Cold, Food & the Burn Pile

Here's a picture of Dad dressed for the day, he's going into the den to watch TV. This is how he dresses for inside. He has on a t-shirt, a shirt, a sweatshirt, and a lined sweatshirt jacket. Today he put a hat on. Most of the time he sits there with the hood of the jacket over his head.

It blows me away that he's wearing sweatshirts. Before five years ago, he wouldn't be caught dead wearing one.

Supper is over. I fed him boiled shrimp, pickled beets and shelley peas with green beans. He asked me what the beets were after the meal. He hadn't touched them. I forgot to tell him what everything on his plate was. He used to request them, and I made them exactly the way Mother used to.

It's a little irritating to constantly have to make two meals.  Mom and I don't want to eat corn dogs, hamburgers, bologna sandwiches, BLTs, hot dogs or pizza for every meal. The only vegetables that he'll eat anymore are green beans and turnips greens, and those only occasionally. I have to say he will eat fruit - apples, oranges, bananas, and grapes if they're sweet. He'll also eat a tomato with every meal.

We just got through having a "discussion" about the burn pile out back. Our weather has been windy. It's blowing a lot of limbs down. He's been stacking sticks and limbs on the burn pile since the end of last summer.

Ocular Migraine

Oy. I used to have these, but about six years ago they miraculously stopped. Now they've returned. With a vengeance. I used to wonder what my trigger was.  I suppose I'll have to concede it's stress. I haven't changed my eating habits since I've come to live with my parents. The only change is moving in with my parents. I had one this morning and am now having another one. This is tiresome.

They're coming 2-3 times a day this last week. I even woke up to one the other day.  Thank TPTB at least they're just ocular and not full-blown painful migraines.  They are disconcerting and cause me to feel slightly nauseous and off, but, knock on wood, they don't lay me out.

If you've never had one and wonder what I'm talking about, here's a link to a google search for ocular migraine images.  This page has good animated pics that show the disconcerting movement. Here's another one of the scintillating scotoma, which is the name for what some see.

I wish I had found the migraine-aura.org website 20 years ago.  It would have saved me years of misery. There was a time, particularly when my son was about a year old that I had the sensory symptoms frequently called "Alice in Wonderland Syndrome." This page holds posts from people that so very accurately describe the symptoms.

I had the macrosomatognosia symptom, or feeling very tall; I also had one a friend described as feeling as if you're walking beside yourself. The last symptom I suffered was feeling as if I was walking down a tunnel. I thought I was going nuts. They're difficult to describe, and back then when you tried to describe them to your local general practioner, the ones I had just shrugged and said, "Oh, you're just anxious." Well, duh. If they'd only said, "Oh, you're having an aural/ocular/visual migraine, and those aren't uncommon at all," why, I might have been less, um, anxious.

It's So Often the Little Things

I know it's late, but I've just finished up washing the dishes from the day. How this ties into the subject line is the clogged drain. When I left a week ago, the drain in the sink was clogged up. I'd already tried to Draino it 2 times. The sitters were comfortable with me leaving them with another bottle of Draino in hand and instructions to call me if that didn't work.

The Draino never worked. I never received a call, so I didn't call the plumber. When I returned, the kitchen sink drain was/is still draining slowly. I've been here a week but have put off calling the plumber trying to wait for the beginning of the month. Ergo, washing the dishes is a pain in the patooty. The dishwasher is totally out.

So I leave the dishes to the end of the day. I keep a big bowl of water in the sink for hand and knife washing. I keep the other sink somewhat filled to put dishes in to keep crusts from forming. At the end of the day, everything gets drained, and the dishes get washed. Except sometimes the sink drains quickly, and sometimes it drains slowly. Tonight, it drained oh, so very slowly, and it was Academy Awards night. So I've just finished washing dishes at 1:30 a.m.

Hehehe, I am just like my mother in wanting to stay up late and likewise get up late. If only Dad didn't want to get up so friggin' early...

Additionally, the electrical outlets on the right of the kitchen quit working. That's the side with the microwave and the toaster, both of which are used daily. I know it's a fuse that's blown. Only problem is that I cannot for the life of me get the old fuse unscrewed, nor did the store I went to last week have a 30-amp fuse. I have to wait until tomorrow and am keeping my fingers crossed the other local store has one. Otherwise I'll have to drive 30 miles to get one. Oh, and I still have to get the blown one unscrewed.

