On Friday morning I was up at 4:15AM and got started on the post. Next was cleaning the kitchen and getting ready for more food prep. I got ready for the day and my helper friend arrived at 8AM.
I pulled out all the turkey dinner components and we got the bacon off the breast and finished cooking it crisp. While I was packaging up dinners for the freezer, my helper was preparing the ingredients for more Cranberry-Blueberry Chutney and got that started.
I continued to cook the bacon while finding containers for the chutney and the persimmon pudding my helper friend was now making.
I had picked up a 5 lb ham on Wednesday and wanted to process it down into meals for me. So I started making vacuum sealer bags while my helper friend cut it into portions: ham slices, thin sliced ham, and cubes for soup. I got 11 meals out of it.
But when I went to put things in the upstairs freezer, I realized what that freezer needed was emptied out. So my helper friend made 2 trips to the cellar with baskets full of stuff that should have been in the cellar fridges. I didn’t have time to clean it, though it sorely needs it.
After the rain
I had called the co-op to see if they were going to get organic cream cheese in on Friday. The department head said that he checked and the warehouse for the area is empty of it. So my best bet was to hit the area stores and see if I could find it. So I immediately sent my helper off in search and he found the last 2 tubs of it in one store. He had to go to the co-op for the cranberries and oranges to make the relish though, as the other store was out. Grocery shopping is done!
I set up to make the relish when he got back from shopping, and put the 3rd section on the tree.
But then I realized he had to leave at 11:45AM so I zoomed upstairs and started emptying out the store room of all the Christmas boxes. Most of them landed on the bed; there were only 5 with lights, garlands, and house decorations going down to the living room this time. The rest could come down on Tuesday when he returns.
I sat down for a short while to order more Christmas lights before getting a shower to go to PT at 1:15PM. On my way out I saw a squirrel had attacked the pumpkin on the front steps.
When I got home, I got out some of my helper friend’s ghost pepper sauce and coated the area. Bet that squirrel gets a surprise!
At 4:30PM I turned on all the candles and got the wood stove going. It had rained most of the day.
After 2 months of very dry weather and drought, it was nice to see wet spots everywhere.
It was to be in the 40’s during the night and rain again Saturday morning. I decided just having the wood stove and not the masonry heater would be okay.
I was too tired to do any more on the projects so they will have to wait until the weekend. On Saturday I have to clean the kitchen so I can finish making the cranberry orange relish. Then I’ll have to clean up that mess. At 10AM if the rain has stopped I have to go out and empty the trash shed.
I have to drive the truck with the plow on, not something I am looking forward to. My son will go with me to the dump and hopefully it will be uneventful. If I have energy left, I need to work on the tree some more.