A Welcome Guest and a Bit of a Scare

Molly and I walk down our long dirt driveway every evening to get the mail, and lately I had been noticing these enormous footprints in the dirt.  They were obviously from some kind of bird, but they're about 9 inches long and 6 inches wide!

I have some kind of Bigfoot bird visiting me!

Today, in broad daylight, I looked out my window and saw Bigfoot.  He's been here before, and I even photographed him once, but thought it was a fluke. Judging from the number of tracks I've been finding, I think he might have moved in..

So what's a big beautiful heron doing on my little homestead in the boondocks?  Don't they eat fish?

Apparently that's not all they eat, because after stealthily moving across the field (I thought he was just afraid of me), he suddenly darted his head into the soil and came up with...

A gopher!  One of my millions.  That makes Mr. Heron a very welcome guest at Sábado!

The Scare

One of the things that made this property affordable, in addition to the lack of electricity, is the fact that there is a road easement cutting right through it.  If the County ever has money to burn and decides to straighten out the S curve that wraps around me, they could re-route the road right through my place.

The easement is that Miss America sash cutting across my place.

 Currently, and for as long as the locals can remember, the road sweeps around me in a big S curve.  It's been that way since it was dirt.  But if they ever decide to straighten it out, the road would go in front of my house, and I'd probably lose my beloved circle-drive oak tree.

So I get very nervous whenever I see Public Works people within a mile of the place. Today while I was watching the heron, I noticed a half a dozen people in orange vests walking down the road.  Through the binoculars I could see that they had measuring equipment.  Not good.

Molly and I jumped in the truck and headed north to find the workers' truck, and sure enough, it was Department of Public Works.  We turned around and headed back toward home and there was the chilling sign..

   

They were painting these marks in the road, but the encouraging thing was that the marks continued all the way around the S curve and past my place.

When I caught up with the crew, I rolled down the window and asked them if they were re-paving the road. "Getting ready to!" he said.  I told him I lived back there (pointing to my place) and he said "Then you'll be happy."

So... the fact that the marks followed the current road, with no stakes marching across my land, and the fact that he said they were merely re-paving, not re-configuring, makes me believe I live to fight another day, AND investing the money in repaving suggests that they aren't planning to make any changes to the road in the foreseeable future.

Whew!

Spring 2017

One of the less-fun tasks I signed up for was staining and finishing  the 14 doors the designer (Yours Truly) put in this house.  Each had to be toted out to the shop and given several coats, then brought back in and re-installed. 

Definitely glad to be finished with that project.

  

 

Revolving jig allows finishing both sides at the same time

Sealing with a light color, then rubbing dark stain into the pores gives an antique effect.

Laundry Room Shelves

Not very exciting, but functional.

Defensible Space

Every year, our esteemed electric company (of which I am NOT a customer) gives grants to homeowners who live near their big ugly high-power lines, for the purpose of fire prevention.  It's my understanding that this largess is the result of a lawsuit over the fact that the above-mentioned power lines started one of our disastrous brush fires a few years ago.

If you qualify and are willing to do a bunch of paperwork, you can pay to have the brush trimmed, dead trees removed, and weeds whacked within 100 feet of your buildings.  You front the money of course, and then they come out and inspect the work, and hopefully cut a reimbursement check.

I'm at the point of having paid the money and filed the paperwork, and am waiting for the inspection.

Wish me luck.

Before

After

Before

After

One More Thing

The "Defensible Space" thing is actually a fire department requirement, so you have to do it whether the power company pays for it or not. A lot of my building decisions, like using fire-resistant materials, the big water tank, etc. were dictated by the local fire codes.  The last little detail I needed to attend to was to have house numbers, at least 4" high, so responders could be sure they're at the right house.

So now you can find me...

...I'll leave a light on for you.

I might have to rethink this...

As I mentioned in the last post, I've been experimenting with baking "artisan" bread, the kind you get in a restaurant - crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.  Having pretty good luck with it since it's so simple.  There are only three ingredients plus water, unless you throw in a bunch of seeds. The hard crust comes from baking the bread in a hot dutch oven.

 

Occasionally a little excitement...

So... I figured the next logical step is fresh home made butter!  How hard can that be - there's only one ingredient! And think of the money I'll save!

All you need is fresh cream

Lovely sweet cream... Of course it has to be organic and not ultra-pasteurized like all the grocery store stuff, which means a trip to town...

The Kitchen Aid took that stuff right past whipped cream and straight to butter in just a couple of minutes.  

 

  
 It also wanted to throw buttermilk all over the kitchen.

 

You have to wash the butter by kneading it in cold water, replacing the water a few times until it runs clear.  This is to get all the buttermilk out of it.  If you don't, it will get rancid.

End result: 6.4 ounces of sweet cream butter and a half pint of buttermilk.

... And a sink full of dirty dishes, plus a butter-splattered mixer and counter.

So... the money-saving part:

• Fancy cream $5.00
• Bottle deposit $2.00
• 60-mile round trip to get cream not available in Campo - $12 (Of course I didn't make the trip just for cream)

Yield: 6.4 ounces of butter.

8 ounces of store-bought Irish butter: $3.50

 But hey... it was an experience.. And since the mixer was out anyway, I rewarded myself with a big batch of oatmeal cookies.

Porch Rails and Party Lights

The porch has been waiting for some rails to help "define the space," so in honor of the first visit by my good friends Sarah and Scott, all the way from Italy, I hustled up and got them made.

Naturally I couldn't just have plain ordinary rails and balusters, so I incorporated the four-square design element often associated with the Craftsman style.

The rails are purely decorative of course, since the sides of the porch are wide open.  Someday I plan to put a swing on the North side, and maybe some kind of combination bench/firewood box on the South side.

For Christmas, Jami had given me a set of commercial string lights, and I added a smaller set in the back. These are party lights.  Now I need some kind of a lawn or patio between the house and the shop, and I'll be ready for a party!  I've always liked this kind of white, heavy-duty lights, and think they add a festive touch anywhere they're used, even in the daytime.

Shop Topper

A barn-style shop needs a weather vane, and a weather vane needs a cupola, so we now have both. This project wasn't as high on the priority list as other more important things, like varnishing the doors, but sometimes the fun projects find their way to the top.

I actually bought the materials to give old friend Bruce and me something to do during his recent visit, but that came on a cold rainy weekend, and we opted for reading in front of the fire instead.

The weather vane is something I've always wanted, and it was a gift from Mer's good buddy Kellie.

For fire protection, it's all covered with the same cement-based Hardie plank used for siding on the buildings, so the cupola is pretty heavy.  It went up on the roof in three parts.  I got the base up and bolted down by myself, but needed good neighbor Josiah to help hoist the louvered section and the roof.

I'm also learning to bake "artisan" bread in my new cast iron Dutch oven. Crunchy crust and soft inside.  Mighty yummy.

   

And you know what they say about all work and no play...