My Tireless Retirement – Week 132

 

Last Friday morning I awoke to hear that the foothills I was so excited to see once the wildfire smoke had cleared and the area behind them was actually on fire.  I worked all day that day and could literally see from my chair as the action unfolded.  My boss even climbed up on the roof to take a picture.  It is not the first time we’ve had fires in this area, but it is always scary as people’s homes are risk as well as wildlife.  This time around however, schools and some businesses were closed as well as pre-evacuation orders issued to many residents.  By Saturday the fire was not contained and people were told to be ready to evacuate.  With friends and family members living in those areas it was a bit nerve racking.  From my subdivision I now have a clear view of the blackened foothills.

 

I am so proud of our firefighters

While still monitoring the situation I got on with my weekend by going outside Saturday morning to finish disposing of the last of the limbs from my pear tree pruning.  I then grabbed the ladder and picked another box full of apples.  The apples are so tasty this year.  I even gave little Miss Bunny some apples slices which she loves so much.  The good news was that by Saturday evening fire crews had contained the fire by 30% so they were getting a handle on it and by Sunday morning it was 50% contained.  So far they had been successful in protecting homes and other structures.

 

Sunday morning I processed the last of the pears – Hurray!  It was completely unplanned but all of a sudden I had a pile of ripe fruit that I knew I wouldn’t be able to eat fast enough.  Once it was all peeled, cored and slice I ended up with nine bonus pints of canned pears for the LTFS shelf and a small bowl of unripe fruit left for fresh eating.  Perfect!

 

I worked Monday and decided to also make it a gas and grocery shopping day after nearly three weeks without going into a store.  I wasn’t in dire straits or anything but I did have some holes to fill in my working pantry and the LTFS so I took my small list to work with me and stopped in at Winco to pick up those items on the way home.

 

A lovely lady at the senior center gave me
a jar of her pickled asparagus

Next I stopped into Albertsons where I had a digital coupon offer for a lower price on a quart of heavy cream as well as a $5 OFF a $5 Purchase digital coupon making a quart of cream ring up at only 39¢.  I used pocket change for that purchase and then headed off toward Fred Meyer.  I stopped at their gas station and used my rewards card to save myself 3¢ per gallon on fuel paying $3.30 a gallon.  Then off to their grocery store.

 

Best meal of the week! Peppered bacon with homegrown
tomato & homemade honey oat bread - Yum!

At Fred Meyer I popped in real quick to pick up a loss leader, another three pound package of thick sliced bacon, this time peppered, for only $8.97, before heading for home.  I had picked one up the last time I was out shopping and divided it up for the deep freezer in vacuum sealed packets.  I did the same with this package as well, only this time I did five packets leaving the rest in the fridge to start enjoying now.  I love peppered bacon.

 

After all of my canning projects I took what was left of my homegrown
garlic and crushed it in a jar adding some olive oil to use for cooking

I did not work on Tuesday so I kept it rather low key and just puttered about the house getting some household chores done, putting away canning supplies and empty jars, reorganizing my canning supplies out in the garage while taking an inventory of what I had on hand and then relaxed the rest of the day.  My arborist sent a technician out that afternoon to inject my big sycamore with a systemic treatment and that was about as exciting as my day got.

 

Before work on Wednesday I washed up and packed a load of apples into cold storage.  Because my refrigerator is larger than what I actually need and I have the space I am putting the apples in there on the bottom shelf this year next to the bin I keep my flours and yeast in.  I am also planning to make applesauce in the not too distant future so that will use up quite a few apples and then I’ll have jars to add to my LTFS which will be great as I am now down to only two pints of applesauce left.

 

Thursday arrived before I knew it and another week of my retired life was officially in the books.  Once again I can say I had a really great week.  I hope you did too.  What has been keeping you busy lately?