.
I just made a batch. I'd made this recipe last year. I considered it a failed recipe, as it did not set well, but it was soooooo unbeleeeeeeeeeevably delicious that I couldn't wait to make it again. Our annual candied apple party should be happening again soon, so I probably need to made a firmer batch. Until then, this will do nicely.
It's been raining ever since yesterday when we were drenched putting up the two rows of chest high 2x4 purlins on the greenhouse yesterday. We came in absolutely soaked to the skin and rivulets running, but I kept smiling as I looked out the window at the finished frame. I love progress.
Today I've satisfied myself with a more domestic agenda. Namely attacking all these stacks of paperwork on the desk and floor. Mostly this is a variety of things I begin to do and don't finish. My mind works a mile a minute with gobs of ideas. These are the ones that hit me anywhere from 2 am to 6 am, when I can't sleep. I can't resist beginning to flesh them out, then I lay them aside to get busy on what cannot wait to be done around here. Also mixed in are research piles of information on various farm projects, like what blueberries to plant. I've got a stack of blueberry, ribe, and bramble information. Lots of schoolwork folders and papers, records and such.
And the receipts. The ones I never take the time to file away, but just pull out of my purse and drop in one place. Months on end until I can't stand the stack any longer and I'm stuck in the house that day.
So I own my desktop again. I am - Master of the Veneered Particle Board Expanse once again. There is a perfect spot for a cup of tea, just to the left of this screen.
Michael has been doing schoolwork, cleaning his room, and messing with all his airsoft and paintball gear, so he's happy as a clam, with a gun. Hmmmmm....
Working on those idioms...
~Faith
.
Showing posts with label Paintball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Paintball. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
The Great Greenhouse Grip of Gr
.
Just can't find a way to complete that title. So like so many things, it remains unfinished, yet hopeful for the future.
Saturday, Michael had great fun at the paintball games. He came home unhurt but for a direct hit on a knuckle which remains awfully stiff, and remarkably devoid of paint on his camouflage outerwear. With 8 kills notched on his stock, he was sadly killed 9 times. Die Another Day, James Bond.
However, he did bring home some germs and we both have been dealing with headaches, eye aches, body aches and sore throats ever since.
While he was gone I managed to get the center purlin pipe up by myself. All the old bolts that came with the unit many years ago were cheap ones and had rusted in completely locked positions. Most of them had to be cut off.
We don't have a bolt cutter, or a vice to hold clamps while we hacksaw them off. So I borrowed a hand-held band saw from my dad and reluctantly and extremely c.a.r.e.f.u.l.l.y held the purlin pipe clamps with their rusted bolts up to the inverted band saw. I still am a little more wary around a saw blade than I was before I ran my fingers through a skill saw a couple of years ago. But all went well, and after several hours, I got all the bolts off.
The replacements were galvanized for long wear out of doors. I had purchased all our bolts when we dismantled the greenhouse originally. It's a good thing, because those alone were about 75 dollars. Ignore the sound of a body thudding backwards in a faint.
So picture me, balancing on a rickety step ladder on a rough field, trying to hold up 45 foot of pipe and fasten it over my head.
Pretty funny, eh?
The day was beautiful and I enjoyed getting this project even further along. It's been a long wait.
So after a Sunday of office cleaning, we came home and just crashed on the couch, hoping for a movie. I don't recommend the comic book action movie "Constantine". Hallmark seems to be running endless repeats of holiday movies. Why do so many holiday movies involve the death of mom and loss of a house? I am in serious need of chocolate after watching these things.
Today we are back at schoolwork and putting two more rows of purlins along the sides. I was going to buy treated 2x2s for this, but they were 3 dollars each. 2x4s were only 2 dollars. Don't tell me it costs 2 dollars to run a board through a saw blade. We'll have great places to hang tools inside the greenhouse with these.
Wish so much I had photos to share with you for future project ideas, but I'll try to document when it's all done. A dear blogging friend has sent me money towards fixing my camera. What a blessing. As soon as I've got a little more, I'm going to send it off and have my DSLR back and running again. WOOT!
