Monday, December 29, 2008

More Cheese!

In an attempt to not drive myself crazy today...I made some more cheese

This time I used a cheesecloth and got about twice the curds out of it...



After the cheesecloth but before the first microwave, quite the difference from the first time.


Kneading...always kneading....


Finished (this is about 2/3 of the cheese, I gave 1/3 away to neighbors)

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Cheese!

Holy moley...I made cheese!

from: http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/Mozzarella.pdf

Stirring the milk...stirring...stirring. The milk started out at about 40 degrees.


Adding the citric acid at 55 degrees. Then, more stirring.


Felix was super interested at first...at least he was hopeful I would drop something.


Still stirring.


Felix starting snoring at about 70 degrees.


Max checks the temperature


Time to add the rennet!


Curds!


Squeezing out the curds


The curds before the first microwave


After the first microwave


After the third microwave


Pulling the cheese


Max kneads the cheese


All done!

Monday, December 15, 2008

Snow Day! 12/14/08-12/15/08


In the beginning...12/14/08
Originally uploaded by WeavesWithFire

Not much happening at first in the early morning...




DSCN8985
Originally uploaded by WeavesWithFire

The dog is not impressed.




Copy of DSCN9008
Originally uploaded by WeavesWithFire

Four hours later...




Sledding!
Originally uploaded by WeavesWithFire

The real purpose of snow.




Copy of DSCN9016
Originally uploaded by WeavesWithFire

So far the chicken coop has held up.




Copy of DSCN9017
Originally uploaded by WeavesWithFire

Why is my ball frozen? Why. Is. My. Ball. FROZEN?




DSCN9035
Originally uploaded by WeavesWithFire

Not so much for a fire today.




DSCN9046
Originally uploaded by WeavesWithFire

The Christmas deer look great under the snow




Snow Bowl
Originally uploaded by WeavesWithFire

Look what I found in the back yard!




Orange Snow Cone
Originally uploaded by WeavesWithFire

Yellow snow is strictly prohibited, but orange snow is A-OK

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Cluck cluck cluck!

We got our chicken coop!

It was old.

It was full of chicken poop.

It was $50.00.

Perfect!


11/29/08
This is the coop right after it was cleaned out and we ripped the old rotting shingles off. The black stuff you see is roofing felt. One side has brand new roofing felt and the other side has disintegrating roofing felt.

Felix investigates his new "doghouse."




Inside of the coop after cleaning.

You can see the three entrances to the nest boxes.






















The back side of the coop where the nest boxes are.

















Nest boxes. Those were pretty gross, but I think I got most of the crap out.






Ron holding the top to the nest box.

12/1/08
Because the bottom had rotted away, we made some foundation repairs.

We also covered the top with a tarp in case it rained before we could get new shingles on.

I just have to say we really lucked out in the friend department because I have a friend who a carpenter and a and one who is a concrete carpenter and they were happy to repair the foundation.


12/2/08
Of course, it rained. This morning I trudged out there and put blocks under the coop so that the new wood doesn't rot as well.

We are picking up shingles and roofing felt tomorrow afternoon fro $20.00 from a craigslist ad.

Once we are done, we will head down to habitat for humanity re-store for primer and paint.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Sunday, October 5, 2008

No Bad Days at the Beach

Today was quite the day. I decided that because I’m going on call next week, that I would take Max to the coast. Around 9am we headed out down the 26…I look in my rear view mirror and…flashing red lights. Crap.

The OSP officer was actually really nice and left me off with a warning, but my odometer never topped 60 for the rest of the day. Around 10:30 we rolled into Hug Point where we explored rocks, waterfalls and tidepools. We also saw lots and lots of jellyfish on the shore which were fascinating. Max picked one up that was denuded of its stingers and gave it a proper burial in a tidepool. Then we ate our picnic lunch in one of the caves and watched two seagulls fight over our leftover bread. The batteries died in my camera so I don’t have any pictures past Hug Point.

















Then we headed over to haystack rock, but we were too late to get to the tidepools, so we just ran in and out of the waves for a bit. Then another family told us that there was dead sea lion about 100 yards out, so we went to go check it out. It was…so beautiful. Maxwell and I walked around it several times. He kept asking me to call the animal doctor and I told him there was nothing anyone could do, the sea lion was gone and the best thing now was for other creatures to eat its body. We talked about how since that sea lion had died that there would be more food in the ocean for other sea lions to eat and maybe that sea lion’s babies were eating well right now. Max drew a picture of a baby sea lion in the sand and a sad face. I wrote “farewell” in the sand.

It had either just died when it washed up or it died on the beach this morning., and there was a small pool of blood under its nose, but its eyes were still clear, mouth slightly open. It was over 6 feet long and there was a small wound on its side that was yellowed over. Of course, I don’t know how it died but I would suspect from the blood under the nose that it got into some kind of fight with either another sea lion or a shark. Or maybe it just…died and there is no reason. I’ve never been that close to a sea lion before it was pretty cool. We were able to really look at the animal. Who knew they had little claws on their flippers? So far I haven’t found any information about it, but it’s only been a few hours.

Monday, September 29, 2008

OFF 2008

Edit: I am sad to say that Snowy was not a good fit for our family. However he found a new life on a rabbit farm in Forest Grove as a breeder rabbit so he's...you know, a stud bunny now.

Fate handed us a new pet today. Well...the Oregon Flock and Fiber and fate. And $15.00 for the cage. And $39 for the supplies....

Meet Snowy!



Max originally wanted to name him "Whitey" but I convinced him that Snowy might be better.

We also saw sheep and, of course, members of the Alpaca Cult. I bought a small amount of yarn, but really the bunny was the major purchase.

Max and I had an insanely busy weekend, we went the Chinese Classical Garden on Saturday with his Papa and Susie which turned out to be...well, not in the most fantastic part of town. The garden was lovely though and we made it up to them by taking them to Imbrie Hall for dinner.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Well, all hail the new washing machine

So, finally, finally I was able to felt something successfully.

I give you...felted potholders. 100% wool goodness

Pre-felted


Post-felted!

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Adventures in waterbottle holders


Knit/Crochet Waterbottle holder1
Originally uploaded by WeavesWithFire

So, I've been trying to make a waterbottle holder all summer. Of course, now that I figured it out, summer is just about over. Ah well.

This is my first attempt. As you can see, the bottom is a total mess.




Knit/Crochet Waterbottle holder2
Originally uploaded by WeavesWithFire

gakk...gasp...cord...strangling me (this is why I look so pissed)





Knitted Waterbottle Holder1
Originally uploaded by WeavesWithFire

Ok, so knit/crochet didn't work out so well, how about straight knitting?

It's functional enough, but alas, it looks like crap.




crochet waterbottle holder2
Originally uploaded by WeavesWithFire

Eureka! Crochet for the win!




crochet waterbottle holder1
Originally uploaded by WeavesWithFire

The bottom looks so lovely on this, I'm sad to have to put it on a park bench somewhere.