Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

[Baymule]

@farmerjan

CRISP pickle recipe!! For ya'll that are tired of soggy pickles!

Mamma Wall's Spicy Sweet Pickles My spicy sweet pickle recipe came from my great grandmother to my grandmother to me. I made 20 pints and 4 quarts this summer. I make it from memory, better write it down before I lose my mind LOL! Start this process early in the morning so you will have time...

www.theeasygarden.com

 

[Ridgetop]

Sorry Jan - had to leave for church! Here it is. It is actually a 6 day process.

Janice Ann's Cinnamon Rings (got this from DH's cousin in Kansas)
2 gallons large cucumber rings (16-18 large oversize regular cucumbers, not picklers)
2 cups pickling lime (can be ordered online if necessary)
8 1/2 quarts cold water
Day 1:
Peel and core seeds from cucumbers. Cut into 1/4" slices (no thinner). Place rings In large container (DO NOT USE ALUMINUM). I use a 2-3 gallon glass jar. Mix water and lime. Cover cucumber slices with lime water. Let stand for 24 hours, stirring frequently.

Day 2:
Drain, rinse, cover with cold water and let stand for 3 hours. Drain.

Day 3:
Combine 1 Tbsp. alum, 1 cup white vinegar, 1 small bottle red food coloring, cucumber rings in large kettle. Add water to cover. Heat and simmer 2 hours. Drain. Place drained rings back in clean 2-3 gallon jar or container, and make syrup.

Syrup*:
2 cups white vinegar
2 cups water
1 pack Red Hots (cinnamon imperials)
9 cups sugar
8 sticks cinnamon
1-2 drops cinnamon oil
Bring to boil.

Day 4: Pour boiling syrup over cucumber rings. Let sit for 24 hours.
Day 5: Drain syrup, reheat to boiling and pour over rings again. Let sit for 24 hours.
Day 6: Pour syrup and cucumber rings into large kettle. Heat rings and syrup to full boil. Immediately pack in sterilized jars. Process in water bath 10 minutes.

* 2 recipes of syrup may be necessary to cover rings for entire 3 day process.

Makes a very crisp, sweet and cinnamon-y pickle. People often mistaake these for cinnamon apple rings. I entered them in our Fair several times and won the top honor for sweet pickles. My family loves these and I hope to be able to grow enough (over ripe) cucumbers to make them in Texas.

DS1 found an all foam mattress for $480 at Costco. We were going to go look at it, but I looked up the reviews first online. Had good reviews for side sleepers BUT was only good for back sleepers weighing less than 130 lb., and doesn't give anyone over 230 lbs. enough support. ???!!! I looked up the reviews for the mattress I already bought, and they were excellent. Plus, it is the same one we have now and we really like it. DH was horrified when I told him I spent $1000 at Lowes, but between the mattress and the faucet (I got the only one that will fit our sink) the bill before tax was $850. I got a couple other items and some packing supplies (already out of bubble wrap and paper) which brought the total up. I told DH we would return the mattress if he didn't want it and could bring our current king mattress to Texas. He thought about it overnight. This morning he said that moving the 105 lb. mattress in a box would be easier than wrestling with the expanded mattress on the bed. He also has decided to buy another refrigerator instead of bringing ours to Texas. There are big appliance sales running right now and we could get one like ours for a great price on sale. He said we would be in Texas during the Labor Day sale and again for the Thanksgiving/Christmas sale and would get one on sale then. He said it would be better to buy a new one at Lowes in Sulphur Springs instead of schlepping ours all the way from California. Whatever he wants. Something about the frion getting upset or whatever, and too much movement on rough roads. We will be bringing our "garage ready" freezer on the trip after this.