Off to the purly greens...
~Faith
.
Just can't find a way to complete that title. So like so many things, it remains unfinished, yet hopeful for the future.
Saturday, Michael had great fun at the paintball games. He came home unhurt but for a direct hit on a knuckle which remains awfully stiff, and remarkably devoid of paint on his camouflage outerwear. With 8 kills notched on his stock, he was sadly killed 9 times. Die Another Day, James Bond.
However, he did bring home some germs and we both have been dealing with headaches, eye aches, body aches and sore throats ever since.
While he was gone I managed to get the center purlin pipe up by myself. All the old bolts that came with the unit many years ago were cheap ones and had rusted in completely locked positions. Most of them had to be cut off.
We don't have a bolt cutter, or a vice to hold clamps while we hacksaw them off. So I borrowed a hand-held band saw from my dad and reluctantly and extremely c.a.r.e.f.u.l.l.y held the purlin pipe clamps with their rusted bolts up to the inverted band saw. I still am a little more wary around a saw blade than I was before I ran my fingers through a skill saw a couple of years ago. But all went well, and after several hours, I got all the bolts off.
The replacements were galvanized for long wear out of doors. I had purchased all our bolts when we dismantled the greenhouse originally. It's a good thing, because those alone were about 75 dollars. Ignore the sound of a body thudding backwards in a faint.
So picture me, balancing on a rickety step ladder on a rough field, trying to hold up 45 foot of pipe and fasten it over my head.
Pretty funny, eh?
The day was beautiful and I enjoyed getting this project even further along. It's been a long wait.
So after a Sunday of office cleaning, we came home and just crashed on the couch, hoping for a movie. I don't recommend the comic book action movie "Constantine". Hallmark seems to be running endless repeats of holiday movies. Why do so many holiday movies involve the death of mom and loss of a house? I am in serious need of chocolate after watching these things.
Today we are back at schoolwork and putting two more rows of purlins along the sides. I was going to buy treated 2x2s for this, but they were 3 dollars each. 2x4s were only 2 dollars. Don't tell me it costs 2 dollars to run a board through a saw blade. We'll have great places to hang tools inside the greenhouse with these.
Wish so much I had photos to share with you for future project ideas, but I'll try to document when it's all done. A dear blogging friend has sent me money towards fixing my camera. What a blessing. As soon as I've got a little more, I'm going to send it off and have my DSLR back and running again. WOOT!
Off to the purly greens...
~Faith
.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Greenhouse Days
.
For the last two days we've been beginning to assemble the greenhouse frame. Or maybe it's not a greenhouse. Maybe its a high tunnel. Or maybe it's a giant cold frame. Or...
Whatever.
Out in my pasture is a bunch of semi-circle hoops, now fastened into the ground, with 2 by 10 boards running down the sides, 16' wide, by 45' long, by 8' high in size. We had a little help today, with some dear friends coming by to visit. They brought lunch with them, and were sucked right into working on this beautiful 75 degree and sunny day.
Next up is getting the hoops strengthened by running pipe and extra boards along the top and half way up the sides. We'll have to cut off the extremely rusty bolts that are in all the brackets first. It's an old greenhouse frame. Once that's done, I can focus on building the ends. I feel so incredibly blessed to be doing all this in such amazing weather. But the figs and strawberries remain unmulched, as it seems a bit silly to do when it's so warm.
Michael and I are both pretty tired and sore. We did a lot of sledge hammering, pulling out and resetting of pipe legs, fighting warped boards, digging and such. But the company was as great as the weather and the time flew.
We were not able to complete office cleaning tonight. Just too tired. We'll have to finish over the weekend, along with the other office we do.
Michael is going paintballing with a bunch of his friends and mentors tomorrow. I expect a very colorful experience. I'm not sure what I'm going to be up to.
I'm just really happy to be off my feet right now.
And - we are hungry!
