I love Spring. I think I must have deluded myself to ever think that winter was my favorite season. It is beautiful here. Despite the fact that we are still in Durkee and have no definite date for moving back to Baker that hasn't kept me from getting that house ready.
I started my vegetables and flowers and I hope I will be in Baker in time to plant them. I am excited to be getting a head start on that this year. I have also gotten a head start on canning too. I know that is a little unfathomable for some of my sisters, but I do enjoy it.
There is a shed here that some of you saw at Christmas that was full of old canning cars. Most of them still containing some semblance of food. We had some dated as far back as 1962, and who knows how old the less recognizable ones were. Well Danny's mom came out here to help me clean out some of them. Although most of the lids were rusted through the jars are in great shape. We emptied and cleaned over two hundred in one day. After all that the shed looks no different.
I kept about one hundred, Danny's sister Heidi took about that many and Danny's mom took another two hundred home with her... still full. She wanted to use the old contents for compost. She is so efficient, if that is the right word.
I spent all night and the following two days with the worst case of carpal tunnel I have ever had. All that jar washing just killed my wrist. Things are better now. I am excited to have a lot of free jars. Most of what I can is free, with the exception of some seeds I purchased. With the jars being free the only thing I spend money on is sugar and some lids. When all is said and done, canning one quart of anything costs me less than 15 cents, at least that is my closest guess. It's worth a few days of carpal tunnel.
Mikelle has found new ways to entertain herself. When I am on the computer she lounges in the drawer next to me and sings to herself. She has a great imagination and is usually playing with her bear in some motherly way.
A few mornings ago she woke up wet and Danny just changed her diaper and left her in just that. Than she insisted on having her shoes on and after pulling my apron from a kitchen drawer asked to have that put on. She then humbly modeled for us. She is a hoot.
Life has its simple pleasures. Danny takes a half hour each day to shoot ground squirrels, and Mikelle and I go througha thousand rocks into the creak that runs at the end of the driveway. Spring time is wonderful.
