The Old Folks Home

[ronott1]

Good morning, Folks!

Went up to Santa Fe for the weekend. The altitude up there is 7500, but we have acclimated and so don't really notice a difference....Except when it comes to cooking. My pet peeve is it's nearly impossible to keep a cup of coffee hot beyond the first sip. Cooking temps are skewed as well (pasta takes forever to cook as boiling water isn't really boiling temps.) Well, discovered another cooking anomaly. Brought up a can of biscuits I had purchased down here and, if peeling back the wrapper and instituting the "pop" at the seam isn't nerve-wracking enough, the darn thing exploded and shot biscuits across the kitchen. It certainly livened up breakfast prep!

Our romantic getaway weekend reverie was cut short by our baseboard heater boiler malfunctioning, heating continuously but expelling the water out of the overflow spout to the tune of a gallon every two minutes or so. No idea how long that had been happening, but really not wanting to pay for filling a pool when there wasn't none nor the massive amount of gas the boiler was using to continuously heat water. The baseboard heaters were functioning, but instead of the usual creaks and groans from the warming pipes it sounded as if water was trickling through them or the audible sound of water movement. Called several plumbers/boiler technicians. They advertise 24-hour emergency service -- ha! -- which means they answer the phone, but since it's a holiday weekend they really don't want to come out until Tuesday. (Even willing to pay the emergency fee, their on-calls were not answering... Valentine's Day night on a holiday weekend.) So we shut down the mechanicals and drained the water out of the house lines. Needless to say, without heat or running water, no point in remaining there as camping really isn't my thing. Looks like a new boiler is in our future as cost to repair the ancient beast in the back shed will probably be as much as installing a new one. (I wish it were as easy as putting in a new pump, but at 40+ y.o. that might just be like a band-aid for life support.) Looks like it also was kind of the last straw and we'll be selling the Santa Fe place once we get the boiler and water heater issues resolved. Sigh...

Which brings me to the next item: DH is starting to grumble about New Mexico and is hinting that maybe we should move to Texas. We're getting older and our yard really is kind of cumbersome and time-consuming and more likely to get more so as we get older. I could go for a smaller less-labor-intensive landscape (might have to sacrifice having chickens), but want a house same or similar size as here. Anybody here from there that can provide insight as to what it's like living in Texas? (Weather, humidity, anything, etc.)

Thanks in advance!

I think I have posted this before but pressure cookers like the instant pot will be a life changer for you! I found this quote:

Why Are Pressure Cookers Recommended for High Altitude Cooking?
While you do adjust your cooking time for pressure cookers as well as for some standard cooking methods, you still save time and energy. Instead of a delicious and juicy roast taking 8-10 hours in a crock pot, you can achieve the same results in 35-60 minutes in a pressure cooker, depending on how high you are above sea level.

With high altitudes, pressure cooking doesn’t just cook food faster than traditional methods, it also makes food retain more moisture, with better tasting results.

As stated above, thin air means dry air and dry air means dry food. Moisture evaporates much faster from your food as it cooks if it is not retained in some way. Pressure cooking replaces and mimics the moisture and atmospheric pressure that you lose at high altitudes, leaving your food much juicier and succulent.

Pressure cooking is a great way of making sure the food you eat is cooked through and safe to eat. As the boiling point of water is below 212 degrees Fahrenheit, your food can end up undercooked and dangerous to eat with some standard cooking methods.

Cooking with high pressure allows you to create delicious foods much quicker, even with adjusted cooking times, than standard cooking methods, and ensures they are safe for your and your family to eat do to the increased pressure causing temperatures to get higher.

Pressure cookers are recommended for high altitude cooking because they reduce standard cooking method times, produce moist and tender foods and increases food safety, which reduces the risk of food-borne illnesses.

If you are planning on boiling food at all at a high altitude you should always consider the benefit of using a pressure cooker instead for the increase in temperature alone. High altitude pressure cooking times are a bit longer than sea level pressure cooking times but not by that much.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Nope got me to buy a fryer .. Now have a old pressure cooker great one
not cooking in it soon plan some jams when berries are ready
even bought a new box of small jars

 

[ronott1]

Nope got me to buy a fryer .. Now have a old pressure cooker great one
not cooking in it soon plan some jams when berries are ready
even bought a new box of small jars

I do not think you live at a high Altitude?

 

[bruceha2000]

I didn’t go to bed till 5:30 last night

Back to your old bad habits?

I'm making progress. Much less rat activity tonight.

