It wasn't productive....

Last weekend I had a huge list of things I wanted and needed to get done.  Apparently, I should have followed my instincts on Saturday morning and sat to knit all day.  Instead, I tried to be productive.  I had a box and a half of pears that needed peeled and cored.  They should probably be canned at some point but my goal was to get them into gallon ziplocks and into the freezer before they became mush.  The fruit flies were very active around those boxes so I knew I was cutting it close on the timing.

Before sitting down to work on the pears, though, I needed to get a few things done outside.  The garden desperately needed weeding and I needed to pull the garlic and onions since their tops had already died back.  This was mostly accomplished without incident.  I have four rosebushes that have mostly returned to the root stock this year, much to my disappointment.  These are long established roses so I needed to dig them out.  Did I mention, well established?  I tried digging one out with a shovel and managed to break the shovel handle before the rose bush even budged.  So...I opted out of that task for the weekend.  I did deadhead the much neglected bushes before I headed inside for the day. Put a shovel on the list of tools that need replacing.  I know you can replace handles but my dad recommended replacing the entire tool since I have old hand me down's from their garden shed.  He replaced the pitch fork for me earlier this year. (I think it was also easier for him than trying to do the replacement).

So, I headed inside to tackle the pears and I figured I'd make up some applesauce from the apples in the freezer while I was doing so.  I set up my cutting station and placed my towel down to avoid drips, then put the bucket beside me on the floor.  I threw three gallon bags of apples in a large sauce pan and put it on medium high to heat.  Then, I dug in; it was about 11:30.  I worked diligently, getting up every so often to stir the apples. Mid-afternoon, I nicked my fingers on the knife and decided maybe I should address the applesauce for a while.    I'd put three gallon bags in the freezer already but there still appeared to be a mountain of pears.  So I transfered my attention to the apples, removing them from the heat and running them through the foodmill.  I noticed that some had stuck to the bottom and figured I needed to turn it down a little bit for the next batch.  The food mill was necessary because with the last batch, I discovered that we hadn't been very careful in our pealing and coring so that I was pulling stems and peals out of the sauce with nearly every bite.  Besides, we hadn't pealed the frozen apples so I needed a way to remove the peals anyway.  I had the jars all filled and ready to go in the canner when I realized I'd forgotten to spice it, although I'd added a little sugar.  I decided it wasn't necessary and put the first batch in the canner for the required 20 minutes.  It took two batches since the 3 bags makes about 12-13 pints of sauce.  Canning, fortunately, is fairly fool proof if you follow the simple rules-Use the appropriate amount of canning time and wipe the rims off before putting the lids on.  I threw three more bags of apples into the pot and then I went back to the pears. Oh, the pears...forever and ever I peeled and cored and still the boxes seemed full.  I finally cleaned out the half box of pears. Unfortunately, I noticed a smoky smell in the air and realized that I'd scorched the applesauce.  I tasted and tested but nothing I did was going to remove the scorched taste in those apples.

I felt really discouraged.  I decided to clean up my mess and decide what to do from there.  The garbage disposal in the kitchen sink clogged with some apple skins and the rotating part needed to be manually manipulated to remove what was stuck.  I've done it many times, so I stuck my hand in and manually turned  the crank and relieved the bind.  No big deal. But then my brain and my right hand disconnected from the reality of the left hand and flipped the switch before my left hand was out of the disposal. OUCH!  Wow! That really hurt!  Imagine a hammer hitting your fingers multiple times in rapid succession. But fortunately, nothing was broken, not even the skin.  However, three fingers were numb for almost an hour afterwards. That was it.  I was done.

I called mom to see if she had any ideas about the apples but nothing came to mind.  With a frustrated sob, I dumped the entire batch onto the compost pile.

There were still pears.  They would have to wait.  I was mad and frustrated and just simply DONE!  It was 7:30.  I'd been working on pears and apples for 8 hours with very little, it seemed, to show for it.  I could have cried.  (I might have, a little)

Sunday, when I looked into the pear box, the seemingly endless illusion resolved and I saw that, indeed there was probably only a half of a box left.  I'd hoped that Marian and Trudi could help me with the rest on Tuesday but they had other plans.

On Tuesday, I was so cranky and moody that I just stayed home after work.  I, the person who never runs unless it is an emergency, decided to jog in place for 20 minutes to try to exorcise whatever emotional demon was making my day miserable.  I set the WiiFit to free jog and began.  It was obvious nearly immediately that this was going to be a large challenge but I managed to make it through.  Then I worked through some balancing exercises, ending with the candle meditation exercise.  I felt significantly better then and sat down to finish the rest of the pears.  (Although, I am still feeling the strain in my calves from that experience)

The irony of the entire exercise is....I don't need pears.  But all of my freezers are now stuffed to the gills with pears.  In fact, this canning season has made it obvious to me that I need a larger chest freezer.  That is an issue I may address tomorrow, although I cringe at the thought of the cost. A spare refrigerator would also be nice but I can't justify that.  I will have to clean out the garage a bit in order to put a larger freezer in there.  It's not crowded, it just needs reorganized.

I have three air conditioning units in there that need to be rehomed or recycled now that I have the heat pump (If anyone local is interested...or anyone who is coming for coronet that wants to take one or more with them.  I don't even really care about getting money for them). To the best of my knowledge they all work just fine although, cosmetically they are not all so pretty.  Two of them are fairly large and were capable of cooling most of the house between the two.

Otherwise, this week has been  fairly ordinary.  Mom and I are planning a hike for tomorrow. We are still exploring the Ridgeline trail.  This time we are going to start on the 52nd and Willamette trailhead and hike to the Dillard West trailhead and then back. It should be about 6 miles round trip. (Map)  We've done the hike from 52nd and Willamette almost to the turn to go up Spencer's butte.  It was the turn we didn't find when we expected to so I have a little trepidation but I'm thinking we just didn't go far enough.  We aren't going to hike up the Butte this time.

There are still chores to be done but nothing is sitting in the living room collecting fruit flies.