Decluttering pantry – the spice of life

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decluttering pantry
Pantry, Photo by slc

This weekend I went to my pantry to fetch cooking spray.  I was baking scones.  For some reason this time when I opened the pantry door, I picked up the Sure-Jell Fruit Pectin and it had sat neatly on the pantry shelf for over 25 years!

decluttering pantry
Expired Fruit Pectin and Gelatin, Photo by slc

I never considered my pantry and other cupboards needed decluttering until that day and time.  I have not made jelly or jam for many years but I the fruit pectin expiration dates were May 8, 1993 and March 5, 1994!

According to some people on the internet, the pectin may actually still work if I ever make jam again, but what about spices?  Some of the spices I have in the spice draw I acquired in the 80’s judging from their prices.  How long do they last?  According to Home Storage Solutions 101:

“Typically, with some exceptions (such as mold or mildew on items, or something similar), spices don’t go bad. However, they do lose their strength and flavor with time.

decluttering pantry
65 Cent Mustard Seed, Photo by slc

That’s why many (but not all) spice bottles have expiration dates, or ‘best by’ dates on them, so you can know whether the spice you want to add to your food will actually taste good, or not.”

They also suggested, “Take a small pinch of the spice and crush it between your fingers and smell it. If it has no scent, or only a very faint scent, it needs to be tossed. It will not have much taste, so it is pretty worthless at this point.”

So, if you are baking this holiday season, check out your pantry.  How old are the expiration dates on the items in your cupboard?  Can you beat 1993 fruit pectin or 65 cent mustard seed?  If so, I’d love to hear your decluttering pantry story and whether you are throwing anything out?

Downsizing – Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water

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This summer my daughter and her husband were clearing out their basement and having a gigantic garage sale. I went over to help.

During the sale an older gentleman approached us and asked if we had any silver pieces or coins to sell. We told him no but then I remembered my daughter had inherited two or three sets of silver flatware that she did not have out at the sale. She said I could retrieve them from the basement for his examination.

He looked at each set with a jeweler’s magnifier you hold up to your eye. He said only one of the sets was silver. The other two were silver plated and not as old as the other. The oldest one had belonged to my daughter’s great-grandmother. He was not interested in purchasing them and my daughter wasn’t sure she wanted to part with them just yet either.

Later, during a break in the action, we got to talking about old record albums. I was telling them I had gone through my old record collection and tried selling some of them on Craigslist with no luck. That’s when my son-in-law went in the house and then came back with a huge box of record albums.

downsizing
70-Year-Old Vinyl Albums, Photo by slc

Years ago, my daughter and her husband were present when her dad’s mom was downsizing before going into assisted living. They returned home with many treasures but they weren’t sure what to do with over 100 record albums. We started to go through them there in the garage. It was fun as we found albums from artists like Tennessee Ernie Ford, Billy Vaughn, the Statler Brothers, Herb Albert, Hank Williams, and Lawrence Welk. While selecting albums one by one from the box I came across a couple of albums that didn’t have the customary cardboard-like jacket. In fact, they didn’t have a jacket at all. There was handwriting on them. We wondered what could be recorded on them.

Since I have a record player at my home, my son-in-law piled the box of albums into the trunk of my car for me to take home and listen to. I did just that.

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Jeep ride and guardian angels

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This video shows the beautiful serene drive I took in my 1995 Jeep Cherokee Sport on the way to my cabin in Glen Haven yesterday.  The water sloshing sound is from the container of water I transport on every trip, as I don’t have running water on the property.

Jeep ride
Cabin floor, Photo by slc

It was a balmy 65 degrees in Glen Haven and a beautiful day to work outside.  While at the property I raked up pine needles and cones to help with fire mitigation.  I also continued cleaning and oiling the 1938 wooden cabin floor.  All the while my small dog, Goldi, watched.

We left the property at about 3:15 p.m. so I could watch the second half of the Denver Bronco game.  The Jeep started fine and I drove the 15 minutes to Drake where I met up with the pilot car which takes everyone in line through the canyon construction zone.  The pilot car was not there yet so I turned off the Jeep’s engine.

When the pilot car came to lead us down the canyon, I turned the key in the ignition.  It started but then quit.  I tried again.  Same thing.  The Jeep would not stay running.

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Turkey over an open fire?