I have kept packing and DD2 was shocked when she came over this morning. We have another funeral on August 18. We plan to be packed and will be leaving the next day. We thought we would have 10 days so would have to just drop everything and come back immediately for DGD2's birthday party, but DD2 said that Maysie's birthday party has been cancelled since her birth mother has insisted on having her on that weekend. Works for me since it means we have 2 full weeks to travel, unload, clean out the barn with the small tractor, put up the corral panels, and for me to paint at least one more room. Then back for a month of doctor appointments before DH has his partial replacement knee surgery on October 11. Then 6-8 weeks of PT before we can get out again with possibly the final load before the sheep. Hope all the boxes I have packed will fit in the trailer and trucks.

 

[farmerjan]

It's ironic... I am also Janice Ann......

Thank you, Thank you.... for the recipe. I am going to copy it, get the stuff I need tomorrow that I don't have..... won't have that many cukes I don't think, so will make the syrup recipe and probably have enough to do it. Going to do them the middle/end of this week... testing on Mon and Tues and who knows when he is going to start cutting the sorghum... Tues or Wed by the looks of it. I have 3 more farms to get scheduled also....

 

[Baymule]

Just a heads up, if you have service problems with appliances bought at Lowe’s, they contract out their warranty repairs. There is a family owned and operated appliance and furniture store in Tyler, they have a service department. Second generation, good people to do business with.

Welcome to Don's TV & Appliance

www.donstv.com

 

[farmerjan]

@Ridgetop which mattress did you guys get? Am not getting the comfortable sleep I used to... slept on a foam mattress at a friends a year or so ago and it was very comfortable... might be time to change... I have a 2 inch foam piece on the mattress I have now...but....

 

[Mike CHS]

We got the mattress topper from My Pillow. There are probably cheaper pieces out there but I doubt if there are any more comfortable. We are fans of that company and have several items, including house shoes. They have promo codes for everything.

 

[canesisters]

@farmerjan

CRISP pickle recipe!! For ya'll that are tired of soggy pickles!

Mamma Wall's Spicy Sweet Pickles My spicy sweet pickle recipe came from my great grandmother to my grandmother to me. I made 20 pints and 4 quarts this summer. I make it from memory, better write it down before I lose my mind LOL! Start this process early in the morning so you will have time...

www.theeasygarden.com

I will vouch for Mama Wall's recipe!!! Delish!! @Baymule shared this years ago on TEG & everyone who tasted them RAVED about how wonderful they were!

 

[Ridgetop]

Mama Wall's Pickles are terrific. Bay gave us a jar and I have guarded them. Soooo Good!

I am also Janice Ann......

LOL! Then the recipe name works for you!

@Ridgetop which mattress did you guys get?

We got the mattress at Lowes. It is the Serta 10" Premier Hybrid mattress. DS1 says that you don't need to put it on a box spring. We just kept the old box springs and put it on that. This is the second one we have gotten. We were going to take our mattress to Texas but DH decided that it would be worth the money to get the new one in the box and not have to manhandle the old one into and out of the trailer. We bought the same one at Lowes about 5 years ago. It is super comfortable and it shows no signs of breaking down. It is not reversible other than head to foot since it has coils in the bottom. I used to flip my old mattresses over every couple months but this one you can't. You can reverse it head to toe. This mattress comes in a box and you have to let it sit on the bed for 24 hours to fully "inflate?" or actually just to let the memory foam remember to decompress fully. Some reviews said the corners stayed squashed down, but you can just pull the fabric around and they will fill out. Great price too - $599 King size, marked down $300. I think the sale is on until August 27 at Lowes. There were also Project Source mattresses in similar boxes for $488 King size Not on sale. Seemed like the same mattress and possibly made by Serta. Serta offered a 10-year warranty. I didn't check the other mattresses, but the prices were good and if made by Serta would be the same thing.


The mattress we did not get was a Novaform at Costco for $479 King size. This was a fully foam mattress. Solid foam on the bottom layer, medium on the middle layer, and softer gel memory foam on the top. This mattress was reversible if you wanted a very firm mattress. I don't know if you have a Costco in your area but when I was looking up the reviews on these, I found a lot of foam mattresses with excellent reviews and comparable prices. They are shipped in boxes and if you can get them on amazon Prime the shipping would be free.

