New door installed!
I really need to get some sort of carpenter icon, or something...
We got the new door installed today. I wish I could say that I had more to do with it, but I didn't do much more than help hold it in place while the shims and screws were installed, and pass tools to John, the fellow helping me out.
Turns out that John's not only a Finishing Carpenter, but he's done all kinds of construction work for the movie industry (set construction), oil-field, and other areas. Sort of a Jack-of-All-Trades; the Go-To Guy, because if he can't do it himself, he knows someone who can. A very good person to know, and be friends with. He comes from a huge family (18 kids!) that were all brought up with the basic work ethic that you help your neighbours to the best of your ability, and your neighbours will help you in turn. Also ethics like always putting forth your best effort, always be honest, don't try to scam or rip-off people, etc. Basically, a down-to-Earth hard-working sort of fellow. He's eager to help with all kinds of projects around here; largely I think because it gives him something to do. I really ought to have gotten ahold of him a couple of months ago, so we could have done more stuff. Ah well, he's confident that we can "winterize" the house well ahead of Winter's fury, and can even tackle some of the larger projects like repairing the sagging deck and cutting down the large tree that's threatening the house.
I still haven't heard back from the guy who was supposed to sell me some hay; He said he'd check to see what he had available and get back to me, but it's been a few days with no word from him. I think I'm getting the brush-off here, and should check elsewhere.
I also learned today (from John) that there's a county office in town I can check with, and they'll tell me where I can get free hay! Trixstir and I have often seen the small-square bales of hay laying along the ditches, and commented on how easy it would be to grab a few. Of course, we'd never do that as we'd always assumed they belonged to the farmer who's land bordered the highway. Apparently that's not always the case though; What it is, is that people are contracted by the gov't to cut down the high grass along the highway, and then come back later and bale it. The office will tell you where the free bales are, and you can just go and help yourself! I'll have to look into this on Monday, and hope that there are still some bales left, and that they're not all mouldy by now.
John also says that if you like wild game, there's another branch either in town or in Swift Current, that you can go to and get free meat! I'll have to get more details about this, as it sounds almost too good to be true. Makes me wonder if it's road-kill, or meat from culled animals, or what? Still, definitely worth looking into! Mmmmmmm.... venison.... :)
This is the kind of stuff that you never hear about unless you know someone who knows someone. I know that there are all kinds of gov't programs out there, if you can just find out who has the information, and get them to give it to you. For example; there's the Shelter-Belt program, where the federal gov't will provide free tree seedlings to anyone who wants them for the purpose of building shelter-belts on the prairies. I've been trying for over a year to find out more about this program with no success with online searches. Turns out that the key-word is "shelterbelt", not "tree" or "trees". In any case, I finally found the information thanks to an ad in the "Western Producer" newspaper, which gave some info about the program and the URL for it. The program can be found here.
Supper tonight was one of my "experimental creations," and one that turned out very well! All of the potatoes in the house had gone rotten, so after tossing all of them out my only option was to use some of the packets of powdered potatoes. While not as good as the "real thing" we've found a brand (who's name escapes me at the moment) that's actually very good. I must have mis-measured the liquid ingredients, as they came out somewhat less than firm (for my liking) although they did thicken up a bit with sitting. In any case, I had seasoned them heavily with garlic, and then got the idea, "since they're a little on the runny side, why not see if throwing in some chicken-broth powder would work?" I've heard of people adding chicken-broth to mashed potatoes before, so figured "Why Not?"
As mentioned, it worked out really well! Once that was confirmed, I added a can of white chicken meat (Costco's Kirkland Signature brand) and 2 cups of cooked peas & carrots. The whole mess was stirred together into basically a thick slurry of mashed potatoes, chicken, and veggies. Sort of a "Mashed Potato Casserole" which I guess it would have been had I then baked it with a crust of cheese on top. Ooooh... will have to try that next time! The kidling and I then sat down to watch Disney/Pixar's "Rattatoui", which seemed appropriate given the circumstances. :)