A Dark Fuzzy Form Lurks in The Shadowy

Doorway to the kitchen.

Methinks it is stalking something on the table.

Do you smell peanut butter Chloe?

Would you like a cookie?

Are you salivating - a lot?

It is good there is a throw rug below your chin to catch the drool.

Is That Quacking Sound a Duck Going for a Car Ride?

Nope, it is the neighbor practicing his duck calls while driving out of his driveway and down the street.

Never know what we'll see or hear next in this neighborhood.

In case you hadn't guessed, duck hunting season opens tomorrow.

Another Use for a Power Washer

For those who haven't tuned in before, I have allergies.  So if what you are about to read seems a bit over the top, please consider that when I get around to cleaning, I am thorough because it is unfortunately necessary.  The area rugs in the house have been in need of a serious cleaning for a while.  They are getting a bit worn, but most of the new rugs for sale in local stores are just ugly.  The only one with colors even remotely acceptable had lots of circles.  My first thought on seeing it was that it would make an interesting range target for a shotgun.  A purchase was NOT made.

I refuse to put avocado and gold back into the house when the old stuff from the 70's was finally evicted only a mere 10 years ago.  The carpeting from the upstairs had a particularily dramatic exit as we had cut it into managable sizes, rolled it, and tied it with twine.  Hubby went outside to insure that no one would enter the drop zone on the sidewalk below.  Then the avocado carpet bombing began.  The roll flew out the window and through the air with the greatest of ease and landed with a thump and a giant poof of dust.  No matter how many times carpeting gets vacuumed, it just gets dirtier as the years progress, because the dirt sinks to the bottom when the carpet is agitated.

So with that in mind the area rug cleaning began with sweeping the blacktop driveway to clear a large work zone of stones and other detritus.  The rugs were then laid out on the driveway fuzzy side up and vacuumed with an upright vacuum cleaner.  Then they were flipped over and the back of each rug was agitated with the brushes of the vacuum.  The rugs were pulled back and the dust swept away.  Then the topside of each rug was vacuumed again.  This process was repeated until the dust produced from agitating the rugs while upside down became negligible.

Then the rugs were doused with warm soapy water, and any trouble spots or stains were hand scrubbed with a brush.  The rugs were allowed to sit and soak for a bit while I retrieved the power washer from the basement and made all the necessary connections.  Then the rinse cycle began on medium pressure.  It took a while to rinse out the rugs, but the pressure washer does not use an exorbitant amount of water.  The same principle from chemistry class applies; several small rinses are better than one big one for removing residue.  The process of hanging the wet rugs to dry involves heavy lifting; there is just no avoiding it.  A 2x4 stretched between sawhorses is sufficient to hold the weight of a medium sized area rug.  A 2x2 is strong enough for a smaller rug like the 3'x5' rug shown in front.

It usually takes two days of hanging before the rugs are fully dry.  If expecting rain, re-hang them inside the garage after they have dripped mostly dry.

Any Suggestions

On what to make with all of these?

The jalapeno peppers really liked where they were planted this year.

Carrot Worthy of Bugs Bunny

The two at the bottom of the photo are more typical of what I usually find when I dig up the carrots.

Quotes from Hubby

After returning from the range this afternoon he said,
"Recoil works up an appetite."

My aunt gave me an electronic pressure cooker because she found the high pressure steam to be a bit daunting and scary.  I gave it the test run this evening with a batch of beef stew.  The pressure cooker is sweet; it has a browning setting, non stick coating, and lots of bells and whistles.  It worked like a dream.  Hubby took Chloe outside to do her business.  When he came back in the house, he said, "I like your perfume."  Needless to say, I will only cook things in it that smell good when the fragrance is vaporized.  Cabbage is off the list.

Cat Number Three

was found in the live trap this morning.  It had a pretty jingle bell on its collar but no tag with phone number or address.  We took it to the animal shelter; thankfully it did have a microchip and is waiting there for its owner to come and claim it.  It seemed like a really nice cat; it did not even complain about the car ride.

The New Seal Works

The new seal and over-pressure pop valve arrived for the pressure cooker.  Installation was quite simple.

The pressure cooker is old,

but still a good piece of kitchen machinery.

 The instructions, although no longer "modern", are very well written and in English only.

Some of the recipes are a bit dated, like the one for head cheese.

You won't find me rushing out to get the ingredients

for that one any time soon.

 It had no trouble maintaining 10 pounds of pressure this time.

I had to guess on the processing time and pressure and figured that the one recommended for tomatoes and okra would suffice.

 Hubby was surprised at how quiet it was.

Apparently the one his mom had used different weights to regulate the pressure, and as a result there was a lot of noise from the weight rattling, bouncing, and hissing as pressure was relieved.

It holds seven quarts of marinara sauce at once!

It is good that it works, because it may be needed to can some pumpkin later this year, in much smaller jars of course.

Not Exactly a Bumper Crop

This year's Cortland apples from the tree in the yard
are not mighty in numbers,

but they make up for it with their size.

