Dinner is Served

Hubby has the day off work.

So here is his dinner -

steak seasoned with freshly ground black pepper and kosher salt,

potatoes sauteed in canola oil and seasoned with season salt, tandoori seasoning, and a few sprinkles of malt vinegar,

and last but not least

fresh snow peas and sugar snap peas from the garden.

Enjoy!

Lots of Laundry

Brought more clothes home from mom's place the other day.  Have to go unload the washing machine and fill the clotheslines with one last load.  In the morning I have to take down the clotheslines for a while.  Hopefully the clothes will be dry by the time the neighbor wants to start cutting more branches out of a junk tree that has grown too large and become entirely untrustworthy.  It dropped a medium sized branch in their driveway the other night after a very light rainstorm, barely missing one of their cars.  The four neighbors, hubby, and I managed to remove the two branches that were hanging over our garage the other day with no damage to the roof.  The neighbor tied a rope into the branches, and he notched the tree while the five of us played tug of war with the branches to make sure that the branches would swing and fall clear of the garage once each branch was cut through from above.


On the plus side, there should be plenty of sticks available to use for making tomato cages.  It looks like the sticks that I saved from pruning the apple trees will not be quite enough.

Memorial Day

It is time to take a day for remembering those who sacrificed their lives so that we can live in freedom.  We do not express our gratitude often enough for the freedoms that we have as citizens and not subjects.  With the recent wars, good men and women have sacrificed their lives for the freedom to choose whom we will worship or not worship and for the premise that all men (and women) "are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness...."


So while you are sitting back perhaps eating a freshly grilled bratwurst and washing it down with a cold beer, remember those who have died to keep even some of your more simple freedoms, eating pork and drinking alcohol.  Because if Osama Bin Laden and other terrorists had had their way, today might have been very different.  Have a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day.  And if you choose to have a beer, raise a toast to those who have fallen keeping that freedom for you.

Rhubarb Juice

Sometimes the rhubarb just get growing a bit too quickly for the usual recipes to keep up, especially when it is growing at mom's place and Aunt Mouse's house too.  Then it is time to make some rhubarb juice.  Scrub your hands really well, including under your fingernails.  Wash the rhubarb stalks and cut them in approximately one inch pieces; (for you international folks that is approximately 2.54 cm.) Put the rhubarb pieces in a very strong blender, filling it almost to the top.  Pour in water so that the level is 1/2 as high as the rhubarb level.  Blend on low, then medium, then high.  Blend until the crunching sounds cease.  Pour pulp and water mixture into a colander (plastic or stainless steel only) over a tall non-metallic container.  Repeat with another blender full.  Then squeeze the juice out of the pulp with your hands, until the pulp becomes a fairly dry wad.  Discard the wad of pulp.

It does not look very appealing at this stage.  When the container is getting full or you have run out of rhubarb slices, pour the juice into another container through a stainless steel fine mesh strainer.  Leave as much of the foam behind as possible.  Put the rhubarb juice in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours to allow any remaining fiber bits to settle to the bottom.  Once settled, pour the juice into another container, leaving the green sludge behind.  You should have a clear pink liquid that somewhat resembles pink lemonade.  Dilute and sweeten to taste if using it as a beverage.  It is quite tasty mixed with sierra mist, no additional sugar necessary.

Other uses for rhubarb juice include the following:


A substitute for lemon juice in most recipes
   (Maybe a rhubarb meringue pie or rhubarb bars
   will be in the future.)


A substitute for vinegar to dissolve hard water deposits


A cleanser to remove soap scum (If using in a plastic shower stall, check to make sure the plastic is safe for use with acidic cleansers first.)


Combine with a bit of elbow grease and skotch-brite to clean tarnish and spots from stainless steel.


The green sludge could be used as a soil acidifier for acid loving plants like tomatoes if you have really alkaline soil.


Enjoy!

Some Assembly Required

The closet structure has arrived at Wally-World.  Time for some more de-cluttering at mom's house.  It's official, one of my old pj's - the ones with feet in them turned up the other day.  Also found a dress that mom made for me when I was 12 or so.  She was quite the seamstress before her vision went, but alas, the dress is not really in style anymore.  Maybe some friends or relatives will want it for a princess dress-up dress for their daughters.

 When will my own house get vacuumed and cleaned -

who knows?

Well, to sustain you until tomorrow, here is

Homemade Pizza

This one had a potato-bread crust, tomato sauce, oregano, ham, asparagus, artichoke hearts (from a jar), olives, and swiss chard.  Funny how swiss chard can make your teeth feel funny isn't it?

Tomorrow, the how-to make rhubarb juice and its many uses.

Garden "Dug"

Is Planted!

Woo-hoo...(ouch)

 Left to right, kohlrabi (serious transplant shock), tomatoes, two rows of sweet corn, tomatoes,

and one row with 1/3 beets, 1/3 carrots, & 1/3 parsnips.

On the far end is a hill of heirloom squash.

On the near end is zucchini squash.

The hilly parts have a scattering of marigold seeds.

Yes, I know if everything comes up,

the plants will be packed in there very densely. 

Hopefully the kohlrabi will be done

by the time the squash start wandering.

(The downspout extension was sloped properly after the picture was taken.  Why haul water when gravity can do the work?)

 One row of a multicolor decorative corn;

hopefully it can be dried and used as popcorn.

The cabbage is also experiencing serious transplant shock.

 Chinese chrysanthemums surrounding some of the roma tomatoes that were started in the mini-greenhouse.  The chrysanthemums got a jump start on growing this year because the plants that were there last year went to seed and were knocked down to the ground and randomly seeded themselves.  The greens will be tasty in stir-fry dishes, and the blossoms make lovely tea.  Sage is blooming in the background.

 Aside from the few tomatoes and jalapeno peppers planted in this spot, everything was seeds,

so here is a picture of mostly plain dirt containing seeds for

marigolds, beans, carrots, lettuce, radishes, basil, and spinach.

Some of those wandering onions are at the back,

and dill is volunteering at the upper right corner.

Beyond that is a hill of pole beans, and another small patch of little pie pumpkins.

 The Musquee de Provence pumpkin transplants are struggling along.  Planted some fresh seeds behind them, and they are starting to sprout.  The new seeds will probably grow faster and eventually choke out the transplants, because the transplants had wasted so much of their seed energy reserves re-growing leaves after the inside of the greenhouse got a bit too cold.

 Sunsugar (little orange cherry tomatoes) are in the middle, 

and yellow pear cherry tomatoes are on both sides.

Those are planted next to the garage,

because they tend to get quite tall;

it is much easier to trellis them there.

More pumpkins-

this time they are a small, heirloom blue-green variety.

There is another small planting bed behind this.

It has a row of sugar snap peas and snow peas next to the trellis,

then a row of pole beans, which will hopefully take over after the peas have done their thing, then a row of asparagus seedlings which are just starting to sprout.  I planted an entire row of asparagus seeds last year as well, but only four plants survived the winter to be transplanted into the asparagus patch.

Gee, now I get to do this all over again planting mom's garden.

Her garden will hopefully be a bit lower maintenance this year with lots of root crops and fewer tomatoes.  There are only 24 hours in a day, and a lot of work needs to be done inside her house this year.  And then there is my house...

"Aw Shucks" Says Hubby

"I was going to repaint the grill today, but it is a bit too windy to be doing any spray painting."


Guess you'll just have to relax, rest, and enjoy your day off work dear, if there is absolutely nothing else that you can find to do around this old house.  Better keep your eyes closed.


On the subject of windy weather, my dad has decided to get rid of his boat because every time he takes it out, the windy weather either tries to push him across the lake or into shore.  Pulling weeds off the anchor every time a new fishing spot is chosen has also worn a bit thin.  He asked us if we want the boat, but with registration costs, mixing fuel for a two cycle engine, boat launch fees, (insurance?), and storage fees, the thing would probably cost us at least $500/year.  Decisions, decisions.... it does have a trailer.  But where would we stick the boat when we were using the trailer for other things?

Welcome!

