Catching up (by Kat)

Knock on wood, or your skulls, or cross your fingers, or do whatever it is you do...
(I think I finally kicked the big bad pneumonia in the butt.)

Having done so, I ran out of excuses for not doing all the things "I've been supposed to have been doing." Obviously my brain isn't quite all back yet. But you know what, I just diagrammed that sentence and I do believe it's correct grammar. Huh. Bet? Will you let me know if that's an okay sentence?

Anyway, I have to shout out a TREMENDOUSLY BIG THANK YOU to Marisa of the absolutely drop dead gorgeous blog Food in Jars. Marisa's recent give-a-way was for a copy of her favorite canning book, So Easy to Preserve.

My aunt found a wonderful old pressure canner at an estate sale last year, and knowing how badly I wanted one, she picked it up for me. A quick visit to the local extension office later on revealed that the pressure gauge was very, very, very, very bad, so I picked a new one up at the local hardware store.

Sadly, by this time, all the fruits were ripened and done for the year, and none of my beets ended up having roots--just leaves. So the canner sits and waits patiently in the shop, awaiting its maiden voyage this year. I can't wait to pore over this new book and dream of all the things I'll be able to make. Thanks, Marisa!

On a similar note, thanks go out to the so so beautiful Tanya of the TASMANIAN Suburban Jubilee for her shout out today. I love the fact that this Internet thingy lets me view the world through a set of eyes so far away. Right now, she's heading into a glorious fall as I'm begging for spring to really set in. She's nesting up for the autumn while I'm throwing open the vernal windows.

In other news, the garden is planted, the first peony opened yesterday, and one of the chicks might be a rooster. Dawg, previously known as None, has little tiny bumps growing on his legs, right where you'd expect to see spurs on a rooster. PussyCow, the chick previously known as Brown, doesn't have these bumps.

For those of you not in the northwest US, please follow this link to understand the source of PussyCow's name. I don't blame you if you decide to never return...but I hope you do!

This month's Daring Baker's challenge is in the oven. I hope I didn't burn it. I got lost in the YouTube videos of PussyCow. Thursday is the reveal day for this month's challenge--you'll have to see what happened!

I'll try to put up some pictures of the garden and Dawg's rooster legs later on. Hopefully it won't be another week...