Monday, September 7, 2015

Laboring on Labor Day After a Rough Week

Happy Labor Day folks!

I hope you are able to celebrate by doing something you enjoy doing.

Here on the farm?  Well, that's just it.

We live on a farm.

There is ALWAYS something to do on a farm.

Like picking another five gallon bucket of tomatoes...


Looks like I will be making and canning some tomato juice tomorrow.  Yummy!

And, there is always okra to pick...


We did not pick any okra (yet) today (and there are some that are perfect size for pickling) but I already have a metal pot full of okra waiting to be pickled.

Looks like that will be happening tomorrow as well.

For those of you following along on Facebook, you know that we have been trying to keep an eye on the okra and pick them when they are the perfect size to fit into a pint jar and then I pickle them.

Our freezer is full of corn, blackberries, black raspberries, purple hull peas, green beans and okra so that's why I've been pickling the okra.  That is, as long as we catch them at the right size.

Several of them do slip by us (sometimes I think there's some sort of steroids in the soil the way these things are growing, ha!) and those we usually bag up and take to church for anyone that likes to make and eat fried okra.

We won't be frying much okra which brings me back to last week.

For those of you who personally know us, you know that CountryBoy has had some health issues in the past concerning his heart.  I won't go into detail but, suffice it to say, that shortly after we were married I thought I was going to lose him.

Since then, we have been fairly good about keeping an eye on what he eats.  But... when those baby blues are staring at me I cave in.  And I let him eat the fried chicken and fried okra and I enjoy the smile on his face.  sigh.  What's a suckered wife to do?

Well, not anymore buddy!

This past week he was uncomfortable and having some chest pain. 

When it wouldn't go away we finally went to the ER where, after several tests and a heart cath, a stent was put in.

He is feeling MUCH better now and is following doctors orders for the next several days.

Part of the doctors orders is no lifting anything over ten pounds.

He is adhering to those orders thus the holes that have been in the pantry/laundry room floor for a week now have been temporarily covered with small sheets of scrap wood and not the heavy 3/4 inch plywood that we are putting down.  That's some HEAVY stuff!  But, after a week of not getting anything done on the pantry/laundry room he couldn't stand it anymore so he started the process of reclaiming some wood he salvaged (with permission) from the neighbors burn pile.

The wood came from an old fence that the neighbor tore down for somebody.  It was not pretty that's for sure.

From weathered, dirty and mossy...


to the chop saw and table saw...


look at those arms, swoon!  oops, sorry!

plus lots of sanding, to this...


Nice looking rustic wood for the pantry/laundry room walls.

And, the price was right.  Score!


Can you see the difference in the boards on the left versus the boards on the right?  I'm loving the way they are turning out!

Oh, and don't forget the ever-present girls who are always willing to help out no matter the job!

Also happening today was the typical, non-exciting housework and laundry done by yours truly.  Such thankless but necessary tasks.  Although I never mind doing laundry.  I can't wait until my laundry room is done.  Ah, the ideas I have for that small space!  They are simple ideas and nothing fancy but I think it will make a necessary (but enjoyable) task even more enjoyable for me.  Now to just figure out how to make housework more enjoyable, haha!

We are closing out this Labor Day with my own version of a Tropi-Chop meal I used to get at TropiGrill in Orlando.   Are any of those restaurants still around?  Anyhoo, it's a bowl of rice, layered with black beans, grilled chicken, chopped onions, chopped green olives and topped with the salsa I just canned.  I also put a homegrown watermelon in the fridge that we'll have for dessert.  YUM!

I hope y'all have had an enjoyable and safe Labor Day weekend.




No comments: