Bolt Hole Progress Report: September 12, 2009

Mark and I got the decking on the porch today and placed the two 6" x 6" posts despite a fairly steady misting rain that fell between 1 and 3 PM. I have to say that the porch looks great! And it is certainly much sturdier than it was. It even slopes away from the house with a pitch of about 1/2 an inch over the 80" width. That should help keep some water away from the house.

Porch deck and posts are in place.

Now it's time to construct a knee wall and enclose the bottom so the snow, when it slides off the roof or gets blown my machine or Mother Nature, will not end up on the porch. We'll also close in the top half of the west side of the porch (that would be the far end in the photo below) using corrugated plastic panels that will allow the light through but block the wind and snow. Most of the front's top half will have removable panels of either metal, plastic or plywood. Again, that's to prevent snow and such from getting in during the winter.

Finished decking and posts.

Some time in the near future I'll also have to think about putting in some steps but since the door on the porch isn't the main entrance, they can wait.

Progress report from the Bolt Hole

We got a late start this morning (9:30 AM) yet made good progress on the decking for the porch before the rains started. We got the 2" x 6" joists in place and shimmed up on the piers so the surface will slope away from the house, put some caulk under the wood where it meets the concrete and sprayed some Great Stuff into the gaps between the house sill and the deck joists. We're all set to lay the Advantech for the deck and install the two 6" x 6" posts. Tomorrow.

We built the joists as two boxes, each about 10' x 6', which were just small enough for the two of us to lift and put in place on the foundation and piers. Where they meet, we installed some blocking. One of the posts will be sitting on the front edge of this tripled up 2" x 6" joint. The other, more important post since it carries the major portion of the load of the roof, will sit in the corner to the left.

Joint between the two boxes.

Two boxes in place with the extra supports between the joists.

The decking actually is supported by the foundation and the piers. It is not attached to the house at all. There is a 2" x 8" ledger board attached to the house but only the edge of the Advantech will sit on that. The house has a habit of "breathing" and that ledger board moves with each breath.

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As for the rains...this morning we saw conflicting weather reports. One said we should be rain free since it would stay south of the NYS Thruway while the other said to expect rain (up to an inch) starting in the late afternoon and continuing through tomorrow morning. The latter report turned out to be on the money. The early morning temperatures were in the low 40s. Fall is definitely right around the corner. I'll have to get a coat of paint on the deck of the porch before the weather gets too cold...meaning Monday or Tuesday at the latest.

Bolt Hole Report, September 10, 2009

It's quiet and peaceful here at the Bolt Hole. Being located at the end of the paved portion of a dead end street has something to do with it as does having the power line end here. Only four buildings are located further along the road before you come to the gate the state put up to block motorized traffic--or any wheeled traffic for that matter--including mountain bikes--or so I'm told. Those are primarily hunting camps, however, and except when they come up to do some maintenance no one goes passed the Bolt Hole. If you walk the old jeep trail (still used by snowmobiles during the winter) it takes five miles or so to come to the next paved road which is in the next town and county.

We used to have one old timer who would drive up every evening just to see if they could spot any critters (or, maybe, just to get out of the house), but he passed away a year ago. And the school bus used to come up this far and turn around in Mark's driveway. since there are no kids on this end of the road, they've begun turn around further down. Now, if it's not a holiday weekend or the hunting season, there's very few cars that come up here.

Last week was a holiday weekend and Mark says the road was busy as all get out with folks out exploring and getting lost. Every half hour or so someone would stop and ask him directions as he was working on the porch foundation. He says it was a real PITA.

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I went to sleep last night to the sound of owls hooting in the woods. We've got both barred owls ("Who, who, who cooks for you all?") and the little screech owl. The latter is damn curious and if you're out at twilight walking the trails one might just seek you out or even buzz you, as one did to me two hunting seasons ago. Or one of the little screechers might perch in a tree across the yard and scare the living daylights out of you with its unearthly call, which also happened to me one night as I was butchering a deer I had killed earlier in the day.

