Govt Stimulation burning a hole in my pocket.

[CrealCritter]

This mess will eventually be my brewery. The second room in the back of the pole barn.

Then in-between the office and brewery is this huge walk in closet sheeted in 7/16 OSB and then in 1/4" red cedar OSB. Yet again not something I would waste my money on. All the rubbermade shelving is expesive. But hey it's a closet and storage so just finish it as is and leave it.

I'm doing away with this register and replacing it with the second cold air return. Who ever heard of having a register in a closet, for crying out loud. I went to Fowler heat and air in town today to have a metal box made for the second return. I think it will be 14" x 25" x 24". Then is just a matter of cutting the hole in the ceiling, setting the box adding two starter rings/take offs and a length of 16" flex hose, the grate and filter then I'll be in business.

I inspected the insulation of the centeral heat and air conditioning. Pretty darn leaky if you ask me. Expecially around all the take offs and seams where they joined ductwork together. The previous owner said she paid $15,000 for the unit and installation and I believe it. It's a very fancy Carrier heatpump and air conditioning. She even had the extra electric heat pack option added in. I don't think I'll use the electric heat much, if at all. I think I'll get by just fine with the heat pump and my wood stove. I do know one thing though, I'm sealing up all the leaky duct work which should have been done during installation all it takes is aluminum foil tape. Here is the sticker off the air handler/furnace. Date of manufacture Jan 2018 and I'm the first to power it up

 

[baymule]

I’m enjoying your journey through your new home.

 

[Mini Horses]

Love the desk! Beautiful work, as all your furniture has been.

Now, you & I both know -- may not have been the unit you would get BUT-- the tape will cost less than that unit. YES -- it should have been done at install...they got pd for unfinished work. I bet the warranty on the unused new unit is running....out?

You've got enough going to keep us busy ready for a while.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

@CrealCritter I gotta ask you about that floor. Our concrete floor has vinyl laid over it (not glued down). There are multiple raised areas where a white crystal deposit weeps up through the concrete to collect between the concrete and vinyl. We need to remove the vinyl. Do you know if the stain that was used on that concrete was oil based? And any thoughts about how it might react with our concrete floor situation? I'm intrigued with that floor, for the simplicity of it, and wondering if it might solve our flooring problem. We don't need pretty. All we need is functional.

 

[CrealCritter]

@CrealCritter I gotta ask you about that floor. Our concrete floor has vinyl laid over it (not glued down). There are multiple raised areas where a white crystal deposit weeps up through the concrete to collect between the concrete and vinyl. We need to remove the vinyl. Do you know if the stain that was used on that concrete was oil based? And any thoughts about how it might react with our concrete floor situation? I'm intrigued with that floor, for the simplicity of it, and wondering if it might solve our flooring problem. We don't need pretty. All we need is functional.

Yes oil based wood stain only, no top coat of epoxy or anything like that... I didn't do this floor but I think I would do a deep clean maybe with a power washer and bleach water or a stiff brisle shop broom and bleach water. The cleaner you can get it the better...

Then I would allow it to dry real well, then mix up the stain and apply with a thick nap roller. Everyone who sees the floor likes it. Maybe you could test a section first and see if you like it. I don't know about the white crystal thing, sorry.

This was a pole barn, so I'm pretty sure the floor was nasty nasty before. It probably had oil stains and who knows what else...

I kind of like the idea of staining concrete floor. Very easy to touch up just dab a little stain on the area.

 

[CrealCritter]

Love the desk! Beautiful work, as all your furniture has been.

Now, you & I both know -- may not have been the unit you would get BUT-- the tape will cost less than that unit. YES -- it should have been done at install...they got pd for unfinished work. I bet the warranty on the unused new unit is running....out?

You've got enough going to keep us busy ready for a while.

According to the carrier website the unit is warranted for 10 years from the date of manufacture. Or 10 years from the date of install, if I were the original owner, which I'm not.