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When I told James, a friend of mine, I was going to the cabin in Glen Haven on Thanksgiving Day, he asked, “Are you cooking a turkey over an open fire?”  Sounds like a good idea, but no, I didn’t cook a turkey at all yesterday, let alone over an open fire.

My daughter and her husband and my three grandchildren celebrated Thanksgiving on Monday.  My daughter is a labor and delivery nurse and she worked the night before Thanksgiving and was supposed to work again Thanksgiving night.  So, my dog, Goldi, and I drove up to the cabin for a day in the mountains.  Actually, I drove and she rode.

turkey
Bull Elk, 11/23/17, Photo by slc

Off of CR 43, I turned right at the Glen Haven General Store, drove over the bridge and over the creek.  Around the bend, a lone bull elk was resting among the pines and cabins.  Beautiful and serene.

On the way home from cleaning the cabin’s wood floor and removing nails from salvaged lumber today, traffic slowed.  A single big horned sheep sauntered down the highway next to the concrete barriers, headlong into traffic.  Sorry, I didn’t get a picture as I couldn’t stop on the road.

While I did not cook a turkey over an open fire at my cabin in Glen Haven on Thanksgiving, I did give thanks for having a special place in the mountains and for the beautiful wild animals that live there.

Repairing an intruder’s damage

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intruder
Northern Flicker, Photo by USFWS

Woodpecker, sapsucker, flicker.  Whatever the name, this bird’s damage to wooden structures is prevalent throughout my neighborhood in Colorado.  The Colorado Parks and Wildlife website states, “During the early spring, woodpeckers hammer to attract mates, to establish and/or defend a territory, to excavate nesting or roosting sites, and to search for insects.”

At least five times over the years, the northern flicker has attacked my home and caused damage.  Making a nearly perfect round hole through the cedar siding and sheathing.  These holes have been patched with pieces of wood.  However, one recent patch did not hold.  A flicker broke it out and built a nest in my attic.  This time I attempted to repair the intruder’s entry hole myself.

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A little gift

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little gift
Little Gift, photo by slc

A couple of weeks ago I received a text from my cabin neighbor Alison and her little girl, “Maddie and I left you a little gift at your cabin door today; we all hope you like it!”

little gift
Hollyhock Seeds, Photo by slc

The next day, when I opened the cabin’s sagging and squeaky front screen door there was a cute little plastic bag hanging from the door knob on the front door.  Inside the bag was a small package with a colorful bow along with a bright yellow envelope.  The card inside read,

Preparation is never lost time.  The seeds you plant today will bring a harvest tomorrow.

“Once you’re done ‘preparing’ your cabin, you can also enjoy the beauty of these hollyhocks!  We can’t wait for your ‘harvest’ and for your family to make many incredible memories here in Glen Haven!  🙂 XOXO The Gdovicak’s”

I was taken aback.  What a thoughtful gift.  So simple, yet so grand.

Thank you Alison and Maddie for the little gift and being a part of the “incredible memories.”

Cause for celebration – six week cabin update

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celebration six week
1938 cabin after addition was removed, October 29, 2017, Photo by slc

Six weeks, three 18 yard dumpster loads and 145 “man” hours later, we have completed the demolition of the non-permitted, mold and rodent excrement filled cabin addition.  All that is left is the flooring and the lower level deck.  This accomplishment is cause for celebration!

What I learned from the demolition:

celebration six week
Third dumpster load, Photo by slc
  • Wear protective clothing, goggles, and a respirator.  You can never be too careful as my son-in-law found out when he opted for hiking boots instead of professional work boots and took a nail through the bottom of his foot.
  • Make sure you’ve had a tetanus shot in the past seven years.
  • Try to place the dumpster as close to your work site as possible.  Due to all the large beautiful moss-covered rocks and the slope of my property, we were unable to have it close to the addition.  This less than ideal placement required lots of walking, carrying and pushing a wheelbarrow of debris to the dumpster about 50 feet away from the work site.
  • When working remotely as we were, it was important to bring the necessary tools each day to the work site.  We often needed nails we didn’t have, so I often removed nails from the demo debris to reuse.  One day I forgot to bring the circular saw so we ended up cutting some ceiling joists with a hand saw made to cut tree branches.  We could have left our tools in the cabin but felt that it just wasn’t secure enough.

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