So here it is, hours after my first big test in 20 years. Class started promptly at 6:30pm. After a 45 minute lecture our professor offered us 15 minutes of study time or the option of taking the test immediately. I confidently raised my hand to request the test and began. 6 questions total, of them we were to choose 3 and since we were given a study guide with 9 questions, none of them were any surprise. I quickly regurgitated the answers, stood, handed my test to the professor, wished him a good week, and left the room. I was out the door by 7:45. There will be 4 tests, each 25% of our grade. There is an optional bonus paper we can write if we want to bring our grade up. Need it or not I plan on writing it. Apparently, I like to write. I wonder if he'd take it in blog form.
I arrived home with energy to spare, and since Mike adamantly refused to join me in reenacting the movie Mama Mia, I decided to make applesauce from the apples we bought at the farm stand this morning. Nearly 12 hours after finishing the second jar of grape goo nothing has happened. I considered adding it to the apple sauce for a unique flavor but might instead use it as pancake syrup as Kristin suggested. Since we have pancakes and french toast often, the grape goo might be a nice change from the maple syrup. With 2 jars to use I'm sure at some point I will do both. I peeled and cut 10 apples (not 40lbs) boiled them until they were soft, added some cinnamon, nutmeg and a little brown sugar and then mashed. After 20 minutes in the boiling hot water bath, 2 jars of canned spiced applesauce emerged to be cooled and stored. I waited impatiently for the satisfying pop, then retired to the living room to join Mike and Dan who were captivated in a ninja warrior episode.
I can't help but think, after reading Kristin's latest comments, that she and Mike are unwittingly the victims of the Silveira roller coaster. Thankfully they are both easy going, fun loving individuals who might otherwise not put up with our wild antics and/or crazy ideas. Adam and I, and I might also add our brother Ed, who's equally insane, are all lucky that way. Maybe we're even rubbing off on our spouses a little. Kristin's been showing signs of insanity for some time now and, who knows, a few more years with Mike. there might be chickens, and maybe a goat at the Gould ranch yet!
As for free thinking and social defiance maybe I can try focus my attentions on more global issues. Maybe work on world peace, or the abysmal state of our economy. Maybe our nations answers are in the jar.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
September 24, 2008 More canning and wandering minds
Thanks Kristin for your tip. As you suspected in your comment, the regular pectin did not work. So Dan and I went to the store this morning, bought a box of liquid pectin and since they had some concord grapes we grabbed them too. Came home boiled down the grapes, added our grape soup from yesterday to the pectin, boiled it, put it in jars, and re-bathed them. As I type this they're sitting on the cutting board still soup. How long does it take to "harden"?
Dan's napping and I should be studying for my sociology test tonight, but feel the need to blog instead. After all, I've done the homework, taken the notes, and listened to every moment of my professors lectures. It's sociology, how hard can it be? As the weeks go by, I find myself more then a little agitated at the end of each class. Last week, enough so, that I sparked a debate. I resent the fact that sociologist suggest that we're all a bunch of cattle being raised with the same social standards and depending on our income, sex, race, education, etc. are expected to act in a predictable manner. As if there is no room for free thinking, or imagination. I've always found myself to be, more often then not, on the odd side of any social norm, and wonder why that is, and how a sociologist would account for it.
Take canning for example. Not the social norm. Most people go to the grocery store, buy a jar of grape jelly, pay for it, bring it home and it's done. However, I knew I'd like canning before I started. It's homey, it makes the house smell great and for the most part it's not very thought provoking. Well, right now it is because I don't know what I'm doing. But I suspect somewhere in the near future I'll have the logistics figured out and when faced with 40lbs of apples to peel, after about the 4th one, the hands will take over and free my mind to wander. I get the same effect from hanging clothes on the line, lying quietly in a hot bath or going for a long run. Somewhere there is a disconnect from being a person with a body, to just a mind going where it wants, when it wants. It's in these times, where I can really think things through for what they are and not for what I've been told they should be, that my most significant decisions have been made. Having Danny at home, deciding to home school Emily, going back to school myself are all recent events that have happened and are a direct result of many accumulated hours of a wandering mind. I wonder what my next social defiance will be. Whatever it is, you can be sure that hours of canning will have been involved. In the end, who wants to be a foregone conclusion, or just a social norm...I'm more interested in free thinking....I'm in good company ! Kristin, was that 100 chickens? I think my brother might need less nails to bang, apparently he's letting his mind wander farther then mine! Or maybe we can just blame our rebellious ways on genetics...
