Boggity, Boggity, Boogity

Andy took me to my first Nascar race this weekend in Bristol, Tennessee. I have always watched the races on TV but being there gave me a whole new respect for the sport. The race didn't start until 7:30, but we got there at 2:00 so we could take it all in.We were lucky to have passes to the pit area before the race. It was neat watching all the pit crews get the cars ready for inspection and the race. We saw a few drivers throughout the day. We saw Greg Biffle, Dale Jr, Denny Hamlin, Michael Waltrip, and Reed Sorenson. We are big fans of "Deadliest Catch" on the Discovery Channel. I was so excited to meet Captain Jonathan Hillstrand from the Time Bandit. He was in Tony Stewart's pit. We spent a few hours in the pits before heading to our seats.

"Gentlemen Start Your Engines" is all they had to say. The pace car turned off its lights, and the green flag flew!

My heart was beating so fast watching the cars go around the track at 120+ mph on a
1/2 mile track. I now understand the excitement of Nascar. I am ready for another race!!

Fruity Weekend

It is that time of year to start canning fruit. Andy and I went to my dad's house this morning to pick figs. I like figs, but Andy loves them. I think he ate more than he put in our bags. Andy saw a recipe from Giada on the Food Network for a fig tart. Since Tesha loves figs as much as Andy, we took a bag to her house so she could make his fig tart. I am curious to see how it turns out. We will not have enough figs this picking to make fig preserves, because Andy and Tesha are going to eat all of them. I will have to go back and pick more for the preserves. The trees are still full. Hopefully, the birds will not eat them.





We took Tesha's boys to pick apples at our farm a few weeks ago. I cooked the apples down and got 1 1/2 gallons of apple juice. Mom and I made 10 jars of apple jelly Tuesday night, but we still had apple juice left. Andy helped me this morning make 10 more jars. It is so good. I could eat a whole jar by myself. It was the first time Andy made jelly. He did a great job!




My dad has a grape vine and scuppernong vine. The scuppernongs will be ready to pick in a few weeks. Scuppernong jelly is one of my favorite jellies. I can't wait until they are ripe. The grapes are ripe enough to pick. I am not sure the type of grapes that are growing. Some of them are sweet and some are really sour. I am sure my father-in-law would know if he could see and taste them.




So for now, apple jelly is the only fruit that has been canned this year. It will not be long until all the pears are ready. Then it will be pear jelly and pear preserves.