Catching Up

 Two of our Grands were here yesterday...Savannah, Paige and Paige's husband Cole. 

They came to catch us up on housework and yard work.  We are good to go again for a while.  The girls...one took upstairs and one downstairs...they vacuumed and scrubbed floors and washed some windows.  They did all the climbing on the step stool that I used to do...dusty decorative items were all cleaned up.  Cole worked outside he dug up a dead shrub, cleaned out the window well, cleaned out the grate by the front door, blew out my garage, washed the garage door and sprayed down the house...oh yes and washed Ranger Blue.  

Best of all we got to catch up with them and the goings on in their lives and we all went out for lupper at our favorite patio place.  The food was great as usual!

The girls...Paige and Savannah

Far Guy and Cole

As you can see from the photos is was a blue sky with white fluffy clouds day. 

These kids have way more energy than we do...we are tired out now.

Minnesota weather: High  75F or 24C   Low 53F or 12C

Far Side

Out with the old in with the new

 Finally after 5 months and 11 days we have a new fridge.  Not the fridge I ordered which was an Amana...instead it is a Whirlpool because the Amana might be available in June...but the couldn't promise anything.  When Bert called me he said "Don't hang up on me I have good news and bad news."  The bad news was that the Amana may or may not come in June...the good news that a Whirlpool was now available for delivery.  So they delivered it last Friday.

Switching out a fridge is hard work for old folks.  Far Guy said "Never again"  It makes ice cubes quite loudly.  He has been worried that the 22 year old fridge would die any day.

So our brains have to relearn where stuff is. 

old

new

We now have several appliances that match....the old stove is black....but the microwave and the toaster are stainless.   So we are almost matchy matchy.

Yesterday morning we sat outside watching the birds...it was 63 degrees and sunny...then it got cloudy and the temperature fell into the 40's.  The S word has been spoken again.

Far Side

Fun stuff

Friday night I asked my husband " What kind of fun stuff are we going to do tomorrow?"  I was getting ready to shave his head...the sink acted funny and gurgled...and then an alarm started going off. 

Earlier in the evening we had heavy rain and a power interruption....thinking nothing of it we continued on.

The lift pump failed...and the water alarms worked...Far Guy stopped draining the bathtub...I grabbed some towels and a bucket and sponge.  Far Guy tried to bypass the float and get the pump to work...no dice.

I emptied the bathtub bucket by bucket because sometimes the stopper leaks and I really didn't want to sop up a whole bathtub of water off the furnace room floor. If it hadn't been raining cats and dogs outside I would have gotten a five gallon pail from the garage...plus it was dark and there might have been a bear out there. Mission accomplished by 1 AM and I sure slept good after that!

Luckily we have another bathroom upstairs that drains directly out without using the lift pump. 
 Far Guy did breakfast dishes upstairs in the bathroom sink on Saturday morning...a Plumber was called.  Risk vs Reward...we like using our kitchen sink and the bathroom downstairs!

Late Saturday afternoon we were back in business...with a new lift pump installed and working.  Thank goodness for a nice young local plumber who works on Saturday afternoons...who was quick and efficient.  He said "If you have any problems with this new pump call right away!" 

Far Guy says "Don't ask me again what kind of fun exciting things are we going to do tomorrow."

We didn't cook...we went to town and got a burger from a drive through burger place.

We got 2 and 6/10 inches of rain from the overnight storms.

 The road to town

While waiting on the plumber we managed to get a few more Christmas ornaments completed...45 are done now!

In the evening my brothers and their brides visited and nephew Logan is here from Seattle with his new puppy Zelda...we had a nice visit out on the patio!  (Logan was about 20 feet away from us and we did not pet his puppy but admired her from afar)

Far Guy heard from his sister, her surgery went well and she was feeling pretty good after having such a big surgery.

 Far Side

Pineapple cutter

Far Guy ordered a new kitchen gadget.  A pineapple cutter.

It worked slick...sometimes when you see stuff work on the Internet you wonder does it really work that slick?  In this case it did.  It took the core out and cut a spiral of pineapple.
Far Side

Cleaning Ovens

This could be a new sport.  Yes I know my oven is self cleaning BUT the last time I cleaned it the darn thing locked and Mr Fixit had to come and unlock it for me and I think he charged well over 100 dollars to do so.  SO I clean it myself…and save 100 dollars.

I don’t use smelly caustic oven cleaners either…I use baking soda and a green 3 M scratch pad thingy and lots of elbow grease…and some super duper athletic moves.

