Clearing the brain so it keeps working
household stuff
Jack of all trades…
Apr 14th
master of ???.
As a homeowner, I come across many things that I need to do. Some of them I do well, some of them I put off until they absolutely need to be done. And of course some things I just ignore. 
Not having water for my morning shower or tooth brushing session isn’t something I can ignore. It also isn’t something I can put off. It is one of those things I just have to do.
I live in the middle of nowhere, somewhere in the NW corner of Ohio. And because of where I am, I have a well. No city water out here, so if there is no water running, it is something I will need to deal with.
In my 20+ years of living here, I’ve had my share of water problems. Well pump went bad, storage tank leaked, water heater leaked, pressure gage/switch failed. And finally the circuit breaker went bad. I’m just wondering what will happen next.
The latest seemed to be bad pressure switch. I had electricity and I could manually trigger the switch. It just didn’t want to come on when the tank pressure got low.
I’ve replaced one of these before, so I knew what needed to be done. Drain all the water and find the right tools. Take of the switch and get a new one to match it. The nearest hardware stores did not have the part I needed, so it was something that would have to be ordered. Hmm, how long would I be without water??? Since I knew I could turn it on, I decided to order the part and put the old one back on until the replacement arrived.
Before putting the old part back, I decided to clean it up and hope that it might kick in for a while. I was lucky today. So far it is working as it should. I will still have a new part if it decides to go on me soon, at least I will when it gets here.
Finally cleaned up another problem.
Mar 24th
I’ve been complaining that my laptop is broken for some time now, but I never used that opportunity to fix my Power Box. I’ve had stuff to do on it for a couple of years now, but it just wouldn’t boot up properly after I installed a new hard drive. I thought I knew what the problem was, but I never undertook the job of actually looking at it. So today I did.
Yes, the problem was exactly what I thought it was. It was trying to boot from the old disk drive. Unfortunately, this drive no longer had any operating system on it. It was still formated as a bootable drive, but there was nothing to boot to. Quick spin through the bios, and that drive is no longer on the boot list. YEAH.
Now I just have to find all of the stuff I needed to do and finish it up. Yes, there may be a Godspell video in there somewhere. I guess I’ll have to stop blogging after my software updates from more than 1 year of inactivity.
More work for me. I’m glad I took a break from theater for a while…
I actually went out to fix the mailbox
Mar 20th
Sadly it is only temporary. Continued from a previous post…
The mailbox I have it a hollow plastic post attached to a piece of steel angle iron driven into the ground. Usually, this time of year, I just have to remove the plastic post and re-drive the angle iron. Packing the area with stone is alway helpful. The freeze and thaw cycles, plus the push from the snow plows just seem to loosen up the area and the mailbox. Always a spring chore, but usually one that doesn’t take too long.
Not this year. The angle iron was bent at about a 40 degree angle. The plastic post was split 1/4 of the way up. So I had to get a new post. I bought the same kind, so that I could keep my current mailbox. And then I found out the bad news. The angle iron was replaced with a wooden stake. The bolt used to attach it was replace with 4 wood screws. The tools needed list on the outside of the box did not include the drill needed to start the holes for the wood screws or the necessity of both phillips and flat head screw drivers. Hmmm. I have other things to do today, so some of this would have to wait.
I drove the wooden stake in the ground (note self— get a bigger post) and then I attached the old post and mail box with a couple of the wood screws. I’ll be back out there the next nice day to drive in a new wood post (treated lumber maybe) and the new mailbox holding plastic post.
Didn’t I just have a discussion with friends on buying things that didn’t contain the proper tool list? Oh well it should hold up through Monday’s mail.
Fixing the mailbox
Mar 18th
It seems like every winter I need to fix the mailbox. The force of the plowed snow seems to bend it backwards and loosen the very stone it is set in. I realize that I could have gotten one that needed a 4×4 post to set it up, but I settled for one that allowed a spike to be driven into the ground. For a couple of years it worked too. But after it got pushed back during one heavy snow fall, it was never the same.
I guess I should see if there are any new improvements to the mailbox selection. I’m not really set on getting one that needs a big post. I’ve seen too many of those not move and have the whole mailbox destroyed by the plowed snow. Hmm… This year, I think I will just get a fencepost and drive it into the ground next to my old box. I can then attach my mailbox to this new post. It may not last forever, but maybe it will last until next winter. I guess I really need to wait until the ground is completely thawed out don’t I. That is good news, one less thing I have to worry about today.
I’m a fan of steam packets.
Mar 1st
I’m not sure if that is the name, but it is the name I give to this type of cooking. It is ideal for cooking for 1 and could be used to cook a variety of food for those fussy eaters. I’m not sure why I never used this much when my kids were young. I only remember doing it for fish. This is food wrapped in foil that gives you all you need for 1 meal. I guess you could put two meals in one packet, but much more than that makes it hard to turn.
Steam packet one
1 or 2 Turkey sausage (brat size) — Too much fat from a regular sausage for this.
1 small onion diced
1 small-medium potato diced
1 medium carrot sliced or diced
Salt/Pepper
2 tablespoons of your favorite salsa
wrap all ingredients in foil — Crimp edges well so it doesn’t leak too much.
cook in Frying pan over medium heat or on a grill at medium heat or in the oven at 325 degrees (on a cookie sheet). Cook for about 30 minutes. When using Grill or frying pan flip over at 15-20 minutes. Slice open packet, if sausage is not done just cook until it is.
More to come (or look back at the fish recipe) 
