Demolition Derby

In December 2011, I introduced the world to our garage & basement: What's In The Basement?

I also mentioned in that post that the first big project we will be doing is modernizing the foundation under the kitchen & porch, & making those storage spaces into some kind of usable living space like a guest room.

We are finally just a week or so from officially beginning that project! In addition to updating the foundation, AJ had the brilliant idea to make that living space a master bedroom suite instead of a guest room.

There's lots of preparation to do ahead of the start date. The biggest one is removing all the sheet rock on a little room that was built in the garage decades ago, & the false flooring next to it. Here are the photos of all that stuff that I posted in 2011:

Interior of the room, facing the street.

Interior of the room, facing the garden.

Exterior of the room, with the street at right.

Facing the same direction, 

showing the false floors to the left of the room (essentially 3 platforms).

At first I was planning to do the work myself. Then, I decided that was crazy, & decided to leave it for the contractors. Then, AJ convinced me that not only was it doable, but that it would save us enough money to pay for a nice bathtub in the bathroom we're putting in under the kitchen.

We were getting ready to do all that work ourselves, but then five very hard-working & generous friends excitedly offered to help, so today we made a party of it.

Additionally, people were so excited about smashing things, I decided to ask for their help with a separate project to address our dirt patch of a front yard after this happened:

When we moved in, all these red concrete garden edging things were left in the house:

I have been trying to figure out what to do with these for the past two years. We don't want to use them in the garden, & what a nightmare to dispose of (each one probably weighs about ten pounds). A couple weeks ago, I realized that if we could get them smashed up small enough, it would look nice over the reddish dirt we have in the front yard (& would also hopefully deter the neighborhood cats from using our yard as their litter box). So that was the plan.

We started off the day with donuts and coffee:

And then we set straight to work!

Robin & AJ started smashing the red concrete edging things, while Amanda & Shayle attacked the sheet rock:

Meanwhile, Pickles kept an eye on progress from the yard:

It was really a very impressive mess they made:

Meanwhile, good progress was being made in the backyard:

Back in the garage, once the sheet rock came down off the wall of the house this is what was underneath:

More lath!

And some sheets of aluminum, that appear to be duct sections that have been flattened out:

We'll figure out what that's about later.

Back in the yard, Robin & AJ were joined by Susie, & smashing continued:

Before too much longer, the work inside the garage was done:

And the truck, generously lent to us by Jon, was loaded:

Then, Robin, Susie, & AJ were off (very slowly...about 25 mph) to the dump:

Amanda, Pickles, & I stayed back at the house to order lunch. Pickles had to sneak in a quick nap after all her hard work this morning:

When Susie, Robin, & AJ got back to the house, they gave us the surprising news that the load was 1,000 pounds. Wow, that was a lot of sheet rock! And they apparently had the time of their lives.

Lunch:

More napping:

Then back to work!

Shayle & Susie had had to leave a little earlier, so it was four of us for the afternoon -- Robin & AJ went back to the yard, & Amanda & I set about breaking up the false flooring:

Pickles kept up her supervisory responsibilities:

It was kind of tough work, getting the planks up, but we made steady progress throughout the afternoon:

AJ & Robin made steady progress, as well, and soon buckets of broken red concrete started to make their way through the garage & into the front yard.

The amount of debris under the flooring was incredible:

There was an old rats' nest under there, complete with a couple dozen empty walnut shells. And this unhappy former resident:

We were very careful with clean up & disinfecting. And soon were left with this:

Similar view to the 2011 photo above, with the ladder.

It's pretty incredible how much getting that sheet rock out opened up the garage:

We were originally thinking that we would tear the framing out, as well, but AJ & I are now rethinking that. It's nice to have a space that's separated from the car, & I like the idea of keeping intact a part of the house that's probably older than I am. Our contractor once mentioned having done a job where he put plexiglass or something similar over interior wall studs instead of sheet rock, to allow light through from the windows & to create a sense of space in the room. We are thinking about doing that in the new bathroom, & it seems like it may be a good idea in here, as well.

Here is the result of the very hard work that Robin & AJ did all day:

Looks great, guys!

After the work was done for the day, we spent the evening relaxing & recovering, & watching a very fine film:

Pickles was especially exhausted, & konked out for a couple hours:

Next up: Cutting down a mostly dead rosemary bush! More moving around of stuff -- out of the construction site & into storage in the the house/yard! A stiff back!

Thank you very, very much Amanda, AJ, Jon, Robin, Shayle, and Susie, for all your generosity & hard work!!!

Bottling The Rose Wine

Waaaay back in May 2013, I started making a batch of rose wine from the roses in the yard. Please click here if you need to refresh your memory.

This week it was finally time to bottle it!

First I unwrapped the mummy:

Wrapped up to avoid light damage.

It was a lovely golden color:

A whole gallon of yum!

Then the bottling:

Oops, I might have "accidentally" sampled some when I started the siphon!

I did pour a little into a glass to taste & to share with AJ:

Sweet! Delicious!

Might be too sweet for a normal evening at home, but I think it will end up being a nice dessert wine. We'll find out in about three months, after this has aged just a bit more.

Posts have been few & far between over the past few months, because we just haven't been doing that many projects. This weekend is going to change that, however: we're beginning The Big Project. Stay tuned for excitement!

Boo Radley's Fence

I don't think I've mentioned it here, but I often call Mars "The Boo Radley House." If you haven't read "To Kill a Mockingbird" in a while, Boo Radley is the neighborhood recluse, who all the kids are afraid of, and he lives in a broken down old house:

The Radley Place jutted into a sharp curve beyond our house. Walking south, one faced its porch; the sidewalk turned and ran beside the lot. The house was low, was once white with a deep front porch and green shutters, but had long ago darkened to the color of the slate-gray yard around it. Rain-rotted shingles drooped over the eaves of the veranda; oak trees kept the sun away. The remains of a picket drunkenly guarded the front yard — a “swept” yard that was never swept — where johnson grass and rabbit-tobacco grew in abundance.