We took a trip to the orchard across the lake today.

The crop is so limited that there is no pick your own this year.
But they still have plenty of cider.
There is nothing like fresh hot cider on a cold fall evening.

The Bird That Gave Itself

A couple weeks ago when I was out in the garden, a big green bird landed on the neighbor's roof and started poking around the chimney.  After a while it climbed down into the chimney.  The neighbor came home to find an Indian Ringneck Parakeet sitting in his basement staring back at him through a window while he fixed dinner.  Somehow it had managed to get down the chimney in one piece and get out into the basement, probably through the furnace exhaust flapper.  A tattoo artist lady friend managed to calm the bird, and get it into a cage.  So now my neighbor has a new, used pet bird.  He did not adopt it; it adopted him.  The neighbor has tried to find the bird's owner; he has even checked with previous residents of the house with no success.

The neighbor is a disabled veteran trying to find work within his limitations while he heals.  He really wants to get rid of the restrictions so he can get back to a normal life.  At the moment, he has taken up painting as a therapy for his injuries, some physical, others of the PTSD variety.  His close friends have lent a hand by being enthusiastic purchasers of his artwork.  So while trying to provide for himself and his young daughter, another mouth to feed literally drops down the chimney - way before Christmas.  Well, at least his life will not be boring.  But I bet he will ask his landlord to have a screened cap installed on the chimney.  He was lucky this time; next time a squirrel could come down the chimney into the basement.

Interesting Day at the DMV

Had to drive stepfather and mom to the DMV today.  He needed to renew his license and couldn't drive there because he had forgotten to renew it earlier - like before it expired.  After paying the extra fine, his renewal went through.  Although the clerks were a bit lazy.  Being an honest man, he changed his hair color on the application form to gray, but the receipt printout they gave him still listed his hair color as brown.

  Mom wanted to renew her expired license as well.  So I humored her, and she went along.  Kindly and wisely, the clerk at the desk informed her that because she uses a walker, she will need to get a doctor to review her condition and approve her before she can get her license renewed.  Mom had lots of exercise scooting her walker from one end of the building to the other and back again to do all the paperwork.  Unfortunately - she actually passed the vision test.  I guess that means she can actually see things.  She just chooses to ask annoying questions about stuff that is right in front of her face rather than looking at it and thinking about it for herself.  So now she needs to make a doctor's appointment.  I hope she forgets to do that.  Seriously, her reaction times and leg motor skills are just not good enough to stop her car quickly if someone pulls out in front of her or stops quickly in front of her.  The good news is that the roads are safe from her driving for a little longer at least.  I hope the doctor will find sufficient grounds to revoke her license.  If and when she makes the appointment, my concerns for the driving public's safety will be voiced to the doctor.

We Will NOT Forget

That is all I can say on this anniversary of 9/11/2001.

The Freezer is Full

Yesterday saw the most recent batch of marinara sauce topping off the freezer level.  The freezer is now stuffed.  My aunt humorously said, "Buy another freezer."  I might consider doing that if hubby gets a really big deer during hunting season, but not before then.

The marinara sauce was a really big batch.

See.

There's the five heads of garlic.

These squished tomatoes started out as a 6 gallon stock pot

full to the top with whole tomatoes.

They occupy a bit less space once they are cored, peeled, and squeezed of 1 gallon of juice.

 And here is my poor stove groaning under the weight of two gallons of finished marinara sauce.

To put this in perspective, if spaghetti is made for one or two meals each week, this is only enough sauce to last one or two months.  With previous batches, the total frozen sauce supply is only enough to last 2-4 months.

Big batch Marinara Sauce:

6 gallons tomatoes, cored, peeled, and squeezed of juice

5 heads of garlic, peeled and chopped

1-2 tsp kosher salt

Extra Virgin Olive oil

freshly ground black pepper, as desired

3-4 handfulls of dried oregano, crushed

Prepare the tomatoes.

Prepare the garlic.

Heat very large stock pot (3-6 gallon) at medium high heat.

Add enough olive oil to coat bottom of pot.

Add the garlic, sprinkle salt over it, and cover pot.

Check on garlic often to make sure it does not burn.

Grind some black pepper into the browned garlic.

Add the tomatoes and oregano.

Stir to avoid tomatoes burning to the bottom of the pot.

Set lid on pot at an angle to allow water to evaporate, but limit splatter from bubbling sauce.  Cook until marinara is nice and saucy.

Since the garden is still producing, it looks like I will need to can future batches using the pressure cooker.  Mom bought me a 16 quart Presto model second hand several years ago; it holds seven quart jars.  (This baby is old; I was two years old when the instructions manual was printed.)  I dusted the old thing off the other day put some water in it and heated it up to find that the seal leaks like a sieve, not very surprising.  A new seal and a spare are on order, and should arrive within a week - or so.  I guess any tomatoes that cannot wait until then will be canned whole or turned into tomato soup.

Moonrise on the Garden

Even with tweaking the image exposure, brightness, and saturation, there are some things that are still way better in person.