The reason we decided not to get this one is that the reviews said that it was great for side sleepers BUT would not be comfortable for back sleepers who weighed over 130 lbs. They also did not recommend it for anyone over 230 lbs. This would make it a bad choice for us. However, other brands online probably would support heavier weights.

Both mattresses had cooling gel memory foam.

We got the mattress topper from My Pillow.

I have been thinking about getting that topper when it goes on sale with the promo codes. I have been wondering about the pillows. Are they as comfortable as promised? They have come down a good bit in price with promo codes and I would like to try them. For a while they werev availabe at Bed, Bath & Beyond. Then because he supported Trump the stores all pulled his goods from the shelves.

DH and DS1 each have a pair of the slippers. DH's are holding up great. DS1 bought his at a great sale price to replace his regular Christmas gift of slippers from LL Bean. He has had to replace them twice so far because they have come apart or the soles have failed. His third pair are showing signs of failure too, so he is probably going to send them back for a replacement as well. The company is fantastic about replacing them each time. DS1 says that he may not bother getting another pair from LL Bean since these are guaranteed for 1 year from receipt and if he is replacing them every few months it is like having a lifetime supply! LOL He is not sure how long they will continue replacing them though. LOL His LL Bean sippers used to hold up for an entire year until the following year's Christmas gift. DS1 wears them like shoes except to work in the barn or outside, so puts a lot of wear on them.

Went into the Connex today and found the oil paintings belonging to DS1 to take to Texas. He came out with me and said that we would load them from the Connex straight into the trailer along with the wooden framed mirrors that go with my grandparent's dressers. I told him that he would be responsible for that since DH says "Don't bring them in, we will load it from Connex" then drives into the yard and refuses to back up onto field for the Connex stuff saying, "We'll get it next time". There is other stuff (bedding, lamps, furniture, etc.) in the Connex that should go to Texas as well. I will everything on the list DS1 said to make. Need to pack DH's lamps. They are brass carriage lamps made into table lamps. He found them in a thrift store on our first furniture buying trip to Palm Springs. I need to find better shades for them since they are fairly tall, and the shades are out of proportion. I want the kind that look like leather and looked online but all leather and faux leather shades are small. I need tall, narrow shades. Found one style that is oatmeal "linen" 10" across top and bottom and 14" tall that would be right shape and size. Might order when we return. I have to measure the cabinet openings in Texas to order pullouts. Will make those orders when I return. Want to get trees trimmed first, before putting anything else on the credit card. I can order the lampshades and pullouts later as Christmas gifts for DH and me. LOL

DH brought home 2 BBQ chickens from Costco so I will go make a big chicken salad. Maybe a green pea salad too. It is heating up this week again. Heard from Cody. We didn't get the expected rain, so he shredded the field. He is going to bring my order of hay from another field he baled. It is Bahia. If we get rain later this year maybe there will be late cutting.

 

[Mike CHS]

All of our pillows are from My Pillow and they are as advertised. We have had them for years and they do age a whole better than I can claim to.

 

[farmerjan]

Thanks for the info on the mattress. I would not do well with the one you "didn't get" from Costco...I often sleep on my back after having to with the knee replacements, for months..... I have a queen size bed... will look it up online... letting it set up for 24 hours or more is not a problem....
and I like the ability to put things on the Lowe's card... lots of times it is no interest for 6 or 12 months instead of the discount and many times it is worth it to pay "full price" ( or the advertised sale price) if it is no interest on top of it for 6 or 12 months. I will look into it when I go through town.... might have to leave very early to go test tomorrow.....
He// with the explorer ac compressor.... and the outback front brakes and calipers and all... I have all sorts of things on the cc 's for the next month or 2 at least.... may as well add a new bed........ a cheap bed and not getting a good nights sleep is just not worth it at this age anymore...