Milwaukie Food Cart Pod opening

Yum.....! is all I can say. Brilliant new food carts right next to our light rail station. Opening night was last Friday (August 4th, 2017) and a good time was had by all. The place was packed, the Mayor of Milwaukie opened the proceedings, the ribbon was cut and David and I went off our diet.

What a great addition to our little downtown. And the selection of carts is excellent. I had a very good lamb and salad and David had a gyro and a sushiburrito. Erm, and a beer or two.....

Let's make this pod a success. Eat there! The selection of grub is extensive, there's beer and wine, and pudding (English for dessert). For sure we will try every cart.........

Lori and I enjoying a beer.....or two. David in the background looking approving and Mike lending an ear.

A pretty good overall view of the pod - you can see a light rail train on the left middle of the picture and then under the green umbrella on the right is a familiar group.

Our Mayor Mark Gamba and various Chamber of Commerce members cutting the ribbon to Milwaukie Station food cart pod.

Since the opening we've been back (of course) and I can personally attest to the deliciousness of the breakfast biscuits and gravy at the Biscuit Box. Only 9 more carts to try!

Cheese Making 1 - Yogurt

As you may know, I used to work in a large cheese store were we had over 400 different cheese.
I loved it and learned a lot - and miss it.

Combining that love with our new push to find and eat good quality food, I have started making cheese.

This is the 1st attempt - Yogurt.

It is delicious! I made 2 quarts for $1.50  Can't beat that price; and it was easy and fun.

More cheese to come...

Dave's 1st batch of cheese making - Yogurt

My makeshift double boiler - Proper large nice one is on order.

Voodoo Lilly

Smells like old shoes

Red Roses

White Roses

Azealia

Small Rhododendron Tree

Rhododendron Tree

This is a huge 15 foot tree outside the kitchen

Dogwood Tree

Cleaning out the front garden

The beginning of the end for the front garden. All the self-seeders and weeds are coming out. Everything except the azaleas and lilies which get another chance. Here's David shaking off a matted pile of weeds. Love the storm weather gear - perfect for gardening! Once we've dug everything out then we'll cover all the bare bits with mulch and start planning.........

That's our neighbours dogwood tree in the background.

Patio Furniture

We looked for some patio furniture that would sort of fit the Caribbean theme. Looking at pictures online and from our memory, we saw most sets were either wood, or painted those great Caribbean colors  - good old Leewind Paints. We may paint them later a cool Caribbean Blue, or Coral.

Rose found this set at a good deal, assembly required. Seems nice, we can now have coffee in the morning and a 'Sundowner' in the evening overlooking our garden and trees.

I guess I need to clean up the patio now - I'll get right on that...

Hanging Gutter Garden

Rose is in spring Garden Frenzy mode!

As many of you remember, Rose and I built and beautiful 800 sq ft vegetable garden in Virginia. You can see some of it under the "Virginia" Tab above.

We'll we don't have a lot of garden space in our new house, so as Cougar said to his rear in the movie Top Gun, "Their going vertical and so are we".

Rose showed me some pictures of Gutter Gardens and I thought they were a great idea. We'll have three. One to form a bit of a wall at the end of the porch and to block out the view of the neighbors, #2 (using the left over 4' of gutters) between the windows, and #3 (not show in pictures yet) will be 10ft. at the far end of the house. They are spaced out enough from the house to provide good air ventilation for the house, a walkway behind them, and room to swing in the wind a bit so as to not hit the house.

So, I got to looking online at what other peeps have done, drew up the plans, got the material list, and got the stuff - all complete for $102. Cheap enough for me. Gutters come in 10ft lengths which worked out perfectly by cutting them into 6' lengths and using the extra the 2nd spot.

Once again, I had the pick up truck guys at the hardware store looking funny at me with 10ft gutters hanging out of a SmarCar, safety flags flapping, driving along in the poring rain. I love to freak those guys out!

The small 4ft gutters will be all strawberries. The 6ft gutters on the porch will be hanging flowers the top two rows to block out the view, then lettuce the bottom two rows.

They look a bit WHITE at the moment, but do a search on the Internet for Gutter Gardens and you'll see how great they look with mature plants in them.

Here are some pictures and I'll keep adding to them. The captions of what they are seen under the photo.

Here I started using ropes to get the measurements right before cutting the chain to length. Rose was supervising, as expected. We settled on 18 inches between the bottom of one gutter to the top of the other.

Another view of using ropes to figure out the spacing before cutting the chain.

Chain added between the gutters. This seems to be the most often used system for hanging gutter gardens. It is strong, adjustable and easily replaceable, and cheap. Cheap, you getting this theme by now...

#2 Gutter Garden. 4ft gutters fit between the two windows exactly. Far enough from the house for good ventilation, space to walk behind, and far enough out to not bang the house in a high wind. We may take them down and store them in the winter. 

#3 gutter garden will be along that far side of the window. 4 x 10 ft gutters.  

Outside view of gutter garden with chains.

Florida Trip House Monitor

I spent years worrying about leaving our yacht "Spellbound" unattended at anchor in the islands when I went on trips. Is the anchor holding, is there a leak, are the bulge pumps keeping her dry, etc... Used to drive me nuts. 

Now with a house I am back to the same old worries. I can't help it - I am a Captain. These thoughts continuously run through my mind. And you want your Captain to be thinking of these things all the time as you jet your way across the sky (how's the weather holding up, fuel is looking OK, what was that noise, hmm... hydraulic pressure just had a bump...). But it kind of drives me nuts sometimes. In fact, it drives everyone around me nuts.

We were scheduled to fly to Florida for a week of business, family, and friends - in January. Oh No the house is going to freeze, pipes bursting, damage, costs... OMG my Captain / homeowner brain went into overtime! What to do! Damn the forecast is for freezing weather the entire time we are gone (in fact for 3 weeks of below freezing). I was bouncing off the walls. Time to find a solution on a budget.

I finally got the OK from Rose to get a camera. The conversation was sort of - Rose to me "Do what you have to do you. You are driving me NUTS"! 

My main worry was that the pipes would freeze if the heating system failed. If I saw the temperature falling  I would call our home warranty company and get them to get in there to fix the issue. At least that was my plan.  

So with a little research I came up with the Logitech Circle camera as a possible answer. Hmm... I could put the big outside thermometer from outside in the kitchen so I can see if the heating system is working or not. The rooster thermometer is large enough to read from the camera. Ha! I have the answer! I can monitor the camera 24/7 anytime I want to from my phone or tablet. I felt better already.  Not a full surveillance system, but for $199 USA not a bad solution. It does depend on the Internet, which is not the best, but hey it is cheap, and no monthly service charges.

The camera also records for 24 hours, has motion detection, night view, and I can talk to someone in my house like "Get the ^&%&*& out of my house I can calling the cops". It did work... I was notified when my brothers checked on the house, got a notification on my phone, pulled up the camera, saw it was them and could chat with the - all from 3,200 miles away in Florida.

 

Next use for the camera, when not being used while we are out of town during freezing weather. Is to set it up to survey the front door and driveway. (Why are cars parked in driveways and drive on parkways?) Anyway, that way while we are in the house, or out we can see who is coming up to the house and/or we'll have a recording if any one anyone is causing trouble. We will also get notified and be able to chat with them. Cool.