Finished in House Six

I met with Dave Dallen and completed the income tax work.

Carol and I went to Fillmore for a few groceries and to fill the car with gasoline.  After we got home, Carol made tuna fish sandwiches.  The tasted really good.

Robert and Frank came and were here for a couple of hours.

It rained some during the day.

 The above picture and the one below show the clean up that I did this afternoon.

I built another shelf on the north end of house six.  I cut 14 inch 2x6 diagonally to make two brackets,  The brackets were held to the wall with pocket screws.  Two on the top and two on the bottom.

Close up of the bracket used to hold the shelf.

It took me a couple of hours this afternoon to remove all dried tomato plants.  There is a big pile of old tomato plants west of the door in house six.

This is all that was left from the huge pile of ice that was there in February.

Comments and questions are welcome.

More Snow

The bench is finished.  There may need to make some cosmetic adjustments.

It was snowing some when we got up and it continue light snow until the afternoon.  I made a snow pusher pictured above, which idea came to me during the night.  It is a piece of 3/4 inch plywood twenty four inches long and about seven inches deep.  I made a handle out of an eight foot 2x2.  It was too long and I cut it at and 45 degree angle.  It was too short.  There is another piece in house six which I cut to the right length.  I changed the angle to 30 degrees,  I put a brace next the board and fastened it with screws.  It worked really well.  I cleaned the snow off the driveway and front side walk.  It was way faster than the scoop shovel.

All I needed to do was push the snow.  I used a scoop shovel for a little clean up.

Eric is bringing us some baby chicks in the morning.  I found this old box that used to have a base for oranges of melons.  I was buried in the snow in house five.  I uncovered it with a shovel.  I was going to have it in the garage.

I carried it to house two where it is warmer to let it dry out.  I decided to leave it in house two.  I brought the heating lamp and an extension cord for night time warmth.  The greenhouse temp is set at 40 degrees.  I found the feed tray which was in the garage.  I couldn't find the water bottle.   

Most of the slug traps are catching slugs.  There are two that have not trapped any slugs.  I put a trap in a new place and caught a couple of small slugs during the day.  

A closer look.   It doesn't show the two small slugs.

 The ice work continues to grow.  It freezes all night and all day.

An other angle.




Comments and questions are welcome.

Bench Finished Except Stain

Another day in the garage.  I started working again on the piano bench. It took me most of the day to finish.

The bottom of  both legs were not smooth or at a right angle.  I shimmed one of the with a thin piece of wood.  It is glued on with a heavy gear while the glue sets.  

You can't see it but there is a little piece of wood blued to the end of the other leg.  The little clamp is holding it tight.

 The tenon is showing with a small mortise to hold a wedge that holds the trestle tight against the leg.  I had to make a wider mortise and I made several wedges before I got them to fit.

Here the wedge is finished and driven tightly through the mortise.

Attaching the legs to the bench top was another challenge.  I tried the pocket device for pocket holes.  The width was too great.  Finally I used a drill to make my own pocket. There were two on each side.  I used a counter sink to hide the screw head.    

Here is the finished bench.  Except, I have yet to stain it. 

The "Devil's Ice Tower"  is growing again.  There have been several days and night below freezing.  As well as several weeks of below freezing during the night.  I turned the water off as soon as the temperature was above freezing and then back on when the temperature drops below freezing.



Comments and questions are welcome.

Inside Decoration & Tree are Boxed up Safely in the Garage

We removed all the decorations off the tree.  Then we unscrewed the large white ball shaped lights. We put a white plastic plug back in the hole.  The next job we did was to take down all the nut crackers.  There are hundreds of them in all sizes and shapes.  The last thing was the round snow musical balls.

We put the pictures back where the nutcrackers and glass balls were.  Everything is boxed up in a bathroom closet and in three large totes in the garage.

I resumed working on the table.  I cut the legs out yesterday and today I built the cross braces.  I have the skirt and the table top to do.

The weather is so warm that a big chunk of the Devil's Ice Tower fell off.  It is melting some all day. 

The little piece a the base looks a little like a bear.  

Comments and questions are welcome. 

Late Afternoon

This is where I left off yesterday afternoon,  All of the bench parts are laying on the floor of house two.

This afternoon I cleaned up the floor.  All of the wood parts were taken to house six where there is more room, and where they will be out of the winter weather.  It took over and hour to remove the bolts and a few screws that broke.   Next I want to put in two raised beds.  

There were few screws that broke.  I had to cut off the end of one board next to the screw.  I was able to remove the screw.  There were some screws that I was able to remove with vice grips.  I had to dig out the wood around the screw in the above picture before i was to remove it.

It has been warm most of the day.  The Devil's Ice Tower has melted some during the day.

Questions and comments are welcome

Pomegranate Jelly & Citron Watermelon

We started making the pomegranate jelly this morning.  Carol removed the seeds from the large pomegranate she bought last week.  She put them in the steamer with the frozen seeds that she got from our on bush.  We started the steamer.  With the steamer going we then had breakfast.

We made two batches of jelly.  The first one was pomegranate and the second was a mix of pomegranate juice and grape juice.  The last one had more grape juice and the jelly taste more like grape jelly.

Made labels for them and the photo below shows them cooling down.

The Citron watermelon is so hard that I used a carpenters saw to cut it in half.  It is a pioneer variety that will store for a year.  I tasted it and it was chewy with no flavor.

 The seeds are red and are about 3/8 of an inch long.

The following recipe is from the internet.

Citron melon preserves:

3 quarts prepared citron melon

8 cups sugar, divided

2 quarts water

1 cup thinly sliced, seeded lemon

Cut the melon in half and remove meat and seeds. Then cut the rind in ¾ inch slices, removing the peel and discarding it. Cut the rind into 1-inch pieces. Remove the seeds from the meat and cut into about 1-inch pieces. Add 4 cups sugar to water and bring to a boil. Add citron chunks and cook rapidly until tender. Cover and let stand overnight.

The next day, add remaining sugar and lemon to mixture. Boil gently until melon is transparent and syrup is thickened. Stir frequently to avoid scorching. Remove from heat. Skim foam if desired. Ladle hot preserves into hot jars, leaving ¼ inch of headroom. Wipe jar rims clean and place hot, previously-simmered lid on jar and tighten ring down firmly. Process for 15 minutes in a boiling water bath canner. If syrup becomes too thick, add a bit of boiling water; if it is too thin and the citron is cooked and tender, remove the citron and continue boiling syrup until thick, then re-add citron.
We can't make jelly with out pectin.  We drove to Fillmore to get the pectin and I got

We can't make jelly without pectin.  We drove to Fillmore to pectin and I got a furnace two inch filter while we were there.   The old one was really dirty.  It didn't take me long to install the new one.

 Lisa and Allie visited us.  They brought a brown reclining chair that matched the two sofas that we already have.

After a short visit we went back to Fillmore and had lunch at the Costa Vida.  I had a burrito which was really good.

When we returned home we took some pictures of the ice, which I am going to call, 'Devil's Ice Tower'. Below are Allie and Lisa.

Here is my picture in front of 'Devil's Ice Tower.'

After Lisa left I began work on the lumber racks.  The picture below is one part nearly finished.  The lumber will rest on arms the arms which are sticking up.

After super I went home teaching.  Richard Darnel is making little Christmas trees with an small American flag attached to be given to veterans in a care center in Utah county.




Comments and questions welcome.