Wood You?

Well, here I sit, exhausted at 3 PM. Sigh.

Got out to beside the garage this AM at 730. This is where the previous folk kept their firewood - and a whole lot more. I am a very organized person about my firewood, because I found that it pays in the deep snow to have everything where you know where it is and can grab it. On some snowy days it has been too dark to really see, in my experience, so the less time one scrabbles around in the cold, the better!

So I lit into the stuff next to the garage. I pulled out old metal cans, soda cans, metal strapping, as well as all types of wood. Now, when I cleaned out the firebox in the family-room woodstove in May, I found a lot of things that were not ashes - nails, screws, bits of melted plastic - that had obviously had the wood around them burned for the heat. I am funny about that - I really prefer to burn just wood. So first I had to separate everything out - and I did it by size, as well as by burnable, burnable with screw/nail removal, etc. First stacked up again was the 'squaw wood', the stuff that starts the fire. I lined it up as the closest pile to the back door, right next to the garage. Next came the 'tween wood' the wood that is bigger around and burns a little longer to help ignite the 'big wood', the all-nighters that go on top.

Most of the 'big wood' logs will have to be split; the firebox is kind of small and very tight, even though being cast iron it puts out a lot of heat. (We tried it one bitter, pouring rainy, 40-mph-North-wind-blowing night after we got here; by the time I banked it and went upstairs, the whole house was toasty.) Finally came the notso good wood, the leftover pieces from projects, the nailed wood that will have to be stripped, stacked on a pallet outside the northernmost corner of the garage. Those pieces I hope to only use in emergencies! But nevertheless, better to start now and get them stripped down before we need them.

Of course the "squaw wood' is the biggest pile; it always is. It is easier to go around and gather sticks than it is to find bigger pieces. As I was stacking them, Mike came out and pitched in (he's been working on getting a drain valve for the water line in, so that we can drain the water lines that go out to the hydrants to keep them from freezing and breaking).

With him there, once we got the wood stacked neatly next to the garage, we went around to the back of the garage, between the garage and corral fence. This is a nice storage/catchall for all sorts of things to keep them out of the wind - too nice, too well-used, and too cluttered. So he got the weedeater out of the garage, and we went to work. There was a huge limb back there that I chopped mostly apart, as far around as the big clippers would reach, which gave me another wheelbarrow full of squaw and tween wood. We cleaned out all of the metal and refuse that had stacked up there over time, and even found some good pieces of big wood to add to the stack.

I'm sure that this all seems pretty boring to those who read it, but it is pretty important to us - to get wood stacked, neatly available, for winter, and to get as much garbage and waste out from around the garage as we can. For one thing, it is an invitation to the scurrying things to nest and move in; for another, it is hard to keep it neat and clean when there is so much there that can't be moved, allowing weeds - even some pretty large tumbleweeds! - to grow.

Because the wind is supposed to pick up Sunday and be pretty intense, and then a cold front will move in Monday (maybe rain - maybe not), I also have been watering everything. The dry winds here kind of scorch whatever's growing pretty quickly if they are not watered. As much as I like fire in a safe place in the winter, wildfire scares me to death. So watering things not only keeps them healthy, but cuts down on the fire danger. The fire department already had an all-day working grassfire this week, south of here.

So the Labor Day weekend that everyone else is enjoying I will enjoy, too - my brother from ID called, he is driving his rig through North Platte, 150 miles south of us, on Sunday, and wants to meet us for lunch. We haven't seen each other in four years! I'll enjoy it a lot more knowing that the wood is stacked, the yard is a little cleaner, and we are a little more prepared for winter.

But lord am I tired! Grin

Nothing Wasted

I'm taking a little sit-down break; a coffee break, if you will. Today I'm peeling and puree'ing tomatoes, pouring them onto the flat sheets in my dehydrator, and making dried tomato paste. Then I'll pulverize it and have tomato powder.

I've got some peppers I'm cutting up to dehydrate on the shelves, too. Not hot peppers; green peppers. Once dehydrated, I can add them to anything - soups, stews, whatever - and add the flavor of summer green peppers. I can even crush them and the tomato powder together and mix them in my bread dough for a really great bread... or mix them with eggs and flour for homemade noodles with a bite.

