Today is what I often call canning and freezing clean-up day - the day after you've done the major portion of the canning but you still have a little of this and a little of that to finish up. I've got about 4 heads of broccoli to process, 2 cabbage heads that I'm just going to cut and put in the frig until Monday, some yellow squash and zucchini to do something with, probably can; and I'll probably make some zucchini bread. I need to pick the few remaining red raspberries, put some cucumbers and onions in vinegar, and I need to move the onions we're drying to a cooler area. Yikes!! I didn't realize I had so much to do. Yet, it's all just little stuff. Sometimes it's the little stuff that adds variety though, so I do it. Next week the cabbage will make cole slaw for lunches and cooked cabbage to go with beans, corn on the cob, fried potatoes and cornbread. Some of the broccoli will go in salad and some in the freezer, and the bread will be a tasty breakfast. The raspberries will taste good with a little whip cream and I'll probably grill up some squash too. Like I said, some of the veggies will go in the freezer and canner and some will be used for meals. Summer is always such a pleasure when it comes to preparing meals if you can just find the time to do it!! I'm also going to take some of the tomatoes and make salsa. Yum, I love fresh salsa and hubby has already informed me that 2 of those tomatoes will be making their way to his BLT's!! Of course, there's always laundry to do too!! It never ends!
It's been a hot day here at the ranch. It was already 90 degrees at 10:30 a.m. and got up to a toasty 95. The chickens started showing signs of heat stress so I put their ice jugs out for them and they got all cozy sitting around the ice-filled containers. I put an extra pan of cool water in their run and they really liked that. Ophelia just loves to stand around in it.
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I decided to take a break and snap a few photos. Some of the flowers are so beautiful and if it doesn't rain here pretty soon I'm afraid this will be the last really pretty flowers. Also, my tomatoes need rain badly. They are on the cusp of being the biggest and the best!! By the time I got out to the garden to take pics I was hot and sweaty. A baby robin was being chased around the yard by bigger adult birds and its Mother was going crazy so after they drove the baby into the lake I waded in and got him back on land and chased him into the tree line. Whew!! Way too hot for messing around like that!!!