Whatcha doing today?

[Wychwood]

Today I'm having a girl's day out with a friend. We have a visit to the 'Scrap Shack' planned, it's a community based recycling store that has all sorts of things from paint and wallpaper to crafty things, wool and yarn, fabrics and haberdashery items. Everything is silly cheap and it's all been saved from landfill, the problem going there is it's not the sort of place you can just bob in and out of and you definitely need refreshments to keep you going.

In other news, I have no more room for stores, even after the tidy up, the long term storage and the cupboards are full. So I'm taking that as a hint and now going back to rotating and replacing like with like as I use them. 

 

[Jeepers]

I talked to g-son on the phone today. He is putting in a garden this year. 

He's 5 and dad is tilling up a little spot for him. Sigh.  

[Homesteader]

On 5/14/2022 at 11:35 PM, Becca_Anne said:

Today we had a big item checked off our list when DH went to buy a riding lawnmower which will be delivered monday.

 

My rider was making a tapping noise last night so I shut it down and asked DH to check it. Turns out the belt for the mower was slowly chunking. He said to keep mowing until it broke.     Three more passes around the field and I came back in the house with a broken belt.   

 

And, of course its not easy to find one in stock.  What a disastrous economy we have these days.   It will arrive by Friday and I feel very blessed.     DH gets a homemade rhubarb custard pie this weekend and I get to work on filling up the compost bin again. 

[out_of_the_ordinary]

Voted! 

 

Jeepers,  there's a cute Little Golden book about gardening....Two Little Gardeners by Margaret Wise Brown.    

[TheCG]

We have air conditioning again! (I spent the night out in the camper last night)

 

Turns out it was a blown capacitor. Or something like that.

[kappydell]

We are still mourning our beloved truck.  It broke down, would not jump start.  Towed (under warranty) to dealer, new battery put it.  It ran ONE DAY then died again.

Dealer told us it needs a new generator.  Problem is, Dodge is not making them right now.  There are three trucks on lot ahead of us waiting on generators.  "Maybe in six months" tney told us.  We cant afford to make car payments on a vehicle we cant use, so we traded it for a Jeep compass.  The car payments dropped, insurance dropped, it is cheaper to feed. But we mourn our truck.  We loved it.  Oh well.

 

The summer squash are coming on thick now; we pick about a gallon every other day of 6 inchers.  I am dehydrating some, but some of our friends love yellow squash so we are sharing, too.  I can take it or leave it, same as zucchini, but it is a good prolific crop so we put them in.  The potatoes are blooming already, and we have hilled them once already.  The corn is 4 feet high, and the cucumbers and beans are blooming.  We are powdering for hormworms and powdering with DE for vine borers, to maximize the crops as long as the summer heat lets them live.  When it gets really hot, only the tomatoes & peppers in the greenhouse survive, along with the sweet potatoes and okra outside the greenhouses.  We shall see how the herbs hold out.  Hopefully the walking onions I put in will yield nicely, too.  But for now the garden is positively beautiful.  Here's hoping for good yields for preserving, since we do not know what the future will hold food wise.  We have added 2 blueberry bushes to the garden enclosure, and the apple trees bloomed nicely.  They are only 2 years old, so we dont expect much from them yet, but it is good to see them healthy.  The muscadines are still young, as is the elderberry bush I brought from Wis.  The only fruit we will probably get this year will be wild blackberries.  Prices are sure crazy.

 

 

 

[Annarchy]

Tired…. Worked on financial books, P.O.run, market, bank, panicked when I saw his med bill….one day in the hospital…….$122,000!  We have to pay $8,000…..  sigh, sigh, sigh…. Hope they take payments.  

[Jeepers]

Kappy, it's a shame about your truck. I had to wait a month to get one high beam head light for my Jeep. My D-ex said they are on a 6 month waiting list for some computer chips at his office. 

[Jeepers]

Thanks OOTO, I'll check it out.

 

I bought this book about anthills the last time I was at Lehman's. I think he will really like it. They had one about bee hives and one about trees but I didn't like them as much as this one. It's cardboard and each oddly shaped page opens up to reveal something on the next page.  

 

Anthill (Happy Fox Books) One-of-a-Kind Board Book Teaches Kids Ages 2–5 about Ants, Digging More Deeply into an Anthill with Every Turn of the Page; Fun Facts, Vocabulary Words, & More: Petra Bartikova, Magdalena Takacova: 9781641240857: Books:

AmazonSmile  

 

I ordered this one too.

