Amador County Fair, July 2017
Amador County Fair, July 2017
Billy Goat Gruff, Amador County Fair
For ten years now we’ve had a two-year plan to downsize (do the math and you’ll understand why this has become a family joke), but it’s only been recently that we’ve decided to make moving a priority and started working our plan with a vengeance (that word might be a little strong). At the top of the list is Verne’s barn. Actually, the contents in and around Verne’s barn. As I wrote in my June blog, his last big barn project is the 50 Chevy pickup restoration. I’m pleased to report Verne has made significant progress on
the restoration spending a few hours every day working on the old truck.
Occasionally I even help when he needs a second set of hands. Mostly, I just keep
a watchful eye on him, encourage and take pictures of the progress.
Had I known
the complexity (and expense) of restoring the old basket-case, I would have emphatically
supported Verne when he tried to discourage Jeff on the idea. We’re too far
into it now to look back, so we just plod forward taking each new problem as it
comes. There’s not a single thing on this old truck that doesn’t need some sort
of repair or replacement. It had 20-years of hard use on the farm in
Washington, has been moved a dozen times over the years, stored outside in
less-than favorable conditions for its entire life, and was literally in pieces
when this project began. The best part of the truck is the engine as Verne had it
restored 30 years ago by a former automotive client when he was working as a
CPA in SoCal. As for a current status report, the engine, transmission, radiator
and exhaust system have been repaired (if needed), painted and assembled, installed
and secured to the chassis. The cab still hangs from the rafters in the barn,
but the firewall has been sanded, primed and painted with the body color (blue)
this past weekend. The wheels have been primed and painted and will be
re-mounted this week. The next job will be to lower the cab onto the chassis,
secure it, and at that point the pickup will again be mobile and we can push it
in and out of the barn to complete its restoration by next spring. That’s the
plan anyway.
Attaching driveshaft
Painting the firewall and rims
This past week I woke up one morning from a nightmare. My
heart was racing from the stress of it. I was in a classroom with about a dozen
master food preservers. I recognized one person and she angrily told me that I
had signed up to teach that morning’s public class, but nobody had agreed to
help me with it. One by one each MFP walked out leaving me alone with a pallet
of fresh meat (getting warm and spoiling) in the middle of the room. Weird.
(Doubly weird because during my involvement with the MFP program I’ve never
taught a class on preserving meat.) I don’t need a shrink to interpret my
dream. From my training during the spring of 2014 to my last assignment in June
2017 when I was coerced into teaching a fermentation class at the MFP statewide
conference in Davis, I have been consumed by all things related to food
preservation. It has been a rewarding experience and I’m a better person, in
general, for having participated in this volunteer program. But, enough is
enough and I decided earlier this summer that it’s time to recharge and refocus
my energy, get back to my hobbies that I’ve neglected, and actively work on our
plan to downsize. While I resigned from the MFP program July 1st, I haven’t
given up food preservation entirely and have still managed to put by several
dozen jars of food this summer. Rather than out of obligation and duty to the
program, it has been by choice. I’ve had fun experimenting with new flavor
combinations and teasing the rigid boundaries set by the MFP program. I believe
two new variations of fig jam made with pears, peaches, and white wine and a
French prune plum jam with Ruby port will prove to be family (and friends)
favorites.
I’ve used some of the extra time I've gained from giving up my volunteer work to reacquaint myself with
my sewing machine and have been working on brainless, but satisfying, projects
that use up my stash of fabric. Anyone who knows me (and my stash) knows that
it will take more than a few small projects to use it up, but every little bit helps! An expensive problem with
the electronics on my long-arm quilting machine has kept me out of the cabin
and away from quilting all summer. That’s probably okay, because without air
conditioning the cabin, my studio, is not a happy place when it’s hot. As of
this week the Gammill is repaired and my plan is to begin working on the
backlog of quilt tops. Stored in an armoire, some have not seen the light of
day in years. Once finished, I’ll have to decide whether or not I should keep the
long-arm machine. At this time, I’m not sure how the 10-foot table (an integral
part of the long-arm machine) fits into our plan to downsize as it requires a
dedicated room with a minimum width of 12-14 feet. A house with a basement? Or
a great room? That’s a decision for another day.
