Rural Revolution

On the road again

noreply@blogger.com (Patrice Lewis) — Sat, 07 Nov 2026 21:16:16 +0000

The laundry is washed.

The suitcase is packed (almost).

Yes, I'm on the road again. Tomorrow I'm flying down to see my parents for a long-overdue visit. Poor Don will be baching it for the next ten days.

But it will be lovely to see my parents. Stand by and I'll take you along on the trip.

Huh. Weird glitch

noreply@blogger.com (Patrice Lewis) — Fri, 06 Nov 2026 17:35:14 +0000

This morning, Don was talking on the phone with someone in a nearby town concerning a community project they're both working on. Without warning, the phone gave three warning beeps and died.

Our phone is an older instrument. We call it a landline (since it doesn't accept texts), though technically it's a cell phone. Sometimes the battery gets low, or sometimes it gives us connectivity issues, but 99 percent of the time it's fine.

Anyway, the dropped phone call was an annoyance but not much else ... until Don saw a notice on his computer that the internet had been disconnected.

This was weird. The phone and our internet are two entirely separate internet providers. Why would they both go down at the same time?

In less than five minutes, both forms of communication were back up. Don called his associate again, and they both agreed it was a weird glitch. "Yeah, there are all kinds of rumors that bad things are coming," the other man said.

Yeah, a weird glitch.

Turkeys in the trees

noreply@blogger.com (Patrice Lewis) — Thu, 05 Nov 2026 19:07:49 +0000

We have several older apple trees planted in a line down the slope of our property. These are the trees we had professionally pruned a few years ago (back when we had money).

These trees are far more healthy than they were before the pruning, and we anticipate many decades of apples as a result.

This productivity, we found, isn't lost on the wildlife.

Don called me out to the deck this morning. "There are turkeys in the top of one of the apple trees," he said. "Grab your camera."

Sure enough we saw two turkeys at the very top of the tree, balancing their heavy bodies on the skinny branches. (We also saw a third turkey halfway up the tree, but it was harder to photograph.)

At first it simply looked like the birds were feasting on the apples. But the longer we watched, the more interesting it became. It seemed the turkeys were deliberately knocking apples down.

And here's the thing: Beneath and downslope from the tree, no fewer than four deer and a whole bunch of turkeys were scarfing down the apples.

As we watched, the upper turkeys knocked more fruit off the tree, and we saw a few dozen apples rolling downhill. The turkeys on the ground below worked them over.

This behavior went on for several minutes, with the upper turkeys knocking down apples and the lower turkeys and the deer taking advantage of it.

Then the upper turkeys flew down and joined the feast, which the deer were already enjoying.

I dunno, it sure seemed deliberate to us.

Ah, scams

noreply@blogger.com (Patrice Lewis) — Tue, 03 Nov 2026 18:37:59 +0000

After our yard sale last month, we were left with several big-ticket items which Don has been listing for sale on Facebook Marketplace. One of those items is fairly expensive and we listed it for $2,000, a very good price for its category.

Most of the inquiries have been legitimate, with specific questions about the item. But today, when we received a message inquiring about its availability, red flags started waving immediately. (Spelling and punctuation in the original.)

Message from buyer: "Good afternoon, is this still available?"

Me: "Yes it is."

Buyer: "I'm interested, If you will take a cashiers check and once it clears then I will send a mover to pick you up because I'm out of town now so I won't be able to come pick up myself."

(Red flag. You want to buy such an expensive item without inspecting it and without asking details about it? What's your hurry?)

Me: "Where are you located?"

Buyer: "We're 6-7 hours away. Would you accept a cashier's check as payment?, I'll arrange for a mover to come for the pick-up after it clears."

(Red flag. Failed to give a specific location.)

Me: "Sorry, no. The sale will need to be strictly cash."

Buyer: "OK thanks."

End of discussion.

Don looked up this kind of scam and found the following information:

Understanding the Certified Check Scam on Facebook Marketplace
How the Scam Works

This scam typically involves a buyer who shows interest in your item without inspecting it in person. Here’s a breakdown of the process:

• Initial Contact: The scammer messages you, expressing interest in your item and offering to pay with a certified check.

• Overpayment: The scammer sends a check for an amount greater than the sale price. They will then ask you to refund the difference before the check clears.

• Check Bounces: Once you send the refund, the certified check eventually bounces, meaning it is not valid. You are left without the item and out of pocket for the refunded amount.

Key Red Flags to Watch For

• No Inspection: The buyer does not want to see the item in person.

• Urgency: They may pressure you to act quickly, claiming they need the item urgently.

• Payment Method: They insist on using a certified check, which is often a tactic used by scammers.

How to Protect Yourself

• Meet in Person: Always arrange to meet in a public place and complete the transaction face-to-face.

• Verify Payment: Wait for the check to fully clear before sending any item or refunding money.

• Trust Your Instincts: If something feels off about the transaction, it’s best to walk away.

Yup, this "buyer" checked off every one of these boxes: No inspection, a sense of urgency, and a cashier's check as the payment method.

The interesting thing is, we clicked on the supposed profile page of the "buyers," and by golly it showed the sweetest and most innocent-looking older couple you could imagine, just a couple of grandparent-y types. I pity the poor saps whose photo was stolen for purposes of this scam.

Scum.

Six-hour vacation

noreply@blogger.com (Patrice Lewis) — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 19:52:52 +0000

Last week, Don and I did something fun: We took a "six-hour vacation," otherwise known as a day trip.

It was nothing elaborate, just a drive up to a mountain town for lunch and then back again. There's nothing much in this town. It has a population of less than 200. Yet we always enjoy our visits there.

On the way, we passed a corral. Horse trails are not uncommon on the drive up, and this corral was evidently where the animals could be kept. It was wildly overgrown with ferns that had gone golden.

We don't get much by way of extravagant autumn colors in our area, but what we do have is just lovely.

The road took us through some rocky canyon scenery.

In some places, just the tips of the trees were in sunlight.

