Progress

Jason: I finally had a Saturday to spend with my family at home yesterday and it was great. I've been ill the last couple days but woke up feeling considerably better. There was bacon in the fridge that needed to be cooked, so I got that started. I asked the kids to choose between pancakes, Swedish pancakes, and french toast. Pancakes! was the majority choice so Kaitlin came to help me make the batter.

Everyone enjoyed their pancakes with butter, syrup, and Cool Whip. Fresh oranges, bacon, and apple juice rounded out our delicious meal. Then the chores began. Dusting, vacuuming, sweeping, taking out the trash...all the kids were helpful.

Then the fun began. Remember the project I started back in December? I got stalled because I didn't have the right router bit. Then I fouled up the first glue-up. Yesterday I got back into the building of the two bookcases with the intent to have them put together before the day was through.

I started by correcting a couple mistakes I had made. Then the first bookcase went together fairly well with Ruth's help in the assembly. As you can see, our dining room doubled as a workshop. Maybe you've read Sterling North's "Rascal." The boy in the story will do anything do accomplish his goals.

On the second bookcase I found that the grooves for the shelves were not quite square with the front and the parts wouldn't fit together with any ease. So I had to correct those slightly. Everything takes longer when you are using hand tools for almost everything. The shelves and sides were all cut and squared with hand tools.

With both bookcases, after the sides and shelves were all together, the front and back edges did not quite line up. Ruth helped me to plane down the high spots to make it all line up. She did pretty well for a first-time plane user!

We nailed the backs on and filled all the holes. I showed the girls how to seal the knots with white glue and let them handle that task. They were sure excited to be involved. They can't wait to paint!

The shelf heights were determined using the Fibonacci sequence.

Of course after we were done the sweeping and vacuuming had to be redone.

After the kids were put to bed Ruth gave me a haircut and I got to sweep again!

Ruth: We were all so happy to be able to spend the day together and that we accomplished so much! It so much fun to see how excited the kids get when we let them help with these sort of projects! Thank-you for a wonderful day Jason!!! You're awesome!!!

P.S. We may be on the verge of going private. Someone added themself as a follower to our blog who we do not know. Their intent appeared to be to direct traffic to their blog to generate income. It is not hard to block a follower though so we won't take that step yet. However, if you have to log in to read one blog, i.e. Tim/Vanessa/etc., then you're already logged in to read everyone else who is private. So it may not be long...

Day of rest

jase:

With six children and only a tiny yard for them, there is always something demanding our attention even/especially on Sundays. After church we return home and make lunch, ususally popcorn, fruit, cheese, and some summer sausage or salami if we have it. Following lunch is naptime for at least four of our family so that means "Quiet Time" for the rest. During quiet time the only activities allowed are reading, coloring, or writing. Every other activity has proven to generate noise beyond the acceptable level. Even coloring and reading don't work 100% of the time. But generally "Quite Time" works pretty well.

What doesn't work well for myself is the actual napping. There seems to be a paradox in that the duration of a successful nap is inversely proportional to my emotional state when the nap is ended. In other words, the longer the nap I get, the grumpier I am for the rest of the day. The shorter the nap, the less grumpy I am. Today we came home, ate lunch and then laid Aaron down in our bed with Ruth. David was laid in his bed. I settled into the recliner and read for a little bit. Then I napped for about 30 minutes. I had made an appointment to visit someone later which kept my nap short. So I awoke feeling pretty good. We walked to the other family's home and had a good visit and are now home and everybody seems in good spirits. Last week I slept for much longer, and definitely felt a little more selfish/self-centered when I got up.

Have you noticed anything similar at your house?

Hope you have enjoyed your Sunday and all your weekend!

Aaron?...

Our family is currently reading in Alma, where the sons of Mosiah are teaching King Lamoni and his father. Every time we read the name Aaron, our Aaron perks up and says, "Aaron?"

Leave me alone?

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Kind of disturbing, but then our blog is public. With Blogger it is easy to surf through other blogs in the world, though, as far as I know, there is no way to display a list of the blogs hosted by their server.
I assume this comment is a sales pitch by someone not from our country from the bad spelling and horrible grammar. And I'm thinking of making the blog private since I only want family and friends to read it anyway. Maybe there are other measures I can take to keep the unwelcome away.

a rocking good time

When our family lived in Auburn during the second and third year of our marriage I bought Ruth a rocking chair at an oak furniture store. It looked like a comfortable chair and was solidly made. But being it was made in China, it had some features that didn't belong.