In any event, it's good to hear them from the comfort of your bed and know that any small rodent may not make it 'til the next morning.

I may have had comforting thoughts upon going to sleep, but was awakened much too early (3:30 AM) by the sounds of distant coyote chatter and closer deer snorting. It sounded like the coyotes were well in the woods but the deer was right behind the house. This is the time of year when the young coyote are getting hunting lessons. Their parents have already done their damage to the young deer (very few fawns around this year) but even they will stay clear of a full sized doe or buck. Which ever the deer was, it let them know that it was not pleased with their proximity by snorting frequently.

I tried to go back to sleep but thoughts of the chores that lay ahead kept running through my head so I gave it up. I had just enough time to have breakfast and brew a pot of coffee before the red squirrels started complaining. I guess they prefer decaf. Good thing too since they seem wired most of the time.

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I spent much of the day breaking up the concrete from the demolition of the old porch "foundation" to use as fill behind the new foundation wall that Mark had built. When he finally returned in the late afternoon, I had filled the gap behind the wall. We then mixed up another bag of mortar to finish the leveling of the top of the wall and point up some of the larger gaps between stones. We also went over how we are to rebuild the porch, making sure we had all the materials we needed. It looks like we are good to go tomorrow. We might get it all done except for construction of a waist high wall to keep the snow and rain off the surface. That's something I need to get a few more things for but which I can definitely handle on my own over the weekend.

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Oh, and it was another beautiful day! Overnight low around 50 and daytime high around 72. Can't ask for better than that. It' ll be cooler tomorrow with the high in the low 60s. Some rain is possible late in the day but it may stay south of the NYS Thruway. We actually need rain. It hasn't rained here or at the Aerie in over two weeks. If it weren't for the heavy dew in the morning, the plants would be shriveling up. And Mark's shallow dug well has run dry...again.


PS Almost forgot...No skunk sightings.

Back at the Bolt Hole

The trailer inspection was uneventful. It passed without a hitch. (No pun intended. It had a hitch, of course, or I wouldn't have gotten it to the guy who inspected it.)

The trip up to the Bolt Hole did take an hour longer than usual but that's to be expected when I had to stop for gas (twice) and lunch along the way.

I believe I surprised Mark by needing only one pass to back the barge...I mean trailer...into the barn. Sure, I needed to make one adjustment at the gate to the property but then--ZIP!-in she went. And it's not as easy as it sounds. Try running a trailer through a slalom course...backwards. The barn and the gate do NOT line up directly so it's a matter of backing through the gate, veering to the left (as you go backward), and then to the right to get the trailer lined up to the barn door. Trailer, hitch, and truck are about 48' long and the distance from the gate to the barn door is about 75' and the offset of the two is about 30' so it's a bit tricky. Mark's presence made it easier in that I didn't have to get out of the truck to see what my clearance was on the back wall of the barn now that there's a freezer, fridge and stove in there.

I found that Mark and his buddy had made some great progress in rebuilding the "foundation" to the porch. Using lots of concrete and mortar, a few sonotubes and some of the stones that were part of the old construction, they built a much more substantial wall than had been there before. There's still a section that needs to be leveled (ran out of mortar) before the porch itself can be constructed, but Mark should be ale to do that in no time at all...he's a professional. He's also still waiting for the union to find him a job that's more than one day in duration and is, therefore, still hanging around which means there'll be little rest for me on this tour at the Bolt Hole!

Newly reconstructed "foundation" for the porch.

The corner pier--the most important as far as bearing the weight of the porch and house roof-- seen to the left took nine (9!) bags of concrete and it doesn't even go more than three feet into the ground. But it does sit upon a big boulder that is at the base. The rest of the stones came from the original wall and all have at least one face that was flat enough to form the front. The other piers aren't nearly as important in regards to weight bearing and were created using tubes smaller in diameter.

In addition to leveling a portion of the wall between the two piers to the right, there's still the task of filling the void behind the wall. Some of the smaller debris from the old wall can be used to do that. It'll be my job this morning to sort out the smaller stuff and fill, fill, fill.

They also did some impressive shoring up of the floor in the basement. Photos of that later...maybe.

Heading back to the Bolt Hole in the morning

The travel trailer is all hooked up and ready to go get inspected in the morning. Should be no problem at all passing. All the lights work and the tires have plenty of tread on them. As soon as the guy is finished, I'll be hauling it back to the Bolt Hole to put in the barn until next summer.

Terry and I took the opportunity to clean out all the mouse mess inside and wash the utensils that got peed and pooped on. They all got packed away in zipped plastic bags to protect them against future invasions. We had absolutely nothing that could be eaten by mice in there so it's a bit of a surprise they even bothered.

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Speaking of tires...When I got the Tundra inspected I was told the tread on its tires were just barely above the legal limit and that I should consider getting some new ones. I stopped today at our local mechanic's and put a set of Cooper tires on order. They'll have them waiting for me on September 21 when I return from up north. I was thinking of waiting until spring but with the steepness of our road and the prospect of snow this winter, it's probably best to get them now. The original Goodyear tires on the truck have over 30K miles on them so I'm not too surprised that new ones are needed. The Cooper's have a 40K tread warranty on them so I should be ready for the next couple of years.

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As for the Bolt Hole....Mark called last night to give me a progress report. He and Jim have been rebuilding the "foundation" wall to enclose and support the porch. They've also put in posts to attach the ledger board on since the sill just wouldn't hold the lag screws when they tried to bolt it on. Whatever they've been doing, they've used a lot of cement and mortar. Last count was 27 bags! (He said he might be able to send me some pictures later tonight. If I get them I'll see if any are worth posting.)

They erected some sort of support under te living room wood burner and found that the log floor joists that looked to be pretty punky actually weren't that bad. Only the outer layer was soft which left a fairly solid core 4-5 inches in diameter.

They also hauled an old refrigerator, a gas stove, and an ancient Sub Zero freezer out of the attached woodshed and put them in the barn until we can haul them to the recycling center/dump. Doesn't sound like much except each piece was too big to go out the woodshed's exterior door and had to go through the kitchen and out the front door. Jim said he might be interested in the old gas stove for use in an outdoor picnic area at his place. I told him to go for it!

I've no idea what I will find when I get there tomorrow afternoon. But I know I'll be the one to rebuild the porch now that all the prep work is nearing completion. Having rebuilt the screened porch on my own a few years ago, this should be nearly a duplicate. Unless I change my mind as to how I want to lay out the joists, I should have all the materials I need on site.

Mark also had bad things to say about our repair to the north sill. Seems the piers we put in sank in the earth a bit. We may have to dig deeper to reach more solid earth at basement floor level and build a sturdier pier support or even put in a footer and a block wall. If we can, I'd like to stick with the piers until 2011 when we can tear down the woodshed and do the block wall before rebuilding the woodshed. Hauling block into the basement via the stairs would be a PITA job.

Oh, and those basement stairs need to be rebuilt too.

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Sounds like I'll be busy for the next week. With luck, Mark will have gotten a full time job and I'll be on my own. (He's a heck of a slave driver! ... Just kidding, Mark.)

I plan to be there until the 19th or 20th before returning to the Aerie.

Football rankings and match-ups for Week 2

Week 1 in college football has concluded and there were few surprises. We move on to Week 2.

Here are the rankings and match-ups of the Top 25 (more or less) for Week 2. The rankings are from the AP/Coaches Poll/CBSSports 120. Those in parentheses are from last week prior to play. Not much change from week to week, as you can see. But the CBSSports 120 seems a bit wonky to me, especially the LSU and Utah rankings prior to Week 1. And I still cannot fathom why there isn’t one Big East team on any of the Top 25s.

