Adapting

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Tank is still at garage camp. Oh my how the weeks fly. After my conversation with the garage staff last week, they are keeping me in the loop. I called them yesterday to see how things stood, they were still working on figuring out just what the problem is, and they called me back near the end of the day to tell me how things were going. They are anxious to get Tank fixed, and the repair paid for, and we are anxious to get Tank back. Similar goals. All I can do is wait and keep my fingers crossed. I am beyond being frustrated about this, and I have now adapted to a lifestyle where I have no mobility when Attila has the car at work. Thank goodness for online shopping, and Amazon Prime. All of my appointments for the next two weeks have been cancelled or rescheduled. There is no public transit here, and taxi fare isn’t in my budget. At some point Attila will have to start taking vacation time, so that I can have a vehicle for appointments, but it hasn’t come to that yet. My project for today is to make meatless meatballs. We purchased … Continue reading →

“Keep Calm and Carry On”

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Tank was supposed to be ready by noon yesterday. I heard nothing from the garage. Attila called them when he got back from work, and they said they just had to check it out to make sure everything worked, wanted us to come get it the next day, Friday. Attila told them his wife would like it today, Thursday, and that we would be at the garage at 5 p.m. to pick up Tank. When we got to the garage it was very busy, and Tank was nowhere to be seen. We greeted the desk staff, who said that it wouldn’t be long. Then we saw Tank arrive back from the test drive. We waited patiently. We watched as Tank was driven off the lot again, alerted by the terrible noise she was making as she drove away, she sounded like a diesel truck. Tank does not have a diesel engine. Not good. They explained something about two cylinders not working, they were working when she came to the garage, now they are not working. Not good. The fellow told us Tank will be ready today. When we were there I decided to take charge of the interactions, after all … Continue reading →

Midst of Activity

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Tank started to have issues on the 9th of October, I took her to garage number one. Come back Friday, October 12th, he said. On Friday afternoon he said he couldn’t do the job, take it to garage number two. Attila drove right over to garage number two, come back Tuesday, October 16th, they said. They called me on Wednesday, October 17th, and said that they had to order a part, costing $800, I gave the go ahead. We didn’t hear from them again so Attila called Friday afternoon, October 19th, we just got the part today they said, the vehicle will be ready by Tuesday, October 23, they said. No word. Attila just talked to them again. Tank isn’t ready, they said the kit they ordered didn’t come with valve cover gaskets, they had to order them from Montreal, should be there tomorrow, October 25th. Tank will be ready tomorrow they said. In the meantime I had to cancel two appointments over the last two weeks, and I have an appointment a mile or so away from home at 8:30 tomorrow morning, which I confirmed yesterday based on garage number two promising Tank would be ready today. This appointment … Continue reading →

You win some…

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Although I am an experienced canner, I am no stranger to failure. My penchant for experimentation gets me into trouble sometimes, other times it has delightful results. Yesterday was one of the times that things didn’t go according to hopes. The first batch of canned Northern Spy Apples was successful, but for the packaging that was mistakenly left inside the canning lid during the canning session. The resulting canned apples were delicious, almost perfect, but there was some concern that they were shelf safe, so into the refrigerator they went. The first jar was opened and tasted wonderful! Yesterday another 26 Northern Spy apples were peeled, cored, and diced. That was a big job. Then one teaspoon of sugar was added to each canning jar, the apples ladled into the jars, topped up with the water they had boiled in. Rims were checked, lids were placed on the jars, and the rings were screwed on the to the new very light “finger tight” that I had seen in a video. My usual finger tight is much tighter than this, so this was the first time I tried this new method of finger tightening in the pressure canner. The jars were … Continue reading →

Last Vegetable Standing

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Bex makes hats. Lots of beautiful hats. Bex may be grandly addicted to making hats. I see this as a good thing, and hundreds of other people who will be warm this winter will definitely agree. I can food. I can lots of food. I think I may be grandly addicted to canning food. I see this as a good thing. My range is very limited, only Attila and I will eat this food. On Saturday I canned six half litres of Green Tomato Mincemeat and three half litres of Sweet Green Tomato Relish. Last night I thought, there, done for the season! This morning when Attila and I talked about the meals I would be cooking early in the week, I realized that the tomatoes I had been chopping and stewing and adding to a mason jar in the fridge, would not get used. Not wanting to risk losing the lovely tomatoes, and waste all my hard work chopping and stewing them, I decided to can them. So I prepared my jars, heated the tomatoes, added a 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid to each jar, ladled in the tomatoes, and soon had two half litre jars of organic tomatoes … Continue reading →