A Second Look--February 29, 2012

As the days become longer, I am starting to see my first signs of spring. The birds are singing, the crocus are blooming, and I have smelled skunk. Now if the weather would just decide what it wants to do. We still have cold, nasty days interspersed with some pleasantly mild ones.

Wally, Aunt Martha, and Uncle Billy took one of my Second Looks with me this week. Uncle Billy and Aunt Martha pointed out a couple of very round cows behind us that should be calving soon. Wally took some of the pictures.

Here's What I Saw This Week

This was a very cold and windy day with a few snowflakes coming from these clouds.

The deer continue to be our daily visitors.

Our first purple crocus of the year. We had a white one bloom earlier.

 

The white and red cows look like they could be giving birth sometime this spring.

 I continue my fascination with the cardinal that raises and lowers its crest. This one showed up on the feeder with a full crest that he then raised and lowered a couple of times while he was eating.

Aunt Martha and Uncle Billy came with me on my walk this very pleasant day.

Cans

Ward, Wally, and I recently visited a local museum that had an exhibit on canneries--more specifically the older cans that came from them. We were lucky enough to talk to the exhibitor and learned a bit of local history in the process. I wish I could remember some of it to tell you, but I can't. I focused most of my time looking at the large variety of labels.

Look at a few of them below to see why I was so fascinated. Notice that two of the cans have plainer labels with a tank and warships on them. These were manufactured during wartime. Also, be sure to read all of the label on the Real Value can. I don't think you will see anything like that in our stores today.

Note: Most cans are paired with a front and back picture of the label.

Notice the tank on the back of this can. This is from WWII days.

Also, manufactured during WWII, notice the colorless label with the patriotic war theme.

I think this is what you call real truth in advertising.

You can tell there were cooked oysters in these cans because they have labels on them. Most oysters were not cooked and were shipped in cans on ice where the label would not survive.

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But Wait, There's More:
While Ward and Wally appreciated all of the labels, here's what they found most interesting.
Ward:
Early in the 20th century, canning was the primary method of preservation of food. Given the short time frame for harvest season, it was important to get crops to the canneries as fast as possible. Before transportation was cheap, fast and reliable, canneries were located nearly everywhere. Most towns of any size had a cannery, and many had two or four or even a dozen. Nowadays, we see many fewer, much larger canneries. Progress, I guess.

Wally:
Did you know that before 1906 weights didn't have to be put on the labels? Also, cans used to be made from three parts--a top, a bottom, and a cylinder. Not two parts like today. (Ward and I were not as interested in this. We are old enough to remember seeing three part cans.)

Food Waste Friday--February 24, 2012

It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money. 

Here it goes for this week.

We had no food waste this week. Yea! During my refrigerator clean up, I found a couple of things with a short shelf life, but nothing was ready for the trash can. Since I have no food pictures, I thought I would show my cross stitch of the this old saying, "Use it up, Wear it out, Make it do, Do without." Food Waste Friday certainly embodies these ideals.

Conversations with Theodore--The Early Years

Theodore and

The Logic of a Six-year Old

"Mama, I need more practice lying."
"Why?"
"I need to practice for when a robber comes into the house. If he asks me if I have something worth stealing, I want to be able to lie and say, "No," and have him believe me. That's why I need a lot of practice lying--so I can be ready for a robber."

A Second Look--February 22, 2012

During my Second Look around the yard this week, I was uninspired except for the golf ball I found. So I decided to come inside and take a second look at the flowers Ward gave me for Valentines Day.

Here's What I Saw This Week