Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Happy Fall Equinox!

Actually, this isn't until next week but at least our weather feels like September after being deep fried, boiled and steamed and burnt alive all of August. Our hottest August on record and because of that we have the record of days over 110 degrees this summer--31 or 32 was the final number.

I've been going along the past two months like usual. Solar cooking, cooking and feeding and herding cats, reading and hauling the last boxes out of storage that I put away last winter.

some other bigger world developments the past few months:

--Texas has been burned alived far worse than Phoenix all this past summer.
shana, Friend in Austin said that they've had almost all summer with temps over 100. They have tier 2 water rationing and the PTB asked people to set their thermostat no lower than 80 for AC.

--There is a frightening situation in Europe with the EU and Greece's huge debt problems. This has been going on for over 2 years now and they are no closer to solving this problem than they were then. As a matter of fact, the GErmans and French don't want to give Greece anymore of anything! But the French banks have a really large exosure to Greek debts so they can continue bailing out Greece, or Greece can default. All the Greek money will suddenly disappear and maybe some French and other banks may disappear because of it.

It is reminiscent of our financial mess 3 years ago when Lehman went under and everything went wonky.

Who knows if it will create a crisis as bad as the one 3 years ago or worse ... maybe they can continue the status quo a little longer.

I'm posting this info so I can look at it later after the solution to the Euro problem.

peace, Shamba

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Here's a good photo of dusty doom!

Phoenix Dust Storm Photo

Yup, that was us swallowed up in a tremendous dust cloud ahead of a apotty rain storm. Some places got dumped on and we got enough to wash some of the dust off.

It started about 7:45 in the evening when I saw the bulltin on tv about a storm warning, that just usually means a storm or possible dust and thunder storms are on the way to us. This one was coming from the south and southeast which is the usual direction for dust thunderstorms in the summer monsoon.

but this was a biggie, that I couldn't tell from the ground. It looked just like the dusty rain clouds we get this time of year. We didn't even have too much wind in my neighborhood. After the local news showed some pics of the airport being swallowed up, I went outside and it was very eerie. It was completely dark by then but our yard lights showeed everything in an orange light. It was still really, and for every molecule of air out there there was a m olecule of dust! All over hands, face, etc. It all sort of hung in the air.

It took an hour for the storm to cover the whole valley. It wasn't just the east valley or the south valley or the center of town (about where I live) that got it, it was the whole of Maricopa County, Apache Junction, Mesa, Tempe, Phoenix, Scottsdale, Glendale, Avondale, ....etc. it went from southeeast to west and northwest. It passed through and we got some rain after all. Some parts of the valley got more rain than we did.

Slightly overcast today and a small chance for storms this afternoon/evening ... but that one last night was something different. No damage done here ....

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Burst of energy today

I have these bursts of energy to cook, two or three times a week and today was one of them. Mostly whatever I make lasts me for a day or two as decent leftovers. In the late morning, I cooked 2 ears of corn in one small covered container and a container of rice above it cooking in the Global oven. The tasty Roma tomatoes—10—from last week’s/ CSA are dehydrating in the Tulsi. Stacked on top on that tray—upside down small glass dish in the middle to support the top tray--are some more tomatoes and a green pepper also dehydrating.

Then, on the stove inside, browned last of ground turkey with some garlic and small purple onion, plus some leftover small pieces of tomato. I like the elephant garlic we get from the CSA better than regular garlic, easier to handle and not so much odor. I like the small onions for the same reasons.

The high heat comes in today and the next few days so no more cooking in the late afternoons.

Since I pick up my CSA share on Wednesday, I like to go through the fridge and clean it out before I bring home the fresh food. So, after cleaning out the refrigerator today, I had some decent leftover veggies so I chopped them up and put them in the fridge. Tomorrow I will put them out in the solar oven to see how well they make vegetable stock. I haven’t tried this before and I really like having some kind of stock on hand. I’ll use the recipe that recommends a bay leaf, two stalks of thyme, some parsley and I think one other herb or spice ??? I see how it's turns out.

Peace, shamba

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

New House!

Not totally, I didn’t move or gut the old house for a total remodel but it sure looks a lot different than the house used to look.

Once the floors were in, I had a painter I knew, who has a real gift for seeing color and palettes, suggested some colors and things to do. I called him knowing I wanted to hear what he would have to say about the color so we discussed his ideas and I went with them in the end. It‘s really lovely! I like it very much. I’d have pics but I ‘m, not sure where all of my camera stuff is at the moment. I have the digital camera but not the little things that will upload the pics to the computer! They’re around here somewhere.

