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Summer proves to be a busy season

The girls and I have been busy weeding the garden and picking vegetables during this hot week in July. Yesterday we processed 44 quarts of pickles, from dill to banana, sweet to bread and butter.

I like to make a variety of pickles. The pickles will come in handy when church services will be held here the future, as people seem to like homemade pickles.

Today we picked green beans, which will need to be canned soon. We also are enjoying sweet corn, tomatoes, green and hot peppers, and all those other garden goodies.

Even 11-month-old Kevin likes chewing corn on the cob.

On Friday, we attended the wedding of Elizabeth and Paul Graber in Indiana. We arrived home shortly after midnight. While there we saw my family and Joe's sister Ruth and family. We also visited with uncles, aunts and cousins that we have hardly seen since our move. It was a long day, and the children slept on the way home.

Once we arrived home, it took a while to carry all the sleeping little ones in and to remove five car seats and booster seats. By the time we had everyone in bed it was 1:45 a.m.

Sunday morning church services were at Jacob and Emma's house. Joe and I biked and the children took our pony, Stormy, and the wagon. They had services and lunch in their tool shed.

I imagine Emma is relieved because she was busy sewing and cleaning for church services all last week. Monday and Tuesday Jacob was laid up with a pinched nerve. He had quite a bit of back pain, but now he has returned to work. He went to a chiropractor for X-rays. I hope he continues to recover.

Monday I went to town to get groceries. I needed vinegar and sugar for the pickles. The highway into town is getting repaved, and our horse didn't get spooked by all the construction trucks. It pays to have a horse that is safe in town and also one that readily stands by it when you wait on a red light.

I'm always relieved once I get off the busy highway. Seems like the four lane roads here in Michigan are easier for cars to get around a buggy than a two-lane, which I was used to in Indiana.

We are almost ready for our mechanical inspection on our new house. We had to move the water heater, which was a job. Since we burn a solid fuel for our heat — hard coal — we could not vent it through the chimney according to Michigan building code.

Monday night a man from our church helped Joe construct a vent so the smoke will go up through the roof. Joe needs to do some fireproof caulking around the gas line and then hopefully it will pass inspection. Until then we are at a standstill on the new house.

Shoo-fly pie

2 cups molasses

2 cups hot water

3 eggs, beaten

2 teaspoons soda

1 tablespoon brown sugar

Crumbs:

6 cups flour

2 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup lard

Mix the first five ingredients until smooth. Then mix together crumbs. Stir in 3 cups of the crumbs into the smooth batter and pour into four pie crusts. Then top each pie with the remaining crumbs. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, then 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Makes 4 pies.