The Rain Never Falls

Before I could post this blog the rain did fall for a brief time.  Enough to give everything a nature's drink of goodness.

                                          The first sign of fall, sunflowers.

A few times in the last month we have said, it feels like rain.  It did, the air turned cool, the wind picked up and dark clouds moved in.  Just as fast the clouds separated, the wind quit and the temperatures went back up.  There has been a few storms all around us but none at Cook'n by the Creek.  Soon without rain the creek will have completely stopped flowing.  In the 21 years we have lived here I have never seen the water so low.  Barely a flow going through.  This is why it is so important to protect our waterways.  The small ones feed the bigger and end up to be the Mississippi River.  Fresh water is gold!  The brush grow along the streams for a reason, it keeps the water temperature down so fish, crabs, etc can survive and also stops evaporation of the stream.  Another thing is the amount of rain, cooler temperatures and lots of winter snow.  Snow depth is key to providing water to our streams and springs.  We shouldn't have to be told at this time of  the year to conserve water.   Water is life, just as important as the bees are to our food supply.  So, from this day forward think of cutting back on water usage and planting flowers so the bees can survive and do their very important job.  It is quite scary to think of the little things that determine our survival.  

How very sad to walk over our little bridge and see Clara Creek barely flowing.  The dogs miss playing and rolling in the pool of water that is no more.

We dug potatoes and no not a lot and small.  I saved the bigger ones to eat now and the small ones got canned yesterday.  Eleven quarts to the precious canned foods in the basement.  The canned up beautiful, nice and water with clear liquid.  That is what you want to see when canning potatoes.  Key to the clear liquid is......when peeling the potatoes immediately put them in cold water.  When you have enough for a batch to can bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the potatoes that the cold water has been drained off, bring to a simmer and when just starting to get tender on the outside drain the water and put loosely in jars.  Pour fresh boiling water over and leave 1 inch head space.  Do not use the water you boiled the potatoes in.  This will make the liquid in the jars after processing starch and not clear.  If you want you can add 1 tsp. of salt per quart of potatoes before canning.  I did.  For safety reasons it recommends only using a pressure canner when canning potatoes.  No acidity is why.

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No porch or deck to work on so it was off to the basement for a good cleaning.  When I start seeing Daddy Long Legs in the upstairs I know it is time to clean the basement and set off a bug bomb.  About twice a year will do the trick.  There was an old medal school table used for computers we ended up with.  A dirty gold color with a fake wood grain top.  Yep, I headed to the the backroom in the basement and found and ivory colored spray paint and a can of Moroccan Red.  Everything was sprayed except the top and that is now a beautiful Red.  It pays to keep "stuff" around for little projects.  Every once in a while I will buy spray cans of paint, polyurethane, sand paper, mineral spirits and paint brushes to add to my stash for times like today.

 

 I know it is way too soon to be thinking of days like this but...............It is my favorite time of the year and I couldn't resist when I was going through some old photos to post it on the blog.  Dreaming 💖