Thursday, December 29, 2011
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Got the roof cleaned off yesterday. We've had 2 snows of over 18" and several smaller snows. At the mid point on the roof there was over 2 feet of accumulation even with the settling that happens. I got started a bit after noon and finished after dark. It was COLD out there :D This job would be more fun if you didn't have to shovel off the deck after you clean the snow off the roof :D . I'm really glad it's done though. I was starting to worry a bit about all the weight up there and now we can go through a couple good, big snows without stressing.
Today?
MASSIVE wood chopping
Saturday, December 17, 2011
It was Saturday and we've shopped around the internet and online but hadn't gone shopping together yet, so (After Crystal opened her TOK Christmas with her gang of online knitting nutsos) we took off for Salida. Yes, it's in Colorado. :D Takes us about an hour and a quarter to get there, nice mountain town, good shopping lots of local art and such. Great place to go rafting in the summers.
But I digress......
We wandered around town a bit, Crys* got some "goodies" to savor later on and we picked up stocking stuffers and such. Then it was time for dinner and we went to Amica's. It's a pizza micro brew in downtown. Crys* had the Strong Scotch Ale and I had a Raspberry Porter. I always like to try new things if they sound odd. It was odd, good too. We each had a lovely veggie calzone and enjoyed our beers while listening to Texan's munch nearby and discuss their skiing holidays. :D Texans are very cute sometimes, when we don't want to kill them. Dessert, we splurged a bit, was tiramasu for me and chocolate cannoli for her. Both delish.
You really should hand with us. It's always fun.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Monday, December 5, 2011
Holiday Left-Over Sweet Potato Cake Recipe
Holiday Left-Over Sweet Potato Cake Recipe - Allrecipes.com
Absolutely delicious. I'm not a fan of thanksgiving sweet potatoes with baked and melted marshmallows at all! When we ended up with left-overs, I had to find an alternative to just letting them rot. This cake is great. I brought it to the office to share and everybody loves it. It would be even better with frosting, but with the number of pieces I've enjoyed, it's probably a good thing I didn't frost it.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Monday, November 21, 2011
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Denny's week off! Or not.....
This is the week I always take off work and stay home and veg and nest and cook and enjoy not working.
It's been an interesting week at work. Last Sunday was 23 hours of working in Salida when a wind storm tore down gobs of 100 foot trees and mangled the powerlines. Monday? More of the Same. Tuesday it was back to Alamosa to try to get the line up to Summitville mine back on. That took 2 long days and lots of hiking in knee deep snow packing a chainsaw. Thursday/Friday was more clean up and running to try to get stuff done. Today? Outage in Saguache and a giant tree that bounced off the line in Del Norte. I bet Summitville is out again but no one has noticed yet :D . That I think the Thomas Ranch line to Platoro is out too..... but everyone up there is gone for the winter so maybe we don't have to snow cat up there.
Right now? I get to be back under the blankies with the sweet girl and maybe I'll spend some of that overtime money shopping for her for Christmas if I can get her to look the other way for a minute.
The goats and Hazel are good. The wind is blowing. Life is good.
It's been an interesting week at work. Last Sunday was 23 hours of working in Salida when a wind storm tore down gobs of 100 foot trees and mangled the powerlines. Monday? More of the Same. Tuesday it was back to Alamosa to try to get the line up to Summitville mine back on. That took 2 long days and lots of hiking in knee deep snow packing a chainsaw. Thursday/Friday was more clean up and running to try to get stuff done. Today? Outage in Saguache and a giant tree that bounced off the line in Del Norte. I bet Summitville is out again but no one has noticed yet :D . That I think the Thomas Ranch line to Platoro is out too..... but everyone up there is gone for the winter so maybe we don't have to snow cat up there.
Right now? I get to be back under the blankies with the sweet girl and maybe I'll spend some of that overtime money shopping for her for Christmas if I can get her to look the other way for a minute.
The goats and Hazel are good. The wind is blowing. Life is good.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Gypsy Breakfast
Weekend and onward
We're working on the place again this weekend. Yesterday Tim and his partner Dennie came out and pitched in. Tim and I put up two storm doors.
OK, you're saying, "yeah, yeah, big freakin deal. A storm door takes twenty minutes",
and you'd be right. Unless you're talking about the rebuilt dream home from the bones of the '74 double wide.
See.... when we put in the new doors 11 years ago I bought pre-hung standard entry doors. Two 32" doors and one 30" door. So before I bought the storm doors I measured them just to make sure. Yep. 2 32's and a 30. And this is true, as long as you're on the INSIDE. From the outside they're 31 and 29. Yep.
S H I T
My soultion? Yep you guessed it. Circular saw and chop out an inch divot from the brick moulding on the catch side of the doors. We were only doing the 32's because you have to special order a 30 inch door which I have not yet done. So... cool.... now the door fits. That's great, you also have to trip the top lip moulding of the new door trim and mortise out for the strike plate. :D OH and trim the holder bracket for the closer because you have 4" walls instead of 6 so that the inside door will close. Now we're done!
Not so fast.... the knob of the original door now hits the face of the new storm door. (We installed the handles so they wouldn't hit, I anticipated that one. HAH!)
S H I T
What the hell do we do now? Find new handles and locks that are lower profile?
Not in the custom built double wide we don't!
We take a 2" hole saw, mark where the knob hits and with the wood chisel we countersink a hole that the door knob closes right into.
Perfect! Then we just do it all over again for door #2.
Meanwhile..... back at the ranch.........
