New roof rake?

No way, not at 60 $ a pop

The old one has seen better days

Last year late in the season, none were available anywhere, so I attempted to repair it using a heat gun and embedding some wire mesh to bridge the crack in the plastic. Now it has given out again

So some 50 thousands thick 5052 aluminum left over from a fuel tank building project and an hour's worth of cutting, bending and soldering we arrive at this.

The end result is lighter and sturdier than the original and works pretty slick too.

Winter birds

One of the few perks of snow storms is that it is fairly easy to attract birds the day after if you clear a patch and put down some seed.

Three Blue Jays have been visiting the feeder regularly.

Nut Hatches are here often

And the doves never miss a good feed

Wet and heavy like concrete

Thanksgiving day 6.30 am looking out the kitchen window

10:30 pm last night we heard three large explosions and the power went out for good.

6 am Thursday the house is cold and I need to rig up the generator so I can fire up the furnace and get the fridge going.

But in order to do that I got to shovel my way out to the garage and clear the snow from the doors...

30 minutes later . . . we have electrons and consequently heat.

 

I clear out enough of the driveway and the truck, and make a run to the gas station for 15 gallons of fuel to keep the generator going for a while. I figure chances are it will be a long one. Made it home just in time to see the power company getting ready to switch the main line back on.

Pretty???

 Only in pictures . . . and from far away

The stuff is plain cruel. It knocked down the hedge row that shields us from the neighborhood asshole.

Four hours of work gets the rest of the driveway and the back of the house cleared.

One day we are going to move somewhere I don't have to do this

Ever try moving 30 pounds of slop at the end of a  25 foot aluminum roof rake? not fun at all

1: 30 pm I am finally done. I'm taking a nap  . . . UNTIL APRIL. . . .

Wake me up some time end of April

Stats, hits and food for thought.

Feast your eyes on that masterpiece.

Cilantro sauce, left over chicken, tomatoes and mozzarella. As always a great hit!!!!

A few days ago I commented on a post by John Wells at The Field Lab suggesting a possible alternative he might consider regarding a wood stove. Seems when the wood stove he bought was delivered he was disappointed and went to take a closer look at my idea leaving a nice comment for me. Yesterday John posted about the camp stove he bought mentioning his intention to try my idea and giving my stove building post a plug.

And the hits started coming in. Something close to 300 in the last 24 hours. Boosting the hit count on that one stove building post to nearly as much as my stair building post. That one post is the one that consistently gets the most hits and I suspect it may be actually linked in someones discussion group as the hits tend to come in bursts as if someone was sharing it with others. The most hits according to the Feedjit counter are consistently on the stair jig photo. Neat to think perhaps someone out there might be copying what I copied from someone else.

 I started this blog about two years ago just on a lark as I was following a few blogs and the Google "dashboard" kept telling me I did not have a blog and should start one of my own. Mostly to stop the obnoxious prompts I followed the directions (a rare thing indeed) and figured out how to put up a page and figured I might as well share some of my mundane activities with my friends. Now I never thought people other than my friends might be interested in my doings but apparently so. Nearing 33 thousand hits in the last 2 years.

Seems Jaz at Octoberfarm is a big source of all my visitors as she has me linked in her sidebar. So my thanks go out to all of you.

Wretched weather

Three days of freezing temps, rain, ice, sleet and now howling winds.

Green Plantain Soup

It has been at least 40 years since I had this but I remember really enjoying it as a kid.

The other day they had green plantains at the supermarket so it was the perfect opportunity to try making some.

Saute one finely chopped large onion, about a cup full of finely grated carrot, a table spoon of cumin and three cloves of garlic til nice and soft.

Dice two large green plantains in to small cubes.

Add 5 cups of chicken broth, the diced plantain, three bay leaves and some salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce flame to a simmer, cover and let it cook on low flame for about an hour. After an hour run the whole mess though the blender and adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with a spoon full of sour cream and some chopped cilantro or scallions. Its kind of like squash soup with a slightly different taste and quite a bit easier to make.