Discovering the Secret World of Nature Underground (Happy Fox Books) Board Book Takes Kids Ages 2-5 Deep into the Ground with Every Turn of the Page, plus Fun Facts and Vocabulary Words (Peek Inside): Petra Bartikova: 9781641241182: AmazonSmile: Books

 

And I broke down and ordered the bee hive one too.    They can go in 'our' nature library.

Beehive (Happy Fox Books) One-of-a-Kind Board Book Teaches Kids Ages 2 to 5 about Bees, Flying into a Hive with Every Turn of the Page, plus Educational Facts, Vocabulary Words, and More (Peek Inside): Petra Bartikova, Martin Sojdr: 9781641240864: Books (amazon.com)

 

 

Edited May 18, 2022 by Jeepers
I should have stopped while I was ahead.

[Ambergris]

Yes, my son's car has a headlight bulb taped in place because the correct sized one wasn't in stock.  Not a great solution, but what do you do?

 

 

Edited May 18, 2022 by Ambergris

[Jeepers]

I was just glad it was a bright light and not a regular one. I rarely use brights but would have had an issue if it was the regular headlight. I'm becoming weary with shortages. Especially the thought that things we need could be sitting in one of those cargo containers that are yet to be unloaded. I think I need a vacation. I'm becoming disgruntled.  

[Littlesister]

I have been thinking about when this mess is over with construction and I get the rest of it paid off, I am going to buy a second vehicle. Will keep mine for a backup just in case. Grandson needs a new car but can't afford it right now. So, thinking he should keep his old car for a backup just in case. It will be a while before he can afford one as he doesn't start his job till sometime next week. Had to do a drug test and paperwork this week. His car is bad on gas it is a Toyota Corolla with 265,000 miles on it. Thank the Lord that he has been able to get new brakes and rotors, battery and tires for it. Everything else is doing good. Going to go down and buy some things for my car and will pick up an oil filter or two for his car. He said he will be doing the oil change himself, but DH stopped doing that and we don't have the tools and drip pan for that any longer. So, he will need to buy all that stuff if he wants to change oil his self. I think it is great that he did learn how to do some of the car Maintenace himself. He changed out the brakes and rotors himself as well. 

 

Right now, I am waiting on the counter guy to come. Said it will be between 11 am and 1 pm. So, I have a bit of time to kill for now. Feels good to be able to just sit down and have a cup of coffee in peace. GS is still asleep. He will be working nights, so he is working on his sleep pattern again for night work. This is going to be the part that is hard when it comes to cooking. He will be leaving about 5:30 in the afternoon to go to work, so it will be an early dinner for him. And he should be getting home somewhere between 6 am and 7 am. That won't be too bad for breakfast. That part I can handle easy. But I don't usually start dinner till around 5 pm, so I am thinking make ahead dinners and the slow cooker and crock pot that has several different settings. That one I can use like a stove top, oven and a crock pot. I love the different settings on it. Even has a keep warm setting on it. So that will more than likely get used the most. Then he can eat when he is ready and head out to work. He won't have to worry about lunch there as they feed them a free meal. It is a food production warehouse, and the funny part is that it is his father's competition. His dad is also in the food production business, though dad is manager for his company. If GS likes this work, he to can work up the latter. He loved the one he worked at before his parents moved to another state, so he should love this job as well. He will make twice what his old job was here. So starting off with great pay and medical on first day. 

[Jeepers]

I bought simple things to keep the Jeep in shape a few months ago too. I don't remember what all I bought right off the top of my head but I know I bought motor oil for a change and a wrench for it and a drip pan. Plus 2 quarts extra to keep in the Jeep incase it runs low while I'm out and about. That happened to me one time while I was in PA and I had to drive around and find a store to add more oil before I messed up the engine. Lesson learned. I got a set of fuses and air filters too. Also a serpentine belt and 4 brake pads. And three new wiper blades. The one on the rear window can be hard to find in the best if times. I always have a couple of cans of Fix-A-Flat in there. I'm sure there were some more things that I can't think of. What son or I can't fix, I can pay or barter someone else to do it. At least I have basic parts for it.

 

[TheCG]

Monday: Worked late, slept in the camper since the AC was out in the house.

