Grumpy Flu Bug and the Great Canning Caper

We are on the mend. Praise Jesus! Fevers are gone, strength is returning. We still have hacking coughs and stuffy noses, but I'm hopeful we'll make a full recovery by the weekend.

Now.

Before all this sickie nonsense started, I had a post. A post with pictures. A post all about my Great Canning Caper last Tuesday. I planned to share it with you much sooner, but that crabby old Flu Bug hog-tied my fingers. Anyway, better late than never, right?

Some of you may remember our pear tree in the front yard. It's not a very large tree, but good grief! was it ever full of fruit when we moved in! Since the three of us love pears, I kept an eye on them and when they started to ripen, I picked a whole heap and stuck them in our coat closet to soften up.

What on earth am I going to do with all these pears??? I wondered to myself. Well here in the Northwest, that answer's easy: you can 'em.

Can't be that hard, I thought. I read up on the process and instructions on the internet. My mother-in-law had all the equipment. I borrowed my father-in-law's crab pot for the boil bath. I bought 12 1-quart jars from the local Country Store.

Last Tuesday was The Day. In the morning, I put all the jars in the dishwasher to sanitize while Caleb and I went on a hike, to make sure he wouldn't be too wound up later. Then we stopped at Blockbuster for some movies to keep him busy. Back home, we ate lunch, leisurely watched Madagascar 2, and I chatted with Jason. Somewhere around 1pm I washed and peeled my first pear.

. . . and somewhere around 10:30 pm I washed and peeled my last. Jason helped for a while after Caleb went to bed (he took pity on me when he got home from work, and it's a good thing! Otherwise, I would've been canning late, late into the night).

Who am I kidding? I was up late, late into the night anyway. The last jar came out of the boil bath around 11:00 and with all the clean up, I wasn't in bed until after midnight.

But I think, I think, it was worth it:

There they are! The pioneer women of the 1800s have my undying respect and appreciation after this adventure. Canning is SO MUCH WORK! Next time (if there is a next time, which is debatable at the moment), I think I'll try to coerce, um, I mean, engage some girlfriends to help me.

In the meantime, these jars are going up on a shelf in my livingroom for all to see. No one shall ever eat them. They represent too much hard work to be eaten. They shall be showcased instead. For all eternity.

The pears that Nicole canned. Oh yeah.

Just kidding. I don't even have a shelf in my livingroom. And since I put in twelve hours of labor to produce these pears, someone better eat them. ;)

And that, my friends, was the Great Canning Caper.

Well now that I'm feeling better, I hope to be around the Bloggie World more in the coming days. I especially look forward to this event over at YLCF on Wednesday:

The whole point of this Blog Carnival is to give each other an honest glimpse into our lives. In a culture where image is everything, I think this sounds like a refreshing idea. I look forward to peeking in on other ladies' blogs on Wednesday and maybe making some new friends, too!

Now I will bid you all adieu and wish you pleasant dreams. May your sleep be sweet and filled with many plump pears!