The wind is out of the East today and bending the tops of the Ash trees. It’s warm and partly cloudy, in the lower 70’s today with rain on the way after midnight. Good day to stay indoors and putter around.
I’ve got my largest stock pot on the top of the stove, filled with four bags of frozen cranberries and enough water to cover them. I’ll let them cook down slowly and at some point I’ll strain it all and let it cook down some more for a concentrate to keep in the fridge. I may put the strained berries thru the blender and then add them back to the pot to cook longer before I’m ready to strain again and bottle the juice. One of the best things around for healthy kidneys…and I sure don’t want to end up with problems like I did last May!
I needed the room in the freezer and I’m almost out of the last bottle of concentrate I bought last fall so I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone so to speak. I’ll make a point to purchase more fresh cranberries later in the year when they are available and go ahead and turn them into concentrate. I can always freeze the liquid concentrate if I end up with a lot of it on hand.
I’m almost finished with “The Third Option” and another two washcloths. I’m putting the latest knitted cloths away for future use or gifts and I’m going to make some more hand towels and potholders and put them away as well.
Brad saw the dentist today to get his new crown put on, and made an appointment for me to meet his dentist on Monday. I’ve been seeing another dentist and I’m not pleased with the way they’ve handled the Covid nonsense. His dentist is great, Dr. Smith, and he’s right across the street from our chiropractor, so that’s handy.
Brad is headed to his shop for a bit while we wait for our A/C guys to arrive to do the annual Spring check up on our heat pump. I ran out of steam last night and didn’t get the floor throughout the house swept the way I intended, and it doesn’t matter now anyway since the guys will be going up in the attic and tracking cellulose insulation behind them when they come down.
I’ll just clean the floor when they’re done. They do a great job of cleaning up behind themselves but I need to mop and this would be a good day for it. I’ve got a new bag in the hand-held vacuum and I’m ready to tackle the corners and under the shelving in my workroom which is right by the entrance to the attic in the hall of the main bath.
I’m hearing the popping of cranberry skins from the kitchen. I checked on the pot a few minutes ago and they were all plumped up from simmering. I’ll give them a good stir and mash them up with a slotted spoon in a bit and then turn the burner down to a lower setting.
I know one of the things I should avoid for healthy kidneys is excess salt and it seems to me lately that much of what I am eating is a bit too salty. I need to get more fresh, green stuff and more fruit in my diet and cut out the canned food and snack crackers. And the frozen dinners we keep on hand have a good bit of salt in them as well.
Time to get back to my knitting, and reading, and let the cranberries do their thing, simmering away on low now. Sure smells good in the house!
Rural Texas Knitter 