Have You Ever Wanted to....

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This too shall pass. Thank GOD!
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Ah! Life's trials and tribulations. The difference one day makes. No. Problem not resolved, but it's one of those things happening to someone else. It affects me indirectly...because I know part of what's going on...and someone has tried to drag me into the middle of it... Sigh. Some people make living life so hard.

To those of you who read the original post and have been praying for me...why don't you continue to do so. ;o) And throw in the others I didn't mention.

Building to Date

It's at a stopping point. Doors are ordered. Electric service is ordered. Sam's been making a few purchases to get things ready for the electricity. Elton is doing the same on his building.

The pile of leftover insulation in the back is sitting on top of the bathroom. It will be used to insulate the bathroom. Two windows in the building. The other side will house the camper.

Four skylights will help with lighting.

I Got to Thinking...

Mama watched one of Sam Elliot's early movies and talked about how cute he was. (IS!) He is one of my all-time favorite actors...mainly because of his voice.

And, what about...

James Earl Jones - edited He's alive and still acting! I thought so too, but in Wikipedia I saw the 2006 death date. That was his dad. Thanks Shogun for setting me straight.

James Garner - Murphy's Romance with Sally Field was one of my favorites.

Tom Selleck - who can forget those Magnum, PI legs?! And he wasn't bad at all in Quigley Down Under. He also played in a few movies based on Louis L'Amour's Sacket family books with Sam Elliot.

And last, but definitely not least - Sean Connery. ANYTHING he does is...

Is anyone else getting hot in here?

My Opinion Exactly!

I agree with Holee!

http://beashive-bea.blogspot.com/2009/06/dear-president-obama.html

Except I would never leave my credit card with my son...at any age!

Cookie Day!

Sam's favorite cookie - next to Snicker Doodles - is oatmeal. I found the best recipe on the inside lid of the Old Fashion Quaker Oats canister.

See those two pretty brown eggs? Fresh. From one of my neighbors. Isn't she sweet?! Now I know that there's no nutritional difference in a brown shelled egg and a white shelled egg...but don't the brown shells just remind you of your grandparents' place? Not really for me. My grandparents had Banty hens. I don't know why. Their eggs were much smaller. Don't care. I like the brown shells. Not one logical reason. Back when I had chickens I had Rhode Island Reds and Dominikers.

I was disappointed in this white parchment paper. The cookies stuck a bit on it. But not on the brown parchment paper below. shoulder shrug Go figure. First pans coming out of the oven.

Quality control!

Second batch ready to cook.

Yummy!

Gotta do QC on each batch fresh out of the oven!

Um....love fuzzy photos. No wrinkles. No makeup! (Don't look at the neck!!) DO look at the hair! I may have that fiber optic thing going on when the sun roof on the car is open, but I've got a lot of pepper left!!

Finally decided that the cookies were good enough for Sam and Elton so put a dozen in a container and carried it along with a jug of Gatorade to them.

Oops!

Starting off with an "oops" is indicative of something gone wrong. I pulled out the bread machine yesterday. Contrary to the directions, the first thing I do when I slip the loaf out of the pan is to take a bread knife and slice a good thick slice of the top...butter it...yeah, yeah, yeah...cut it in half and share with Sam. BUT!!! I do get the first bite. Oops. No salt. We have to salt the bread before we can eat it. It is still delicious!

We had a bit of a storm last night. Lightning and really heavy rain for 30 minutes or so. Then it settled down. We got about 1 1/3 " overnight. Cooled the temps down a bit, but this afternoon, it was definitely warmer and humid.

Here are the blooms fully open on one of the mother-in-law's tongue. I am always surprised at the sweet, sweet perfume that comes from these small blossoms.
Look! Three little hairless babies! Okay!! Featherless! The mama really got fracious waiting for me to get the photo and leave her brood alone.

Ta-da! My sweater back is finished! Um...I thought I purchased one dye lot. The middle section sure has more red/orange in it. Laura (friend who taught me to knit) and Carol both said that that sometimes happens with variegated yarns. CAN'T SEE THE CABLES! All that work and they just fade away. Last night I cast on and knitted a couple of rows of ribbing for the front. Knitted more today watching a couple of movies.

I am so excited about this new digital television broadcasting. At first I wasn't, but we've gained a few channels. One of which is THIS. "Classic" television shows and old movies! I wanted one The Earthling with William Holden and little Ricky Schroeder...filmed in Australia. Very good! Tonight I finished up Dancing With Wolves. I don't normally watch that much television in one day.

Photos of the building on Wednesday.

Before lunch - no roof. Roof went on after lunch. Crew decided to head home leaving the job unfinished.

This morning Elton arrived. He and Sam put the trim and gutters up on the front. Tomorrow, they will continue around the sides and back of the building.

Sam

Can you believe he turned down a job?! Wasn't even looking for one. Was offered a job out of the blue. AND TURNED IT DOWN?! ;o)

He had the opportunity to meet the couple who own the local motel. (Small town. One motel.) The wife asked if he was retired. "Yes." "Would you like a job?" He asked, "Doing what?" "Running the office part time." "No thank you."

Like, why did he even ask "Doing what?" LOL

I don't know why he turned it down. tongue-in-cheek Money had nothing to do with it even though I'm certain it would've been minimum wage. I get the feeling that he would've turned down $20 an hour too. Ah, to be 73 and at the age where he can do anything he wants...or nothing at all...

Grilling Ribs

Sorry. No photos of this because I had witnesses and I've already been through that with husband Sam...