It was predicted we would have vicious storms tonight after bedtime. I've been a bit hesitant to go ahead and go to bed. Trying to get weather maps to download on a Verizon Wireless connection is more than a pain in the patooty. It's downright ridiculous. From what I can finally tell, the storms will likely arrive around 5:00 a.m. If I go visit Oz, it will be a total surprise. From asleep to awake in 10 seconds or less, I figure.

Another to-do item for next week - call the cable company and change my parents' service to include internet. Try explaining that to a frugal 90-year-old that can't hear, damns the internet, and doesn't understand or care about my "desperate need" for it. He'll throw a hissy fit. It won't get through to him that I'll be paying for the extra service. So I absolutely *have* to be here when they come to set it up. Then I have to coordinate with husband in Memphis to set up the wireless router. Life can be sooo much fun.

On the other hand, I'm listening to "Mistress of the Art of Death" by Ariana Franklin, which is quite entertaining. It's a story of a female coroner (so to speak) set in the time of Henry II, in Cambridge, England.

Bacon

Today we had to open a package of store-bought bacon because we're out of homemade bacon. Wah! I discovered I spoiled myself on one batch of bacon. The purchased bacon was not the best brand nor the cheapest; it's a thick cut, hickory-smoked bacon. A month ago, I would have thought it just fine. Not anymore. I've created a monster in me.

No Impact Man Blog

Today I've spent a considerable amount of time reading a blog, No Impact Man, about a small family in Manhattan, NYC, NY, conducting a year-long experiment to lessen their environmental impact. The experiment was in 2007, but I'd never heard about it and was curious. They decided on areas to reduce their impact; these included: 1. making no trash, 2. eating locally within a 250-mile radius, 3. cutting electrical consumption, 4. changing transportation methods, 5. not buying anything new for a year, and I forget the last, perhaps it was equalizing whatever impact they did have with good works.

I enjoyed the concept, it was a personal experiment and not meant to change the world. So the author said. Sorry to say, I ended up feeling that the blog author, who is actually a book author, used the blog to entice people to buy his book about the experiment, to advertise his participation in a documentary, and to advance environmentalism.

I've got no problem with authors selling books, nor with people making documentaries, or environmentalists. I do have a problem with people starting a blog about something they're doing and turning said blog into mostly a vehicle for them to advertise their book, documentary, or broader concerns. 

There were few posts about the actual steps they took, the dates of each implementation of their stages, the problems they encountered, the effect on their lives or any of the things one expects from a blog started for a specific purpose. I'm not saying there were none; I'm saying there were few. By the end of the experiment the blog devolved to reposts of previous posts and posts about a plethora of environmental issues.

After four years, the blog is still going. I probably won't be going back. I can get my daily dose of environmentalism at The Grist or other sites and find another blog that might actually be pertinent to my own curiosities. I also don't intend to buy the book. That's not because it wouldn't be interesting; it's because I hate being lured on purpose, and that's the way I felt after reading through the year's worth of blog entries.

I wish that the author had kept that particular blog for that particular experiment and started another blog for his other environmental concerns and activities. I wish that the blog hadn't actually been an advertising vehicle for a book. But that's just me and my own personal opinion, which actually matters to no one but me. 

Meals and Bedtime

Sigh. Every meal time I now have to remind Mom to push her food towards the middle of her plate. Her coordination is gone, and she simply shovels the food right off her plate. Because she eats on a tray in the living room, that means she shovels it off on the floor.

After spending 20 minutes of seeing her falling asleep in her chair, I finally got her to go to bed at 10:30 p.m.  It's 11:30 p.m. now, and I can still hear her moving a bit. Getting her to bed probably woke her up enough to send her into a cycle of insomnia. Damn. At least my iPod and Audible.com save me from that cycle.

Lawn Mowers, Trucks and Golf Carts

Presently, all three are sitting outside the garage, and none are running. Uncle came over and put the lawn mower on a battery charger. Hopefully we'll get it inside the garage.  Now it's 38 degrees F outside and why this has to be worked on today, I simply can't figure.

