Pig of a Day

DH isn't very well.      This weekend was Pig weekend, so we did what we could.

I collected the porker this morning, and got home late.  DH had sterilised everything, got the boards out, knives sharpened.   We started at about 1pm.     

DH had to wear a mask, and we both had a sit down part way through.  We didn't really  make the most of the pig this time - no ham, no bacon.  We aren't even keeping the shouder as a joint!    We do have 3  good sized belly joints, a tenderloin, and several kilos of diced pork so far. We'll have a good amount of mince, and we're going to be making many many sausages.  I've got lard rendering at the moment, and we're having ribs for dinner.

I know I'm being wasteful, because Im not making stock.  I just don't have the energy. Or the vegetables.

We'll do the sausaging (and mincing)  tomorrow,  too tired today.

January continues

Mum is still in hospital, althoguh she should be coming out today.    My DB stayed with my Dad for a week,  and did lots of maintenance niggley things. He replaced 15 lightbulbs,  and Dad can now "see" the remote control;  he did some stuff to the door to reduce the draught;   he vacuumed and vacuumed the carpet;  he cleaned the bathroom;  changed the sheets for my Dad, and did several loads of washing.

He's going back today to (hopefully) collect Mum and finish off some jobs, including putting a dogflap in one of the internal doors.

Mum and Dad want to sell their humungous jigsaw puzzle collection.  They aren't able to do jigsaws now, and they need the space. The cash will come in handy too.     

We've started preparation, and I am looking forward ot getting started,

I was hoping to go with my brother, so that I could focus on the jigsaws,  but I'm still 'under the weather'.    I just can't risk it.       

- & -

The chap who is helping us with our garden came on Saturday.  He and DH focussed on cutting dead branches out 2 of the apple trees.  This has allowed an amazing amount of light into that part of the garden!  The chicken run has more light in one corner,  we may get grass growing in Spring,  and the Quince tree might do better now!  The logs will be cut ready to store for burning next year.

- & -

We were looking out of the kitchen window yesterday, talking about the trees.  We saw tha Shekby was on DH's workshop roof.  And then she was on NextDoor's shed.   And then she was back on the fence, walking along.  We realised she was going to try and get to the front of the house.

DH kept an eye on her from the kitchen, and I went to the hallway.  I saw her appear, and she walked along the fence and then got on to the front gates.  She couldn't get down, so she turned around and walked back.

DH saw her reappear.  And then she turned round, and tried again.

This time, when she got to the gates, she jumped off them on to the drive.   I was out of the front door immediately,  and DH joined me.  This was our chance to teach her what to do if she foudn herself on the "wrong" side of the gate,

We coaxed her out from under the car,  and we taught her to use the front cat flap to get home.

The front catflap is physically locked to prevent exit, but (in theory) allows our cats to come in. 

Except.

Except the front cat flap didn't recognise her.  DH twiddled,  and it still didn't work.    I kept her amused with cuddles and treats, and DH went back in the house to take the physical lock off.    Shelby went through no problem.

We had a spare cat flap tag, so we registered it, and then tested it. It was recognised by the garden flap, but not the front one.   Luckily, we had another, identical, cat flap in the loft.  It used to be our garden flap,   but we replaced it with a bigger "pet door" when we had the doors replaced recently. Keep up!)

The old cat flap was retrieved and tested,  and then we  replaced the faulty one.

We tried new batteries on the faulty one,  and we tried a factory reset.  Neither seemed to work.  DH deregistered it, and reregistered it, and it came back to life.   Too late now, it's relegated to being the "spare flap".

I realise that she's going to be out the front more often now, so we'll need to keep an eye out.  We need to do the training again I think.

A pinch from father

 In my first year at High School the Form Teacher thought she'd introduce us to cryptic crossword clues.   (I had already started to do the cryptic version of the daily crossword in  The Sun. I liked that one because there were "two sets of clues but the answers are the same".  Is it still like that?