We stopped along the river at one point and saw a group of common mergansers on the water.

As we climbed in elevation, we started to see more and more tamarack (larch), which holds the unusual distinction of being a deciduous conifer tree. Its needles turn brilliant golden in the fall and then drop.

We followed a small river/large creek all the way up.

It's a popular destination for fishermen. We saw loads of floats and lines caught on an overhead wire.

This road sign was very accurate.

Nearly to the top of the mountains...

At last we hauled ourselves over the rim to find the town ensconced in an area of broad and beautiful meadows. As always, we fantasize about moving someplace this remote, though at our age it's probably better to be a wee bit closer to medical facilities, should we need them.

We stopped for lunch, a meal that proved to be so large that we had to take part of it home.

After lunch, we poked around town a bit. There isn't much to see except the grocery store, which is exceptionally well-stocked (doubtless due to the town's isolation).

In fact, they had broccoli at a better price than the nearest grocery store to us, so I bought some.

Then we headed back down the mountain. We passed a sign stating "Slide area."

Sure enough...

It was early afternoon by this point, and we passed through an area of distinct haze. Likely it was smoke, but there were no (visible) habitation in the area, so I might be wrong.

Those tamaracks can really pop with color.

The power lines along this route are nothing short of a marvel. Considering the steep and rocky terrain through which we passed, sinking the poles and stringing the wires was an extraordinary accomplishment.

Despite the bright sun, the valley was often shadowed.

We stopped at a bridge over the river. The road looks like it leads to some enchanted dell.

The road follows a creek, which dumps into the river.

Here's the river.

At one point we were stopped by some brief road construction. We landed right next to a patch of cattails.

As we got lower in elevation, we noticed this tall pine towering over its cohorts.

The lower elevations also had more color.

This time of year, much of the color comes from a tree I've never been able to positively identify. Boxelder, perhaps? If someone knows the species, please post it.

Here's the bark:

And here's a close-up of a leaf:

We've decided we're going to take more six-hour vacations in the future. There are a lot of things to see in this region, and day trips are the way to see them.

Yogurt-making tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Patrice Lewis) — Sun, 01 Nov 2026 03:26:52 +0000

After my recent "Dairy Day" post, a number of people had questions on making yogurt. I thought it might be apropos to put up a tutorial on how I make it.

Yogurt, of course, is not much more than cultured milk, so the first thing you need is a culture. While you might be able to get live cultures from certain brands of store-bought yogurt, my preference is to use a Bulgarian yogurt starter culture. Why this particular variety? It's because it can be recultured indefinitely. The purchased culture has five freeze-dried packets of culture, and I've only used one so far because I keep reculturing the latest batch.

I use skim milk for yogurt. Keep in mind that my "skim" milk isn't like commercial skim milk; it's probably more like 2%. All I do is ladle the cream off the top and call it good.

I pour the milk into a two-quart pot and put it over a low heat. Periodically I remove the skin off the top and discard it. I also stir the milk gently every few minutes to evenly distribute the heat.

The temperature needs to come up to between 176F and 180F. This is a slow process (don't crank the heat!) and may take up to half an hour.

Once it reaches this temperature, I turn off the heat and leave the milk alone. I don't stir it at all. It needs to cool down to between 106F and 113F, another slow process (this takes maybe an hour or so). It is crucial NOT to add the culture until it achieves the cooler temperature. I've accidentally killed many a culture by unthinkingly adding it to the hot milk.

By the time the milk is cooled to the correct temperature, it will have developed a fairly thick skin on the surface. Just discard it.

Now it's time to add the culture.

You can just scoop the culture into the warm milk and mix it thoroughly, but it tends to be lumpy no matter how thoroughly I mix, so I've developed a little technique. I use a jar or cup to scoop up a bit of the warm milk...

...then I scoop the culture into the jar.

Using a fork, I "beat" the culture into the milk until it's smooth.

Then I pour it into the warm milk...

...and mix it thoroughly. (No lumps!)

Then I pour the milk into the bucket of the incubator.

The bucket slips into the Styrofoam sleeve of the incubator. I let it sit at least eight hours or overnight (since I usually make yogurt in the evening).

By morning, it's beautiful creamy stuff.

This is where I scoop out a bit to culture the next batch. I also date the culture.

At this point, the yogurt is fine to flavor and use. However sometimes I want a thicker Greek-style yogurt, so I drain it for an hour or two in a yogurt strainer.

You can see how much liquid drains out after just one hour.

This is the result. Now I can flavor it however I wish.

Making yogurt might sound kinda complex, but actually it's a fairly hands-off and simple procedure.

Grumbly hateful

noreply@blogger.com (Patrice Lewis) — Sat, 31 Oct 2026 02:32:21 +0000

In our current culture in which complaining seems to be the norm, someone snapped a photo of a church sign (I think in Arlington, Virginia) as follows:

The reason this sign caught my attention because of a few "grumbly hateful" people we've encountered recently. And the thing is, we've all had experiences with someone who is "grumbly hateful." It might be a "Karen" yelling at a teenage store clerk before demanding to speak to the manager. It might be someone who is ridiculously entitled and demanding free this or that. It might be someone exploding in anger for no discernible reason except (apparently) a desire to make everyone around them miserable. It could be someone blaming you for something that isn't even remotely your fault.

Do you know someone who is grumbly hateful? How about humbly grateful? Spill the tea.

Rest in peace, Captain Picard

noreply@blogger.com (Patrice Lewis) — Thu, 29 Oct 2026 22:37:32 +0000

Holy cow, one sad loss after another. I just learned Sir Patrick Stewart has passed away.

One of my favorite stories:

A young Star Trek fan from Statesboro, Georgia, living with mitochondria disease, received the surprise of a lifetime while attending DragonCon, a popular sci-fi and fantasy convention.

The 11-year-old's Make-A-Wish request was to simply attend the convention, but when Sir Patrick Stewart got word of Dawn's trip, he decided to go and surprise her.