I practically have to do an arabesque to get close enough to clean the sides of the oven.  I was wishing that my kitchen was a true galley kitchen that way I could have put one leg up on a cupboard for support! A modified yoga move called a Downward – facing dog will get me to the back wall of the oven.  At one point I got dizzy…too much blood up there in my head.  When I broke into a sweat Far Guy took over for a bit…it was nice to have a break.  Too bad they don’t design an oven with a removable door so you could get closer to scour…you have to be careful too…one false arabesque or doggie move will take out that oven door that you have been cussing. Luckily that did not happen.  The oven racks were scrubbed and scrubbed until they looked like new and I will be protective of them for a few weeks anyway.  I laid on the floor to clean under the stove…I was almost long armed enough to reach all the way to the wall…I had to use Far Guy’s Mom’s old picker upper with a rag on the end of it to reach the far wall. Everything that could be taken apart was taken apart.  I cleaned as far down in the downdraft vent as my hand would let me without getting stuck.

The first part of the day was spent moving the fridge out of it’s spot.  I had cleaned it inside a few weeks ago…yeah me!

Yes I know none of the appliances match…who wants to be all matchy matchy anyways.  Some day this 20 year old Amana refrigerator will bite the dust and I can get a black one…or one of those fancy smancy silver ones.  I hope my Jenn-Air never bites the dust as they are pretty expensive now …it was one thing that I splurged on when we built the house.

The kitchen has been holding me hostage this week.  I am happy to be almost done…so happy I am taking today off…the open cupboards above the sink is all that is left and I hear there is a snowstorm coming so I will clean all those dishes and shelves during the snowstorm.

It feels really good to be almost done with this spring cleaning project.  In case you were wondering, all the cabinets by the fridge were custom built by a local craftsman….when I needed the rest of the cabinets for the kitchen he was too busy to do them so he gave Far Guy lessons and Far Guy and I built them piece by piece.  We designed them and built them.  The drawers were the pits to make…but I love them.

Finally

The lower level window across from my desk was a challenge.  I said we should clean it in place…Far Guy said “oh no we can open it.”  Huh?  It is a bugger to lock once opened it has to go back together perfectly…the stars must align and the moon has to be just so and if you do it on the second Sunday in a week you might get it to latch.  In the summer I don’t worry about it…but it is winter.

Yes that white stuff is snow.

Usually I sit outside cross legged in those rocks to wash the outside of this window…I always wonder how fast will I be able to move if a snake comes along…well I didn’t need to worry about that yesterday but I also didn’t want to sit down in that snow.

We finally accomplished the washing and waxing of the window…Far Guy helped and then I sent him inside to be the pointer…what you don’t need someone to point where the window is smeared?  I do.  ( Yes I wax our windows…I used to use a product in a pink can called glass wax…now I use something called Glass and Silver Polish….it helps the rain/snow slide right off a window without leaving water spots.  I waxed windows all the time at the resort…many many windows.)

Now we have to get the window to latch…let the adventure begin.

Well he struggled, I struggled…at one point he was outside pushing on the edge of the window freezing his butt off, while I was trying to latch it from inside.  He came in to warm up. Then I did it…I opened it once again…someone said “You didn’t open that window again did you?” accompanied by a sigh that could have been heard in the next county…. ummmm yes… then I closed it firmly and low and behold it latched. I DID IT!!   Far Guy was amazed…howdidyadothat?  Just lucky I guess.

That window has pretty stuff on the ledge too…it is all waiting in the kitchen…after the big struggle I was too tired to put everything back…of course everything had to be moved under this window …and what better time to scrub the floor and give the grout a really good clean.

I finally had a chance to put up my Thanksgiving flag.

Kitchen Window

It warmed up.  Well it is above freezing at 36 degrees or 2 C eh!  Warm enough to take the kitchen window apart get rid of the gross dead Asian Lady Beetles that are everywhere and properly wash a window. ( When it was window washing weather last Fall we were invaded by the horrid little bugs.)

I have been waiting for the weather to warm up so I could do that project and hang up my new curtain…the valance that my Mother made me for my birthday.  The fabric is part of The 2017 Minnesota Quilt Project…but I saw the material and just knew it would make a really pretty valence in our kitchen.  This window also has blinds…hidden by the valance. Not that we use them very much…when it is really cold or really hot.

Of course one little project turns into a little bit bigger project as you go along.  My “stuff” on the ledge of the window needed a wash.

