I Found Time To Blog!

Well, had to have some dental surgery done and to look on the bright side...I'm lying on the sofa up to my eyeballs in gauze and vicodin and thought I'd see if I could pull together a quick post! 

My teeth have been causing me problems my entire life.  Braces at 10 that stayed on until I was 14 and then when they were finally removed I had the enamel so softened my dentist likened it to chalk. Fifteen years ago I had dental veneers put on and was okay with them up until last year...then they started to "fail".  As my new dentist says: "Nothing lasts forever".  So one of the perks of the new job is dental insurance (one of 3 reasons why I went back to work).  Yesterday I started my journey into the world of dental implants...no my insurance doesn't cover implants, BUT wiggling the rules a bit I can have all the work done up to the titanium rods implanted (I pay for that out of pocket) and then the dental plate will be modified to fit the rods.  Yesterday I had a molar removed and two bony obstructions called tori removed...ouch!  Because my front and side bottom teeth are perfect (miracle)...only my molars were bad, I will not have bottom implants, but a bridge...my top teeth will be implants.  I'll have the implant surgery done over my Christmas vacation...in fact December 27th.  Yeah!  And no, my new dentist son-in-law is not my dentist...he's such a great guy I didn't want to traumatize him!  I think he's very grateful I didn't ask him to do the work!  I took Friday off for the surgery and will be back to work on Monday....

Work has been crazy.  We are implementing the new USDA National School Lunch Program Guidelines.  This includes salad bars.  Our workload has been doubled.  We did get the okay to hire a new cook and I'll be interviewing week after next...good news...sorta'.  I've already trained two new cooks since I was made Head Cook...and now another...lots of work and more patience than I have.  The actual food prep and cooking are not the problem...it's all of the paperwork! Tons and tons of record keeping...between ordering, inventory, USDA record keeping and personnel record keeping I never get it all done...sometimes I just walk away from it all and go into the kitchen and cook my heart out...it feels good to get away from all of that paper. USDA changes the rules daily...it is so frustrating to try and keep up...ah: government!

Jalapeno, Poblano, Big Jim's (Southwestern), Fresno and Pasilla

5 Pepper Varieties Getting Processed

5 Pepper Jelly

The Last Of The Bells

Ready For The Freezer Then The Food Saver and
Back To The Freezer

Now that almost all of the Summer garden has been pulled out, I'm looking forward to enjoying my Winter garden.  I planted all of my Winter favorites: broccoli, kale, cabbage, cauliflower, chard, carrots, beets, radishes, lettuces, Brussels sprouts, lots of herbs and flowers.  I had to plant the cole crops a couple of times: cabbage worms and wayward chickens. I keep thinking it's going to cool off...not yet...90 degrees today and yesterday...100 next week.




The Last of Corn...We Were Lucky...Plenty of Water
And Great Weather

Our ranch harvests are going very well.  We have harvested half of the corn acreage, a third of the  rice and the almonds just have the late varieties left.  The butternut squash and watermelon are still in the field...soon they will be over-ripe enough for the seed harvesters.  My son Sam had an early crop of processing tomatoes and I missed that harvest...he's harvesting black eyed beans (we don't call them peas in California) today and later next month the late crop of tomatoes (I'll grab some of those).  His wife has 400 pomegranate trees that should be just about ready, I'll get a couple 5 gallon buckets of those to juice for jelly.  Then I'll be done canning and freezing for a bit.  I usually do most of my dehydrating in the Winter...I pull out the veggies I put in the freezer during the summer.

As you can see, I don't allow my self much time for blogging...and I really miss it.  I do read your blogs...sometimes I comment...and then sometimes I'm so tired I'm afraid my comments won't make much sense! 

My Little Super Hero: Isla