Stewart and Dawn embraced with a hug, but their meeting didn't end there. The renowned actor spent one-on-one time chatting with Dawn and learning about her life.

"I was shy at first not sure what to say or talk about but he kept talking to me," she told Mashable. "I felt like I was on the Enterprise talking to the Capt.... It makes me happy even when I am sick so I just wave and call Hello Sir Patrick."

For Dawn, it was undoubtedly the #BestDayEver.

The man was a legend. Rest in peace, Sir Patrick.

Biscuits and gravy tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Patrice Lewis) — Thu, 29 Oct 2026 15:21:07 +0000

Recently I made a batch of biscuits and gravy, and Don suggested documenting the process as a sort of tutorial. So here goes.

I use the biscuit recipe from my battered and faithful Better Homes & Garden cookbook:

I also routinely quadruple the recipe, since we enjoy leftover biscuits.

The first task was to skim some milk. I just use a soup ladle for this purpose.

Then I mixed the dry ingredients: Flour, sugar, salt, cream of tarter, baking powder.

Once the dry ingredients were mixed, I grated some of the butter I made the other day. (My rotary grater is very handy for this!)

The grated butter mixes easily with the dry ingredients.

To this mixture, I added the (skimmed) milk.

After the dough was all mixed, it was time to turn it on to the breadboard...

...and give it a bit of kneading.

What follows is something I only learned through Older Daughter's culinary expertise on making exceptionally flaky biscuits. Take the dough, flatten it somewhat...

...and then fold it over itself. Flatten and repeat two or three times to make "layers." Simple, eh? But it makes all the difference.

Then I rolled the dough to about half an inch thick.

Next is another trick Older Daughter taught me: Use an actual biscuit cutter to cut the biscuits, not the old tuna can or plastic tumbler I used to use. Why? Because a biscuit cutter has sharp edges, not dull edges like a can or tumbler. The sharp edges slice through the dough and expose the flaky layers, rather than compressing the edges. Also, don't "twist" the biscuit cutter to cut the biscuit – just press down firmly and pull it back out. Twisting also seals and compresses the edges and reduces flakiness.

Gather the scraps, re-roll to half an inch thick, and keep cutting until the dough is used up.

Of course, there will be the odd "leftover" biscuit that's too small to cut.

Out of a quadruple recipe, I normally get about 30 biscuits or so. Pop them into a hot (450F) oven for about 20 minutes, or longer if you like them browner as we do.

While the biscuits are baking, it's time to make the gravy. For this, I modify a recipe for a separate dish, pork chops with gravy, using just the gravy part. (I skip adding mushrooms for this application.)

I started by cutting up some sausages...

...and letting them fry in their own grease until brown. Bacon is also a fine choice for the gravy.

At this point, I kinda "wing" the gravy. I started with two cups of (skimmed) milk, drizzled some in, then sprinkled in a bit of flour, stirring continuously until it thickened. Milk. Flour. Stir. Thicken. Repeat until the milk is gone. Don't just dump the milk and flour in or it will clump. The constant stirring is also crucial to keep the gravy from getting lumpy.

At some point during this stirring process, add your preferred spices. I use a bit of salt, a generous amount of pepper, and some thyme. Your choices may vary.

When the gravy is done...

...put it aside until the biscuits are baked.

Then cut open the hot biscuits and ladle the gravy over the top.

Ironically, I'm a biscuit purist and prefer just butter on mine (the gravy is for Don).

So there you go: Your biscuits-and-gravy tutorial.

Dairy Day

noreply@blogger.com (Patrice Lewis) — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 20:46:36 +0000

I had a bunch of milk in the dairy fridge to use up, so I decided to make yesterday a Dairy Day and get things processed.

One of the things taking up room was this gallon of older cream. It's been hanging around for weeks, so of course it smelled sour. Oddly enough, sour cream makes some of the best butter, for which I had it earmarked.

Ah, but I had far more cream than just this one jug. I skimmed the (fresher) cream off the rest of the milk in the fridge. Some I used to make another batch of ice cream. Then I used the skim milk to make yogurt and mozzarella cheese. So at one point I had three pots on the stove: One (on the left) for mozzarella, one for yogurt (back right), and one for butter (heating the cream to 60F).

After the ice cream, the yogurt was finished first. I heated the milk to 180F, then let it cool to about 110F. It formed a skin on top, which must be removed.

Then I mix in the culture, which is simply a bit of yogurt I made previously and which I put aside for that purpose. (I use a Bulgarian starter culture that can be re-cultured indefinitely.) Then it was into the incubator for several hours.

This is the first batch of mozzarella, just out of the pot. Look at all that whey.

Here's all the butter I churned, still in its sloppy unwashed stage.

This is after it's washed.

It came out to almost exactly three pounds.

I'm not very scientific when it comes to freezing fresh butter. I just lay out plops of about half a pound each on sheets of waxed paper...

...then wrap them before putting the lot in a Ziploc bag and stashing them in the freezer.

This morning, I scooped some of the chilled fresh yogurt into small jars for future cultures.

Then I date the cultures. This way I can use the oldest ones first. I always keep at least three jars of culture on hand in case of mistakes (such as adding the culture to the milk before it's sufficiently cooled, which kills the culture).

This morning I also grated all the mozzarella, both the two batches I made yesterday (on the right) and another batch I made a few days ago (on the left) which has been sitting in the fridge.

I tell ya, this new rotary grater I got is worth its weight in gold as far as I'm concerned.

Here's all the mozzarella grated up.

I bagged it in one-pound increments. It came to about 6.75 lbs.

So my final tally for yesterday's Dairy Day is a gallon of ice cream, a half-gallon of yogurt, six+ pounds of mozzarella cheese, three pounds of butter ... and no waste except the whey. Not a bad haul.

Rest in peace, Chekov

noreply@blogger.com (Patrice Lewis) — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 01:17:52 +0000

I just learned Walter Koenig, Star Trek's original Chekov, has passed away at age 90.