I heard little squeakers under the floor of the coop this evening. Probably calling for Mom to come feed them. I really need to get those things trapped.

The baseboard heaters were functioning, but instead of the usual creaks and groans from the warming pipes it sounded as if water was trickling through them or the audible sound of water movement.

Sounds like you have air in the register pipes. Depending on how the boiler was installed it isn't hard to get that air out. Attach a hose to the drain cock on the return pipe and let the pump run water through to the bucket you have under the hose The boiler should backfill from the cold water inlet pipe. The other way, if you have drain cocks in both the outgoing hot water pipe and the return pipe, is to have a bucket of water with a pump connected to the outgoing pipe and forcing water through the return pipe. When you stop getting air out of the return pipe hose you are done.

Anybody here from there that can provide insight as to what it's like living in Texas? (Weather, humidity, anything, etc.)

Um, TX is a BIG place. I think the answer to almost any weather question is "Yes" and "No".
Is it humid?
Is it hot?
Does it go below freezing in the winter?
etc

 

[ShrekDawg]

Back to your old bad habits?


I heard little squeakers under the floor of the coop this evening. Probably calling for Mom to come feed them. I really need to get those things trapped.


Sounds like you have air in the register pipes. Depending on how the boiler was installed it isn't hard to get that air out. Attach a hose to the drain cock on the return pipe and let the pump run water through to the bucket you have under the hose The boiler should backfill from the cold water inlet pipe. The other way, if you have drain cocks in both the outgoing hot water pipe and the return pipe, is to have a bucket of water with a pump connected to the outgoing pipe and forcing water through the return pipe. When you stop getting air out of the return pipe hose you are done.


Um, TX is a BIG place. I think the answer to almost any weather question is "Yes" and "No".
Is it humid?
Is it hot?
Does it go below freezing in the winter?
etc

Afraid so. :Hide though usually it’s 3 or 4. The 5:30 was a bit of a fluke.

Need to work on it though!! Been eating like carp too

 

[microchick]

Hi Guys and Gals! It got into the 40s here today with lots of sun. About 80% of the snow is gone and I heard a robin in the timber this morning while out putting my nets back up. We have some northern robins that actually winter over here in Missouri. Poor things, a MO winter is their idea of warm. More optimistic if you can call it that, about spring being around the corner, while out putting up nets there was a big red tailed hawk circling overhead and screaming its brains out for about a half an hour. The birds were locked up so no worries but it's a sign that they are starting their spring territorial displays.

As far as spring is concerned, I'm ready.

@Peep_Show we overnighted in Taos on our way to be married in Casa Grande AZ. We loved it there. Such a pretty city along with Socorro, which we liked even more.

 

[Alaskan]

Anybody here from there that can provide insight as to what it's like living in Texas? (Weather, humidity, anything, etc.)

Thanks in advance!

Um, TX is a BIG place. I think the answer to almost any weather question is "Yes" and "No".
Is it humid?
Is it hot?
Does it go below freezing in the winter?
etc

X2.

So....are you looking for small town or big city?

I am from Texas, and love the place but WOWSERS there are a CRAZY number of people moving to Texas on a daily basis.

Because of that, in some areas housing prices are going up...

But, in general, what Bruce said...huge big state, all kinds of weather to be had.

 

[ronott1]

Hi Guys and Gals! It got into the 40s here today with lots of sun. About 80% of the snow is gone and I heard a robin in the timber this morning while out putting my nets back up. We have some northern robins that actually winter over here in Missouri. Poor things, a MO winter is their idea of warm. More optimistic if you can call it that, about spring being around the corner, while out putting up nets there was a big red tailed hawk circling overhead and screaming its brains out for about a half an hour. The birds were locked up so no worries but it's a sign that they are starting their spring territorial displays.

As far as spring is concerned, I'm ready.

@Peep_Show we overnighted in Taos on our way to be married in Casa Grande AZ. We loved it there. Such a pretty city along with Socorro, which we liked even more.

It is 63F currently at 5:28PM

 

[microchick]

It is 63F currently at 5:28PM

Thanks for making my 44 degree high seem cold, Ron. But you have to keep in mind that three days ago the low was -14. So 44 is a virtual heat wave for us.

 

[sourland]

View attachment 2028092

Thanks for making my 44 degree high seem cold, Ron. But you have to keep in mind that three days ago the low was -14. So 44 is a virtual heat wave for us.

When it comes to temperatures, it's all relative. Today 46 felt like a heat wave.