It's only a weapon if you hurt somebody!

     This was posted on my Facebook Timeline today.  I like Survival Preparedness, if for nothing else that it posts these pictures.  

Survival Preparedness

     Ages ago, I was working with a woman who collected key chains.  She was going out after work one night to celebrate.  I told her be careful and she told me she didn't need to be careful just accurate!  She pulled this huge wad of keychains out of her handbag, there must have been 50 of them!  She said if anyone threatened her, she would just 'show' them her collection really fast in the face.  I thought, yeah, it could hurt but she'd have to dig it out of her bag and hope her assailant waited.  Later, I  asked my daughter-in -law (a police officer) about the use of the keychain collection as a self defense weapon and she said, if used in any exchange of blows the wad of keychains could be taken into evidence as any weapon, possibly never to be returned.

     So, nail gun or wad of keychains, it's only a weapon if you hurt somebody.  I personally prefer the close order rusty screwdriver, as an alternative to an actual weapon.  It would be easy to obtain.  I have a variety of screwdrivers once used to pry open a paint can that have been damaged to a deadly point!  It would be easy to access if I were attacked in my home or car and I wouldn't miss it if it were taken into evidence.  

Things you can't prepare for...

It's been a long while since I have written anything, at all.  It has been even longer since I have posted anything for this blog.

No matter how prepared you are, when family falls ill, you find you are not prepared for everything.  

Early last year one of my sons fell ill to a very rare strain of meningitis and I was in the 'silently screaming at God" mode.  He was in a coma and even though he is 100% back in his own life, we all know he is not 100% himself.  There are moments when the genius just doesn't click or there is a light missing that was there before.  It's difficult to prepare oneself to see a change like that from a high fever that could have just as easily killed him.  We are grateful he is back to living and the beautiful little girl he and his wife gave us just before Christmas was almost enough to wipe away a mother's fear for her child.

Since then, I knew my mother is old.  I knew she was sick and I knew she would not live forever.  However, no one can prepare for a lengthy painful demise of a parent.  My mother is dying and I have barely been able to grip my soul and keep it inside my body.  

There is no way to prepare for family members acting on their petty desires while you are trying to focus on making the decisions and signing the papers to assist your parents passing.  No matter how close you are to your parent, there will always be some detail that wasn't addressed or a question you forgot to ask, leaving you to make a decision and now instead of screaming at God, you find yourself second guessing and screaming, why didn't I know that?  

Preparing for hard times has helped me to cope with this difficult time.  Thinking ahead about possible survival scenarios has helped me to train my mind to accept Nature.  I believe I am coping better now with this passing than I would have even a few short years ago because I have spent time in the garden watching things sprout and grow and fruit and die.  Think it strange if you like, but I have always believed farm families, pioneer families, people who live close to the Earth cope better with death since they deal with it frequently.

So, with these thoughts finally stated, I believe I will be back at the keyboard soon.  I have a few stories to share.  Between those horrendous phone calls from hospitals and doctors, the tag phone calls to family to keep them up to date, There have been peacocks, armadillos, observations on human dysfunction and some good deals I have come across, worthy of sharing.  

Pectin

Pectin, a bio polymer
 of (among other constituents) D-galacturonic acid,
shown here in a powder form.

www.iherb.com 

     Pectin is a fiber found in plants, extracted from citrus fruits, and is used in food as a gelling agent particularly in jams and jellies.  Also, pectin is used by people for high cholesterol, high triglycerides, and to prevent colon cancer, it is also used for diabetes.  

But, you must know, I sing the praise of pectin as a thickening agent for jams and jellies!  aaaaaAAAAhhhh! did you hear the angels sing, or, was that just me?

     Pectin is now readily available at the grocers in it's modern tech rendered form as a dry powder.  It was only available in it's liquid form for jam and jelly making when I was a kid, but we made our own or only made jellies that were high in pectin and therefore thickened on it's own.  

http://www.neatlysmart.com

http://www.instructables.com

    To make your own pectin, you must render a large amount of fruit, peels and all, by boiling in water until the fruit just about falls apart.  It's a mush mess!  After rendering, you strain the fruit mush through a cheesecloth draped over a strainer or a jelly strainer for $6- $11.  

    When making your own pectin, you can use a citrus fruit like oranges or lemons which will render a lot of pectin as it contains about 30% in the peels.  But, and there is a good one to know here, BUT, oranges and lemons have a distinct flavor that should be taken into account, it could change the flavor of your jam.  An orange pectin would blend well in pineapple or orange marmalade.  Apples contain a lot less pectin, by volume (1.5%) but, the flavor is easily blended into stronger fruits, so you will have a true grape flavor in the jam, not a lemon-grape.  

     After all the trouble of making your own pectin, jar it.  Seal it in a sterilized jar (simmering temp or 185 degrees for 15 minutes)and date it.  Pectin will keep jarred for about four months.  

    To use the pectin, 2/3 cup liquid pectin equals one packet of distilled dry pectin.  Write that down inside your cookbook in the margins of the jelly making recipes.  Even if you never forget, the next generation needs to know what you know, Make a note, then make jam!