Thursday 27 November 2014

Evacuating the house.......

So why have we evacuated the house?
Has some dire emergency made us leave,
has the recent torrential rains made the river rise to the brim,
and then some more,
thus making us part of the flow of the river?
Noooooo!
Nothing so drastic,
although the river is rising,
but has not overflowed yet,
although it is going to,
because the river beach has not been removed by the river men,
which will lend height to the river,
so that it can then heft itself easier on to our land.


Not to worry,
it is the life of a river property,
and we would rather be here by the water,
rather than be somewhere else. 

So why is the house been evacuated?
Well, in truth, it hasn't been,
not really. 
It is just that the 'proper' kitchen has had it's floor redone,
because there were some slightly bumpy bits
in the cement we laid on the floor a while ago.


The actual surface of the cement was flat,
but the joins weren't,
so a liquid compound has been laid on the floor
to even out the surface.
It will take a day or so to dry.
And whispering ever so quietly,
that the floor tiles are going to be laid next week.
Hopefully.
We need to get straight.
The temporary kitchen is a bit of an uphill struggle to work in,
oh it would be alright if I was just cooking supermarket food,
but we need a farm kitchen,
because of the amount of produce processing which needs to be done.
Not to worry,
I can manage.
Just.

Anyway,
we can't travel through the 'proper' kitchen
to get to our living accommodation,
which is the half barn,
because the doorways to the kitchen have had to be blocked,
so that the floor can dry,
and the dogs can't romp over it. 

So we have to come out of the house 
go long the front of it,
 and in through the doors of the half barn.


Yesterday it tipped down with day long rain.
We all got quite wet doing the mini commute.
Won't be for long, though, 
that is what I kept telling myself as I continually mopped the floors.

And then one of the freezers failed, but it had died a few days before,
only I didn't know that,
but I finally paid attention to my intuition,
which had been guiding me to sort out the freezer for some time.
So I did,
which was a good thing because the meat was saved.
But not in its frozen state,
oh no,
all of it was well on its way to being unthawed,
Not to worry, not much in the freezer anyway,
but it needed to be urgently cooked and processed,
which only added to the unwieldiness of the day.

So we went out to lunch,
yummy,
and then back for a nap,
and then I practiced my finger exercises on my digital piano,
then I did lots of piano accordion practice,
then I did some YouTube but got bored,
so I did some knitting and patchwork,
all of which were totally unrelated to farm work,
but made me feel better. 
And thus ended my day.

And now it is the morning of the next day,
and it is not raining, so a dry mini commute into the house,
only I thought I ought to be careful as I went in the front door,
just in case one of the dogs had had an 'accident',
but too late,
the thought should have arrived a couple of seconds sooner,
the soft squelch under my foot telling me that this was so.
Ah well,
the day can only get better,
that is what I told myself as I cleaned my shoe off on the grass.

I shall be all day in the temporary kitchen,
so I must fill my head with positive thoughts,
that I am no longer battling away in the camping kitchen of the caravan,
and that the 'proper' kitchen is on its way to getting done,
and that soon I shall have a stove which works,
my current one hardly working at all now,
which means that cooking food takes an age,
and I shall have an oven which has more than one shelf in it.
I shall not mention the sink I don't have....


Actually that's not quite right,
because I do have a sink, but it is still in its box.

The b'rillarde update from the last blog:
All is now sliced and frozen.

Things I have learnt:
- that one does not give a morsel of b'rillarde, (made from head meat)
to one's husband as he wakes up from his night's sleep, and before he has had his tea and toast.
- that perhaps to introduce the morsel later on in the day would have been preferable, once he was more awake.
- that it was not very adult of me to do a flounce and a huff because his enthusiasm towards eating the b'rillarde was not matched by my enthusiasm for having finally finished the task of making it.
- and not to mind that he laid down the challenge that if he had to eat it then so would I.
- that it was good of me not to carry out my threat to give it to the dogs.
- that it is not the taste of the b'rillard, but the thought of where the meat comes from, that is what we need to get past.
- that the several hours of my sulking subsequent to the b'rillard episode was a waste of a couple of hours of my life,

I am now off on my bike ride,
2.5 is now the distance I go,
not sure how far 2.5 is, probably kilometres,
but I am still no wiser because I am still in 'inches, yards, and miles' mode.
Haven't bike ridden for a couple of days because of other things happening,
but feel the stiffness coming upon me,
so need to pedal today.
Now up to 700 rotations of the pedals. 
200 are stretch and bends,
the rest I go as fast as is comfortable to do so.
It is making a difference.
It is worth the effort.

So bye for now,
and thank you for sharing time with me.

Vx

13 comments:

Mizumatte said...

oh Vera thanks a lot, I was a little bit crumpy not any more, now it' s time for dogwalk ( the pleasure of citylife), bye Jaana

Kerry said...

I remember doing something similar when we had our sandblasting done. The kitchen door was blocked up, so I had to climb in and out of the window to deliver tea!! I'm longing for 2 shelves in my oven too :) x

Vera said...

Jaana, glad I cheered you up. I got cheered up by writing the blog! Hope you had a good dog walk.

Kerry, oh the joys of renovating! I find that trying to cook on one shelf is no good for when I am wanting to batch cook. It is not that I want a posh cooker, I just need one that works properly, and that I do have, ....boxed up in the hallway!

Tim said...

"but the thought of where the meat comes from, that is what we need to get past."....
yup m'lady... you are rural farmers now... the "shut up and eat it food" is now part of your income.

And, given the comment about breakfast b'rillettes...
that is a serious no-no...
paté yes... "shut up and eat it food"... perhaps not!!

The reason for making spicy chutneys and pickles is for camoflage for the "shut up and eat its"...

And...
did you leave the brains out of the brawn? It isn't compulsory to use them... not when you've got someone else to feed them to!
[Dogs... not hubs!]

John Going Gently said...

Phew...I read the title on my sidebar and had a mini panic

Kev Alviti said...

I eas worried then that you haf been flooded out! At least ot shouldn't be long before you have your complete permanent kitchen!

Diane said...

Vera you will wonder what has hit you when you have a new kitchen up and running, happy days ahead. Sorry about the freezer but glad you saved the food on it. Take care Diane
P.S. Did you get my email?

northsider said...

Looks like you are getting there, Vera. Love the photographs.

Ohiofarmgirl said...

wow! i'm so excited about the floor! it feels so close to all being done.
:-)

Vera said...

OFG, it will be nice to have a proper kitchen, only I am getting tetchy about having to cope with no kitchen facilities!

Vera said...

Tim, you made me laugh so much! And yes, the brains were removed. I really felt that 'shut up and eat it' was very much on my mind after Lester's response to the b'rillette morsel, especially because it had taken me ages to make!

But I remain undaunted and shall to tempt him again.....in time!

Johm, bless you, sorry about giving you a mini panic, and hope you have recovered.

Kev, and God bless you for having a little bit of a worry about us. It will be nice to be able to have a bit of space when I am doing farm cooking. I recently saw the video you posted up with you and your daughter in your kitchen. What a lovely little girl you have, and I am sure that you are justifiably proud of her.

Diane, thanks, I did get your email, and have just replied to it. Have just about managed to save most of the meat, and the rest the dogs are enjoying!

Northsider Dave, progress is slow, but as you say, we are getting there!


DUTA said...

It's very tempting to live near a river, and I envy you for having a river flowing by your property (despite the fact that I was brought up to stay away from any body of water because of a very naughty river we had in my childhood town).

Jean said...

Good grief Vera, you have a lot to put up with!
I hope your proper kitchen gets finished soon - you surely deserve it!