The chair didn't really rock. It had a distinct bump-bump in the middle of its rocking motion that has kept us from sitting in it often. Not only was there the bumping but also the chair seemed to dive to the left as it rolled forward. So it has occupied space in our living quarters for several years now without being used.

A couple months ago I got a little block plane out to try to smooth away the bump. It was bad timing so the plane got put away and the chair went back in the boys' room.

Well now all the kids sleep in what was the boys room; the rocking chair now resides in our living room. It is comfortable to sit in as it has a cushion on the seat and a fleece blanket over the back.

Tonight I pulled the chair into the kitchen, whipped out my block plane and started planing the bottom of the rockers. It is an interesting process. A bump in the rocking is caused by a combination of a high spot and a low spot in the wood. As the chair moves along the arc of the rocker, it finds a low spot and the rocking motion slows or stops altogether. Then it passes across the high spot and an abrupt change in the motion occurs and is very noticeable for the person rocking. So all the high spots had to get planed down.

After everything was smoothed out I measured the rocker feet and found the front tips more than 1/8" different and the back 3/16" different in the opposite direction. So, I will have to get the belt sander or a planer to make them match.

Here are some pics of the mess I made in the kitchen.

You know it's time to blog when...

...your children ask you to take pictures of them in funny poses or with their latest piece of artwork and suggest that you blog about it!


...people who usually read your blog to "catch up" with you are sending you emails or calling you at home!


...you are spending HOURS reading blogs of friends and family that you haven't been keeping up with!


Oh, how I feel I have been slacking when it comes to our fun little blog here. I'm not sure how many people are reading this anymore for lack of comments, but I have made a deal with myself to be better about blogging and take time away from Facebook games and other distractions to update my loved ones with the goings ons out here in "Beautiful" Clearlake!

I've been keeping busy with all the kids at home! I'm always behind on the laundry, dishes, cleaning, grocery shopping, paying bills, school paperwork, etc...I don't know if I'll be able to get caught up! I've been able to fit in some exercise time this week, and I've been sore from not doing it for so long!! It feels good to be doing something though! Even if I accidentally kick a kid or two in the process! ;) Hasn't happened yet, but with the way they like to run around me when I'm in the zone, it probably will. Rachel has been good about reminding me to exercise too! Little comments here and there about how big my bum is compared to hers really seem to get me motivated. Although she hasn't helped me stay away from all the Christmas goodies that are STILL hanging around. Who said Wal-Mart could mark-down the Chocolate Oranges to .57 cents each!?!?
I've finally gotten to the point with the Homeschooling where, if you ask the girls if they like their teacher, they just might say yes!!! I know, what an awesome accomplishment right!? I still feel like they may be behind in some of their subjects, but I guess we'll find out when they take the state tests this March and April. I've gotten so much support from friends and family and I am so grateful for that!
I have set some personal goals for this year. Things I hope I can do better at and that will make me a better wife mother and person in general.

Jason is working for a sheet metal company based out of Nice (A town about a 1/2 hr. commute both ways) and he's learning lots of new skills. He started there last March working in the office on their books and secretarial work. The last few months he's been going out and giving estimates and building things out of metal to help out more. He's trying so hard (With much success, in my bias opinion) to be good at his job, church calling, and being a husband and father! Even with all the projects that I keep dreaming up to keep him even more busy! He's so wonderful, talented and smart! I'm so glad I have him!!!

Rachel is doing well with her school work. She enjoys it most days, is very motivated to learn, and she enjoys learning new things. She's also such a wonderful help with all the other kids! She has been listening to the Harry Potter books on CD/Tapes, and is really liking them. She's on the last one now. It amazes me how much she can retain! I read the books a few years ago and I can' remember much, especially after seeing the movies. Her memory has always been a bit better than mine! I used to tell her the grocery list so I wouldn't forget anything. She's awesome to have around!

Emily loves to have fun with whatever she may be doing. School is work for her and she is doing well! It's been difficult at times with her emotions and certain subjects. Her sweet spirit is so fragile. she really doesn't like being told that she's doing something wrong. She enjoys helping with David. And she likes to have fun with her siblings! She's very crafty and likes to reuse recyclable items to make other "things" She calls herself a "Tinker" like Tinkerbell, because she's good at making things. She's been hoping that the teeth that are hanging in by threads will just fall out one day and that she won't have to suffer through the pain of having them pulled! What a cute little whimp! ;) Love ya!

