Thyroid meds adjusted

 I had a call with our Dr several days ago now and my numbers had gone slightly askew. 

FT4 s/b 7-15 was at 23

TSH s/b 2-5 was at 0.01

So he has adjusted my Synthroid from 125mg down to 112mg.... doesn't seem like much to me, but he's the Dr...

There has been a lot of canning going on around here, tomatoes coming out of our yingyang... Bell peppers are coming in now and tomorrow I will likely process about 6 butternut squash.

We have also been very busy getting organized for our newest family member (its an appliance - don't get weird on me) which should be (s/b) arriving Friday/Saturday this week.

However, people give names to these appliances (I just work here) .... so I'm open to suggestions from you -- my peeps. 

I'm thinking Betty (for Betty Boop)... 

If someone comes up with a better one, I'm open. Seems everyone gives them girl names -- perhaps I should 'go rogue'? Hmmm...

It is Brad's birthday Tuesday 29th, his Mum sent prezzies and almost always includes a treat for Robbie (dog)... I made a video of Robbie getting excited when he smelled Grandma's house on the package but its too big to upload without YouTube. Trust me, its cute.

Interesting side note here: I just drag and dropped those pic above... hmmm, didn't know that was an option. I do know several bloggers who have trouble uploading pics so maybe that will help them. Specifically - Al. ;)

My iMac is finally home

Special thanks and Kudo's to the UPS boys in Saskatoon. After receiving my iMac and accessories from a friend of mine who has a courier service, the UPS boys wrapped her nice and tight - they did an incredible job, let me assure you. I will be giving them a fantastic google review for the great job they did, and their exceptional communications with mama bear who was worried sick about her baby.

My precious iMac is still updating after 2 years of being turned off - anyone who has returned from a holiday can appreciate what I'm talking about here... so I'm hoping the photo's (2 years worth) will update shortly so that I can put a pic from my phone on this post, otherwise I will have to email it to myself.... sooo old school -- LOL. If there is no picture attached to this -- you'll know why. *Gave up and emailed.

I have her set up in what would have been my Mother in Law's room -had she come for the winter (she is not) which I have now set up as my sewing and computer room - my 'She Shed' inside the house.

I wanted the computer because there was info on it which will be very handy for us in the not to distant future but after a very brief perusal, I have not been able to locate that which I seek. I will put much more effort into it tomorrow. 

Today, I was setting up and updating the iMac, while also canning tomatoes, while also sewing curtains, while also cleaning the bathrooms. I'm a multi-tasker without doubt. Tomorrow I want to go to a local shop but otherwise have nothing on the go, so should be able to dig around the computer a bit better.

Stacey has been gone the last several days on a quick holiday 'up island' (Vancouver Island, that is) and she messaged yesterday that she expected to be home today, no word yet. She'll probably drag me out hiking if she did get home today. Update: Just heard from Stacey, she is home but booked up tomorrow so I get reprieve until Sunday am.

Last nights setting sun: photo doesn't do it justice, especially through the smokey haze

More Canning and Faux Meat?!

We've just been crazy busy around here with winter prep, gardening and canning. 

Cinnamon Apple Pie Filling x 11

Smoke from the U.S is consistently getting thicker

Yesterday it lifted for the afternoon then returned much thicker by evening.

Don't think I mentioned these...

Stacey found a great deal for us on Kijiji... 2 paddleboards for $500! (usually $1500 each) so we jumped on them.

It took awhile but I did manage to get Brad on one for an hour and he did great but his massage woman has since vetoed the stand up idea. However we can get a kayak paddle and he can use the board like a kayak -which I have done before, still a great core workout.

More cherry tomatoes

Whole tomatoes, including one yellow.

                                            

On the local marketplace FB page the other day, someone was giving away 48 canning jars. They were absolutely disgusting having been left outside for a few years apparently.

Scrubbed and sterilized, I then bought new lids. Total cost $25. Sweet deal.

Chicken?

I came across a recipe for, basically - faux meat. Its called Seitan.

Brad did the whole *eyeroll* too but bear with me here, I have an idea.

I have the Beef and Pork version of the recipe too.

My newest incoming gadget will allow me to sell at the market and this island has a lot of vegan/vegetarian types, so I wanted to try this. Mr. Carnivore himself was my taste tester and he actually liked it. Not that he would ever give up meat, but he gave it a definite 2 thumbs up. 

Not sure if I will do the market thing, but its an option, and so I am investigating it. This faux meat is quite the coup for someone who has only carnivore recipes though.

 

The rains are coming

 As you know we are on a cistern here and the rain water from the roof of the house, woodshed and guest house all collects and runs into said cistern. Except when the pipes aren't connected...

We noticed ages ago that half of the guest house roof was not running in to the cistern because there was a piece of pipe missing, so yesterday Brad went up the ladder with some extra pipe that we found laying around the property to correct the issue.

For several days now, I have been checking around the property to make sure that everything 'summer' has been put away (rakes, etc.) so they are not in the way and are properly protected from flying around in any storms which may crop up. Garden implements have been oiled so as not to rust over the winter and the deck has had a general tidy up, although more will be done before Monday when the rains are due to begin. 

'They' tell us to expect over 30mm (1.2") in the next 2 weeks. We have already determined that a rain of approximately 3mm gives us an extra 2" of water in the cistern. I still think of rain in inches although the Canadian standard was changed in the 80's to metric - this mm business is gibberish to me.

Our cistern is 10ft x 30ft and 63" high. When we moved in May 16th the cistern was at 43". We check the level every Monday as we have never dealt with a cistern before and didn't know what to expect. Turns out we use an average of 2" (174 US Gallons) per week - at least in the summer. As of last Monday it sits at 24.5".

