Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam

The first rule when making strawberry-rhubarb jam is that you must not tell anyone you're making strawberry-rhubarb jam. You will get hit up for a jar by so many people there soon won't be any jars left for your own pantry.

Started the day yesterday by reading a 40-page PDF file by the USDA about the principles of home canning. Don't you just love the Internet? The night before, I had dumped 8 cups of sugar on top of 8 cups of diced rhubarb and by morning it was a syrupy, watery concoction as the recipe had promised. As a humectant, sugar draws water out of foodstuffs. Looked in the attic to see what we had for canning supplies and found a yellow 12-quart Presto brand cooker-canner, that I am told was either a wedding present my parents received or was bought at a tag sale. Certainly made my expectation of the process feel a little easier, as I was expecting I'd have to sterilize and do the hot water bath in an old lobster pot. After discovering that we only have the Ball-Mason jars with wire enclosures and glass lids that the USDA recommends not to use anymore, a short drive to Big Y supplied me with 12 pint-size canning jars with thin metal lids and screw-top bands. Also picked up a nearby set of new hot-jar-handling tools.

Once I had all the items marshaled, the process seemed to go smoothly, even though it was my first attempt at canning. All you need to do is read about it and follow directions. I'm pretty good at that. So, I started boiling some water in the cooker-canner to sterilize the new jars and lids. It fit five, and with an eyeball estimate, I figured that would be about enough to can what I had and put whatever was left over in the fridge. Cooked down the rhubarb, sliced strawberries and other ingredients, including two large packets of strawberry Jell-O. Now, if this seems to you like a lot of sugar is used here, get behind me in line. But, as Garrison Keillor says, when cooking with rhubarb, you have to (paraphrasing here) 'add sugar to the point where you think it must be really, really sweet. Teeth coming out of your gums sweet. Then add six cups more sugar than that.' He's not far off.

Anyway, I then ladled the rhubarb mixture into the canning jars to 1/4" from the top, as directed, wiped the rims to make sure of a good seal, put on the thin lids and screwed down the bands to a firm tightness. It filled the five jars, almost exactly --- there was enough left to cover one half of an English muffin. Not a bad estimation! Then, they went back into the cooker-canner water bath. I probably left them in longer than necessary, but that's not a bad thing. The strawberry-rhubarb just needs 5 minutes in this stage. The point of the water bath --- killing harmful bacterias --- has a shorter time requirement for this mixture because it is so acidic it keeps most any bacteria from establishing. Once I took the jars out of the pan, they quickly made small popping sounds --- the lids being pulled down as air escaped from the jars over the waxy ring on the metal lids. Success! Don't ask me how air gets out of the jars but can't get in. Smarter people than I invented and perfected this process.

All told, my first canning experience went very well. I may be making another batch of 5 this week. We'll use 'em up and make it an annual event now that I know how to do it.

I'm a PC, But Windows 7 Was Not My Idea

After looking and waiting for quite awhile, this week I got a new computer at Sam's Club --- the HP dv7-3188cl. This is my first laptop after being a desktop person for all my computing life. This is a little new for me, especially the track-pad that is kind of like playing a guitar, moving between frets. My musical instrument coordination being what it is --- precisely zero --- the purchase of a wireless mouse was a fortunate choice.

But let's start off by explaining what a jump this is. I would liken it to going from an Edsel to a souped-up Lamborghini. Our old computer was bought in 2001, ran XP on 256MB of memory (I think that barely met the minimum requirements for that OS), and though I managed to maintain it for almost 10 years(!), and I got through UConn with it, it was showing its age. It would have to run old versions of software like Java, Flash Player, etc. because the rig couldn't handle system requirements for new updates. It was barely a Web 1.0 machine in an era that is fast approaching Web 4.0. Let's be clear: I have used new computers and stayed current with operating systems, software and such... I just didn't have one of my very own.

While transferring files via the USB port, what took the old computer 45 minutes to load onto the 4GB jump drive took the laptop about 20 seconds to unload. I can play video now without start-and-stop (and in many cases, video just wouldn't load). I'm discovering Hulu and all that. This can move easily from room to room --- something that is nice in this house even more than others. In the semi-finished basement where the computer is, in early fall and late spring it can get chilly, and in winter with the wood stove cranking, it can get sweltering. Yet in summer, cool and dry, the basement is the place to be. Also, with the puppy, portability is great. From many standpoints, this should have happened years ago.

