Wednesday, August 15, 2012

rainy day plans


7 am
                It is pouring with rain today. Not bad, I kind of like it. It has a somewhat soothing effect. But it does impact what I had planned for the morning. My sisiter will be here at some point, maybe late morning? And I had figured I would work really hard on compost until she arrived, then settle down to some knitting. I guess that won’t happen. Well, I suppose it still could, I will just get mightily wet and messy. And I guess I will have to put off dealing with the cages that I flipped yesterday. I was going to get the bottom wire off to get started on fixing them. Right now they are just getting wet. And the poor bathroom rug I put out to dry days ago just keeps staying wet. I should have brought it in damp last night.
                Maybe what I’ll do this morning is get everything set up for making the soap. I did more research last night and think I have everything I’ll need. I could lay it all out and do it when M leaves this afternoon.
                *there is a chipmunk exploring inside the flipped cages right now, very cute*
Won’t be a good day for dehydrating today, as it is so damp. It would be good for bunny plucking, though no one really needs it. I did manage a bunch of dehydrating yesterday: I did the jerky which turned out really well. I hope L likes it. I have more I can do, maybe after she gets home. I also did a whole eggplant. I first cooked it in the micro, then I mashed it all (I peeled it some, but the peel was pretty soft so I left some of it) and put it on a cookie sheet (slightly oiled) and left it to dry for hours. It took a long time bc it was so wet. AND, it took up the darkness from the pan. It did not taste bad, which I was worried about. I’ve done tomatoes and if they were on the sheet they would discolor and taste terribly metallic. This does not, and it got pretty darn dry. I bagged it, and I think I may go ahead and rehydrate it and try making baba ganoush with it now so I see how it all turned out. Don’t want to make more like that if it is not useful.
                Spent the morning yesterday going to the dump – we got rid of lots of stuff, yay! – then to breakfast at Kelly’s, then on to Greenfield where I picked up my new glasses. I think they are going to work out much better than the old. I do have to get used to actually wearing them, which I have not been doing much. I’m hoping they will be better for work.  The other thing I did, after all the dehydrating (oh, and peeling and cooking and straining and cooking down to thick sauce of a bunch of tomatoes from my own plants that appeared on their own in the unfinished compost-filled raised bed) was to start a new rug. I pulled out the one with orange yarn which I did not like. This one has the darker of the 2 wool blankets, with some wool from a skort and wool from the old coat added in. I do not like it as much as the first wool one, but it is ok. I may go ahead and make even another wool one; I really like them and I think they will be nice in the end. And I got rid of a lot of the excess clothing and fabric from downstairs. It is much better; still cluttered but not as badly. I also started the dark grey angora. The fiber is quite short, but I am spinning it tight and so it will be ok. And I am listening to The Bluest Eye  by Toni Morrison. It is pretty sad, but I like it so far. The narrator sounds just like the woman from the old Carmen Sandiego video game, I will have to research that!
                Oh, and one last thing I did last night was to start stewing some onion skins. I gave up on trying with the solar dyer as it has been too cloudy. Today I will strain it and add the mordanted wool. I may even include some un-mordanted to see if it dyes also.
               
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