Dad keeps running the battery down because he can't/won't pull the choke up high enough to start the mower, nor does he realize why it won't start. However, he never tells anyone he is going to try or ask for someone else to help. If I'm in the kitchen I slowly  realize I'm hearing a grating "beep, beep, beep" outside, and that Dad's going off on the mower again. It's always too late to prevent dead battery syndrome.

The golf cart also isn't working. I have no clue why. Dad's brother is going to take it and Dad to Paducah on Monday and see if they can get it fixed. Oh, joy. Now I'll have to be on the look out to keep Joe from using it on the highway. Lessee - gotta get that newspaper in the box on the other side of the highway; I'll just hop in my little cart and go get it.  Oh! That was a lumber truck that just whizzed by and nearly kissed my bumper. I swear he wasn't there ten minutes ago when I looked.

The truck isn't working by design. Last week the sitter went 1/4 mile down the road to get pool-hall burgers for lunch. Probably took 10 minutes. When she arrived back, it was to Dad pulling out onto the highway in the truck. He immediately pulled back into the driveway when he saw her. He KNOWS he's not supposed to go on the highway.

Out of desperation, she turned the lights on and ran the battery down. For good measure, she pulled a coil wire. Now we have to get it charged on the sly and get it returned to the back yard.

About six months ago we took Dad's car keys, and last month he agreed to sell his car to one of the sitters.  A week later he asked her if she'd sell the car back to him. Sigh. He's a hazard to himself and others. Insurance won't renew his policy. He can't remember how to get to places. Yet he can't give up on needing to drive.

Last night he asked me if I was the mother of the little boy in the photo on the mantle. Yes, Dad, that's my son. But Dad still needs to be able to go whenever and wherever he wants, regardless of whether he can see, move the pedals, or remember where he is.

Chex Mix, Cat Food, Bed Time & Closets

Another day, another week. Everyone around here is getting along.

I made up some Chex mix that Mom is scarfing down every evening. When I'm here, she eats it; when the sitters are here she tells them it hurts her mouth. Who knows?  Here's a pic of her picking out all the nuts first.

My Dad is still leaving the door to the basement open every time he walks by it. That's so the cat can go downstairs. Where he can crawl under the house and get fleas, and waller in the corner with the leak and get mold in his fur.

Dad's also still filling the cat food dish full to the top every morning and evening. While I come along behind him and dump 9/10's of it back in the bag. Why is this important? It doesn't forebode the end of the earth, really. It's just that the food goes stale, for one thing. For another, Dad dumps the leftover in the trash in the morning when and if he remembers to give the cat a package of wet food, or he just dumps the wet food on top of the dry food. I have a real problem with him tossing perfectly good food in the trash. The cat food costs money.

Blog experiments

If you see something here that's confusing to you about the structure of the blog, it's because I am experimenting and trying to learn how structure it. I had thought I could set up pages for different subjects and blog each entry on its respective page. However, I just tried to put a post on the food page, and it ended up here on the main page.

Apparently, the tabbed pages can't be used for separate blog posts? Ah, well, please just put up with me during this learning period.

Jola Gayle

Time to Slice the Bacon

It's time to slice the bacon I've been trying to make. On the left you can see the three different cures I'm trying. At the bottom is a salt and pepper cure; in the middle is a rosemary, mustard and salt cure. On the top is a plain salt cure.

These were all cut from one slab of pork belly.  The salt one is smaller because we've been eating from it. It's delicious.

These slabs were the ones that I left at my parents' house last Monday. They were salted on Saturday and Sunday, and then put in the freezer Monday afternoon because I forgot them and couldn't tend to them.

When I came back the next Monday, Feb. 21, 2001, I defrosted them that day. I cured them the following day, Tuesday. Dad and I ate the salt cure for breakfast both Tuesday and today. The slices Dad and I had before cooking were just as delicious as the ones after cooking. Today they've been sliced, packaged and put in the freezer.

What went on blather

It's Tuesday, and my last post was on Thursday; so it's what-went-on blather. Last week was my last full week at home in Memphis. It was a wonderful week of no responsibility to look after others. Who doesn't love not being responsible!

Animoto entered my life last week. It's a website that allows one to make a video. I've been taken in by it. Hey, I'm easy sometimes. It did, however, lead to hours of frustration trying to recover digital photographs.  You know, those photographs you thought you had safely saved to a back-up drive or a data stick? Then the dang back-up drive won't work like it should, and those slippery little data sticks have slid through the hole in the time/space continuum.

