Another of Scott's Homes on the Web

I'm on Bluesky Social - sraun

I'm not leaving Dreamwidth.

We were supposed to head out of town Thursday morning.

We left our house about 9:15-9:30am, and stopped to pick up breakfast at a new bakery (new as in just opened Wednesday). We got breakfast, went out to the car, I started it, it stuttered and died. Not good. Tried again - it kind of ran when I gave it gas. We decided that we did not want to be on the freeway with this happening, so we nursed it up to our favorite service station. They were busy, and not certain they'd be able to get to it that day. They gave us a loaner car, we went home to wait. I called Dad about 12:30 to tell him we were delayed.

We got a call shortly after 1:00 that they'd gotten it in, read the error codes, and discovered a dirty Mass Air Sensor. (I think it should be called an Air Mass Sensor, personally.) They cleaned it, and the car was running fine. We went and collected the car, and got out of town about four hours behind schedule.

We had planned on stopping at up to four quilt shops on our way south to Sioux City, IA, with the possibility of picking some of them up on our way back. We actually only made it to one on our way south. I called Dad while Irene was in the shop, to let him know we would be getting to Sioux City on Thursday, but would not be getting together with them until Friday.

We got to Sioux City about 8:00, got checked in to the hotel, and found dinner.

Friday we spent the day with Dad and my Aunt Paula.

Saturday we had a late breakfast with Dad and Aunt Paula, and left Sioux City about 12N. We stopped at two quilt shops on the way home, getting home shortly be 7pm.

Dine Out for Life for three meals today - breakfast at Butter Bakery Cafe, lunch from Herbie Butcher's Fried Chicken, and dinner at The Lowbrow.

For those who don't remember Dine Out for Life is a fund-raiser for The Aliveness Project, an AIDS support organization. We've been supporting it for ... a couple of decades now? Since before Don & Margo moved out of town.

I think I'm going to keep a count of how many people successfully followed the instructions in an announcement I sent out recently.

Currently, the answer is 66%.

As of about 2:15pm CST today, I have a functional solar power and battery backup installation!

Just in time for 6-11" of snow.

Pictures available here (on Facebook).

I think I'll try this again, although I might try to make half as much - it made a LOT!

Pad Thai Hamburger Hotdish

1 cup quinoa (prepared) (I used the liquid from the cans of mushrooms as part of the water.)

3 lbs 85% lean ground beef
1 large onion, diced
3 small/medium carrots (~6" long?), shredded
4 large cloves of garlic, minced
2 cans mushrooms
1 can garbanzo beans
1 cup craisins
8 oz. bean sprouts
2-4 oz. Cabernet Savignon
1 bottle Thai Kitchen Pad Thai Sauce (next time I think I'll buy three and use at least two)

In a skillet, brown the hamburger. Transfer to a large pot with the quinoa.

Using the leftover fat from the hamburger, brown the onion, carrots & garlic. When the onions are starting to turn translucent, add the mushrooms, garbanzo beans, and craisins. Let cook until hot. Add the bean sprouts, break them up a little, and cook until warmed. Transfer to the large pot.

Use the wine to deglaze the skillet. Transfer to the large pot.

Put the large pot over medium heat, add the Pad Thai Sauce. Stir well, heat until warm throughout - it shouldn't take long.

I got to my polling place about ten minutes before it opened, and I estimate there were about 50 people in line already. I got out about fifteen minutes after it opened.

We are hosting the Minn-StF Meeting today, 4 August 2018.

We're making Vegan Barbecued Beans and build-your-own cold-cut sliders for dinner calories.

There will also be assorted sweets, salty snacks, pop, some assorted Mike's Hard, and some Nordeast beer.

Let's see:

Friday was the fall Hennepin County Tax Forfeited Land Auction, followed by driving up to Duluth, and starting to move my mother to her new apartment.

Saturday was move continued.

Sunday was visit Dad & Karen, and drive home.

Monday was recover.

At the auction, the lot that we were interested in went for 2.5 times our max bid. We didn't get it, Irene thinks that whoever did get overpaid by $25-30k.

We rented a U-Haul cargo van in Minneapolis, because we knew there was at least a coffee table and window air-conditioner coming back with us, and we didn't have room for that in our car. We made five trips moving Mother's stuff - two on Friday, three on Saturday.

We were moving her from the two-bedroom second-floor walk-up that she'd been in for 35+ years to a one-bedroom in a building with elevators. Luckily, she's been getting rid of stuff for several years now. There was still more furniture than would fit. There were four of us doing the move, me, Irene, mother, and Gary, a friend of mother's. So, it was me & Gary moving all the furniture. One bed (the other one she's getting rid of), two chests of drawers, a couch, three easy chairs, a computer table, a buffet, a small kitchen table, assorted shelves, and miscellaneous small pieces. We also moved a bunch of stuff in boxes or garbage bags.

I have assorted bruises on my arms and legs. Friday evening, my left elbow and lower back were very unhappy with me. Saturday evening, it was my back and right hip.

I discovered that three years of caffeine-free diet have destroyed my immunity to caffeine. I used to be able to drink a half-liter of Mountain Dew right before bed, and have no problems sleeping. I had five glasses of Diet Coke at Perkins for dinner Saturday night, and had the worst insomnia I've had in years! I did get some sleep, almost enough, and between that and three ibuprofen, I was mostly pain free Sunday morning.

He stopped eating overnight Friday / Saturday. He ate over half his dinner Friday, and has been pretty much ignoring any food since then. We put scrambled egg - a real delicacy! - in his mouth on Saturday, and he just let it fall on the floor and ignored then. Since then, any food we put in front of him might get sniffed at, and then he turns his head away.

I'll be calling the vet as soon as possible after they open at 7:30am, and seeing when we can get him in.