[Man, that's what I get for going to the rankings too early in the day! Even though the date at the bottom said they were up to date, they weren't. The "official" new rankings didn't come out until late this afternoon. I have, therefore, taken the time to upgrade my own post. I'm too efficient for my own good!]

THE Big Game this week pits #3 USC against #8 Ohio State in Columbus. #18 Notre Dame at Michigan is always a Big Game. And shouldn't #15 Georgia Tech be aware of the Thursday Night Curse as it faces Clemson? Nah.

1/1/1 (1/1/1) Florida hosts Troy on Saturday.

2/2/2 (2/2/4) Texas plays at Wyoming on Saturday.

3/3/4 (4/4/3) Southern California plays at #8 Ohio State Saturday night.

4/4/3 (5/5/6) Alabama hosts Florida International Saturday night.

5/6/6 (9/11/17) Oklahoma State hosts Houston on Saturday.

6/8/9 (8/10/12) Mississippi does not play this weekend.

7/5/8 (9/8/9) Penn State hosts Syracuse on Saturday.

8/7/5 (6/6/11) Ohio State hosts #3 Southern California Saturday night.

9/12/7 (20/24/20) Brigham Young plays at Tulane on Saturday.

10/10/12 (12/12/21) California hosts Eastern Washington on Saturday.

11/9/11 (11/9/NL) LSU hosts Vanderbilt on Saturday night.

12/11/10 (14/16/10) Boise State hosts Miami (Ohio) on Saturday night.

13/14/13 (3/3/5) Oklahoma hosts Idaho State on Saturday.

14/15/16 (7/7/15) Virginia Tech hosts Marshall on Saturday.

15/13/14 (15/15/NL) Georgia Tech hosts Clemson on Thursday night.

16/16/15 (17/17/7) TCU gets into the action at Virginia on Saturday.

17/17/18 (19/18/2) Utah plays at San Jose State Saturday night.

18/20/21 (23/23/NL) Notre Dame plays at Michigan on Saturday.

19/19/22 (21/20/NL) North Carolina plays at Connecticut on Saturday.

21/21/17 (13/13/14) Georgia hosts South Carolina on Saturday night.

22/18/20 (24/22/NL) Nebraska hosts Arkansas State on Saturday.

23/23/NL (NL/NL/NL) Cincinnati host Southeast Missouri State on Saturday night.

24/25/19 (25/NL/NL) Kansas plays at Texas-El Paso Saturday night.

25/NL/NL (NL/NL/NL) Missouri will host Bowling Green on Saturday night.

NL/24/NL (NL/25/23) Oregon State plays at UNLV Saturday night.

NL/NL/24 (NL/NL/25) Michigan State hosts Central Michigan Saturday.

NL/NL/25 (16/14/8) Oregon hosts Purdue Saturday night.

GONE:(18/19/22) Florida State hosts Jacksonville State on Saturday.

GONE:(22/21/19) Iowa plays at Iowa State on Saturday.

Say WHAT?

In the WTF Department:

Barney Frank wants Cabinet post

I recommend the Iron Maiden.

From the article:

He first wants to pass more legislation on affordable housing, saying, “I want at least two years with President Obama and a solidly Democratic Senate so that we can get the federal government back in the housing business.”

"...get the federal government back in the housing business.” You've got to be kidding me! The guy is totally clueless as to what triggered the current housing crisis and financial meltdown. It was the federal government's incursion in to the housing business and the stupid loans it forced the banks to make to people who couldn't or weren't inclined to repay them that spiraled us into the pit we are in today. And the government's screwing around with "stimulus" spending, the auto take overs, etc. has just made things worse and worse.

The government has no business getting into any business.

Football Results from Week 1

What an opening weekend! There were romps. There were upsets. There were shocks and surprises! And there were five days of football (Thursday to Monday) on TV.

