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Monday, September 25, 2017

Light duty, moving, paint, travel


Since my back was pretty tender and my diverticulitis was still giving a good deal of me pain, I did light duty things this weekend. Blake and I harvested and processed more elderberries; moving our total of reserves up to eight quarts of frozen berriers. There are still so many ripening on the bushes that we are hardly making a dent into the ripening fronds. I also took the time to cut up the special pumpkin Mama grew. It was one of the flat greenish white ones that we have been told make the best pumpkin pies. Last year we let the one we were given rot in the window sill before I took it out to the garden and spread pieces of it out, hoping it would produce. We got miles of vines but only one ripe pumpkin. I canned it up and got three quarts out of it. It made a beautiful orange pumpkin puree. Mama was thrilled with the outcome – as long as it was me that took the time to do it. With the Instant Pot and the Vitamix it did not take very long to process it all.

I did not have much I could do on the shop so I moved a couple shelves and file cabinets full of tools from the garage to the shop. It will help me determine how to lay out the shop as I try to decide what to do to insulate the building. The rolling shelf and the two file cabinets did not take up much room in the shop but their removal from the garage left a noticeable opening. When I am able to move everything to the shop it will not be difficult for Mama to park in the garage. That will be a first for us. In all our married life, the garage has never been available for the vehicles. Of course, my truck will still be parked outside. Only Mama’s and Victoria’s vehicles will fit in the garage. Someday I will be able to park my truck and my tractor under cover…someday.

In the move, I uncovered things that have been either forgotten or neglected for the almost three years the shelves have stored them. I found over twenty containers of paint; all varieties, all colors, all of varying volumes. Many of the paints were not salvageable and I am not sure what we used them for or even when we bought them. I made a shelf out of an old louvered closet door and a couple saw horses and opened all the cans to allow them to dry out the rest of the way so they can be discarded. Just when I thought I was done I went into the well house to get something for Mama and found five more cans of paint. They were added to the shelf of drying paint cans. It will take several weeks for some of the paints to harden but I will be on the road for most of the next three weeks so it seemed like a good time to get started. Now, I just need to keep the grandkids away from that shelf. All in all, I am guessing that the contents of the table represent over $250-300 worth of paint, and I still have three five-gallon containers of paint in the well house. Mama has plans for some of that paint so it is being kept for now.

I will not leave until Wednesday morning for Las Cruces. I am a little more interested in the venue after talking to Harrold, the guy running the mini-dump near the house. He is quite familiar with the area. He told me several stories about his experiences in the area but what struck me was his insistence that I buy a bag of peppers from the local farms. Chili peppers are the premier crop of the area. It is also home to the world’s largest chili pepper – a roadside display. From the way he talked, there will be roasters in every grocery store, gas station and restaurant. The roasted chili peppers are where we get chipotle peppers. I will be sure to get some of the local hot sauces while I am there.

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