In the interest of (self?) preservation...

CANNING: After letting it rest overnight as the recipe suggested, I was relieved to find the ants did not invade my apricot chutney. I pulled out the big sticks of ceylon cinnamon - and, well - I sucked off the chutney. I chewed the ends and ate them. No way those sticks would fit in the 4 and 8 oz jars for canning.

Apricot Chutney:
13 - 4 oz jars
5 - 8 oz jars

BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE: My dear friend Jon kindly volunteered to take me to buy the lumber and hardware for the solar dehydrator plans (PDF) that captured my interest. He arrived a bit after noon, and we took about 30 minutes to do the shopping and to go up to his garage to get out the equipment. It took him about 1 hour to cut up all the wood, then another 15 minutes for us to clean up and we headed back down to my place to unload. On the way, someone had put out a pile of metal mesh fencing and some bamboo stakes, so I took the opportunity to hop out and grab what I needed. He did a great job and I regret I did not have a camera with me to capture the action!

DIVA: I confess - I love this thing. It has now shortened my period to 2 days from 3. I am ready to take back all unopened boxes of tampons to the store for cash and to buy the cup for my sister and her three girls right away!

Now, I have to make something to eat, candy two dozen apricot halves, get ahold of my friend who will be kitty/house sitting, pack for Yosemite and pack for the hot springs, clean the house, fold laundry and hang a load to dry... I still have to do something about the 3 pounds of gorgeous Santa Rosa plums (they are red inside!) and might just eat them all in the car on my way to Yosemite as my lunch!