Without further ado here are the results from the Top 25 (more or less) Upsets in Red, Losses by ranked teams in YELLOW:

1/1/1 Florida drubbed Charleston Southern 62-3. Tebow was…well, Tebow.

2/2/4 Texas took Louisiana-Monroe to the cleaners 59-20. Colt McCoy picked up where he left off last year.

3/3/5 Oklahoma lost to #20 Brigham Young Saturday evening 14-13 and lost Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford near the end of the first half with a sprained right shoulder.

4/4/3 Southern California clubbed San Jose State 56-3. The Trojans had a rookie QB making his first start? No problem!

5/5/6 Alabama beat #7 Virginia Tech 34-24.

6/6/11 Ohio State eked out a win over Navy 31-27 when a pass for two-point conversion attempt by the Midshipmen was intercepted and returned for two points for the Buckeyes.

7/7/15 Virginia Tech lost to #5 Alabama 34-24.

8/10/12 Mississippi beat Memphis 45-14.

9/11/17 Oklahoma State whipped #13 Georgia 24-10.

9/8/9 Penn State trounced Akron 31-7. All the Nittany Lions points came in the first half after which they sorta went to sleep. Joe Paterno was not pleased with the second half performance.

11/9/NL LSU beat Washington 31-23.

12/12/21 California creamed Maryland 52-13.

13/13/14 Georgia dropped their opener to #9 Oklahoma State 24-10.

14/16/10 Boise State beat #16 Oregon 19-8.

15/15/NL Georgia Tech beat Jacksonville State 37-17.

16/14/8 Oregon lost to #14 Boise State 19-8. The Ducks star RB, LeGarrette Blount, then lost his cool…and his place on the team. Cheers fr the Oregon coach for not putting up with that crap.

17/17/7 TCU does not play this weekend.

18/19/22 Florida State lost to Miami (Fla.) in a 38-34 thriller of a game that ended with a Miami goal line stand to preserve the victory.

19/18/3 Utah beat Utah State 35-17.

20/24/20 Brigham Young upset #3 Oklahoma 14-13.

21/20/NL North Carolina embarrassed The Citadel 40-6.

22/21/19 Iowa eked out a victory over Northern Iowa on Saturday afternoon17-16. They needed to block TWO—count them: TWO—go ahead field goals as time ran out to do so.

23/23/NL Notre Dame shut out Nevada 35-0.

24/22/NL Nebraska walloped Florida Atlantic 49-3.

25/NL/NL Kansas also drubbed Northern Colorado 49-3.

NL/25/23 Oregon State manhandled Portland State 34-7.

NL/NL/16 Cincinnati easily defeated Rutgers 47-15.

NL/NL/18 Missouri creamed Illinois 37-9.

NL/NL/24 West Virginia beat Liberty 33-20.

NL/NL/25 Michigan State rolled over Montana State 44-3.

The most lopsided score of the week belongs to the Air Force vs Nicholls State game. The Falcons put 72 points on the board in giving option lessons to the boys from Nicholls.

Rutgers takes it on the chin, 47-15

Cincinnati QB Tony Pike threw for a career high 362 yards in leading the Bearcats to a 47-15 romp over the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers. What makes it slightly more ominous for Rutgers is that their defense was supposed to be a strong point.

When fifth-year senior Dom Natalie proved ineffective in the first half, Rutgers switched to true freshman Tom Savage to start the second half. The young man showed some promise but needs to take more snaps to get in sync with his receivers. They've got four games (Howard, Florida International, Maryland, and Texas Southern) before the Knights face another Big East opponent. They should iron out the defensive problems by then and Savage will have four additional games under his belt.

The Bearcats were Big East Champions last year. They look like they could be ready to reprise that role.

Rutgers started last year 1-5. They should not repeat that dismal start, but they could be in trouble against their Big East foes if they do not improve their play.

