Today’s post comes from Jacque.
This is Jacque’s junk drawer.
What is in your junk drawer?
Category Archives: home
Getting the Lard Out
I have become wary of telling Husband what I want, or if I like something, because he takes it on himself to make certain I get it. Sometimes I just make an offhand comment about liking something, with no expectation of getting it, and Husband takes it to heart and feels responsible for it. I think it has something to do with his being an older brother of a younger sister and feeling responsible for her happiness. My father was the same way with me. One can only be considered spoiled under these circumstances if one comes to expect such treatment. I don’t expect it, so I am not spoiled!
Last week I took the last jar of home-rendered lard out of the freezer as I needed it for pie crusts. I told Husband that we would need to render more lard some time. I didn’t mean that I wanted to do it right away, but that was how Husband interpreted it, and he set to work finding some pork fat for me to render. I came home for lunch to find a disgruntled man who had been unsuccessful in finding any pork fat from our usual sources. He even phoned butcher shops in Fargo, Brookings, and Canby, MN. I assured him that it wasn’t a crisis, and that it was fine if we didn’t find any. There are lots of good pie crust recipes that don’t call for lard. Husband was still fretful. I just hoped he would forget about it and stop ruminating.
Yesterday while I was in my meetings, Husband chanced on a farmers market on Nicollet Avenue, and found a source for leaf lard and pork fat from a guy who raises hogs in New Richmond, WI. He and Husband talked lard and, after several phone calls back to the farm to check on supplies, he and Husband arranged for us to pick up 10 pounds of leaf lard and other pork fat from him at the Minneapolis Farmers Market on Saturday morning. Lard crisis averted. It remains to be seen what Husband will ruminate about next.
What have you gone to extremes to find or accomplish? What is your favorite pie crust? What do you ruminate about?
Remembrance of Things Past
Today’s post comes from Ben:
I came home and said hello to the dogs. Went out another door and said “Hi” to the dogs again, and then, as one does with dogs, said “Hi Hi Hi”
And then, from the depths of my mind, out of nowhere, sang “Ayi Yi Yi Yi, I am the Frito Bandito”.
Wow.
I said to myself “Where did that come from??”
Forgotten anything lately?
Remembered anything lately?
Infestation
We had some basement drywall and carpet ruined from a leak from an egress window when our downspouts were plugged this summer. The dry wall guy finished up the repairs last week.
We removed the water damaged carpet in the basement bedroom. As we put the furniture back in the bedroom, I thought that I would put on the bare cement a wool area rug that we had stored in the furnace room. It was a nice thick one we got from Pottery Barn 15 years ago, in pinks and greens, our daughter’s favorite colors at the time. We used it in her bedroom.
The furnace room is warm and dry. We keep the door to it closed. As I reached for the carpet, which was rolled up and standing in a corner, I noticed something that looked like grains of rice protruding from the back of the carpet. As I lifted the rolled carpet, I saw many hundreds of grains of rice on the floor underneath where the carpet had been, about an inch or so thick, in a pile of pink and green sawdust. I am thankful none of it was moving, as it turned out to be carpet moth larvae and the remnants of the carpets they had eaten. Husband took the rug outside and tossed it in the back of his pick up. I hurriedly vacuumed up all the “rice” and sawdust, and checked everything in the basement for further evidence of the infestation. I am happy to report I found nothing. You can see some of the larva and the green part of the rug they chewed.
Further research informed me that wool rugs rolled up and kept in the dark are prime targets for carpet moths. So are parts of wool rugs that are laid out on the floor but underneath tables and other furniture. The moths themselves are quite small, with maybe 1/4-1/2 inch wing span. I am thankful that all my sweaters are upstairs in cedar lined drawers. Ish!!
Ever had insect damage? What do you have in your house that you haven’t checked on for a while?
The Stuffed Headboard
Whenever I am out and about and see someone with a massively full baby stroller, I wonder why some folks feel the need to bring every single thing they might possibly need along with them every time they leave the house.