Mars is, of course, in much better shape than that, but compared to the million-dollar renovated homes around here, it's a little bit of a Boo Radley house, with its faded vinyl siding, the rotting white picket fence, and a patch of front yard that is basically the neighborhood litter box.

This morning, during some much-needed rain, the rotten post on the long side of the fence finally gave in:

Well, this is exciting.

Noticing the rot in the posts some time ago, we've been trying to figure out what to replace it with for a long time, & have just been putting it off. Then, this whole thing happened last summer: one day, our friend Brian accidentally bumped his car into one of the pickets on the short side & cracked it. No problem, Brian, we're getting ready to take it down anyway. Well, a few weeks later, the broken picket was surreptitiously replaced while we weren't home. Shortly afterward, I ran into our neighbor Irene in the grocery store, & the mystery was solved. Irene is a wonderful person who keeps the street gutters and drains clear of leaves, who removes the weeds from around the vacant house across the street, & who generally takes responsibility for the appearance of the block. As it happens, Irene built the fence for the elderly previous owner. She still had spare pickets in her garage, so one day she just up & decided to replace the picket for us.  So kind! Also, so awkward, because how can I possibly take the fence down now, after she did this favor for us?!

Well, at least the decision about when to take down the fence has been made. I'll take the shorter side down later today, & we'll just leave it open, I guess, until we decide what to do. Kitties of the neighborhood rejoice! No more pesky fences in the way of the litter box!

Off to find a chiffarobe to bust up.

30 Days of Health is upon us!

The fundraiser I participate in each year for Lyon-Martin Health Services, 30 Days of Health, is beginning February 1!

This year, I will be training Zoey to pick things up off the ground on cue. If you would like to read more about why I've chosen that and follow our progress (which will, of course, include plenty of photos), the blog for the project -- SmartyPants.woof -- is here: http://smartypantsdotwoof.blogspot.com/

If you can afford to donate this year, I hope you will consider making a (fully tax-deductible) contribution. And if you are only interested in lending moral support & looking at cute pictures, that is also very much appreciated! Thank you!

Happy New Year!

Christmas 2013

Merry Christmas from Mars!

2013 was a warm & bright holiday here. We had a festive display of homemade decorations, and gifts sent from far away family members, guarded by a fierce hound:

We had a lovely arrangement of holiday cards, also guarded by said hound (when she wasn't distracted by these new toys from Mama & Papa O'Brien):

Or this new toy from my coworkers in London:

Even Sergeant Pickles got into the act, decorating the Mars Animal Control office:

On Christmas Day, our festivities began at 9am, with Brian bringing over his famous Christmas cherry rugelach:

And his famous Christmas strata (basically a casserole of eggs, cheese, bread, & spinach) & bacon:

It was horrible, as usual:

Over breakfast, we started the day's movie marathon. This year, we chose a Christmas classic:

After the first movie was over, we got to work in the kitchen making dinner. I made my infamous Atomic Ginger Beer, & put it in these heavy duty (& gorgeous) growlers Mama O'Brien gave me for my birthday:

As always, Pickles was on hand to help keep the floor clear of any particles of food that might fall:

The Christmas cioppino (San Francisco's own fish stew) turned out excellent, as always:

As did the Christmas Burnt Ricotta Pie, with Brian's expertly crafted pastry:

And perfect scorched-earth look (yes, this is what it's supposed to look like):

And then the next day, we took Pickles out to the ocean, for some fresh air & romping:

All in all, a wonderful & relaxing couple of days!

(Belatedly) Thanksgiving

Guest post by Chef Adrienne:

Sharing the joy of our feast - for which we were very thankful - somehow got away from us in the last few weeks. So much holiday joy to be had, so little time. 

Very satisfying grid of cornbread I made for the pecan cornbread stuffing.

Cranberry pear dressing. Pears are a nice cut against the super sour of the cranberries.

Bread and butter: my breakfast and lunch. I was reminded of my Mammy (Pop's mom) taking a similar meal (without the tea) on days when she was over the stove cooking for a bunch of folks for a long time.

"You've got a little something on your face. Right there....No right...a little lower."

Susie whips up sweet potato pecan drop biscuits. These were delicious. 

OKAY people! Turchetta. You do all the work of butchering up front (and the sticking the carcass in the freezer for stock making) and you end up with an awesome roll of turkey stuffing deliciousness. This is the turkey marinating in herbs and spices for 24 hours.

This is the skin I removed from the turkey in one piece. 

This is all the meat put back on top of the turkey skin. You don't think it's going to fit, but then again, of course it all fits.

Smashed the stuffing on top. This was like a continent of turkey meat and cornbread. I placed a horse in the picture for scale.

After you rolled it all back up (not freakin easy!) it looked like some anaconda devoured Thanksgiving and curled up in a corner to digest. 

Tie that baby up and place it over the wings and necks in a pan with rosemary, celery and onion. 

All wrapped up in cheesecloth and roasted for a couple hours. The gravy from those pan drippings was amazing. 

Terrible light, but you get the idea. Lovely when you cut into it. 

Friday we had our traditional mashed potato croquettes with over-easy eggs.  Later that weekend I made leftover pot pie. Here's the layered pie: chopped up turkey roll, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes. 

It was amazing.

The day & all the days of leftovers were indeed amazingly satisfying. Thank you to Adrienne for all her hard work, and thank you to Susie & Paul for sharing the holiday & their incredible cooking with us!