I‘ve got a couple of earthy looking tones on the walls with an accent wall in each bedroom. Door and trim are all white and the overall effect really brings out the colors in the floor and feels very adobe-ish inside. Instead of looking darker and smaller, like I always think darker colors will do, it feels like being inside an earth house but not small.

And my whitewash finished cabinets in the kitchen, which are 15 or more year old, have been given a new life with a whitewash stain he brought. They look really good against the earthy colored kitchen walls. It is a real face lift for the kitchen with this painting!

I’ll give him a little free publicity. Anyone in the Phoenix metro area, Google Polaris Painting, or Mike Wells and you’ll get his number! Yes, reasonable prices.
So, that’s what I’ve been doing most of the past month, moving stuff out, waiting out a week of repairing and painting , soothing cats who got their furs all ruffled by too much action and now moving all that stuff back into the house.

I have bread and a rice dish in the solar ovens today. My patio is cleaned up now from a stream of workmen using the patio as a staging area so I can cook back there again.

Sign of the times: On a local TV station cooking segment, a chef was showing how to make cheesecake and he demonstrated how to mix ingredients by hand rather than by food processor. He said chefs/cooks are always demonstrating mixing on fancy food processors and it can be done by hand just as easily for most cooks. He showed how to layer the ingredients into the batter. The host of the show was interested because she said that those chefs’ food processessers always cost something like $12,000! She did exaggerate a bit …

Cheers for now,
Shamba

Friday, May 13, 2011

Just the same old thing ...

So, for the past 8 weeks what have i been doing? :)

Not completely the same old thing but almost.

The floor installers found a package of damanged tiles and couldn't quite finish the floors the week they were installing. so, they ordered a new supply and it took about 3 weeks for the material to come in but it came in the dates they said it would. Meanwhile, the rest of the floor looked great and they set up my bedroom so I could use it even without the one side of the room finished. It was a 2-3 feet wide strip against the outside bedroom wall.

I called them the week the materials was due in and they called right back and set up a time for finishing the installation the next week. It took about 3 hours and they were done. so, the floors were finally done on April 20.

Meanwhile, I had talked to a painter and got an estimate, talked about colors, etc.
I was going to call him when the floors were done. Well, I called about a week later and have not received any replies at all. So, after almost a month of leaving message twice a week, I'm going to have to decide what to do about this: Look for another painter, leave things in storage until the inside is finished or bring it all back in the house and don't bother with painting until the heat is gone next fall. I really hate that idea so I'll just keep on with looking starting next week.

The cats are all pretty good except for Nubs. He's gotten thinner and a little less active. After a visit to the vet, and a bill to match!, he's got the very beginnings of renal failure which you can't do much about. Old kitties' kidney's wear out and that's what gets many cats in old age. :( I'll do what I can for him as long as I can. He's still playful with his mouse and has a good appetite and drinks a lot. We can try the recommended special foods although most cats never seem to like the stuff at all.

A few days around 100 but not much real heat yet.

peace, shamba

peace, Shamba

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Adventures for the past 10 days ...

Mostly I was without my own house since it was 4 days worth of work to rip out old carpeting, clean it up for new flooring and putting in the new tile laminate. The results look really great and I’m very pleased with the way it all looks! Hooray!
I wasn’t able to stay in my own house for 4 nights but I was at a small hotel about 1.5 miles away.

I met the workmen every morning at the house because I had to check on and feed the cats anyway—cats were outside these 4 days. Also came back at night to do the same routine with the cats. They survived that few days of noise and uproar and are doing okay.

Everything was moved out of the house into a storage unit or put in the small storage shed I have. I put my pantry foods that wouldn’t fit in cabinets, into the storage shed shelves. It would make a great pantry for half the year if I didn’t have enough other things in there already. It just wouldn’t work very well in the hot weather though.

The upside of the hotel was a full breakfast was available every day with the room (it was a comfortable quiet room), I had access to 24 hours cable and there were high-speed computers available in the lobby for any guest to use. For the news junkie in me the cable and computers were a treat although the news the last couple of weeks seems to worsen exponentially every few hours. 

The downside was I had no kitchen. I had a microwave and lots of decent restaurants around and fridge in the room (which I didn’t use) but after being used to doing my own cooking I felt really lost without my stove or pots or other sources for cooking. Solar ovens wouldn’t have worked at the hotel setup.

