Sprucing up the Cottage
This past weekend was spent painting & sprucing up our new bedroom, which used to be the office, until we couldn’t get our new bed up the stairs. It was already painted a few years ago, but it needed a fresh coat of paint on the walls and new trim. We walled in the old chimney to keep the drafts from the basement out (along with the spiders). We also moved our favorite little fan down from the old bedroom upstairs.
As home improvement goes, it gets worse before it gets better. There’s a pile of supplies in a corner of the kitchen, the living room is the painting area for trim. The dining room table is overflowing with drywall compound, trowels, painting supplies, and a host of other tools.
It’s nice to freshen things up, especially when it’s spaces you see frequently. We have plans on slowly moving around the house painting things to freshen and clean it up. We’ll put up new light fixtures that cast more light, the house is a bit dark. Slowly but surely, it will start to look cleaner and fresher.
What home improvement projects have you been working on?
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Finishing up the Sugaring Season
It’s finally getting reliably warm here in Maine, it looks like spring is actually on the way. With the nights not dipping below freezing consistently, the maple sap is slowing and some of the trees have already stopped.
That means I can finally finish up the sugaring, scrub up all the pots and collections jars, and hang up my sugaring apron for the year. Our total syrup for the year was a little over 3 gallons. Not bad considering I only put in a few taps. It was LONG season, I tapped the trees on Valentine’s day. We’ve already been enjoying the syrup on pancakes and in our tea.
What’s your favorite way to enjoy real maple syrup?
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Soaking it Up
A few years ago we got a new little tri-color cat, we named her Littles. She’s a quirky cat, tiny, but what she lacks in size she makes up for in personality and fiestiness. One of her loves: the grow lights. When I start seed flats in the spring she’s a constant fixture one top of the flats under the lights. In fact, I had to buy stronger domes for my seed flats because she was smashing the seedlings.
She’s doubly warm, because these flats are on top of a heating mat. It’s like her own personal tanning bed. She’ll even wedge herself between the light and the flat if I have them super close.
Thankfully, as soon as I take the the covers off she quits laying on them, otherwise she’s smash the seedlings. It makes me chuckle every time I seed her on the lights.
What funny things are you pets doing this week?
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Pickled Eggs
I’ve always loved pickled eggs, but until now have really only made/eaten the ones made in pickled beet juice. A week or so ago, we finished off a jar of Dutch Lunch Spears (recipe from The Joy of Pickling). The empty jar was sitting on the counter and I’ve been fishing out the onions to eat on my salads. I was regretting giving the brine to the chickens, as I always buy organic white wine vinegar for my pickling.
Then I noticed the glut of eggs on the counter and decided to pickle them in the leftover pickle brine. This brine is quite perfect for eggs, because it’s neither too sweet nor too sour. It gives the eggs the taste of egg salad. This week they’ve become one of my favorite afternoon snacks.
Are you a fan of pickled eggs?
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Overrun with Lady Beetles
These warmer, sunny spring days are bringing out those pesky Asian lady beetles en masse. We always have some inside the house, this year it has reached infestation levels.
I’m not sure why there are so many of them this year and at this time, but it’s a bit crazy. I vacuum them up about 10 times a day, trying to keep the population under control. As soon as I put away the vacuum, there are just as many as I cleaned up. I’m guessing I suck up about 300-400 a day. We also have lots of stink bugs and wasps coming into the house. Those get sucked up as well.
What are you biggest indoor pests?
