Hole in Bedroom Wall

You can see the outline of the sheet of plywood that I removed that was covering a hole in the bedroom wall. I did that about lunch time and I've spent the rest of the day up until now framing and filling that hole to keep the mosquitoes and spiders out.

This little 5000 BTU A/C unit will cool just our bedroom at night ...

without having to run the big monster in the living room.

Here's the living room monster ...

in all it's power sucking glory.

We used to have to fog the windows in the living room

in order for the bedroom to get cool enough to sleep.

Yes, the bedroom door was wide open.

The walk-in closet/bedroom door was closed.

I'll caulk the bedroom unit tomorrow.

We'll see how the unit does tonight.

I'm dripping wet from sweat ...

my wife says I stink ...

and I better not come to bed until after I shower.

Freth to you all.

After Exercise

Having wiggled his little tail, raced around the living room, gone on a walk, and raced in circles with the neighbor's dog (I know I was a little repetitive with the "raced" word ... how else do you describe little legs going 90 mph?) ---

He retired to the couch.

That eye is just open enough to say,

"Dad, quit bugging me with that flash ...

I'm napping."

The only problem with walks is that dad or Mom or Both have to go on the walk with him. 5:30 - 6:00 a.m. we have to be out of bed and walking the dog.

We certainly can't sleep with him sitting there going "whine, whine, whine ... whine." Being awake is a participatory sport for him ... and we are the only participants available. Mom is getting exercise that she otherwise wouldn't be really motivated to do.

It's rather cool and pleasant this morning ...

71° F and only 80% Humidity.

Maybe that Murray guy will go outside and exercise ...

hard to motivate those "old fart" military guys to exercise.

Clouds Race By ...

Over 2 weeks of high 90's and 100's ...

the gardens and fields are wilting ... we are wilting and hardly going outside except in the early morning.

Last evening there were 2 cloud/rain formations racing each other ... heading South-East. We listened as the thunder came from north of us, then east of us, then was gone in silence ...

without a single drop of rain.

"Pout House"

A fellow here in town built this shed to the side of his house.

His wife calls it his "pout house".

It's covered in various plates and signs that he has collected.

He cut down some trees, milled the lumber, and built this

using both pine and cedar.

There are bookcases, a desk, and a nice chair inside.

This is where he does his family history research.

Or hides out if he needs some time alone.

I wonder if there is a small refrigerator for drinks & sandwiches?

It has air conditioning and a sleeping loft ...

(depending upon how much time-out he needs).

Little large to be called "a dog house."

Evening Pooling

We've been waiting until 6 p.m. to go swimming in the pool.

Two benefits: 1) the pool is in shadow and we don't get sunburn. 2) Everyone else is off eating dinner and we have it all to ourselves. Two baleen whales cavorting (no "skinny dipping").

Altho it is about as warm as a bathtub ... My neighbor is trying to figure out some kind of cover to cut down on the solar heating (to keep the water cooler). While everyone else is trying to figure out how to heat their swimming pool water ...

We bought a big watermelon, gave half to Kat, and are going to throw the rest in the blender with some ice cubes and turn it into a wonderful slushy drink. Outside air temp is in the 80's with 99% humidity ... and it's only 7:00 a.m. ... shooting for 101 degrees F again today. It's been in the 100's for over a week now.

Traded quips with an artist who was handing out hotdogs, cookies (from Subway), cokes and cold water to attract customers on Father's Day weekend. We declined the hotdogs, took the water, and bought a small book of prints.

Spent a LOT of time hiding in the house with the A/C on. I'm figuring out which boxes of books and things to get rid of. Emptied a bunch of hangers and took the clothes down to the church thrift store. Bought a smoked "Boston Butt" (pork shoulder) while there. They are good people and provide a nice service to the community. We even met pastor Smith ... whose old phone number we have ... and keep referring people (sorry, no longer at this number) to "call the other number." Anyway, I'm attempting to "downsize" my collection of books and other things ... How can I possibly give up any of this treasured stuff???

Wonder who wants: Volumes I-VII of The Book of Buckskinning. Volumes 1-7 of the Fox Fire books. Ken Kern books about the Owner-Built Home, Owner-Built Homestead, Owner-Builders and the Code, and Stone Masonry. Books on Archery and how to make bows. Some books on Native American things (Dawes Roll) ... There's an obscure book on Pedal Power published by Rodale Press. Books on Handwriting Analysis, hypnosis, water dowsing ... etc.

For my family: Wonder what kid wants some family genealogy information?

That's probably enough expostulating for one morning ... Have a GREAT day!

Hieroglyphics

Ian sent this hieroglyphic card.

:-)

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers + Gpa's out there!

The Pool Is OPEN!

Goggles are desired ... to avoid chlorine eye.

$1 at Dollar General store.

