Sunday, July 22, 2018

Wet Day, Finally the Rain we Need, More Plans


On Sunday, July 22nd we woke up late again and there was no rush to get going today. The rains had dampened our area overnight and the forecast today was for 78% precipitation. This is not a great way to spend a Sunday and I’m sorry for you working folk who only get the weekends to play (or ‘frolick) as my sister says. However, we badly need the rain. The gardens, the grass, the pond and the critters. It was 60f/16C when we got up at 8. These late nights! Holy cow!

Last night while reading in bed, we heard noises on the roof
This morning, Bill went up to check it out but could see no evidence of mischief
Maybe the birds were drinking puddles of water?
We immediately made our hot brews and then jumped right back into our discussion about this ‘secret to you’ project. I guess I can tell you know, since it is in the works. Bill has been talking about having another shed built for him to have a work ‘room’ to build his model airplanes. The cargo trailer is too small and he’d prefer to use that for travelling and storing the 5 or 6 planes he has. The storage shed now has his new bench, but it is for daily projects around here, not for planes.

and  when the bird feeder sits almost empty, this little guy is hungry
After doing some due diligence, checking prices and styles in town at the FS Co-op, we talked to our friendly construction guy, Mike. We like to give him the business if all factors can be met. Price, timing etc. He gave us a suitable quote and Bill gave him the go ahead. We can save on labour costs if Bill and Mike build it themselves and it shouldn’t take more than a couple of 4-hour days building. As much as I supported Bill’s need and desire to have this shed, I was never happy with the location.

I'm sure he's thinking I should fill it again
This morning, I put that discussion into motion and between the two of us, we’ve come to the best conclusion. Looks are important to me and the original place it would be placed would not look appealing and it would bug me forevermore. Dramatic, I know, but I just plain wasn’t happy about it. We’ve got two more opinions when Donna and Gerry dropped over and now it is settled. Yay! I love the new location and it means we can use our car shelter for what we bought it for. To cover our vehicles.

this is the area we've chosen and the rough outline
is approximately where the shed will sit
we.ve got sine wood to clean up
After they left, we came inside, hung our wet hoodies and I made up Bill’s choice for breakfast. Today he felt like toasted bacon sandwiches and that sounded good. He added a slice of tomato and I just added some ketchup. I ate the heels of the bread loaf, preferring that for some reason. It was good and that is my allotment of bread for the next 2 weeks. Hmm, now what to plan for a nice indoor supper? I guess it is Bill’s day because he suggested meat loaf and I’m making a cherry pie.

It is awesome what Bill will do for a cherry pie
Love the apron (and the smirk)
Funny what some guys will do for a cherry pie. We pitted the 2 lb. container of unsweetened fresh cherries together. It wasn’t that difficult after all and only took about 30 minutes. Now I have approximately 7 cups of quartered cherries so dug out my cookbook. I informed Bill that I still need my recipe, even for pastry, which I’ve made tons of times, but I’m not Mom who always made hers out of her head, perfectly every time. Okay, except for those times when we tried to hide it under the edge of our plates. 😊

I've actually never made cherry pie from freshly pitted cherries
I found a Cherry Pie recipe and made up enough pastry for 2 – double pie crusts. It took 5 cups of cherries for one pie so I had a couple of cups leftover for a cherry cheesecake. The pastry turned out perfectly, I just never know, even though I had to roll the second one out twice to make it big enough. First pie done and in the convection oven. Now, waiting for the rhubarb and the strawberries to thaw enough that I can slice the berries. Yes, he gets one of those pies too.

My pastry dough is never round but it is always flaky
I’m using Splenda though where it calls for sugar so except for the flour (and the fruit) an almost paleo dessert. I don’t have enough Gluten-free or coconut flour this time. It is the perfect day to bake though and we are so happy to have the rain. Bill and Clemson took care of the snoozing part of the day and I soon joined while waiting for the pie to bake and read more of London Bridges. I’m almost half way through it in a couple of days, so another good one.

Bill wondered if the R was for Richards
and I'm sure Rob will think it is for him
but really it was so I knew which was the Rhubarb pie
At 5:30 I got up and took a walk down the lane. Sure didn’t get many steps on my Fitbit today! The sky wasn’t clear although there were patches of blue showing here and over there while in another portion of the sky, clouds looked angry. I’m surprised I didn’t see a rainbow and maybe someone did in their neck of the woods. When I came back in, I commented on how warm it was out there. The temperature had risen over the last couple of hours to 68F and we opened a couple of windows.

Angry clouds?
We’ve prayed for rain and now it is looking like it could be a possibility over the next 3 days at least. Never enough all at once though, 1mm now, 5 – 10mm then and another 10 at that time. We’ll wait and see what actually comes. We have a different kind of weekend coming up with friends arriving with their rv’s before and on Saturday. Should be a good time. Tomorrow we need to clear some wood to make room for the new shed assembly.

Blue is making occasional appearances
The meatloaf wasn’t fully cooked until around 6:30 but we don’t mind waiting for a delicious meal. We had a lot of dishes because I decided not to wash them as I was baking today. Mainly, since I was moving from one thing right on to the next. We quickly made the decision to put the dishes in the dishwasher tonight since we were plugged into electric anyway.

It was a pretty calm day
The sun is certainly trying its best to grab the last portion of the day. That just makes for beautiful photos tonight. Bill has felt a little off today, sleeping a lot and with a headache for most of the day. I hope the meal helps settle things down. We each had a veggie with the meatloaf and now have a few choices for dessert. Cherry pie, strawberry rhubarb pie or the last of the white pudding. Hmm, they all sound good.


I finished writing this post and downloaded the pictures I’d taken today. Not much exciting happening since I wasn’t outside much. It has been a successful baking day though and we also made a decision on our new Ridge addition. Oh, and Bill got spoiled. I guess that’s okay, once in a while. 😊 Hope you had a fun Sunday.

Meat loaf and spinach
By the way, cherry pie won out and it was crazy good!

Our rain barrel is almost full again!
The pie turned out great
Good night from the Ridge

Thanks for stopping by. Your comments are always appreciated.

11 comments:

  1. Okay, if we happen to meet up next year, I'm bringing 🍒 🍒🍒!!

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  2. So nice you have received rain. We finally got some in southeast KS but not soon enough for some crops. So sad to see fields of corn so dried up. It did green up the grass and helped flowers and trees. That cherry pie and meatloaf looked delicious!!! Yum! Nice for Bill to have a special building for his planes. Location is always important!!

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    1. We are very grateful for the rains. My vegetable and flower gardens are happy not to mention the brown grass. Sorry about the KS drought in your area too. It is sad to see full crops dry up.
      Bill got spoiled but that is okay. :)

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  3. Nice to have a productive inside rainy day,.and those pies look wonderful enjoy. Now your garden and lawns will be very happy and green.

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    1. It was a good day for baking and making plans. And for sleeping, ask Bill. :)

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  4. What a wonderful day you had together. The pies look awesome! Love the idea of the shed for Bill. I'm sure it will be wonderful. I'm also sure you're right about location so I'm glad you came to a decision you're all happy with. Would be tough to move it once it's built. :0

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    1. It was a good day, in the rain. :) We brainstormed about the shed and agreed on the location. If we need to move from here, we'll offer it for sale. It could be moved if necessary. :)

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  5. The pies look beautiful!!!!

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    1. I had an inkling this was your comment, Elva. :) You are always so positive and encouraging. :)

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  6. forgot to post my name...…...Elva Shannon

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