Not

Not for sale
Not Argersinger Road
Not a through road to Lusso
Not a gravel bank either.

Waited all yesterday morning for the clamor to die down around here...chores and milking, people off to work and school. People home and gone again, phone calls, men in and out for checks etc, until it was all quiet on the northview front so I could boil up a third batch of grape jelly. Alan helped me get the grapes down Monday afternoon and I made the juice before that night's milking.

You jelly makers know that once that last big boiling begins you shouldn't stop. So of course, just as I was setting the timer for that all important minute didn't some turkey with a great big truck and flat bed machinery trailer come cranking in behind my car, nearly running over poor old Gael in the process. And I do mean close call.

First words out of his mouth when I go boiling out the door after turning off my almost finished jelly are, "I'm not here to rob you or anything."

I lost it. I admit it. He drove past those signs up there in the photo, minus the vulture I suspect, and right up to the back door of the house. And claimed to be looking for a gravel bank. Missed our poor old dog by inches. I said very unpleasant things to him, made him back down the driveway rather than moving the car so he could just tool right around, and turned his plate number into the state police. Rather than complaining that I might have wasted their time the nice young officer thanked me for reporting the incident.

Am I sorry? Not one bit. After the theft of our generator cables and with this kind of thing becoming too darned common, I will call the next time too.

Did the jelly turn out all right? I don't know yet. It is kind of funny looking but it tastes pretty good. A lot darker purple than the other two batches..