Plum Tired

I can finally say (with a sigh of relief) that plum season is officially over here at my house. (It ended at about 2 AM Tuesday.) I always dread that week when the plums come on. Actually, this year was probably easier than years past because I didn't have a newborn strapped on while I stooped down to pick up the disgusting, squishy, bird and bug-eaten plums from off the grass. What a back ache that was! I also have a beautiful convenient kitchen in which to work (thanks for the remodel Nathan!). This year Daniel was really exicted to earn money by helping me with cleanup. (Daniel still hasn't figured out the worth of coins so he's thrilled to get a handfull of pennies--even more so than 1 dollar bill.) He also had fun using the fruit picker to reach yummy ripe plums off the tree. He filled up his Tonka truck to overflowing multiple times and took them to the back kitchen door. Liam helped some but his enthusiam waned quickly--especially after he stepped into a nasty, squishy, over-ripe plum that made his shoe and foot all sticky. This year's plum harvest plus a few bags of juice from last year made approximately 120 jars of plum jelly! Hooray! So now you all know what you'll get for Christmas, if you stay on our nice list. If there is a natural disaster, remember that I have plum jelly in the food storage and I'm willing to barter. I imagine it would all go down like a giant game of pit..."PLUM JELLY, PLUM JELLY, WHEAT ANYONE?" Meanwhile, the peaches are well on their way!--Oh, dread!