Dan's napping and I should be studying for my sociology test tonight, but feel the need to blog instead. After all, I've done the homework, taken the notes, and listened to every moment of my professors lectures. It's sociology, how hard can it be? As the weeks go by, I find myself more then a little agitated at the end of each class. Last week, enough so, that I sparked a debate. I resent the fact that sociologist suggest that we're all a bunch of cattle being raised with the same social standards and depending on our income, sex, race, education, etc. are expected to act in a predictable manner. As if there is no room for free thinking, or imagination. I've always found myself to be, more often then not, on the odd side of any social norm, and wonder why that is, and how a sociologist would account for it.
Take canning for example. Not the social norm. Most people go to the grocery store, buy a jar of grape jelly, pay for it, bring it home and it's done. However, I knew I'd like canning before I started. It's homey, it makes the house smell great and for the most part it's not very thought provoking. Well, right now it is because I don't know what I'm doing. But I suspect somewhere in the near future I'll have the logistics figured out and when faced with 40lbs of apples to peel, after about the 4th one, the hands will take over and free my mind to wander. I get the same effect from hanging clothes on the line, lying quietly in a hot bath or going for a long run. Somewhere there is a disconnect from being a person with a body, to just a mind going where it wants, when it wants. It's in these times, where I can really think things through for what they are and not for what I've been told they should be, that my most significant decisions have been made. Having Danny at home, deciding to home school Emily, going back to school myself are all recent events that have happened and are a direct result of many accumulated hours of a wandering mind. I wonder what my next social defiance will be. Whatever it is, you can be sure that hours of canning will have been involved. In the end, who wants to be a foregone conclusion, or just a social norm...I'm more interested in free thinking....I'm in good company ! Kristin, was that 100 chickens? I think my brother might need less nails to bang, apparently he's letting his mind wander farther then mine! Or maybe we can just blame our rebellious ways on genetics...
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
September 23, 2008 Otha Day and Oh no....canning....
I woke up this morning, walked into the kitchen, poured a cup of black coffee, and glanced at the very red tomatoes sitting on the kitchen window sill. We grow tomatoes every year. Most years we get one or two, due to a faulty raised garden I'll tell you about some other time. However this year, with the new garden, the tomatoes, even though mostly neglected have grown to an enormous size and are producing show quality tomatoes. Ironically, nobody in our house, except Dan, likes them. So we bring them in, put them in the window sill until they start turning brown, and I put them in the compost bin. I vowed today would be different and armed myself with my cookbook on the way out the door. As fearful as I am of becoming addicted to canning, I'm even more saddened by our wasteful ways.
Today we planned to see Otha Day http://www.drumtothebeat.com/otha-dayat Heritage Gardens. Buzz and the girls met us there and Dan had a great time hanging out with Seneca.
Otha is a one man band, amazingly patient, and extremely talented. He arrived with more then 10 big drums, 8 tambourines, and lots of Moroccas. He encourage the kids to make lots of noise and taught us some fun songs.
Afterward we decided to take a trip down to the outlet mall to see if we could figure out what canning was all about. The lady manning the Corning Ware store was very helpful and within 10 minutes I had a new pot with a canning rack, an assortment of canning utensils and some canning jars. I had no idea what to do with my newly acquired assortment of kitchen ware but felt certain that in a pinch I could call Kristin and she'd steer me in the right direction. Next stop was the grocery store because I hadn't spent enough money to save any yet. We picked up some spices, onions and garlic for the spaghetti sauce, and while there I optimistically grabbed a box of
pectin. On my run last Friday I came around the corner to the fire road and smelled one of my favorite smells. For just a couple of weeks a year this one area is fragrant with the smell of ripe grapes. I run faster thinking of the smell that I'll be rewarded with more quickly for a little extra effort. So I thought that this afternoon the kids and I would take a walk down there to see if there were any left. There were nearly two cups and I thought it was surely enough to make at least one jar of jelly.
