Smells good in here!

September 14, 2006 (12:20pm)
63º F, Finally sun, SE wind 4 mph.

Good afternoon,

The last of the beef/barley is on the stove warming for lunch. I think most of it will disappear today. It really was a good soup. Already talking in the past tense. We will have some really good ingredients for future soups too. Margriet went for a walk before and was stopped by our neighbor as she walked by. Kathy gave her a large bag of ripe tomatoes and told her to can them. Margriet said she had never done that in the past, so didn’t know how. Katy tried to convince her it was easy. We decided to dehydrate them instead and freeze any that didn’t fit into the dehydrator. The ends of the tomato we will puree in the blender, them make tomato leather form it, adding a few spices. Then we can use it for tomato paste or sauce with pasta and like that. One thing sure, the house will smell very good for the next day or so. The slices of tomato really do look nice on the dehydrator too. By-golly - we’re going to make Margriet into an American "homesteader" who lives beyond the sidewalks yet!

With all of the rain we have had in the last couple of weeks, it pointed out a serious problem for the outhouse - the roof leaks seriously. Not unlike when the kids were here the first night a few yeas ago. I had recovered the roof this spring, but the tarp I used is not very good I think. Didn’t expect the need to pay attention to it for another year or so. I have spent some time putting blocking under the joints of the roof sheeting. Lots of cutting small blocks and then screwing them in place. I am using up all my little pieces of 2"x4" laying around here and there too. Probably will need to buy more though. I have some roll roofing left from another project, so will use that to cover the roof this time. It should be more permanent. Hope I have enough roll roofing to cover the whole roof. It will be close. If not, the top part of the roof will have shingles on it. Not too worried about looks - only dry.

Leberkase was on the menu for supper last night. It sure was good, but too much. We decided that in the future, we will cut the package in half before putting it into the freezer. There is enough in each package for two meals for us that way and we/I will not be over stuffed. Margriet made it with some sauteed vegetables (pepper, onion, mushrooms and celery), then topped the Leberkase with a fried egg. That is a lot to eat! But I managed. Seems I heard something about ribs for tonight. They ain’t bad either. Of course there is always "cheap chicken" at the Birchwood if things get too tired out to cook.

The glucosamine seems to be having an effect on all of my joints, except my left shoulder. I find that I really don’t need to use the Aleve for them. I do if I need to extend my shoulder though. Hope the pills are really making a difference and it isn’t just in my head. As far as the shoulder goes, I didn’t expect any change in that for taking these pills. I did a bit of research on the problem on the web, looking at the Mayo Clinic ( http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/rotator-cuff-injury/DS00192 ) and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons’ ( http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/fact/thr_report.cfm?thread_id=127&topcategory=shoulder) websites. Studying the information there, I must have torn my rotator cuff when the tree threw me around a couple of years ago. Not sure if there is a "repair" for it at this date, since I am sure things have "healed-in" rather than being a fresh injury. Seems I will need to figure out some "work-arounds" for various tasks for the duration - mostly the chainsaw is the most challenging for me. Aleve does help a bit, but not totally.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><