My extra large ice cream bowl that is full of petrified wood and agates from Washington State and a gift from a friend is one of my favorite things….and a real dust catcher especially when the window is open.

Loon and Lady Slipper hangs in the window to discourage birds from flying into the window. Most of our snow has melted for the moment.

One window at a time….it is exercise for my bum hand.

 

Far Guy was cooking his famous chip dip; a chili cheese italian sausage mixture as I finished up my project.  It was really yummy.

Squirreling away

We did an inventory of the deep freeze and the fridge freezer.  We have enough soups, chili, gumbo and lasagna frozen so we could both eat for the next 21 days without cooking. Plus we have other stuff in there that needs to be used up, berries and vegetables…oh and a nice assortment of meat…flat bread, lefsa, pumpkin and banana bread….even some caramel rolls to round out the stash.

I now have a list on the fridge so we can update it as food is used. If we remember. Our goal is to use it up before it warms up…so we can defrost the deep freeze.

I recall that my maternal grandparents who went through the depression years…their TWO deep freezers were always filled to the brim….everytime Grandma sent you for something you had to dig for it.  I like going to get Peach Pie…or Apple…neither of which are in our freezer.

The Shiny Brites are put away, the tree waited in its bag until our son in law Handy Andy and daughter Jen could help…it was easy for them to wrangle it into it’s storage spot.

My other projects have been on hold after the Shiny Brite tree de decorating.  I need to get my butt in gear.

Chance is in a “mood” he misses his friends.  He is sassy and vocal and wants either attention or treats. He is being weaned from higher calorie treats and gets a couple of frozen blueberries.  He used to eat raw carrots and apples when he was a pup…now he just spits them out.  Far Guy will make pumpkin treats for him this week…rice flour, egg, dry milk and pumpkin.

Unplanned Spring Cleaning

Late Sunday afternoon I was awakened by a commotion in the bathroom.  Far Guy was cussing the old plunger that we got back in the 1980’s.  I know it is not from the 1970’s as that one had a burned handle from the time it was used to roll a log in the wood furnace.  He went to the garage for bigger more impressive clog removing tools, snakes and a power driven whatchamacallit.

I had been very sound asleep…so I had a bit of a brain fog…but assisted him anyway…even calling for a new plunger which was swiftly delivered by my great niece and nephew, Anna and Mason next door. 

That plunger had no results either…something was really amuck.  Finally the water alarm went off in the furnace/laundry room as water came backwards through the floor drain.  The kids left with their plunger and reported back to their Dad ( My Nephew) that we had real problems.  I called my other baby brother and as I was telling Far Guy how to by pass the float…Far Guy was recalling it himself…the lift station lifted…and the water receded down the floor drain.   The float was bad…I disinfected the floor once before supper and once after supper.

Monday morning my nephew Josh came over, then my other baby brother came over…they developed a plan and at the end of the day we had a working lift station again…complete with a new float. 

In order to have an area to work in the washer/dryer had to be moved, and in order to move it we removed the wire shelving unit from the wall…the kitchen was full of stuff.  Piece by piece I washed all the shelving whilst the guys were “fixing.” When they were done, I scrubbed the floor again…and we put the shelves together and all “the stuff” was put back in place.

On the positive side: 

Part of that room has been spring cleaned!

The lift station is only for the lower level of our home.  The upstairs bathroom has it’s own separate sewage line…so we were never without a bathroom or a shower.

After a full day I had a four hour nap, I am a good napper… stress makes me really sleepy.

Refrigerator Drama

It is fixed, repaired.  Mr. Fixit came out right away Monday morning and after a diligent search through all the wires in the refrigerator found the problem and fixed it.  Yes his name is Mr. Fixit.

The problem was a coupler.  For some reason it went crazy arcing and eventually burned out or whatever and quit…which shut the entire fridge down.

It didn’t look bad from the outside, the men cut it apart to see what the problem was…$90 later it was replaced and everything is working all hunky dory.  The fridge may last another fifteen years…who knows.

I do know that everything in the refrigerator freezer barely fit in our chest freezer.  We have to use up some of that frozen food.  Two people shouldn’t have that much food hoarded in reserve.  Even if we do live in Minnesota and can get stormed in for a few days.  We have soup in the pantry…we won’t starve to death.

We did get the refrigerator freezer all defrosted and cleaned out!

Far Guy breathed a sigh of relief …he was not looking forward to shopping for a new refrigerator.  Neither was I.

Social Security is slow as molasses in the winter time…no calls were returned on Monday in regard to the Medicare problem.  Why am I not surprised?