July 28, 2010: Odds and Ends, This and That

Nothing in particular about which to blog today, but there are a few things I've been wanting to tell you so this will be an "odds and ends" type of post.

First of all....

HEAR YE, HEAR YE! GET YOUR KEY CHAINS HERE!
Well, not here, but over at Ribbit's place.

Click on Keychains for a Cause for more information, or to order yours. A portion of the sales for each of these keychains will be donated to Ribbit's school's Relay for Life team to help in the search for a cure for cancer.

Thank you!

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I just have to tell you about what happened with my little boy dog, Otto, last week. Most afternoons I visit my neighbor, Pat, for a cool beverage on her patio. The dogs, Annie and Otto, always go with me to play in her big yard and chase squirrels. Her puppy, Bandit, loves to romp and play with my dogs, who just barely tolerate him. Bandit also considers me his "other mother", and is lovey and licky and all over me when I'm there. Well.....the past three times I've gone to Pat's, Annie has acted normally, but Otto has stayed back by the gate and refused to enter the yard or patio area. No amount of coaxing would bring him to us. The first time, we thought it was because it was his dinner time, and he wanted to return home to eat. The next two times, it was after he'd eaten, so that was no longer considered as a reason to hang back, and we wondered if something traumatic had happened in her yard. Maybe he'd been hit by a falling walnut from her tree (it happened to me, and it hurt!). Monday afternoon Otto finally came over to the patio. Bandit, as usual, jumped up on my lap and began trying to lick my face. Otto came running to me, put his front paws on my knee and began snarling at Bandit! I mean, these were huge, teeth and gum baring snarls coming from my gentle little Otto! He had the most horrid look of hatred in his eyes, I just couldn't believe it. Otto is 2 1/2 years old, and has never, ever shown a spark of meanness in his entire life. My little guy was jealous! Once Bandit got the message and jumped off of me, Otto jumped up and settled down on my lap and everything was fine. Nobody fools with his Granny!

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I'm getting really upset with some of our local businesses. As you know, Mr. Granny and I are getting up in age, and it's not easy for us to do many of the things we did even 5-10 years ago. What else is there to do but hire someone to do the jobs we can't handle?

Well, over a month ago, we contacted a reputable siding company to give us an estimate on repairing or replacing some siding that had been damaged by our sprinklers, install a continuous rain gutter on the front of the house, and replace a window that has a crack in it where someone threw a rock at it while we were in AZ last winter. They took down our information, and said they'd be at our house no later than the next day to give us an estimate. They never showed up.

Two weeks ago I called the man who had replaced our back fence in 2008, after the maple tree fell on it. He had done an excellent job, was fast, courteous and reasonably priced, so I wanted to hire him to rebuild our front fence. The cedar boards are in good condition, but the wood posts snapped in a wind storm last winter, and it's beginning to lean. It will never make it through another strong wind, so we want to rebuild it using metal posts. It turned out the man was no longer in the fence building business, but he said his son wasn't working now, and he was sure he'd like the job. He took my information and said he'd have the son call me. He never called.

Last week I decided I wanted all my carpets professionally cleaned, and the hallway and one bedroom needed to be restretched. I looked up a local carpet cleaning place on line, and they offered all the services I was looking for. They had an on line form to fill out and send in for an estimate, so I did just that. Never heard from them.

I'm really frustrated. Most things I can do myself, but I can't replace siding and windows, dig post holes or stretch carpeting.

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The fresh peach pie just came out of the oven. I know what I'm having for lunch.

Speaking of food, just look at the ribs I cooked on the barbecue yesterday......

LOL, I should have checked the picture before we ate the ribs! I don't know why they look yellow, it must have been the setting sun shining on them. They were actually brown and crisp and fall off the bone tender. I dug fresh new potatoes and picked beans and summer squash to serve with them, along with the rest of my garden corn.

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The Idiot Gardener wrote; "Granny, how can you taunt us with hot pepper jelly and not give us a recipe. Honestly, old woman, your mind is slipping. We need the recipe, and we need it now!"

OK, TIG. I used the recipe in the Sure Jell pectin box, but here it is, just for you. I have no idea why Sure Jell calls it relish. I think everyone else calls it hot pepper jelly.

Hot Pepper Relish

2 medium Green peppers, seeded, finely chopped
3 medium Red peppers, seeded, finely chopped
*note: I use all green or all red, not a mixture
10 large Jalapeño peppers, seeded, finely chopped (about 1 cup) *note: if your peppers aren't hot enough, add red pepper flakes. Mine had no heat at all, so I used 4 tsp. flakes, which may have been a bit much.
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4 cups (total) prepared peppers
1 cup Cider vinegar
5 cups Sugar, measured into separate bowl
1 box SURE.JELL Fruit Pectin
1/2 tsp. Butter or margarine

BRING boiling-water canner, half full with water, to simmer. Wash jars and screw bands in hot soapy water; rinse with warm water. Pour boiling water over flat lids in saucepan off the heat. Let stand in hot water until ready to use. Drain well before filling.

STEM and seed peppers. Finely chop peppers; drain well. Measure exactly 4 cups of the peppers into 6- or 8-qt. saucepot. Stir in vinegar.

STIR pectin into prepared peppers in saucepot. Add butter to reduce foaming. Bring mixture to full rolling boil (a boil that doesn't stop bubbling when stirred) on high heat, stirring constantly. Stir in sugar. Return to full rolling boil and boil exactly 1 min., stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim off any foam with metal spoon.

LADLE immediately into prepared jars, filling to within 1/8 inch of tops. Wipe jar rims and threads. Cover with two-piece lids. Screw bands tightly. Place jars on elevated rack in canner. Lower rack into canner. (Water must cover jars by 1 to 2 inches. Add boiling water, if necessary.) Cover; bring water to gentle boil. Process 10 min. Remove jars and place upright on towel to cool completely. After jars cool, check seals by pressing middles of lids with finger. (If lids spring back, lids are not sealed and refrigeration is necessary.)

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