We arrived home, quickly switched laundry on and off the. It didn't take me long to make the sauce. I read the recipe to late to omit the skins and seeds but I'll remember next time. The sauce cooked down for 30 minutes or so. Meanwhile I sterilized the jars, lids, and rings. Once the sauce was ready I extracted the hot jars from their bath, filled them, covered them, secured the metal ring and put them in the canning pot on top of the rack filled with water. A few minutes later 4 jars were filled and in the pot. I covered the pot, and set it to boil for 35 minutes. While those worked their magic I started working on the grapes. Dan mashed 
them, I added water and boiled them for 10 minutes, strained the liquid and put the juice back in the pan, with some sugar and pectin and boiled it for the instructed 1 more minute, before filling the jar and immersing it into the hot water bath. The sauce had only moments before been removed from said bath and as Dan opened the kitchen door the jars one by one made the desired popping noise letting me know that a least for now they were properly sealed. They sit now on a cutting board on my kitchen table, cooling for the night. I'm curious to see if the great tasting grape soup will be jelly by morning.
I rescued this guy from Emily's bedroom. I believe he's a spotted tussock moth.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/164254
Today we planned to see Otha Day http://www.drumtothebeat.com/otha-dayat Heritage Gardens. Buzz and the girls met us there and Dan had a great time hanging out with Seneca.
Otha is a one man band, amazingly patient, and extremely talented. He arrived with more then 10 big drums, 8 tambourines, and lots of Moroccas. He encourage the kids to make lots of noise and taught us some fun songs.Afterward we decided to take a trip down to the outlet mall to see if we could figure out what canning was all about. The lady manning the Corning Ware store was very helpful and within 10 minutes I had a new pot with a canning rack, an assortment of canning utensils and some canning jars. I had no idea what to do with my newly acquired assortment of kitchen ware but felt certain that in a pinch I could call Kristin and she'd steer me in the right direction. Next stop was the grocery store because I hadn't spent enough money to save any yet. We picked up some spices, onions and garlic for the spaghetti sauce, and while there I optimistically grabbed a box of
pectin. On my run last Friday I came around the corner to the fire road and smelled one of my favorite smells. For just a couple of weeks a year this one area is fragrant with the smell of ripe grapes. I run faster thinking of the smell that I'll be rewarded with more quickly for a little extra effort. So I thought that this afternoon the kids and I would take a walk down there to see if there were any left. There were nearly two cups and I thought it was surely enough to make at least one jar of jelly.
We arrived home, quickly switched laundry on and off the. It didn't take me long to make the sauce. I read the recipe to late to omit the skins and seeds but I'll remember next time. The sauce cooked down for 30 minutes or so. Meanwhile I sterilized the jars, lids, and rings. Once the sauce was ready I extracted the hot jars from their bath, filled them, covered them, secured the metal ring and put them in the canning pot on top of the rack filled with water. A few minutes later 4 jars were filled and in the pot. I covered the pot, and set it to boil for 35 minutes. While those worked their magic I started working on the grapes. Dan mashed 
them, I added water and boiled them for 10 minutes, strained the liquid and put the juice back in the pan, with some sugar and pectin and boiled it for the instructed 1 more minute, before filling the jar and immersing it into the hot water bath. The sauce had only moments before been removed from said bath and as Dan opened the kitchen door the jars one by one made the desired popping noise letting me know that a least for now they were properly sealed. They sit now on a cutting board on my kitchen table, cooling for the night. I'm curious to see if the great tasting grape soup will be jelly by morning.
