Sweating and swearing

We took the evening off again last night.  (har, har)  Instead of working inside at House #1, we decided to go home to the Cat Ranch and work outside on a lovely evening.  It was nice.  We know these evenings are fleeting, so this was an opportunity we didn't want to miss.

We also watched the weather that is predicting rain on Saturday.  Sounds like a good day to work inside.

On our evening off, we came home and changed into our "play clothes."  I headed out to the garden to move some more hostas and Walt Kowalski attacked the growing wood pile.  Our wood pile is small in comparison to Chain Saw Johnny's because we're only making recreational fires for the evenings we're in the game room. We like the smaller branches, but they still need split.  That's what Walt Kowalski was working on. Once he's got them split, we can restack and reorganize the pile.

Three hostas came out easily.  There are at least four more that I want to move from the big garden to the wall behind the house.  The digging out is the easy part.  Digging the holes in the new location is the harder part.  It's digging through rocks and roots.  Rocks from the wall and roots from the former shrubs.  There are stumps that need major picking to get them out. 

It took me a 1/2 hour to dig out the hostas and 1 1/2 hours to dig the holes to put them back in.  It is very frustrating.  I just have to remember it will look nice next year.  I also don't want to plant the new perennials we just purchased until I move the hostas. 

So while I'm digging and sweating and digging and swearing and digging and sweating, Walt Kowalski is swinging his maul and splitting the wood.  Throw in the other "night off" to-do items, water flowers, clean litter boxes, take down trash (I did this for Walt Kowalski because he was busy and it was a small trash week), do a load of laundry, sort out a few papers, fold some laundry, kill a few stink bugs, pack gym bags for the morning, and get some dinner cooking.

I've been sorting out paper from Walt Kowalski's old house.  It has really put me in the mood to sort through my own mess of papers and junk.  It is easier to clean out someone else's papers.  I have no personal connection to these items.  Burn pile. Old bank statements from 1989, burn pile. Old electric bills from 1993, burn pile.  Old cancelled checks, burn pile. 

Maybe I should let Walt Kowalski clean out my boxes.

(No, I don't have attachment to old electric bills. I'm not THAT bad.)

I've burned 4 boxes of old paper work and still have a few boxes to go. But I have also saved at least 2 boxes of good paper work, baseball cards, family mementos, and photographs.  Every photo I find I say to Walt Kowalski 'who is this and what was going on?'  Here is today's memory:

Walt Kowalski said 'See, that's when we had real snow.  That's also before child labor laws! Look at that child abuse!'  Isn't he a cutie. 

As I was upstairs cooking dinner, and cutting my finger (hasn't even chef got a finger cut at some point?), Walt Kowalski was downstairs fighting a war on stink bugs.  This war started outside before the wood chopping and continued inside.  His weapons of mass destruction included the shop vac and a fire. Powerful tools.  He said the chimney was polluted with them and as the smoke got to them they would fall.  gag.

As he's sending them to their fiery death, he happened to notice one in between the stones on our fireplace. Tucked in tight, this bug was not going anywhere.  Neither were all of his friends in all of the other gaps.

If you've never seen the fireplace in our game room, here's a photo to give you a better idea:

This is unfinished.  We covered the brick at the bottom with more stone. 

Those darn bugs came down the chimney and crawled in between each stone on our fireplace.  Walt Kowalski swept every single crack to remove those darn bugs.  He also swept up all the spiders, webs, and kitty litter.  Then he stoked the fire to warm the game room for dinner. 

We love our game room, but it neglected in the summer.   He did a great job. 

Our "night off" was just as busy as any other night. 

P.S. My finger will be fine.  The nail will grow back.  In the meantime, it's going thumpa, thumpa, thumpa, as any sore finger does and, inevitably, I have bumped it on everything. 

One last kibble

It was Sam's Club day at the Cat Ranch.  The cats got dry food, Walt Kowalski got vitamins, and I got bread. I shared with Walt Kowalski, but not the cats.

Cocoa Fluff, the cat who is scared of bags, was willing to risk this particular bag. 

And we aren't just talking about a few loose kibbles at the edge of the bag, she went for the gold at the bottom of the bag.  There are always a few that just won't come out easily.

 

This is the cat that is afraid when I bring a bag of groceries into the house.  The same cat that is afraid when I pull the full garbage out of the can under the sink.  The same cat that hides in fear in the basement when I replace the garbage bag under the sink!

 

But when you add food to the mix, the bravery appears. 

 

It was her bag, and she was not giving it up. After we emptied the food into smaller containers, they each took turns crawling inside and licking the bag.  When I thought they were done with it, I picked it up to take it and reuse it for garbage.  I went to grab the small trash cans in the bathrooms and when by the time I came back, Fudge had pushed it off of the pool table, onto the floor, and was licking it some more.  

 

They are starving, don't you know.   Of course, if you talk to Grammy their mother doesn't feed them. 

Lick and a promise

Grammy, my sister, and my nieces have been hearing all about this project at House #1.  They have listened to our stories of construction and demolition.  Except in pictures, they have never seen the house.