I've got still more cucumbers and they will be pickled this afternoon. Meanwhile, it is 60 degrees outside, with a brisk North wind, and I'm watering the yard. The "terrible storms" that threatened two nights ago dropped absolutely no rain, but produced a lot of wind that dried out my plants. Which reminds me - time to harvest the basil and thyme. If the weather holds and my sunflowers continue to bloom and produce seeds, I'll have to dry all of them too. Fortunately the lack of humidity here doesn't promote rot; I can air-dry the herbs and seeds if I want. (But putting the herbs in the dehydrator makes the house smell so gooood!) Plus the quicker they dehydrate, the more flavor they hold. After the first frost, I can harvest that horseradish out in the garden, and make not only horseradish sauce, but cold medicine and even a nice rub for sore muscles and joints. I'm wondering too about the possible use for insect repellent; they don't like the capascin in the hot peppers, maybe they won't like the flavenoids in the horseradish either! So much to think about....

The multiplier onions I ordered should be here soon. They are planted in the fall to overwinter, then harvested in late spring. I ordered 50. They also dehydrate well, and even without dehydration, keep for up to 12 months in a cool, dry place (which pretty much describes the basement!) They are heirloom, which means that they and their progeny can be planted year after year with no change in their cellular makeup, like happens with hybrids. Their tops in spring also make great green onions!

I just hate to see things go to waste; especially edible things. And I can't wait to get really started on the greenhouse and the plant starts for spring; already I'm thinking of what to put in for not only my garden and future produce, but to sell.

Yes, it sounds like a lot of trouble to go through, when one can buy things in the store, already processed and ready to cook and eat. But it is fun to do, it keeps things from being wasted - and who knows what food, even the basics, will cost in another six months, or what will even be available? Not to mention what goes into the processing of such things? At least I know what is in the food I'm preserving.

So with disco on the stereo, I'm bustling abut the kitchen, making plans.

Eat a Vegie A Day

"Eat a vegetarian a day, and reduce your chances of being infected by idiots."

I love vegies, but I really love meat. Smoked ham with that delectable juice, bloody medium rare beef with the blackened taste of the grill across it, spaghetti with a rich meat sauce and big sausage/ground beef meatballs, turkey with the crispy skin peeling off, chicken roasted, stewed, souped, riced, or sherried... ummmm. Yup, even hot dogs or hamburgers wolfed down two at a time, covered in mustard, saurkraut, onions raw or grilled, and thick slices of melty cheese. Dark and flavorful deer meat, steaks, cubed steaks, even stuffed into sausage skins and grilled. Yummers!

Of course some fanatical vegetarians produced a miserable ad about how feeding your kids hot dogs could kill them with cancer. Gotta say that I started my educational life in Catholic school, where they served "lunch" - a hot dog en bun, a bag of chips, and a carton of mlk every day except Friday, when we could eat our choice of tuna salad, egg salad, or a fish sandwich. (Being a stubborn child, I asked if egg wasn't a baby chicken and got spanked for my curiosity.) I ain't dead yet; and, with about 200 days a year for five years of hot dogs, and hundreds of poverty-stricken days afterwards when hot dogs were the only meat I tasted, I still don't have cancer!

" The animal rights crazies at the misnamed Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) are at it again, blanketing America with a TV ad re-branding hot dogs as the new cancer stick. But is anyone buying their baloney? The Associated Press noted last night that PCRM’s research is lacking; and the children in its ad, who claim to have terminal cancer, don’t.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPaxW3BrgIY

A new TV commercial shows kids eating hot dogs in a school cafeteria and one little boy’s haunting lament: “I was dumbfounded when the doctor told me I have late-stage colon cancer” …But the boy doesn’t have cancer. Neither do two other kids in the ad who claim to be afflicted.The commercial’s pro-vegetarian sponsors say it’s a dramatization that highlights research linking processed meats, including hot dogs, with higher odds of getting colon cancer."

I wish people would just shut the hell up. "We are ALL gonna DIE!" if we do this that or the other. Guess what? We are all gonna die ANYWAY. And I'm going out with meat and vegies and probably liquor and who knows what in my gut, because life is too short to let fanatical crazies tell you how to live.

Working my tail off

Would it were true; but every time I turn around, there it still is, right behind me. Sigh.

But we were determined to fix everything up by winter; to make it a showplace, to make it beautiful. Folks have stopped us on the street, or talked to us at get-togethers, telling us how much they love what we are doing to the place. We love this old house; so much potential, so many little surprises, so many little things that would cost a fortune - literally - back east. Check out the 2 inch baseboards in the upstairs BR at the end; you can't find anything like that anywhere any more, and they are all throughout the house. So here's the tour...

Here's the pond, before and after..

Yes, that raccoon with the bucket came with us, and is pumping again quite happily in its new location. You can't see the tiles I laid in the bottom of the pond, right into the fresh cement, that make a pretty little picture of flowers in a basket. Just something for when the pond doesn't have water. All of my little daffodils and narcissus bulbs are planted around the pond, too, just waiting for next spring...