~Faith
.
For the last two days we've been beginning to assemble the greenhouse frame. Or maybe it's not a greenhouse. Maybe its a high tunnel. Or maybe it's a giant cold frame. Or...
Whatever.
Out in my pasture is a bunch of semi-circle hoops, now fastened into the ground, with 2 by 10 boards running down the sides, 16' wide, by 45' long, by 8' high in size. We had a little help today, with some dear friends coming by to visit. They brought lunch with them, and were sucked right into working on this beautiful 75 degree and sunny day.
Next up is getting the hoops strengthened by running pipe and extra boards along the top and half way up the sides. We'll have to cut off the extremely rusty bolts that are in all the brackets first. It's an old greenhouse frame. Once that's done, I can focus on building the ends. I feel so incredibly blessed to be doing all this in such amazing weather. But the figs and strawberries remain unmulched, as it seems a bit silly to do when it's so warm.
Michael and I are both pretty tired and sore. We did a lot of sledge hammering, pulling out and resetting of pipe legs, fighting warped boards, digging and such. But the company was as great as the weather and the time flew.
We were not able to complete office cleaning tonight. Just too tired. We'll have to finish over the weekend, along with the other office we do.
Michael is going paintballing with a bunch of his friends and mentors tomorrow. I expect a very colorful experience. I'm not sure what I'm going to be up to.
I'm just really happy to be off my feet right now.
And - we are hungry!
~Faith
.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Tornado - Yuppers!
.
The week seemed fairly normal.
Michael needed new shoes, so we went shopping for them.
A very dear friend sent me an incredible selection of vanilla beans, which I can't wait to use!
Michael managed to block a toothbrush shot.
He flew at gymnastics.
We had a nice Shabbat, with another trip to the blueberry farm and a visit to my folks, where I got to make my dad some CC cookies.
Sunday, after church, Michael went on a paintball wargame with friends, and I stayed home and sewed.
It was Monday that got a bit unusual.
We did regular morning stuff, had lunch and did school work...
But in the afternoon we got a surprise cloudburst. I'll copy what I wrote in an email to save some time here... (There's a lot of 'and thens' in there.)
I looked outside and it was raining. Michael ran out to make sure the van windows were closed, by the time he got back it was pouring. The lightning was hitting about every 30 seconds and we had several very close strikes. Then the wind got really strong. Then we got hail stones about 3/4 inches across - the biggest I'd ever seen. And then I wondered about tornadoes. We don't get them very often or very strong in this part of the state, though I'd seen one when we first moved here. But I never expected one to hit right here, where it is rolling hills and large patches of woods.
We saw the debris begin to fly over the house down toward the garden. I turned around to look out the family room window and saw the trees being whipped violently. Then a tremendous crash and the whole house shuddered.
I said "Tornado." to Michael, thinking it has slammed up against the side of the house, as I've experienced wind do before. But we saw the tornado progress along the front, then disappear.
The tornado didn't even move a plastic chair on the front deck, but 30 feet away it lifted and overturned a heavy oak table set, with all the chairs fastened securely on the top. It was a good 5 feet away and upside down. So it was a small tornado, but definitely bigger than the one I'd seen previously.
The big thud turned out to be a huge oak tree, about 80 feet high. We later discovered it must have been hit by lightning, but held until the tornado arrived and pushed it right toward Michael's bedroom. Gladly, it did not reach the house with the trunk, but only the lighter top=most branches fell on the house and back porch, wrapping around his room. I don't think the house sustained anything but superficial damage, though I lost several things out on the patio.
I called my dad, the hero, again, who came out as quickly as he could, considering the storm was still very active with heavy rain, wind and lightning. He brought out a small chain saw to cut the branches away from the house and see if there were any damage.
Here's the top of what's left of the trunk. It's about 25 feet high and 25 feet into the woods, down the slope.
The oak truck diameter is about 2 feet across. It was a tall straight one, having grown up in the woods.
Underneath that pile of greenery is an untouched mower! YAY!!!!