This past weekend they were in the area for the afternoon and I gave them the 10 cent tour.    I should really increase that to 25cents because of inflation.

They liked it.  They liked to be able to see it in progress and get a better idea of everything in person, not just in pictures.  The kids had lots of questions and Grammy and my sister had good ideas for the remodel.

My youngest niece commented at one point that the people who lived in this house previously must have been very poor.  Grammy said "No, they were lazy.  You can have no money, but still keep a clean and decent house.  My grandmother had no money and lots of kids but she had the cleanest house in town.  Everybody had to clean up."  She is correct.  Her grandmother, my great-grandmother, would be very disappointed in the Cat Ranch right now. 
 
I don't consider myself lazy.  Time-challenged would be a better term. Although given the choice of sitting by the fire or cleaning the bathroom, sitting by the fire is going to win every time.  Hands down.
 
We found out just recently that 14 people once lived in the house.  

14 people! 

14 people with one bathroom upstairs and a single toilet in the basement (which might have been a recent addition).  Let that sink in for a moment.
 
I can't think of 14 people I want to go on vacation with for a week let alone share living space. 
 
Can you imagine the shoes piled up at the front door?  There's only two of us and this morning and there were 10 pair of shoes by the front door.  Those cats must wear a lot of shoes. 


P.S. My granny often said she gave her house a lick and promise, meaning she cleaned it real quick and promised she'd do it better next week.  Her real quick lick was still WAY better than my good.  :)

Hen of the Woods

How can it be Monday already? Obviously, when I leave my office on Friday afternoons, I must bump the fast forward button. Maybe it's when I close the door.  Which would make sense why when I open my office door on Monday, time slows down.

We took a couple of days off from House #1 and House #2.  The Cat Ranch needed some attention.  The pile of wood lath needing burned from House #1 was huge, the grass needed mowed, weeds needed pulled, laundry, trash cleaned up, flowers needed transplanted. The list goes on.

Walt Kowalski did the mowing.  I did the trash clean up along the road.  I could clean up trash along our road every day.  (The trash situation along the road is a rant...uh...I mean post for another day.)  Then moved a few hostas from the main garden to the back wall.  Throw in a few loads of laundry, and you've got the day wrapped up. 

Walt Kowalski works with a guy who has a friend that found a truck load of sheepshead mushrooms on his property.  These are the non-deadly variety of mushrooms found in the forest.  This is what one looks like:

They grow in clusters at the base of oak trees.  Oak trees!  We've got lots of those!  We looked in years past with no luck.  Maybe next year.

This year, the friend of the co-worker of Walt Kowalski didn't have the space to clean and store all of the mushrooms he was able to gather.  We were the beneficiaries of the mushrooms.  No complaints from us.

This sink full was just one portion.  After cleaning, we had 5 gallon-sized storage bags full of mushrooms and a lot of wet paper towels and dish towels.

 Here is a close up view. The brown bits you see aren't dirt.  That's just part of the mushroom.

So these mushrooms have been burning a hole in our freezer for the last week when Walt Kowalski brings home another three bags!  We have hit the mushroom jackpot!

Just in time for cool weather.  Nothing says autumn like soup.

And easy soup too.  AND and opportunity to use up some of the homemade broth I have been saving from every chicken and roast I made all summer. 

Carmelize an onion, throw in the mushrooms, add a little flour, and the broth.  Let it simmer for 30 minutes, add a little sour cream and some milk. 

Delicious. 

Soup by the campfire.   I joked with Walt Kowalski that we were camping.  We both smiled and agreed that this was our type of camping. 

Walt Kowalski gets soup for lunch today and we're having more for dinner tonight.

I used about half of one of those gallon-sized bags of mushrooms.  There is going to be a lot of mushroom soup and dishes in our future.  I have never been a big cream of soup kinda person, but this was really good.  Thanks to the homemade broth it wasn't too salty (always a complaint of commercial soups)  I tasted the soup just before I added the cream and milk and it was good that way, too.  Hmmm, another soup idea?

As we were eating Walt Kowalski said "You know what would be really good in here?  Add some chicken.  Then, for the next meal, you could make a few dumpkins for in it.  Then for the next meal, you could put it over a bed of mashed potatoes.  Then..."

There is no better compliment to a cook than seeing smoeone enjoy a meal.  Especially an experimental meal.  I make soup all the time (even in summer) but cream of mushroom soup was a first for me.  It won't be the last. 

In today's news...

As I was putting on my shoes this morning, I noticed that I still have my summer decorations up.  Technically, I still have my spring wreath up. 

It's half way through September.  I need to get some fall leaves up. 

Then as we were leaving, I noticed the light in the entrance.

It appears I have started to decorate for Halloween after all.  These are the authentic decorations.  No fake spider webs for us.

The rooms downstairs in House #1 have ceiling lights.  They had old ceiling fans, but we took those down and just replaced them with blubs for the time.  But this means we can work later as it is getting darker earlier.  This also means we are working later.  Just one more wall.  Just another half hour.  Just another few boards. 

