The last weekend post of 2023!
New Year’s Resolutions
Eat more bacon;
Bake bread;
Win a lottery.
More resolutions below.
First, thanks for the cards, greetings, and messages. I will use this as a response because I do the posting each week and am too lazy to add cards to my schedule – such as it is. Here on the Naneum Fan I am getting dreary weather – El Niño induced. So far the coldest temperature was 18°F in October, but mostly it has been a little below and a little above freezing. The most snow was about 5 inches, all gone; now there is about an inch that fell late on Christmas Day. Usually, Washington State doesn’t experience extreme weather during an El Niño pattern.
I went to the White Heron Winery for Christmas lunch – actually the home of Phyllis and Cameron. There were five of us. I was home before the snow started. New Years Eve I will stay home and listen to neighbors make loud noises with guns and fireworks. Me? I’ll watch flames in the wood stove.
The next 4-part image does show some of my intended projects as 2024 unfolds.
In addition, there will be vine pruning starting in a few weeks.
Top right of the image shows a couple of old pallets. I got pallets at a CWU surplus sale – about 65 of them – many years ago. People gave us some and we gave some away using a “free” site that Nancy watched for many years. Some were never in good shape and some developed broken and rotted parts as I used, or didn’t use them.
So, one project is to store good ones and cut the others up. There are a lot of screw-type nails that do not come out. The slats are mostly good – make fine pieces for the wood stove.
The lower right shows some of the pallet wood and part of a load of old barn/shed wood I brought from across the road – an old dairy with most of its structures build in the 1950s. The clean-up produces some (maybe) useful boards and the family is getting those stacked under cover. I bring the rest home and have been cutting it into 16″ pieces. Most I can cut on a radial-arm saw.
On the bottom left the image shows an attempt to dismantle the large trusses that came from the big brown shed. The main pieces are held together with multiple nails that were bent over. Those are the dark spots. Although there are other shapes, all the splices are multi-nailed and not salvageable. Most of the wood will be be used in the stove. A few boards of odd lengths will be worth saving. One never knows. Anyway, this is a time consuming and frustrating chore with little gain. The trusses do need to be dealt with.
The upper left photo is of an old (mid-1970s) motor home. This is the most difficult thing I have to remove from the face of the earth. It is trash, having been outside in snow, rain, wind, and sun for 30 years; unused for the last 25. I have investigated ways of having it taken away, but no one wants it. One place estimated a cost of $5,000 to bring equipment and dumpsters to break it up and cart it off. That was 18 months ago.
I intend to take it apart as I did with a pickup camper. Much will then go into a landfill, and the iron and other metals can be sold for pennies per pound. It has a 28 ft frame and a large V-8 motor so there are things I will need help with. Perhaps the US Air Force could drop a bunker busting bomb on it. Then I could just pick up the scrap.
There being no rush to complete any of these four projects, I guess I’ll start with the bacon, bread, and buying a lottery ticket.
Perhaps you have heard the joke about the fellow, Dave, that pleads to God to win a lottery. After many dire events in Dave’s life and another pleading there is suddenly a flash of light, and a deep voice says – “Dave, meet me halfway, buy a ticket.”
The house isn’t warm enough to properly make bread. I made some anyway, but it is too dense. I intend to build a box with a small light bulb inside. With a bit of experimentation I hope to provide a steady 110°F for the little yeasts to start and then about 75-78 degrees for the rising.
I’m just going to make the yeast happy. You are own your own.
Happy 2024.
Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John