Kaitlin is learning how to read and write and all the things you learn in Kindergarten. Somedays, she pretends that I take her to the Elementary school here in Clearlake. She keeps her school work in her back pack when she's not at "School." She enjoys playing her learning computer games and having fun with her siblings and Polly Pockets. She's so creative when she plays, it's fun to just sit and listen to her. It's wonderful having so many "Built in" friends!

Christopher is such a cutie! I'm glad to say that he still believes in "Magic Mommy Kisses." They sure work wonders some days! He doesn't show any interest in learning what Kaitlin is learning when I ask him if he wants to learn how to read too. But I watch him read along with Kaitlin and her school books, play on Starfall.com, PBS.org and I just have to smile. He's such a nut! You can definitely tell that he loves his life!

Aaron loves life too! The world revolves around him, just in case you haven't heard! He's a nut too! He thinks he can get away with anything as long as he flashes that cute smile! Too bad we can't see it in the dark when he tries, without success, to sleep with us in our bed. He loves anything with sugar in it and I think he can tell if it doesn't. He likes to watch as siblings play games and enjoys teasing them in any way possible. He seems to love to make Christopher cry! BOYS!!! His favorite blankie is falling apart at the edges and he brings it up to me every so often saying, "Fix it?" Add that to my to-do list!

David is such a joy! He's army crawling around as fast as lightning. He's just not fast enough to follow me from place to place yet, and I think that makes him mad. He's eating solid foods really well, better than any other of our children, and I think it shows! He's not a chunk, but he's definitely not a skinny little boy! He's just right! He's generally happy and he loves to watch everything going on around him! There's always someone here willing to hold and love on him!

They all enjoy visiting family, playing games with each other, playing dress-up, and watching good movies. What a blessing ALL of our children are to us! We are so grateful to be a family and be able to have so much fun together! Here's to what promises to be a wonderful ans stressful year! Hope yours will be great as well!

One Good one!

One of the many that won't make it's way to our family wall! But We're still happy to share our goofiness! This was the ONLY picture that David was smiling and looking at the camera! Hope you enjoy!

Here we Go...

Ruth:

I know it's been a while since I've blogged and I apologize to those who I have given a hard time about not blogging often enough. I could give a list of all my excuses, but instead I think I'll just blog and then you'll know all the reasons I have abandoned the blogging world for sooo long.

Here it goes, I hope you're comfortable, it's gonna take some time to get caught up!! :) Maybe it will just take longer for me to get it posted than it will for you all to read.

As most of you all know, I am homeschooling the girls this year. Rachel is in fourth grade, Emily is in third and Kaitlin has started Kindergarten. It was a rough first couple of months getting everything scheduled and getting used to the paperwork. I must admit that I wasn't prepared for all the things that I would have to do as a teacher, wife, and a mother! So many responsibilities, and I'm just hoping that I AM doing what's best for my kids! I'm going through a Charter school that requires me to keep track of what the kids do, track attendance and hand in samples of their work each month. I think the hardest parts are trying to keep them all on track so they know what to do each day, and correcting their work. I often feel like I'm being pulled in six different directions at once. Everyone wants and needs me at the same time, the dishes keep calling out to me and the laundry continues to pile up! I enjoy having my home clean and it never seems to get even close anymore. I do have the kids help in a lot of the work, but it still feels like it never gets done enough. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I CAN do it all!? :)

We spent Halloween at my parents neighborhood. Rachel and cousin Josh are really getting to the age where they don't want to wait around for the little kids before going on to the next house. Ah to be young and cute so people will hand you free candy just by saying three magic words! They sure are enjoying every minute of it! All of the kids had fun going door to door and they where so cute to watch. After the kids were done trick-or treating, we went back to my parents to crack open some pinatas that the girls had made for school. there was one for the kids and two for the adults. the kids laughed SO much as they watched us old folks swinging at the air. The kids, of course got all the candy, but they were also so sweet to share it with us. It was fun to be with family for the night.

































I started David on solids the beginning of December and he's doing great!!! He's our first child that has taken baby food from the jars. Or maybe I'm finally getting this down and doing something right. It's about time! He's doing great and growing like he should!