Computer purchasing is quite the labyrinth to enter, though. Full of crags and turns, false floors and lights at the end of the tunnel that are unreachable. First, by all accounts except Microsoft's, Vista was like so much bloatware, a legacy push-through / money-grab before MS had to do a full-on redo. Windows 7 was released late last year. And then the waiting game turned into the matter of the processor. HP, the maker I'd narrowed down to (based on reputation, reviews, etc.) was in the throes of releasing their Core i3/i5/i7 processors. Nothing like getting a new computer and right away being stuck with old hardware at perhaps the most important part of the computer. Newer, better and faster hardware is bound to happen, and yes, at some point in a computer purchase you need to dive in the pool, but it's nice to have a semi-current machine for at least a couple of months.

Sam's Club has been pretty good for us with regard to electronics. Can't complain a bit. Price this laptop's specs on the HP build website and it'll come to over $1,000. Price at Best Buy, etc. and you get fewer features and less memory, for more money. The bulk clubs can get a good price point because they can move so many of them.

And so, I've been setting this up, customizing a few things, changing some icons, getting new wallpapers for the widescreen and bidding fare-thee-well to some of our old 4:3 mainstays, updating programs, deleting some HP bloatware (not much, surprisingly), installed Avast! anti-virus, transferred files, and all that good stuff. Quite happy with it, so far.

HD Latecomers

Noticed this morning that the CBS Early Morning Show is now being broadcast in HD, it being the last of the network morning shows to do so (I don't watch them regularly, so I'm not really sure when this happened, just that it's relatively recent).

Also, came the news that NBC's "Meet the Press" will be aired in HD for the first time tomorrow morning. Seems a little strange that MTP, one of the longest-running shows in all of television, is so late in the day in this regard. Almost every major-network (and PBS) show I can think of is in wide-screen HD besides a couple of low-rent ones like the one on ABC with the British nanny. It has been almost two years since Tim Russert's death, and MTP's new host David Gregory had stuck with the old set until now. From what I saw of the new digs from the preview, it's not anything to write home about --- heavy on bookshelves (Books as props, likely. Wonder how many of them Mr. Gregory has read.... My guess: seven) and opaque blue-glow glass. Too many colors, which is something most people get wrong in design/decoration. If they had worked off of the historic MTP colors of medium blue, gold and white (which are used in the new info/identification bars) a very nice set could have materialized. As it is, the set is very empty and divided down the middle by a large black table (a very 'This Side vs. That Side' feel for a show about politics), and too busy around the perimeter. Not something to write home about, but I guess it is something to write a blog entry about.

With the leaves coming out once again, we've effectively lost WSBK-38 (real-channel 39) from the Boston line-up and WLVI-56 (real-channel 41) was pixelating a bit this evening. It's for just this purpose I went to such heroic measures with our antenna system. It's good to have a back-up for when things go wrong.

1 May 2010

After a day of putting down some grass seed, getting some seeds sown in the garden and strawberry planter pots, and being led into three 1/4-mile walks on the back roads by Ruff, I got inside near 6 p.m. I was taking a shower to get the day's dirt off when I remembered the Kentucky Derby, which would be run shortly. I remember thinking, "I don't know the horses this year, but whichever one Calvin Borel is riding has to be the pick." The dude seems a little simple-minded and has a one-track mind for racing, but hey, when you're really good at one thing, what does it matter? I wouldn't want to bet against him. When I dried off and turned on the television, they were loading the final stall and the race started a few seconds later. And wouldn't you know it.... Super Saver, ridden by Mr. Borel, hugged the rail most of the way and snuck through the field to win by a length or two.

Otherwise, puppy training has been going at its own paces. Ruff is doing better in the box, he's waiting for an 'OK' for certain things (food/water, in/out the door), but he's still got a thing for pilfering shoes from the mat and absconding with them to his bed. Full of vim and vigor, especially so right after feedings, but he's also calmed down appreciably as he's gotten used to the new surroundings and goings-on. Quite the talker and grunter, don't you know.

"Whoever said money doesn't buy friendship obviously never bought a puppy." --- Unknown

My post-count over the past couple of months is positively shameful, I know.

