Friday, October 29, 2010

I was able to get some apples this year from the same place Jeremy and I have picked grapes from for the past three years. I wanted to get some apple juice. I thought it would be just about the same as the grapes. I had a five gallon bucket of apples, I did have to cut out the wormy spots, but it filled by juicer/canner. I was thinking that the same amount of grapes will give me 8-9 quarts of juice, so I should get that much from the apples. I talked to my Mother about why there was not very much, I had gotten three. She said to just leave it steaming and maybe it would break the apple pulp down and I could get some more. I had about 2 quarts of grape juice that had drained out of the pulp from the day before, I poured it over the apples thinking it would release more juice. I only got one more quart. I left it to steam and the water ran dry. In the process of putting more water in, I was in a hurry and did not put my gloves on, I poured the water in the hot pan while holding the upper parts and it turned into a huge steam cloud that enveloped my hand.



Eventually the entire portion from knuckle to first joint on my pointer and middle finger blistered. The skin came off the blisters when Jeremy and I dug all of our potatoes on Saturday. I could not get my ring off for four days as my finger swelled up so fast. My whole hand is looking much better this week.



The four jars of juice is all I got for all the pain and suffering. I also did get some fruit leather made from the pulp. Maybe next year I will try and find an apple press so I can get more juice out.





Monday, October 11, 2010

Happy 18 months!!

Avery turned 18 months on Saturday. I can not believe that he is getting so big. The time has just flown by. Today he decided that those little levers were kind of interesting, so he reached up and started flipping them. I wish that I had gotten the picture of when he got a face full of water, he thought it was so funny, that he went right back to flipping again. It is a good thing we have a lock on it.


He just got three teeth in this last week. A few weeks before, he got five teeth in, all in the space of about a week and an half. I guess he just wanted it over quickly.

I got the last of the tomatoes canned today, YEAH!!! I will still have some ripen, but not very many. It has been nice to have it hot so long, I think most of the tomatoes will ripen on the vine before it freezes.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

The Berry Ranch

Avery and I went out to a pick your own pumpkin patch today while Jeremy went kayaking. We got to ride on a hay ride, I was hoping for horses pulling us, but it was a tractor. Someone made a smart remark that there were 90 horses pulling us, Ha Ha.

Here are the other kids that we went with. Their mother and I have been walking together in the mornings for the last month. We have been enjoying getting to know each other better, and our families.


While there we also had the opportunity to see and pet some animals. Avery was enthralled with the chickens, we got to pet a sheep and see some cows up close.


The kids are supposed to be able to carry their own pumpkin or you have to pay the adult price for them also, but I lucked out and didn't have to. Maybe the guy felt a little sorry for me. Avery did not really understand the reason we were out in the big field. He thought that it was just to walk around and get dirty, of which he did a marvelous job! I can not count the times that he fell over, he even slipped around in a smashed pumpkin for a bit before I came to his rescue.

After trekking through the pumpkin patch, not as far as most people were going, because Avery wanted to walk all by himself. I got the pumpkin below and carried it while holding Avery's hand, back to where the tractor ride picked us up, also Avery's pumpkin, as he was too tired.


I was worried that it would be a lousy day to go out as it was cloudy all morning, but it was sunny and warm while we were there.

Friday, October 8, 2010

New trick

Avery loves it when you clap for him after he does some thing. He started off stepping off the hearth at my friend's house, it was the height of one brick. The very next day he came home and started to try it off of our hearth. it is a good thing the hearth is surrounded by carpet, at times I wish the whole house (or world) was covered in carpet. He is now stepping off the steps going out the front door and out the back.




Two days later he decided that he would try his new learned feat and step off the wicker chair that is right next to the hearth, you can see it in the picture. That did not go quite so well. He fell sideways and hit the side of his head on the hearth. It left a nice goose egg and a blood blister.

Little Helper

I was putting the dishes away one morning, I was working on the silverware, when Avery went over and started to help. He stacked all the little dishes up in a pile, without any help. He will now help me get all the clothes out of the dryer and put them in the basket also. It may take a little longer, but it is fun to have a little helper around every now and again.


Jeremy's new bike

Jeremy decided that he wanted to get a motorcycle so that he could save money on gas (he has only been getting about 10 mpg). He let his Dad, Wes, know his plans and Wes started to look around down in Utah. He found one and he and Sean went to check it out. Sean said it was a good buy and you should get it brother. So Jeremy has Wes pick it up for him. The only problem was that it was in Utah and we are in Boise. He got it for a good deal because it had been in an accident. So last month we went down to pick it up and bring it home.
















We started off at 4am on Monday morning, I was hoping that Avery would just stay asleep, he didn't. On our way to Kathy and Wes's, we stopped at Brandon and Jessica's for breakfast and a visit. Jeremy also got made up for the day.




It was a very fast trip as we had to be home on Wednesday. Jeremy worked on the bike with Wes almost the whole time, it needed some repairs so he could ride it home.






Here are the pics of the one he actually purchased, the other was given to him as a parts bike, he needed the headlight and some other things off of it.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Chase me

Avery would entice Koda over to his kennel by going over by it. He would then go tearing off across the room and into the kitchen or down the hall, with Koda right behind him. They did this quite a bit, it was nice to have an Avery watcher while I got other things done.



We had the opportunity to watch a dog for a couple of days for some friends. Jeremy was not that excited when he came home from work to find Koda in the back yard. Avery thought it was the best thing that had happened to him in at least the last week.



I am not sure if Koda is waiting for Avery to open the gate or checking out an odor.



Koda was very protective of "his space". Avery liked to see how close he could get. They had fun playing outside together.

OUCH!!!!

So I was trying to wait to upload any photos until all the bruises disappeared, but he is just getting them on top of the other ones. The two on the left side of his head were just getting to be yellow, until he fell again today and got two more goose eggs. He also fell in the dry grass and scratched his little face up. Of course, we have his 18 month appointment next week, maybe they will all be healed up by then.