Piddly Work

Give me the power equipment like the angle sander with the diamabrush.  This piddly scrapping and sanding is not for me!   3 hours of scraping under the porch rail and along the siding is about all I can stand.  Tomorrow will be sand it and then...........maybe..........Saturday the stain  will go on.  The hard part is getting out there early while the morning is still cool.  I tend to like to sit, drink my coffee, check the web,  knit a little and always enjoy the view.  Not happening the last three days with the 90 degree temperatures.  Once we start the back porch it will be late afternoon work since that is when the shade hits back there.  That will really blow my mind.  I like to get work down in the morning so in the afternoon we can relax or go somewhere.  Guess I am lucky if that is all I have to gripe about today.

It's summer squash season.  We picked the first two last night.  For supper I made something new.  No recipe, just a desperate woman with nothing planned.  I made pizza dough using 000 flour.  It is what the Italians use and is the best crust ever.  The flour is super fine and makes a dough easy to press.  Much to my surprise I found it at Walmart.  I cut up and fried bacon.  Drained the grease from the pan and left enough for the pizza dough to be pressed out on.  Layered the dough with fresh sliced summer squash, one sliced thin onion, bacon, and then mozzarella and swiss cheese on top.  Baked at 400 degrees until bottom was golden brown.  Once plated we put warm pizza sauce on top.  Mine also had hot pepper flakes sprinkled on because I like a "little" spice in my life!  It was great!  In fact it will be made frequently during squash season.

As you can see I used my cast iron frying pan.  It makes for a crispy bottom on the crust.  This is more like a deep dish pizza with a thin crust.  Can't say enough on how good it tasted. The swiss cheese gave a nice flavor.  Just right with nothing else on the side.  We have enough for each a slice for lunch tomorrow!  Free food :)  This reminds me of the summer tomato pie that will be made when the tomatoes ripen.  Right now they are just little green fruits.







The rain finally arrived just in time.  We had planned on watering flowers and gardens but now we can just take it easy.  I have been knitting and watching a few youtube blogs on tiny houses built on travel trailer frames.  Gathering info.

I always talk about my mom and all the wonderful things she could do and passed onto me at a very young age.  My dad was also helpful in teaching me things, just in a different way.  He was a gruff farmer that only told or explained something once so ya better listen.  Which I did because I was too scared to ask a second time.  Both my dad and Uncle Orville were good farmers and gardeners.  From them I learned  how deep, how close, how wide the rows should be apart and make sure to weed and hoe until the plants get big.  That is what we do.  Then he taught me about being thrifty and not wasting something that could be used again even if it meant a little more work.  For example, when we lived in our first home we lowered the ceilings.  I wanted new woodwork and dad said, no you can turn the boards over, sand them and they will look like new ones.  They did!  We have turned boards over many times in our remodeling or gathering boards that nobody else wants.  Dad also taught me how to dry wall and spackle. Although he really didn't show me specifically I watched him from the a very early age.  He was known for doing rounded archways and many people would hire him in the winters when farm work slowed down.  Being a daughter of parents 43 and 45 years old when I was born I watched and was always by their side.  Mom for cooking , sewing, knitting,embroidery,  canning, gardening and crocheting.  Dad for guys work.  Maybe that is why I like doing remodeling, using power tools, getting my hands dirty and brush hogging our fields.  It was my entertainment growing up on the farm watching and learning.  When I think back I can never remember mom and dad not busy, they were always working at the barn our house.  The only time they relaxed was after chores and supper, the evening was for reading  the news paper, a cup of tea, something sweet to eat and then off to bed.  Milking started by 5 am to get the milk cans in the cooler and cooled down before the milk truck came .  The milk truck would come mid day to pick up the last evenings and morning milk.  Everyday 7 days a week.  Got a little off track, this mind of mine can not stay focused on one thing at a time!!  Drywall is my least favorite thing to do.  Every time we have a project that requires drywall I say it is my last but then there is always the "next time".

Kim I have thought of you all day.  Blessings that you and Rod's day will end on a big happy note ❤