Projects and Other Stuff

Tom is stiff and sore today after spending too much time under a bathroom sink.

The basin in the guest bathroom was leaking and had been chipped when we had the roof replaced. I know, that doesn't make sense, unless you know that there is a skylight right over the sink. It was replaced too, but in the process the workmen dropped some of it through the hole and chipped the sink. That was  a long time ago. 

Saturday we went shopping for a new sink. On Monday Tom began replacing the old sink. He had to shut off the water at the main line out by the street, and it didn't seem to shut off. He called the water department and they sent someone out Tuesday morning.  It was just a matter of letting the line drain long enough. 

So back in business. Out with the old sink, shut off the water, hook up the new cut off valves.

 Oh oh. Something is not working. Check the instructions. 

Damn. He had the wrong size cut off valves. Take out the sink, remove the caulking, go buy the right size valves. 

 More crawling under the sink. Shut off the water. Check for leaks. (I was on standby, on the phone with him, just in case there was a gusher.) All was good. Get the cut off valves in place, hook up the sink plumbing, all underneath the cabinet, of course.  Then clean up all the messes.

It's done, and looks good. Tom will recover. I think it will be awhile before he takes on another plumbing project, however. 

Meanwhile, I decided to make raspberry syrup. Since we don't have kids here anymore, the raspberries we grew and put in the freezer haven't all been eaten. I had seven quarts from two years ago, plus some from last year. I decided to thaw out the oldest ones, extract the juice, and make syrup. That was a two day project also: thawing the berries and putting them through a fine mesh sieve, then wrapping the rest of the pulp in cheese cloth in a wire strainer, weighting it down and letting it drip over night. 

 I added sugar to the juice and boiled it about 30 minutes, reducing it down a bit. I scalded fruit jars and lids - I just happened to have several wide mouth and a couple of regular size canning lids- and filled the jars with hot syrup.

 Yay! They all sealed. I'll give most of it to Jill and Jake. It is delicious in club soda for raspberry spritzers, on ice cream, over sliced fresh summer fruits, and even on pancakes!

The tomatoes are beginning to turn red. I picked the first one yesterday to save it from gnawing critters. Squirrels, rats? Not sure, and not nice. 

Late in the afternoon I saw these thunder heads forming. We had a few showers during the day,

 But the storms headed for the mountains, where the rain will help with the forest fire danger. 

Now we're back to sunny weather for a few days. We'll take it!