More Kitchen Transformation

Mick's first week at home this summer gave us pantry shelves, and Week 2 continued the progress of kitchen organization.

 

Mick's first project of the second week was a spice rack.  Years ago (maybe right about when we got married?), we discovered Spice Islands spices and loved the look of the jars and the labels.  We decided that we would stock up on Spice Islands jars and use them for our spice rack, refilling them with less expensive spices that come in uglier containers.

 

 

The time finally came for our collection of jars to find their home!

 

 

We love how easy it is to find what we are looking for!  Mick also added some nails for utensils.  Baking is much more enjoyable and convenient than before!

 

 

The second project was a tea rack.  A few years ago, a friend of Mick's turned us on to the fine teas of Harney & Sons.  We kind of became tea snobs and switched to loose-leaf tea that comes in classy tins (surprisingly, not much more expensive than Lipton, if you stick to the less expensive of the snobby teas).  You may notice a trend here -- we decided to purchase small tins of a variety of teas, and restock those tins with the less expensive, uglier-packaged bulk teas.

 

 

The kitchen somehow feels much homier with these little touches.  It is amazing to me how quickly Mick has been able to whip out these projects, and rewarding to see how dramatically even such a quick project can transform the home!  A far cry from building a house. :)

Aquarium

Mick finally decided that crayfish are incompatible with plant life in our aquarium.  So the crayfish were deported to our front yard ponds, and Mick replanted the aquarium.

 

 

Our aquarium is now inhabited by three bluegills, two about the size pictured below and one smaller, as well as a collection of snails.  The snails keep the glass clean, and the fish love the flies we catch for them.

 

Maynar seems to enjoy watching the fish.

 

And perhaps the fish enjoy watching him too?

Our New Tradition... Extended Edition

I previously mentioned our new tradition but did not have many pictures.  I managed to remember the camera the last time we traditioned, and obtained some more thorough documentation.

 

 

When we arrive at the site, Mick collects firewood and starts the fire.

 

 

I get the chairs and the drinks ready.

 

 

Maynar enjoys the view.

 

 

Yarrow establishes a perimeter and defends our safety from all intruders, real and imagined, until she collapses from exhaustion.

 

We enjoy drinks, radio, and conversation.  On this particular occasion, we discussed the probability of a Black Rider appearing along the path.  (I said I wouldn't at all be surprised to see a Black Rider coming down the path; Mick said it reminded him very much of the sort of path one would expect to see a Black Rider on, but he would be pretty surprised just the same.)

 

 

Mick forms the burgers (thicker in the middle because they shrink when the fat cooks) and spices them (salt and pepper, onion and garlic powder) ahead of time, at home.  On site, he slices the cheese.  When he determines the fire is ready, he cooks the burgers, toasts the buns, and adds the cheese.

 

 

Maynar and I keep an eye on things.  Eating a hot, juicy cheeseburger while holding a wiggler is a trick I have not yet mastered!

 

Yarrow licks off the grill (and the juices that I drip on the ground) once we're finished.

 

The fire under control, the cooking complete, Maynar and Papa enjoy some time together.

 

Woo-hoo!!

 

Then we transition to dessert: bannock -- essentially a crescent roll wrapped onto a stick, cooked over the coals.

 

I might not always let it cook quite as long as I should -- I'm rather impatient, and don't mind the doughy-ness. :)  But it is a delicious end to the meal, and Mick says you can't have a fire without cooking something over the coals.  We both prefer this to the perhaps more traditional marshmallows.

 

 

Then, time to pack up and head home!

Good night!

Pantry Shelves!

In Mick's first week home from work, he completely transformed the kitchen.  This is the northwest corner of the kitchen at the beginning of his summer break:

 

 

And a week later:

 

 

We have been talking about pantry shelves since we first started designing the kitchen, and that part of the plan hasn't changed.  I remember laying out the kitchen on the tar paper before Mick installed the flooring, including pantry shelves approximately the width of two quart jars.  Well, the time had finally come to turn the plan into reality!  Mick designed the shelves, and we visited Lowes to collect supplies.  He did all the cutting and drilling in the barn (huzzah!), then brought the pieces into the house to assemble the unit there.