Then I get home to my bedroom. When I bought my bedframe many years ago, I got one with bookshelves because… well, you know why. Books. As soon as YA and I had it put together I installed a few books and a box of tissues and figured I was all done. There was plenty of room.
Fast forward to today. Now I have a bucket of pens/pencils, ibuprofen, a hand mirror, my blood pressure monitor, my Walkman, my laptop, my journal and sticker box, my allergy meds, the land line phone, a cell phone holder, lotion, fingernail polish, some photos, a candle, finger nail clippers, two little notepads, a couple of magazine, a pig bank and a bucket w/ various things like chapstick, Neosporin, a few band-aids, aloe vera gel and Benadryl gel. And, of course, way more books.
Whenever I try to straighten all this up, I end up leaving most of it there so it’s “handy” if I need it. Guess now know exactly what all those strollers are so full!
What’s essential in your trip kit?
Better Living Through Electricity
I notice that today marks the anniversary of the introduction of the electric blanket in 1946. It sold for $39.50. I suppose that was quite a bit of money for that time. My parents talked about the wonders of rural electrification in the 30’s and 40’s, and how that was such a help for them and their families. I remember that my mother bought an electric blanket in the 1960’s, and what a weird thing it was, with this plastic polyester fabric that had these hard tube-like things inserted in it, and a thermostat that hung out of the edge of it. I suppose it made sense if the gas you paid to fire your furnace cost more than the electricity that came our of your outlets.
We rely heavily on our weird Swedish mixer for kneading our bread, our Breville food processor for chopping everything imaginable, and our Chinese grinder for coffee and spices. I suppose that electric blankets were ousted by down comforters for economy and convenience. We use our down comforter all year.
We are expecting a major winter storm in the next day or two, and I have made sure the remote starter for our gas stove in the basement is operational in case we lose power and I need to heat the house.
What electric appliances do you rely on? How do you keep warm?
Water Damage
We live in a semi-arid part of the US. We don’t get much rain. The rain, when it falls, is usually no more than a quarter of an inch at a time. This has lulled me and Husband into a false sense of security when it comes to our gutters and down spouts. Why make a point to clear out the spouts when it hardly ever rains? Why check to make sure that the spouts are fully functional?
For the second time in the 30 years we have lived in our home, we have water damage in the basement due to our rain spout neglect. The first time the extension that takes the water away from the house fell off, so the water poured out of the spout right along the foundation of the house. The water traveled along the side of the house and came into the basement through a hole in the basement wall where a well pipe enters the basement foundation. We replaced all the basement carpet.
This most recent time, the down spout was clogged with leaves, so the water poured over the gutter right by the foundation and traveled into an egress window and soaked the drywall and carpet below the window in a basement bedroom. We rarely go into that room, and I discovered wet carpet and moldy drywall on Friday, about a month after the rain. It smells pretty grisly. I suspect we need to replace the carpet in that room, and the drywall guy is coming Monday to check out the drywall. I am pretty disgusted with our lack of diligence. I feel pretty stupid flooding our home for the second time. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have one’s entire house damaged by water.
What mistakes have you made with home ownership and maintenance?
Serial Bliss
Today’s post comes to us from Minnesota Steve.
There aren’t many things better than discovering a great book, a book so good you hate to turn the last pages because you never want it to end. One thing that is better is discovering that the great book you just finished is one in a series written by the same author. The pleasure you are feeling is repeatable.
One afternoon when I was about ten I discovered a book of stories by Arthur Conan Doyle in the Ames Public Library. The first of them, “A Scandal in Bohemia,” introduced me to the complicated figure of Sherlock Holmes and to the thrill of reading mysteries. When I understood there were more Holmes stories, I couldn’t believe my good fortune.
