Where's My Get-Up Gone?

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I am not just itching to jump in the truck and go to town to run errands. I've had several busy days in a row and I would like some down time. Not that I'm getting it!

On Saturday I went to my friend Anita's and picked a big box of Macintosh apples. And, of course, having no cold place to store them, I have to begin drying apples. This is not a bad job, but is time-consuming.

The peeler-corer-slicer looks like some torture device from a medieval dungeon, but it does a dandy job on an apple. Peels, cores and slices an apple in about ten seconds. Of course you have to secure the apple on the three-pronged apparatus without spiking yourself, which is a skill in itself. The apple needs to be even, no off-center cores, wonky shapes or blemishes. If the apple is uneven it will twist off the prongs, if it's wonky the peeler won't work properly, and any blemishes make the peeling blade scream in steely anguish.

In practical terms this means every third apple requires several minutes of peeling. But, once the peel, and the unpeeled ends are removed you cut the slices apart with a single slice down the stacked rings, pop them into a bath of Fruit-Freeze and lemon juice, shake off the excess moisture, and lay them out on the drier trays. The drier holds an average of nine apples. I have about 100 apples left to dry. I can dry two loads a day. Let's see, 18 apples a day.... I see a long week ahead.

But once dried they are lovely and absolutely scrumptious. We love them as a snack. Yes, you can just eat a fresh apple, but dried ones are totally virtuous "candy". When you are craving something really sweet these fill the bill.

The nights are getting cooler, as are the days. We went out and picked a large bowlful of tomatoes and green peppers yesterday (new picture in my title bar), and I cut the one watermelon off the vine. It is very heavy and sounds ripe, hollow when tapped. It's about the size of a soccer ball. I haven't had the courage to cut it yet. I'm just going to enjoy it for a while longer. If it's green inside well, so be it. I tried. Strangely enough I am not as crazy about watermelon as I once was. Tastes change. I don't think I'll even bother planting melons next year.

Well, off to ignore the "To-do" list crying at me from the table. Tough cookies, List. Today we pretend I'm the boss!