I rescued this guy from Emily's bedroom. I believe he's a spotted tussock moth.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/164254
Monday, September 22, 2008
Sept 22, 2008 First day of Fall and Wii Fit
Yesterday started off fairly quiet. Em had driving at 10am and Mike, Dan and I were planning on going over to the Harvest Festival at the Barnstable Fair Grounds. Since it was 9am and I was dressed and ready to go, I decided to take a quick trip to Hyannis. We've needed a Trader Joe's trip for about a week and I've just been putting it off. I don't buy lots of products there, but the ones I do, I really like, either because they're cheaper or because of their "good for you" qualities. We buy Dog food, soap, laundry and dish detergent, toothpaste, toilet paper and paper towels, and coffee there religiously. Since I was going in that direction anyway I decided to make a quick stop into Best Buy to see if they have any Wii fits. I've been looking at them for months, and am just never in the right place at the right time. I walked into the mall to find out they don't open till 11am. Defeated I went and did my shopping then returned a little after 10am to see if they at least got any in. Sure enough they did, but I didn't know how many and just couldn't justify sitting in the mall for an hour while Mike and Dan were at home waiting for me to go to the fair. Sadly I headed home. Arrived there to find Mike just getting out of the shower, Danny not dressed and thought I could have waited after all. We got in the van and drove over to the fair grounds to find out that the Harvest Festival is next weekend. With nothing to do and curiousity getting the better of me I called Best Buy to see if they'd hold a machine for me, surprisingly they would and with a new mission we went back to Hyannis. Turns out they had over 30 of them in stock. While there, Mike picked up a new John Hiatt CD and I the new Mama Mia soundtrack. We got Mike home just in time to go up to Leone's to watch the Patriots loose to Miami. Dan, Em and I played with the new game. I weighed in at 170lbs and a BMI of 27. We skiied, did yoga, hula hooped and ran virtual Mii style. It was fun, an expensive scale to be sure, but what other scale can you surf on?
Saturday, September 20, 2008
September 20, 2008 Scallop Festival
6am:Today Mike's going up to New Hampshire to his mothers house for 2 reasons. One, to bring home our dog, and two, because the porch on his mothers house is threatening to fall down the hill in front of it, so he's going to see what he can do to reattach it.
The kids and I are going over to Wareham to the laundry mat because now that we don't have a dryer, Emily is boycotting doing laundry and has piles to be washed. Since we're on that side of the bridge we're going to check out the scallop festival in Buzzards bay, then pick up Emily's friend TJ on our way home and she, TJ and Sarah are going to spend the afternoon hanging out.
Danny found this cool moth called a Large Tolype Velleda on the deck this morning. http://bugguide.net/node/view/3054
2:30pm
Danny's napping.....Em, Sarah and TJ are sitting in the living room watching Another Cinderella story, and I'm blogging.
We got an early start this morning, but not quite as early as Mike was hoping and he got out the door a little before 8am. The kids and I left around 9, arrived at Delkin laundry mat, started 3 loads of laundry and then Dan and I walked over to Walmart for sugar. We left there 30 minutes later with a winter coat, a Patriots warm up suit, two tee shirts, and a pair of pants for Dan. Two new red towels for the bathroom, Dan picked the color, our bathroom walls are chocolate brown & two new bras. I was hopeful when I chose 36C (11 weeks ago I was 38DD) and was thrilled when I got home, tried them on and they fit. We did remember the sugar thankfully and made it back to the laundry mat in time to put the clothes in the dryer. I've decided that the laundry mat is the way to go. In just over an hour we had 3 loads washed, dryed and folded. I might rethink buying a dryer and just plan to take a trip to Wareham every couple of weeks once the weather gets too cold for line drying.
We left there a little before 11 and arrived at the scallop festival just in time to get one of the last parking
spots in their lot. Dan couldn't wait to try some rides, and originally thought he wanted to ride the ferris wheel until he stood under it and realized how tall it was, at which time he decided maybe he wanted to ride the bumper cars instead.He also rode the serphent coaster, the slide, and made his way through the fun house. Then we went over to the Comcast booth where they were taking free pictures.and then onto the
Banknorth kiosk for a spin the wheel contest where I won some hand sanitizer and to a name that
tune contest that Em and I competed in. I won but just barely. We both won a free music upload card. We decided to take a walk through the craft tent and we quickly came upon an airbrush tattoo stand and Dan immediately decided he wanted a shark tattoo. Em chose a rose. We had just enough time to get back to the van and 
drive over the bridge to IHOP to pick up TJ.We got home, fed Dan some lunch and sent him to bed for a rest.
