GRAPES Galore!

Once again, we made grape jelly!  It's been two years since we last had this adventure.  That's my word for it; Mommy might call it torture.  Actually, she'll tell you she's always quite proud of herself once it's made, but just the thought of making the jelly makes her cringe!

We started out bright and early on a Saturday morning in September.  We took a bucket out to the vine and started picking . . .

Well, Jenna started eating the grapes while Mommy and Daddy started picking.  If you look at a list of no-no foods for dawgs, grapes are definitely on it!  Jenna has been able to defy the odds for a few years now.  Our vet finally decided it must be because our grapes aren't exposed to the same chemicals as store-bought grapes.

I sampled a few grapes too.  But I kept my tennis ball nearby in case someone's arm was free for throwing!

Last fall we didn't make jelly because the bugs, Jenna, and Mommy's pruning shears had taken their toll on the grape vine.  Against Daddy's protests, Mommy pruned the vine WAY back last year.  The previous year there had been fewer grapes and Mommy knew the vine needed some work.  She hacked it all the way back to its original trunk and Daddy freaked out.  He didn't calm down about Mommy's handy work until Mimi told him Mommy was right and the vine would survive.  [sigh]  I guess you're never too old for your mom's advice.   Moms are always right, don't you think?  (Kind of like MY Mommy and the pruning of the grape vine . . . )

Since the hatchet job, the vine has GROWN!!!  We eventually had to fetch a second bucket for the grapes.  We ended up with TWENTY-TWO POUNDS of grapes!!!!

The only problem with that many grapes is that it took SEVEN batches to turn it all into jelly! We used almost TWENTY POUNDS of sugar!!! All of  this turned into over SEVEN GALLONS of grape jelly!  

Mommy was exhausted when it was all said and done.  And my sister looked like Alfalfa!  You know how she likes to lick the inside of the dishwasher.  There is a downside to that bad habit.  Sometimes liquids from the top rack fall down onto Jenna's head.  She sported this look for a few days until Mommy finally bathed her!

Grape making is always an adventure.  Betcha can't guess what you're getting for Christmas . . .
Dixie