Rest between labors

I'm biding my time here at the Aerie watching football and enjoying Terry's cooking before I have to head back to the Bolt Hole for a week or so. The travel trailer gets inspected Wednesday morning and immediately afterward I'll haul it north to put back into the barn.

Once at the Bolt Hole, I still have a porch to rebuild. Mark and a friend he hired (sorry, forgot his name) were going to do the work but "complications" arose...as usual. I swear, the motto of the Bolt Hole should be, "Expect the unexpected."

On 2 September, Mark went over to do some concrete work and level off the top of the "foundation" that rimmed the porch's south and west side. As he installed a jack post to support the porch roof, the entire southwest corner of the "foundation" rolled and collapsed. Yeah, nothing but loose stones with a mortar surface. He spent the rest of the day with a rented jack hammer breaking the remainder of the damn thing up.

Demolished porch "foundation"

The next day, when his buddy showed up, they moved rocks and prepared to set posts into the ground and see if they could attach a ledgerboard to the side of the cabin upon which a deck could be hung. That's the last I heard from him so I'm hoping everything went okay.

Compare the above photo with this one showing the "concrete" foundation of the west side of the porch. Alleged concrete foundation of porch

It's this corner that rolled on Mark as he was putting up a support post. Looks at least semi-solid, no? Like beauty, however, it's just skin deep.

Anyway, worst case scenario right now is that I will have to build the entire porch by myself after the guys have finished the prep work. Best case (for me) is that Mark still hasn't found a full time masonry job and I'll have help. (He's been turning down one day gigs as they would mess up his unemployment while providing no secure income and the one project they want him for has developed some serious problems that make mine look minuscule. It's repair to a spillway tunnel up north but as demolition progresses the damn thing is squirting water even though it's above reservoir water levels. Who says interior work can't get "rained out"?) Either way, that porch WILL get rebuilt before I leave to return to the Aerie on the 18th or 19th of September.

Terry's home...for now.

I may not have mentioned it but Terry's home from Mt. Airy, NC. She took her Mom down there for a reunion of WWII Vets and their families. The Polar Bears were under the command of General Omar Bradley Mark Clark (I think?)and spent a lot of time in Italy. Their numbers have decreased to the point where the Polar Bear Association no longer exists...officially. Yet those who survive and their relatives continue to meet on occasion.

This time they were in Mt. Airy, NC home to Mayberry, USA. Also known as Opieland.

Terry reports the men and their guests were treated royally by the folks of Mt. Airy. They had lots of great food, tours of Mayberry, USA, and one of the largest open air granite mines in the world. They were given a tour of a sock manufacturing plant and everyone got a free pair to take home. (And these were not cheap socks either! Rather they manufacture for places like Cabela's, Bass Pro, etc. with an eye to quality and warmth.) Most importantly, of course, the Vets got to see their old comrades again and reminisce about their experiences.

One or two of the kids of these men have been working on a history of the unit (The 85th Infantry Division also known as the Custer Division). They hope to be able to have it published soon. Terry was given a copy of one of the works-in-progress and asked--as were others--to do some proofreading.

Too many of the members of the "Greatest Generation" have passed on without leaving behind their stories. I know my own father (and my father in law) never talked about their experiences on the battle field. And now that they are both gone, it's too late to start asking questions.

We see a number of books about the strategists, the generals, and politicians of WWII, it would be good to learn more about the experiences of the everyday soldier--the Willie and Joe--as they slogged through Europe or the Pacific Islands enroute to keeping the world free from Nazis, Fascists and Imperialists. But it's difficult to get these men to talk about what it was like. They've held it inside for half a century and shared their thoughts and tears with their brothers in arms but few others. Perhaps, they fear the rest of us just wouldn't understand.

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Terry and her Mom also had company up from South Carolina. Cousin Jimmy (helicopter pilot in Viet Nam), his wife, Pat (who, with the aide of her lap top and digital camera, put together a whale of a computerized slide show for the Polar Bears final dinner), and his Mom, Nancy (her husband, Jim, passed away several years ago...he was in the Navy in the Pacific, I believe). Terry reports they slid in to, and were welcomed by, the Polar Bear crowd.

