Cassandra - Stompin' around on the little farm

[Cassandra]

I talked to a plumber at length about that plumbing problem I have. (Acidic well water eating copper pipes.) I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the answer he gave me. He recommended strongly *against* hooking up to county water. Even though that would instantly stop my acidity problem, he said the increased pressure would probably blow my injured pipes right to bits!

I was happy enough to hear that. I don't want municipal water anyway.

He did say get the water conditioner and hook it up to my pump. (About a $500 device.) He said that also would instantly halt the corrosion.

I asked him about replumbing my house and he seemed surprisingly opposed to doing that. Even though I obviously have bad pipes. He seems like a really nice guy, so I don't think he was just being a jerk and didn't want to do it. But he said it would be really hard and really expensive. The easiest way to do it would be run the pipes in a trench around the outside of the house (the pipes are burried UNDER the house at the moment.) But he said it would be better to just fix the leaks if/when they spring up.

Ok... that is obviously the cheapest route, but it doesn't exactly sound like a permanent fix...

Oh, but before I can buy this water neutralizer thingy, I have to raise the roof on my pump house because he said the filter was four feet tall!

Cassandra

 

[Cassandra]

<doing victory dance>

I got a stoccccck pot. I got a stoccccccck pot. <mm mm ooo yeah yeah stocccck pot>

I have mentioned a couple of times before that I've had jelly boil over while I was cooking it. Well, by dang if it boils out of this pot, I'll have to buy a cauldron, next!

I have arbitrarily decided that Nov. 1 is going to begin my farm fiscal year (because I thought that would make more sense than October 28th, when I thought of it.) But I'm going to start keeping up with all my farm related expenditures and see how long it takes me to actually start saving myself money. LOL

The above mentioned stock pot is my first expenditure for this new year.
I need to check the price of eggs so I will know how much I am saving myself there. I gave away three dozen eggs today. I need to find someone to buy a couple dozen a week so I can use it to buy chicken feed.



Cassandra

 

[FarmerChick]

yea for your stock pot
definitely a necessary item!


I am doing that also. I track farm expenses but not as carefully as I should. New mission is to track it all and see how well I am doing. Sense of satisfaction seeing it on paper and seeing a true savings!

 

[Cassandra]

Holy Smoke! Stock Pots are AWESOME!

It works a bit differently than I thought it would. It seemed so thin when I bought it. And at $9.99 (for a 12 quart one) I figured it was probably pretty cheaply made. I thought it would warp and burn on the bottom and not hold heat well at all. Thank goodness I was wrong!

This is a great little pot. There were no instructions with it or anything. I first used it to make two batches of quince jelly yesterday. It took a little time to get up to boiling, but it heated evenly and solidly. Didn't stick or burn and worked perfectly. No bubbles over in the jelly department. GREAT.

I was inspired by my new big pot. So last night, I made pork & sausage gumbo. First time I've ever made gumbo. (Can you believe it? I spent all of my life in Mississippi except for the 8 years I lived in Louisiana and I have never made gumbo.) I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out. Once again, the pot took a while to get up to boiling, but once it did, I was able to turn the heat down to medium low and it kept right on boiling!

Clean up was a snap. Everything washed right now with a scrubby-sided sponge and a spray of watered down dish soap.

The gumbo, by the way, was soooooooo delicious. Plus, I think there is enough left over for dinner tonight! (squeal!)... That is, unless the guys eat it for lunch and stuff and polish it off before I get home. LOL

Cassandra

 

[Henrietta23]

The gumbo, by the way, was soooooooo delicious. Plus, I think there is enough left over for dinner tonight! (squeal!)... That is, unless the guys eat it for lunch and stuff and polish it off before I get home. LOL

Cassandra

That is exactly what would happen here!! I've never even eaten gumbo....

 

[Cassandra]

Well, I did get to eat some of it after all. LOL

I have been out early this morning cleaning out the garden beds. I'm going to put some fresh dirt in a couple of them to plant my onion sets. I hope they turn out alright and the rats don't eat them all.

Cassandra

 

[Cassandra]

I made three batches of jelly this evening. Totaling three pints of blueberry and 8 pints of quince.

I'm showed my older son how to feed the chickens and collect eggs because while John is gone to his training class in Birmingham next week, there won't be anyone else home to do it before dark.

I was hoping to ask Mr. C if I could take off early next week to get home before dark. I feel like he would have let me. He's usually pretty laid back and understanding about those kinds of things. But I don't know if that's going to happen.

I got a text message last night from Mr. C's daughter-in-law that he has had another heart attack. He had one back in June, got a stint, and recovered great, as far as I knew. Then, this past Thursday, he drove to Oklahoma for the "world's biggest gun & knife show." And he intended to stay there all weekend. Then I got that text last night. The DIL said his son, Mr. P and wife, Mrs. N, were going Sunday morning and weren't sure when Mr. P would be back to work. DIL couldn't (or wouldn't) tell me anything about Mr. C's condition. Just said she hadn't heard. When I asked her if Mr. C was alright, she texted me back that Mr. P would call me at the office in the morning to fill me in.

That doesn't sound very good.... not good at all. I can't believe she has no idea how he's doing. I wish she'd just tell me.

So, I will go open up the shop in the morning and hang out all by myself (again) wringing my hands (AGAIN) waiting for them to call and tell me what's happened.

pft... I have laundry to do.

Cassandra

 

[FarmerChick]

So sorry Mr. C had a heart attack and you haven't heard any news yet. You must be wringing your hands...Ugh

I will keep him in my prayers! I hope all will be well!

 

[Cassandra]

Alright. Whew.

Mr. C is alright. He is leaving the hospital around noon today, but may be (is SUPPOSED to be) out of work for 4-6 weeks. But he is hard headed. I hope he will stay away for a few weeks at least. I still don't have the whole story on what has happened.

Oh well. Either I will hear about it or I won't.

I am still minding the shop. Mostly calling people to reschedule appointments. Just doing whatever is necessary (including babysitting and driving his grandkids to gymnastics )

His son (who also works here) Mr. P said he was going to try to convince Mr. C to stay away from work for the rest of the year... at which point he may be ready to retire. He's been ready for a couple of years, but has found it hard to let go. This might push him on over in that direction. But then again, maybe it won't.

I'm just going on and on about this because it creates questions for me about my job. I mean, I'm not worried about losing my job. If I did, I'd be fine with that anyway. As I have mentioned elsewhere, I've been preparing to quit working and stay home.

But I can't leave them right now. It would put them in a very tight spot.

I am waiting and watching for the opportunity I trust is going to present itself to turn things in the direction I want them to go. The ideal situation for me would be able to work for them a few hours a day out of my home. This would actually be perfect for my company, too. I haven't been able to convince them of that yet, though.

Cassandra

 

[Cassandra]

Mr. P (Mr. C's son, the heir to the empire and my other boss) is back at work today. Mr. C got home about 11 last night and was doing alright.

This heart attack was worse than last time. He had some muscle damage to his heart. And now he has some liver damage as well that they are trying to sort out. But, as usual, he's a tough old rooster. He will probably be back here in no time acting like nothing ever happened.

(I hope so, anyway.)

What's been going on with me.... umm.. Geeze. I forget, in all the excitement. I've been going to bed a lot earlier and getting more sleep. It's been hard for me to give up taking care of my chickens to other people in the house (because it's after dark when I get home.) But I have to take their word that they are doing alright. I go peek in on them in the mornings before work. That's about all. Things sure slow down in the fall.

Cassandra