Still remaining

Furniture.  Spoken for but not yet physically removed.  Sincerely hope they show up to get it tomorrow as otherwise could become problematic.

Hydro gear. Halfway removed, recipient coming back for second load tomorrow.

Pick up invoice from fuel company, deliver to lawyer.

Finish packing kitchen.  Likely going with the furniture.

One last small trip to storage.  Drop off keys @ Mom’s.

Pack car.

Purchase roadside assistance insurance. (thus ensuring uneventful trip)

Finish last bits of cleaning.

Purchase sunglasses & groceries.

Wait for cheque.  Deposit.  Pay off credit card.

Start driving.

Remaining hurdles

Before September 7th:

Hydro gear – donating most to employment centre greenhouse

Furniture – room-mates want. Gone.

Books -> well-read. Not that I need more credit there but books should circulate. Still sorting, ruthlessly. Criteria: how often read / consulted, how hard to find a copy, quality of edition.

New driver’s license. Old one is literally a relic and will be dismissed as a cheap fake anywhere but the Yukon.

Bell. Buying out of contracts. Way too expensive. Buy pre-paid cell for emergencies & convenience but cutting this down severely.

Carpet shampoo. Puppy, nuff said.

BlitzClean. Whole place needs to be absolutely as clean as possible. Break out the elbow grease.

Return laundered uniforms to now former workplace.

Lunch or dinner with Mom

Lawyers for paperwork.

Final walk-thru.

Roadside assistance insurance for trip. Spare tire, etc.

Prep camping gear.

That’s all I can think of for now. I’m sure more will come to me.

PSYCHED!!

Foxtails

Foxtails.

Don’t let your dog eat them.  They get stuck in the back of their throat and cost hundreds of dollars to get removed.

Ted’s fine but still quite dopey… poor guy.

All conditions removed

The last requirements of the contract to sell our house were a new hot water tank and range hood for the stove. As of today they are done, paid for and the paperwork dropped off at the real estate office. If it falls thru at this point we get to keep their deposit.

I know it’s not over til the fat lady sings, but it’s getting close now. Good thing too cause we’ve officially reached the end of our home improvement budget!

Locksmithing course – arrival of 3rd lesson set

Lesson group #3 arrived today! New textbook, workbook and a pinning & service kit. Glad to see the workbook in this set is more substantial. So far I’ve spent more time waiting than actually working on the course. Enjoying it quite a lot though.

Next lesson gets deeper into lock designs and how they actually function, then after that it’s more about master keying. I like how the coursework keep circling around to re-cover topics in greater depth. Means it doesn’t matter so much if you didn’t entirely understand something the first time round.

Fireweed & Cranberry Syrup – Part 2

The next morning my syrup base had almost gelled.  It wouldn’t fit through the sieve!

I added a bit of water & heated it up and thus solved the problem, but I did wind up with slightly thinner syrup than I had hoped because of this.  Strained it out, then squeezed every last bit of sweet sugary goodness from the plant matter.

I was left with a rich purply-red concoction.

After simmering 20 minutes it thickened up.  Mixed in a couple spoonfuls of brandy to help preserve it and then let it cool.  For all of this I got about 2 cups of syrup.  Next batch will be bigger for sure!!

The syrup turned out absolutely delicious, and unique.  The fireweed gives it a flavour you simply don’t find anywhere else.

Goes GREAT on French Toast!

Success!

Fireweed & Cranberry Syrup – Part 1

Above you see pictured the ingredients for the syrup I (finally) started making today.  2 cups each frozen cranberries and dried fireweed flowers (and some rose petals, but mostly fireweed).  2 cups of cane sugar, 1 cup of water.  That’s it.

Here are the working instructions I cobbled together from a couple of different recipes in The Boreal Herbal:

I tossed all the ingredients into my trusty enormous frying pan and slowly, slowly heated them up, mashing periodically.

Took about 20 minutes to go from partially frozen to gently simmering.

Now the infusion has to sit in the fridge overnight.  I took a sneak-preview taste though and was blown away!  Complex, intense flavour in this syrup.  Can’t wait!

Size on packet may bear no relation to reality

The Tiny Tim seed packet said 8 inches tall.

We planted accordingly but no one informed the seedlings. Today (measured from the top of their containers, ie “ground-level”):

Overgrown would be an understatement. They’re even trying to crawl out of the window!

Unfortunately the roots are starting to look kind of scungy and a couple of the plants have actually died due competition.

Those that remain stubbornly insist on creating new flowers.

Since we’re going to be moving soon and I think they’re coming to the end of their natural life-time anyways, I decided to focus on the fruit that’s already formed.

I topped off all the plants at the branch just above their highest fruit and pruned off all the dead leaves.
Before:

After:

I’m hoping this will get the remaining fruit to ripen before we have to take them down.

*bangs gavel* SOLD

The financing went through!!  I am simultaneously thrilled and terrified.  I have this wonderful light floaty feeling at work tonight knowing the finite number of shifts that remain.  My mind is in overdrive thinking of all the things I need to get done and organized.  Another part of my mind is running in circles babbling that this is a horrible idea that’s all going to go terribly wrong, but I don’t really believe that.

I’m really -really- looking forward to having personal finances in the black again.  This time I will fight tooth and nail to stay out of debt.  I’d rather live in a shack than have a mortgage chaining me to a job I hate.

At the very least it shall all be a grand adventure which will provide plenty of fodder for blog posts over the next few weeks.  Won’t have much to do with hydroponics I’m afraid, but oh well.  That topic’s going to be an ongoing unifying thread over the life-time of this blog, but hardly its primary focus all of the time.  Hopefully it will at least be interesting.

Foggy

Fogged in this morning.

Waiting waiting waiting. Laundry & dishes. Dogs rough-housing. Cat sitting imperiously on the table. Time frozen, momentarily.