For whatever reason, my brain wouldn't shut off last night, so sleep was minimal.  You wouldn't think that picking and cleaning beets would be that stimulating that it would keep me awake!  Who knows?

Speaking of beets and gardening, the mice have been very well fed at my expense.  They have sampled many of the beets and peas.  Each fat pod I went to pick had been hollowed out by mice.  About a quarter of the beets were gnawed down.  There is a sample of the chewed beets in the picture above. 

Dennis still has a mouse living inside the cab or under the dashboard of the pickup.  He trapped one but it appears there are more.  I just removed a nest from under the hood of the landcruiser.  And a packrat has once again moved in to the attic above the shop.  I think I will borrow our neighbours jack russel Lilly to at least sort out the rat! 

Today I can beets.  Usually I pickle them but I have lots left from 2 years ago (no garden last year as we raised pigs there) so will can the beets and see how we like them.  I don't think they will be any different that regular cooked beets.  Well, since this sounds rather boring here is a picture I took a few weeks ago.  This is the view from one of my kitchen windows.

When I get time I will send it to the Cloud Appreciation Society, of which I am a proud member!  The sun is out and the wood furnace is belching heat.  This does not bode well for a day of canning!  The house was 15 degrees this morning so I was happy Dennis lit the furnace.  This is typical weather around here.  It was cold and very cloudy this morning and now the sun is beating down.  The lake is calm.  A good day to be in the garden picking beans, which is exactly what I will do once the canning is under way.  Time to get at it.