Goodness, you could go broke just buying meals or prepared food to microwave ! And I could buy fruit and keep it in my room but I didn’t get enough greens in the past week I know.

When I could get into the kitchen, I could get things out of the fridge and take them with me to eat later but it was really inconvenient not just having my kitchen and food things ready for use when I wanted.And another week of eating without my kitchen and I’d begin to feel like an overstuffed blimp.

I got the tv and the computer up and running Friday afternoon. I didn't expect it to go that smoothly but it did. Also, I packed my 2010 tax info in a box and couldn’t find it for 3 days—but I found it last night when I unpacked3 boxes at home. Eek!

Glad to be back at home and have my nice new floors!
Peace, shamba

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Been out of touch

for a few due to staying elsewhere while my new floors are being put in. Everyday or many times a day, some new horrible thing is happening out in the world. Japan, radiation issues, Libya war front, Israel moved into Gaza, radiation levels in Tokyo drinking water, a unknown source of a large oil spill just south of Grand Isle, Lousiana!!!! Sweet heavens above .... then what?

My floors do look really nice, they've been installed in the living room but the rest needs to be finished in the next day or two. I'm hoping these floors will cut the dust and loose dirt in the house and I have to be more diligent about keeping the cleaning up better! A couple of new dust mops should do it and new floors should provide the inspiration.


peace for now, shamba

Monday, March 14, 2011

Melting, melting, melting ... a glowing puddle of radiative goo ?

Now, many think the fuel rods are melting in the 3 problem reactors in Fukushima 1 power plant in northern Japan.

And the Nikkei index has melted some because of the earthquake, tsunami and now probably radiation leaks even before the rods have melted through their containers. The Bank of Japan has been injecting money this trading Tuesday in Japan. Jpan is about 14 hours ahead of Phoenix time.

Of course, there is a great gap in my last entry and this one. Mostly, I'm referring to the giant 9.0 earthquake on the eastern side of Honshu island in Japan.
About every 12 hours, since last Friday, march 11, there's been some new announcement about nuclear power plants and nuclear reactors at one particular power plant. There have been explosions in the buildings the containers are in but so far no containers have been breached.

My net sites are beginning to talk about people and businesses packing up and leaving Tokyo as the radiation levels there are going up

My usual financial/geopolitical blogs are sure that the Japnaese authorities have been downplaying everything from the start. Zerohedge.com has been calling the event there right so far the past few days. Then about 10-12 hours after they post their conclusion, NBC evening news has it on, too!

Of all the things to be prepared for, anything nuclear or radiation is the one that frightens me the most. Of course, we don't know that it will reach here but the effects of this worldwide on food, business, tourism and just about anything else is totally wrecked if it doesn't stabilize completely pretty soon.

no peace tonight ya'll, shamba

Friday, February 18, 2011

My very own chiles ...

I haven’t written for a while but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been doing anything. I’m not sure how interesting it’s all been but just the daily stuff is keeping me busy.

When I went to make a chile, cheese and grits dish that I really like, I remembered that it needed green chiles. I’ve made the recipe without green chiles, but it’s pretty blah without them. I don’t usually think of cans of green chile to have on hand.

However, this morning I remembered I have my own chiles in the freezer. All those green chiles we got the end of last summer from the CSA were all prepared myself and put in the freezer for when I would need them. Of course, it was a good way to keep them from going bad as well.

So, this morning I pulled out my very own bag of frozen green chiles to use in this dish. I smiled with pleasure at the bag when I saw it. It’s a very tangible reward, if small, of learning all the things related to food storage, preservation and cooking I’ve been trying out the past couple of years. My very own chiles …

Peace, Shamba
I haven’t written for a while but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been doing anything. I’m not sure how interesting it’s all been but just the daily stuff is keeping me busy.

When I went to make a chile, cheese and grits dish that I really like, I remembered that it needed green chiles. I’ve made the recipe without green chiles, but it’s pretty blah without them. I don’t usually think of cans of green chile to have on hand.

However, this morning I remembered I have my own chiles in the freezer. All those green chiles we got the end of last summer from the CSA were all prepared myself and put in the freezer for when I would need them. Of course, it was a good way to keep them from going bad as well.

So, this morning I pulled out my very own bag of frozen green chiles to use in this dish. I smiled with pleasure at the bag when I saw it. It’s a very tangible reward, if small, of learning all the things related to food storage, preservation and cooking I’ve been trying out the past couple of years. My very own chiles …

Peace, Shamba