Fair time

We spent the evening at the Johnson County Fair. We try to go every year. Initially we went to introduce the children to farm animals that they didn't get to see living in the city. Now they keep asking "Can we get one of those?"

A baby alpaca- too cute!

And then there were the obligatory smoked turkey legs:

I12 munches away.

J15 makes it a whole face experience.

After eating we looked at the animals, checked out the exhibits and then did some rides. It's not a huge fair but it's fun. We're fortunate that we are able to park at my friend Roger's house, where I used to share a garden. He lives right by the fairgrounds (well, one bean field over) and we can park there and avoid traffic in and out of the parking lot.

The fair from Roger's house.

In other news, our old house is on the market. Our realtor wants us to spruce up the landscaping a bit. We know it needs work so after work I walked to the old house and did some weeding. I'm thinking that a bit of weeding and some new mulch will work wonders. Things were a bit neglected while we were working on the new house that I didn't keep up with the weeds. Our realtor wants us to have it done by Tuesday when he and a group of realtors will be doing a 'tour and comment' on all the new listings for the week. I'm a bit worried about what they will say, they do a walk through and critique what's wrong with your house that you need to fix to get it to sell. However, on a positive note, our realtor is closing on two houses within a few blocks of ours this week. He said that both of them were on the market for less than a week before they had an accepted offer. Not only do we have a desirable zoning but we also live in a high demand neighborhood for the elementary school. We'll keep our fingers crossed.

Independence Days- week 13

Another week gone by. My how time flies...

It's been a busy week, although today I paid the price for pushing myself too hard. I woke up this morning with a sore throat and generally felt like I'd been hit by a truck, I ached all over. So I called in sick to work and slept until 10!!! I must have needed it. I generally can't sleep past 630 or 7, even on weekends. J15 got back from her trip this morning at 530 am and also slept away the morning, having been on a charter bus for 18 hours straight.

V has been working hard in the basement to try to have her room ready for her but things haven't been going as quickly as he would have liked. But...

She has two walls framed and another in progress!!

Through her wall you can see my freezer in what will become my food storage room. The freezer and the shelves for my canning jars will be in there. I'm a bit excited to have an entire separate room for food storage. We're purposely not putting heating vents in it so it will stay cooler during the winter

But on to the business at hand- Independence Days. I'm feeling a bit more "independent" recently as we are getting settled in.

1. Plant something- nope.

2: Harvest something:

Behold! This evening's harvest.

The first India Paint Eggplant and my first bell pepper. We've still got loads of hot peppers. We've had broccoli this week and I have tomatoes starting to ripen- but only the cherry ones.

3. Preserve something- um, no.

4. Reduce waste- recycled, repurposed and used cloth bags at the store (most of the time). I also perfected the morning commute using the bus system last week so I don't have to drive all the way into town.

5. Prep and storage- Construction on the basement continues. I stocked up on pasta that was on sale. Oh, and V discovered two boxes of canning jars that I didn't know I had. They were stashed way back in this little closet under the basement stairs. Amazing what you find when you move- one case was even wide mouth jars. Hm, I didn't know I had any of those.... That tells you how disorganized I am. Or how much my priorities have changed in the 15 years we have lived in that house.

6. Build community food systems- stopped at the Farmer's Market but didn't pick up much. Only brats (our favorite- from local beef and quite lean and tasty) and some summer squash since my vines rotted with all the rain and I didn't get any. I had a nice conversation with the vendor about the bizarre garden summer it's been. I also picked up some sweet corn from a roadside stand since ours isn't ready yet.

7. Eat the food- My meal board is found! I'm amazed at how dependent I had become on planning and organizing my meals for the week. Not that I couldn't have planned without my meal board but it somehow makes me feel more in control.

We have a call into the realtor about putting the town house on the market but haven't heard back from him (that surprises me). I got all the painting done including the back landing and I finished painting the garage on Sunday afternoon. The floors have been vacuumed, the toilets and tubs scrubbed, the counters cleaned. There is STILL the broken window in the dining room that V keeps saying he will fix - maybe he's waiting for me to get fed up with waiting for him so I'll fix it myself. I also got my volunteer marigolds transplanted into the front flower bed although they look kind of pathetic. At least it's better than the flattened plants that were there.

Things are coming along- we're looking down the throat of August. EEEK.

