Saturday, August 20, 2011

A new puppy picked out and canning...

As the summer winds down it just keeps getting busier around here.  Yet again, I have found things to do besides my work.  But, oh well, there is always tomorrow to catch up :-)

Since we promised the kids a puppy after having to take Chief back (see previous post), I have been keeping my eyes open.  John was immediately thinking next spring, but as he says, once I get something into my head I can't rest until it's done.  So, I've been looking at petfinders.org, craigslist and breeders sites.  Breeders always seem to expensive, and knowing we need a puppy the shelters aren't being much help with a dog we know will be a large breed.  Then Wednesday I saw an ad for German Shepard puppies.  I contacted the person and their price was so reasonable since it was a mistake litter, and it included the first shots (something I haven't seen much of on craigslist) that we decided to do it.  The girls and I went to pick out our puppy on Friday, though she won't be coming home until she is 7 weeks old in the middle of September.  I am glad we went yesterday as the puppies were going like crazy and we had a few puppies to pick from.  John and I wanted a darker puppy and the girls wanted a girl, so that left one.  We have named her Abbie and the current home is already sending me update emails and pictures, which I love. Abbie has her own baby picture file on my computer already.

Another new and fun thing for the past 2 days is my first experience canning.  I bought 45 lbs of tomatoes from a farm in our CSA group on Tuesday, though by Friday I had to throw about about 10-12 lbs due to moldy tomatoes.  I still ended up canning 11.5 quarts between last night and this afternoon.  The whole canning thing is making me a bit nervous and I hope all the seals are obviously fine by tomorrow once they have cooled down.  But, I quickly learned my new pressure cooker with John's help and really like using it!  This morning the girls and I hit up the farmer's market and a local orchard and bought a lot of apples.  Tomorrow I am thinking of making and canning some applesauce, but we'll see if that happens tomorrow or later this week.  Apple butter or pie apples is another option that I haven't ever made before that I might try to can.  Perhaps I have gone canning crazy?  Oh well.

Tonight we had a fun night at a party for one of our friends as he turned 30. Tomorrow I think John needs to work on the garage and we need to clean and I need to do some (or a great lot, maybe 8 hours if I can) of grading.  But, I also know I have a week to get my first week's of general lesson plans done for our school year to start, and that picking away at my mind might make work impossible until I get those done.  But, we'll see :-)  One more busy week of doctor's appointments, dentist appointments, Ada's physical therapy and other odds and ends and then we officially start homeschooling.  I am nervous but looking forward to the adventure that will start next Monday and last the next 14-15 years.

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