As a huge fan of the original Star Trek series, it's sad to see the cast departing this planet one by one.

Rest in peace, Mr. Koenig.

Removable hooves

noreply@blogger.com (Patrice Lewis) — Fri, 23 Oct 2026 23:28:29 +0000

No photos, sorry, so just use your imagination.

With autumn upon us, often the cows are still bedded down when I go into the barn in the morning to milk Maggie. Sometimes it takes a bit of persuasion to get Maggie to her feet and "emptied out" (letting her do both her liquid and her solid business) before putting her in the milking stall.

Anyway, that sets the scene. One morning, while Maggie was still lying down on the barn floor, I felt a small rock in my boot. Standing right in front of her, I braced myself against the barn wall, balanced on one foot, took off my boot, and shook out the pebble. Then I put my boot back on.

I glanced down at Maggie when I was finished and saw a comical expression on her face. If a cow can look shocked, Maggie seemed shocked down to her core ... shocked and a little freaked. I could almost hear her thinking, "Oh my gosh, she took off her hoof. She took off her hoof!!" She scrambled to her feet right away and somehow seemed subdued by my magical ability to remove a hoof at will.

Cow logic.

Moving manure

noreply@blogger.com (Patrice Lewis) — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 22:47:17 +0000

Don had a project he wanted to accomplish before too much rain or even snow was predicted; namely, moving manure.

Specifically, he wanted to remove the enormous pile of barn waste that had been accumulating in the corral over the past year.

While he started this project about six weeks ago, he got derailed from completing it as other, more pressing projects took over. However with some rain moving in tonight, he pushed through to get it done before the corral gets too mucky for the tractor.

So Don fired up the tractor and got started. It's sheer bucket-work.

Once he had a bucket scooped up, he transferred it to a spot near our lower driveway that is accessible both for piling barn waste and (later) for turning the waste to make compost.

He spent two mornings shifting the barn waste around. By the end of that first session, the results showed.

Yesterday and today, he finished the job, spending several hours transferring the barn waste to the compost pile. This is the "alleyway" on the side of the barn he traversed with the tractor to access the back.

(This is also the location we can fence off to confine animals for butchering.)

He was able to scoop at least 95% of the barn waste out of the corral and transfer it to the compost pile.

The compost pile is now enormous. Notably, it took the wild turkeys only about an hour to find it and begin scratching around for worms.

Another fall project, done.

New book cover!

noreply@blogger.com (Patrice Lewis) — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 16:59:16 +0000

I just received the final art work for a Harlequin Love Inspired book entitled "Keeping Amish Secrets" coming out next April. I thought it turned out beautifully.

Sometimes the art department at Harlequin hits it out of the park, and sometimes it doesn't. I thought this one was a hit and I like the cover very much.

Aside from this book, I have another coming out in December entitled "The Amish Spinster's Hidden Past."

It's funny: The interim between when I submit a completed manuscript and when I receive the copy edits often can be months, so going over the copy edits is a chance to read the story with a fresh eye. At the time I submitted the completed manuscript, I felt rushed and wasn't pleased with how it turned out. My editor didn't have a problem with it, however, and once I re-read it I liked it very much. In fact, I would rank it among the better stories I've written, so go figure.

My current writing status: I turned in my latest manuscript last month (working title: "The Widow") and am awaiting review, though I'm confident there won't be a problem with its acceptance. Meanwhile, "The Widow" was the last submission in my latest six-book contract, so my agent and editor are negotiating what I hope will be another multi-book contract.

Ah, I love writing for Harlequin.

The power of repurposing

noreply@blogger.com (Patrice Lewis) — Mon, 19 Oct 2026 20:08:51 +0000

A lot of ink has been spilled on the value of repurposing things that are old, broken, torn, or otherwise strong candidates for being thrown away. These are things that are deemed unsuitable for repair for whatever reason.

The ability to repurpose things is not only ecologically sound, it's frugal. Here are some examples from our own life.

Our best-known repurposing, of course, was to turn old tractor tires into extraordinarily productive garden beds (at our last homestead). For newer readers, the history of our tire garden can be read here and here.

Here in our new place, we were delighted to learn the sellers had left behind a generous stack of sheet metal, bent and battered after being removed from a roof somewhere.

We have used this sheet metal for everything from making garden beds to roofing the woodshed, with more projects still to come.

And of course, there is the issue of my beloved and repurposed mayonnaise jugs.

We have some garbage cans filled with sawdust in the barn which I use to sop up moisture on the barn floor. To scoop the sawdust into a bucket for quick use, I've used everything from plastic shovels to trowels. But the very best thing I've found is a small shovel with a broken-off handle that was left behind by the previous owners when we bought our property. This little shovel has turned into the handiest thing.

Whenever I need something beefy but small and with a short handle, this is my go-to tool, such as the time I spent the afternoon digging dirt out of the cattle feed boxes.

Then recently, the cloth I used to strain fresh milk before putting it in the refrigerator finally got too ratty to be much use. I had been putting off using another cloth because I couldn't find one of just the right size to line the colander I use to hold it (and which fits neatly into the mouth of the plastic jugs I use to store milk). Then one day while hanging laundry, I noticed a bandana that had such a large hole in the middle that it was becoming functionally useless as a bandana. I cut it in half, folded that cut piece in half again, and voilà: The perfect straining cloth for milk. (And I have its other half tucked away for when I'll need it.)

Or how about our constant use of baling twine, the tough sturdy string that comes around hay bales. We carefully save every piece of this twine (rather than throwing it away) because it has a zillion and one uses. In fact, we've joked about christening our property Baling Twine Ranch.

Another item is old ratty tarps. Of what use are tarps that are torn or have holes in them, rendering them useless for keeping moisture off items? As it turns out, they have an extremely important use: Keeping other tarps from wearing out.