Welcome Carol and Red Woman as new followers of this blog.  Also welcome to a fella who has a bicycle shop in London.  He is technically not a follower, but a commenter nonetheless.  I have been pretty busy digging in the garden (with the manual tiller, also called a shovel), so I am not sure exactly when Carol joined.  Hope you all will find the blog interesting, helpful, and that my blunt sense of humor does not offend too much.  (It will probably become more blunt, the more time I spend cleaning out old stuff at mom's place, so many apologies in advance.)


Speaking of the garden, I am thinking of naming it Dug.  That is probably preferable to naming it after a garden implement used for chopping weeds, namely a hoe.  Yes, I am sick of digging.

Coming up Roses and Other Flowers

(Guess nobody was interested in rhubarb rice pudding.)

It isn't even the end of May yet,

and the usual June flowers are blooming!

(The yellow spot on the rose bush is probably where somebody's doggy aimed a bit high.)

The rose bush is right on the corner

and frequently becomes the depository for pee mail.

Every dog in the neighborhood stops and either leaves a message

and/or checks messages at that bush.

At least the mini-greenhouse section of the garden is growing.

I am still working on getting the rest of the garden planted.

At least those obnoxious city street lights

are useful for something, post-sunset planting.

How about some Swiss Chard?

The Kohlrabis in the back need to be transplanted.

They grew a bit too well.

So did the cabbage on the backside of the peas.

 The sugar snap peas are finally blooming, and leaning.

Had to pound in some stakes yesterday and tie them up.

They have never grown this tall for me before this year.

Saw some bees flying around the other day.

Thankfully both beans and peas are self pollinating,

so if bees don't visit, there will still be peas.

Rhubarb is Back

In honor of the occasion,

here's yet another rhubarb recipe.

Rhubarb Rice Pudding

Ingredients:

5 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 cup sugar (Less if you like it sour, or use a natural sugar substitute like stevia if simple carbs are a big concern.)

pinch of salt

1 1/2 cups skim milk

2 cups cooked medium grain brown rice

4 shakes cinnamon for custard, plus more for dusting the top

4 cups rhubarb, cut in 1/4"-1/2" slices

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 deg. F.  Oil a 9"x13" pyrex baking dish.  Don't use a metal baking dish!  Whisk eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla, and milk.  Then add the rice.  Mix well, busting up any clumps of rice that are stubbornly holding together.  Spread Rhubarb evenly in baking dish and pour mixture over it.  Stir it together if necessary to get an even distribution of rice an rhubarb.  Bake for 50 minutes, and check for doneness by inserting a butter knife in the middle.  If it does not come out clean, give it another ten minutes.  Serve hot or cold.  The rhubarb helps keep the rice pudding from getting too dry.

Can Hardly Tell That

these trees were pruned this winter.

In spite of the freezing cold spring temperatures

after the warm spell in March,

there might be a few apples in the works.

Hopefully, the wind lets up enough

so that it will be possible to spray them.

Feeling Guilty

The weather has been grand since returning from North Carolina, but I still haven't managed to get the rest of my garden here planted.  Been too busy doing other stuff, my bad.  Grandpa K. had a rule that gardens should not be planted before Memorial day, but the unseasonably warm spring has the maple tree helicopters falling a full 2 weeks ahead of schedule.  The strawberries are already blossoming, and the asparagus is trying harder and harder to bolt.  I planted the beans earlier than I should have last year.  While others had poor yields, the beans in my garden produced very well.  Hope I haven't missed the window of opportunity already.

The laundry from mom's dresser and the spare room closet is about 2/3 done.  The next work visit to mom's place will probably result in another collection of dusty clothes to wash and sort.  Guess that is what happens when folks can't bring themselves to get rid of any clothes that they have bought - ever.  Hope I don't start finding my old baby clothes.  For now the bedroom closet downstairs here is accumulating clean clothes that will be returned to them once the time is right.  Ordered a closet structure from Wally-world that should work in mom's spare bedroom closet without having to find studs in the wall.  It should arrive in a week or so.  The last clothes bar and shelf in the spare bedroom closet at mom's place collapsed under the weight of all the clothes, mostly because mom did not manage to find studs when hanging the brackets.  She did her best. It held while it was my room; guess that counts for something.

