Picking green beans

The rains all week have really made Gerald's garden grow. Gerald picked a large container of green beans yesterday, and he brought them in and broke them--this is a first for this farmer. And I am delighted since I really don't want to spend too many hours of my retirement putting food in the freezer. (I have had a hankering lately to can just one more canner of green beans, but I am not sure I will do it this summer. The last I canned green beans was in 1981. Since then, I have frozen them. Yet when we moved over to our new home from the farm house, I could not stand to part with my canning equipment. However, my jars were down in one of the empty hog buildings and we left them there. But while emptying her pantry in anticipation of this major remodeling project at her home, Katherine gave me a box of jars she had somehow acquired over the years. So I really don't have any excuse other than lack of time and energy!

The beans Gerald picked yesterday have been cooking for hours in the slow cooker for tomorrow's Sunday dinner. I have recently experimented and put some I had cooked that way in the freezer--so they would not have to be cooked so long when I take them out next winter. I'll try later to put some in the traditional way by blanching them, etc.

I went out early this morning and picked another big dishpan full. It was so muddy in the garden that my shoes stuck in the mud--and I was trapped. So I slipped the Birks off and picked the rest of the time in my stocking feet. Since my sox were probably 20 years old with a hole in one already, I didn't care if I ruined them, but they are soaking and I will probably wear them again. I have washed those beans but that is all. Will probably take some to a friend and put the rest in the downstairs fridge for next week's meals or to freeze.

Katherine's family have gone to an end-of-season party for their son's baseball team. They are still emptying out their house. Our son-in-law worked all day taking mattresses to storage, taking down doors, etc. The contractor had been delayed and then thought he would start Monday, but as it turned out, he started at 7 a.m. yesterday when the ground at another project was too wet to continue there.

After running by the Crab Orchard library to visit with my friend Loretta, I went by the church house and made the coffee ready to be plugged in there in the morning. Then I could not resist stopping at our little store in Crab, which has just opened this week under new management. There are lots of tables and chairs for sitting down for biscuits and gravy in the mornings, sandwiches at lunch, or coffee and pie in the afternoon. And they have a great selection of lunch meats, which is what I bought for Gerald and my supper. It is nice to have a gathering place in the village, and it is quite attractive.

I have been working on Martin family history a bit this evening, and I was reminded that I meant to look for descendants of Samuel Garrett Martin and his son Mark Martin, grandson Mark Martin, Jr., and great grandson--all in Bluford, IL, area. I found the great grandson's name on Dog Pile white pages, but he was too young to be the great grandson born in 1945--would have to be his son with the same distinctive first name. Unfortunately, Dog Pile said his phone was unlisted. I did get another Martin name in Bluford, and I may get my nerve to phone him tomorrow or sometime.