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Terry made only one complaint to me when she got home: How come I hadn't picked any string beans? Today she got more than two quarts out of the bean patch. Now I think she knows why I didn't pick any and why I pulled up the @(#*%)*#& cucumber vines and blighted tomato plants.

One group of zucchini plants are finally looking healthier than ever and producing fruit to beat the band. Time for roasted zucchini and boiled/steamed zucchini for dinner. Every. Single. Night.

And the ever bearing strawberries are living up to their name as well. Every other day I can get half a cup of strawberries for my breakfast cereal.

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I'm eating better now that Terry's home too. By myself, things are pretty much meat-and-potatoes (and I sometimes skip the potato...sometimes the meat...and, if it's lunch, sometimes both). Two nights and we've had: 1) salad, grilled zucchini, corn on the cob, and planked salmon, 2) hush puppies, baked sweet potato, steamed zucchini and yellow squash, sauteed portabello mushrooms, peppers and onions, and grilled chicken breast.

While feeding myself, my weight had dropped five or six pounds. I guess I'm going to have to head up to the Bolt Hole before I put it all back on.

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I finished hauling out the wood I had cut yesterday morning. There's more to do but some that I cut is unreachable with the ATV until I do more cutting. (Stupid me! I cut a couple of tree tops furthest from the trail so as to clear an area near my neighbor's line and am no being blocked by some tree tops near the second drive way. Doh!) Other tree tops are fine where they are for the time being. Perhaps they will attract a bear or two looking for a den? Nah. I didn't think so. More likely to get quill pigs (porcupines), skunks, or raccoons.

In any event, I've got more than a cord of wood out there that needs spitting. Since we don't burn all that much, it should be enough. If not, I know where there's more.

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We spent some time today cleaning the trailer's interior. It's been parked in the barn up at the Bolt Hole for a year and the mice have been making use of it. We vacuumed and aired the place out. Terry washed down the surfaces.

I tried to charge up the battery, but that was a no go. My "smart" charger says something about a defective or open cell and suggests I take it to a reputable service center to have it checked out. I may do just that. Or I may just wait until next spring when I'll need a new battery to ensure a safe trip....Wherever we may go.

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Weather here at the Aerie continues to be simply gorgeous. With lows hitting the low 50s overnight we've been sleeping with the window open. Late in the afternoon the sun warms things up to the upper 70s but as soon as it starts to sink toward that horizon, the temperature follows it downward.

Hard Boiled Eggs

Terry was just preparing some macaroni salad for tomorrow's Labor Day picnic and made this comment in reference to the hard boiled eggs needed:

"It always frustrates me that when I don't care what the egg looks like, it comes out perfect!"

These eggs, of course, will be chopped and diced into teensy tiny pieces and so do not have to come out of their shells in perfect condition as they would have to be for, say, deviled eggs. So, of course, they come out perfect.

This must be one of the Corollaries to Murphy's Law. Call it the Cooking Corollary for Hard Boiled Eggs: When perfect eggs are needed the shell shall stick to the egg like glue resulting in surfaces as cratered as the Moon. However, should one intend to dice and chop the egg, the shell shall slip off faster and smoother than a stripper's clothes at a Congressional cocktail hour leaving a surface as smooth and perfect as the finest ball bearing.

Ya'll know how to cook a hard boiled egg perfectly, of course:
1) Put the egg into the water, turn the heat on and bring to a boil.
2) When the water is in a rolling boil (a true boil) turn off the heat and cover the pot.
3) Let the egg sit int he hot water for exactly 12 minutes then pour off the hot water and rinse the egg in cold water.

Follow those three simple steps and the yolk will be solidly cooked and there will be none of that dark gray sulfurous stuff on the outside of the yolk when you open up the egg.