The "keepsakes" brought back from NC have also added more work to our schedule, but that at least was somewhat planned and anticipated.  Ma-in-law gave me their good stoneware, which is dishwasher, microwave, & oven safe.  The stoneware will work well for everyday dishes.  That started a cascade which caused a spring cleaning of the dishes cupboard in the kitchen.  The pastels will be retired.  Only 2 of the six plates are without chips, and it is getting more expensive to replace them when they break.  I will probably sell the pastels, once a collector that will give a halfway decent price for the undamaged ones is found.  If future posts of meals look like the portion sizes for hubby are smaller, they won't be.  The new plates are way bigger than the pastels which were made during the 1930's.  It is no wonder why people are getting fatter.  Those new plates should come with a warning label in the glaze on the front, "Warning to people with normal or slow metabolisms, filling this plate with food and eating it all on a regular basis will make you fat."

Have to take some more pictures.  Things are growing like mad here; at least the ones that were already planted.  And some of the keepsakes we brought back are really quite unique.  Unusual things reminded hubby of his dad, who was a truly unique individual.

Chivalry is

not only cleaning the fish you catch,

but cleaning the fish your sweetie catches too.

At the rate we caught fish on the weekend,
hubby might qualify for knighthood.

An Unusual Mother's Day

But then, "normal" is just a setting on the dryer,

with no connection to reality anyhow.

This morning was child crowd control in the four year olds Sunday school class.  Had to switch with someone for last week when I was gone.  Not sure what some of those children had for breakfast, but it would be interesting if it could be bottled.  They were wired.  At least their moms had a little break to attend church and perhaps have some adult conversations with friends.


Mom and step-father overslept this morning, so I did not see them in church.  Mom is having a lot of trouble getting around.  I feel a bit stuck between honoring her wishes and wanting to improve her quality of life by forcing her to make drastic changes.  In the end, it is still her choice and she will not change unless she wants to do so.


This year's mother's day present was in the form of labor.  I spent yesterday cleaning old clothes out of mom's dresser so that she can fit newer clothes in it.  Found all sorts of interesting things.  "Hey mom, I found your old red, white, & blue bikini top."  I thought nothing of it at the time, but I bet the wives in the neighboring houses did not really appreciate her mowing the lawn wearing a patriotic bikini top and shorts, but the husbands probably did when her measurements were still approximately 35-25-36.  Should be interesting when all the old nighties get washed.  Not sure if it would be such a good idea to hang them out on the clothesline.  They might attract too much attention, but they are too delicate to put in the dryer.  Spent this evening cleaning out another bedroom closet.  The next few days will be filled with sorting and washing clothes.  All four clotheslines and the two drying racks will be full.  There is no way I am drying all those clothes in the dryer!  Most of the clothes once they are clean will go to the thrift store where the kids will probably say "cool, real retro clothes".

Last Week's Adventures

Pa-in-law finally lost his battle with bone cancer and died last week Tuesday.  It would have been nice to be there at the end, but since he wasn't really conscious, our presence would only have served to comfort ma-in-law.  Hubby was a bit stuck between a rock and a hard place, because the family medical leave laws only provide leave if it is necessary to provide care for a relative.  When that relative is in an assisted living facility with the addition of hospice workers, he is already receiving care, and hence the family medical leave option no longer applies.  Hubby could have taken an unpaid leave of absence, but we just don't trust the company he works for quite that much.  If the absence had been of any significant length, there might not have been a job there when he returned.

  We headed south in the wee hours of Thursday morning.  We stopped at Cumberland Falls State Park in Kentucky, but since Chloe is not a registered assistance dog, she was not welcome at the lodge.  So we camped.  The "driveway" in the campsite was only accessible by 4WD; the Element did quite well.  The tent was not large enough for two people and a dog, so hubby had the tent with the dog.  I had the Element.  The seats that fold down into a pseudo bed in the Element are reasonably comfortable, but the windows don't have screens, and it can be quite noisy when it rains.  It rained about 6 a.m.  Hubby ate a hobbit style first breakfast of a large ham sandwich, yogurt, and jello.  Once it stopped raining, we packed up, showered, and checked out.  Then hubby said he was hungry again - facepalm.  The lodge has a very reasonable all you can eat breakfast buffet, but alas no dogs allowed.  They kindly allowed me to fill some takeout containers, and we ate breakfast in the parking lot with Chloe begging.  We arrived in North Carolina on Friday evening.  Much to Chloe's chagrin, the neighbor's cat had procreated.  Chloe stayed locked in the house or kept on a tight leash for the duration of the trip.  There was also a serious tick problem this spring, and even with Frontline and a flea/tick collar, hubby still found a couple ticks on Chloe.  The most exciting day for Chloe was when we left.  She managed to open the screen door, escape, and was trying to "fetch" mama-cat when hubby caught her.

