The Native Iowan

Turns into v10.0… I started this a week ago and am now a month behind…

Damn!

I had started last week by saying:

Golly, day, date all elusive. I guess September is running towards its close. October soon to come. August is my favourite month…

Been back here in the land of Aus for a couple weeks. Been on my bikes n have had the 4wheelers out n about. The SunnyCoast is a good place.

What I was saying then still applies… So a week flashes past and here I am, again in weekend wunderings and kitchen bliss.

A huge part of my distraction/ aversion to time management is having the boys, Mendoza and Angelo, home from boarding school. Part is that Gracie flew off with a group of friends to Israel last week. Part of it is I decided to clean my shed.

Part off it is that I am a retired ol fart n love to procrastinate.

Today/ Monday is Queen’s Birthday here so public holiday. Boys should go back to school tomorrow. Don flies in from Solos in the afternoon so we’ll pick him up, have the eve, then up at 3am to make it to Toowoomba by 7am.

Today is a big meat and potato feed for the boys. Fatten them up before they head back to “prison”.

We’ve been planning this meal for a few days and Mendoza has been hanging out for it…

The other day I made leftovers n he was grumpy. He was hanging for the pie. And this one was/ is worth waiting for… the spuds come from the garden and are very very nice spuds… 

I’d say there is about 10 litres/ half a 20 litre bucket here. At least 3 kilos/ 6-7 lbs.

I messed up a big meaty saucy sorta deal with onions and peppers and tomatoes. 

Then I concocted one of my very nice white sauces… 

The device I am using is, I dare to say, better than a whisk… I love my whisk and to say that Gracie found a cheap kitchen tool at the mall that is better than my whisk, well, its a pretty big endorsement. It is a good tool and keeps the sauce from being splattered all over the walls… 

Had a good lighting storm recently. Am kinda impressed I managed to grab this shot with my phone…

The boys are unhappy that I chose last week as our annual (its been 3 years) spring cleanup of the shed. We emptied it and washed it out… It was very dirty. We luckily found no nasty snakes or spiders but moved mountains of dirt n ol dog hair. It even smells good…

My glutes are sore. It took 4 days (and I am still not done) but everything is inside and its pretty tidy. And I am sore, sore, sore… And it is raining, so life is pretty damn good. We need the rain.

The weather last week was hot, dry and perfect for a shed clean up.

For a few nights everything was out of doors, sleeping under the stars… 

Cars and bikes and tools n toys… all outside…

Moving back in was a bitch… It was like a huge workout, like moving house, more work than riding long distance. But the result is a clean shed.

Moving back in was a bitch…

Thank goodness for the boys. They did the ladder climbing. So I prove that an ol fart and two strong boys can do a lot.

We moved everything, Maybe 2 tonnes of gear, that is stored above the kitchen area. Cleaned and sprayed and managed everything at altitude. Some of it all came down, was inspected for need or want, and put back up under cover. Funny how very little was disposed of. We simply lifted, shifted and sorted a pile of “stuff”.

Got a good pict of the 57 Indian…

Came across Doktor Willis’ navigational devices as I cleaned. made me smile.

One day, Big Bro, one day… And I look forward to the instruction…

In my family a marble reminds us of my deceased father.  Its a long story but when ever we find a marble we smile, noting the ol Dawg be still around… 

The pie is cooked. The boys honked into it before it cooled so the cheese ran but it turned out great.

For those in “the know” please note I am using Zai’s “vanuatu pot”…

Big smiles

More later