Anyway, Miss Waller gave a clue which was "A pinch from father".  The answer is, of course, parsnip.  I think of that clue every time I think of that particular vegetable.

DH dug up the parsnips yesterday (having dug up a few some days earlier to make a years supply of curried parsnip soup).

I said I'd peel and parboil them and freeze them, which I did.  I decided to try parnsip crisps as well, and couldn't remember what I'd done before.

I thought I'd make some notes this time, so I don't have to relearn (again) next year.

 

 

Attempt1.  Uncooked, Uncored.  Thinnest mandoline setting. 190 degrees

Edible.  Like the ones in the bags.  Sort of crisp but sort of chewy.

Attempt 2: stick some of the attempt 1 pieces in the dehydrator to dry them out.  Improved them.

Attempt3:  Cooked (over cooked actually, 3 mins pressure), uncored. 2nd thinnest mandoline  setting (because they went to mush on the thinnest).  Vile,  Too woody.  Too thick

Attempt4:  Cooked (from theovercooked batch), cored after cooking 2nd thinnest setting.A bit thick but not bad

Attempt 5: Uncooked, cored. Thinnest mandoline setting.Not bad.  They taste a bit raw now I've had a cooked batch

Attempt 6: Cooked (over cooked actually, even though only 1 min pressure), Cored before cooking. thinnest mandoline setting. Not easy to slice. Taste OK

Attempt 7: Put some of Attempt 6 in the fridge, to see if it's easier to slice when chilled.  Didn't get around to doing anything and it's still sitting in the fridge.

 

Learning for Next Time::

• Always put the grill thingy on the top otherwise the pieces fly around and get stuck to the element.
• I used an oil spray, with sunflower oil, every time. I cooked repeatedly at 2 minute intervals, until done.
• It has to be the thinnest mandoline setting
  
• They improve as they cool
• Start with Attempt 6 or 7.  for Attempt 8, try dehydrating end result.

Another long week

One of the Girls, Astrid the Leghorn, got caught in the netting.    

I heard a bit of a commotion and wet outside to investigate.  Most o fthe girls were hanging aroud behind a shrub.  I counted, and realised Astrid was missing.  I walked rounf the Run to get to the door, and I spotted her hanging in the netting.  One foot on the ground, the other vertically up behind her.  I felt sick.

I dropped to the ground and started to gently disentangle the leg.  When she was free, she hobbled a few steps.  I watched her for a moment;  she was limping, but her leg didn't look broken.  I went inside to get some treats so I could catch her and examine her.   She seemed OK.  I kept an eye on her for several days, and now she seems back to normal.    

The camera software updated, and we don't have any recordings so I can't  see what happened.  I suspect a cat may have been involved.

-&-

My mum hadn't improved, she wanted to go to hospital, so my DB has gone to help.  Mum didn't want to leave Dad on his own, and was having trouble getting to the hospital.     He's been there a couple of days now and Mum is still in hospital.   If this continues beyond Tuesday I'll go up so he can come home.

 -&-

I've failed to do anything creative, I just can't summon the energy or enthusiasm.  There's some other stuff going on which I wish I could write here and get it off my mind, but I can't. 

  -&-

On the plus side:

    ...we had Miss Teen over after school earlier in the week.   After school snack homework,  hearing about her New Year Resolutions,  Dinner, Trivial Pursuit, and TV. 

    ...the Physio exercises are helping with my evening and overnight back pain.  There are quite  afew exercises, and I spend about a hour uring the day doing them, not all at once.

The "kinked pipe" pressure continues to wake me (approx 20 times a night at the moment), but now it is easier to isolate it and describe it.

    ...my new specially made bras arrived.  They are very peculiar to put on, but they are doing a reasonable job.

...Miss Teen liked her birthday pressie and card.