Mike and Marley arrived home a at 10pm. Marley is shedding like crazy and left tufts of fur here and there as she came barreling into the house. She's been kennel dog for the last two weeks so she's pretty happy to be up on the couch, bed and Mikey's lap. Nettie kept one of Marley's puppies and named her Harlow. Every once in a while Marley lets out a little whimper....I wonder if she misses her babies....
Friday, September 19, 2008
September 19, 2008 The pellet stove runs once more...
I woke this morning at a little after 6am, walked into the living room, and checked the temperature in the house. Brrr....66 degrees. When we used oil we kept the heat set at 68 degrees. So 66 was definitely below even Mikey's standard. (I know anonymous, if we got rid of the gas guzzler....) Anyway, between my running partner being up in New Hampshire and the new tattoo, I haven't gone out for a run in more then two weeks, and I was definitely itching to get back to it. I quickly suited up, and set out the door. It was an easy 46 minute run, and I made it home just in time to take Em to work. Mike had a dentist appt in Mashpee this morning. We all have been going to Dr. Durudogan in Middletown (his father was the obstetrician that delivered me) but since Mike has transferred to Taunton it didn't make any sense for him to continue in Middletown. Dan and I went to Green Briar to feed the animals. We hadn't been to Critter capers in a few weeks and Dan was so happy to see everybody they all got hugs!
With the ammunition of waking to up 66 degrees and with the temperatures forecasted to drop into the 40's on Saturday night, I begged Mike to clean the pipes on the pellet stove and light it up just to make sure it was really going to work when we needed it. We cleaned it, we lit it and sure enough a glitch. I'm glad we checked it first! Something about a seal that needs to be replaced.
We bought this stove two springs ago from a farmer down the road who'd used it for a few years for alternative heat, but was looking to get rid of it because it was just too much work for him to haul pellets. Laurie saw it in his driveway for $100 and called us. We took a quick trip down the road, wrote the check and brought it home. There was quite a bit of work to do to it, but Mike ordered the parts and rebuilt in just in time for the install on Thanksgiving day 2007. Last years heating seasons we used 3 tons of pellets at about $230 a ton. Usually we use 2 tanks of oil one winter, and 3 tanks the next. Since last year was a 3 tank year we estimated we save over $2000. The only pitfall to the pellet stove is that the living room is very warm (the way I like it, about 75 degrees) and the rest of the house (which consists of the kitchen, bathroom, 2 bedrooms and a loft and is 600sq feet total) are quite a bit cooler. Even still we spend more time together in the living room as a family, enjoy more movies and puzzle building and have the nice ambiance of fire with the wintry smell of wood smoke. I couldn't wait to light it again, as I type this it's up to a balmy 75 degrees....shhhh....don't tell Mikey!
With the ammunition of waking to up 66 degrees and with the temperatures forecasted to drop into the 40's on Saturday night, I begged Mike to clean the pipes on the pellet stove and light it up just to make sure it was really going to work when we needed it. We cleaned it, we lit it and sure enough a glitch. I'm glad we checked it first! Something about a seal that needs to be replaced.
We bought this stove two springs ago from a farmer down the road who'd used it for a few years for alternative heat, but was looking to get rid of it because it was just too much work for him to haul pellets. Laurie saw it in his driveway for $100 and called us. We took a quick trip down the road, wrote the check and brought it home. There was quite a bit of work to do to it, but Mike ordered the parts and rebuilt in just in time for the install on Thanksgiving day 2007. Last years heating seasons we used 3 tons of pellets at about $230 a ton. Usually we use 2 tanks of oil one winter, and 3 tanks the next. Since last year was a 3 tank year we estimated we save over $2000. The only pitfall to the pellet stove is that the living room is very warm (the way I like it, about 75 degrees) and the rest of the house (which consists of the kitchen, bathroom, 2 bedrooms and a loft and is 600sq feet total) are quite a bit cooler. Even still we spend more time together in the living room as a family, enjoy more movies and puzzle building and have the nice ambiance of fire with the wintry smell of wood smoke. I couldn't wait to light it again, as I type this it's up to a balmy 75 degrees....shhhh....don't tell Mikey!
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