To put by

July was hot, but August appears to be off to an even worse start here on the Cumberland Plateau. How fortunate, that we were able to get enough rain to keep the gardens alive, and producing during this searing heat. Being the old Buzzard that I am, I find ways to occupy my day, staying the hell out of the heat and Mama Birds way. Mama Bird does not like to see idle hands, if you get my drift.

This is the time of year Mama Bird likes to start canning fruits and vegetables, or as they say
down this way, "'to put by," or "to put up" It's an old deep-country way of saying to 'save something you don't have to use now, against the time when you'll need it.'

That got me thinking, yea, I know, duck and cover is what Mama Bird says's. A few years back we found some old half gallon canning jars. Half gallon jars aren't common, and we were hoping they would clean up so we could use them in the canning process. It didn't happen, so me being the Buzzard that I am thought about finding a good use for them. The light went on, so to speak, as I walked out the door into 100 degree heat. Why not store as much of this hot air as we can into these old jars? I mean the concept is right for this sort of thing. We have an over abundance of this hot air at the moment. Global warming and election politics has to be the two largest contributors to the situation. We can certainly debate the global warming issues, but there is no doubt that politicians are expelling foul hot air at an enormous rate at the moment. I'm thinking, why not just do some canning, "put it by" until about January or February. Like the fruits and vegetables, we "put up" now, all that hot air will be much appreciated in the bitter cold of winter!

Mama Bird just chimed in, and thought this was a perfect idea. She said, she couldn't wait for that cold winter day. "You know those kinds of days," she said, "the ones when you have no clue about what you want for dinner. I'll just open up a jar of that hot air, and you can sit and enjoy both the meal, and some of those old stale conversations about lying politicians and broken promises."

On second thought, I believe those jars will make perfect shooting targets this fall.