We celebrated Emily's 8th birthday on Saturday the 21st of November, her actual birthday is on the 25th, which fell on the day before Thanksgiving. She invited three friends over (Emily and Caitlyn from her old elementary school, and Avrill, a friend from church) and asked to have a horse birthday party. she also wanted me to make a cupcake-cake. this was my first attempt and with Jason's help in the design and shaping, I think it turned out rather well!!!




































We spent Thanksgiving with Jason's family this year. Great food and company all around! It's so nice to live close enough to family to be able to visit so often!

Emily was baptized on December 5th at the Rocklin Stake Center. We had a potato bar luncheon at the Loomis ward building afterward for those who attended and then we broke out the Volleyball net and showed each other our awesome volleyball skills!!! I think we were all a little rusty. We won't be ready for the next Summer Olympics that's for sure! I hope all who joined us had a wonderful time, I know Emily sure felt special. Most of our families were able to make it for the occasion. Thank-you again to all who came and participated in the wonderful day for Emily! She had a great time and I'm sure she felt the love of her family. We're so happy to have her special spirit in our family. and we hope that she will be able to develop those talents that will help her be the best person she can be and be blessed to return to live with our Heavenly Father someday! We sure Love you Emily! Thanks for being a part of our family!

After the stress of the Baptism was over, I was able to focus on Christmas gifts. I decided to make a stuffed animal for each of the kids. I made little dogs for the girls and dinosaurs for the boys. I didn't have them finished until the 23rd. Which was our Christmas Eve because we left on the 24th to head for Grandma's house. Maybe next year I'll plan better and have all my shopping and crafts done before the week of Christmas. It was way too stressful staying up so late every night for a week! I'm sure we weren't the only people in the world that have ever done that though.

Oops, wait! I can't forget to mention that we were able to celebrate Kaitlin's 6th birthday!!! She was so excited for her birthday, and very set on having a Hannah Montana celebration. I did what I could to accommodate her wishes. I decorated her cake with Hannah Montana pink and purple and she spread pink "Rock-star" sprinkles all over the rest of it! We ate yummy cake and spent the evening as a family enjoying each other as we finished up our caroling adventures. She let me know later that night that she had the best birthday EVER!!! We're so happy to have her in our family too! We are so blessed to have all these cute and wonderful spirits to teach and take care of. Each one has added so much to our family and I couldn't imagine my life without any of them!!! Thanks for choosing our family! We sure love you too Kaitlin! We spent our New Year's Eve at our ward party. We ate and danced there until 10:30pm when we decided that the boys should be in bed. We got home and stuck in the movie "National Treasure" thinking the girls would probably be asleep before midnight. When in fact Jason was the only one of those remaining awake that didn't make it to midnight. I turned off the movie at around 12:30 and the girls were sad that they couldn't watch to the end. I reassured them that they could finish it the next day, and they went on to bed.

All in all we had a wonderful Christmas vacation. Now it's back to the grindstone! Don't be surprised if you don't hear from me for a while again. Although I think I may just have to make time to blog! Reading all your blogs to get caught up takes too long! :) Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season! Merry belated Christmas to you all and a Happy New Year!

The Never Ending Story

Jase: I started another project in wood this week. I’ve been thinking lately about the process that I go through in creating a piece of furniture or anything else for that matter. First comes the idea, whether from me or Ruth. Then comes the design, entailing several hours on paper and a few on the computer, making the best possible use of wood and still trying to maintain some sense of proportion. Next we obtain the materials.

Then the struggle begins. Machining of the various parts begins and I invariably find that I don’t have a tool that I need or some process is taking a lot longer than I planned for. The project goes on hold for some arbitrary time period until my frustration is gone or until Ruth bugs me to get the thing finished.

Our most recent conception is a set of shelves for our kids play room. It consists of two bookcases spaced to fit a futon between, a frame to sit atop the bookcases, and two sets of shelves to crown the entire thing.

This drawing doesn't show the piece placed in the corner where it will actually go, which is why the shelf on the right faces the left.

Here is a partial history of my projects.

Kitchen table three years in use but still not done

Workbench 1 year/1 week in use, covered with tools and stuff

bunk bed 1 week in use

headboard four years project abandoned after material acquisition

picture frame Three-five years? used metal instead

play room shelves 1 week in progress

I'm currently hung up on having the correct tools. I bought a router bit that doesn't fit my router. I realized this Saturday after the hardware store was closed and I was about to use the router. So I have to wait until I can get to the store for the right bit.