I'm just as guilty.  I might be slow to start, but once I get going, I want to keep going.  We always have to remember to leave to time to clean up so we can start fresh the next day.  Having to start by cleaning up yesterday's mess is no way to start the day's mess. 

Walt Kowalski found an old classified section of newspaper when he took out the built-in cupboard in the kitchen.

June 13, 1928
 Life was different back then.  There was three different articles about people being killed by trains.  These weren't front page news articles either. 

All of the articles were very small.  Then again, it was a small local newspaper.  I liked this about the Lincoln Highway.  I'd like to search for more information to see what was changed and how close to it's current location it is.

The divorces section make me laugh.  My, this would be a humorous section of the paper today.  Cruel and barbarous treatment. 

 

 

 

How about renting a house?  Four rooms for $18 a month. Or six rooms, a cellar, and a attic for $30.

 

 

And if you wanted to buy a five room in excellent condition.  It includes a furnace, just incase you were worried.  $4,450. 

Look at the phone numbers, too. 

 

Things I've learned the hard way #1

I put the #1 on this post because I know there will be more.
 
Every morning I pack a small container of nuts and berries for Walt Kowalski and a small container of nuts and vitamins for myself.  Walt Kowalski gets a weekly container of vitamins on Monday mornings.  I tried the weekly container and at the end of the week I brought it home full.  The container of vitamins sat right next to my nuts, but I just didn't remember to take them. 
 
Almonds are my daily nut of choice.  Sometimes I sneak in a cashew or Brazil nut from Walt Kowalski's mixed nuts. 
 
Before I close the lid of the nut container, I go to the other kitchen cupboard cabinet and add my daily vitamins.  A pink multi vitamin, folic acid, ginseng, Acai berry, and fish oil. I normally have chromium picolinate in the mix, but I'm out of those and need to get more. We used to take a separate vitamin E, but I've read too many things lately that we're already getting enough vitamin E in the multi and too much isn't good, so I only have those once a week.
 
There are two ginseng, Acai, and fish oils everyday.  I have one of each in the morning and afternoon. 
 
As I sit at my desk and drink my tea, I have a few almonds. The salty coating goes so well with the sweetness of the tea. Recently I picked up a container of cocoa roasted almonds.  I haven't had them in a while and now I know why.  I can't stop eating them!  I allow myself a few everyday with my regular almonds.
 
Today was the end of the bag of almonds, so there was lots of almond dust that ended up in the bottom of my nut container. (Even better it was all the salty bits.)  But it covered the rest of the nuts and vitamins. No big deal.
 
So here I am at work.  Type type type.  Sip tea. Have an almond. Answer telephone. Type type type.  Sip tea. Have an almond. Answer telephone.
 
Then it happened.  I accidentally picked up one of the fish oil vitamins, popped it into my mouth, and bit down like it was an almond.
 
I knew the moment it happened but it was too late. 
 
I should, should, have just swallowed the pill, fishy liquid and all, and then taken a big drink of tea.  But nooooooooo, I stupidly spit it out into my hand to throw it away in the trash can.
 
Now my hands smell like I just came from the House o'Crab Legs.  Which isn't a bad thing when you've just come from the House o'Crab Legs. It is a bad thing when you're in your office all day. 
 
Wash hands.
Wash hands.
Wash hands.
Wash hands.
Antibacterial hand sanitizer.
Wash hands.
Wash hands.
Wash hands.
Wash hands.
Antibacterial hand sanitizer.
sniff sniff. 

ick. House o'Crab Legs smell.

Wash hands.
Wash hands.
Wash hands.
Wash hands.
Antibacterial hand sanitizer.

ick!


I know it will go away in a few hours, but right now that's all I can smell.  ick.  
And now I want crab legs. 

Somewhere Walt Kowalski is reading this and saying "yum, crab legs."

Your Support and Influence Respectfully Solicited

We've found a lot of dirt in House #1.  We've found some crap in House #1.  We also found a couple of interesting items of local history.

Yesterday, as Walt Kowalski was removing kitchen walls and I was taking down the ceiling, a small business card fluttered to the floor.  Walt Kowalski picked it up and said "Hey, look at this."  so I looked.

Adam M. Wyant

Never heard of him.

The first thing that ran through my head was "Crap, another bit of history I should know and I don't."

Then I looked at the card.

1932!

Now I know why Walt Kowalski said to look.  He didn't know him either. He was amazed at how preserved the card was from 1932.

Now I need to know who Adam M. Wyant is.

Google and Wiki tell me that he was a Republican member of the House of Representatives from 1920 to 1932.  He was the first professional football player elected to the Congress. 

Born near Kittanning, he went to school in Chicago, then returned to the area to teach at the Mt. Pleasant Institute, Mt. Pleasant, PA.  In 1896, he moved to Greensburg and continued to play professional football with the Greensburg Athletic Association.  While still playing football, he became the first principal of Greensburg High School (now Greensburg-Salem) and soon became the city's first superintendent of schools. 

From superintendent and football player,  he went on to law school and practicing law in Greensburg and in 1920 headed for Congress. 

I still have never heard of him.   Want to bet that sometime in the next week his name will come up?