Ah, yes. Minnesota. Land of 10,000 Lakes and the Halloween Blizzard of 1991.
I had thought about a grocery store run this morning. Right up to the time I looked out my window and saw that the rain-snow mix was freezing onto the outside surface of that window. I checked the website that I use to listen to the police scanner. First thing I heard was officers dealing with two crashes out on the highway. The second transmission I heard was a comment from an officer concerning the slick roads.
Wasn't much of a stretch to decide that the place to be today is in my warm and snug apartment as opposed to navigating the icy sidewalks. I can't say that I am surprised at the weather Mother Nature is sending our way. March has a way of teasing us with warmth and sunshine only to do an about face and dump snow on us. On the up side, when Spring finally does arrive, it is heavenly. And our Autumn is glorious. Gives me something to look forward to.
After a relaxing lazy day of mostly reading, I spent my weekend attending to those chores that always need attention. The laundry is done, the kitchen floor scrubbed to within an inch of it's life, the bathroom sparkling. Well, maybe not sparkling, but as clean as a bathroom in an old building can be.
I spent some time rearranging my two shelving units that hold my home canned goods. After mostly living off those shelves this winter, I needed to see what I was running low on. Within my line of vision are 21 cases of empty canning jars, both pint and quart size. There are another 5 cases of half pint jars stacked elsewhere. I get most of my vegetables from the Farmer's Market in late summer and fall, but I can start canning meat any time. I seem to use a lot of hamburger and turkey, so those are on my shopping list. A couple of years ago I canned some meatballs and they were delicious, so I want to do more of those. I also seem to use the canned bacon and sausage often, so more jars of those are planned.
So if the snow and ice ever goes away and I can go out without slipping and sliding, I will be busy.
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Goodness, you've a lot of empty jars. Me too. Great idea with the website police scanners...I need to find a local source. I understand our local police scramble the singles but I'll try. Hard rain here.
ReplyDeleteYep, no scanner for me.
ReplyDeleteJacksonville, FL — As of Thursday the flow of your information will be filtered, it’ll be delayed and what we report to you will be handpicked.
For the first time ever in Jacksonville police radio traffic will be completely closed off to the public. Six years ago JSO began operating under encrypted radio frequencies, a result of 9/11.
Stephen...The website I use to listen to the scanner is Broadcastify (http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/). I see that Florida is one of the states covered. Like Minnesota, not all counties are available, but my county is and has a couple of options. Gets interesting when the weather is bad.
ReplyDeleteI had maybe 2 cases of empty jars left when winter set in. The quarts were mostly filled with cranberry juice that I love. There are still more jars that have gone home with my kids, but they are pretty good to bring them back when empty. Or I will hunt them down. Jars are gold.
I'm surprised more folks don't can meat, especially hunters.
ReplyDeleteGorges...I am also surprised. Meat is one of the easiest things to can. My shelves hold hamburger, beef cubes, chicken, turkey, pork, bacon, sausage and even some pepperoni for pizza. My sons hunt, so once in a while I have venison to can, which is delicious. I can, at any given time, open jars for a complete meal. I freeze some meat, but most is canned, because I not only like the taste and convenience, but if I lose power for a long period of time, the canned won't go bad like the frozen will when thawed.
ReplyDeleteWhile at this time we don't can, it is something I am looking at. We are going to start doing some baking again today. Cinnamon rolls sounds like a winner. I have to take the boys to work at 4:30pm but its only a 1 1/2 away. So that limits my driving. The best time to get turkeys cheap is after Christmas, hams too. We picked up turkeys at like $.088 a pound and ham around $1.25 a pound.
ReplyDeleteRob...It can be a little spendy getting started with canning - the price of jars and the canning pot, which can be used for fruit and tomatoes. When you get into vegetables and meat you need a pressure canner. It has taken me about 3 years to get where I am now, but for me, it is worth it. I learned when I was a young girl, but it isn't difficult. I also look for meat on sale. Can't hardly afford it, otherwise!
ReplyDeleteI hear you. My dad's family was farmers, my mom city folk. Not much was handed down cooking wise. We have a good sized market here in Cokato. I like Walmart for large scale shopping. I am going to do some serious price comparing between them. Milk and bread are higher. But making rolls and bread will cut that down. The market here always seems to have meat on sale. Picked up boneless pork for $2.99 a pound. Hard to find at WM
ReplyDeleteRob...Because of circumstances I do things a bit differently. WM takes 2 hours round trip on the bus. Cub takes 1 hour. So I mostly go to Cub. My son picks up 25 lb. bags of sugar and flour for me at WM. That helps a lot. I found pork loin for $2.99/lb. a while back at Cub and canned up a bunch. Same with boneless beef. I watch the ads and stock up when I can. Baking bread helps - cheaper than buying. I probably don't need to preserve as much as I do, but I never want to see a time when my family goes hungry!
ReplyDelete