Saturday, while Sam and Elton were working on the building and Carol went to a native plant meeting (she's going to be putting in gardens eventually...I'm just about through), I put a rack of ribs (short ribs) on the grill. I haven't grilled anything since marrying Sam nearly 12 years ago - he's our griller. But I do remember how.

Oh! And this was the second time I've grilled since they started working on our building. I did steaks a few days before that. Only problem was that Sam normally reports when we are low on charcoal...and he didn't. Imagine my surprise when I looked in the sack and there wasn't many briquets. Too late to make a dash to the store, so I settled for them figuring that if the steaks didn't get cooked enough that I could put Carol's and mine under the broiler in the house. Everything worked out fine though...just had to bring the vegetables in to finish (yellow squash and zucchini...I forgot the onions).

In addition to the Weber grill the steaks were cooked on, we have a New Braunfels smoker/grill. I built a charcoal fire in the remote firebox. After the briquets turned white, I added some live oak wood chips that had been soaked in water to get a smoke going. I also put a pan of water under the rack the ribs would be cooked on. Put the seasoned ribs on the grill...kept the temp between 225 and 250 and left them alone. (Sam asked once if I'd checked on them. NO! Don't open the grill because the temperature cools too much and has to start all over.)

In the meantime, Carol arrived and watched the last of a movie with me...I started it over again for her while I boiled eggs (fresh from a wonderful neighbor and friend!) and Yukon gold potatoes. I opened a can of Bush's baked beans and doctored them with onions sauteed with four strips of bacon...lifted the bacon out of the cast iron skillet and poured the beans in. Stirred in some mustard and brown sugar. Got everything hot on the stove, laid the bacon slices on top of the beans then put the whole shebang on the grill beside the ribs.

Made the potato salad and refrigerated it.

The movie Carol and I watched? Disney's Song of the South. I love it. It's part of my childhood and just imagine my surprise when I read online that it's considered racist. Of course the article I read was written by an immigrant from Trinidad... When that little boy placed his little white hand in Uncle Remus' big black hand...tell me what's racist about that?! Before anyone does holler "racist," let's remember that this film was made in 1946. Back in the 50s when I first saw it, I wished that I knew someone just like Uncle Remus...an adult (black or white) who really had time for small children and loved them...regardless!

Watch a good movie (while the guys work). Grilled ribs we each dipped in bbq sauce - or not. Potato salad, smokey beans, buttered and toasted sour dough bread. Glasses of iced tea. Um-um! Finished with watermelon.

Lost Quote and Metal Building

I found this. I copied it from a book I was reading awhile back and forgot to write down the book and author. So while I can't give credit where credit is due, I definitely do NOT claim it as mine.

"I think I've fallen in love with my family."
Clarke laughed, then clinked his bottle with James' beer. "Congrats, old friend - today you've finally become a man."

I really, really liked that. I could go all philosophical and even gushy perhaps...but there's no need. The statement stands on its own.

The building is ready for the insulation and sheeting!


Sam and Elton did all the framework and installed the walk-in door. They could do the insulation and sheeting on the building as they did on Elton's (except for the roof). But, it's getting really hot outside. So a crew of three or four who work for a friend of Sam's will be here middle of the day tomorrow to do the insulation and sheeting. It'll take a couple/three days.

Then Sam will install the two windows, arrange for electricity, frame out and build the bathroom. He's putting in a utility sink in the shop. In a separate room with be a toilet and shower. He wasn't going to put in a shower but...why not? A small electric hot water heater under the sink will take care of that. And let us not forget the overhead doors...Sam will hire someone to do that too.
Every evening I took photos of the progress...and a few other things as well...
The little camera sure is clear even when zoomed all the way. This tree is NOT close to the building.

This is the "break room." ;o) Chairs, table, water jug, septic tank. SEPTIC TANK?! It is still above ground therefore empty. Squint and look over the top of the septic tank. Can't see it yet.

Let me zoom again...

She stayed still a long time. I took about a dozen photos before she turned and ran back into the woods.

Sam took me up on the scissorlift a friend loaned us. I'm not afraid of heights, but the swaying movement going up nearly did me in. I had a two week bout with vertigo a month or so ago. The movement was just too reminiscent of that.

Once we got to the top (20 - 25 feet off the ground) and stopped, I really enjoyed the view! (See the stuff to the right of the house? That's our camper and the container Sam is now using for his tools. I think he should move the container behind the new building, but last plans he shared with me are to sell it...and we had a buyer back in November for it. If they are still interested, it will be gone in a month or so. The camper will be stored in the building. Sam has installed water and a grey/black water dump in the building. Then, he intends to break up the concrete pad (a once-upon-a-time carport for the trailer house that once sat where the brick house is...except not down in a hole) that the two are sitting on and do some grade work to make a more gentle slope.

We continue to wonder and ponder why the woman who had the house built didn't build it where we are putting the shop building instead of cutting into the hillside and putting it where she did.

Vatican State Visited MY BLOG!

I love Feedjit. Scroll down and you'll find it on the right side of my blog. It tracks where your visitors are from or at least near because when I check in, I'm always from someplace else...I think because we have satellite hookup... It also tells where they clicked from...like HGTV or a link on the local newspaper or via a search or even direct.

Eighteen hours ago, someone in Holy See, Vatican State, did a search for Jambalaya, crawfish pie, me oh my oh...or something like that. And they hit on MY blog! Took them straight to a jambalaya recipe I posted.

Isn't that just neat-o?!