Now, I'm not a computer guru, and I have no idea why I could recover three photos from the back-up drive, but none of the other 100. The home computer guru was seen slithering away upon becoming aware of some jolagayle-computer problem. Traitor.

What's on the bobbin

Someone on my fiber list asked what we had on our bobbins.  I'm spinning a fleece from a corriedale sheep named Peaches. I can't remember whether she was a Coneflower Farm or a Whitefish Bay Farm sheep. I think she was from Martha at Coneflower, who sadly has stopped selling fleece.

I'm spinning it rather finely so I can use it in weaving scarves. However, the other night I started a gauge swatch to try to make some socks from it.

Edited on 2/22/11 to add link for WFB Farm and clarify Coneflower Farm's status.

Bead Video

After Laura introduced me to Animoto, I found I couldn't resist - just had to sign up. To learn how to use it, I made a Just For Fun Bead Video. Now I'll drive everyone crazy making videos.




Now I have to get my laptop to recognize my camera. I also learned, sigh, that my brand new cell phone doesn't have an interface for connecting to my computer. Of course, Verizon wants you to use a social photo site for storage, and use their software for uploading, and oh, yeah, have a data option on your contract. We'll work in getting a new USB cord for that camera. But that really irritates me about the cell phone.

ST Video

One of the gals on my fiber list made a video of a spinning get-together she attended last week in southern California. It's a great little video, and I so enjoyed getting to put faces to the names on the list. Here it is:




Enjoy! Spin-in at Carol's.

Chicken Stock Fail

If anyone remembers me posting about making chicken stock with chicken feet, it was a major fail for us. My thoughts are that one needs to grow up eating stock made with chicken feet to feel it's a necessary ingredient in stock. Otherwise, it's a subtle flavor that makes the stock taste "just not right."

I pulled the big pieces of chicken out, and the rest of the stock and all the little chicken feet now reside at the foot of a tree in the back yard.  Thank TBTB that I don't have to cut the toes off chicken feet! If I continually fail the gel standard on chicken stock, it's a fail I'll accept. I've achieved it a couple of times. Without a gas stove or an electric one that works very well, or keeping an incredible eye on the pot, it's a bit difficult.

Back in Memphis

Oh, it's so nice to be home. This has been my sit and recoup day. I've done nothing but read news, email, blogs and played solitaire while listening to "Off Armageddon Reef" by David Weber. That man can sure get caught up in descriptions of arms and battles. Except that's it such a nice long audio book, I could do without a couple hours of that stuff.

I stayed home, as the maintenance people were supposed to come change the filter on the heater. If you have pets you're supposed to lock them up in a bedroom if you're not home. Like my killer cats are going to ravage them, purrrrr. Take a litter box, food, and two cats in a bedroom? I don't think so. Like I can't change a filter? Gimme a break. Only they never showed up. Dammit. Wasted a whole day. Amazingly, I actually had plans to go out today, which is against pattern on 1st-day-back day. I was going to go out and pick up the knitting needles and stop by the hair salon to see if I could get a trim.

Just as I pulled into the parking lot yesterday, I realized I left my cooler back in Ky. Grrrrrrr. Had to call the sitter to get her to put everything up. It was especially galling as I was so excited about Max tasting the, err, salt pork I made, and I also had another batch started that would hopefully not turn out to be salt pork. It's supposed to be in the freezer now. Maybe that won't spoil the process. Will just have to see.

Fiber Talk

I have a new pair of favorite socks - a creamy orange pair I knit two weeks ago.  Man, it's been years since I knitted socks. My last pair wore out, and I've never replaced them. Obviously, I need to get going on this again.

These socks really are the same size. I've not photographed a lot of socks, so experience beats me here. Laid out side by side, I could NOT make them look the same size. I swear they're equal, even if the photo on the right doesn't look like.

These socks were knitted from the S.O.C.K.S. pattern by Claudia Krisniski of Countrywool. Claudia did this pattern in 2000, and it's still the only sock pattern I've ever knitted.  Goes to show you I'm not much of a knitter.

The yarn was some I spun. It is a two-ply; one ply being a natural white and the other from fiber I dyed using, I think, Kool-aid. It was dyed so long ago I can't remember.