Keep in mind that we have been catching our shower and bath water for use in the flower beds. Turned out to be a good save or we would surely have run out of water with all the flowers we have put around the place this year.

Not sure what to expect in the winter, but we know it will rain A LOT, now what that will mean for my evening bath ratio (I've been keeping to 2-3 per week to conserve water) but hope to manage 4-5 or more in winter with all the rain that we should be collecting.

Incidentally, I know people get weird about water collection from the roof due to bird poop etc., but I've been watching the roofs and I can assure you the birds are too busy (at least here on the orchard) in the trees and do not go on the roof so other than a bit of dust from the road there really isn't anything up there - unlike our house on the East coast.

So today and tomorrow will be spent (other than canning more tomatoes) ensuring the property is ready for winter. With that much rain starting Monday and the weather guessers (yep, stole that) calling for an El Nina winter, it seems there won't be much basking in the sun going on anymore this year.

On to Christmas...

Canning the garden

I realize I've been a terrible blogger again, taking so long to post but its been crazy busy around here. Pickleball Sun, Tues and Thurs, Hiking with Stacey Mon, Wed and Fri and Paddleboarding when the weather permits - not to mention regular household stuff including the Monday run to Nanaimo for Brad's massage... and then...

As you know, we had a garden this year... 

Therefore, it was time to learn how to do some canning...

So I did. Learn, that is....

I hope....        Let's face it - I'm no Martha Stewart.

For several weeks now things have been harvested from the garden and 'processed' in some form or another. I have canned a lot of tomatoes, salsa and the like. Frozen tons of Romaine (not great as a salad but good for soup/chili type filler), pickled and frozen plenty of cucumbers, green onions, potatoes, and peppers.

Yesterday we harvested our green cauliflower (only 2 plants this year) and today it was time to bottle it up. I chose to harvest some carrots to put in with it, to give the jars a bit of colour really, I've seen pics of it online and thought it looked good, so I did it too.

Prepped and ready to do some more canning - this time, Cauliflower.

Cauliflower, carrots and Red Pepper flakes

Dill, chopped green peppers and garlic (from a local island farm)

Oh yeah, there are always a ton of tomatoes ripening in my kitchen window these days.

Remember the tomatoe plant on the deck? Its on its last legs but the tomatoes are still ripening so Brad took some more this morning.

Cauliflower and Carrot jars are ready to seal

After a very long (10 hour) day... dishwasher is broken so I'm sterilizing the cans old school which causes massive delays.

3 Cauliflower, 3 Bread & Butter Pickle....

1 Green Pepper and 2 Salsa

Expecting my next kitchen adventure to arrive in approx 3 weeks.... tick tock, tick tock. So excited!

**Open for suggestions: 

Having trouble getting our larger tomatoes to ripen on the vine.... tried not watering, trimmed the leaves, even tried covering to keep the offgasses in... Anyone know any other tricks of the trade? Or will it be Fried Green Tomatoes all winter? LOL  I'm sure they'll turn eventually but concerned they will all go at once and overrun my kitchen.

 

Update on the house situation

(Google house, not ours)

 If you don't know what I'm talking about, my original post from August 2018 is here: Original House Explanation

For long time readers who are familiar with this particular gong show, read on.

Refresher:

So essentially we found out upon the sale of our property that we never had clear title, subsequently we discovered that the bank knew and deliberately covered it up. The same surveyor we had used 3 times in 8 years suddenly decided that those 3 previous surveys which he personally did - were wrong and a good part of our home was now suddenly sitting in the Atlantic.

Recently:

In early August we filed a lawsuit about this mess in the appropriate provincial court, the paperwork for which then had to cross from Hell to us via Canada Post and we then forwarded it to a local server in the local area of the province via Canada Post. On August 12 all 10 parties were served.

Yesterday (Wed, Sept 2/20) we received an email from the bank advising that our house had been sold -for $100K less than the deal we had in 2018 but lost due to this gong show. They were kind enough to forward all the purchase/sale documents which I assume is required as it is our house after all.

Guess what?! 

Those documents show that the purchaser was given the 2010 survey (guess the bank forgot they had one from 2015 and then the final blow survey of 2018 which shows the property is problematic, which is why they had it for sale in the first place!!! They advised the purchasers that there 'may' be a problem with the land issue but that the bank has applied for a grant to correct the problem. 

Except that you can only receive grants to build a dock into Federal waterways, they will not under any circumstance grant the building of a home into the Atlantic ocean. OOPS.

I swear to God, I do not make this up. This is our life.... 

So the bank, having given us a mortgage under fraudulent conveyance, has now gone and done it again to the new purchaser -- and given us the paperwork to prove it. ROFLMFAO!!! 

Idiots.

I must have been a really bad person in my last life...

Our 12th Anniversary

My favourite husband cooked me a fantastic meal for our 12th Anniversary on Aug 30th.

Steak, Scallops and Cod

AKA Surf & Turf

Its been an interesting 12 years, never a dull moment in our house... We've been through an incredible amount of  'life stuff' in that time. Some of which is still ongoing. In fact, as I type this he is discussing the newest one with me and I am glaring at him but he is not catching on.... fortunately, I can type without looking at the computer. Aaah, he finally noted that I was typing and glaring. LOL

I have recently made a large purchase and expect delivery in approx 5 weeks. (Oct 2 ish) More on this to come.

Hiking Whalebone

There are so many trails here that there is a designated map

Stacey

Panoramic of the beach

Vancouver over there

This hike was 3.7 miles.