Ramblings of this and that

What a busy few days. I've got almost all the painting done at the old house (I just need to touch up paint on the back door landing) and we are hoping to meet with our realtor tomorrow afternoon or Monday at the latest to get it on the market. Yeah!!! There are still a few repairs to be done. There is a broken window in the dining room that hasn't been fixed yet and I need to do something about my flower bed by the front sidewalk. The flower bed got driven over when we backed in the moving truck so everything is flattened. Fortunately, I have a whole bunch of volunteer marigolds in my back yard there that I plan to move into the front. An easy solution and it won't take long. Oh, and I need to make sure both bathrooms are clean (read here: pristine). Maybe it's just me- but nothing would turn me off quicker than a dirty bathroom. I noticed that there is a little mildew on the grout in the upstairs shower stall since we've moved out- that will have to go.

We had a huge ass storm last night. Not much rain in the gauge- only.4 inch but I think it was blowing sideways enough of the time that I'm not sure how accurate it was. I was worried that we would lose power during the storm but we pulled through. However, in the middle of the night- long after the storm was past- I got up and discovered that the power was off. Man, it is DARK out here with no lights around. In town, even with the power off in our neighborhood, there was always enough reflected light from other parts of town that it wasn't that bad.

Heard from J15 this afternoon. She is having a blast! They were exploring the French Quarter of New Orleans this afternoon. I was a bit surprised to hear what their service project was about- I thought they were all related to hurricane relief- I was misinformed. They went to the WWII museum, got a tour and an educational presentation and then spent the rest of their morning interviewing WWII veterans. How cool is that- of course, she said it was rather depressing- but still, a good learning experience.

I had a chance to stop in at the farmer's market this morning. I picked up some brats and some yellow summer squash. One of the vendors has arguably the best brats on the planet (local beef- yum!) and we have been yearning for them since the beginning of the summer. When I was picking up the squash, I had a nice chat with the vendor. We were discussing the bizarre summer we've had. I'm not the only one who doesn't have tomatoes or bell peppers. He told me that he's been doing this for 29 years and he has NEVER not had tomatoes in July. He said he's only had 3 ripe ones off the entire field. And he said his green beans bloomed for a month before he had any set on. My beans are finally setting on- I spied my first half inch long bean tonight so soon....

The boys are happy- V finally set up the x-box so they are playing their brains out after 3 weeks without it. But at least they did go outside this afternoon to fly kites in the gorgeous weather.

Enough babbling for now. I've got laundry to do.

Mmm, more cheesy goodness

Lazy woman's stuffed peppers.

We had our first official stuffed chilis tonight. I take the lazy way out. I split, seed and remove the membrane from my hot peppers - tonight, jalapeno and hot wax. Then I fill them with a mix of cream cheese and shredded sharp cheddar. Then it's into the oven at 425 until hot, bubbly and just barely browned. Then serve and YUM!!

Still no tomatoes! I did notice this evening that I've got one that has the faintest pink blush to it so soon.... I can't wait. It's late July and no tomatoes!!!??? My tomatillos look great but all I've found is empty husks. We had some more broccoli tonight- I mean, really, who harvests broccoli in July?! And we're still getting loads of chard. I did notice that I have at least one eggplant that is about ready and I've got loads of hot peppers (but no bells yet?) What a weird garden year.

Cheesy walls

My old dining room walls- they are covered with cheese. Well, cheese colored paint, that is. We've been amused that the color of paint that we chose to paint the downstairs walls and stairwell is food related. The color is "soft brie"- or in spanish- 'queso suave'. I was curiously amused by the idea of suave cheese covering my walls. But the dining room is painted at the old house. We were hoping to not have to paint our bedroom but having moved furniture and discovered some staining behind my cedar chest (under a window where it has rained in on occasion) we decided that it will have to be painted as well. I can finish painting the bedroom tomorrow after work and I have Friday off (I worked last Saturday) so I can finish the trim paint. The house will be on the market this weekend. Woo Hoo!! What a major hurdle cleared!!!

We heard from J15- they made it to New Orleans safely and she attended the first event in the Super Dome this evening. I'll be honest- the thought of 36,000+ teenagers from all over the country seems a bit overwhelming. But she called and said it is more fun than she had imagined it would be. Tomorrow they have a 'learning event', Friday afternoon they have time for sightseeing and Saturday they will spend the day in 'service' at the WWII museum. I'm not sure what they will be doing there but it is something related to post Katrina restoration.

