Jay's Jammin

  No, He’s worth much more than that. Zilch was transported our way last Friday. He’s a blog commenter and lurker who says he has no good ideas about what to write in a blog himself. BUSHWA!  We had dinner together and carried on conversation for about 4 hours Very interesting man, kept me so involved that I forgot to get his real name or get a picture. But he remembered to get some of the Dome.  It was a very enjoyable time. I hope he has an opportunity to visit again, realizing that Vienna, Austria is not just over the State line.

  Purely gratuitous picture of Our Dome Sweet Dome.

  Zilch was one of a few who called me while in hospital for open heart surgery. I remember the call and how I tried not to involve him in my recovery hallucinations coming out of anesthesia.

  We sent them into the gathering storm with Pickles and Jam, our pet Creations.

Post a comment to 'Zilch??'

  What a day. Up’en at’m at 6:45 am, take Brandy to groomers in Clio, breakfast at the Classic Coney Island, pick up Brandy, go next door to Dotty’s pet food for bird seed. Got on I-75 South to Fenton to Spicer’s Orchards and picked up 2 flats of strawberries.Momma is tireless driving a total of 100 miles.

  Momma trimmed & crushed the fruit while Brandy and I took my sore back for a siesta.

  The result of 6 hours of canning with time out for lunch? 21 jars of rhubarb-strawberry and 39 jars of strawberry. Now if I can stop spilling sugar on the stove-top and starting any more fires, everything will be fine.

Post a comment to 'Busy, fun day'

  Tis our season. The pluots just flew in, and we were ready. Picked up two containers at Sam’s Club & turned them into 26 1/2 jars.

  There, I feel better already. We started at 12:30 and were finished by 4:30 Then I discovered that among all the changes to our system over the winter we lost our label maker. Les will be out this weekend, and try to recover it for us.He will also be bringing along the famous Zilch who is visiting from Vienna, Austria., Hmm, I’ll have to figure how to pack some jam for his return.

Post a comment to 'Awrite'

  Pork Scaloppini with Mushrooms

  Red Lobster type Cheese Biscuits

  What Momma saw after I finished !!
  I need something to can soon,or I’ll weigh a ton.Strawberries are set for Father’s Day. We already have rhubarb (from our own plants this year) in the freezer.

  For those of you interested, my recovery from glaucoma and cataract surgery is moving right along. I can keep the eye open longer than I did before, and the sutures are not as irritating now as they dissolve.

Post a comment to 'Look out! Jay’s cookin’'

  To repeat, this was the view towards the shed before.

  This is after.

  Their new home. Then every thing went pear shaped. I had a regular appointment with my retinologist Dr Ross and she discovered signs of glaucoma in my left eye. Went back 3 days later for an injection of Avastin, it helped a little but did not dislodge the blood vessels from blocking the drainage. She determined that I needed surgery for that and also for the cataract in that eye. Laura called some specialists at Henry Ford Hospital and arranged an appointment with Dr Imami.

  He spent 90 minutes in that eye. Not only did he work on that, he also had to co-ordinate with his assistants and put up with my babbling about wy entire work history and about everything we have canned since retiring.
  Which bings us to why no plants in the planters. N o bending, no lifting and no dirt in the eye.

Post a comment to 'Catch up time again'

  Got up early yesterday. When I came back to get dressed I found this.

  Brandy said” Don’t worry Momma, I got your back. Go away Daddy ,we want more sleep”, Momma concurred.
  Got my treatment of Avastin in the left eye. Now maybe I can concentrate on moving some of these.

  That’s right, try the barrel planters 1 more time. We’ll be moving them to the lower patio to get easier access for cutting the grass down there.

The Green Gage plum is showing signs of life. I would like to find a Blenheim Apricot for my next attempt.

  And finally, the results of the the first mowing by the new mower.

Post a comment to 'Odd bits'

  Well, that recipe didn’t work. It turned into something like rubber cement. It would not come together and just coated all the tools, counter, bowl and my hands with sticky goo. To the trash with it. Then went to one of my favorite chefs, Paula Deen and came up with one using Bisquick Recipe recipe

  Of course I used vanilla instead of almond flavoring to go better with the strawberries. It came out verry tasty. I just need to remember cup cake papers next time. That one goes in the book.

