Monkey Wrenches and Home Canning

  Oh, the dilemmas!  Why does it seem that right when things start going smoothly, something has to throw a monkey wrench into the works. Earlier this week, I noticed that the freezer that holds fruit and veggies, was starting to act a bit weird.  Well, it has been acting a bit weird for a while but it was now acting weirder. Odd acting freezers are not something you want to leave to their own accord as they have a way of messing things up pretty badly.  I opened the lid to find that this freezer was jammed packed. Well, there was nothing else to do but pull stuff and can it.  I had been lazy in the past and just threw berries, grapes, pumpkin and pecans in the freezer instead of taking the time to make the jams, jellies and preserves.  It was time to stop being lazy.  So, for the past few days, I have been in the kitchen.  The dining room table soon was covered with a couple of hundred jars of goodies. Then came the realization that I could not just leave them there.  These things had to find a more suitable home.  Ok, so who needs bookshelves anyway, right?  The vintage books were removed from the shelves flanking the fireplace in the dining room, the shelves were cleaned, a few more shelves added and a pantry was created!  Yep, my dining room is now a pantry!  When you come to think of it, why not?  Jars of food can be every bit as beautiful and a lot more useful than a bunch of knickknacks lining the shelves.  I do have to find a place for all those books, however!

  Now back to those opening statements.  As far back as when I was a tot, I remember Pop talking about monkey wrenches.  Whenever he would be working on the old tractor and needed a strong wrench, he would tell me to go get the monkey wrench.  I was the gofer for a lot of Pop's tools.  The monkey wrench was my favorite even though it was heavy.  Now I find out that there is a difference in a monkey wrench and a pipe wrench.  I was always bringing Pop a pipe wrench.  He never complained and simply made do.  A monkey wrench is an adjustable wrench with straight jaws while the pipe wrench is adjustable but has a slight curve to the jaws. This makes sense as the curved jaws were made to fit around pipes and give a better grip.  I guess a tyke has no sense of such things! I always grabbed the one that was red!!!  To me, that red color should denote a monkey wrench since my friend had a stuffed monkey with a red jacket!  Red equals monkey!.  Who wants to tote around a plain, old wrench when a red "monkey" wrench is within reach?? Obviously not five year old me!  Great color!  Fun name!  The red pipe wrench was dragged to Pop!  Sorry, Pop!  I seriously just learned this!
  
  So I accomplished the chore set out in front of me AND learned something new.  Things can't be all bad.