Song of the day: “Next 2 you” by Chris Brown and Justin Bieber…again. Not that I mind the song, I like it after all, but it’s just a little embarrassing since I don’t know all the lyrics yet. Hah.
Busy day for as far as I’m concerned. It all started yesterday when we discovered that the boiler we had bought for a bargain (it had been damaged during transport, so they took 150 off the price) was too damaged for use. Big brother and I messed with it for more than two hours, trying to fix the problems it had (bent in three different directions, a few missing screws, non-functioning display, and so on and on) but in the end failed in our endeavor. It was really a lost cause, so we packed the bloody thing back up, put it in the car and departed to the city…again.
The positive news of that disaster was that we got a phone call of that shop owner we got milk from the last time. Turns out he had restocked wrong again, and had 175 liters of whole milk that he needed to get rid of. They were a couple of days past the expiration date, but since he is no longer allowed to sell them after, he figured he could do us a favor, for the dogs and us, of course. (He’ll be getting some ecologically grown veggies in the near future, hah.) Milk and cottage cheese, in fact. This of course meant that all that milk had to be processed ASAP…but I’ll get to that later. First the geyser story.
We got the hardware store on time, talked with the girl who sold us the thing, and got to an agreement of exchanging the geyser for a boiler instead. Darn it. We had so wanted a geyser because the three in the house are already drawing more than enough power, thank you very much. Ah well, no helping it. Sally does need her shower fully functional and since the boiler is much bigger than her geyser used to be, we’re going to have to use the angle grinder to open up the entrance of the niche in which it hangs. Boy, is that going to be a mess. That bathroom is tiny, with only a small window and a door that opens inward. *sigh* We’ll just have to wait and see how that works out then. It would have been nice if we’d done it today, but there was all that milk. Hah.
Oh, there was a workout yesterday, of course. It went rather well, even though I was ridiculously late getting started. Since the entire workout now officially takes an hour and a half (if I don’t rush it, which is not good) I was running behind on everything for the remainder of the day.
Got news from the computer repair guys that they’re not sure yet about big brother’s computer. They’re still running diagnostics, and won’t be able to give us a definite price until after Monday. Darn it. Poor big brother. So bravely trying to remain positive, but also clearly pessimistic whenever there’s no news. Ah well, we’ll know next week.
Once at home, it was time to prepare. Cheese making (or paneer, depending how you wanna call it, hah.) Yep, pans were taken out of the closets, half a gallon milk bottles got carried down, vinegar, salt, lemon juice and cheese cloths.
While big brother checked the packets of cottage cheese and threw them in the big freezer, cousin Ed and I started on the milk. Using three bottles per time, the cheese got made and bagged so we could freeze them too. Yay. We did have to get rid of some of the older bags of veggies, but since they are, as of today, boiled in whey and tossed into the small bathtub for the dogs’ dinner, they’re not by any means wasted. Yay.
So yeah, last night, while editing an occasional page, half of the milk was processed into a crumbly cheese that will be frozen for the next few months’ use. It was a tough job, but someone had to do it. Hah. Did get to bed in time (sorta) and had a good night’s rest (sorta) only to start again around noon today. Yay.
First there was laundry, however, along with a nice quick trip into the yard where everything got checked (that last rain did the smaller cabbage plants a lot of good; they were preening) before I head for the greenhouse to open it all up, select some fresh tomatoes which were ripe enough for shelf ripening. We got quite a lot at the moment. Six pounds, maybe. Awesome.
Then it was up for breakfast. Pancakes of whey, which is really nice and incredibly healthy because there are so many minerals in the stuff. And all this while cousin Ed had already started early and had dealt with three new batches. Yay.
My turn, and since I felt like experimenting, big brother made three molds and a press, so we could see what kind of hard cheese we could make of the curd. They’re now, after seven hours of hard work, under the press, and doing fine, I think.
The dogs love this experimental food thing. In particular because they get to clean dishes (now don’t say eeewwww, we wash it afterward) scrape out pans (yes, those too) and basically devour anything that falls, either accidentally, or on purpose. About four hours into the endeavor they were snoozing with fat stomachs. Hah.
Except Chaos and Groovy, the latter of which had found the bathtub filled with food and was hanging in it as if he hadn’t eaten in weeks. Chaos, in turn, didn’t appreciate this form of gluttony, and was trotting back and forth behind the boxer, barking his head off in outrage. Seriously, I could hear him cry, “What are you doing, you vile creature? Why are you eating MY food? Get out, get out, get out!” while Groovy continued on as if he didn’t hear a thing. *sigh*
Tenant came down from her place and sat on my porch for company. The sun was bright, the air not too cool and the sky without clouds for the most part of the day. Perfect outside day. She’s doing better, by the way. Talking clearer again, more THERE, if you get my meaning.
At the moment the rest of the dogs are eating, unsure whether they are able to finish the lavish meal, but sure making an effort. Hah. Heck, even Knight II is still eating.
I better start cleaning up. We made a mess with this cheese making business, and there is still lots to do before the end of the day is there. If am looking forward to that time, however. I think I’m running on fumes again.
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