From A to Zzzz

I didn't notice them when we got back Monday evening, but yesterday morning I spotted them – Ants! Little black ants, randomly crawling on the south side of my kitchen. I wasn't sure if they came in with the food we brought back, the cherries Rick had picked the night before, or what. There was no line to trace from whence they came, so no good place to put Terro. Brian and I kept checking throughout the day to find and kill all we found, and we seem to be winning the war.

Now for trip knitting. I took supplies to make another (yes, another) pair of fingerless mitts in my go-to pattern. Since this yarn is bulkier (Aran weight) than I've used in the past, they knit up very quickly – I finished them before our return trip! Ack; what to do with myself on the way home?!? I did read for awhile, and then looked at my remaining yarn. It looked like enough to make a hat, so extrapolating from my fingerless mitts, I cast on 108 stitches and started with a band of 2x2 ribbing. Once I finished that, I got a little nervous about having enough yarn to finish, so now I think I'll add some cat's paws to the body to stretch it a bit further.

Yesterday afternoon I rode my horse down to get the mail. My friend and neighbor was outside with her grandchildren eating cherries from their trees. I mentioned that her cherries had been allowed to ripen on the trees far longer than usual, and she responded that the man who manages their small orchard was having trouble finding pickers. Then she told me to help myself to all I wanted. We have a few cherry trees at Boulderneigh, but we don't spray so often have worms; it is easy enough to sort through them while eating, but too time consuming for canning. I jumped at the chance to add some jars to our larder, so last night after putting Brian to bed (zzz), I drove back to her place, picked cherries, came home and put up seven quarts and seven pints – all within three hours! I used my new Tattler lids on the pints, which I intend to give to my MIL. (That way I'll get the lids back sooner rather than later.) I went to bed feeling very satisfied with my night's work. Zzzzzz

I checked this morning, and all jars sealed. Yay!

That's it for now from . . .