Tuesday: Woke up in the camper feeling fine, made coffee in the house, drank it on the front porch while waiting on the AC guy, AC got fixed, left for work.  Came home late from work again, went in the nice cool house.  An hour later, my sinuses are pissed off, my nose is running like a faucet, and I have a headache.

 

Methinks there might be something in our house that doesn't like me.  Probably dust.  Lots and lots of dust.  We really need to get better at housekeeping.

Edited May 18, 2022 by TheCG

[Homesteader]

40 minutes ago, TheCG said:

Woke up in the camper feeling fine, made coffee in the house, drank it on the front porch while waiting on the AC guy, AC got fixed, left for work.

 

I heard from two HVAC guys that Freon for AC units has gone from  $125/25 lbs to $550/25 lbs. When EPA decided that Freon was destroying the ozone layer 30 years ago, they put tremendous regulations on the mfg of it. Guess what? It's now manufactured in CHINA. The replacement gas that can be mfg here in the USA has now been deemed more toxic than Freon to our ozone.  Compressors and other AC parts are generally made in CHINA also. I'm thankful you were able to get your AC unit fixed. The future looks very bleak for HVAC servicemen.  

[snapshotmiki]

Just stopping to check in. Staying so busy with garden, canning and dehydrating that I don't know which end is up! And getting ready for daughter and her son coming next Wednesday and, and, and.

 

Still walking almost every day and getting lots of steps and miles!

I will try to catch up reading when I can. Am supposed to have a cake in the oven for tomorrow's senior club and I don't yet!

[Jeepers]

I've been knee deep in dehydrated food today. I hope I never have to eat it. I'm already sick of it. I have about 20 half gallon jars labeled and sealed up. I vacuum sealed them with a 300cc oxygen absorber inside. If one don't hold the other will. I hope. I really don't think the O.A. will do much because most of the food is so dense. I lost my carrots and can't find any of the frozen crinkle cuts now. I can't believe how heavy those filled jars are. I took some pictures but I don't think they turned out. I think it's too dark in here but will try again tomorrow.

 

I ended up with 24 bags of corn meal 3 cups each.  And 21 bags of parboiled rice 3 cups each. And 18 bags of white rice 4 cups each. Which brings me to bag size. There are at least two different quart size bags. One is 8x10 which holds 3 cups comfortably with enough room to lie mostly flat with room to seal. The other quart bag is 8x11 and holds 4 cups comfortably. I ran out of the 8x11 and the 8x10 are too short to do what I want to do. It's those #$^% noodles. I can fit one of the bags into the bigger Food Saver bags but not the smaller ones. So I'm back on hold with them until more bags arrive. But I do have about half of them done so I'm happy about that. I don't plan to use them for extra long storage. I want them mostly for freezer meals. Beef and noodles and chicken noodles. Tuna noodle casserole. Chicken noodle with dressing. Chicken noodles with mashed potatoes. Beef and noodles with mashed potatoes. I'm channeling Bubba Gump. 

 

 

 

 

[Becca_Anne]

Good point to stock up on spare parts. I have to find the manual online they didn't give us one when they delivered it. Has a warranty though and they do full service so that's good.

 

I am thrilled to report that the plumbers finally showed up today and installed a new vanity/sink/faucet for the bathroom that had no working sink (old faucet leaked all over the floor even when off and we couldn't fix the old sink to accept a new faucet). I have no idea how it passed inspection. So one down two more to go! They are coming back tomorrow so I am hopeful all of them will be installed then. It is hard to believe it took us several months to get a plumber for this job. 

 

DH bought more puppy food so we have 2 bags worth now. Should be about a 4 month supply and I don't have any more buckets right now so that will be enough for now.

 

Other than that it was a normal workday for me and I got a lot done

[euphrasyne]

Have you considered taking the noodles out of the original packaging and breaking them in half or such to make them fit into the food saver bags?

 

I learned my lesson back in Y2K.  We do not stock anything we do not eat regularly.  Either we eat it once a week/month or we do not stock it.  ATM beans are my downfall.  I have so many BEANS.   We need to work them in more.   Especially chickpeas.  

[Jeepers]

I thought of that but wanted to keep them in the cello wrapper for extra protection from the sharp edges of the noodles. They tend to tear the vacuum bags. I am finally finished. 

 

I was having such problems with the last batch because they are 16 ounces instead of 12 ounces like the other ones. I got them down in the bags but had to cut the top off of the cello bag to get them to seal. You should have heard the popping and cracking they made. I had to stop the vacuum early on all of them to get it to stop. If I see another noodle it will be too soon. 