Crystal and our friend Debra from San Francisco Creek (14 miles south and up the San Francisco Creek drainage rather than the Old Woman Creek drainage which we live on) were banderating our little goat Stanley. We've decided that the breeding process is too wasteful to get to Pygora goats which is Crystal's main goal. Goats that both milk and give fiber. SO, Stanley needed to be neutered. Debra is good at this, having her own herd, so she offered to help. We don't find this easy to decide and do but are sure that the herd (and us) will be much happier in the end and much easier to manage.
The day ended with Tim and Dennie making us dinner (at our house) some Mario Cart Wii, and The Kings Speech. Oh, and one episode of Always Sunny in Philly, which we love.
Today will be cutting and nailing veneer for cabinets. Cleaning stuff up, taking care of the critters, perhaps some drinking, firewood fetching and who knows what else.
Life is good.
OK, you're saying, "yeah, yeah, big freakin deal. A storm door takes twenty minutes",
and you'd be right. Unless you're talking about the rebuilt dream home from the bones of the '74 double wide.
See.... when we put in the new doors 11 years ago I bought pre-hung standard entry doors. Two 32" doors and one 30" door. So before I bought the storm doors I measured them just to make sure. Yep. 2 32's and a 30. And this is true, as long as you're on the INSIDE. From the outside they're 31 and 29. Yep.
S H I T
My soultion? Yep you guessed it. Circular saw and chop out an inch divot from the brick moulding on the catch side of the doors. We were only doing the 32's because you have to special order a 30 inch door which I have not yet done. So... cool.... now the door fits. That's great, you also have to trip the top lip moulding of the new door trim and mortise out for the strike plate. :D OH and trim the holder bracket for the closer because you have 4" walls instead of 6 so that the inside door will close. Now we're done!
Not so fast.... the knob of the original door now hits the face of the new storm door. (We installed the handles so they wouldn't hit, I anticipated that one. HAH!)
S H I T
What the hell do we do now? Find new handles and locks that are lower profile?
Not in the custom built double wide we don't!
We take a 2" hole saw, mark where the knob hits and with the wood chisel we countersink a hole that the door knob closes right into.
Perfect! Then we just do it all over again for door #2.
Meanwhile..... back at the ranch.........
Crystal and our friend Debra from San Francisco Creek (14 miles south and up the San Francisco Creek drainage rather than the Old Woman Creek drainage which we live on) were banderating our little goat Stanley. We've decided that the breeding process is too wasteful to get to Pygora goats which is Crystal's main goal. Goats that both milk and give fiber. SO, Stanley needed to be neutered. Debra is good at this, having her own herd, so she offered to help. We don't find this easy to decide and do but are sure that the herd (and us) will be much happier in the end and much easier to manage.
The day ended with Tim and Dennie making us dinner (at our house) some Mario Cart Wii, and The Kings Speech. Oh, and one episode of Always Sunny in Philly, which we love.
Today will be cutting and nailing veneer for cabinets. Cleaning stuff up, taking care of the critters, perhaps some drinking, firewood fetching and who knows what else.
Life is good.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
This weekend...
This weekend was full and fun. We had little Mason with us. What a fun experience. We're so not used to having a little one around. He kept us on our toes and was very good.
We spent time in our hammocks, playing mariokart, feeding the goats, and just generally playing our hearts out.
It was fun getting used to having the little goats out there. Stanley (the little white kid) is very loving and assertive. He lets us hold him and likes to be fed treats by hand. Chaco is a navajo angora. He's soooo amazingly soft and cuddly. He's starting to let us hold him more as well. Hazel is a little standoffish still. She's not so sure she wants people to touch her right now. However, I plan to keep working on her until she knows that we're her friends.
The house is clean, Mason went home to his momma, lots of the chores around the house are done. So, I'm thinking it'll be a mellow evening tonight. I hope to do a little target practice when I first get home. There's a couple of guns that we borrowed that I want to try out before we give them back. Then it's relaxing, watching tv, and eating on my "to do" list.
We spent time in our hammocks, playing mariokart, feeding the goats, and just generally playing our hearts out.
It was fun getting used to having the little goats out there. Stanley (the little white kid) is very loving and assertive. He lets us hold him and likes to be fed treats by hand. Chaco is a navajo angora. He's soooo amazingly soft and cuddly. He's starting to let us hold him more as well. Hazel is a little standoffish still. She's not so sure she wants people to touch her right now. However, I plan to keep working on her until she knows that we're her friends.
The house is clean, Mason went home to his momma, lots of the chores around the house are done. So, I'm thinking it'll be a mellow evening tonight. I hope to do a little target practice when I first get home. There's a couple of guns that we borrowed that I want to try out before we give them back. Then it's relaxing, watching tv, and eating on my "to do" list.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
The gang's all here!
Choco is a weathered, polled angora billy and just got here today courtesy of our friend Debra. He's butting heads and making friends with Stanley while Hazel worries about both of them. This will pretty much do it for the animals for the winter at the very least, we'll see how we like the feeding and care and shearing before we bulk up any more on critters.
Except maybe for some chickens.......
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Crystal and Hazel the Llama and Stanley the Angora Billy.
We got Hazel and Stanley home from Brad's house just about at dark thanks to the loan of a horsetrailer from my friend Larry. I think they were happy to be out of the trailer. Crystal is feeding them a little alfalfa as a treat while they settle in.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Key Lime Pie Recipe - Saveur.com
Key Lime Pie Recipe - Saveur.com I think I need to make this soon...
Monday, October 17, 2011
This capped a weekend of building the shelter for the goats. Crys* spent Sunday nailing all the shingles on the roof while I was building the walls. True to form, we finished up around sunset then retired for the evening to enjoy the supper Crys had been cooking all day. Yet another day in paradise.
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