Sunny And 51º

The Sauerkraut Boys

6:53

6:58

Bemus Bay, Tuesday Morning at 9:00

It's 7:30 and I have been up for an hour, early enough to see the sunrise and now, fill our living room with light. A light mist is rising on the lake's surface and I have yet to see a boat on the lake. It's 9:10 and I had a great paddle, photographing two bald eagles in the same tree and a heron on a dock. 

Kayak Morning

Northern Sky

Bald Eagle

Another Eagle

Great Blue

Yesterday was a different day to say the least. I was up early, skipped kayaking because I had to be at my friend's house at 9:00 to help out making sauerkraut. So I had my breakfast, finished the blog then walked over to my neighbor's who was driving to Tom's house. Tom's family has been making sauerkrauts forever, part of his family's tradition. Tom and Julie live on 40 acres of woodland, with a pond and a great house with their dog Pita. Tom had everything ready in his barn so we quickly got busy. We had close to 300 pounds of cabbages to get through so first, Jim would take a cabbage, saw it in half, core it, then if it was too large, cut it in quarters. Once he filled a tray with cabbage, Tom would bring it to me in another room. I would weigh four or five halves, until it reached seven pounds, then slice the cabbage and put it in a pot. Tom would then take the sliced cabbage, salt it with the right amount for seven pounds, press it down, and work it until he got plenty of moisture. Once done, he would put it in a large crock, put a weight on it, and let it sit. So it took us close to three hours to finish the cabbage,  and once we were done, we felt good because we could see our work:  10 crocks filled with fermenting cabbage. We won't have the finished sauerkraut for at least a month of fermenting. We will then put it in freezer bags until we are ready to enjoy.

Sawing And Coring The Cabbage

Ready To Slice

Slicing

Pressing

Fermenting In Crocks

When I got home, Evie was off to Lakewood for a hair appointment and a big shopping day because it was 5% off Tuesday at Wegmans. I was hungry and made myself a couple of eggs on toast forgetting that we had a refrigerator of potato salad and beans, left over from Labor Day. I watched my show, then read my new Gray Man novel before taking a brief nap. Evie was home around 2:30 and I helped unpack the car and then got the boat ready for a cruise. It was a beautiful afternoon, with a light breeze and near 70º so we drove over to Bemus, under the bridge, and back along Lakeside Drive. I had to stop and reverse the engine 2 or 3 times because of the weeds but other than that, it was a perfect afternoon cruise.

We were home in time for Evie's Zoom call with her sisters and I worked some in the yard and took three barrels of dead fall and weeds up the hill. After the call, we relaxed on the front porch with a glass of wine until dinner.  While we were enjoying our wine, Evie had Slovenia sausages simmering on the stove so along with them, we had potato salad and baked beans, compliments of our friend Linda. We watched a film, The Boys In the Boat. I loved the book but the film was slow and predictable. I would give it a C+, Evie a D. We then watched CNN before bed.