Bad Plum Jelly and More . . .

Home economists, can you please tell me why Sure Jell pectin does not include plums on its list of approved fruits for jelly recipes?

Plums are listed for jam recipes but not for jelly.  That meant winging it yesterday, which is precisely the reason that today I need to pour out several jars of beautiful plum syrup and give it a second try.

Why did my plum jelly set up a couple of years ago but not yesterday?

My enquiring mind would like to know this and other stuff that seems to have changed in the pectin world. 

Anyway, I spent a good part of yesterday morning cooking up a batch of what I hoped would turn into jelly.  

It's in the jars, and it is, oh so beautiful, but if competing to lose the Heinz ketchup pouring challenge it would not.

My plum jelly jars from yesterday's batch could empty themselves in world record time.   So, I'll see if I can put some brakes on the runny mixture this morning with some more pectin and sugar.  

The jelly debacle is not alone among the fall failures.

What's with Felix and the Mariners anyhow?  What a fall there has been for them, and it's not even pretty. 

We were hoping the team be in good shape to earn a spot in the play-offs and thus make the Mariners game we plan to attend on Sunday very important.  

Now, it's looking as if that game might have just as much impact as my dismal modeling career with 4-H sewing projects.  White ribbon, thanks for showing up. 

We'll still show up, but if they don't get a move on and win some of these last few games, we might even be able to sneak into some empty front-row seats at Safeco Field.

The news is not all bad.  Thanks to a fall which could have turned fatal, I have connected via Facebook with my newest local writing idol, whom I mentioned a couple of weeks ago.  

She made this morning's front page of both the Bee and the Spokesman, and she WAS the story.  

I learned last night on Facebook that the woman who had to be rescued from Chimney Rock in the Selkirk Mountains over the weekend was none other than Ammi Midstokke, the great and funny columnist in the Daily Bee. 

My first thought:  she's got writing material.  Ammi had to be rescued because a 3,000-pound boulder rolled to a stop on her foot and wouldn't let go.  And, that was after she tried to fend the big rock off with her face. 

Fortunately, she still has a face, and the best part, in my perspective--from one writer to another---is that she had a compelling story to tell----one with a very happy ending, thanks to her rescue teams. 

Turns out she was hiking with a back woods medicine expert and that they had taken the right stuff for treating Ammi's wounds and maintaining her body temperature during a cold night on the mountain.

They did not bring a crowbar to get rid of the rock, so they had to wait for a Search and Rescue group to make their way to the scene.  Then, they had to wait until the next morning for a helicopter to lift her from the mountain. 

The Spokesman reporters wrote the story about Ammi's rescue, but she (referring to her vocation as 'boulder wrestler') penned her first-person account in the Daily Bee, and it definitely does not disappoint.  

The lady is a brilliant and witty writer, and I'm so glad she made it off that mountain to tell many, many more stories. 

Here's a link to the Spokesman story http://www.spokesman.com/outdoors/stories/2014/sep/24/sandpoint-climber-with-broken-foot-grateful-after/, and after 10 a.m., the Daily Bee website at http://www.bonnercountydailybee.com/ will have Ammi's account. 

Just learned that her story is on "Good Morning America."  Wow! 

http://abcnews.go.com/US/hiker-rescued-trapped-granite-boulder/story?id=25723850

Finally, in the good news department, my sister Laurie is beginning another run at the Arabian Sport Horse Nationals in Nampa, which runs today through Saturday.  

Her first dressage class with her gelding named Mani is scheduled for 9:30 our time, and she has another ride tonight.  

Good luck, Laurie.

And, Happy Wednesday to all.  Off try to get things to jell!