Leaderboard

I don't bother with tomatoes anymore, but I made raspberry jam yesterday (about 7 half-pints, but froze them after instead of BWB canning) and saw, out picking, that the blackberries are starting to ripen up. They'll be next to get jammed and canned! The neighbors cut back their pear tree last year so much that I only have about a half-dozen myself; there was no cross-pollination. May have to buy myself another pear so I get that in the future. Meanwhile I can eat up the last few years' worth of canned pears. My girls are usually not home to help these days but the folks next door (other next door; not the tree-pruners, lol) have three kids who all want to learn to can. Years of help on the hoof!

A man goes into a bar and sat down, and ordered a beer. As he drank the beer, he heard a soothing voice say "nice tie!" Looking around, he noticed that the bar was empty except for himself and the bartender at the end of the bar. A few sips later the voice said "great shirt". At this, the man called the bartender over. "Hey...I must be losing my mind," he told the barkeep. "I keep hearing these voices saying nice things, and there's not a soul in here but us." "It's the peanuts," said the bartender. "What???" "You heard me," said the barman. "It's the peanuts ... they're complimentary." Feel free to play it everything you hear a lame joke. http://youtu.be/LekUKeFijxc

"A cowboy rode into town and stopped at the saloon for a drink. Unfortunately, the locals always had a habit of picking on newcomers. When he finished, he found his horse had been stolen. He comes back into the bar, handily flips his gun into the air, catches it above his head without even looking and fires a shot int...o the ceiling. 'Who stole my horse?' he yelled with surprising forcefulness. No one answered. 'I'm gonna have another beer and if my horse ain't back outside by the time I'm finished, I'm gonna do what I dun back in Texas and I don't want to have to do what I dun back in Texas!' Some of the locals shifted restlessly. He had another beer, walked outside, and his horse was back! He saddled up and started to ride out of town. The bartender wandered out of the bar and asked, 'Say partner, what happened in Texas?' The cowboy turned back and said, 'I had to walk home!'

I remember helping my grandmother can tomatoes in August. Zorching our hands on the blanched tomatoes to peel the skins, chopping them, fillings the jars, standing over the boiling kettle... My grandmother would have on her dress, apron, long stockings, and shoes too -- but she rolled her stockings down to the ankles on those occasions and tucked them into themselves in little knots the likes of which I never learned how to twist. It remains a mystery. Took a walk last night in the twilight and remarked for the gazillionth time that no one goes out at night. Time was, to escape the heat of the house (while it was trying to cool down will all windows and doors wide open), folks would sit on stoops and in lawn chairs, while the kids ran around playing. Neighbors would wander by, and folks would take it easy and catch up with various doings. Now we all stay in our air conditioned bubbles, hiding, and not knowing who lives next door. Love my AC but we have also lost out.