I wrote a while back that we were looking to get a puppy in the spring. This past Saturday, this little guy entered our lives:

We have not officially decided on a name, but for all intents and purposes, I'm going to be calling him "Ruff Ruffman" here. I think it's fitting. And, in the "There are no warnings, only signs" meme, the L.L. Bean adjustable collar we got for him yesterday prominently reads, "RUFFWEAR." I've had designs on the name for quite a while, courtesy of the PBS kids show, "Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman" where a cartoon dog sends human kids on challenges in order to earn points toward a great ... or not-so-great ... prize. There are others here who want to come up with something stuffy like Otto von Brustenfield or something. After having named many of our dogs Sammy Whoopka over the years, venturing something different seems a challenge to some in this house. I like "Ruff." It's playful, fun, short. And it gives an instant intro-conversation piece. One can pitch right in with, "Life was missing its mystique / my squeaky toys had lost their squeak. / When BAM! outta the blue... / I pitched my vision for a show, they loved it --- thought I was a pro! / They got the contract back to find, to their alarm a dog had signed! / Fetch! (It's very catchy!) with Ruff Ruffman! ..." I could go on, but I'll just stop there to avoid completely embarrassing myself.

After so many years of having German shorthaired pointers --- including raising three litters ourselves --- I suppose there is a certain comfort level with the breed. We basically know what we're getting. But even still, for any breed, a slightly chubby male has always seemed to have the best temperament, and following from that, take best to training.

But puppies arrive in this world like a rough-hewn board. Training often only puts a fine sanding to them. Ruff arrived white with black ticking. I've read that GSPs can have black coating, but I'd never seen it. We always had some combination of the chocolate/liver color. The genes make the difference, tho, and I must say with some relief that Ruff sheds exponentially less than our previous GSPs. As someone who is a little compulsive about keeping the house clean, it would be hard to make me happier. It doesn't look like his tail was docked much, and for some reason, still has his dew claws, which are usually removed in the first few days. He's exhibiting the classic separation anxiety of this breed and its close cousins (Weimaraners, Dalmatians), barking and carrying on when they're left in a crate. I'm trying my best to break him of it. After he's firmly house-broken and out of the chewing stage (there have been a few mishaps in the former category) I don't imagine we'll need the crate very often. Ruff also seems to have a medium-sized frame, so he may be close to the breed average of 55-60 pounds when fully grown. Not like our large-pawed, thick-legged Mack and Sammy, who tipped the scaled at about 90 pounds (and not much of it fat). I hate to think so much in terms of comparing Ruff to his predecessors, but there it is.

So, here we are, about to do this again....

14 April 2010

After the stump chipper did its violence to an old pine stump yesterday, I am to dig out the chippings and deliver them to someone who will use them as mulch. Then, filling in the stump-less hole with dirt, then topsoil. Will then be cutting out a chunk of the yard to make the garden bigger, and re-sodding as much as I can from that to the freshly-turned soil where the stump once sat. There's my general orders for the day.

27 March 2010

After a couple of weeks of temperatures in the 60s and a few days in the 70s, this weekend finds us pushed back into the 30s and 40s, and the wood stove is lit again.

Daylight saving time took effect a couple of weeks ago --- I have not posted here in a while. For shame! --- and that has always been a welcome event, by my reckoning. Sure, it means the loss of an hour of sleep that Sunday, but it means gaining an hour of useful sun toward evening. For the last several years, we fall back later, and spring ahead earlier. Shortening the clock change period by a few weeks was one of the few good ideas implemented by the Bush (II) Administration. Anyway, I am glad to be escaping the winter doldrums.

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We installed a new water softener/conditioner system on the 15th. A little behind my original schedule, but all well and good. Sweated copper tubing right up to the system rather than using C-PVC, which I just don't like. God bless the person who invented Teflon tape! Also installed a whole-house filter to the line before the system, so it is now filtering out a good deal of the iron deposits before it reaches the tank's resin bed. That should help increase the life of the system. Water tastes better, there is a marked decrease in water-marks on dried dishes and we don't need to use as much soap to get a good lather.

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We are also discussing more and more about getting a puppy. Set a time to see a liver & white German shorthaired pointer on Monday. But my thoughts are on a cream-color standard poodle (note: not the toy breed) that is due in May. There's just too many ghosts with the GSP. And I'm keen on the hypo-allergenic qualities of the poodles --- they are non-shedding. I think we're due for a bit of a change.