When hay is tarped, wind can rub holes in the tarps due to the constant abrasion from sharp pieces of hay. Tarps are not cheap, so it was frustrating to have this happen to brand-new tarps. What we've learned is to double-tarp the hay, laying ratty hole-y tarps down first to take the brunt of the abrasion, then securing newer non-hole-y tarps over the top to shed rain and snow. As a result, we've been able to keep our good tarps intact far longer. I don't know why it took us this long to realize this, but there you go.

We also cut up an old tarp and tacked it over the door frame of a shed as a temporary measure to keep rain out until Don could build a door. It works so well it may become permanent.

Another useful category of repurposed things are old sheets. They can be draped over shop tools to keep varnish spray from adhering to the tools. They can be used as drip cloths while painting (Don far prefers these than plastic drip cloths). Old sheets have so many purposes that we keep a large tote in the shed so we can grab one whenever we need one.

For that matter, we can use totes that are otherwise broken for such storage purposes.

I'm sure there are many more examples of things we've repurposed, but these are some examples that spring to mind.

What about you? What are some things that would otherwise be candidates for tossing but to which you've given new life?

The hay is in!

noreply@blogger.com (Patrice Lewis) — Sat, 17 Oct 2026 02:06:59 +0000

Oof, we finally got all our hay delivered, stacked, and tarped.

We had ordered eight tons of oat hay from a local fellow. The cows go crazy over this stuff, so it's well worth it. However the bales – which are a regular small-bale size – are exceedingly heavy because they contain so many oats. They're on the order of 100 lbs each. At our age, Don and I don't relish lifting 160 such bales to get them stacked and under cover.

Thank God for the tractor. When the first two tons were delivered in August, it took us a long time (about eight hours) to get them stacked in the barn, partly because we were trying out various techniques and equipment to make the chore easier, and partly because it was such a tight fit to squeeze the tractor into the barn and place the hay on pallets.

Because of how long it took, we were dreading a triple repeat of this labor (the fellow was delivering the hay in two-ton increments). But we had no option.

Part of the problem with getting the hay stacked – aside from the weight of the bales, of course – was the difficulty in maneuvering the tractor in the tight confines of the barn. We have space in the middle of the barn for a lot of bales, but no space to move the machine to lift those bales into position ... and at 100 lbs. each, Don and I just didn't have the bandwidth to stack them by hand.

The grower delivered the second two-ton load on Oct. 8.

After he left, Don and I had some clearing away to do in the barn.

When that was finished, we prepared to move the bales indoors.

After all the fancy-shmancy planning we did for moving the first delivery of bales in August, the most useful tool proved to be two steel tines Don had custom-made by a metal-working neighbor, which were affixed to a bracket attached to the tractor bucket.

These stabbed the bales firmly.

Rather than trying to stack the bales on pallets in the barn, we decided to forego the pallets entirely and just stack the hay on the floor. This simplified and streamlined matters considerably, and we got that second delivery stacked in the barn in about four hours (vs. the eight hours with the previous delivery).

But when the third delivery arrived...

...we decided to not stack any more hay in the barn. Though there was (technically) plenty of room, the conditions were just too tight for the tractor. Instead, we planned to stack them in the driveway. We tarped the hay for the night to keep the dew off.

The next morning, we laid out pallets in the back driveway, between the house and the barn.

By this point we had realized it was unnecessary to stab the bales with the steel spikes at all, and could simply tumble a bale on top the spikes to transport it to the location. Coupled with the additional elbow room of working outside (rather than the tight squeeze of the barn), we got the third delivery stacked in about three hours.

Not more than an hour after we finished this task, Don came in and said the flock of turkeys that normally hangs out in the barnyard, scratching up the barn-waste pile, was on top the hay bales, avidly searching for oat seeds.

We didn't want the turkeys pooping all over the hay bales, so we shooed them off and lightly tarped the bales for the night.

The next day, the grower brought the final delivery of oat hay.

Once again we tarped the bales for the night.

The next morning we could see the morning sun steaming the dew off the tarp.

This is it. The last two tons to stack.

By this point, though, Don and I were working like a well-oiled machine: Him on the tractor following my hand signals, and me pushing bales onto the steel spikes and then directing Don where to place them.

This time we got those last two tons stacked inside a dazzling hour and a half.

A beautiful sight to see: Three pallets wide, five pallets deep, six bales per pallet, 90 bales stacked on a fairly small footprint.

We only had four bales left over, so we hoisted them one by one onto the hand truck and tucked them into the barn.

After resting from our exertions – and after shooing the flock of turkeys off the bales once again – we tarped the bales for the winter, tying the tarp to the pallets with twine and rope.

I can't tell you how relieved we are to have this chore behind us. With plenty of food for the cows for the winter, now we can turn our attention to other fall projects.

Incidentally, the grower told us he may not have oats for sale next year because he is planning on selling his farm. We were very sorry to hear that since he's a darned nice fellow and sells a wonderful product. We'll have to roll with the punches.

Maybe this applies to lottery winners?

noreply@blogger.com (Patrice Lewis) — Fri, 16 Oct 2026 05:01:58 +0000

I stumbled upon a bizarre little meme as follows: "When you get rich, remember this."

Rule 1: Tell no one, not even your parents.

Rule 2: Pay off your debts before anything else.

Rule 3: Let the money sit untouched for six months.

Rule 4: Don't upgrade your house right away.

Rule 5: Don't quit your job immediately.

Rule 6: Skip the flashy purchases.

Rule 7: Never go into business with friends or family.

Rule 8: This post didn't reach you by accident.

______________________

Maybe this applies to lottery winners? In any event, I'll keep this in mind in the unlikely event we ever get rich.

Ricotta cheese pizza sauce

noreply@blogger.com (Patrice Lewis) — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 02:35:46 +0000

A few day ago, I alluded to how I use a homemade ricotta cheese pizza sauce on my pizzas. Many of you were interested in the recipe.

I'm not overly fond of tomatoes, so when it comes to pizza sauce I opt for alternatives such as pesto sauce, Alfredo sauce, etc. When I came across a recipe for a garlicky ricotta cheese sauce, I decided to try it. Don was stopping at the grocery store in town, so I asked him to get me a container of ricotta. The recipe turned out terrific, and I decided I wanted to make a large batch, which I could then freeze into one-pizza serving sizes.

