Thursday, April 22, 2010

Just Call Me Ms. Fix-It

But if you do, you'll be so far from the truth! I've been diddling around with my sick computer tonight, and I must have accidentally done something that helped, because for the moment at least, I seem to be back in business. Just keep in mind though that if I disappear without warning, it's because I truly have no idea what I did to fix the problem, and it came back.

The plan for the day was to work on splitting and stacking wood. Here's hubby making some minor repairs to the wood splitter before we started this morning.

When we came in for lunch, I decided to multi-task and get a batch of cottage cheese started. I put the half gallon of milk on the stove to heat up, thermometer firmly in place on the side of the pan so I would know exactly when to take the milk off the heat. Then (dang, can you see what's coming?) I came back in here to my desk to fuss and fume at the computer that was giving me fits. All of a sudden, I was aware of a rather unusual odor wafting through the house.

Yikes! The milk! I think I about gave the dog a heart attack as I hurdled over her making a mad dash for the kitchen stove where (you guessed it) the milk was boiling over the sides of the pan, down onto the burner and into the bowels of the stove.

Oh, well. Multi-tasking is way over-rated anyway.

On a serious note, the potential forest fire danger has reached a very high level in our part of Minnesota because of extremely dry conditions. There's a ban on any open fire, certain hiking trails have been closed, even welding is not currently allowed in the county and we've heard rumors that law enforcement is saying no one is permitted on any of the county's hundreds of miles of back roads unless you are traveling to or from your place of residence or have a specific purpose to be on the road. It's a situation all of us who live in a heavily forested area dread. The fire watch planes are flying over frequently and although we're glad they are here and doing their job, it's an eerie feeling to see and hear them. No rain is forecast until possibly the end of next week.

Keep your fingers crossed for us making it through this period without a serious fire. And if you know any good rain dances, we'd appreciate that, too.

10 comments:

Katidids said...

Wow, its really early in the season for this isn't it? We are not that dry till mid to late July. Heres hoping noone gets stupid!

Erin said...

Eww, I don't envy you cleaning up that milk mess! Happens to us all at some point (not necessarily cottage chesse!) I really hope you get rain SOON, that really has to put a damper on things to not be able to enjoy all the nature around you, it does seem that everything we humans do could pose a threat for wildfires. And I hope you get RAIN, not lightning! We were up there in July of (2006?) and there were alot of fires burning then, it made me sick to think of all the beautiful forest being lost.

Jody M said...

I hate it when that happens. What's even more fun is when hooband is boiling sausage and IT boils over. Ick. He's done that more than once.

Mama Pea said...

Hi, Katie - Our scant snowfall this past winter and no precipitation since then has created these awful conditions. You're right . . . dry conditions in July/August are one thing but starting out spring so terribly dry has all kinds of potentially bad implications.

Hey, Erin - Yessiree, my boil over was a good mess. Why do we always think our poor, over-worked brain cells can handle so much more than they are capable of? (At least that's a problem I face!)

We are so hoping for rain. The situation won't improve until we do.

Hi, Jody - Eeeuuw. Greasy water boiling over! At least then you can blame HIM for it. I had no one to blame but myself!

Melissa said...

I will be doing a rain dance for the whole of our good state of Minnesota, but especially for the nort country. I could really use the exercise anyway:)

If you get a chance, I would love to see a few pics and instructions on how you make cottage cheese. It has so much protein and tastes so good, I would like to try my hand at it. Do you use some sort of starter or whatever? Have a good weekend.

Chicken Mama said...

Mom, you might want to have Dad mention to J that the K trail is closed now, too . . . .

RuthieJ said...

Just started raining here--in fact I had to make a mad dash to the clothesline to pull all the laundry down.
I hope you get some rain soon! Fire is a very scary thing to have to worry about.

beth said...

You're right about multi tasking...especially when it comes to cooking. Your milk episode is exactly the kind of thing I do...frequently...aaahhhh!

Jo said...

We are dry here too, but it's not as bad as where you are. We are supposed to get rain tonight and tomorrow but so far, although the radar shows us in a big green blob, we have gotten nothing.

Mama Pea said...

Hi, Melissa - I will definitely do a post on making cottage cheese. You'll be surprised at how very easy it is. Comin' up as soon as I go up to the farm to get milk next time.

Would you video your rain dance so we can all enjoy it?

Hey, Chickie Mama - Never fear, J is already aware of the situation on the trail.

Hi, Ruthie - We heard on the weather forecast that there is rain in the southern part of the state . . . but also that it wasn't going to get up to us this far north. Darn.

Hi, Beth - But how in the world does a homemaker get anything done without multi-tasking? 'Course, if I had put on the timer to remind me to check the milk that would have probably solved the problem!

Howdy, Jo - Yup, it looked like the band of rain was going across west to east but all way below us. Hope you do get what you need.