Use your head

Marge was away on one of her trips through work, so I decided to do some canning. I watched my Mom can from the time I could walk, and I've also watched Marge can. I even decided to buy my own canner, so I wouldn't have to use Marge's. And, quite honestly, I had done a lot of canning up to this fateful day.

I had put seven quarts of whole tomatoes in the canner, and put them under pressure to help preserve them. (I was using regular canning jars and not mayonnaise jars.) I had the right pressure, and did it for the recommended time. When they had been under pressure for the right amount of time, I let the pressure go down slowly, as you are supposed to. I carefully began taking the quart jars full of whole tomatoes out of the canner, setting them on the table one at a time. I had taken several out of the canner, and was getting another when one of the jars exploded, blowing the whole top off the jar. I had whole, or slightly whole, tomatoes on the ceiling and all over. No damage to me. Not even one burn or scratch. Wear safety glasses. Be careful.

When you buy home- canned goodies at some stand along the road, you are putting your life in the canner's hands. If they failed to can those goodies in the right way, it could very easily make you sick or even cause damage to your kidneys and liver. Some foods you can get by with just water bathing, but some you have to use a pressure canner. Before you use some Internet canning recipe, do some checking to make sure it's legit. Buy a book like "Putting Food By" and use it. Check with your Extension Office.

If you buy produce in the State of Missouri at a farmers market or roadside stand, most likely it will not have been washed. According to what I've been told, to wash produce in Missouri and sell it as washed, the seller or producer has to have an inspected and approved wash station or procedure. I'd assume the produce is unwashed. If it is a ground crop and one you will most likely eat raw -- such as lettuce, spinach, kale, Swiss chard, etc. -- and you are buying the produce from someone you don't know, be aggressive in making certain it is washed. If you whole heartedly trust the grower, you can be less diligent, but, even then, wash it thoroughly. Marge and I grow our own produce, and we thoroughly wash all our produce before we put it on the table to eat, especially the ground crops.

It was kind of misty the other evening as Marge and I were driving down the main street in Scott City. We were probably doing the speed limit or close to it, so about 35 mph. We had our dim lights on, so one can't see very far in front of the vehicle. We came upon a guy walking down the same side of the street as we were driving so he was walking with the traffic. He had on dark pants, a dark coat and dark hat. He was barely visible. And as we drove by I thought about stopping and telling him to put something on so that he could be seen.

Parents, make sure your children have some type of reflective material on their coats or shoes.

Not the most brilliant move on his part, but then many times a day we do something stupid and either pay for it or count ourselves either fortunate or lucky.

Years ago, I was fishing in a lake north of McCook, Nebraska, and decided to wade and fish like I grew up doing in the Sandhills in Nebraska. The bottom of the lake was mushy and muddy so I said to heck with it. I came really close to walking off an embankment into 12 to 14 feet of water. I couldn't swim so I'd been a goner. Dumb.

One silly mistake that many of us make is not wearing some type of safety eyeglasses. When we shoot our firearms or use the weed eater or use the power grinder to sharpen something like a hoe, in my case, we need to use safety glasses or a face shield. Even when we are spraying our garden plants or weeds, we need to use safety glasses. Make it a habit.

With the world in the shape it's in, I'd make sure you lock your doors. If you don't have deadbolts, get them installed. I'd get some type of dog as well. Maybe all you need is a noise maker. I probably wouldn't get a dog that's more dangerous then the criminals who might break in, but I'd get a dog or have a couple possessive mean cats. There is nothing as frightening as a cat that has flipped out and is after you. Marge and I had an almost blind cat that flipped out one day and he was downright frightening.

Years ago there used to be neighborhood watch programs. Start one in your neighborhood. Get your neighbors' phone numbers, and put them in your phone. Program the phone numbers of your local sheriff and city police in your phone -- also the numbers of neighboring towns. If you are suspicious about something or someone, call the police. They would by far rather be called over nothing then for something to happen that could have been avoided.

Now, after all this, a confession: I might be doing almost anything, from gardening to working on a tractor, and, if I get a hankering for a cucumber in the middle of the summer, I'll go pick one, use the same pocket knife I've used for gosh knows what (back in Nebraska, I used it for skinning coyotes), go ahead and cut the hide off the cucumber without washing my hands, and eat it right out there by the garden.

Smart? Probably not. Will I do the same thing next summer? Probably! But in the same breath, be careful.

Until next time.