The house front - Before and after - Remember that, on the paint, it ALL had to be redone as a condition of the sale, so we and the sellers painted it bright white everywhere. The red, the plants, the statues, are all my own. Once the hot weather and the wind die back a bit, I will scrape together my courage, go up on the ladder, and finish the red trim on the upper story and bay window!

The east porch and yard - of course the trees leafing out for the summer really helps, but if you look close you can see the red paint and trim, and the poor sad fence that needed repainting. The Sunflowers and daylilies and roses in the new garden that lines the fence, are all mine, too...

The West Garden - in the before picture, you can't see the whole fence, but it was pretty ragged and needed sanding. Note the red stylized roses on every post, in both the east and west yards, that match the red trim on the house and porch posts. (Cheaper than spending $2 per finial and sawing off the posts flat to accomodate them!) That big bunch of green in the middle? Horseradish! From the previous owners - now THAT'll keep us warm this winter! LOL

And the upstairs guest room, of which I am now inordinately fond, since I repainted the walls a rich lavender, and polished the floor!

Oh, there's so much more to show; the freshly waxed and oiled doors and trim downstairs that make them sparkle, the new lights in the basement that really make my ceramics shop and the laundry room glow, the way we have redone the tack shop inside so that Mike has his man-cave, the redoing of the barn roofs and corral gates, and the gates and fences all around the gardens and pasture. Yes, as fall weather approaches and things grow cooler, our new home is starting to take on a lovely, warm, even happy character. There's a lot more to do, and we will gradually do it. But this is the place we now call home - and we love it here. Not that you could tell...

In a Pickle Here!

Well, I WAS going to finish sanding and painting the fence today. Best laid plans... sigh.

But I woke up and realized that I have a big mouth. I love cucumbers - and told a neighbor so. Well, she is swamped with produce - especially cucumbers. I also told her that I pickle and can. So this morning I was faced with the third bag... a lot of sweet corn on top, and still more cucumbers below. So I had a sinkfull of cucumbers! Nothing to do but to pull out the canning stuff and make pickles!

If you've ever pickled you know that no matter how carefully you cut and measure, you are always going to have too little - or too much - pickle brine. Of course at first I had too little. So I made more. Then I had too much. The jars were all full. I'm out of lids (but never out of screw tops - still trying to figure THAT out, like a half-dozen mismatched socks). So I went downstairs and found one last BIG glass pickle jar, washed it out, and sterilized it too. All of the "leftover" pickles - the hamburger slices, the big munchy slices, and the spears - went into THAT jar, along with most of the leftover brine. Success! All of the little lids went "shnick" and popped down - sealed pickles. The big jar will be the house jar, the one we use and dip out of.

The corn (which I love but cannot eat) I shucked and cut and blanched, except for the last two ears - I cooked them for Mike. By one o'clock, everything was canned and pickled. I even had enough left over for my late Dad's favorite little splurge - cucumbers and onions in the pickle brine in the fridge. I took half of that, chopped it, mixed it with chopped boiled eggs, more spices, and mayonnaise, and came up with a pretty neat vegetable/chip dip. And it was a damned good thing I did, too.

Because at two o'clock Miss Enid appeared at the door with a bag of tomatoes, green peppers - and cucumbers! ROFLMAO

I don't need meat this week - I have vegies! Yummers!

Guess whose getting two big jars of pickles!!!

And guess who has to go into town this week after all - to buy canning jars, lids, and some more spices! Oh, well, I was promised a birthday dinner at Cedar Canyon, so what the hell....

There's a Blister on my Thumb

There's a Blister on my thumb, on my thumb, on my thumb
There's a blister on my thumb thumb thumb
I felt it growing by the minute
Knew but couldn't stop it, end it
Too much work, had to finish
No time to be a little skittish
There's a damned blister on my thumb!
Dammit. I brought this huge rug with us when we moved. I bought this rug 12 years ago. It is a beautiful thing - or, was. Deep blood-red and cream, with intricate roses and flowers, shaded and simply gorgeous. However, kids and dogs and cats tramping and shedding and bleeding and in general making a steady mess - I tried several times to clean it, but it is so big and heavy it just wouldn't dry. It sat rolled up for several years in the utility room til we moved here. Today we set up sawhorses, stretched an extra long pallet between them, and unrolled then draped the rug over it. Using carpet cleaner, the hose, and a heavy brush (hence the blister!) I scrubbed and rinsed, scrubbed and rinsed. Then I turned it over, scrubbed and rinsed. It started to rinse clean water at last - but there was still that ruggy smell, of old cat and dog and dirt. So I got my bottle of Simple Green. Turns out you can use it to 'spot-clean' carpets - and it has a nice wintergreen smell. So I mixed it up triple strength in a bucket and scrubbed the back, then the front, again, rinsing as I went. This time the water ran clear again - but now there is a much better, minty smell.

