Tomato Paste

Instead of canning tomatoes I thought I would try just making tomato paste.  I made some last year but tried something different today.  

I have a mix of tomatoes.  I wanted to use up the romas first.  

This technique called for a blender.  I have one but haven't used it in many years.  It still worked!

After pureeing the tomatoes, I passed them through a sieve.  It also called for a thick bottom pan.  My mistake last year was just using revere wear.  It scorched.  This year it worked much better in my dutch oven.  

Just skins and seeds to throw out.  

Then lots of boiling, boiling, boiling...

We have paste!

The first batch I am freezing in silicone ice trays.  Then I will seal them in a plastic bag with the vacuum sealer.  The second batch I froze in 1/2 pint jars.  I still have a ton of tomatoes. 
 

Nebraska Bound

Not us, just our cattle.

The calves we weaned 45 days ago were ready for the trip to the feedlot.  

Once again, Joe had everything lined up to work like clockwork.  

But there was still a lot of pushing, tugging and shoving to get 77 head loaded on 4 trailers  for the short trip to the farm across the river where they have cattle scales and a loading area large enough for a tractor trailer.  

At the neighbor's barn, they were sorted in to groups of 10ish, 

                                         

run onto the scales, 

and weighed.  

The tractor trailer got backed in 

and bedded for the cattle. 

52,515 pound were loaded into 7 different compartments for the 22 hour trip. 

I hope they all had their mooving buddy. 

This was the list the trucker gave us of the number in each group for each compartment. 

If you look closely, you can see the trucker straddled over the entrance.  He was making sure the cattle kept going to the right spot and then he could jump down and close off whatever compartment they just filled.  

 Now we just need them to put up a cattle cam in the feedlot so Joe can keep up with them for the next 8 months.

As a bonus, the fog lifted and I was able to get a picture of our house from a spot I don't get to see too often.  

There it is, those two white dots.  

Family, Friends, Feathers, Fun

Our last night on the beach was blessed with a beautiful sky.  (You can also see how calm the water was.  It was pretty much like that the whole time.  I was able to take Sadie and Allie out one at a time, to float on the boogie board.  They loved it.)

Anyway, back to our last night, we went for a walk down the beach.  Sadie wanted to go the the pier (1 mile away) but it was too late to make it there and back.  I reminded her that I asked for her to take a walk that morning.  At the time she said, "you are wasting all my play time by taking a walks."  After the walk, she said she didn't know it would be so much fun.  

Because you just never know what you will see.  Harley the parrot was out on the beach showing off again.  I saw him last year.  You can check that out HERE

And there were two turtle nests that were being watched for hatching.  We didn't go back to check but it was interesting talking to the official watchers.  

Yesterday morning was our last chance to play.  I had gotten this flying rubbery disc at the Big Bin Dealz Store.  It was much easier to throw and softer to catch than a frisbee.  

Allie was particularly good at it.  Unfortunately, we left it on the beach.  Good thing it was only a dollar.  

Our sand castle building improved.  The last one was the best.  

And Birdie even made the "surf squad" necklaces out of shells she and her mother had found on the beach.  

Sadie and Allie showed them off for Mike and Virginia when they got home. 

Well, maybe Allie was more interested in riding her bike.  

As a bonus, Carol and I got one also.  I've never made a friend at the beach before, but Birdie's mom was awesome.  I guess there is a first time for everything.  
 

Sunday At The Beach

Sunday morning got off to a good start with bacon, eggs, toast and jelly for breakfast.  But on our walk in n the beach took a turn. 

Sadie reached down to pick up something out of the surf and got cut. 

It was a rusty fish hook. (She is fine).  But that was the worst thing for the day. 

Sadie’s new friend Birdie came out to play.  They played in the surf, 

and build sandcastles under the tent. 

After Birdie went in for lunch Sadie looked for shells with Birdie’s mom. Allie had already given up and gone in with Carol. 

I was finally able to pull Sadie away from the beach and we went to Shaka Taco for lunch. Afterwards, we went shopping for new beachwear. They needed something to cover more of their rear ends to keep from burning worse. (Just a little red from the first day). 

I found Allie a cut swimsuit. But couldn’t find anything for Sadie but a dress made of swimsuit material.  She was perfectly happy with a dress. 

 We ended the day on the beach flying kites. After dinner we watched Jumanji.  Allie said she wasn’t old enough for it so she went to bed. Sadie watched the whole thing and wanted to watch it again this morning. We ended up watching g 1/3 an hour of Boss Baby for Allie after breakfast this morning. Now we are on the beach again. 

The Beach

Virginia and Mike have let me take Sadie and Allie to the beach!  Carol joined me to help out. 

The drive down yesterday was terrible. It poured rain for over half the trip.  But we finally got here and still had some time for an evening walk. 

But it didn’t last long because another storm blew in. 

But some shells were found before it started raining. 

This morning we headed back out. 

There was lots of sand digging and water carrying. 

But then the rain started again. Carol entertained them inside until it stopped raining and we went back out after lunch.  

Sadie made a new friend. They played for hours. 

After the friend had to go in we made our yearly mermaid tail. 

 Hopefully I got them back inside before they turned into lobsters.  Lots of fun so far.