Last night I started a market bag from a pattern sent to me by Cherizac at http://madhyatmika.wordpress.com/ . I had to rip it because I don't have large enough needles, but I wanted to see how it works. I've never done knitting before that produces a net like effect. Once I get back to Memphis, I'll pop over to the yarn store and get some size 13s and be off to do some market bags.

I'm really tired of the pile of market bags in the closet. They're on a shelf; they're different sizes; they slip, slide, and fall off. I hate to take the Kroger bags into Aldi and vice versa. Guess I'm just silly that way. I found some cotton houseware string at the local Chinese Market in Memphis for $1.25 for 2 balls. I'm thinking it will take about 3 balls to make a bag. I'll update once I find out.

With these I can stuff a bunch of them into one and have a smaller footprint for storage. It's said they hold a ton of stuff, so that's nice.

Parent Blather

It's been a week of ups and downs with the parents. It took a major battle to get Dad to take a shower this week. I haven't been able to talk Mother into letting me cut and wash her hair, and it's looking horrible.  Last night I told her she was either going to have to let me cut it or starting pulling it back in a bun. It made her giggle, but sadly that's what it will come to.

Dad turned 90 on Feb. 4, and received a card from my mother's brother and his wife. Dad and Mom decided I probably didn't know them.  Hello? This has been a recent theme; they don't think I've ever met my aunts and uncles. If I say a cousin's name, they don't know who the cousin is unless I tell them who the parents are.

It is so sad seeing them devolve to this state. I missed seeing my grandparents go through this by dent of my dad's parents' death before I was born, being too young to comprehend my mom's dad's demise, and being overseas during her mother's demise. At the end of the day, humans' degeneration at the end of life really bothers me. In an ideal cycle of life, people would simply die in their sleep without turning into imbeciles. Of course, I'm also of the school of thought that humans shouldn't party and give birth in the same place they pee and poop. It's just wrong.

I've been thinking that I'll stop posting about this on my Eclectic Blog. Sometimes I'm so frustrated by it, that all I feel is irritation and want to rant.  I also feel it's not quite honorable to publish to the world the demise of articulate dignified people.

Salt Pork

That's what you get when you put too much salt on the pork belly you're trying to turn into bacon. Delicious salt pork, but salt pork nonetheless. Sigh, well, we now have enough salt pork to last, um, about 3 years. That's because we try to keep our consumption of it down to about 2 or 3 times a year.

I fried up a few slices of the plain salt and the salt, mustard & rosemary cures.  The salt, mustard & rosemary was so salty there was no way I could detect the flavors of the mustard or rosemary.  I don't know if they enhanced the salt uptake, but this cure was far saltier than the plain salt cure. I'll have to have Max test the salt and pepper cure.  He's the black pepper eater.

There are three more hunks of the same cures going again. This time with far less salt.

What went on today

Lessee - it snowed again today. Beautiful. About 1.5 inches for a total of 4.5-5 inches. After noon, I decided it was time to go the grocery store, either we really roughed it out if it continued, or peace reigned if I went to the store. I slipped and slid at 20 mph to the store.  Thank TBTB for small towns and grocery stores a quarter of a mile away. An hour after I got home, I think the plow came by on the road. And also it quit snowing.

I had to put off the hissy fit if no ice cream bars were in the house for Joe. They have to be doled out by 2 a day to prevent accidents of the really smelly kind.  We hide them in the freezer in the fridge in the basement and reload the upstairs freezer every day. But Joe, not being of sound mind, although not totally stoopid on things of import to him at the moment, realizes there's no box of ice cream bars in the refrigerator. Every now and then his demands to go to the store have to be actually answered to preserve the illusion.

Tuesday Travel Day

Because of the snow, Tuesday became my travel day. Up, shower, drink coffee, become somewhat human, read the newspaper, pack the car and get on the road. Pleasantly, the roads weren't bad at all; I mean, not any at all. Surprising.

Arrived at my parents and unpacked car. Talked to the sitter for a bit, she left, I called husband to report safe arrival. Five minutes after sitter left, saying goodbye to all, Dad comes in wanting to know if the "gal" had left. Um, yes, she hugged you and said goodbye. Then he needed supper because she hadn't fed him. Actually, she'd fed him, but he hadn't wanted what she'd fed him, didn't touch it, and so wanted something. Bologna sandwich fit the bill.

