helwen

When

fitzw read in my previous LJ post that the chiabatta would be for breakfast, he was quietly wistful... so we had them for a late dessert last night. They were extremely yummy, although we both agreed that next time we might have only 1/2 a square at a given time, esp. with the hotter weather.

Went out for both chili powder (found a bigger bottle than last time) and a few things from Highland Hardware, which I think brought my walk up to a full 2 miles... plus lugging things home should count for something. Got a new bike helmet. Bell Solar, in blue & white. Bike helmets are supposed to be replaced every 5-7 years, even if you've never been in an accident; the foam ages. Also, they should be stored in a cool place when not in use (yes, ours were in the basement). Our helmets are around 9 years, so definitely time. The Solar is a very cool-looking helmet, and only 34.99. Now I must continue to get in better shape, so that I can look as cool as my hat...

We looked for chili pepper plants at the farmers market, but they only had bell, cayenne, jalapeno and habanero (sorry for the lack of accent marks). Blah. At some point we'll end up near a real nursery and I may be able to get one. It is hard to make chili without chili powder, and if I'm going to make it on a regular basis, I would prefer to make my own pepper too. If it is anything like the little bird pepper plant we had in Hong Kong, it will be very manageable. Although almost anything is more easily managed than a rosemary.

Tried out washing clothing by hand, just as an experiment. I've been thinking about it for a bit, but hadn't done anything about it. We have a big tub. Stuffed clothing in the washing machine 'til it was full, then took the clothing out and put it into the tub (ensuring parity in the comparisons). Put tub on newly rebuilt brick wall in the backyard so it was at a comfortable height. Added first batch of water from the rain barrel, and detergent (hey, we have it, might as well use it - A&H unscented).

fitzw came out and saw what was up, and had fun smooshing the clothing around in the water. Then I went to get the chili powder, and stuff from the hardware store, including a new plunger. So the clothing soaked for a while -- a little scarey, since there was red-based clothing in there. Come home, we smoosh with the plunger, then I squeezed things out and put them into a laundry basket. Dump out water into non-edible plant areas. Rinse with water from the garden hose, as rain barrel water isn't clean enough for that. Squeeze/wring again, hang up clothing.

Stagger into house, make a quick lunch, grab Roz and take her to the vet for her rabies shot, checkup, and a blood sample. Up to 7 lb. 9 oz. (half a pound since last weigh-in this winter). Come home and do other stuff.

Water to wash (rain water): 11.6 gallons (43.96 litres)
Water to rinse (tap): 9.7 gallons (36.76 litres)

So at maximum load, I'm apparently using less water than the newest front-loading Maytag washing machine. That's pretty cool, especially when you consider that what we have in the basement is a very, very old top-loading Maytag.... and _no_ electricity used :)

HOWEVER.

I will _not_ be doing this again until we have a wringer. Quite aside from the exertion, it takes way too much time to wring with just my two little hands. And the bigger items were rather sloppy to work with :P

So, eventually we'll have time to go to a flea market, and look for one. They have them on eBay too, but I'd rather get a local one, or from somebody I know.

Meantime, I'll just keep adding a couple of buckets of dehumidifier/rainwater to the initial wash water for the washing machine. And get

fitzw's help with sheets... there are many good things about being short, but dealing with sheets and clotheslines is not one of them...