Post a comment to 'Change in recipe'

  This weekend I’m trying 2 kinds of strawberry shortcake. The first used puff pastry shells filled with Amaretto ( I used Captain Morgan ) and strawberries. Topped it with mascarpone and more Captain. Wussh berry goodly.
  Next is a shortcake from Epicurious Summer-Fruit Shortcake with Mascarpone Of course made with strawberries.

  These will go into the “Tried’em and Liked’em” binder. I’ll be glad to see canning season again, all this making of goodies   is adding to my rotundity!

  Then I can go back to sleep while Brandy sniffs flowers and picks up rocks.

Post a comment to '+New recipes'

  Saw this Breakfast in Bed About 6 down in the podcast column.

Wake up to Tyler’s French Toast Waffles with Caramelized Apples and Bacon. Served with a mocha cappuccino whipped up with an immersion blender.

  I had to try this( without putting it into the “Want to try binder ).

  Tyler Florence   He’s podcasting for Macy’s now.

His is prettier. It may be awhile before I do it again. I will have to learn how to make brioche so my son won’t have to pick it up at Zingerman‘s in Ann Arbor and bring it up here to Hooterville

Post a comment to 'New recipe, new method'

  Momma found a nice storage-display unit for my most used spices so I could rescue them from the plastic tub under the counter.

Post a comment to 'Spices'

  Good times on Sunday. The Lake Orion Jenkins family, Wes, Deb, Jasmine and Dakota came up to visit. Deb brought carrots to glaze, new potatoes to roast and asparagus with hollandaise sauce. We furnished baked ham, home baked bread and peach pie. They also brought an old (to them) board game- Water Works. Teams were Momma and me, Jazz and Wes, Deb and Dakota. Deb and Dakota won.

  Gratuitous picture of Brandy on the swing.

  Advancing size of Green Gage Plum buds.

  Then we went down so the kids could try out the new tractor. Of course I forgot the camera! Deb checked out the furniture from my Father-in-laws estate.She and Wes will take it and restore it. It should go well in their circa 1880 home.

Post a comment to 'Easter'

  The bad news So I bought the tractor & snow blower I’ve wanted for 9 years.

It quit snowing for a month. Sherman advised changing to the mower 2 weeks ago. I got it back a week ago. AND…

  ... it snowed, and snowed all night!! I have the mower deck on, sitting in the garage. And the snow blower is in the shed.

  Last night Momma decided to make a new recipe, Asian beef & noodles. It called for Oriental spice packet from Ramen noodles. We didn’t have any, so I pulled a recipe from the web, 1 part salt, 1part lemon pepper, 1 part garlic powder, 2 parts onion powder, 1 part 5-spice powder, 1/4 part ground ginger, 1 part ground allspice, 1 part ground cloves.

The good news, I had them all.

  Using a teaspoon as the base measure, it made 1 ounce of the mix.
  After all that it tasted….GREAT. Another culinary adventure for the Axsoms.

Post a comment to 'Good news, bad news'

...and time for pruning and dormant spray on the fruit trees.That’s made with Neem oil and Fels Naptha We have a quince bush that we didn’t know bore fruit until a quince was found underneath when all the leaves fell off.So now I need to find out how to prune it.

  Pruning will take place after blossoming is complete.

This is the new growth on the Green Gage Plum.
  I’m going out to spray these two today.
Tomorrow we’ll head over to Edna and Bob’s place to take care of the quince, pear,apple trees and blackberry canes.

UPDATE:
  Well, the trees over at the Hittle farm got sprayed today. No pictures taken, I forgot to get the camera from Momma. Afterwards we sat down to dinner and some conversation before heading home.

Post a comment to 'Spring is sprung (almost)..'

  Well, let’s see. It’s a 23hp Simplicity Conquest acquired by Briggs and Stratton around 2000.It has a 42” 2-stage snow blower which allows me to dive into snow piles left by the John Deere and get stuck so badly Momma had to get the Chevy

to get me out, midway of which I ran out of gas.  The 50” mower deck was switched with the blower at the dealership. They are storing it until spring for me.

There were some small glitches, loose cable to snow chute deflector, the engine safety cut off switch under the seat fell out, and it needed tire chains. Sherman and Shane each have come out to take it in and fix it. Now all I have to do is get a cab,install the CD player, and clean the garage so it has a nicer place to park.

Post a comment to 'Details, details'

Last pass with the old John Deere.

  In with the new. Out learning the new tractors idiosyncrasies. There are some.  More pictures later.

Post a comment to 'New tractor'