Christmas Spirit

Jase: Tonight marked the beginning of our caroling adventures for the season. Ruth made zucchini bread, chocolate chocolate chip cookies, and toffee after church today. Fudge was made last week. We loaded up some plates and went out to howl at the people we love and even some that we aren't so sure about.

We sung to a couple neighbors, tried to see the people we home/visit teach and a few others. Some weren't home so we added people along the way. One sister was especially touched and it was wonderful to be able to share that experience with her and our children as we sung to her.

We shared this with our extended family last year but we wanted to offer it to anybody else to alter or inspire to create their own. We sing these words to "jingle bells" to the people we carol to who have not yet heard it.

Driving through the rain
In a seven-seat minivan
Bringing yummy treats
Made by Ruthie Anne!
Singing carols loud,
Knocking on your door,
Hoping you will open up
And that we aren't a boor!

Jingle Bells! Jingle Bells! Jingle all the way!
O what fun it is to sing on your doorstep today!

I will have to record us singing this and somehow post it on here for posterity's sake.

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

Economic Insanity

Here's a link to an excellent article about further stimulus packages.
http://blog.heritage.org/2009/12/04/morning-bell-the-definition-of-economic-insanity/

Juicy Details

One of the first projects on our home when we moved in four years ago was making the sump pump under the house operable. The pump had been replaced as part of the home purchase, but the knucklehead who installed it must have had too much to drink before or during the installation.

For those of you who don't know, a sump is a low spot or hole where water collects where a pump is placed to remove the water when it reaches a certain level.

The work I did involved digging a whole in wet clay under the house where the crawlspace is less than four feet tall. Imagine trying to use a shovel in those conditions! The hole was dug, a large plastic pot with holes in the bottom placed in it and surrounded with gravel. The sump pump was placed in the pot making sure the float switch could move up and down without catching, the previous failure. To this day operation of the pump has been very good. During one big storm the pump was removing at least 100 gallons of water a day from under our house!

Tonight I went under the house to retrieve the Christmas tree. The pump is immediately next to the crawlspace access, so I reassess it's condition every time I go down there. Anyway, I was surprised when I looked inside the sump pot to see an enormous Jerusalem cricket, drowned, floating on the surface of the water. I thought you all would like to know about that...

Ruth put up the Christmas tree tonight! We will decorate it tomorrow for family home evening.

Un-Calling

Jase: Over a month ago our ward organist broke her finger. I'm the only other person in the ward who is known to play the piano. So I've been playing in Sacrament and in Primary for the last five or six weeks. She and I have had a standing arrangement before where I would play in Primary for her every third Sunday. Thankfully, she is playing the organ in Sacrament meeting again. However, piano keys are much harder to hit than organ keys so I will keep playing the piano until she is ready.

I love playing the piano for the Primary children. Part of that comes from enjoying the poetry and gospel truths taught so simply by the songs, and part because they can be encouraged so easily to participate with enthusiasm. Its impossible to enjoy it to the fullest as the pianist but its fun to be involved with them.

I find it amusing that I was "bribed" into taking piano lessons, only continued lessons so I could be "better"(which I am not nor ever was) than a brother or sister, and now cheerfully (usually) agree whenever my skills are requested.

Playing in Sacrament and Primary and having six young children makes church a lot of work. It is difficult to listen to any part of a talk for more than 30 seconds with a two-year-old that won't stay still. And the hymns are supposed to be uplifting and inspiring. But when you are having difficulty playing a song, you can't pay any attention to the words. A few of the hymns I know well enough that I can sing while I play, and I can actually let my mind wander away from the song while playing. I suppose I need to devote more time to practicing so that music at church is edifying whether I am playing or someone else.

A Cause, Not a Business!

For those of you who blog, and have not utilized the "Monetize" tab on your dashboard or post creation screen, blogging is about connecting with the people that mean the most to you who happen to be out of touch when you wish they weren't. Or its about voicing your opinion because this environment gives you complete control over your little corner of the blogosphere. Hence the title of this post.

