Today's Update - 12 Aug 2014

Sorry for going AWOL; been busy, busy, busy.   Took the girls to my parents' place and will pick them up on Friday.  They are there to help my mother get some much needed cleaning done at their place.  Mom has back problems and allergies.  Bad combination when it comes to any kind of serious cleaning activities; then add she is just not as spry as she used to be and the fact that we live hours away and my brother and I can't get over except once a month to help out and it all just sorts of gets away from my parents.  Years back I worked in a career field that was one of the first to recognize the issues faced by a "sandwich generation" and I knew what I would face.  But truth be told until you are actually living it you can't totally appreciate it.   You grow up thinking of your parents as immortal and maybe even invincible but soon enough life and reality begin to change that into something thatis not always easy to face and accept.  Wish we lived closer but my parents enjoy living in the middle of nowhere Florida and we just can't yet ... obligations to our kids, business, etc. combined with very little in the way of job opportunity in their area make it an impossibility for a while yet.  Therefore we do what we can when we can with what resources we have.  It isn't the perfect solution but you learn to come to terms with the fact that nothing is ever going to be perfect.

The plan was for the girls to help Mom dismantle her kitchen, clean, reorganize, and then put it back together.  I texted them today and instead they were cataloging her books.  Uhhhhh ...  Well we'll see what they will get done by Friday.  So long as it makes Mom and Dad happy it's all good.

At least when we dropped them off yesterday we took care of some very necessary tree trimming.  Multiple large limbs were overhanging their deck and where they parked their cars.  Between one thing and another those limbs needed to go.  Hubby brought his pole saw, and two of his Stihl chain saws (mini and larger one) and gave the trees what for.  Made a mess we then had to clean up but also got them some good wood for their wood pile.  All we did with the rest of the debris was haul it off to the woods to a brush pile that the termites and carpenter ants take care of for my parents ... "free labor" so gotta love it.  LOL.  At least it sits well back from their home and certainly better than trying to have a burn pile that large for them to have to babysit.  Not cool in the middle of what amounts to a forest.

We didn't get in until well after 10 last night because we stopped on the way back to our property to pick up a few groceries of the perishable type.  Those of you that know me know that our family has a secondary property.  We by turn call it our BOL and our retirement home.   Only the future will tell us what it ultimately winds up being, mostly right now it is our escape from the high stress and pressure of owning our business in a large city.  Anyway that is where we are right now and we have our own bit of work to do up here.  Forty plus, mostly wooded acres, that affords us a wonderful bit of privacy and a place to do my experimenting with forestry farming and gorilla gardening.  Let me tell you that is not nearly as easy as the books make it out to be.  I prefer the results of outright foraging so I try and xerascape and bring in lots of native plants and trees.

Anyway, that's what I've been up to besides the norm.  Today I also found some time to update the stories.  As usual, not all I had planned to do, but better than what I had gotten to the day before which was basically nothing.  The following stories received an update:


Zombies Aren't Real ... Are They?!
http://zombiesarentrealarethey.blogspot.com/ 

Eidetic Sunshine
http://eideticsunshine.blogspot.com/

Up On Hartford Ridge
http://uponhartfordridge.blogspot.com/

Teaghan
http://teaghanandsloan.blogspot.com/

Larkspur in Eden
http://larkspurineden.blogspot.com/

There Is No Such Thing As A Thornless Garden
http://thornlessgarden.blogspot.com/

Enduring On The Lake
http://enduringonthelake.blogspot.com/

When All Doors Close
http://whenalldoorsclose.blogspot.com/

Mother Hen's Recipes
http://motherhensrecipes.blogspot.com/


Now for today's videos, and the talk of all the sicknesses going around, I thought it would be interesting to look into the method of making and canning elderberry syrup (in four parts).  I have done this but haven't been stupendously amazed at the resulting efficaciousness the way some people have.  I put it down to the fact that "natural" remedies and nutritional supplements are not going to be as standardized as some commercial concoction.   What works for one may not necessarily work as well or at all for the next.  Keep in mind, I'm not personally espousing anything as a cure-all or prevent-all ... this is merely a potential tool in a more natural approach to health issues.  Everyone is different and quite frankly I'm no doctor so make sure if you choose to use elderberry syrup as part of a treatment, etc. that you are well aware of the risks associated with it.  Sharing this grants me no special "know-it-all" status so do your own research.

Making and Canning Elderberry Syrup (in four parts):