But when I went to the store to get a larger quantity of ricotta and saw the actual price Don had paid, I had an absolute snit-fit – $9 for two pounds, and I wanted at least four pounds of ricotta to make a large batch of pizza sauce. There was no way I was paying that price!

I'd never made ricotta before, but I'm getting a gallon of milk a day, so purchasing the store-bought stuff was, admittedly, a lazy move. Time to learn how to make my own.

Whole-milk ricotta requires only two ingredients (or possibly four, depending on what recipe you follow): Milk and an acidifier. Salt is optional, though it enhances the flavor and helps coagulate the milk proteins. Adding a bit of heavy cream to the milk creates a richer, silkier ricotta.

I started by pouring a gallon of whole milk into a pot. It's best not to use skim milk for making ricotta, as the results will be a cheese that is too dry.

I heated the milk (slowly) to between 185F to 195F. This step takes 20 to 30 minutes or even longer, and is not a step to be rushed. I stirred the milk periodically.

Once the milk reached temperature, I added the acidifier. There are several different kinds of acidifiers that can be used, including citric acid (mixed with water), apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, or distilled white vinegar. Distilled white vinegar is the default acidifier and works extremely well. I used about two-thirds of a cup per gallon of milk.

After the acidifier is added, the curds should start separating from the whey almost immediately. You can see how the milk started curdling.

Then it was time to cover the pot and let the curds rest for anywhere from 20 minutes to two hours. The longer this resting period, the more curds will form. The curds should not be stirred during this resting period.

Next, I drained the ricotta. The longer it drains, the drier it will become. For a creamier consistency, it should be drained for one to two hours. For a firmer ricotta, drain it for around 24 hours. Somewhat arbitrarily, I drained mine for about four hours.

Here is what the final result looked like.

Trying to use up milk (and maximize the amount of pizza sauce), I made a second batch of ricotta the next day. I ended up with 3.5 lbs (56 ounces) of ricotta.

I stored this in the refrigerator overnight, then made pizza sauce the next day.

The recipe for ricotta white sauce is easy: Eight parts ricotta, four parts cream (or half and half), one part olive oil, and spices to taste. For one pizza, for example, the recipe called for one-half cup ricotta, one-quarter cup of cream, and one tablespoon olive oil (plus spices).

I had 56 ounces of ricotta, therefore I needed to add 28 ounces of cream or half and half (1.75 lbs.) and seven ounces of olive oil. It's worth noting that I measured the cream and olive oil by weight, not volume. Then I added salt, pepper, minced garlic, and basil until the taste was satisfactory. (Your choice of flavorings may vary.)

Adding cream to the ricotta:

Blending the ricotta with the cream was challenging because the ricotta was so thick. I used a potato masher to start...

...then graduated to beaters to blend all the rest of the ingredients and make a sauce.

The final sauce was somewhat lumpy from the ricotta, and that's as it should be.

Then I bagged it up in one-cup measurements for freezing.

In retrospect, I should have bagged up more per bag, anywhere from 1.5 to 2 cups. At any rate, it freezes well.

Labeling.

Now, whenever I make pizza, I can just reach for a bag, defrost it in the refrigerator overnight, and make pizza the next day.

So that's the trick for ricotta cheese pizza sauce. This is my kind of convenience food.

The new reality

noreply@blogger.com (Patrice Lewis) — Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:33:21 +0000

Older Daughter, as you know, is now attending college to become a nurse. She's doing extremely well in her classes. As in, extremely well.

Listening to her stories, it's interesting how things have changed since Don and I were in school in the early 80s (and for me, the early 90s for grad school). For one thing, the internet, smart phones (and other devices), and artificial intelligence have made teaching much more challenging than ever before. Apparently instructors have to bend themselves into pretzels to prevent cheating.

So when I saw this illustration below, I sent it to Older Daughter labeled, "Your chuckle du jour":

I meant this to be nothing more than a lighthearted poke at something students have always tried to do, namely cheat.

But Older Daughter replied, "This is why the testing center a) doesn't let you bring ANY loose item in, and b) makes you take off and display all angles of your glasses or hearing aids, and c) makes you lift up your pants to expose your socks and ankles. They are taking NO chances."

I said, "You're ... kidding ... More security than an airport."

She answered, "You can't even bring your own pencil, they provide one."

I responded, "Wow. And the sad thing is, presumably they had to implement these protocols for a reason."

I guess this is the new reality in college.

What to do with five gallons of milk

noreply@blogger.com (Patrice Lewis) — Mon, 12 Oct 2026 13:55:23 +0000

Once in a while, despite my best efforts, milk piles up in the fridge.

Last week, here's what I did with this much cow juice.

First, I skimmed off the cream. I just use a soup ladle for this task.

Here's some of the resulting cream.

Then I measured two cups of the skimmed milk into a pot and scalded it as the first step toward making ice cream. I've gotten to the point where I don't bother using the ice-cream churn, and just use the freeze-and-mix method.

I make vanilla ice cream for Don, and peach ice cream for myself.

Each batch requires three cups of milk and five cups of cream (six cups of milk and ten cups of cream for two batches), so skimming the cream from all those gallons is going to good use.

The (unfrozen) vanilla is on the left, and peach is on the right. (This is another reason I love making peach purée; I use it for flavoring.) I put these batches in the freezer overnight, being sure to mix everything once an hour for the first four hours of freezing.

That used up all the cream. I was left with gallons of skimmed milk. Incidentally, home-skimmed milk isn't like the watery-blue stuff you buy in the store. It's a whole lot richer, almost (almost!) like store-bought whole milk.

I used this milk to make thirty-minute mozzarella. The recipe in my cheesemaking book calls for using one gallon of whole milk.

I experimented with making two-gallon batches using skimmed milk, and it turns out fine. Perfect for pizza, in fact. Plus, making two two-gallon batches is far more efficient than making four one-gallon batches.

