25 poounds of prunes here

Hello:

I ordered 25 pounds of prunes yesterday morning from a fruit stand just west of Stayton. Last night the prunes were delivered to my house. I have been eating a few fresh (I know, is 3 enough, or is 4 too many...). Tomorrow I plan on canning about 10 quarts of prunes. Once I finish that we may order another 10 pounds to dry those as I like dried prunes also.

The picture here are a couple of seals at Newport, waiting for the offal to come from the fish cleaner working charter boats.

I picked nine tomatoes yesterday and today. We have fresh corn here too from the fruit stand. I have about 7 pounds of apples in the frig I need to make in to applesauce, which I will do later today. I usually cook up a some brownies or a chocolate cake to eat with the applesauce so I will prepare the brownies too.

I wonder why I am putting on weight upon my return from China. I lost about 50 pounds in China, mainly from eating only excellent Chinese food (nothing like the Chinese American food you get here), and eating with chopsticks. Plus no cookies, no cakes, no brownies, no candy, no donuts, no sugar in China.

I finished reading The DaVinci Code today. It is such a good book, much better than the movie.

On Tuesday, September 15, as soon as I get up, I will turn on my Kindle The Lost Symbol will be there. Plus I have both the book and the audio reserved at the library. I reserved both about 4 months ago so I wonder if I get them first from our local library. I don't know how I would like to read the book, in my Kindle or from the library.

The next book I plan to read is Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town by Nick Reding. This book is only 246 pages so I will read it in the next few days.

This book is about Oelwein Iowa, small town with a population of 6,126. I will give you a report on it once I finish it.

I want to read this book as Stayton is a town of nearly 8,000 so I will compare that small Iowa town with my hometown here.

Canning prunes is easier than canning peaches. I do not have to peal the prunes. Just wash them, cut them in half and put the halves in the jars. I do not remember what percentage of syrup to put in the jars. I am thinking a very light syrup, 2 cups of sugar for 6 cups of water or even less sugar. This time I will prepare the canner water and the syrup before I start doing the prunes.

What are your plans for Labor Day?

Steven