    ...we went to County Hall in London, to see Witness for the Prosecution.  We'd booked the tickets back in October, long before Omicron was a thing.         We went up by train,  which I found a bit more challenging (too Peopley) than I expected.  However,  the area around County Hall was quiet,   the venue was marvellous,  and the show was fantastic.     We saw DexDIL and DGDs,  but onlycgot to chat in the interval and on the walk back to the station afterwards.

...weve had some gorgeous cold but bright weather.  DH dug up the parsnips yesterday, I made notes fr myself,  which I'll post later, so I don't end up having to do the same experiments next year,

 

 

 

 

A long week

End of the first week of the New Year, and it's aleady had more than it's fair share of incidents.

A case of Bird Flu was found fairly locally, which resulted in the culling of many beautiful birds.   A "surveillance zone" is now in operation,  missing us,  and we've upped our preventative routine as it really is too close for comfort.

I managed to stuff up embroidering a sweatshirt for Miss Teen's birthday and I compounded this by creating a hole in it when trying to shave the embroidery off.  It was a bought sweatshirt, and I bought the design especially, so doubly (triply) frustrating.   I walked away and left it, and I ma or ay ot revisit it over the weekend.

My Mum had a fall.  Fortunately she didn't break anything, but she's bruised and battered, and has to use 2 sticks to walk at the moment. 

And yesterday my youngest Uncle had a heart attack.  He's currently in hospital, and recovering well.

On the plus side:
 

the back  exercises, which are taking me about an hour a day to complete, are having an effect. I think it's a positive one, mostly.

I bought some horrendous sports bras to try and take the pressure off my back.   The first one, suggested by my DSD,  was a challenge to get into, and not especially comfortable.   I got the maximum cup size, which was too small, and I increased the band size to compensate. t I think it's still a bit small, which is why it isn't as comfortable as it could be.      However, it took some of the weight,  and it did  a good job of helping me keep my shoulders from sagging forward.   I managed most of the exercises in it.   

The next one, which I'm wearing today,  is less supportive/restrictive bra , and is marginally more comfortable. It doesn't have quite the same shoulder snapping effect,  but the fact that the straps are adjustable means it has some advantages.  I haven't tried exercising in it yet, I'm just about to do that, 

Both of them give me a peculiar shape.  At the moment, I don't care

I found one other ReadyTo Wear one which looks promising but they are out of stock in my size. Or any size near my size. 

I'm hoping that my bespoke Optifit bras will hurry up, and I'm really really hoping that they will work.

I saw my cousin (the one who has/had  throat cancer) today, and he continues to improve.  He's still having a rough time,  as you'd expect,  and has learned that he won't be "back to normal" for another year or so.  He was originally, incorrectly, told he would be back to normal about 6 months after the treatment finished.

 And this is only Day 7.

 

 

 

Escapee

A coupe of days ago, DH notied that Shelby had not been in for breakfast.  

The cat flap curfew ends automatically at a certain time, and the cats usually go out as soon as the cat flap permits.   They spend some time outside, and then come in for breakfast.    Shelby's food was untouched.

She didn't appear when he called so he used the Loc8tor to find her.  She was the wrong side of the gate.  Getting back in is harder than getting out, and se was sitting waiting to be rescued.

It was just a matter of time before the cats worked out that there ar ways to go beyond the garden.  We've been lucky it's taken them this long,

We discussed options.In the end, we decided to unblock the cat flap which exits on to our drive.  Previously it was locked, and we had a wooden block covering it up on the inside.

We set it to "in only".   Next time one of them ends up outside, we'll teach them that they can get back inside through that cat flap.  (We don't want to do it now, as we don't want to encourage them to go out the front, and that's what we'd be doing by taking thme out there and teaching them).

Of course now the flap is unblocked, all 3 cats are fascinated by it and it's now bcome one of their viewing stations. Izzy used to go in and out through it anyway, but that's long forgotten, and she's as fascinated by it as the kittens. 

Hopefully the interest will wane.