V hopes to frame J15's room this weekend. She is really hoping for a room when she returns on Monday. We also need the space. With most of the basement unusable due to construction- storage space is at a premium.

In more mundane news- we had nearly 3 inches of rain yesterday. 2.75 to be exact. And we had some minor water leaks in the basement again (sigh). We actually think it may be coming up through the floor in some spots. There is a hill to the North of us and there is the possibility that the water pressure building up on the North side of the house is forcing the water in. I'm really glad that the field on the hill is in hay and not planted. I hate to think of the runoff if it was tilled.

Things are very slowly getting unpacked. V finally got his computer set up and so is back at work this week and I've been working full time at the hospital. Since we're trying to clean up the old house to sell, unpacking has been rather low on the totem pole of priorities. I am frustrated that I can't remember what box I packed the cats' medical records into. They have an appointment with our vet on Friday morning (Mandy has worms!) and I can't find the records. I remember packing them, thinking that this was a great box to put them in but, now, the box I thought they were in- isn't it. I guess it's not the end of the world if I don't find them right away. We have Mandy's rabies vaccination certificate (she got hers last Wednesday when she got spayed) and I know Spaz got his vaccination the day we picked them up- it's just that the certificate is MIA.

Of course, I also can't find by blow dryer or my favorite t-shirt. They're somewhere- it's just that WHERE is the question...

Independence Days- weeks 11 and 12

Ok, I obviously didn't have a chance to post my update last week so this is for two weeks. I'm going to try to keep this brief. We have to get up waay early tomorrow morning. J15 needs to be in town to meet the van by 530 am. She is leaving for a week in New Orleans. She is part of a group who will be attending the ELCA National Youth Gathering there and doing some service work. She's really excited but it's going to make for a long day. V and I didn't get home until after 930 tonight from the house in town where we were cleaning and continuing to move out a few last items. The last of things that will require two people to move (My antique library table/desk and my sewing table) are out.

But on to the business at hand- the Indendence Days Challenge.

1. Plant something- Nope

2. Harvest something- Beets, broccoli, chard and hot peppers. It has been so cool lately that my tomatoes, while loaded, aren't ripening.

3. Preserve something- nope.

4. Reduce waste- we've been pretty bad this week. Oh, still composting and recycling but lots of my cloth grocery bags have been used to move stuff and I keep forgetting to put them back in the car/van.

5. Prep and storage- froze 4 pints of blueberries. My Mom gave me the idea of freezing them in drink mix containers. We went through a few canisters of lemonade mix while working out here when it was so hot and we didn't have air (I know- presweetened drink mix- yuck), But the containers work well for airtight storage for berries. I'm also thinking that all our continuing work here counts as prep. For storage- we got the freezer moved and the shelves for my canning jars- I only have about a dozen jars that are still full so I hope my tomatoes kick in- we need tomatoes canned for the winter!

6. Build community food systems- ate sweet corn purchased from a farmer selling out of the back of his pickup down the road and a locally grown melon.

7. Eat the food- we've been trying to eat out of storage but it's been rough this past week. I still don't know where some things are (my menu board is MIA) and we've been busy so we've been piecing it together a lot. I desperately need to make a significant grocery store run since we're out of lots of things that I usually keep on hand. I was trying to NOT stock up and eat down our stores before we moved and now I'm paying the price.

All in all, it has been a pretty productive week. Our town house will be on the market this week, we're moved, I've got the morning bus commute worked out, and everyone is tired but happy.

LOST

and found.

One tired puppy.

We had a scare last night. Ticket managed to break the latch on his tie out line and escaped. We didn't discover that he was gone for probably 20-30 minutes and didn't know where he had gone. We searched and called. Living within 20 yards of a state highway I was really scared that he would be a casualty of a large truck. Or I was worried that he would get into someone's livestock and would be shot (I have no reason to believe that he would attack livestock but he probably broke his line lunging after a rabbit in the yard). Fortunately for us, he still has his license tags and was found by one of our new neighbors. They have dogs and they fed him and kenneled him for the night and this morning took him to one of the local vets (not the ones we bought the property from) and they looked up the license info and called. We actually found out they had him before we got the call- they called our old number in town and left a message- The wife was on her way back from dropping him off when she spied V looking plaintively in the ditch and asked if we had lost a dog.

Anyway, he is safely returned and we are looking at getting a new line for him. We will all sleep better tonight.