Walk-in freezer

When Lars Lund was here 2 years ago he stayed in a home which he later described as the coldest he'd ever been anywhere. We were just there ourselves, and ironically in that place the man of the house is building a walkin refrigerator! He's quite brilliant at what he's doing, it's a job for a man in town who has a butcher shop and the client can't afford anything much, so our friend is inventing this setup for him. Here you can take a look...

Sveinung, maybe you can see the tool he's holding, it's a tool for flaring out brass pipes, I think the brand is sunshine? Have you ever heard of that? He wants to know if he really got a good thing. Let me know and I'll pass it on.

Sunday night supper

Anita ordered popcorn, but I wasn't in the mood. Here's what we had instead. I didn't have all the ingredients, like the frozen peas, but it was pretty good.

Progress!!!

Here is the step by step progression, at first I sewed them inside out, but it made them really bulky in the boots, then after I sewed the braid on I decided they are far too cool to wear as boot liners so I'm going to find some leather to make soles out of and use them as slippers. Anya saw them tonight and liked them, so I think I might make some more for her and her family. I can get old wool sweaters at the second hand place in the bazaar, also a pair of old boots to cut apart for soles, also tire tread soles would be interesting, but maybe heavy to pack around on the weekends...wonder if I could make tire tread sandals for summer?
well,now that I'm going wear them as slippers Anita says I should redo the front seam and turn it in, I think she's right, also I'll sew more of the braid up the back and cover the raw edges there.
It's fun making them like I said I'll make some more and give them away to some deserving soles.











I feel like Geppetto when I'm working on these, and it makes me wonder, why DID he make Pinocchio??

Step by step unravelling a sweater

you see the kofte on the back of the chair? Got it at the second hand here in town!

boiled Norwegian wool sweater

Here it is: instead of the former striking black and white we have a mottled two shades of gray. Hope to post the boot liners sometime before winter's over!

unboiled wool sweater

I just want to add that knitting is a great endeavour. My first year in Ukraine I knit an ethnic Norwegian sweater which I a few days ago decided to boil down for making boiled wool boot liners, well, I boiled that sweater in the good old fashioned way on the stove top in a pot and then plunged it into cold water only to then boil it some more, and I want to tell you that that sweater did NOT shrink...isn't it good - Norwegian wool.

We don't do our laundry by hand any more, but the tumble dryer hasn't made its début into workers' baches yet, at least not in Ukraine. Here is a shot of the rack full of dry laundry. In fine weather we can use the balcony, today however we have snow, "Like a light case of dandruff," as Viola Fridley would say; the rack is here in Anita's room.
I want you to note the home-made hook keeping the balcony door closed and hermetically sealed against the elements.

and finally...the Sudafed song!

Back by popular demand...

Sudafed Sudafed
Why do I feel you defeat me?

Nasal spray, twice a day
Cartons of Kleenexes daily

Dristan and Tylenol clear my head
Then I'll get out of bed

Cough and sneeze, sniff and wheeze
Oh how I'd love to breath easy

to the tune of "Edelweis"

The bronical chronical

This is me, a victim of chronic sinus abuse...the trickle down effect is an annoyed, inflamed, nearly clogged up larynx. Think of it as a fairly decayed Adam's apple, in my case a crab apple since we don't encounter women sporting Adam's apples.



Let me explain the title before I submit this for publishing; one of my first co-workers was Viola Fridley. She had got bad bug the year we were together, and told us, "it's in my bronicals", that's such an interesting word, the spell checker doesn't know WHAT to do with it. Another thing she said once was when we were driving along in the dark of the night out near Lake Elsinore was, "you don't see many more of those jumping nylons"...I knew immediately what she meant...flashing neon lights!

I'm working on the sudaphed song, see if it's in my next post...