Here lies my beautiful stainless steel BBQ kitchenette. May she rest in pieces.
The checker bench I built for my children 20 years ago. I loved that crushed pile of painted pine lumber.
Dad worked for quite a long while. Others came to help and Dad got to take Mom back home.
Then still more arrived and worked into the night.
We had another work crew out here last night. The guys handled it all and I went to where all of us ladies packed some gift bags for needy kids, then went off to office cleaning.
I'm in need of a nap! We've got a bit more to do on the firewood cleanup. We keep having to work around the afternoon and evening thunderstorms. We are so grateful for all the help we've gotten over the past few weeks of mini-disasters!
When it rains, it pours. Wonder where that came from...?
~Faith
.
The week seemed fairly normal.
Michael needed new shoes, so we went shopping for them.
A very dear friend sent me an incredible selection of vanilla beans, which I can't wait to use!
Michael managed to block a toothbrush shot.
He flew at gymnastics.
We had a nice Shabbat, with another trip to the blueberry farm and a visit to my folks, where I got to make my dad some CC cookies.
Sunday, after church, Michael went on a paintball wargame with friends, and I stayed home and sewed.
It was Monday that got a bit unusual.
We did regular morning stuff, had lunch and did school work...
But in the afternoon we got a surprise cloudburst. I'll copy what I wrote in an email to save some time here... (There's a lot of 'and thens' in there.)
I looked outside and it was raining. Michael ran out to make sure the van windows were closed, by the time he got back it was pouring. The lightning was hitting about every 30 seconds and we had several very close strikes. Then the wind got really strong. Then we got hail stones about 3/4 inches across - the biggest I'd ever seen. And then I wondered about tornadoes. We don't get them very often or very strong in this part of the state, though I'd seen one when we first moved here. But I never expected one to hit right here, where it is rolling hills and large patches of woods.
We saw the debris begin to fly over the house down toward the garden. I turned around to look out the family room window and saw the trees being whipped violently. Then a tremendous crash and the whole house shuddered.
I said "Tornado." to Michael, thinking it has slammed up against the side of the house, as I've experienced wind do before. But we saw the tornado progress along the front, then disappear.
The tornado didn't even move a plastic chair on the front deck, but 30 feet away it lifted and overturned a heavy oak table set, with all the chairs fastened securely on the top. It was a good 5 feet away and upside down. So it was a small tornado, but definitely bigger than the one I'd seen previously.
The big thud turned out to be a huge oak tree, about 80 feet high. We later discovered it must have been hit by lightning, but held until the tornado arrived and pushed it right toward Michael's bedroom. Gladly, it did not reach the house with the trunk, but only the lighter top=most branches fell on the house and back porch, wrapping around his room. I don't think the house sustained anything but superficial damage, though I lost several things out on the patio.
I called my dad, the hero, again, who came out as quickly as he could, considering the storm was still very active with heavy rain, wind and lightning. He brought out a small chain saw to cut the branches away from the house and see if there were any damage.
Here's the top of what's left of the trunk. It's about 25 feet high and 25 feet into the woods, down the slope.
The oak truck diameter is about 2 feet across. It was a tall straight one, having grown up in the woods.
Underneath that pile of greenery is an untouched mower! YAY!!!!
Here lies my beautiful stainless steel BBQ kitchenette. May she rest in pieces.
The checker bench I built for my children 20 years ago. I loved that crushed pile of painted pine lumber.
Dad worked for quite a long while. Others came to help and Dad got to take Mom back home.
Then still more arrived and worked into the night.
We had another work crew out here last night. The guys handled it all and I went to where all of us ladies packed some gift bags for needy kids, then went off to office cleaning.
I'm in need of a nap! We've got a bit more to do on the firewood cleanup. We keep having to work around the afternoon and evening thunderstorms. We are so grateful for all the help we've gotten over the past few weeks of mini-disasters!
When it rains, it pours. Wonder where that came from...?
~Faith
.
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