Year 13, Week 25, Day 0ne (week 671)

Year 13, Week 25, Day 0ne (week 671)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
07-13-13 Saturday
   
    86 degrees in the morning, 92 in before noon, 87 in afternoon. High feathers, medium shields, and low puffs and columns in the morning. Storm remains of Chantal hit at noon and torrential wet, with some breaks, until about seven or eight. We were on the south edge of the long band of red on the radar that was sawing right over us. This is brought to you by the City Of Pompano Beach Department Of Tourism.
   
    There were just a couple yard sales out, but none had anything worth getting out of the car for. Mostly clothing.

When we got back, we petted the kitties. Mom can now pick up Momma cat. Momma cat looks frightened at first, then relaxes. She still has a ways to go to completely tame her. The babies can be handled, but scatter at any sharp sound or quick movement.

 The City Of Pompano buys tree seeds and propagates them into small trees. They then give the trees two weekends, twice a year, to anybody who shows they are a resident of the city. Mom has gotten some good trees this way. The idea is to rebuild the tree canape over the city. Mom prefers to keep hers in pots so they do not get big, no matter how badly they would love to. Today, she got two palm trees. We will also go next week.

 
 












palms in the foreground, royal poinsettia trees  in the sun.

 size of pots and trees to a person


 I went to Home depot during the week and got some wide velcro with buckles. Today I went to Ace hardware and got locking nuts. Later, I measured and cut the longest leg of the brace, Ground the edges round, added lithium grease to the mating surfaces and bolted them together. I was tightening the last nut when the sky started dripping. splatter and wind blown water got up onto the table. Luckily, nothing was damaged. That killed the rest of the day.

I tried on the brace and it seemed to work, but it started hurting my leg. I put the old one back on.

My brother's work truck got rear ended during the week, messing up his bumper, totally the other car. My brother was stopped at a light with several cars in front of him. the guy said "I did not see the truck."
On Thursday, his truck engine died. He wants to borrow my truck to get a new engine. Not a problem for me. He called late in the day and the engine was not ready and won't be ready till Monday. Instead, since he needed something now, he purchased a van.

Since my brother is not going to come up tomorrow, I plan to stay home. I will test the brace more and see if I can figure out why it hurt my leg, and see where I can improve it. Since I picked up some yeast, I might also make some bread as an experiment.
   
    I will see what I actually do tomorrow.



       
   
   
Year 13, Week 25, Day 0ne (week 671)
(January 17, 2000 was my first carving day.)
07-14-13 Sunday
   
80 degrees, solid clouds. I was indoors all day long. This weather report is brought to you by the City Of Sunrise Department of Tourism.   
   
    After a late start, I started making bread. I have never made it before and had to look at the instructions quite a few time. during the process. I know I made some mistakes, but it came out pretty good.
    I also made some noodles since I had the flour out. Each time I do it, I learn things that could be done a bit better. I let the sheets dry too much before I cut them into noodles and that created a small problem that the rollers of the cutter would not grab them. I had to wet the edge of the sheets to give them grip. They came out pretty good. I let them hang for a long time to dry before I put them away. They are brittle. I cooked up the bits and pieces, broken noodles, and they were enjoyable.
    The bread making process requires there or for risings of the dough. Each time the dough has to double in size. There were two in the bowl where you punch it down, to deflate it some, roll it and let it rest again. Because of scheduling problems because of something I was doing, I let it rise a third time in the bowl. Then you cut it up and put it in your bread pans and let it grow there too.
    I decided to make some bread sticks while I was at it. I used two cup muffin pans for the bread. I have eight of them, but only needed six as I used two loafs for the bread sticks.
    My instructions, which are in a 1949 cook book, did not have cooking time, so I had to check it often. My legs were bothering me quite a bit between the bread and noodle making. I sliced up one loaf of bread and it was delicious. I only had one slice but that was more than enough to prove that the recipe works.
    One thing of interest. There are two kinds of yeast on the store shelves. the standard, and the quick rising. The standard is proofed in 100 to 110 temp water. The quick rising is put in with the flour and 120 degree water is added. I used the normal yeast this time.

 

 Bread sticks

Loaves of  Bread

 
 Noodles drying on rack
 
broken noodles


While working with the bread, I mounted the brace on my leg. While standing there, it seemed to be doing a good job of holding my leg in the right position. I then walked out of the kitchen to sit down and my leg began to bother me like it did yesterday. I have not completely worked out the reason, but I think the brace is slipping on an angle to the motion of my knee and causing it to bend in a way it was not supposed to bend. I took it off immediately. I will mark it down as a failure, but I will take it to therapy this week and let them have a look at it. They might have suggestions. My big problem is that I cannot sew, so I cannot make wraps to hold it in place properly.

Next week should be better weather. We will get a couple more trees. I have a good number of projects to work on. It really depends on which project gets my attention.

I will see what I actually do next week.