Busy Busy Weekend!

Farm-Share Food:

Okay, I'll post a *link* to a recipe that was quite delicious! When I first opened the box I spotted "Cool! White radishes! And they're huuuuge!"

Uhh, nope. They were turnips (ICK!), and they're small. Hence the name "Baby Turnips!" So I was cursing myself for not checking the box on the FFTY web-site that says "Don't send me any turnips!" Then I consulted the Great God(dess) Google for ideas of what to do with the damned things!

I found this: Braised Baby Turnips and Turnip Greens. I followed her recipe - to the letter (I never do that!) - and I am pleased to report that it was *quite* tasty! Next time, I think I'll add some fresh, minced garlic!

Yup. Very very yummy! And nope, no pictures. She posted pictures on her blog so go check 'em out! Even if you don't like turnips (I don't!), check it out. You'll be pleasantly surprised!

Boating Update:

So Christmas-Before-Last, DH bought "us" a set of teak-and-holly flooring for Das Boot. Out-of-the-box, they weren't too terribly "generous" with the varnish, so I set-up sawhorses in the garage and added another 3-4 coats of marine varnish. Once these suckers go down, I *don't* think we want to have to re-finish 'em again! Soooo... It took us a long time to get around to installing them. Today was *supposed* to be the day...

The boat came with cheap beige carpeting, laying over non-skid fiberglass.

Yukky Carpet (Carpet + Boat = Bad Idea)

Naked Non-skid

Now previously, I had stained/varnished a cheap CD Crate in a tone that closely-matched the dining table. And I used Earthquake Putty to stick the thing down. It holds *very* well. And today I wanted to confirm that it was removable without doing any damage - It worked!

CD Case/"Stuff Rack" on dinette
(I thought I blogged about that earlier - "Oh, well!")

So we figured, maybe, we could use the same "goop" to stick the teak-holly panels to the fiberglass floor. We vacuumed and cleaned the cabin sole thoroughly (well, actually, DH did that while I gooped up the putty into little pea-sized balls).

Earthquake Putty

Well... Unfortunately, the putty doesn't like non-skid fiberglass. We couldn't get it to stick down :-(

So that means we need to do a "proper" installation with 3M 4000 or 4200 (I'm voting for 4000 b/c it's more pliable). We had a big ol' tube of it on the boat - but no caulking gun. And the smaller tube was effectively glued shut. So off to We$t Marine we went...

And actually, the more I thought about it, the more I began to think that Today was *not* the day to install the Teak/Holly Flooring. The flooring itself didn't come with instructions, but I remembered - from doing the floor in the shed - that the flooring really needs to "live" in it's new home for a couple-three days before you install it. And the boat, obviously, is going to be a far more humid environment than our garage! Sooo... We've got pretty-much everything we need to *do* the job - but we will bring along half-a-dozen 2.5 gallon jugs of water to weight-down the flooring while the adhesive sets.

So, maybe next weekend!

For what it's worth, I did snap a few pics of that particular job (bearing in mind that it still isn't done!).

I think I used enough varnish!
(Fwd section - next to the head)

(that light-colored spot is a reflection!)

Much prettier than yukky carpet!
(Main cabin section)

Other projects in the works: New Sails are on-order, and we're hiring a rigger to install Lazy-Jacks (so it'll be easier to drop the sails, single-handed). Rog is glad we launched the boat early this year so we could tackle these Maintenance Chores while the weather is still semi-crappy!

Studio Update:

Since we didn't "finish" the boat today (much to DH's dismay), I did find that I had enough energy to attempt to tackle ONE of the walls of the studio.

Ooh! Way-way-WAY better than the faux-basket-weave paint job!

But it was a little "poopy" when I had to cut the mat to size

(Hello, Shop-Vac!!!)

I managed to cut and staple one of the cabana mats to one of the short walls. It really is a 2-person job, but I managed to curse my way through *most* of it, solo. Bending and stapling the mat over the windowsill was a real P.I.T.A though and I did end up requesting DH's assistance.

Next, I'll cut my Bamboo-Reed Fencing to an appropriate height and attach it to the lower-half of the walls, like wainscoting. And I've got some bamboo "slats"on order to use as a chair-rail, baseboards, and to cover up any of my fubars (like the not-so-straight-line in the corner next to the beach/ocean - Oops!).

I'll put a similar treatment on the "front" wall, but I've decided against putting anything on the other "short" wall, next to the kiln. Seems that combustibles + 2300* kiln probably wouldn't be a wise combination! I'll probably paint something Artsy-Fartsy on that wall...

It's getting there! Really! And good thing, too! I have officially run out of ceramic works-in-progress! Time to start cranking *new* stuff out!

Garden Update:

Well, nighttime temps are hovering closer to the 50* mark, and all my Veggie Babies are eagerly awaiting transplant to their Permanent Home(s)! Nope, I never did "pot-up" the maters like I said I would (ran out of time and energy!), so I'll just plant them deeply in the raised beds and hope for the best.

Eager Veggies

Herbs are also looking forward to planting. I think I'll stick 'em in last year's Upside-Down Planters (LOL - I still have last year's tomatoes dangling in the bottoms of the planters. I think I'll just leave 'em and see what happens!). The Upside-Down Planter Experiment failed miserably, by the way. But I *did* harvest one mealy, tasteless (and highly confused) midget tomato in February of this year!

Happy Herbs

Annnnd lastly... The Straw-Bale Bed seems to be stabilizing. Yesterday, the internal temp was around 80*. I added more compost and dampened the bales again. Today the internal temp is hovering between 75-80*. I *think* I can safely plant in them (but I'll consult Google first - just to be sure!).

Stable Straw-bale

Wow. I think I actually accomplished quite a lot this weekend! No wonder I'm tired!!!