Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Will Wonders Never Cease!

What a disheartening revelation!  I just discovered I'm more than a levi hoarder ... I'm a hoarder of cookbooks!!  Way WAY back in the old days when girls weren't allowed to do MAN things, like join FFA (Future Farmers of America), show cattle at the fair, or go to Veterinarian School, my only alternative was to join 4-H and learn to cook.

Not that I didn't know how, because my parents started making me take over chores when I was VERY young.  Child labor I call it, which is probably why I'm a responsible person today.  Too bad more parents don't do that.

Anyway, I was baking cakes from scratch when I was probably seven years old, only because they had not invented cake mix in a box yet.  I can't tell you how many pots of cowboy beans I cooked in the deep well pot on the stove while standing on a chair leaning over the two front burners that were cooking something else.  Not once did I catch on fire.

There was only one cookbook in the house back then, and that was Betty Crocker.  Top shelf right, there are five Betty Crocker cookbooks ... mine, my mothers, my grandmothers, etc.  I blame them for my penchant for cookbooks, and of course 4H because their only alternative was raising chickens.

I'm truly not that great at hoarding since ten years ago I got rid of over half of my stash.  This is all that's left, leaving me LOTS of room for more!!  Instead of sitting down and reading a detective novel, I read cookbooks.  Hope springs eternal that I will absorb something from them that will improve my skills at keeping the smoke alarm from going off.  So far no luck!!
On the other hand, I did have some very good luck when Miss Terry emailed a recipe for carnitas that did not require a gallon of lard.  How cool is that?  Thus the latest edition to my hoard.  I can't wait to try out some recipes.  
Here's one you won't believe!  Remember that o-ring I wanted for the kitchen sink faucet?  I can't believe it came in my post office box yesterday.  You know why?  It was addressed to my street address, which the Post Office refuses to deliver to, but when they saw my name, they actually threw it in the p.o. box instead of returning it to Delta.  Will wonders never cease!!

Here's the kicker though ... I gave Delta the model number of the faucet and they sent the wrong part. First off, all I wanted was the aerator INSIDE the nozzle.  They sent the entire nozzle ... that's it on the left.  MY nozzle is on the right.  Not exactly the same size!

So THIS is why it was $21.  Lucky for me, they sent it at no charge.  I'm stealing the washer out of it and putting it in my leaky bathroom sink faucet. 
In an effort to keep at least the front yard looking nice this summer, I picked up new sprinkler heads.  It will give the gardener new targets for his lawn mowing machine.  I haven't figured out how to install them yet, but I'm guessing it requires a shovel.  Another house project ... will wonder never cease!!
It's that time again, the magical, Camelot-like Magic Kingdom of Bingo.  The Castle Lawyer and I met up LAST night for an evening of target shooting at the new range just a mile from my house.  We did great as we each imagined someone's Bingo face on the target!!  But that's another story!



11 comments:

  1. I too had cupboards full of cook books for my restaurant, but they all went away when we went full time. I was always interested in cooking and learned to become self sufficient in my single days and found I enjoyed it and was easy for me. So why not open a restaurant?
    No farm life for us growing up in the city, back in the day. But I did build and repair many cars. But no more, with all the fancy computerized things now. So cooking is one I can do easily living on the road.

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    1. And by the looks of your dinners, you are really GREAT at cooking George!

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  2. I love to read cookbooks too...from when I was a child...better than any fiction book for sure!

    Is this not the part you are looking for? https://amazon.com/Faucet-RP37018RB-Victorian-Aerator-Venetian/dp/B000UB633C/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1525796983&sr=8-16&keywords=Delta+Faucet+aerator

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    1. How do you find this stuff, Dave? Yup .... that's the one I was looking for! Notice the price is cheaper too? Thank you so much!!

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  3. Will any of those cook books teach you how not to get distracted? :)

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    1. No Linda .... they do not. Which is apparently my problem!! No matter how many times I go back over the recipe, I seem to leave things out!!!

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  4. Blogger Mister ed said...
    Tips on how to mess with a Mexican gardener
    Go down to Lowe's or Home Depot and pick up 1/2" x 3' rebar have the Mexicans very carefully drive it in the ground next to the sprinkler
    But leave it sticking up about 8 inches at the same time pick up rebar safety caps covers ( they're bright orange ) then tell them they're free to mow the lawn as they see fit ( do you see where I'm going with this ๐Ÿ™€๐Ÿ’ฐ๐Ÿ’ฐ๐Ÿ™€)

    Overtime the pop-up sprinklers wareout they stay in the up position
    Which make a great target for a lawn guys to aim at
    First off they don't last a long time two years is good
    If you have Rainbird type sprinklers or orbit you can get the whole assembly minus the spray head couple bucks. when you go to replace the under ground unit part use the original nozzle
    The biggest culprit that kills the pop-up portion of the head is grass and sand
    That's why you see a lot of popups standing straight up or you touch it with your foot it'll pop back down that a good sign to replace it before the lawn guys use it for target practice
    That's why they make that round grass cutter for the sprinkler heads
    After you use that take your spade an dig down about 2 inches below the head that will keep the dirt out of the unit
    They actually make donuts that fit in that 6in hole made out of concrete
    I prefer 4 inch drainage plastic tubing ( flush with the sod )it's soft and you can literally walk on it Or mow over it. it won't affect it but it keeps the grass and dirt out,,


    As for the remedy of the cookbooks very easy divided it 4 ways
    Make 4 even size piles
    first pile leaving California
    second pile take to Arizona
    the third and fourth pile well you know where they should go
    Rap three ๐Ÿ“šcook books altogether with ribbons ๐ŸŽ€and present them to your friends๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿป‍๐Ÿณ๐ŸŽ‰๐Ÿ‘ญ


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    1. Boy am I glad I have blog readers. I would never know any of this stuff. Yes, dirt and grass is the killer of my sprinklers, in spite of my cutting out chunks keep them open and seeable. I also use roundup, but since I'm gone, they tend to grow back. I've asked the gardeners to use the weedeater around them, but they are in too much of a hurry. Concrete pieces to fit around them? That would be perfect.

      I'm also taking your advice on the cookbooks. What's your mailing address??????

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    2. Sorry I was going to send you some of my old ones

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  5. I've sorted through cookbooks so many times and purged often. The biggest purge was when we sold our house. So many clippings I'd found "oh, that sounds easy, I'll make that!" tuck them away and forget all about them. Garbage. I still have about 6 books, a couple from the local schools which I find hold some quick and easy die hard recipes. Betty Crocker and Home and Gardens I think are the ones I hoard.
    Good luck with the sprinkler heads....maybe a little skull and crossbones flag sticking up will remind the gardener to use his eyeballs and stay away!

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    1. Yup, I have an entire drawer of clippings too. I actually have an app on my phone that copies recipes just in case I need a cookbook while on the road!!

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