By the time I skimmed the cream and took out the skimmed milk necessary to make the ice cream, what was left was almost exactly four gallons of skimmed milk. This is what I used to make the two batches of mozzarella.

This is the finished mozzarella.

Final weight of the cheese came to about 5.25 lbs.

I cut it up...

...and grated everything. With this much cheese to grate at the same time, you can see why I love this rotary cheese grater so much!

Ready to bag.

I portioned it out into one-pound bags and froze all but two bags.

I held back those two bags because I decided to make some pizza. I pulled the sauces out of the freezer to defrost. Don prefers tomato-based pizza sauce, but I use a homemade ricotta white sauce (remind me to post that recipe later).

Here are the uncooked pizzas topped with cheese...

...and then with pepperoni and onions. (Ahem. I love onions, so I tend to go a little crazy with them as toppings.)

The finished pizzas.

And that's what I do when I have five gallons of milk to use up.

A praying mantis I'd never heard of before

noreply@blogger.com (Patrice Lewis) — Sun, 11 Oct 2026 14:09:16 +0000

Once in a while I catch wind of a critter I've never heard of before. Today I learned about the Conehead praying mantis (Empusa pennata).

This insect is so bizarre-looking that I legitimately thought this was an AI image at first. Nope, it's real, and lives around the Mediterranean in Southern Europe and Northern Africa.

Even Wikipedia describes them as having an "alien" appearance. No argument there.

Nature is amazing.

Problems of the wealthy

noreply@blogger.com (Patrice Lewis) — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 19:16:05 +0000

A random story popped up on my computer the other day, a story from Kiplinger's "Wealth Wise" advice column: "Can a 64-Year-Old Retire on $1.6 Million and 'Shaky' Social Security?" (Please note this person is my age.)

"Dear Wealth Wise," wrote the advice-seeker. "I'm 64 (almost 65), work full-time, and I'm tired of being told to use AI at my job. Can I retire on $1.6 million if my yearly spending needs are roughly $90,000 and Social Security will pay $3,500 a month (if benefits remain fully payable)?"

I confess I choked on my tea when I read this. This dude has $1.6 million in his retirement and his Social Security benefits are $3,500 a month? Yowza. Don receives Social Security, and let's just say his payments are considerably less than $3,500 per month.

This man's spending needs amount to $90,000 per year, or $7,500 per month. To us, that is wealth untold.

I think one of the things that baffles me about this kind of financial question is it highlights the different approach to spending and the dichotomy between the wealthy and the lower middle class. Because our income has always been unstable – and because we've experienced the horrors of debt – we've learned to live below our means, however humble those means are. We've spent years finding ways to whittle down our expenses and our spending. This has enabled us to pivot on a dime and adapt when times get tough (see here and here). As a result, we feel very financially stable.

The Kiplinger advice columnist was able to assure the man that yes, he could retire on that kind of income: "Our reader's estimated $42,000 annual Social Security benefit should cover roughly half of annual spending needs. The remaining $48,000 will need to come out of savings. Using the popular 4% rule, $1.6 million could support $64,000 in annual withdrawals. Since our reader only needs $48,000, they have a pretty good buffer."

Now don't get me wrong; this person is to be commended for his diligent savings during his working years. I know no one who has that much put away, so kudos to him and I hope he enjoys his retirement.

But for those of us who were not as financially blessed during our productive years (obviously we get by on a whole lot less than $90K), we've had to adapt and make do. This video is more along the lines of our financial philosophy: "How to Live on a Low Income, $30,000 or less." Don points out that $90K is not a huge income anymore, and in fact falls distinctly into the middle class. I guess that puts us in the "lower middle class" category.

This kinda reminds me of a couple of quotes. Someone once said, "A rich man is not the one that has the most – it's the one that needs the least."

And Diogenes of Sinope (c. 413/403 – c. 324/321 B.C.) famously tells a similar anecdote, to wit: A philosopher named Aristippus, who had quite willingly sucked up to Dionysus and won himself a spot at his court, saw Diogenes cooking lentils for a meal. "If you would only learn to compliment Dionysus, you wouldn't have to live on lentils." Diogenes replied, "But if you would only learn to live on lentils, you wouldn't have to flatter Dionysus.

As it happens, I'm very fond of lentils.

What are your thoughts? Could you afford to retire on $90,000/year?

My (belated) birthday present

noreply@blogger.com (Patrice Lewis) — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 16:48:34 +0000

On or about my birthday (Sept. 6), I made what I called an "executive decision": I was going to order a kitchen gadget I've been wanting for quite a while.

To back up, I've been making a fair bit of "thirty-minute mozzarella" lately. This is a fast and easy way to use up surplus milk, freezes beautifully, and supplies us with endless ingredients for future pizzas. However I was stymied by one essential step: Grating the cheese.

Using the faithful box grater I've had for years, this mozzarella simply didn't want to shred. It would tear. It would clump. It would fall apart. But conspicuously, it wouldn't shred. It was beyond frustrating, especially since I was making so much mozzarella.

So I told Don I was buying myself a birthday present: A rotary cheese grater.

This grater has a suction feature to affix it firmly to a surface by turning a knob. I learned it doesn't affix well to our wooden kitchen table (since it's not perfectly smooth), but it does well on the kitchen counter.

And I tell ya, the difference in grating mozzarella is night and day. Here's some cheese which I cut into chunks small enough to fit in the grater's hopper.

The grater has a pusher used to push the food into the cutting blades (for safety).

It grates the cheese cleanly and easily, unlike the hot mess I would make with the box grater.

The grater comes with several different blades (coarse, fine, slicing), though I've only used the coarse blade so far. It grates potatoes, cheese, veggies ... anything, really.

I told Don this is my new favorite kitchen tool. The only remaining question is – why did I wait until I turned 64 to get one?