Took Dad 45 minutes to get to bed. He finally came in and asked Mom if she'd trim the hairs in his ears. It had never been done before - yeah, right. I trimmed them up.  I have a pointer for hairdressers - if you're going to claim to do a service, have enough light in your shop that you can actually see what you're doing to do the service.

Mom went to bed at 11 p.m., after falling asleep in her chair. I went to the kitchen to put the daily salt on the curing bacon. 15 minutes later heard TV. Mom sitting up in chair disgusted with laying there not sleeping. I finished up salting bacon and came back to living room. At 11:45 gave Mom a Xanax and 2 Ibuprofen, cuz her head hurt and she was shaking. At almost midnight I finally called bedtime. Turned her into a shaking leaf.

So now I've caught the "diary" up and it's time for me to also call it a night.

Travel Day Turned to Snow Day

What a surprise. I woke up at 9 this morning to a winter wonderland, or the beginnings of one. Since Paducah was supposed to be hit harder than we, I called the parents' house, and learned, yes, it had been. One of the sitter's husband took an hour and a half to get work.  That's sooo not normal.  Chicken that I am, and really feeling my mortality, I didn't travel today.  Like, I really don't wanna get in an accident and have to mend broken bones.

It was nice to be able to be at home. I got to finish up stuff.  The followers for the cheese press finally got cut and sanded. Clean up got done - all  most of the tools left out from making the cheese press got put away.  Max can again eat supper on his end of the dining table.

The bacon experiment is coming along nicely. Every evening I've been draining the baggies, rinsing them and wiping dry; patting the slabs dry with paper towels, and adding a bit of salt and seasoning. There hasn't been a lot of liquid collecting, by that I mean tablespoonsful, but more along the lines of a teaspoonful. The plain salt slab has released the most liquid. The largest difference I've noted is that the slabs originally fit in the gallon-sized freezer bags only vertically, and now they fit horizontally. I can push them down to the end of the bag, roll it up, and zip it. This means they've shrunk in length by a half inch at least.

Tonight I made a batch of Lebanese Garlic Sauce. Since I stopped at the Arabic Market next door to Charlie's Meat Market when I bought the pork belly, I have a couple of lovely bags of homemade pita bread. That called for a near eastern sauce. I adapted a recipe from DedeMed.

Sunday Wrap Up Day

Today is Sunday, and that means the last day I have at home before the travel day of Monday. Presently, I'm living with my elderly parents every other week. Tomorrow I travel back to my parents. Sundays are the wrap-up days - I try to wash all my clothes for the next week, finish off home tasks, etc. I always have great plans for going to the grocery store in this larger metropolitan area for my parents, but in reality I'm so happy to be "in" my home that the day can easily pass without me getting out.

Unfortunately, this will all be changing soon.  At the end of the month, due to financial reasons, I'll be moving in with my parents and will only get home every other weekend. That will require a ton of changes, and I must admit I'm not looking forward to them.

Today I'm hoping to finish up a cheese press I've been working on, wash my clothes, organize some paper work, and do some housework. Also, I've been thinking about this blog, getting one on blogspot, for a while and decided today was the day to give it a try.  Internet connection at my parents is via Verizon wireless right now, and it's slow as mud. So today is the day to do it whilst I still have fast internet connection.

Yesterday I picked up my pork belly from Charlie's Meat Market. What a hoot! Six slabs of uncured bacon at approximately 3 pounds each. I froze 5 and started on the curing of the sixth. I cut it into 3 parts and am using 3 different cures on each. One is simply salt. One is salt and pepper - that's for Max. One is salt, mustard and rosemary - that's for me.

One site recommends 7 days curing. Another site says they prefer only 5 days. I'll have to learn which one suits our tastes. I'm excited about trying this and looking forward to the results. After all I bought 20 pounds of pork belly for $21.90.  When's the last time anyone got bacon for a little over $1.00 a pound? The curing only takes a few minutes each day - initial seasoning and a pinch more each day thereafter. The salt isn't expensive, and the other seasonings are usually on hand. Hopefully, it'll be a win.

Creation

Let there be a blog! Oh, and a test post to learn how to use the blog.