~ Retired and Starting My Future In The Foothills ~

Very restful day today. I slept late, pattered around in my brand new slippers for some time before I dressed to go pick up some smokes at the little gas station & market just up the highway from me. Once I was out, I decided to take a Sunday drive. Drove to the street where John has told me he has two customers, specifically to see an exterior staircase he built. Oh MY! Almost wish I had a second story at my house to have such a beautiful piece of construction work on MY property! Drove further down that street to the customer's property with a pond and ducks. Didn't look for construction work, just watched the ducks on the pond and smiled for a while, then headed back out to the highway.

Meandered to the Bella Piazza Winery where I have a Wine Club membership, picked up my February wine offerings: a bottle of the winery's 2008 Bella Rosso and a bottle of 2008 Cabernet Franc. Stopped at the Amador Flower Farms & Nursery to look for stuff. Plants, fruit trees, and garden thingies. Not quite ready to spend over $350 for a huge, scrap metal rooster, or $199 for the adorable scrap metal cow. But I did get another Geeky Bird figurine and a hand-made, fired & glazed tile of a rooster and hen. Plus a bag of magnetic rocks to keep me entertained when I don't want to use my brain. But I have identified some fruit trees and climbing vines for later planting. Signed up for the monthly e-mail newsletter (with sales not advertised elsewhere) AND earned some punches through a discount card for registering for the e-newsletter.

On the way there, I'd gotten sad at seeing what I thought was a dead sheep laying in the pasture some distance away from the grazing sheep. Looked with that "I can't not look" dread to see it again on my pass back by the pasture. Whew! It was merely a no-longer-sleeping LGD. Wow. That dog - even standing! - looks so much like the sheep it guards!

Once home, I treated the flock to the contents of a carton of old fashioned rolled oatmeal. It's one of the best times to hand feed those which will dare to get that close to the most senior hens. (The senior hens hog my hands, so I toss lots more out onto the ground for everybody to enjoy it.)

Called a fellow who had left two messages on my answering machine about the bantam roosters. I do believe he's going to be the "winner" and get all but two of the bantam boys listed on the "Must Re-home" flyer. HH and FL took one of the Cardigans and I've decided I cannot yet divest myself of Nugget. I just can't. He is SUCH a good little roo!

This guy moved up this way about the same time as I did. He also has a cell phone with the same Area Code as mine; he previously lived in San Lorenzo Valley (Santa Cruz County) and now lives fairly close to me, on Slug Gulch Road. (Great road name, huh?!?) He has a little over 4 acres, currently boards a few horses there, wants to set up a Community Garden on some of his property, and is in the middle of securing the coop already on the property. We will make arrangements next weekend. He is super jazzed about bantams - and particularly George and Alex. Nobody close enough to be bothered by their crowing. George actually crowed right next to me whilst I was talking on the phone about him. I'll add a couple of Cinnamon Queens and a smallish Delawegger to the deal when we consummate it. And I will get visiting rights!!!

I was slicing some Yukon Gold potatoes to make potato chips in my microwave, earlier. Neglected to utilize the "protective" holder which prevents injury on the mandolin blade. Yup, sliced a section of the right side of my right thumb right off. Swore some. Bled a LOT. I am right-handed. It was very difficult to open the tube of Neosporin, open band aid coverings and apply the band-aids to the section where I had so niftily lopped off a bit of my thumb. Plus I'm noticing that spot is exactly where I press the space bar when typing. Ow. Ow some more. Eww, need another band-aid. I do believe I deserve to spoon some comfort out of a tub of Betty Crocker Rich & Creamy Milk Chocolate frosting.

But the potato chips were great! I used this item to make them: www.qvc.com/qic/qvcapp.aspx?view=2&app=detail&params=item^K35527 No oil used (or salt) and they were crunchy and ready in six minutes. I used both levels of the whatchamacallit, twice, and still had a small end of the potato to pop raw into my mouth. I'd picked up the Yukon Gold potatoes specifically for this treat, the last time I picked up grocery items. I might not have anything in my kitchen that SOME PEOPLE think could be used to make a full meal, but I gots nummies and nummy-MAKING equipment.
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Wish I could have went with you on your drive. I miss doing that. We used to go on country drives alot in Iowa. Since we moved here, and Mike works out of town, we haven't done that much. When he gets home later this week I am gonna remind him of that. Thanks for the reminder!

Well, if he gets a Delawegger, he is getting a real deal there, Linda!
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Take care of that laceration. Ouch!
 
You got a bottle of Bella Piazza's Cab Franc??? On my way .... LOL!
Come on over! The house is warming up - the new propane heater is installed and working! Two "issues" - the cover for the glass window came chipped from the factory so the installer spray painted it, but there is a new one already on order under warranty. The second issue is the power cord for the fan/blower is too short to reach the only outlet on that side of the living room, so I need to get a 2prong to 3prong adapter to use an extension cord. The fan works; the guy didn't leave until it all worked; he used his extension cord to make sure the fan came on. It took a LONG time to come on; it's not automatic. Well, it IS automatic, but on its own schedule.
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The heater has to warm itself up first before it starts to blow warmed air.

So, without the power cord adapter, there is no fan working right now. Less efficient heating in the interim but there is still HEAT from it! It's gorgemous.



Now, during installation, several issues came up and were solved. There was a steel "gasket" thing in the ceiling which was bolted to a frame box and this thing was the 'only" thing from the old stove/heater which was a quality piece of work. He didn't want to cut out more of the ceiling than necessary, so he spent well over an hour trying to saw through and break it into enough pieces to get it out of the ceiling. Whole new flue and chimney installed without a hitch after that. Then the guy locked his keys - along with other tools and the heater - in the van. He had to call another employee out to open the van. During the waiting period, he painted all the flue bits black. Then, the model which had instructions (and the ad on the 'net) for top or back vent turned out to be ONLY back vented. He didn't have a 90degree angle flue outlet with him, so he had to call the office again to have one brought out to my house. He tried two 45s but that put the heater too far away from the wall.

So the poor guy was here ALL day. He was very polite, put down cardboard on the floor and cleaned up afterwards with a shop-vac. Showed me how to use the thermostat he placed on the wall where I wanted it - it's PROGRAMMABLE!

I'll put up the usual photo display of the installation process a bit later - just wanted to get the invite out to you with the pretty heater displayed. I'll put that wine in the fridge.
 
Very very nice. I so luv this thread.

Went to the link for the potato chip thing.. Didn't show the item and said it was not available. Would love to know what it is.
 
What's the latest on the Bunny escapees? Are they still on the lam? Hope they've decided to come home now after their great adventure.

I can sympathize with your hand slice. I did the same thing many years ago with a crank slicer called a "Schnell Schneider". There is a metal thing that you are supposed to use to push the bread or meat into the blade. Well, I didn't use it. And paid the price with a slice off a finger. It was too late at night to go to the ER so I put the flap back on and taped it well. It healed beautifully and there is really not even a scar. It's inconvenient to have a hand injury, however.

Your heater is beautiful! Does the top get really hot?
 

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