My chair, the wheel, pips, and Boolie's lump.

This is my chair.

It is normally parked by the front door so I can sit outside on the front doorstep and take in a few rays of sunshine when I get a few minutes break from indoor tasks.

But today my chair is not parked anywhere near the front door,

it is parked up here.....

......... out back, 

ready to be sat upon when the task of moment becomes too much for one's bod,

the task being to haul rotten lumps of wood from the decaying wood pile by the back gates,

plus sundry other bits of wood like rotting pallets, etc, left by recent renovation work, 

The sun is shining,

it is a good day to do such work.

It is also a good day to sit and have a rest when one gets out of puff,

which I must say, was done frequently. 

And of course one had to watch the fire in case it got out of hand.

Now the thought might have arisen in you mind as to why we were burning wood when we now have a wood burning stove to feed.

Well, the big wood pile was made up the wood which came from the house six years ago.

Instead of burning it at the time we kept it for when we got a stove installed.

It took much longer than we thought.

The wood therefore rotted.

We need the space where the wood pile sits,

plus it is a wonderful place for rats to inhabit so they need to be evicted,

but I don't think that chickens are going to agree with the removal of the wood,

because they use the heap to climb up on so they can hop over the wall into the courtyard when the gates are shut.

Not to worry, soon they shall be having another place to live because the Chicken Project is on the move, but I shall write about what is happening with this project another day.

....and Lester attending to the needs of Bonny and Lissie.

..... and later on that day he was fiddling about with the box on the cheese fridge,

setting the temperature because I had made this.....

...a Monterey Jack cheese.

It does not look all perfectly round and smooth like professionally made cheese does,

But it is DIY cheese, so therefore carries a distinctly artisanal look!

I think this might turn out quite a crumbly cheese though because the curds did not seem to knit together very well, hence the lumpy look. 

Not to worry,

It certainly smells cheesey,

........... and a glorious messiness as I slathered melted DIY lard all over the cheese wheel, then covered it with cheesecloth which was also soaked in melted lard.

I thought that I had too much lard in the freezer,

so did not make any more from the recent pig we slaughtered,

instead we donated the fat to the chickens and wild birds.

After seeing how much lard I used to cover this cheese,

I think I should have recycled that fat into lard.

Ah well, live and learn!

The wheel now covered. 

I hope that the fact that the cheesecloth was still damp before it was soaked in lard does not hurt the maturation process of the cheese,

still, as I say, 'live and learn'!

And the cheese now in the cheese fridge,

with bowls of water either side to help keep the humidity up to 90%

Now all we need to do is to purchase a small fan to keep the air circulating in the fridge, 

and whooppeee! The Cheese Project takes another step forward.

And other bit of messiness...

My three freezers are absolutely full to the brim,

and I had a cockerel to find space for,

and then I found a bag of blackberries I had picked last July,

which were destined to linger in the freezer forever  because of the pips which get between our teeth,

the picking out of these pips spoiling the eating of the fruit itself.

A thought popped up into my head.....
I do not drink enough water,
so why not cook the blackberries up to make a juice drink,

So I did.

To remove the pips I put the slush into a sieve,

which promptly blocked up,

so, oh bother, don't have the time to stir the slush around,

upended the sieve and put all into a bowl,

put a few spoonfuls of slush into a glass,

topped with water,

and down into my tummy it went.

I don't know why I can drink lots of water laced with juice, but not water on its own.

I used to buy supermarket juices to help solve this problem,

but don't any more because of the additives which get put into commercially produced fruit juice.

I do not even trust the Bio brands.

But I now have a DIY juice drink. 

As for the blackberry pips,

well they just slip on down and through my system just fine,

with no stopping to stick in the gaps between my teeth,

however,,,,,and may I be so bold as to share this with you

....... my food transit system seems to have perked up resulting in a very healthy and fulsome trip to the loo this morning.

Which is good.

Bools.

Our Springer Spaniel.

He has a tumour on his ear.

It is an inoperable tumour.

The vet said so. 

He was a very kind vet and said that since Bools was fifteen years old it would be kinder not to put him through medical procedures which would possibly cause him more physical and mental suffering.

So we are letting nature take its course.

Bools himself is still full of spaniel spirit,

and is in no pain. 

But I feel pained inside as I watch that tumour growing,

and sometimes I want to get a vet to fix it,

but most times I have the strength to let things be.

Should he feel in pain,

then we shall act,

meanwhile we keep blessing the days that we still have him.

and try to be patient with the hurt we feel inside as we watch his time clock of life ticking away.

Vx