This post's title comes from an advertisement over the radio in Lake and Mendocino counties promoting a certain "collective" and its wares. I've never heard ads like these in the Sacramento area. So its entertaining, disturbing, discouraging, and incredulous all at the same time, to hear marijuana edibles, drinkables, topical solutions, and even dope-laced-ice cream being peddled over the open air waves like Happy Meals or weekend Home Depot sales.

The ads are not just from one "collective". I have noted at least three different vendors of wacky tobaccy who buy radio air time. The fact that one of these uses the phrase "Medical Marijuana is a cause, not a business" as part of their ad is amazing, since they pay to broadcast those words to generate revenue for their business. I don't wonder how their cause is doing; this time of year business is booming for them, which is probably why I am hearing more ads lately, despite the fact that my car radio only works one minute for every ten!

Big Bird

Jase:

Thanks to Donny for bringing this to my attention. Apparently it was first shown on the Tonight Show.


When I first heard that Barack was awarded the Nobel Peace prize I thought it was a joke. But it is actually quite fitting since the intent of the award is to celebrate those individuals who have labored towards reducing standing armies and propagating peace conferences. He is perfect. Of course, that isn't exactly what I want in a commander in chief.

But for those of you who are shocked I am in agreement with you since the nominations were required to be submitted by February 1, 2009, a whole 12 days after his inauguration. And since his life's work is so void of valuable accomplishment, those 12 days must have been amazing. Perhaps they could make a movie about it called "12 Days". It would rule the box office and provide everyone with a much needed nap, kind of like that other "days" movie, "13 Days".

Aaron's 2

Ruth:

Aaron had his birthday a few weeks ago (the 16th) so I guess it's about time I blog about it. The boy has been acting two for the past six months so we're already used to the terrible two's attitude. He's such a sweet boy when he wants to be or when he wants to get out of trouble. Which has been working lately. All he has to do is flash that adorable little grin and we (Maybe Jason's a little stronger at resisting) melt. Of course we have realized this and are trying our best to put a stop to this behavior. He's just too cute and he knows it!!!

On the night of his birthday, we celebrated with just our little family. We ate a great dinner of grilled pork tenderloin with rice and spaghetti squash from our garden. We then put together some foam airplanes toys and had fun flying them around the house for a little bit. For the cake, I had some icing left over from Liz's wedding cake, and Christopher's cake, so I wanted to use it all. I hate wasting good food and this icing was definitely good! We enjoyed the evening together and He opened his gifts. He got a homemade dinosaur toy, which he named Dino and a colored twirly flashlight. He had fun touching the light to everything, listening to the different sounds it could make. He even had to try it out on David's head.Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit last week and brought him and Christopher more presents. For Christopher they brought a Percy train to go along with the Thomas that he got on his cake. And for Aaron, they brought him a Flicker flashlight from the Handy Manny show. The boys LOVE these new toys and are playing with them daily. Thanks!!!

It was a great day for our little stinker and I'm sure he was happy! We love that he is so full of life and that he can find the joy in everything! What a wonderful addition he has been to our family! Love you Aaron!!!

Another juicy post!

So I picked about two gallons of grapes when I got home from work on Monday. I took some pictures of the juice making process. Removed the grapes from the stems, sorting at the same time. Washed the berries a couple times. Mashed with a pastry blender and my fingers for a while. 

Gave up on the manual labor and broke out the hand-held mixer since the Osterizer was dirty. This worked really well to break the pulp loose from the skin of the grapes. Heated the mush and occasionally mashed til boiling. Let it boil for about 10 minutes mashing the grapes more every couple minutes. The skins start to give up a little color at this point and release it into the liquid. While the liquid is heating I got the cheesecloth over a strainer and bowl with a rubber band. I poured the mush into the cheesecloth. I let it sit for several minutes. Then I gathered the edges of the cheesecloth and put a rubber band round the top to make a bag with all the grape gunk in the middle. I didn't want to let it sit out overnight so I squeezed the bag in various ways for at least 30 minutes to press the liquid out. The result is over 4 cups of concentrate.  I did apply my tongue to the cheesecloth bag before I threw it away and it was like a grape popsicle!

This morning I tasted it to see how much water to add, which was almost two cups for every cup of concentrate. Rachel loved it. It turned out great, even better than the previous batch.

Some crystallization occurs, probably due to the cooking process, and the crystals tend to settle at the bottom, requiring a final straining a day after the juice is done.