There is a lot to like about book series. You can start subsequent books in the series knowing you like that author’s style. You often go into subsequent books already knowing some of the characters and the setting. Series offer writers the chance to develop themes in depth and do a better job of telling stories. When I begin a book by a new author I don’t know if I will eventually feel the time I spent with the book will be rewarded. When you are chewing your way through a good series, that isn’t an issue.
I’ve just begun exploring a new series. Following exhortations from my daughter, I just read the first novel in Louise Penny’s beloved Three Pines series. Penny’s crime novels feature charming Canadian locales and the comforting presence of Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. Louise Penny has a warm and whimsical view of life and people. While her novels are driven by the need to explain a murder, the people who fill her books are human and mostly likable. Penny’s vision is deeply rooted in community. My daughter enjoys Penny’s humor. I was surprised to find so many “Easter eggs” in the form of unexpected observations about life and people. The series currently includes 15 books. Penny adds about a book a year. When my daughter met Louise Penny last year at a Detroit book signing event, she was not surprised to find Penny is modest, witty and gracious . . . just the sort of person who would write such appealing novels.
I’ll have more to say about good book series in the Comments section.
What book series have you enjoyed? What did you like about them?
The Chestnut Tree
Today’s post comes to us from Ben.
The horse chestnuts are falling.
The walnuts are falling too and they make more noise when they fall. And boy, if they hit the deck it’s a good “Thud”. But hit the metal deck table? Wow, that’ll wake you up. “KABANG”! We have 4 nice big walnut trees that shade the deck. But they sure make a mess.
But it’s the horse chestnuts that I’m attracted too.
This is the one chestnut tree we have at home.
I planted it from a seed. Mom says she’s surprised it ever grew at all because I was digging it up every day to see if it had sprouted yet.
I would collect the nuts on Sundays along the sidewalk on the way from church. There were several chestnut trees next to the parking lot we used and in the fall I’d be lucky to find some left from the kids at the earlier services.
They’re just so appealing with their large size and smooth shell and the nice brown color. And they’re fairly easy to get out of the husk. Walnuts are messy and stain your fingers and they’re just dark brown and yucky. Acorns are kinda cool, but they’re small and sometimes hard to get out of the husk. But horse chestnuts. I get warm fuzzies just thinking about them.
Here’s part of what I collected. There doesn’t seem to be very many this year. Yet another victim of our cool, wet spring?
Here’s chestnunts in their natural habitat.
And the empy husk, which was almost as appealing as the nut itself.
I had the big yellow Tonka dump truck and I’d fill it with acorns I picked up while playing in the street. Yeah, Mom and dad told me to go play in the street. Not exactly; the oak trees are along our driveway so that’s where I had to go to collect acorns. I was probably about 9 or 10 years old.
I remember when I was about 4 or 5, mom and dad had just built the new house. There was a tree stump in the backyard that I played on. And it seems like there was an upended stump; all roots sticking out, I could climb up in there and find a place to sit in among the roots. That was fun.
I’ve lived here 55 years. A lot of trees have come and gone.
TALK ABOUT A TREE.
Four & Twenty Blackbirds
Today’s post comes to us from Ben.
The blackbirds have arrived. Or maybe they’ve just arrived en-mass. Kelly does not like them. She will go out at 6 a.m., slapping two boards together to scare them off. To me it looks like an exercise in futility. She’s thinking if she scares them off soon enough and often enough they’ll stay away. And I’m not sure – I can’t prove it *won’t* work. But I don’t think it is working.
It’s morning, she’s just driven off to work and the trees are already filled with cackling blackbirds. I’m sure it upset her no end; she knows they are mocking her now. But I admire her determination. The barn swallows have moved on so that’s depressing as well. Tonight when she gets home, she’ll be out there cracking those boards together.
We’ve even tried firing shotguns at them. Yep, they all fly away, but then they’re right back. Like turkey or deer. Or raccoons. Or a bad fungus.
The city of Rochester has also been fighting crows roosting in trees in the downtown area. So at least we’re not fighting the messy droppings of the blackbirds, just the noise.
“What wakes you up in the morning?”