 

I'll post pictures in the preserving the harvest forum.

[Annarchy]

I’m exhausted, waiting for the tomatoes to ripen, zucchini to grow big enough to harvest & watering the yard daily…. Transplanted the peppermint to a pot & brought it inside.  Too hot…

 

[Littlesister]

Thought I would get some canning done over the past 3 days but here comes the counter guy, then the floor guys. So, no go on that yet. Painters of all days is coming tomorrow to paint main bathroom and do the touch up paint in other rooms. Don't know if anyone is coming Monday yet or not. Waiting on countertop for main bathroom and sink. Still electrical to do and get the fans put in. They still haven't started the fireplace yet. I am so over this mess. Been trying to clean up as much dust as I can. Changed air condition filter and then started dusting off the tops of the doorways. Dusting a lot these days but it is useless till they are done and out of here.  

Grandson has orientation for his job Monday at 10 am. So, will be gone at least 4 or 5 hours. That will give me some free time to get a few things out of his way in living room where he is having to sleep on couch till they are done, and I can get him a bedroom fixed up. I will be nice for him to have his own bedroom. It will get there but it is just taking so long to finish this work up. 

Jeepers, I am making a list of things I need for the car. I have extra oil filters and oil, but need to get a lot of other things as well.  Thanks for the reminder. 

The floor guys took the sliding doors off the hall closet and put them up against closet in my bedroom. Those doors are heavy and now I have to move them somewhere else. I did go and buy new sliding wheels for them as the old ones are over 55 years old and wearing out. Will let them put those on when they hand the doors back up. They still haven't put the shoe molding in and I can't get things back in closets till that is done. Things like this is holding me up from getting house back together. Still trying to get things put away in kitchen. Had the ant problem this year. Thought it was the usual place at patio door but nope it was where the backsplash joins with the wallboard between kitchen and den wall. Took care of that issue. Love that Terro. Works great and in 24 hours they are out of here. At least I found the new place they got in at. Just follow the trail. 

Going to set the dehydrator in kitchen for the time being as I can't get the garage set up yet for what I want to do. Just won't be dehydrating onions. Been there, done that before.  Going to teach GS how to make jerky. He will love making that and dehydrating it. Been a long while since I made any. 

 

On the spaghetti noodles. I buy the ones that are already cut in half and before I put them in the vacuum bags, I take a small piece of the scrape bags from the rolls and fold it up to put in bottom of the bag and then lay the end of the noodles on that. I also take another small piece and place it on top of the noodles and then seal the bag. It has worked for me so far. And I have a lot of stuff I need to get bagged up for long term and can't get to anything. 

 

[euphrasyne]

Neighborhood garage sale today.   Didn't do great on the small things, but I did sell my old van.  yea!   DD18 graduated yesterday and DD14 has her first dance tonight.  I'm tired to the point of non-function.   We are planning on a whole bunch of nothing tomorrow. 

[Jeepers]

Glad you got your van sold. That must be a load off of your mind. That's sweet about the girls. Growing up too fast though.    

 

 

It was strange over at Meijers tonight. I really don't go that often...well, yeah I suppose I do but they are only a couple of blocks away and I'm hooked on their fresh fruit.   Anyway as I walked in the greeter got kind of close to me and sort of whispered that they could only take cash or checks because their system was down. I was only getting a couple of things so I was okay but quite a few people had to walk out. The strange thing was, I've been going there regularly for over 2 years since they opened, and tonight was the first time I was ever asked to show my receipt.  Another worker was walking around him saying, "This has got to slow down. I can't tell who is coming in here and who is going out!" The store was not crowded at all. In fact there was hardly anyone in there. I was the only one exiting at the time and no one was coming in. I don't think they could have been any slower.

 

Come to think of it, about a month ago they were cash only. I remember because a man behind me was mad because he had waited in line and they didn't tell us until we got to the self check outs. No cashiers on duty again. But I put my card in anyway and it worked. Their self checkouts are different from Wal-Marts. Here we have to line up in an aisle and wait for an available register to open up. Kinda like cattle going through the gate. 

 

It just had an odd vibe to it. Maybe they are being hacked?  

[dogmom4]

On a couple FB groups I’m on people were saying a number of stores in a bunch of different states were cash only today...I haven’t seen anything on the news about it though.