What a vacation
So I've got a week off. It was a "use it or lose it" situation so I've elected to make it a staycation. I could have spent a week in Cabo but I don't think that the wife would have appreciated that too much since she would have had to stay home. Next month I get another week off. It looks like it'll be the same type of situation. A buddy from work will be in Cancun that week, though, so maybe I'll have to figure out some way to join him. I'm not counting on that happening.
I was hoping for some nice weather so that I could at least enjoy a few days on my bike. I had planned to pitch a tent in the San Luis Valley for a day or two and scout out the region. It's looking more and more like that's where I'll be investing in my BOL. It's a long trek to get there from where I live but it's got a lot of features that I really like. Unfortunately it's been rainy and cold the last couple of days and the weather doesn't look like it will be any better towards the end of the week. Fortunately I scored 2 cases of Sam Adams and 2 cases of Miller Light for $15 last week so at least I can stay pickled while I'm thinking about what I could be doing if the weather would cooperate.
Speaking of pickles, I've been canning quite a bit. I did up 5 quarts of chili, 7 quarts of beef stew, 4 half pints of zucchini relish and 4 pints of zucchini pickles so far. I still have about 5 pounds of peppers and at least 25 pounds of zucchini to use. I also have 5 or 6 zucchinis still on the vine and at least 25 pounds of tomatoes that are still green as hell the night before we're supposed to get our first snow. Hopefully it doesn't stick... It's not supposed to freeze so hopefully they'll survive.
Using that old, antique canner has definitely made me realize the shortcomings of it. It provides a good enough seal to get the job done but it does have a tiny leak in one spot around the rim. It's not bad enough to stop the weight from getting going but who knows how long it will last. The way that it's built it doesn't really need the gasket but it does have one and it does help a lot with the seal. I'd feel better if I had an actual pressure gauge, anyway. I think that an All American gasketless canner is in my future. I'd be able to can a lot more at once, anyway, if I bought a big one.
I was hoping for some nice weather so that I could at least enjoy a few days on my bike. I had planned to pitch a tent in the San Luis Valley for a day or two and scout out the region. It's looking more and more like that's where I'll be investing in my BOL. It's a long trek to get there from where I live but it's got a lot of features that I really like. Unfortunately it's been rainy and cold the last couple of days and the weather doesn't look like it will be any better towards the end of the week. Fortunately I scored 2 cases of Sam Adams and 2 cases of Miller Light for $15 last week so at least I can stay pickled while I'm thinking about what I could be doing if the weather would cooperate.
Speaking of pickles, I've been canning quite a bit. I did up 5 quarts of chili, 7 quarts of beef stew, 4 half pints of zucchini relish and 4 pints of zucchini pickles so far. I still have about 5 pounds of peppers and at least 25 pounds of zucchini to use. I also have 5 or 6 zucchinis still on the vine and at least 25 pounds of tomatoes that are still green as hell the night before we're supposed to get our first snow. Hopefully it doesn't stick... It's not supposed to freeze so hopefully they'll survive.
Using that old, antique canner has definitely made me realize the shortcomings of it. It provides a good enough seal to get the job done but it does have a tiny leak in one spot around the rim. It's not bad enough to stop the weight from getting going but who knows how long it will last. The way that it's built it doesn't really need the gasket but it does have one and it does help a lot with the seal. I'd feel better if I had an actual pressure gauge, anyway. I think that an All American gasketless canner is in my future. I'd be able to can a lot more at once, anyway, if I bought a big one.
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Michael