pjbknit

New Blog

I have moved my blog to http://pjbknit.wordpress.com/

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Puppy Post

Ursula says, at least they are not annoying me

Wingnut!

Beagle Bagel

Petunia looking pitiful for the camera


Sister, Mom said to sit still

Yeah, yeah, I am awake

What, where are the treats? Baron woke up when I turned his ear right side out for a photo

Actual Knitting

I have been working on the Freemans Alley armwarmers again. These are from a kit with 3 colors of Koigu sock yarn.

I started another project. Yes, I do have a few going. This is an effort to use up stash yarn. Wish I could remember why I have 11 skeins of Noro Silk Garden. I looked at the Noro Striped Scarf , but I don't wear scarves... Then I found the More Stripes vest. The steek looks interesting. Since I have a lot of one color with dark hues, and one skein each of 3 colors of Silk Garden with bright colors, my vest is going to have even more colors to use up stash.

I have been working on another market bag-think the beige color drove me to the Noro yarn. I have also had a stomach bug. As soon as I got over that, I got an infected oil gland in my eyelid. Boy, that was painful for a couple of days, then it swelled for about a half a day. Think I am OK now, still need my flu shot. I am kinda afraid to get one.

 

Pup 'n' Pizza Post

OK, the knitting isn't here because it didn't start with P. I got a new lens in the mail from eBay the other day-a 35-105mm zoom. I did not pay attention to the fact it was a D, and not a DX lens, but it works fine with the digital SLR. Just weighs more than the camera, I think.

Anyway, I took it out of the box, put in on the D50, and went out in the yard. Someone dragged a cow femur or something up in the yard. Wingnut picked it up and followed me.

Then she got distracted by Baron and Petunia made off with the bone.

It's all mine!

Puppies have short attention spans, and Belvedere tried it out. He dropped it immediately and ran behind me when I went back inside to the A/C.

Belv is a TV star! Belvedere's back steps photo was featured on Good  Day Alabama on September 4. It is on my Facebook timeline.Mickey Feguson said I will be the person in the pet store with the biggest shopping cart.

Baron did not get involved with the bone nonsense

Maybe Ursula thought it was amusing?

Wingnut and Beagle Bagel (who is not quite in focus)

Beagle Bagel

And last but not least, the pizza--BBQ chicken with a little jalapeno

And I heard Saturday was Hobbit Day, so I had slow cooker French Toast Casserole for second breakfast. Even though it doesn't have a p.

 

 

 

More Stuff, Including Sewing

Tater grabs the pieces of dog biscuits that fall out of Belvedere's mouth

Did someone mention dog biscuits? Wingnut is outgrowing her chair

I saw this cute bag mentioned on the Food in Jars blog. I ordered the pattern from Etsy before the drawing even ended, since I had some perfect fabric for it. The designer is from Alabama.

We got the ladder and the apple picker thingie out to get the apples the deer couldn't reach. There are some pretty ones, and there are Granny Smiths under the red ones.

Some of them went into a Caramel-Apple-Gnger Crostata, while some went into apple pie filling with brown sugar, cinnamon and ginger

Guess What?

More pup photos and canned goods. Hey, it's August.

So, I wanted a photo of Baron and Belvedere lying side by side. Belv jumped up and started barking at Baron, who ignored the noise. Note Belv's tail tip

Hey, no butterflies allowed on the ears!

All 4 puppies swarm Belv, who usually gets irritated and barks at them

Kosher dill pickles with Ball seasoning mix

I also made a BBQ chicken pizza from scratch, using the chicken from the crock-pot

Strawberry-fig preserves, the kind with Jell-O

Canning, Vacation, More Canning

I made fig preserves before we left for Las Vegas. I also made applesauce and pear sauce, using the KitchenAid strainer attachment, for the first time with fruit, and froze them to make fruit butter when we got back from vacation. We have so few pears that I put them with the apples. Recipe

I picked a basket of apples on Saturday. We saw a deer next to the tree, in the fenced yard the next day. Good thing I got the apples. I had enough for 5 quart jars of apple pie filling and maybe another pint.

fig preserves

apple pie filling

Apple/pear butter

We stayed at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. It was very nice, although I felt a little disoriented not staying at the Flamingo.

View of clouds from the hotel room window-it rained elsewhere around Vegas that evening.

We were close to the pool area, not a big draw for us.

Although we tried not to touch anything in the minibar, I had to have the cheese straws. They were $12.97 with tax. DH was yelling at me to close it before we got charged when I turned to get the phone for this photo. We actually had a mini Keurig machine-K cups were $12.97 for 3 or 4. Darn, we could have packed some.

We always have to go see the Bellagio's conservatory. I love the dwarf sunflowers and hydrangea

Guess how the weather was?

another view from the room

 

 

More Summer Stuff

More canning and cooking with tomatoes.

Skinny Chicken Enchiladas on Monday had some homemade tomato sauce in it.

I got red okra at a grocery store that has some local produce, and I made red pickled okra.

Cherry tomatoes went into the freezer with jalapenos, sweet peppers and onions for chili, etc., in the winter. There were yellow ones, red ones, gold ones and black pearl.

Also used some homemade tomato sauce to make pizzas for lunch. We had one with sauce, onions, ham and bacon, and one had fresh tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and pestto.

I have been knitting on water bottle holders in cotton thread. I am making this one for me to take to Las Vegas.

I made this one for a gift for a co-worker. The finished strap was 30", but I forgot to take a photo before giving it away.

 

 

 

Summertime

Well, first we have puppies

Wingnut, one of the foster puppies, with her favorite chair. DH said she was curled up asleep in it the other morning. She got in his chair today and looked guilty.

Bagel Beagle-the only way I can get her to stay still enough for a photo is the dog biscuit.

There is no telling what Petunia is chewing on

Oooh, shiny. Tater's short coat is glossy

Think she took whatever is in her mouth from her sister

DH went outside the other morning. All 4 puppies rushed him in a puppy stampede, tripping over a stainless steel bowl, sending it rocking and ringing. I opened the door and spoke to pups. They RAN back to me as fast as they could in a blur of black and tan, stepping in the bowl and setting it ringing again., "It's the Gong Show," he said.

It's  summer, so we have tomatoes. Monday I made tomato-lemon basil jam, and three pints of crushed tomatoes. The darker looking one has just Cherokee Purple maters.

My big adventure this year is using the KitchenAid fruit and vegetable strainer attachment for the meat grinder. Yes, I have to stand on a chair. The lady in the YouTube video did not.

pulp and juice come out one side, and seeds and peel come out the other end. We keep calling it mater poop.

So far, I have gotten about 6 pints of sauce. I got three pints today from about 24 cups of tomatoes.

I made some pickles before the cucumber plants succumbed to what I suspect are squash bugs, while the squash are still thriving. I have 7 more cucumber plants in containers-they are bush type pickling cukes. I got photos of the okra and watermelon rind pickles, not sure about the cucumbers.

Big Mama paste tomatoes in front are huge! Think that is Better Boy in the back

Pups, etc.

Guess who showed up Friday? This is Boots, who must be from the same litter as Tater and Petunia

I made a tomato and corn pie the other day with homegrown tomatoes



The temp reading in my car around 4 pm

I have knit another cotton market bag. This is the Grrlfriend Bag pattern