Attempting to hide from the photographer

This is what he thinks of it all.

Drove 70 miles round-trip to apply for a "yard truck driver" job.

Got a call from the school district askin if I was interested in interviewing for a regular school bus driver job (as opposed to just being a sometimes substitute).

Sent some more online resumes ...

Walked the dog at 5:30 a.m.

Other than going swimming with the grandsons, spent most of day indoors ... temp was 100 degrees F -- heat index of 109. Not quite as humid as it was 2 days ago. Gonna be 101 (110) today.

Checked out another stack of books from the library ... Have to have something to do while the grandkids play on the computers. They sure didn't want to go outside and pick blackberries in the heat. Altho one of them wanted me to go outside and drip sweat setting up the tent ... just so they could see it. I declined.

If the wife will go hang out in the library for 3 hours

(it's air conditioned)

Then I'll turn our A/C off and make another loaf of bread.

We'll see how the day turns out ...

Deb Scott Art Show Opening

Deb Scott does a wonderful job in the most difficult of all mediums ... watercolor.  Unlike normal oils or acrylics where you can throw on darks and lights whenever you want to ... in watercolors you have to work from light to dark ... carefully preserving any light areas of the paper.  Takes lots of planning.  You paint the background leaving white all the areas you need for the foreground (or put masking tape or rubber block to protect those areas).  Ask Royal, he can probably explain this better ... 

Any way, her show opened last night and goes thru the end of July.  She progressively shows pieces from her earliest works up thru her current works.  Her earliest started with painting along with a PBS video.  Also early oil with spatula knife painting ... then early efforts with watercolor ... early art competitions ... a juried piece that toured the state of Alaska for a year ... then 5 years of the art show circuit ... and her current works as a commercial artist.

It was all fun to see ... and of course, there were TASTY SNACKS!!

(the artist even had little bread stick slices with farmer cheese and lemon infused olive oil on the bread)

Bread Day!

My wife has been after me for a week to make bread. 

I'm the official designated bread machine operator.

Today I got the machine out and opened the page to a normal "White Bread" recipe.

But I just couldn't deal with that.  Altho I also didn't want to grind any fresh wheat flour.

SO, I put in the designated amounts of water ... 

added a dollop of cane syrup (not in the recipe) ...

Did all the normal sugar, salt, powdered milk, and butter (with a touch of bacon grease)

but tossed in a cup of cornmeal (couldn't let it all be white flour)

then 3 cups of white flour with the little well for the yeast.

And, on a whim,  added 2 tablespoons of gluten, and 2 table spoons of golden flax seed.

Oh what the hey!

The tricky part comes next ... turn the machine on ... and watch it start to mix ...

Way too dry!  It was just kind of packed around the walls and not doing much ... definitely not making a dough.  

CORRECTIONS:

Grab a cup of warm water and a spatula and go to work.  Pour in 1/4 cup of water and then poke around with the spatula.  Hmmm?  Needs more water ... another 1/4 cup goes in.  Poke it some more.  All the water seems to be going to the bottom ... where it is very damp and messy, but the top is kind of dry.  Reached in and grabbed the dough glob and flipped it over (while the machine is mixing) ... poke some more and it starts to even out.  Still looks like it could use just a little bit more water.  Add some.  Poke, flip, and poke some more.  Now it looks about right ... moist but not too sticky (sometimes called "plastic" or "elastic" or some kind of tic) ... at least in the center with a little dryer outer skin.  

Kind of hard to explain that to you without you seeing it.  (this after many years of failures ... heavy loaves that didn't rise, runny loaves that over-flowed the top and ran down the sides, etc.)  Maybe next time I'll try to take fotos ...

I closed the lid, walked away, and a couple hours later had a lovely 2 lb. loaf ... but most importantly my wife thinks it tastes wonderful!

A Thorny Topic

It's a really great year for black berries!

All that rain had to be good for something..

Great big briar patches loaded with berries, 

out in the cow pastures.

The thing is, you have to reach your hand down thru branches and leaves to pick the berries.

CAUTION!!  

Every branch and stem is loaded with big & little thorns.

I have the red scratch marks on my hands and arms to prove it.

You just plop that big sweet black one into your mouth ...

and see the bumper crop that will be ripe in about 2 weeks.

66 Cans Later

After canning popcorn ...

we returned home with this fellow ...

and Stefan ...

who were attacking each other on the couch.

A brief foto of happy unity.

The only view that we see of the older brother ...

He needs a computer-ectomy.

Gardening Partner

When you have a gardening partner,

You have to pay a bit more attention to what is happening around you.  Here he is chewing on the ropes that the squash and tomato are trying to use.

You also have to tell him not to chew on the potato plants because they are deadly poisonous ... but the marigold are okay (of course, they don't taste very good).