Ranger

Hero

Twin Kitten 1, Twin Kitten 2

or was that Twin Kitten 2 & Twin Kitten 1

 The neighbor is looking for homes for the kittens once they are weaned.  So far they are not litter trained.  They are so cute, but remember kittens do grow up to become cats.

We were quite busy on the weekend doing chores around the house and sorting through things deciding what to keep and what to give away.  Although the camera was packed for the trip, I honestly did not remember take many pictures.

On Sunday afternoon we took a short break and met with Keads of

http://keads-anotherday.blogspot.com/

He was a very gracious host and invited us to visit his home range.

Hubby enjoyed his first visit to an indoor range immensely.

He only wishes his aim had been better.  I wimped out on using the range, because my wrist was bothering me and did not want to add the shock of recoil to the damage already done by two days of gripping a steering wheel followed by pruning bushes at the in-law's house. 

The funeral was on Monday.  The pastor did an exceptional job conducting the service.  The air-force honor guard left no dry eye in the house as they entered, unfolded the flag, refolded it, played taps and presented it to ma-in-law.  Yes, they even have a flag presentation protocol for cremated servicemen.

We left for home on Tuesday morning.  The camping gear was loaded into a new cartop carrier on the roof, and various keepsakes were stuffed into every available space inside the vehicle.  Note: keepsakes and cartop carriers knock about 3-5 mpg off mileage.  With storm clouds threatening, we decided to stay at a "pet friendly hotel"  The room was cheap, very run-down, with dirty carpet, but the bed was comfortable and thankfully the management had not tried to disguise things by coating every textile in the room with febreeze.  I wish hotels would just make pet rooms with tile floors, or even epoxy coated concrete would be so much better than dirty pee-stained carpeting.

The second day, we made a slight detour into Broad Ripple on the North side of Indianapolis.  We wanted to be able to eat a real meal together, at a table, with Chloe in her usual place at our feet (begging).  On our last trip Brigid had suggested a few pet friendly restaurants, so we gave the GPS borrowed from my dad a workout and managed to find Brugge Brasserie which allows dogs in their outdoor seating area.  The food was quite tasty, although rather high calorie.  Hubby had the fish soup, even though the cream and mussels were a bit of a stretch on his heart-healthy diet.  I had a sandwich with sausage in it and Chloe helped some with the giant pile of fries that came with it.  Broad Ripple is definitely a bit weird.

After lunch, we headed home.  Traffic went fairly well until we hit the 90/94 in Chicago-land.  At least Chicago drivers know how to drive in traffic jams; they have perfected the slow creep.  On the way down to NC, we hit a traffic jam on the 485 in Charlotte.  There they seem to have the habit of flooring it then slamming on the brakes.  Maybe it is because they don't get snow and ice as much as Chicago, go figure.


As hubby said, that is the end of the adventure.  Now he could use a real vacation.

There's No Place Like Home

We're back from the trip to NC for pa-in-law's funeral.  There are a lot of things to blog, but there is still some unpacking to do.  The unpacking mostly involves finding homes for the "keepsakes" we brought back home.  Hubby is sharpening some of them at the moment.  Then of course there is the catching up on chores, checking on my mom, planting the garden, checking Chloe for ticks and giving her a bath...

Oh NO, not a bath!

Hope you all have been well while I was away - looking forward to catching up on reading your blogs.

Random Pictures

Here are some random pictures for you while I am away from the blog for a while with family matters.

Farewell Pa-in-law