In SC, you can't hang much out and expect it to dry - between the frequent storms that come up in the afternoon, and the constant high humidity, it would take a week and the rug would still be damp. Here, however, where the humidity started out this morning at 50% and dropped all day, and where the entire week is forecast to be clear, warm, and dry, I'm thinking that this rug may actually dry by tomorrow night!

But I am NOT pleased about the blister - mostly because I plan to wake up early, and get out at sunup (6:30) to sand and paint that loooong fence around the front garden, that spans about 1/2 acre. Just one more thing to irritate me - like the sunburn I got yesterday at the tractor pull, that is still making my eyes water and my lips chap. Grrr... So much to do before the cold weather comes... Arrrrggghhhh.

There's a damned blister on my thumb! Grumble grumble grumble.

I did have an inspiration today. Out behind the garage is an old metal frame, heavy-duty but rusted. It is the frame for what looks like an old gas-station type sign, shield-shaped. Pretty cool. So Mike is going to trace out the pattern on plywood, jigsaw it out, wire-brush it down (ok, that will probably be me) and we are going to make a plywood sign to slide into the frame for the Farm. Maybe we'll hang it on the fence, or maybe we'll hang it from the arbor. It is made to be hung, deserves to be hung. There are a lot of cool things around the property, just begging to be put to use. It is as much fun as a scavenger hunt, living here!

Add that to all of his other projects - right now he is making a quilting frame for my birthday. What a way to get some use out of all of those silk and other outfits that I no longer need. He loves having his shop, loves finally doing things again instead of sleeping in his chair, watching TV, playing Nintendo endlessly. We were at the fair this week, admiring our neighbor's kids' cattle for the 4H group. Our neighbor, who manages an Angus cattle ranch and hog farm, came up to Mike. "We have a lot of equipment on the ranch that doesn't run, needs to be repaired, and we don't have the time. You do that kind of thing, don't you? Would you come out and repair our stuff for us?" Not a 40 hour a week job - but then he can't do that anyway, not with his handicap. Just on an as-needed basis. Mike was proud to say yes. (Screw all those worthless punks who looked down their noses at him after he got hurt, telling him he was useless without saying a word.)

Things are sure getting better and better. This was definitely the right move for us.
Now if I could just get rid of this blister.....

A Tractor Pull, A County Fair, and a Rodeo

This is Miss Lila; in her sixties, she always competes in the local tractor pull. I have a new hero - hard-drinking, hard-smoking, loud and ornery, blunt and friendly - and yes she wins.


The above are the "enhanced" tractors; they are souped up and inject water into the engines to give them more RPMS for the gradually increasing weight - that's where the black smoke comes from.





Quilts, produce, art, and more quilts - a lot of people participate in the fair.



Friday and Saturday nights were the pro rodeo circuit nights - Sunday was the local ranch hands showing off their stuff. The local guys did much better at the team roping and bronc riding! It is one thing to do it for show - another to do it for a living, because you have to. The rodeo games are based on what these guys still have to do, every day, out on the ranches.

A Pet Cock Solution?

Well, yes, actually. You see, the plumbing down in the basement that controls the yard and barn hydrants was leaking. I had tried to use it to keep Lake's watering trough full, and that was when the trouble started. A regular drip, drip, drip from the faucet down below, that would fill a 1 quart bucket to overflowing overnight.

Then we went to the garden, where another hydrant is, and tried to hook up the sprinkler. This is a sprinkler attached to a 4 foot section of pipe, that runs down to (what else?) an old tire rim for weight and stability, and is hooked to a short section of hose that hooks to the hydrant. Well, the sprinkler was shot, the pipe was full of dirt (when the water pressure built up in the pipe, it shot six inches of dirt three feet up in the air). We replaced the sprinkler head, cleaned out the pipe, and - still, almost no reach, no pressure.

And the pipe in the basement leaked more. The only solution - fix that pipe. The faucet was old and rusted and didn't turn off completely, so Mike bought a pet cock. And since the pipes were not in such great condition either, he bought some extra connections and fittings - because, he said, with his luck, the pipe would ring off when he replaced the faucet. He was right.

But the most interesting thing was the buildup of 100 years or so of stuff in that pipe. It was half clogged with rust and dirt and disuse. So once everything was replaced... uh-oh. You could hear the water RACING thru the pipe. So we went out to the hydrant - which we had left open for bleed-off. The water was rushing: no, slamming out of the pipe! We hooked up the sprinkler - and with a sudden gurgling gasp, the water flew out of the end and started spinning that sprinkler head, reaching from driveway to road to road to back field. POW!

