|
My Photographs You like photos? I love taking them. Click here, if you wanna see some of my work
Is a photo missing on an older entry? Click here to find it at Photogra!  The Other Links Favorites and Rings are now here!
The life you save might be mine!
|
Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2004 - 8:55 p.m. My Uncle Earl passed away around 11 a.m. last evening. He was still aware of people being around him, but was heavily medicated so wasn�t in much pain. Earl was the last of my Dad�s brothers still alive. His kid brother Jack, a big fan of non-filtered Camel �death sticks�, died from lung cancer about 10 years ago. My Aunt Marge is still hanging in there. At least my dad is not only member of his siblings to survive. I wasn�t very close to Earl, but it still hurts to loose him. HE was always somewhat a loner, especially after my Aunt Alice died about 7 years ago. Like a lot of older widowers who spent their entire lives with one woman, he just didn�t seem to find a purpose in life once she was gone. My sister used the word �irascible� to describe him to do. That might be a little harsh. I think he was more someone who took the abuse of his alcoholic father inside, and stayed there. My Dad, on the other hand, turned his childhood trauma into a positive by adapting his wry sense of humor. Think Dave Letterman, without the TV show. That�s my Dad. When I was a child, I was 10 or more years younger than my cousins from that side of the family. For that reason, we never really did anything together, and aren�t close at all today. Both of his daughters moved far away from Mohall, but my cousin Phil has hung around. I saw him a little over a week ago at the Mohall celebration parade. My uncle Earl had a bargain pool table in the basement of his bungalow. That is my most vivid childhood memory of going to visit him south of town. Until I was 10 or so, he wouldn�t let me use a cue. He figured I would tear the surface of the felt, I guess. That exposure to the game of pool is probably where I learned to love the game. Nowadays, I have a (somewhat) better pool table in my basement. One last thing about Earl: He was the biggest die-hard Chicago Cubs baseball fan I have ever met. My dad said he could always tell how the Cubs did that day (if he missed the game) by how his brother talked to him on the phone. He always said he didn�t think he would live to ever see the Cubs win the World Series. Unfortunatly, now he won�t. As far as that goes? I probably won�t live to see that happen either. After all- the last time they pulled that feat of was 1908. There aren�t too many people alive who were around in 1908. And I really doubt if any of them have any memories of that time anyway�. I checked in with my Dad a couple of times today. He seems to be doing all right. I think I will give him another call, once I post this� Naturally, I dealt with this news the way you would expect me to- I canned something. Sweet cucumber relish, to be precise. I had no plans on making this today, or any time this summer for that matter. When I came home form work tonight, I did a walk around in my garden. I needed a couple of peppers for the Pico de Gallo I told Codeman I would make for tonight�s supper, and thought I would see what else was happening down there besides all of those tomatoes. Turns out, the cucumber vines have been cranking up the production since the last time I picked. That was a couple of weeks ago, when the second batch of sweet spears and dill chunks made it into canning jars. I just thought that the vines were slowing down, so I had ignored them. I ended up tossing about 10 giant cukes that had turned from green to yellow (worthless at that stage), and another 30 or so nice pickling-type cukes of all sizes. Since I also have a bunch of ripe sweet peppers right now, I decided to make the relish. I haven�t had enough cukes to make this condiment for the past 3 summers. Must have done something right with the cucumber planting this year, eh? I used a quick-pickling recipe that I downloaded from the Internet today, crossed with my old one from the university ag-extention office. After chopping (with the food processor), salting, rinsing, and mixing the vegetables (cucumbers, onions and peppers) with the sweet syrup, I have 12 half-pints (10 processed and sealed) cooling on the wire rack downstairs. Even though I enjoy my hobby, I need a break from canning. One is on the way, though- I am just about out of jars�
 powered by SignMyGuestbook.com
Have You Read These?
A hot day for a wedding...9:26 p.m. - Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009 So bad - but so funny, too.10:33 p.m. - Saturday, Jun. 13, 2009 Evil Black Walnut Tree from Hell!- times up!6:41 a.m. - Thursday, Apr. 23, 2009 My next door neighbor was on the Today Show?8:57 p.m. - Tuesday, Mar. 31, 2009 This qualifies as a "oh crap!" moment:9:55 p.m. - Monday, Mar. 30, 2009 Back to top
|