 

[CrealCritter]

I picked up our Amish friend and his young son to pick pears off of our pear trees. We picked a bushel off each tree. I showed him around and he said my look at all the elderberries. I thought they were weeds. But he said no not weeds most definitely elderberriers. So now I know what they are I have enough about the place for many years of use, there's a lot of them in clusters about the place.

Here's one of many clusters just strating to ripen. He said good for wine and medical elixirs. Which is right up my alley

 

[baymule]

Elderberry syrup!! It prevents flu virus from replicating and then the flu just fizzles out. We go picking a few roadside patches. You are fortunate to have such wonderful Elderberry plants on your place. Elderberry pie is good too.

Elderberry syrup

Actually, it is a syrup with Elderberries. It is most effective if it is made with raw, unfiltered, local honey and fresh ginger. There is something in the elderberries, that prevents the virus from replicating.

I have been making it for a couple years now.

1 cup dried Elderberries or 2 cups fresh
1-1/2 inches peeled, fresh, ginger
24 oz (by weight) Raw, unfiltered, Local Honey
Approx. 4-1/2 to 5 cups water

(even though the recipe calls for a lot of honey, I use maybe half that much)

I simmer dried elderberries and grated ginger in water, for 40 minutes, and cool to room temperature. Cover the pot with the lid. Next I use a spoon and a screen sieve, to separate the pulp from the seeds & mash the ginger, occasionally rinsing with water. Reserve this water to use in the syrup. One final rinse, to make sure the seeds are rinsed. Then I put the liquid in a sauce pan and heat slightly, to help dissolve the honey, making sure to not make it too hot, as heat destroys the healthy enzymes. I remove it from the heat & stir in the honey until dissolved.

I sometimes add a teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves.

Keep in the refrigerator and take a tablespoon every morning. If you start feeling sick, take a tablespoon 3-4 times a day. It will shorten the flu and you won't get such a bad case of it. It is being studied for Covid virus, sure can't hurt to take Elderberry syrup!

 

[CrealCritter]

Elderberry syrup!! It prevents flu virus from replicating and then the flu just fizzles out. We go picking a few roadside patches. You are fortunate to have such wonderful Elderberry plants on your place. Elderberry pie is good too.

Elderberry syrup

Actually, it is a syrup with Elderberries. It is most effective if it is made with raw, unfiltered, local honey and fresh ginger. There is something in the elderberries, that prevents the virus from replicating.

I have been making it for a couple years now.

1 cup dried Elderberries or 2 cups fresh
1-1/2 inches peeled, fresh, ginger
24 oz (by weight) Raw, unfiltered, Local Honey
Approx. 4-1/2 to 5 cups water

(even though the recipe calls for a lot of honey, I use maybe half that much)

I simmer dried elderberries and grated ginger in water, for 40 minutes, and cool to room temperature. Cover the pot with the lid. Next I use a spoon and a screen sieve, to separate the pulp from the seeds & mash the ginger, occasionally rinsing with water. Reserve this water to use in the syrup. One final rinse, to make sure the seeds are rinsed. Then I put the liquid in a sauce pan and heat slightly, to help dissolve the honey, making sure to not make it too hot, as heat destroys the healthy enzymes. I remove it from the heat & stir in the honey until dissolved.

I sometimes add a teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves.

Keep in the refrigerator and take a tablespoon every morning. If you start feeling sick, take a tablespoon 3-4 times a day. It will shorten the flu and you won't get such a bad case of it. It is being studied for Covid virus, sure can't hurt to take Elderberry syrup!

I'm going to be collecting elderberries this week for seed. I'm thinking about sowing a 100 ft row late winter / early spring. If you look at the prices of stuff made with elderberriers, it's way up there. I'm not 100% sure but I think the seeds have to be frozen first in order to germinate.

 

[Mini Horses]

Why don't you dig sprigs from those growing? It's a shrub that likes it's feet wet. Yes, elderberry product can be expensive! Should be good wine! I've tossed some juice into a glass of bland white to get an idea.

The heat and lack of rain all of July in my area did a huge dryup of the local berries. I'm ok with own juice supply and some frozen or dried but, very disappointed in available to harvest this year.