Funny what a simple little pet cock can do...

You people are perverts, you know that?

So Much to Do

Arrrggghhh.
Yesterday I spent 5 hours getting evaluated. Normal procedure - no doctor worth seeing ever hands a patient 10 days worth of 500 mg Cipro on their word, even if they have their medical records in hand, or a road map of surgical scars on their belly. Still, it was frustrating. Hey, I didn't want pain pills - don't need them, Tylenol PM knocks me out if I need it! - I'm not a drug addict, I swear!

But I have so much to do! Mike put a board up to cover a gap from the settling of the cement steps to the verandah, and I had to paint it. It will be a temporary fix til we can pour an additional concrete step. But as it gets cooler, I don't want critters under the verandah... a raccoon would be aggravating - a skunk would be NO fun at all. And we saw where someone had run over a rattlesnake down the block yesterday. I don't like rattlesnakes, but at least they TELL you where they are. With fall on the way, gotta keep an eye out. Don't want ANY critters thinking that my dryer exhaust is a nice warm place to nest!

But now I want to paint the stairs on the verandah to match the ones on the front porch, and I can't. Because I have to wirebrush them first to make the paint stick. And because the meds make me dizzy and sick to my stomach. Dammit dammit dammit. I'll do it soon. At least I'm feeling better now, not so puny. I HATE being sick! And this week is the county fair, and I don't want to miss ANYthing there. So here I sit, maddeningly still, sucking on boullion and chewing on toast, while a Tower (4 layer!!) carrot cake sits in the fridge. Dammit dammit dammit.

The Gang has cheerfully informed me this week that, should they have to evacuate in the event of a hurricane, they will be heading this way. LOL Some are threatening to stay! What a nutzoid group. IF they come at all - which I very ruefully doubt - I can pretty much bet on who would stay - and who wouldn't. But if they did, what fun it would be! Good thing I've stocked up on essentials. Lets see - Blondie and spouse, Shane and spouse and kids, Rodney and who knows??? - and Kelli and her son. (LOL Note to self - Got to hook Kelli up with a REAL cowboy if she comes out, let her see what a real man looks, smells, and talks like! AND got to put her son and Shane's kids on a horse, or at least let them see what the kids out here do!) Better get ready to get out the inflatable beds and sleeping bags and fold out the couch! LOL

Oldest son's birthday was yesterday, and in the spirit of 08-08-08, he gathered lottery lucky numbers from everyone to play. Ah, I hope the birthday boy had better luck than we normally do!

Mike is mowing the gardens today, before we are supposed to get thunderstorms. He will do the yard tomorrow - again, before we get the storms. Tammy is on and offline, debating how long and when to come out here in November - Thanksgiving or before? - and painting the floors of the old house she is fixing up for us to sell.

Arrrggghhh. I want to get up and DO! Gotta remember to ask Nancy for Lake's tack, especially if she gets a blanket in the winter. Gotta remember to do soooo many things....

I need a list! Oh, well, that's ONE thing I can do while I'm just SITTING here griping.

The Locusts are Singing...

Six more weeks of summer. Six weeks until the first frost or freeze.

Gotta say that it is really great to finally be with people again who know what the weather signs are, and who know what's coming. Nice to sniff the air and say, "Rain Comin" and have people agree instead of look st you funny. Nice to know what a "mackerel sky" is - and to have others around you know, too. Nice to walk with the neighbor lady who doesn't look at you funny when you talk about hardening off of plants before winter, but who offers her own experiences and advice.

The locusts are singing. So much to do. Summers are blessedly short here. Real autumn is coming, when the leaves actually turn color and fall off the trees, when the seed pods that have formed dry up and tumble to the ground, when flowers shut down and start preparing their roots for the bedding time. Tme to finish off summer projects and prepare for fall ones. Gather fresh vegies and dehydrate or can them. Get out and restack all the firewood. Prepare the basement entrance for the cold north wind, get everything picked up and put away so that the cold doesn't crack plastic and freeze water to explode containers. Finish off the room upstairs so it is cozy for holiday visitors. Clean and oil the weapons for the hunting season. Put the cracked corn in a bin so no rats end up living in the garage. Figure out a way to replace those two shingles missing way up high on the back of the house. Caulk and seal everything that can be.

Of course it won't happen suddenly, and it won't hit and stay - yet. There will be tolerably warm days, maybe even Indian summer days. But the fall is coming.
The locusts are singing.