.....Highest wind gust here has been a little over 80. Sustained winds in mid 40's......

 

[w_r_ranch]

Hope you guys are OK... if you need anything in the next few days, give me a call.

As of right now, it looks like it took a more northerly turn than I expected & so being on the west/dry side, we are not catching the brunt of it. We'll see what's what when the sun comes up.

Dieter got me up 3X last night to tell me the generator was running...

 

[wolffman]

It’s blowing. Catching an electrical light show out front as the power lines keep arcing. The eye is almost here so we’ll catch a short break.