UPDATE: Sorry, I should have linked to the actual product when I posted this. Interestingly, the box it came in doesn't have a brand name on it, which means doubtless they're all made in some overseas factory and then slapped with a label from various "manufacturers." At any rate, this is the kind I bought, though there are numerous similar (or identical) graters available.

Phew! The yard sale is over

noreply@blogger.com (Patrice Lewis) — Mon, 05 Oct 2026 21:32:46 +0000

Whew, what an intense week. We finally had our yard sale.

Comically, after the last yard sale we had three years ago – which we vowed would be our last – a reader said, "You know you should never say never again." S/he was right, 'cuz here we are again.

We managed to target – literally – the only weekend in which rain was not predicted, either during the crucial set-up phase, during the weekend itself, or during the breaking-down phase.

As with our previous yard sale, we had items stored in several locations, waiting for the opportunity to sell them. We also planned to make multiple "sweeps" (as we called them) through the barn, the lofts, various sheds, and of course the house to remove everything that was superfluous.

When she moved out, Older Daughter also earmarked a great number of things she no longer needed, including a mountain of clothes. (I don't know where she gets her excellent taste in fashion, because it sure as heck isn't from me.)

We spent a long time combing through our possessions, being a lot more brutally realistic about what we did and didn't need. Those two baskets made from branches I used almost every week to transport food to our neighborhood potlucks? I haven't used them since we moved. Some extra blankets beyond what was necessary for house guests? Gone. A water pump Don bought second-hand years ago and has been taking up space since? Up for sale. You get the idea.

Next, we had to make sure our driveway area (which is very large) was clear of anything unrelated to the yard sale. Specifically, we had to get rid of the mountain of firewood, which is why we put so much time into splitting and stacking it.

With the firewood put up, that cleared a lot of space.

Next, Don used the tractor to pull this massive trailer from against the fence line and position it broadside across the driveway. This served two purposes. One, the trailer itself is for sale; and two, it would allow us to display items on its surface where people could see things from all sides.

We had an old and absolutely filthy propane stove we removed from our last house and which we've been storing in various barns for probably 20 years. We kept it because it's the old-fashioned kind that has a pilot light and therefore doesn't need an electrical ignition (they don't make them anymore) and we thought it would be nice to put it in a guest house. We decided to sell it.

It took me hours to scrub, vacuum, and polish it as best I could. Don't worry, the bottom photo is only halfway through the process.

Don started transporting tractor implements we no longer needed from the barn area behind the house to the front driveway.

Ironically, this six-foot yard rake is one of the first things we sold.

We had a number of old wood stoves we'd accumulated over the years. Don used the tractor to move them out of the barn.

In the days preceding the opening of the yard sale (which ran Friday, Saturday, Sunday), we kicked things into high gear.

After splitting and stacking the firewood, we reserved twelve smaller logs of roughly the same length to be used as table legs.

We screwed down sheets of plywood to make display surfaces.

We dusted off unneeded shop tools.

We rigged up a clothes rack by using a 22-foot steel well pipe rod. At first we (naively and optimistically) simply attached the rod to the uprights using Gorilla tape. Let's just say it didn't work. We ended up bracing the rod with 2x4s, which worked beautifully.

The clothes rod was held up by two shorter pieces of rod, inserted through a wooden base Don had made years ago and then pounded into the ground with a T-post pounder, then later reinforced with the 2x4s. These babies weren't going anywhere.

As a result, we were able to hang all of Older Daughter's clothes to display them.

Some things we just grouped on "$1 tables" and "$5 tables."

We tried to group things in sections: The clothing section, the furniture section, the tractor-implement section, the farm section, etc. Not everything fell into neat categories, but we tried. This is the camping section.

The furniture section. Most of this is furniture we were selling for friends.

The tractor-implement section.

The woodstove section.

We printed clear signage explaining what an item was and how much it cost (and of course, we were willing to dicker).

Finally, we put up signage, starting about a mile and a half away and guiding visitors our way.

We also put up a hasty sign directing people to a neighbor about a quarter-mile past us who was also having a yard sale, capitalizing on our efforts. We always told visitors to be sure to see what the neighbors had too.

After all the frantic prep work, the days of the actual yard sale were far less busy. We simply had to wait for customers.

Over the three days of the sale, we met many lovely people – and a couple who was not so lovely. This couple, annoyed that we politely declined their lowball offer on our brush hog, actually tossed some garbage out of their truck before they drove away. When I went over to see what they tossed, it was – I kid you not – clumps of soiled toilet paper. Ewww.

As the sun went down on the last day, Don drove around and removed all the signage, then parked the car broadside across the driveway so no one could get in.

Today we're boxing things up for donation to various thrift stores. We have a fairly small pile of things to just throw away. We also took photos of all our big-ticket items that didn't sell so we can put them up on Facebook Marketplace.

Our goal is to put nothing back in storage, with a couple of exceptions. This torn-up wool blanket once belonged to my grandparents. It would be one thing if someone could use it for a project, but I can't bear the thought of it being tossed in a dumpster, so I'm going to hang on to it.

It's a good thing we had the yard sale this past weekend. We have rain moving in again next weekend, so we'll have to make sure everything is put away and under cover before the weather changes.

Both of us are wildly relieved this project is over. Planning and implementing this took a lot of our time and bandwidth. Now we can relax a bit and move onto other tasks.

Can I say "Never again" this time around?

Another "final" yard sale

noreply@blogger.com (Patrice Lewis) — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 16:20:59 +0000

If this blog is a little quiet over the next few days, it's because Don and I are having a Huge Yard Sale and we've been elbow-deep in getting ready for it.

This yard sale has been delayed numerous times. We had been watching the weather for weeks.

It was almost uncanny how the weather stayed clear during the weekdays, but had ONE SPIKE of rain at some inconvenient time, solely (it seemed) to interfere with setting out merchandise for sale.

Finally it all came together with a nice long dry stretch, so we've been doing yard sale prep like crazy.

So standby until early next week when I'll have a full write-up on whether or not we were successful in offloading a large amount of unneeded possessions.