Early Morning Flying

Angela & I planned on taking an early flight out for breakfast this morning. We haven’t flown in a few weeks & picking a place to stop and eat is always a good excuse to get out. It just so happened that the plane was available to allow us to get breakfast and still make it back in time for late church services. Well… the weather was pretty misty/foggy this morning which can make visibility from the air a little difficult and the potential was there for it to get a little worse… so we detoured and ate breakfast first to give the fog a chance to figure out what it wanted to do. We then took a quick flight just cuz, and then headed home for a bit before church.

Angela’s new Rav4 has one of those warning lights on the dash for tire pressure… both of us sort of snickered a bit when we found out there was a light for tire pressure. Well… yesterday it came on but we were away from the house. We took a quick walk around to check the tires, and not a one looked any lower than the others. I forgot to check the pressure before we headed to the airport this morning and made a mental note to check it later. When walking out to the car after breakfast it became obvious there was a tire with an issue… huh, guess that warning light works! At least it’s just a screw in the tire and will hold air for a couple days. Filled it up with air and now that we’re back home I’ll pull it and take it up to Costco for a patch (free flat repairs for members :-)

I’m off to pull a tire… and try to miss as little of the NASCAR race as possible while doing it! Wish me luck! Hope you have a wonderful day!

-Mark

Strawberry Soda

We drink a lot of milk, water and tea here at the house. I pretty much don't keep soda at the house since neither of us really drink a whole lot of it. It's really too sweet for my taste except on rare occasions...(root beer floats are an exception :D). The last time I got sick, I found and tried a recipe for homemade ginger ale. Ginger is supposed to be good for upset stomachs, coughs and sore throats, and since I don't believe storebought ginger ale has an actual ginger in the ingredient list, I decided to make my own. (I also get bored when I get sick!!)

So, anyway, the ginger ale recipe wasn't too bad really. Today, I was bored with our usual list of drink options, so I decided to try something new..... strawberry soda. Who knows what it will turn out tasting like, but might as well try and see what it turns out like! Here it is brewing on the back patio table.


And in case you're wondering what goes in this brew:

• 1/4 tsp regular yeast, (not rapid rise kind; also, I hear the yeast used for making beer leaves less of a "yeasty" taste but I've always just used the regular kind of yeast you would make bread with)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• ~10-12 frozen strawberries that were nuked in the microwave for a minute to thaw and then mashed into pulp and juice
• water to fill up the 2-liter bottle

Combine all ingredients in the bottle, shaking to mix the sugar and yeast with the water and strawberries. (It's easier to shake up if you fill the bottle partially with water, shake until dissolved, then fill the rest of the way with water). Then let sit (without opening the bottle top) for somewhere between 12-36 hours (time depends on environment, mainly temperature), until the bottle feels hard on the outside - like soda you buy in the store. Then put it in the fridge and drink when it gets cooled off.

The way it works:
When the yeast and the sugar combine, they produce two biproducts. Carbon dioxide, which gives you the effect of soda, is the main biproduct. If you don't refrigerate after the bottle gets pressurized, the yeast will continue to "eat" the sugar and continue to make carbon dioxide and eventually blow up the bottle from the pressure. I've not ever done this, but could be messy, entertaining or dangerous depending on where you are and what you're doing :) (Of course, this is also why it's a good idea to use plastic and not glass for your brew container).

The other bi-product is sugar alcohol. However, unless you let it sit for a long time (taking care to make sure the bottle doesn't explode!) you will only get trace amounts of it. Not enough to notice at all. Apparently this is how you make homemade beer. I didn't realize the sugar alcohol was a biproduct until someone I work with that prides himself on a good homemade brew brought it up. Learned something new :)

Anyway, I'm setting it outside to try and speed up the whole "bubbly" process. I'll let you know how it turned out!

Shelling Peas

I went to the farmer's market this morning. I love going there on Saturdays in the summer as often as I can. It's pretty much as true to a old-fashioned farmer's market as you can get. It's outside and each farmer has a table with their farm name on the front. I like getting to know the farmer's and seeing what new they have from week to week and getting to try stuff I'd never find in the store.

A couple of weeks ago I started to see peas show up, as summer finally began ripening them and this week I bought a basket of black-eyed peas. I love peas. Cream peas are my favorite, but just about any type of peas will do :)

Now, you can get black-eyed peas in the grocery store either as frozen peas or dryed peas, for less work and less money. But I really enjoy buying the basket of peas to shell. I like knowing that I'm supporting the local farmers to continue doing what they do. But more than that, it brings back memories from when I was a kid.

Summers meant picking veggies and shelling peas and shucking corn (and mom always had her requesite three or four bags of fresh creamed corn, which Jason always claimed made him sick to his stomach!) and other such vegetable duties, shared by the whole family, to freeze up and last through the winter.

Yes, it's more work to shell the peas yourself, especially when you realize that you can shell peas for half an hour and only get enough to make for dinner that night. But there's something relaxing and satisfying about monotonously shelling peas and seeing them mound up as you continue through the basket of pea-pods sitting beside you.

My Husband is Awesome!!

So a few weeks ago, I was doing laundry like a good little wife, when a loud, obnoxious, and somewhat frightening noise began singing from the washing machine. I reloaded the clothes to make sure it was properly balanced, I did a lighter load to make sure it was not me just trying to stuff it silly. Nevertheless, the noise was there and getting worse.

So, I searched the internet and found we probably had a blown bearing. We took the thing apart to fix it....the parts, after all, would be only a fraction of the price, and we are do-it-yourselfers, for the most part. Well, we took it apart (I should say Mark did), and found out it was more than a bad bearing. The major structural member in the washing machine was broken...in two places! And better yet, after researching, apparently, our 7 years with the washer was much longer than the 4-5 years average of most people. It was a design flaw that is held under warranty, but only if you pay the $200-$300 to have a professional Sears guy do the work! Well, we had the thing taken apart already, so we just went ahead and bought the parts to do the work.
So here's a pic of the before and after.....if you look, the grubby three legged piece on the right-hand washer is broken on two of the three legs.

Here's the new washer. Ain't it purty? We now have an aircraft grade washing machine....if there is such a thing. The not so bright engineer at Sears decided to use untreated aluminum/iron metal for a structural piece that is submerged in water and suds on every wash. So, we did what any good airplane builder would do....we alodined and primed it!! Should last more than 7 years we are hoping....I'll get back with you on that status in a while ;)Anyway, here it is all put back together. Mark is checking for leaks and making sure it works OK before buttoning it back up. After one minor leak that was fixed, it's good to go! I'm on my second load of the night.....I never thought I would be so happy to be able to do laundry!!

I made him good dinners and lunches for the week while he was gettin' 'er done....so I didn't completely slack, but I'm so thankful I have a hubby who can do this kind of stuff! Thanks babe!!

My First Post

Living so far from my family, I thought this would be a neat way to share what's going on with Mark and I. The site is definitely a work in progress so it'll probably change some along the way. I'm new to this blogging thing myself, so I'll have to get used to getting on the computer and writing random stuff and showing random pictures but I'm sure I'll get used to it soon!

Of course, I like to take pictures, so I have to load at least one to begin with :)

It was such an awesome day today! We had the windows open all day and the breeze through the house was wonderful. While outside at one time, I saw a beautiful orange butterfly and decided I really wanted a picture of him. However, by the time I got back outside, he was gone. So of course, I had to take a picture of something.....off to the flowers...:)