Raspberry-rhubarb jam and other randomness

This really is just a collection of randomness over the last few weeks.

Over Memorial Day weekend, we borrowed a rototiller. Nathan tackled the garden area, but the tiller was old and feisty and it randomly spit out the cord you pull on to start it. The cord promptly leaped into the tiller tines and got ripped off. Not good. He had to call the tiller's owner, Clin, who came over and repaired it. I wanted to get a picture of the blowtorch fun, but I was busy watching his daughter inside.

After the tilling was done, a very sore Nathan wanted to go see the final Shrek movie with me, so we went on a date. On our way back, we heard a metallic 'clink' and wondered what it was. Suddenly we thought maybe Clin had left a tool on the car and it had just fallen off as we crossed the bumpy railroad tracks. We circled back, scanning the road, and then back the right way, and suddenly I saw a little wrench in the road. I ran back and grabbed it. We got home and found out it wasn't his tool...so now we just have an extra, haha.

I said I needed to take a picture of it for the blog, but it was a boring picture, so Sarah and Alina (our friend) stuck in their cute toes.

The garden is planted and some things are doing fine. The birds stole some of my seeds. :( I planted regular cucumbers, pickling cucumbers, cantaloupe, butternut squash, zucchini, green beans, onions, and chard. I'll plant some more things later to get a fall crop.

Nathan put all these things with Echo as he was napping. Echo apparently didn't mind, because later he got up and then came back to cuddle with the stuffed animals.

Nathan has been studying hard to get his license to sell life insurance. When he passed, we celebrated by going out for a lunch buffet at one of our favorite pizza places, Rock Creek Pizza. We found a coupon online, so it was an even better deal than normal.
We played Chutes and Ladders at a Young Women's activity at church last week. It was to teach about consequences to choices we make in life.


I canned rhubarb w/raspberry jello jam. I used about 2/3 of the rhubarb in my garden and got 4 pints that all sealed, plus a few sampling bites. First canning of the year! It was such an easy canning project that I was also able to make bread that night and be done with it all in 3 hours.
I've been craving a nice homemade dessert, and chocolate and cherries sounded like the perfect combination. I couldn't find a recipe that didn't use alcohol, cake mix, or canned pie filling. I found a chocolate cake recipe from scratch, and adapted it to use regular home-canned cherries, then made chocolate cherry frosting. I did a lot of tweaking and it was too moist, so the center didn't rise as well, but it mostly rose. It tastes good, so I'm calling it a success.
That wasn't my only experiment today. I made a glass each of three different lemonade experiments. I was hoping to make a pitcher of the best one, but none of them were that good.

Ginger - Okay, but would take some getting used to.
Cherry extract - Tolerable.
Vanilla - Threw it out after one sip.

Another day I'll try mint and lavender (not together), since I have a hearty crop of each in my herb beds.