 

We stood it up to stain it, then he installed it and added the top (thicker) shelf.

 

He added cleats to support that top shelf.

I'm always impressed by how good he can make things look; he even picked pretty screw heads for the side of the shelves that would face into the room.

 

We added two coats of poly and very impatiently waited for it to dry, then Mick added the shelf brackets.  The brackets we found for the lower shelves were painted white, and the longer brackets for the top shelves were unpainted steel.  A can of Rustoleum fixed that!

 

 

Huzzah!!

 

Piglets!

Susie, an American Guinea hog on loan from Steve and Amie, was always on the heavy side, but since her amorous encounter with Amos (our American Guinea boar), she has been growing even heavier!

 

It was probably a few weeks ago that we thought she couldn't possibly get any bigger; she had to deliver soon.

 

But no, she just kept eating and growing.

 

 

Her teats started to swell, until a couple of days ago Mick could finally strip milk from them.  No more than 24 hours left! (say the good books).

 

The good books were right!  We woke up the next morning to less of Susie...

 

...and a roiling mass of piglets!

 

 

They all seemed well-cared for and quite active and energetic.

 

 

Unlike the ruminants, she showed no interest in consuming the placenta.

 

She now spends most of the day lying down while the piglets nurse (which they seem to do constantly, as far as I can tell!).

Our first litter of piglets!  Bravo, Susie! :)

 

More Barn Organization

Mick has continued organizing the barn, one project at a time as he decides how he wants things to be set up.  A project we were very excited about is a rack for storing sheets of construction material, such as plywood.  The idea is that the rack fits neatly against the back wall so we can still stack hay directly in front of it.  Mick left enough space to the right of the rack so that materials can be put in and out of the rack that way.

The side from which the materials are extracted is fastened with a chain.  He used big bolts at the bottom for the rack to be able to swivel outwards when needed.

The opposite end of the rack is fastened with a bungee cord, and we can stack hay directly up to it, since we do not need to be able to access this side of it.  This rack cleared out an entire corner of the basement! as these materials were bulky and difficult to store the way we had things set up there.

Another project was shelves built directly into the wall.  I am amazed at the angled cuts Mick is able to do so that pieces fit together.

 Maynar and I helping, as usual.

So far all of the barn building projects have used lumber left over from the construction of the overhang.  (The builders were thrilled to be able to leave their scraps behind; I can't imagine anyone not wanting it!)

Our New Tradition

We have started a new tradition of at least weekly spending an evening out in the woods.  The evening typically includes Mickey's amazing cheeseburgers, drinks and smokes, and bannock, along with the radio and great conversation.  Bannock is an idea Mick brought along from Boy Scouts -- our current recipe is Betty Crocker's rich crescent rolls, wrapped around a stick and cooked over the coals, though next time I'll try less sugar and more butter.  This week's radio included Wait Wait Don't Tell Me (an NPR news game show that we really enjoy), Selected Shorts (short stories read aloud), and a debate about affirmative action.  In between forays through the surrounding woods to keep us safe from chipmunks and zombies, Yarrow enjoyed overcooked hamburger buns (overcooked while Mick was fixing me a drink, oops!) dipped in beef grease.  It is nice to be far enough away from the house not to be able to hear the phone ring or the animals complain (at least the complaints are distant enough not to be annoying).  And it is nice to be close enough to the house that we can walk to our private spot in the woods.

It didn't occur to me to take any pictures this last weekend until we were on our way back, but this might give you at least a little bit of an idea of our evening.  Mick tows our supplies in the garden cart -- we're getting better at packing; I don't think we forgot anything this week.

And the contents of the cart:

We couldn't believe it, but Maynar slept through the entire bumpy ride back home!