September 22-28 week

 Dear Cindy, 

Picket line is getting in the way of getting the household ready for winter. 

Monday: clean house and go to town with a school meeting in the evening. Hot dogs for supper. 

Tuesday: zoom meeting and go to see Bryan Adams in concert. Hot dogs for supper. 

Wednesday: clean house and return running shoes in town; pick Patric up from chess club and Luc up from Baseball. Spaghetti for supper. 

Thursday: zoom meeting and harvest tomatoes. Butter chicken with pre-made sauce for supper. 

Friday: sell Clan of the Cave Bear book series to a person who searched them out;  Farmers Market; Pick Patric up from Magic club and Luc up from Tae Kwon Do. Purchased pizza for supper. 

Saturday: Swim lessons; Weight/Fitness gym coaching; Birthday party dinner at a friend's house. 

Sunday: Harvest more of the garden and a friend sleepover to Monday - which is a ProD day. 

September 21

 Dear Cindy, 

It's raining. It hasn't rained in a long time. It can rain today. Hopefully it stops before Monday picket line. Walking with umbrellas will really make that sidewalk crowded. 

Rain, also means that it's not frost. 

Today I will focus on getting the green peppers cut up and into the freezer. Luc picked a big bowl yesterday. Then, I can use the big bowl for making pulla. We haven't had pulla for a long while, so it will be a nice change of flavours in the house. 

I'm running out of freezer space again. 

I can maybe rearrange to make room - but it's lucky we don't have any pork to figure out this year; because I would really have to logic everything around.  It's the apple juice that is taking up the room - we just need to make sure we drink it. 

September 20

 Dear Cindy, 

We've started swim lessons again - this time north of us. 

BUT - when I booked the lessons, I forgot about our northbound road out of the neighbourhood being closed for repairs. Repairs are good. The closure is an inconvenience and means an additional 20km of travel and time to get to swim lessons in the future. 

Lessons are scheduled for mid-day Saturdays, so we'll have lots of time, and it will give me an opportunity to get shopping done - instead of before the picket line times. 

Still no frost - and the garden needs to be harvested.

I have cherry tomatoes in the dehydrator that need to be removed and put away before I can use the dehydrator again. 

I was thinking of making a soup mix of dried vegetables. Carrots, onions, celery, greenpepper. Celery tends to not hydrate well - it stays chewy - so I'll have to make sure it's cut up very small. I have lots and lots of celery and peppers to process. 

September 19

 Dear Cindy. 

I took Moka to the picket line. 

I was asleep by 8:30pm. 

September 18

Dear Cindy 

On Tuesday I was on Virtual Strike. 

Literally - it's do not sign in to the work account, spend 1 hour in a meeting, spend the rest of the time in a meaningful way. 
I volunteered in the neighbourhood to listen to a negotiation with BC Hydro. Trying to listen to what they are not saying. 

On Wednesday I was on the picket line. 

There was a vehicle accident on the highway south of us. The bush caught fire. The highway was shut down.

Luckily, I was able to drive home via the normal route by the time my shift ended. I had Patric with me - as he went to Chess Club at the library after school. 

Luc left in the morning for a high school salmon trip - sleeping over at the local "Boyne River/Island School" style camp. I think there are 20 students - grade 9 through 12. So, he'll be the youngest in the group - but he can handle it. 

Today - I made 20 jars of spaghetti sauce. It is delicious. 

And I'm done with salsa and sauces. 

I'll can up any extra tomatoes as plain, unflavoured tomatoes for soups etc. 

September 15

 Dear Cindy, 

This morning I spent sorting laundry and vacuumed some of the spots in the house - like the basement and stairs - that haven't had it for a while. 

I also used the 'self-clean' function on the stove. I wanted to wait for Gilles to be at home before I tried this. The house smells. I think I've only used it once before on this stove. I attempted to clean the inside with baking soda abrasive and vinegar cleaner - but I didn't like the results. So .... after 3.5 hours we'll see what the results are. 

I'll be headed in to town for 'work' once it's done. So Gilles is in charge of dinner. And by that - I mean he has to dig and make the potatoes and perhaps broil the pork ribs - which are currently cooking in the crock pot. 

AFTER NOTE: The results of the self clean were 'meh'. It did not turn everything to ash. I still have to clean it again. 

September 14

 Dear Cindy, 

Today, I am attempting to can apple pie filling. 

I'm using the https://melissaknorris.com/pioneering-today-how-to-pressure-can-apple-pie-filling/

I made 6 quart plus jars of filling and I didn't use clear gel or cornstarch. 

They turned out ok. 

I made a skillet sourdough discard crumb pie. Haven't tasted it yet - so I don't know if I burnt it or if it cooked through well enough. 

The the rest of the day was spent making pizza for a gang of kids - each with their own order of a half a pizza on a medium sized pie.