2009 Blog Name tribute

Jase: Our debut post in 2006 was about our grapevine and so is this one. I don't think Ruth even knew we had a blog then. But, we have lived in Clearlake for four years now. When we bought this house it had a little Concord grapevine that was pretty much just a stump. It takes a few years to train a vine and ours has developed well. We had a good harvest this year.

Here is Rachel with what's probably six gallons of grapes before they are sorted.

The grapes in the foreground are a little too pink. Ripe concords look a dusty blue color that changes to a shiny dark purple when you begin handling them.

The pink and the green grapes get thrown out of course. We wash, then mash the grapes, heat them in a pot till they boil, then heat and mash them for another ten minutes. Then we strain it overnight through cheese cloth into a bowl. The juice that drips off goes through a mesh strainer to get the remaining solids out.

The first year we lived here we just ate the grapes. I showed the girls how to find the ripe ones by looking under the leaves. I got paid back by finding grape skins and seeds all over our sidewalk.

Year two we actually made a 1/2 gallon of juice with the little bit of fruit we got. It turned out perfect! I was excited to do it again. The juice actually had to be diluted about 2.5 to 1 water to concentrate.

Year three I was impatient and picked the grapes before they were ready. The juice turned out sour and did not have a lot of flavor. I was disappointed even though we had a lot of grapes.

This year we've got lots of grapes. We waited as long as we thought was wise to harvest and the juice turned out much better than last year. We didn't have to dilute it much though. This batch of grapes yielded a gallon of concentrate that gave us 1.5 gallons of juice. Monday we will pick what's left and finish the juice making for this year.

a note

Jase: As I go through my day I often think "I should blog about that" when some thought crosses my mind. Whether its something fun I did, or about my wife or kids, or about our home or the area where we live. Since we live far from our families and old friends this is my preferred method of telling the stories of our lives (since I can edit and exaggerate and adjust history to my liking?). I wonder sometimes if I just do this to vent or complain. But I think I enjoy sharing so I can get a reaction from people, whether good or bad. And the boy in me likes to occasionally gross out the females who might read our blog.

I drive 23.6 miles to work everyday, the majority of it along the north shore of Clear Lake. The morning drive is beautiful for various reasons that have mostly to do with the pleasantness of a new day. The afternoon drive is not so pleasant right now and hasn't been for some time. Back in June the algae bloom began and turned the lake into a stinking toxic puddle. Some people said a sewer pipe broke but as far as I know that didn't happen. So all around the calmer water where the algae collect, a wonderful aroma wafts through the air. I wish I could share a little bit of it with over the internet but, alas, its just not possible yet. So if you want to know what it smells like in our town in the afternoon, crawl under your sink, take apart the p-trap, stick your nose in an open end of the pipe, and breath deep. Welcome to beautiful Lake County, California.

Here is a link to an article that answers some questions about the lake as well as some info on the effects of the algae bloom this year.http://redwood.sierraclub.org/lake/CLQ.A.htm

Where are the tomatoes?

Ruth:

We planted our Cherry tomatoes a little late this year, so when we weren't harvesting that many I wasn't too worried. Well, now it's September and the tomato season is almost over. I was still wondering where my tomatoes were! Rachel has been such a wonderful helper this summer watering our garden, and I realized one day that it took her quite a while to turn off the water, so I asked her what took her so long and she told me that she was picking and eating cherry tomatoes! That crazy girl has been picking and eating them every time she waters! Little stinker! I guess we can consider that her pay for the watering job.

Jason: I think she was overpaid.

What are you going to do with your retirement time?

Ruth:
Again, another e-mail sent from a good friend:

Working people frequently ask retired people what
they do to make their days interesting.

Well, for example, the other day my wife and I went into town and
went into a shop. We were only in there for about 5 minutes.

When we came out, there was a cop writing out a parking ticket....

we went up to him and said,

'Come on man, how about giving a senior citizen a break?'

He ignored us and continued writing the ticket. I called him a Nazi turd.

He glared at me and started writing another ticket for having worn tires.

So my wife called him a butt-head.

He finished the second ticket and put it on the windshield with the first.

Then he started writing a third ticket. This went on for about 20 minutes.

The more we abused him, the more tickets he wrote.


Personally, we didn't care because we came into town by bus and
the car had an Obama sticker.

We try to have a little fun each day now that we're retired. It's important at our age.